For those who did, do you think going to an all girls school was a good thing for you...?

[BraveMerida]

...or did it scar you for life ? Why?!

And would/did/do you send your dd to one?

just interested.

[nobutreally]

I went to one & yes, if money wasn't an issue, I'd certainly send dd to (the right) single sex school. My school was a good fit for me - academic, rather serious, slightly kooky. I can remember thinking at the end of the first week 'this is what school should be all about'. I'm sure the right co-ed school would have done the same, but being all female helped me.

Whilst it certainly didn't remove the distraction of boys (boys school down the road) it allowed school to be very much about school - academic, social/friendships, sport, whatever. I didn't experience much bitchiness & felt that as others have said, there was a culture of celebrating academic capability within the girls themselves that I suspect wouldn't be present in a co-ed school.

Never had an impact on me socially - as far as I'm aware - my best mates at uni were mainly male, and I've carried that with me.

I also feel it helped shape my feminist principles - being in an all female environment meant you saw women performing all roles - so to speak. I certainly think it gave me a confidence that stood me in good stead out in the real world.

[nobutreally]

Oh, my single sex was secondary - I went to a co-ed at primary.

[Thisisaghostlyeuphemism]

I liked it and would prefer single sex ed for my kids.

[edamsavestheday]

News story today on researh showing co-ed schools are reinforcing gender stereotypes and steering girls away from physics and boys away from eng lit. Think that's probably Word's link.

[Misfitless]

My sister and I both went to an all girls secondary school.

We had no brothers. Our dad is lovely but wasn't really there much when we were growing up, and we didn't have any male cousins that we were especially close to. My point is that we were seriously lacking in meaningful contact and relationships with boys and men.

I think this shapes you as a person.

Even though my DDs have a brother, and a very loving and hands-on father, I would not send them to a single sex school.

My sister did consider sending her boys to a single sex school, (in spite of it being single sex not because it was single sex iyswim,) because academically it was a better school. In the end she decided against it. She reasoned that the pros in terms of academia were outweighed by the negative impact the lack of girls their own age would have on their life skills.

My DD (17) has gone through a mixed high school. It warms my heart that she has a really good mix of male and female friends, and can relate to boys her own age much easier than I ever could. I have no male friends even now, and they were always a bit of a mystery.

I think for girls, going through puberty around boys is much healthier - they get 5 years to learn that there are many fabulous teenage boys out there who will tun into fabulous men, and they get an insight into the fact that some are knobs who you shouldn't trust or touch with a barge pole!

I wouldn't want my DD to be discovering that for herself, miles from home on a university campus at the age of 19. They also learn that not all boys are out for sex, and that you don't need to 'put out' to be seen as cool or to be accepted, and they learn to see the opposite sex as something that is part of everyday life!
There is no way I'd send any of mine to a single-sex school, OP!

[senua]

I went to an all-girls school, a long time ago. The plus was that there was no gender stereotyping; I did STEM subjects and it was not considered that wierd. The minus was that I did not learn how to socialise with boys.

A totally different take on the issue: DD and DS went to the same Primary school but different Senior schools. DS's school was better than DD's but not available to her because it was single-sex. It wasn't until DD joined DS's school's sixthform that I realise how much 'shared history' they had missed. All of a sudden they could again discuss pupils, teachers, gossip that they had in common.

[nomorecrumbs]

I know single-sex schools are presumably better than this now, but at mine only 15 years ago we couldn't play football or rugby, noone did woodwork/metalwork or Greek. The residential trips to outdoor pursuits facilities were offered about once every 4 years compared to the boys' school, who went every year.

They weren't very good at gender equality. I for one would have loved to have played football and gone to the trips, and would have had more opportunity to do so in a co-ed school.

[SummerRain]

No, I hated it and would avoid it at all costs for my kids.

I went to mixed schools til I was 8, then single sex from 8 to 15 and then mixed again for my last two years and I found the mixed schools a far more pleasant environment and performed a lot better without the endless bitchiness and cliquey behaviour that is rife in all girls schools.

I certainly didn't experience the focus on academics that others here have mentioned in the girls schools, in fact the girls schools were the ones with the greatest culture of vilifying and bullying those of us who were above average intelligence and academic capability. If I did well I was tormented for it whereas in the mixed schools I never once mocked for being clever.

I also found the lack of male influence in the girls schools quite unnatural and stifling, any male teacher no matter how old and hideous was fawned over and flirted with, girls behaved ridiculously around boys outside of school and didn't know how to interact normally with them. I've always been a tomboy and in the mixed schools most of my friends were boys, in the girls schools I had very few friends and was quite lonely.

[edamsavestheday]

Btw, I moved from mixed to girl's school at 14 and it was SUCH a relief getting away from loud, obnoxious boys dominating the classroom and harassing us girls to a place where you could study and it was OK to enjoy physics if that's your thing.

[christine44]

We have sent DD1 to a selective girls grammar school and it was 100% the right decision for her. She has thrived academically and has some lovely freinds. I think she may well try for a place at the boys grammar for sixth form because it offers the A levels she wants plus I do think it would be good for her to socialise with boys as well as girls.

[littleomar]

Just read news reports - at my single sex school, you couldn't do single science GCSEs, everyone had to do double certificate. Not sure how that was going to redress the balance at A level. RE, on the other hand, was compulsory for all. And for everyone who has mentioned women in positions of authority, nuns don't make good role models

[DancingLady]

I went to an all-girls school and would happily send DD to one. School = focusing on education, making friends, growing as a person. Easier to do that without the distraction of teenage boys!

[senua]

the endless bitchiness and cliquey behaviour that is rife in all girls schools.

Sweeping generalisation much? There was little bitchiness in my school - I suppose that there may have been some, but I never came across it.

[Timetoask]

I went to an all girls school. It was awful.
The bitchiness, the cliches, you couldn't get away from it. I did have my group of friends, which I still see, but I think the general atmosphere did cause some confidence issues for me.

I had really nice male friends at university, so I think I would have been happier with boys in my school.

[lainiekazan]

Nope.

I went to an all girls grammar school. I had no brothers. My friends had no brothers. I was boy mad and so were all of my friends. We put boys - all boys - on a pedestal and thought they were something special.

If a girl has brothers/male relations/close friends then that may dilute the "boy mad" factor, but if a girl is isolated from males, apart from a father (which is a wholly different relationship) then I'd avoid a single sex school. Exactly the same for boys, too.

And I wouldn't be lulled into the notion that a plain (for want of better word) girl would be "safer" in a single sex school. In my school the girls were brutal about their less than attractive peers. And I don't think it's changed much. Dh's nieces attended an all girls school and bullying over looks and size was rife.

[Timetoask]

"cliches"!!! oops sorry, you know what I mean.

[wordfactory]

I suppose one needs to check what kind of all girls school it's likely to be.

There's one not too far from me where every girl looks groomed and polished. Designer handbags are common place. The results are not sterling.

That wouldn't be a plae for me and my DD.

DD's school ithe antithisis of that. I shall be so sorry when she leaves .

[Lonecatwithkitten]

I was in single sex education from the age of 8 years to 16. I then went co-ed from 16 to 18. There was far more bitchiness at the co-ed school than the single sex.
I am scientist and on reflection would not have followed my career path had I been at a co-ed schoole, luckily my A-level choices were set in stone prior to joining co-ed. But had I been co-ed at GCSE I think the ratios I encountered for physics. maths and chemistry woul have made me think long and hard about taking them at A-level. My parents had ensured out of schools I had plenty of exposure to boys.
Plus my school innoculated me with belief that I could achieve anything I wanted, I later encountered girls who had been at a variety of co-ed schools regretted not being encouraged to aspire to certain careers in the way I was.
So I passionately believe in single sex education, in the right school for the child with strong pastoral support and regular exposure to boys. I think this is particularly important for girls who are stronger in Maths and Science.
My own daughter is strong in Maths and the physical sciences and she is in all girls education. The school she is at has a brother boys school and all their extracirrular acitivities are done together. For me this is the best of both worlds. When I looked for a school I was carefully to consider did the sixth form girl's appear to be individuals and have their own style. One girl's school was discounted for the fact that all the sixth form girls looked nearly identical with same dress style an same hair cut.

[fishybits]

Studies seem to show that single sex education suits girls but not boys.

DD is down for an all girls prep school but we will try to get her into a public school that has single sex education but mixed pastoral care.

[fishybits]

Sorry posted too soon.

I went to an all girls public school which great on the educational side of things but bad news outside the classroom hence our wishes for DD.

[seafoodudon]

I had a great time at my all girls secondary but just because I had some super friends who remain my closest friends going on 15 years on. I then went on to a mixed state sixth form. I wouldn't really have strong feelings about whether or not our DDs went single sex or mixed - I'd prioritise the school. HOWEVER, far more drugs and sex and ridiculous over consumption of alcohol at my single sex independent school than at the mixed state sixth form I went to. I cringe at what we were spending our weekends/evenings/lunchtimes doing at 14!

[nomorecrumbs]

Single-sex lessons with co-ed social time seems to be the ideal.

I would have thrived on that.

[littleomar]

Re bitchiness - i couldn't open my mouth at school without someone making a snide comment so i stopped doing it. i was about 27 before I finally thought 'fuck it' and started speaking up in meetings. I haven't got any friends from school, or from the co-ed sixth form I escaped to where I was too shy to make them.

[nomorecrumbs]

Same littleomar.

I spent most of my time at school worrying that all the girls were thinking about how non-styled my hair was or how non-designer by bag was.

It made me incredibly self-conscious.

If I had been co-ed schooled, I could have got away with being my natural, tomboy self. At an all-girls school, one was made to feel somewhat of a freak.

[NigellasLeftNostril]

well i attended both and would recommend the all girls option if you have a choice, at my mixed school the boys thought it hilarious to stick things up girls' skirts and make sexual comments about 'frigid bitches', and some of the teachers were misogynistic, and some subjects were blocked to girls eg TD and engineering.(yes it was post 1977 Sex Discrimination Act)
The girls school I attended had no such nonsense ofc