Girls school vs. mixed? Which would you choose?

I spent half my time at single sex secondary school giggling about boys....

My neice, who went to co-ed secondary, did far less giggling (and far less other things too ).

Single sex for girls.

^I cant imagine there will be any reason to snigger if there are no girls present.

And the girls have no reason to giggle, with no boys around.^

Having gone to a girls school, I can assure you that giggling was rife. Far more friends to giggle with!

Obviously, I have no experience of boys schools.

^>I don't recognise this "not knowing how to speak to / react to / be with people who are a different gender from you"

perhaps kids now do more out-of-school activities and they are more likely to be mixed than in previous generations?^

I think that's true, Grimma. The only out-of-school ativity I did was guides - also single sex.

Well, some of them will be highly distracted by having twice the number of potential crush-objects than in a mixed-school, Quint!

"my friend's son from the mixed comp thought the girls from the single sex school were far more interested in boys and dating, so he'd always go to chat them up at gathering!! "

This is quite possible... on the other hand at least they're not doing it in lesson time.

Oh, and my friends and I used to have huge giggling fits at our girls' school. I'm sure we were hugely annoying.

At least they will not be distracted by falling in love with half the class, then?

I have worked at both types of school in the same borough, both comps, both Outstanding. The girls school was quieter and more diligent, the mixed more animated and in some respects more fun. The results girls at the mixed school did slightly less well overall by 2%; though my neighbours DD left there with 12A*s! I think in the end it comes down to the individual - does your child want to go to a mixed school - as that's an important factor in their learning? At a grammar school visit we did last week for our DS, the head said ''there is no evidence that children do better at single sex schools; it's a myth'', but I can't comment on that, haven't seen the case studies. And an aside, but one that struck me at the time, my friend's son from the mixed comp thought the girls from the single sex school were far more interested in boys and dating, so he'd always go to chat them up at gathering!!

Entering the changing room at DD's dance school makes it abundantly clear that giggling does NOT require boys to be present... or even to be the cause or subject of giggling (though of course 'non-present-in-the-flesh' boys may in fact prompt much more giggling of a silly kind than the oridinary, taken for granted boys who have always shared a classroom with the girls in quesrtion..)

cant imagine there will be any reason to snigger if there are no girls present.

And the girls have no reason to giggle, with no boys around.

Really? You think they only giggle or snigger when the opposite sex is around?

Girls don't just giggle at boys. Give them some credit, Quint- young women have enough annoying joie de vivre to giggle at most things...

Back to the OP: my older daughter has just started at a single-sex comp; in all honesty I would much prefer mixed, but given the schools on offer in our area I leapt at this school and it is quite quite lovely so far. I don't believe that girls and boys need somehow different teaching styles but I do like the explicitly feminist ethos at her school, the fact that there are no boys to allege intellectual superiority (which happened a fair bit at my mixed school, especially by the boys who were in reality a Bit Thick ) and that girls have to do well at traditionally non-girly subjects.

I cant imagine there will be any reason to snigger if there are no girls present.

And the girls have no reason to giggle, with no boys around.

Says Quint, who can count on one hand the people she knows that has gone to single sex schools.....

No giggling but 100% concentration, I expect.

LOLOL. I doubt it. Although it will be more like sniggering.

I have boys. I want single sex schools. I want Catholic boys school for them both. No giggling but 100% concentration, I expect.

Forgot to add that I went to a mixed middle school first, so was making my decisions aged 12 - whole different game, I suspect. I do worry that she may feel she made a mistake in a couple of years...but it'll be too bad, I can't go through all this again unless she's really in trouble there!

It depends on your child. I hated my single sex school and reckon there were probably lots of opportunities on offer there that I missed because I SO didn't want to be there . It was the one time I really fell out with my mum! I wasn't reckoning to send dd to a single-sex school, but that's what she wants and I will make it possible. Just as we would have sent her to Guides for a bit of a break if she was in a mixed school, we've started her in a mixed organisation instead, to make sure there's a bit of balance (she doesn't have brothers, so I do worry about this).

She's been adamant from the first that she wanted a single-sex school and has stuck with it, despite loving some of the mixed schools we've been round, so it's nothing to do with what they offer. What can you do? It won't hurt her and, if it does allow her freedom from the industrial quantities of makeup I see in the mixed schools (most of them are girls...I think) and a better focus on her studies, she'll gain academically what she risks losing socially. Duke of Edinburgh will take care of some of it anyway.

I don't recognise this "not knowing how to speak to / react to / be with people who are a different gender from you"

perhaps kids now do more out-of-school activities and they are more likely to be mixed than in previous generations?

I have a ds at a boys' and dd at a girls' school. Not specifically chosen for the fact they were single sex, but because, at the time of choosing, a whole combination of factors made them the best choice for my dc.
One real bonus, is that dd (the 2nd dc) has been able to establish herself as being "her" in her own right, and not had to start of life as ds's sister. Indeed, we are trying to decide what school to put for dc3 (currently in Yr6) and I would have no qualms about her going to yet a 3rd school if that were the right school for her. There's something very wrong in my mind about conciously choosing a school that suits your dc1, and then just expecting the others to follow suit, even though another school might have been chosen if they were your eldest.

Back to the single sex / co-ed thing though, it depends so much on the school and the personality of the child. My oldest 2 are both very happy in their schools. All my dc though mix with all sorts of people outside of school in all the activities they do, I don't recognise this "not knowing how to speak to / react to / be with people who are a different gender from you" that you read about on MN every time this question is asked. School is only one part of my dcs lives.

Congratulations to your dds, Copthall :) Agree, why on earth should girls not want to learn this stuff - even given there seemed to be a lot of farm machinery stuff going on, plenty of girls round here (including dd) are likely to want to fix a tractor in the course of their life.

Takver Both my DDs have A*s in RMT (I hope I can safely brag about this one without appearing smug) and it is incredibly popular in their single sex school, and why not? Design and useful practical skills. They loved it and every year their amazing creations are on show to the school . Please somebody get that stupid teacher to come and look!

MrsDmitriTippensKrushnic

Actually at DDs' single sex school it seems that coming out as bi/ gay is almost more common than intuitively you can believe to be a profound life changing decision, it is easy to do and experimenting with your sexuality is alright, cool even. I have to say that the same applied back in the 70s ( but then maybe David Bowie had a lot to do with that).

However in both DDs' friendship groups there are boys at neighbouring boys and mixed schools who have clearly arrived at a lifechanging decision to come out as gay and it has been heartwarming to see the support they have had from their friendship groups. In fact when some prats from the boys school decided to post something homophobic on their Facebook page to big themselves up they were socially ostracised by pupils from the boys' and girls' school and excluded from the joint prom. DDs gay friend is never treated differently by his peers, included in holidays etc. and he was happily included in both the girls' and boys' photos for prom! He actually felt able to come out at school before he did so at home and his (lovely) Mum dispairing of him owning up and having read somewhere that it is much easier to get your child to open up if you don't have eye contact, put a teatowel over her head and asked if there was anything he wanted to say. Brilliant!!

Have only skimmed the thread, but I viewed both all boys and mixed schools for DS.

We all - DH, who went to an all boys school, I, who went to an all girls one, and DS who was at a mixed primary - hated the all-boys schools FOR MY DS. They were just all too macho and 'boys learn differently' and 'boys don't care about their environment', with lots of horseplay in the corridors .... DS is a very sporty, but also very bright boy, who hates disorder, shies away from physical horseplay and loves the balancing influence of girls in his environment.

DD is a different kettle of fish, and might well thrive in a single sex school BUT she is very straightforward and upset by birchiness or friendship issues. She is a devoted ballet dancer ... but also a Cub who likes nothing more than campoing for a weekend without waching or brishing her hair...Again, I think that she would miss the balance that boys bring to the environment, and she's far too strong minded to be influenced by the 'girls don't do Physics' type argument, unless it is to be determined to break the mould, do Physics and beat all the boys at it....

I don't know tbh. I went to a single sex school and going by my experiences I think the last thing any one would have done there was come out. I don't know anyone in my year who was. I knew I was bi at school, but there's no way I would have said so, which tbh is a bit weird as on the whole it was a very inclusive school and I can't really think of any instances of bullying. It's difficult to judge though, I was there 25 years ago, things are a lot better now I hope! I would imagine that that sort of tolerance would depend on the school ethos and teaching staff, rather than whether it's mixed or not.