Positive experiences with all girls schools?

We’re a year in and love it. Everything is calmer and because there are more girls, there seems to be less competition for attention. I feel like my daughter has refound her voice and confidence in class as well. Obviously we’re still early days and that view could change but at 10/11 it has been much easier.

We have a girl's school on our list. I definitely had some reservations for some of the reasons mentioned in this thread, but on balance I'll be very happy it she goes there.
I was sexually assaulted by a boy at school and it would be a relief to know that DD wouldn't have to deal with those kinds of issues.

I believe that it was absolutely right for my DDs. One struggled, but would have done anywhere, the other absolutely flew. I think there was something really liberating for them about the single sex environment and being able to build their confidence. Then co-ed sixth form.

Mine, like me, will probably get distracted! I went to a girls school and got excellent grades, then to a mixed sixth form and my grades plummeted. So ive chosen to look at single sex for mine. Our experience has been the girls have all had great opportunities without the distractions. Even the awkward girls in the class get to feel part of the group. I do feel if its mixed, these would be the ones who might struggle to get their voices heard.

Rather than viewing it as are all girls schools better or is coed the best route (academically results suggest girls thrive better in single sex), I would be squarely looking at your child. Are they a more girly girl who make friends easily? Or do they seem to lean towards hanging out with the boys? One DD has always got along better with boys. She finds boys uncomplicated and more straightforward, and her schooling has been infinitely happier I’m more successful when there have been boys in the mix. My second DD is good at making girly groups of friends. The boys are a distraction for her. In fact, she might have done better overall as she not had boys around.

Hated being in a coed, the worst bullies by far were boys at my school. This included physical violence and sexual assaults.

My 2 are at a selective girls' school. Both are very happy and thriving ut despite v different personalities..No friendship dramas. Teachers very encouraging. No regrets at all.

My DD went to a mixed school but really wanted to go to single sex for sixth form. Though she said it was better once they had sets for GCSEs she said the boys needed 80% of the teachers attention for one reason or another. She didn’t like dealing with their disruptive behaviour and has just revealed to me that one if the first things boys do once they hit puberty is to taunt girls with sexual noises! Gross. She said she wanted to go to school to learn, and boys sometimes got in the way of that.
She didn’t love her sixth form, nor make any long lasting friends, but she did earn three A*s.

The majority of single sex private schools have an entrance exam. Mine are at an academically selective single sex private school.

I wouldn't say that was representative of independent schools - in the current market a lot of parents are paying for selective and academically advantageous education. Many private schools trade on their percentage of top grades, high level sport, music, drama and ability to provide a calm, motivating learning environment.

While some fee paying schools are non selective or set up to accommodate more complex special needs, they are rarely without gatekeeping for those who struggle with academic achievement, participation or behaviour. Friends who have had children with additional needs in private schools have been made to pay even more for any additional support required too. So they are very socially and financially selective at very least.

I’ve just looked it up, apparently in the uk 70-80% of private secondary schools have an entrance exam

useful to know….its more likely a generational thing then.

Yes I guess there are schools like this but it’s fair to say that most single sex private schools have an entrance exam? At least all the ones I know

Grammar school entrants will have passed an exam to get in; private school pupils often don't need an exam to get in, and in fact many pupils are placed by parents in private schools because they have some special educational need that might be catered for in a private setting.

And it has to be further complicated by large amounts of the population, particularly in rural and coastal areas, having no access to state single sex education at all.

It simply isn't available to us. There is one (private) all girls' school about 30 mins away and an all girls selective state grammar more like 45 mins away (where catchment is relevant).

So any comparisons are already based on limited data.

I’m really thinking of GCSEs though , isn’t that the benchmark for who does best, school against school?

You can compare like for like - via sats.

Furthermore, in the most of the UK, single sex vs coed education is a parental choice. Studies which indicate that girls attending single sex schools are more likely to study STEM at A Levels and university are weakened if either of the following are true:

1. Parents who want their girls to study STEM topics are more likely to try to send them to single sex schools or
2. Parents whose girls exhibit an interest in STEM topics in late primary are more likely to try to send them to single sex schools

Yeah, I’m not convinced there are enough single sex comprehensive schools to make a fair comparison for stats purposes. So do these girls do better because they’re at a girls school or because they’re already more intelligent having passed an entrance exam? Happy to be open minded on this point but I’ve never understood how there are enough single sex comps out there to show this properly. There could also be other issues like cultural ones, or other demographics to be considered. We all know stats can be more complex that first sight. That’s not to say girls don’t do better at single sex schools but is it is simply down to there being no boys? I think there may be a lot more to it

This is a good point. Henrietta Barnet is probably one of the best performing schools in the country, but it's more competitive to get into HBS than to Oxbridge from what I understand, so obviously it will already have the absolute cream of top-performing girls.

14 year old dad is at a girls grammar. She is having the best time, doing all sorts of clubs. She has a lovely group of friends who are as yet not all that interested in boys, more interested in socialising together. And there is evidence that girls flourish better at school without being overwhelmed by the boys’ behaviour. It’s lovely to have a space for girls to develop like this. And it is easy for the girls to choose a co ed sixth form if that is what they want later

I always wonder about the stats saying girls schools out perform mixed schools. I’m not doubting it but in the three counties I’ve lived in, the only girls schools were private or grammar so already have the more intelligent kids in them. I wonder if the stats take account of this or compare to comprehensive schools which doesn’t seem right. I’d be interested to know

@Spidey66 The technology curriculum is indeed much broader and sciences are enjoyed by many girls. I’m older than you and I can assure you that, at a co Ed grammar, the girls did cookery and needlework. At my DDs girls school, they did neither.

Would you please link to the research that you've seen that indicates girls do far better holistically in single sex schools? I'd like to know how they measured "holistically".

I was at an all girls school. I wanted to go there as at 11 I hated boys as I was quite sensitive and found them overbearing. My parents believed I’d do better in maths and science in a girls school.. I wasn’t great at either!!! But I didn’t think science was a boys subject so that was positive.

it was somewhat limited in it’s curriculum. We only did cookery and needlework….no woodwork/TD/metalwork (sorry for outdated subjects…I’m 60.) However I dare say it’s illegal now not to offer traditional male subjects to girls. So my education suffered to a degree.

I found when I went to 6th form college I found boys alien and didn’t know how to respond despite having 2 older brothers. Tbh it took several years for me to get over that. It didn’t help when I left I was in a job that was about 80% female.

i don’t have kids so can’t offer a perspective from a different generation. It was also a Catholic school. While I can see both the advantages and disadvantages of single sex v co ed if I had kids I know I wouldn’t send them to a faith school unless I lived in an area where the local primaries are all c of e or something meaning I didn’t have a choice.