Eton is one of ten English HMC schools, commonly referred to as "public schools", regulated by the Public Schools Act of 1868. Following the public school tradition, Eton is a full boarding school, which means all pupils live at the school, and it is one of four such remaining single-sex boys' public schools in the United Kingdom (the others being Harrow, Radley, and Winchester) to continue this practice. Eton has educated 19 British prime ministers and generations of the aristocracy and has been referred to as the chief nurse of England's statesmen. Charging up to £11,478 per term (there are three terms per academic year) in 2014/15, Eton is the sixth most expensive HMC boarding school in the UK. 

Eton has a long list of distinguished former pupils. David Cameron is the 19th British prime minister to have attended the school, and has recommended that Eton set up a school in the state sector to help drive up standards. Eton now co-sponsors a state sixth-form college in Newham, a deprived area of East London, called the London Academy of Excellence, opened in 2012, which is free of charge and aims to get all its students into higher education. In September 2014, Eton opened, and became the sole educational sponsor for, a new purpose-built co-educational state boarding and day school for around 500 pupils, Holyport College, in Maidenhead in Berkshire, with construction costing around £15 million, in which a fifth of places for day pupils will be set aside for children from poor homes, 21 boarding places will go to youngsters on the verge of being taken into care, and a further 28 boarders will be funded or part-funded through bursaries.
What did David Cameron recommend?
 and has recommended that Eton set up a school in the state sector to help drive up standards.