All girls school or mixed comp

I agree with those posters who recommend finding the right school for your DC(s), as far as that is possible. When these threads come up, there is always a proportion of mums who say they loved their all-girls school and a proportion who say they hated it. It's hard to extrapolate from that whether your DD will prefer it or not.

It is factually true to say that girls do better academically in single-sex schools, particularly with regard to STEM subjects but even then there are exceptions. DD2 went to a then not very good secondary modern school but still took triple science at GCSE, 3 x science subjects for A level and how has 2 x STEM degrees. Mixed schooling suited her because she prefers her friendship group to be mixed, but if your DD thrives in large groups of girls then single-sex may very well be a good fit.

I like the diamond model for girls - mixed for primary, single sex for 11 - 16 and then back to mixed for sixth form. I think girls only for the most vulnerable early teen years gives them a breathing space away from boys and sexual bullying. Hopefully builds a bedrock of confidence that then can then take on to sixth form.

I would choose based on the school not the sex of the students. I have twin girls, one is going to a girls grammar and the other to a mixed grammar. Our choices were based on the best fit for them and nothing else.

As so many have said, it depends on the child. I went to an all girls grammar and loved it . No school is perfect, but I think that the all girls environment is potentially protective against pervasive sexism or worse.

I moved my daughter from a mixed state primary to an all girls private school in P5 and she has flourished. We are now discussing secondary options and she wants to stay single sex. She likes a calm environment, to assist with some additional learning needs, and feels this is more likely in a single sex environment.

I think if had a daughter I’d send her to an all girls school and a boy to go to a mixed school.
I went to an all girls school myself and liked it.

I went to an all girls grammar and loved it. I didn't experience any meanness. Everyone I came across was very supportive. My niece now goes to the same school and loves it. I wanted dd to go to all girls but she wanted to go to a grammar that had a great sports department. Happened to be mixed. She loves it and doesn't experience nastiness from boys. She rarely mentions boys when she talks about her day. Sports and games are segregated by sex which is good.

Ours is exactly the same @shearwater2

I mentioned the grammar because oddly it was not the competitive hothouse it once had a reputation to be and very chilled out compared with any of the local state schools. So I wouldn't be put off thinking grammars are competitive and bitchy as it can be quite the reverse.

DD goes to a girls grammar, I haven’t noticed excess bitchiness when compared with her friends at various mixed schools (I hear them all chatting away on video calls, and her best friend who goes to a mixed school is having a nightmare with friend groups). But she is only year 8, so I know that may change.

They have discos and other events with the boys school next door and loiter about in mixed groups after school.

A local school that I really disliked in other ways had what I think is a great set up. Boys and girls on same site and together at break and lunch but taught separately.

I think this is a really important point. My DD is at a local, comprehensive girls school. I’m sure it’s a very different experience to a single sex grammar or private school.

My advice would be to choose the school that's right rather than setting. My daughter went to a girl's school until GCSE and then to a mixed grammar for A Level. She was pleased to not have the hassle of boys and I think it helped her keep a little more focus on her studies. I teach at a mixed comprehensive and mostly love it but there's definitely some drawbacks in my opinion.

I'd go on your gut feeling and keep an open mind. There's some time to go yet for your daughter so see how she develops.

So much depends on the friends you have around you. My DD is at a mixed comp. Lovely group of friends, very happy, not boy mad, doing well. My niece however is at an all girls private school. Awful bitchiness going on, would be termed bullying at a state school. Another friend's daughter who left an all girls private school to go to mixed sixth form, and who is an only child, has messed up her first year by being obsessed with boys.l

Lifetime ago to your average teen.

We left school in 2012

Some of the comparisons aren't quite like for like, of course, because quite a lot of the available girls' schools are grammars rather than comps. Which have pros and cons themselves, again depending on the specific child and schools.

I would have liked DD1 to go to DD2's all girls' school but she did not pass the 11+. It was so much more relaxed all round, even on homework as a grammar, DD1 seemed to get much less and delivered in a much more organised way. DD2 has a boyfriend at 14- he's nice but it's a bit worrying, as a parent. Not a worry I had with DD1. There is a lot more bullying and social problems at DD2's school. DD1 got a lot more opportunities in STEM subjects and I don't think she'd have done DT GCSE and A-Level at a mixed school- they were mixed for A-Level and it was majority boys in her class, which she didn't mind by then, but she might have thought of it as a "boy's subject" for GCSEs when she was choosing at 14 had it not been all girls.

Most mixed state schools now are really draconian, massive, one size fits all institutions, which can wrongfoot even really well behaved kids. But it depends on the individual school.

Depends on the school but I don’t know how many would answer emails like that. I’d have a look for data on their website, then ask at an open day (1:1, as you’re likely to get a more honest answer) with the relevant teachers and see what they say. Different schools do open days differently, but what you need is the chance for a quick chat with someone who teaches Maths (etc) so you can ask them the question and see what they say.

Nowadays it’s trendy to be a healthy eater and to have a large bottom!

When was this? I can imagine this was the case in the 1990s but I think body positivity is much more of a thing nowadays. Stick thin isn't so much in fashion.

My kids are at all girls state schools. It's a really good environment. Everywhere has its difficulties, as does being any kind of human really, but overall they are being allowed to work their hardest and achieve their best without thinking about it too much. I'm sure all schools are different but that certainly wasn't my experience at a mixed comp.

Pretty sure studies show girls perform educationally better in a single sex environment, whereas boys do better in mixed (because girls are used to 'temper' their behaviour??).

Our experience so far is a couple of incidents in past few years of mixed primary where girls were held accountable for boys behaviour (which was shocking and the teathers/ head couldn't even see they were doing it until we walked them through the incidents until they could see it and then just dismissed it as thats what needed to happen to resolve the incidences!) and now in an all girls secondary (not planned but she got in so we went with it) and she has already commented on how much less disruption in lessons there is as no boys and we have seen how she is thriving academically and socially. We do make sure she has plenty of mixed activities outside of school though.

@saywh4tnow I always wondered about the statement - there are more eating disorders in all girls schools - could that be because more girls are affected by eating disorders therefore in an all girls school you will find a greater proportion (because there are no boys?)

My friend went to an all girls school and said eating disorders were rife because the girls were so competitive and kept comparing themselves. It wasn't cool to eat lunch and if you weren't underweight then you were fat. She hated it.

Both my girls went to a girls only school (14-18).

They are adults now but say they loved their school (they picked it!). There was no pressure to do “hair and make up” every morning (their female friends in mixed schools always did) and they both excelled in STEM classes.

At university they both had several professors comment that they could often tell the girls who had attended an all girls school as they were more apt to speak up and participate vigorously in class.

They didn’t have any issues interacting with boys as there were plenty of social
outlets.

"want to go where my friends go"

Of all the factors, this one is probably least important, especially with a big comp.

Everyone I knew went to the same secondary school. Very few of us found ourselves in the same class as existing friends, few of those friendships survived unless there was some shared out of school activity anyway, so we all made new friends. I think that's pretty typical.