single sex school for tomboy

[hwjm1945]

i have 2 DDs, DD1 is a good egg and has good female friendships which she values highly. DD2 is also a good egg but is a tomboy, likes football, running , swimming and activley seeks out the company of boys and derides girlish thngs and calls them boring etc, wears boys clothes, she is 8. if we go for girls only school, whihc is prob our best choice academically round here, what will it be like for her? Both are academic, DD2 prob more competitively so than DD1. We do not have boys in the family, worried she will not "fit in" or be happy at all girls school,. Any views?

[webwiz]

Well it depends on the girls school really and whether you feel it will allow your DD's to be themselves. I would visit and see what it is like before worrying too much.

[happygardening]

I've got boys but we've got a friend with a DD very like your DD2 they chose a mixed school because they thought she would be happier.

[sashh]

I was a tomboy, I went to a girls' school - jated every minuite of it. But it was the kind of school that trained you to be a wife and mother.

[Auntiestablishment]

My best friend at secondary was like this - it was a girl's school. She was fine, it allowed everyone to be themselves. Sport is frequently encouraged at girl's school.

I don't know what girl's stuff she calls boring but if it's hair/clothes/dolls/pointless trivia then I have a lot of sympathy! Doing real stuff like boys do at that age is far more interesting. If you are worried about lack of males at all, out of school activities are generally mixed: would give best of both.

[Suffolkgirl1]

It definitely depends on the girls school. My DD is at an all girls school where the emphasis is definitely "girls can do anything boys can do and often better"! the curriculum supports this and as such she does rugby and football in PE and her Tech option is engineering! A sporty girl may find more like minded female friends in an all girl environment.
My older 2 DC's are both at single sex schools. We use sports clubs, orchestra and the scouting association for mixing with the opposite sex.

[IndigoBell]

My DD is a tomboy and I wouldn't consider sending her to a single sex school.

But then I don't really like single sex schools and won't send my boys to a boys school either.

[creamteas]

It will depend on the school, but I went to both a single sex and mixed sex comp, and I definitely fitted in better as a tomboy at the all girls school. In the mixed sex, the girls spent all breaks doing or talking hair/make up/clothes up and the boys didn?t mix with the girls, so I was pretty much on my own. The lack of boys to impress at the all girl?s school meant that it was easier for girls to have a range on interests and the choice of O level options was much better.

[BackforGood]

Exactly what Suffolkgirl1 said.
My dd1 has gone to a girls school. She was definitely a 'tomboy' at 8, and certainly has kept up her ability to camp and canoe and play football and not withered into a wannabe wife and mother. She too goes to Scouts and love it.
I went to a Girls school too, and do not know anyone who came out of it "all girly". The ethos was definitely about giving the pupils confidence to do, be, and achieve whatever they wanted to be.

[Rosylee1976]

We too are considering an all girls school for my daughter. She was dead set against it but spending time on the website has brought her round to the idea that it could be fun. What impressed us was the range of sport and academic activities available. My daughter is both sporty but also girlie. She loved the idea that she could play football! I think I am more worrie about the potential for bullying, but the truth is that cah happen at any school. I think that the girls schools are as rounded as the mixed schools. I am sure that they probably link up in some way with a boys school, at least the one I am looking into does. They even did a joint theatre production of Grease. My daughter and I were both close minded at first, but we have decided to do a visit. The school encourages the child and parent to spend a morning at the school. Perhaps you should do one too if possible.

[welovesausagedogs]

One of our clothes family friends sent their tomboy to an all girls school. When she was young she liked to be called by a boys name, had shaved hair, said she was a boy, wore boys clothes etc. By year 6 she played on with boys has a bob and wore boys clothes. The girls schools she got into is highly competitive and the best state school around, you also are only allowed to wear skirts, she started and she loved it, within a term she had become interested in typically "girly stuff", her mum was so shocked at having to buy her bras knicker, dresses!!! She decided to grow her hair and generally seemed more feminine. She is now 16 and so happy there, her parents feel like school really allowed her to explore who she was and made it alright to be a girl, she has friends outside school who are boys and she will never be a plastic, but she is an arty down to earth girl and you could never think she wasn't a girl. Often being a toyboy is just a stage they grow out of so it seems a waste to override an excellent school because of it.