To wish my DD's Girls Grammar School did not admit boys to the Sixth Form

[redange]

My DD1 has just collected her GCSE's from her school which is an Essex girls Grammar with high standards. DD1 has done very well and 'likes' single sex teaching (if she wanted to learn with boys she would got to the Boys Grammar for Sixth Form). However, like most Grammar Schools whether Boys or Girls they are Co -Ed or in my DD's School partially with around 30 Boys in both Year 12 and 13. I know this seems to be the fashion that Girls Schools which really should be single sex all through are admitting boys these days into year 12. I guess it is probably due to funding though personally I would prefer single sex availability for girls with the Boys Grammars offering the Co=Ed experience if wanted.

I came here to say the same. Double standards as far as OP goes. Don’t let the boys into the girls school but let the girls into the boys school.

I agree with others though. They have to mix at some point. I’m not personally a fan of single sex schools. Most of my friends in high school were boys. Into the same interests as me. Music and performing and being in bands. I found girls too bitchy. My daughter is the same. Doesn’t really mix with girls. Not a girly girl so struggles with all the drama and being obsessed with looks.

@redange As I said earlier my DS went to a
SHSG for his A levels and finished in 2025 . The boys your DD will meet at 6th will need very high results to get a place . My DS met some brilliant boys ( and girls ) and it was a great experience for all of them. A boy in the year above won the most prestigious scholarships to a US university, while my DS wasn’t of that level he found the environment inspiring. It’s a great school and we feel very lucky to have it in Southend . I think the girls and their parents in our year felt the 6th form experience was enriched by having boys, it’s a small number but what girl doesn’t want to meet brilliant boys at 16. The possibilities are endless there.

What a pity! I'd love a live not having to put up with men!

I think you’re very blinkered. My dd2 went to SHSG for 6tH form after being in a co-ed secondary. Very few boys in her classes but everyone thrived there.

my dd1 went to WHSB after a similar secondary. She thrived thrived THRIVED there.

wont say more as its outing but honestly op, you are overthinking

What? Why?

It’s perfectly valid to have a preference for single sex education. All options should be available.

I don't think the OP is acknowledging how lucky her daughter has been to be able to have the education she has had so far, without having to pay for it - an opportunity the majority of children in this country have not had. In most parts of the country if you want single-sex, selective schools it costs far more than most families can afford, but OP is moaning that she can't have it for two more years.

So because you can’t afford certain types of education you can’t have opinions?

Yes the Southend area is very lucky to have four exceptional Grammar Schools on offer. One of the biggest strengths for me is perhaps the wearing of 'proper' school uniform in the Sixth Form required by all four Grammar Schools. This, I suspect is probably against the majority of posters views, who think 16/17 year old should wear anything and will likely call me out again. The four Grammar schools in the area offer academic standards higher than any Private school in the area. However, I have seen the limit of the 'Secondary' schools in the area with the progress of DS. Thus, because he is now 'almost' average, the school concerned have given him a ceiling of grade 2-4's because they don't have either the nous nor the budget for better.

DS has been in the state system all the way through and it was always, the intention to move to the Independent Sector when appropriate. We are fortunate to afford for him to redo year 10 and hopefully he would be able take at least two A Levels in year12/13.

Unfortunately the downside of Grammar Schools is the negative effect they have on the surrounding schools.
Hopefully your DS will thrive in his new schol.

Yes, the other schools are not comprehensive, because most of the higher attainers have been creamed off and therefore expectations can be limited. This can particularly affect those children who might have been ‘good enough’ for grammar, but for various reasons haven’t gone and those more average attainers who might bloom later.

OK, so your DD won’t even be in an environment with boys where social pressures/stereotypes exist in relation to clothes, and the environment will be very regulated generally. I keep asking but you don’t ever reply. What is it you think the boys will be doing that is going to diminish the quality of the learning environment?

Obviously OP is very right to be dismayed at the school accepting boys in the 6th form. It will have a real detrimental effect on both the school and the young women who's futures will be hindered by the presents of a bunch of crass, gross, egotistical and usually intellectually inferior boys. Such a shame to see boys ruining what was a great arrangement before. Makes me so cross that women's always have to be held back by these caveman!

You clearly know NOTHING about the schools you are talking about.

One only has to look at the statistics to see that the boys will just underperform in comparison to the girls and bring the overall success rates of the school down massively.

?? Wherever you put teenage boys and girls together there are always social pressures and stereotyping.

Ime boys tend to think they’re right even when they’re wrong, and girls tend to think they’re wrong even when they’re right. So girls can become more diffident and timid in a class with boys. Both genders can be more afraid of looking stupid in front of the other, which can make class contribution more conservative. Boys can also be more demanding of teacher’s time.

I was a grammar school girl whose school became a mixed comprehensive when I was in form 2. Didn't bother me. TBH I always tried to outdo the boys. My mother was a teacher in a single sex grammar school. She always said if you want to succeed, it's down to you and the work you put in.

I went to an all-girls grammar right though sixth form as well. I had no brothers. At 18 I had absolutely no idea how to communicate with the opposite sex, and I think I was the worse for it.

I went to an all girls school, they also admit boys now in the sixth form. I didn’t find working with men tricky !
Research shows that girls do better in single sex education and boys do better in mixed.

I went to an all girls school. It had a brother school so we had combined activities.

I always knew boys, as a child, as a teenager I made sure of it. I had no problem with boys at uni or men in the workplace. I always got on well with guys, partly because I was quite naughty.

For people who are shy and introverted with the opposite sex, being at school with them can make life harder rather than easier. It’s not a given that coed resolves that problem.

DD1 has many male friends though Hockey and outside interests and does not necessary need or want them in a classroom environment.

Why exactly?

I know I’m going to be criticised and labelled a pick me girl
but this is my real life experience.
went to an all girls private school, including sixth form. I got a scholarship so not being a rich girl had an impact, but generally I really loved it.

one of 3 girls with a dad who worked overseas so primarily female household
never had any issue at uni and beyond around boys
long career in male dominated tech job, have enjoyed and flourished
3 DS who I have managed to bring up as a single parent, and enjoy my boy world, I totally ‘get’ them

However I have had horrendous experiences with female managers, the bullying i am currently experiencing is brutal
and playground mum cliques and politics - I hated it, so glad when primary years were over because I was rubbish at keeping up with ‘the rules’

so it seems only ever being around females growing up has effectively equipped me with no skills to cope with women 😭😂😩 although of course I love my sisters and Nieces

Citation needed. For every ime there is a different anecdotal experience. Ime the boys at my school came in all shapes and sizes and I don’t remember a single one who was any of the things you mention by the time I got to Sixth Year (Scottish equivalent of English Sixth Form). In my school (a state comprehensive) there were lots of quiet academic kids of both sexes. We all did well and went on to good universities, absolutely no gender divide in the results.

On the other hand, I have heard some horrific (first hand) stories about bullying and eating disorders in all-girls’ schools.

Citation 🤣 fuck off. I’m cited myself: “ime”. I was at an academic, independent brother-sister school with some very arrogant boys. No gender divide in the results: 50% of each went to Oxbridge.

But research generally shows that girls do better at single sex schools, whereas there’s no difference for boys.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/may/12/girls-do-better-in-exams-at-all-girls-schools-than-mixed-research-finds

”My hunch as to why girls perform better in single-sex schools is that being all-girls facilitates a culture of achievement and a sorority in which girls celebrate and enable each other’s achievements and can feel proud of doing well academically without inhibition...” < >

We know, and research shows, that boys typically in a classroom take up more of a teacher’s time, so if you remove boys from the equation the girls are going to have more teacher time, and that’s going to be helpful in terms of achievement”

“Floppyearedlab · 20/08/2026 10:22
If she wants to go to uni she will have to get used to boys being there and put up with them in the workplace. Life isn’t segregated.”

This with bells on. I was in co-education throughout and did very well in exams as did my DDs and their female friends.