I tend to use the term "independent school" myself, because it carries less of the cultural baggage associated with the term "public school": weird traditions, class distinctions, boarding, corporal punishment, etc. Whereas the nearest we had to that sort of thing at NHS was a slightly baroque scheme of school ties.
Something I didn't realise until recently is that NHS was actually a grammar school for a fair chunk of the 20th century (from 1917 until 1945, according to Adam Thomas' book on the history of the school [1]). Although it was originally founded as the "Nottingham Free Grammar School" I'd assumed it had been a fee-paying private school for centuries.
I have mixed memories of NHS. I met a number of splendid people there (yourself included) and learned much that was valuable and important. But I also learned some stuff that has taken some effort to unlearn, and also met some deeply unpleasant people. I'm not entirely sure it was, on balance, a happy time.
[1] A W Thomas, A History of Nottingham High School 1513–1953, J. & H. Bell Ltd., Nottingham (1957)
no subject
Something I didn't realise until recently is that NHS was actually a grammar school for a fair chunk of the 20th century (from 1917 until 1945, according to Adam Thomas' book on the history of the school [1]). Although it was originally founded as the "Nottingham Free Grammar School" I'd assumed it had been a fee-paying private school for centuries.
I have mixed memories of NHS. I met a number of splendid people there (yourself included) and learned much that was valuable and important. But I also learned some stuff that has taken some effort to unlearn, and also met some deeply unpleasant people. I'm not entirely sure it was, on balance, a happy time.
[1] A W Thomas, A History of Nottingham High School 1513–1953, J. & H. Bell Ltd., Nottingham (1957)