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Original poster

In amusing that I must be a dinosaur, for being disappointed that my DD's 'Girls' school admits Boys into the sixth form

33 replies

redhilary · 18/10/2021 09:56

I know I am probably out of kilter with my view, that a school that says its a girl school, should be a girls school all through. My DD's are in year 11 and year 9 at a large Girls Grammar School. However, in the sixth form they admit a small number of boys, currently there are about 25 boys in the sixth form. I have no problems with the school academically, they quickly engage action plans to resolve problems for girls struggling academically.The pastoral care in years 7- 11 is also excellent, which I think is due largely to the all girl nature of the lower school.

I just think some of the camaraderie attained through five years as all girls together, gets diluted in the Sixth Form . This dilution of camaraderie , loyalty and friendship groups occurs even with the advent of just a few 6th form boys in to previously established groups.

Thus, I am I a lone voice in wishing girls could at least continue with an all girls environment all through the school.

OP posts:
Kindertonguehappierlife · 18/10/2021 09:58

Honestly every single sex grammar school I know has a mixed sixth form

FoamBananas21 · 18/10/2021 10:00

I feel the same, I went to an all girl's school and was disappointed when they admitted boys to the sixth form. It changed the dynamic! But I had a good mixed group of friends outside school and I know that some of the girls who didn't were pleased about it so I guess it really depends.

Original poster
redhilary · 18/10/2021 10:03

It might be 'amusing' but i should have posted Assuming.....

OP posts:
RedHelenB · 18/10/2021 10:06

Never been a fan of single sex schools. Unless you decide to be a nun or monk you're going to have to learn to live and work with the opposite sex at some point.

ErickBroch · 18/10/2021 10:08

Same as PP, every grammar school I know has mixed sixth. I think that's on you for not being aware, sadly. Maybe a religious grammar/school would be different? Could investigate.

Dixiechickonhols · 18/10/2021 10:09

I think it’s a normal set up. I went to an all girls school but was ready for a mixed sixth form college. DH went to a boys school and they had girls join in sixth form.
I think you are ready for a change by that age.
I think it would be odd to go from a single sex environment to Uni. The only girl I knew at Uni who had been at an all girls school until 18 was very odd and inappropriately flirty around boys and spent her first term having sex with lots of our hall of residence. Explained as oh that’s Debbie she was at a girls school.

TyrannysaurusXXrightshoarder · 18/10/2021 10:10

Hmmm. I’m on the fence. My DDs grammar also does this and the boys’ admits girls to their sixth form. Usually boys and girls move to the other school due to it covering a specific subject they want to study, at A level, that the other either doesn’t do as well or at all (very few from outside of the grammars join at sixth form, a handful from the independents maybe). More girls move to the boys than vice versa. There’s only about fifteen boys currently in a sixth form of approx 165. I know (anecdotally, obviously, from DDs friend who made the move ) that the atmosphere is very different for the girls in the boys school - appearance like clothing and make up suddenly become more important to them and relationships between girls and boys can become problematic. The same is not true in the girls school. The dynamic barely changed, and both my DDs had friendship groups, now including boys, for the first time (in school) since nursery. And I don’t think that’s been a bad thing tbh. I suppose it might have been a different story if the numbers of boys love if across was greater though.

Jasmine11 · 18/10/2021 10:11

This isn't a new thing though, my school admitted boys into the 6th form, and the local boys school admitted girls at the same point too and this was in the 90s.

Comefromaway · 18/10/2021 10:14

It's incredible common.

Apparently there is a lot of research which says that children learn better in mixed sex classes at primary and 6th form age but single sex and secondary age.

Pedalpushers · 18/10/2021 10:18

I thought pretty much every single sex school became mixed in 6th form?

I think 16-18 is too old to still be isolated from the opposite sex. It's not reflective of reality and my experience is those who were schooled in this sort of environment struggled socially at university.

Phineyj · 18/10/2021 10:20

It's a practical thing generally - if there's movement from the girls' school to the boys' at sixth form, then students need to be recruited to fill the gap, which is easier to do if they recruit both sexes. It does change the atmosphere but by 16 maybe that's a good thing.

I taught in a school like this and it was interesting watching the boys trying to fit in with the girls.

ShirleyPhallus · 18/10/2021 10:24

I came from a mixed school and at sixth form we merged with the local girls and boys schools.

It was so bizarre, the girls would turn up in really short skirts and giggle continuously at the boys. The boys would strut around not quite knowing how to talk to the girls.

Those from mixed school got on with it but it took a while for the single sex lot to calm down. I think some mixing is good, it would be quite unnerving that the first time you’re with opposite sex is at university where you’ll likely be living with boys!

Original poster
redhilary · 18/10/2021 10:26

The girls in year 7- 11 are only isolated away from the other sex for 6 hours a day. The boys and girls see each other every morning and night on the school buses .

OP posts:
HairyScaryMonster · 18/10/2021 10:29

I went to sixth form early 2000s and the girls school and boys school allowed each others students to join classes. Allowed for a wider range of niche subjects. It's good to get accustomed to learning with the opposite sex as will happen at uni. By then the silliness and OTT of having boys in class should be gone. They have chosen their subjects and want to do well.

ikeepseeingit · 18/10/2021 10:36

I absolutely hated being in an all-girls school. I felt so much better being in a mixed sixth-form. I still had all my female friends, we just got to hang around with some really lovely boys as well! I actually found that the girls were less boy mad, more focused, and got along far better when we all realised there wasn't much to be competing over 😂

lanthanum · 18/10/2021 10:40

It's sensible to get used to learning in a mixed environment before university.

I read an article about student life with covid restrictions. One girl's Oxbridge college had decided to room people by subject, so that there was less mixing of bubbles. She was very apprehensive, as she was coming from an all girls school and turned out to be the only girl reading her subject. It was absolutely fine; she got on with them well and opted to be in the same house as some of them for this year, but perhaps she would have been less apprehensive if she'd already been more used to working with boys.

GeorgiaMcGraw · 18/10/2021 10:41

That seems weird to me. I went to a girls' school, we were female-only in sixth-firm too. It was lovely, and it didn't stop us from having boyfriends or male friends during that time.

PersephoneJames · 18/10/2021 10:42

Going to a single sex grammar school has really impacted my ability to be friends with men even 20 years after leaving. I don't think they're a great idea tbh.

But PPs are right in that this is the norm now, and I know my single sex school really struggled with getting enough sixth form students to be able to run courses, and merging schools is a way around this. I think it is quite a good gateway into university life where they will be living with boys.

Seeline · 18/10/2021 10:52

I'm very torn by this. I went to an all girls grammar many years ago and loved it. I did have a very active life outside of school, and got on just fine at uni.

Both DCs went to single sex Indies. By the time DS got to 6th form, they had started taking in girls - about a quarter. It really worked well. My DDs school stayed single sex, but she was ready for a change. Strangely not for that reason, but wanting a change of ethos and a bigger set-up. She has ended up in the same 6th form as DS went to. She is one of about 40 girls in a year of about 190 and is loving it! The boys seem to pull their socks up and stop messing about, and there aren't enough girls to risk the cliques that you can get in an all-girl set up. I can't help feel a little sorry that the tradition of the school that has existed since Elizabethan days has had to change though.

Wotsitsarecheesy · 18/10/2021 11:00

DDs school does this now, and I think it's a shame. It used to be that the girls grammar and the boys grammar had their own separate sixth forms, but shared provision in subjects that had smaller numbers (so pupils enrolled at one school would travel to the other for niche subjects). Now they have scrapped that arrangement and opened up both sixth forms to anyone. This means that some niche subjects are no longer taught at all in one or other school, and you have to change schools fully if you want one that is taught at the other school. This doesn't bother either of my DSs, but will hugely bother my DD with autism and anxiety. She would have been ok travelling to the boys school for 1 subject, with most of her time spent at the girls school. There is no way she will enrol fully at the boys school, which means one of her best subjects is no longer an A level option for her. I just think the previous arrangement of separate sixth forms but some shared provision was better than the current one.

Sparklfairy · 18/10/2021 11:06

Mine did this, as did my brother's. Take up wasn't high, I think we had one boy! My brother had a handful of girls but under 10.

I can't say I agree with it, at that age hormones are raging. It impacted my brother hugely. He walked his GCSEs (11 A*) and then the girls arrived and suddenly it was all about the social life. The whole social dynamic changed, they had a big mixed friendship group with people chopping and changing girlfriends and all the drama. He absolutely flunked his A levels, had to find a uni place through clearing and it was all downhill from there as he felt it wasn't worth bothering about because he'd always expected to go to a 'good' uni that fitted his self image.

If he'd gone mixed from the start I don't think this would have happened, but because girls were suddenly introduced it was a distraction and affected the dynamic that he was used to at school.

Original poster
redhilary · 18/10/2021 20:24

I also had in hindsight a great experience going to a single sex grammar all the way through to A Levels. I also like the fact that as a group we were still able to 'giggle' in the 6th form common room. Thus, we were not overly concerned with looking or acting to look cool and 'sophisticated'.

A skill by the way I still have not mastered some two and half decades later.

OP posts:
lottiegarbanzo · 18/10/2021 20:58

Was this sprung on you after your dds joined the school? Is that why you're annoyed? Or did you always know but just feel a bit sad about it?

BelindaBumcrack · 18/10/2021 21:06

This isn't anything new. I went to an all girls school and we had boys in the 6th form and some of us attended the 6th form at the local boy's school.

This was in the early 1980s. It's just how they made teaching more effective. Our school taught A levels that the boy's school didn't and theirs taught stuff that ours didn't. For example if you wanted to study Economics you had to attend the boy's school 6th form. If you wanted to study English Lit you had to attend the girl's school 6th form.

Can't see why this is a problem to be honest.

Kite22 · 18/10/2021 21:07

I agree with everyone else.
This is really, really common, and normal, and - IMO - positive.

It has also been happening for decades - including when my brother was in 6th form in the 1970s.
It means that more A-levels can be offered and still be viable.