The HMC definition of public school seems to have drifted considerably as far from the common usage as evidenced by the numerous reference I have provided above and the HMC website doesn t even use the term public school on its home page describing its scope as HMC the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference represents the Heads of many of the world s leading independent schools Indeed the HMC website only make one reference to the term public school on a page where it is quoting from The Times