Single vs co-ed

Having recently made a very similar decision we went for co-ed on the basis it more accurately reflects real life.

With personal experience of single-sex schooling I’m also aware of the many downsides.

Personal and family preferences.
Everyone invited website, check the coed schools and their policy and welling being and talks. It has moved on from those years, thank goodness. Also, a few incidents mentioned was outside school grounds at parties etc, so worth reading and teaching girls about being situational aware and having friends that supportive. No matter which schools they ended up since girls only was in the list too.
Heard about all girls doing better research but no links, so maybe personal views or experiences?
Taking risk in education or trying new clubs, that goes for all schools. Secondary is a great time to do new clubs, sports and subjects.

Looks like I'm the only parent on this thread with this experience, but it's common from other parents I've spoken to (not all but seems a fair few).
My daughter went from a mixed sex primary to an all girls secondary & found it incredibly bitchy & cliquey.
I found the girls who had been to any of the local 3 single sex primarys first then up to secondary adjusted fine because they were used to only being with girls & how things were done. But going from a mixed sex school my daughter struggled & actually had a terrible time & was bullied. To be fair she was fairly quiet, but they picked at the most ridiculous things about her appearance & made a huge issue of it.
She is actually a very pretty girl so it was awful to see how some nasty girls could get under her skin like that ...
Anyway long story short worst thing I ever did was inflict that school upon her & it took her years to recover her self esteem. She was in it for almost 2 years before we pulled her because it escalated & nothing was being done.
This wasn't in the distant past either, the last 5 years.

I went to all girls secondary and have to say I really liked having the separation from boys whilst at school. Still had plenty of male friends from the local all boys school (in fact married to one of them now 😆) but I liked being all girls for studying. Had no problem transitioning to the mixed environment at uni!

The best way to prepare your DD for adult life is to show her how to take up space, make her voice heard, take risks by trying new things even if they are outside her comfort zone. All of those are easier for girls to do in a girls only environment in my experience - and the research bears that out.

She will only be at school for 7 hours a day. The rest of her time she can mix with boys at clubs etc, if she wants to.

I chose single for sex for my two dds. It was the Ofsted report on sexual assaults and sexualised behaviour in schools, Everyone’s Invited and the very gendered A level classes I saw in the co ed schools that informed my decision, though the fit of the school we chose was also important. I felt very lucky to have the choice, I know that many people don’t.

My dds went to a co ed primary and both have hobbies outside school which are mixed, so my view was that they wouldn’t see boys as aliens but that giving them an all girls space for the teenage years would be beneficial.

I have a similar decision to make, ie between a very good co-Ed and a top girls only school. Can you please pm me your thoughts. Thank you 🙏

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