What is going on at Winchester College, anyone know why they are considering co-ed?!!!

[flourandeggs]

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/winchester-one-of-the-last-boys-boarding-schools-may-admit-girls-m792dck68

The most likely reason is that the number of students has fallen to such an extent that they need to boost their intake any way they can.

But I would have thought of all the schools Wincoll would not have been struggling in this way? I understand it has been a very tough year and that finances in all the boarding schools are on a knife edge, but surely the popularity of this particular school will carry it through without having to make such a dramatic change? If this is happening at Wincoll what is happening behind the scenes at the less popular boarding schools?!

Affordability for British parents is likely to affect their intake. Schools like Winchester will have maximum numbers for international students which they set to maintain a balance in the student body. So to increase the pool of suitably bright British students who can afford the fees going co-Ed is a good option. Charterhouse have done it recently. Beneden have stayed girls only but now have day students.

It has such a reputation as a school for a very particular type of boy, and parents are quite passionate about it being a place where that type of boy can be given the environment to flourish, that more than some schools it might struggle to redefine itself as a co-ed? I would image it might have to be a fairly extensive(expensive!) repositioning and marketing exercise!

Perhaps because they consider themselves one of the top schools in the country they no longer want to deny half of children an education there on account of their gender.

@JustRichmal in my experience these top schools are seldom altruistic to that extent, such a big change is probably a sign that something is amiss, and as others have said, most likely financial issues.

From reading threads here, it seems that Winchester is good for an academic 'quirky', non sporty boy?
I haven't really heard of an academic girls school with the same profile.

Perhaps they would rather accept similar girls than drop academic standards for boys?

@TeenPlusTwenties Wincoll parents are pretty passionate about its uniqueness as an environment where their boys will flourish, so interested to see what they might think about adding girls to the mix - possibly pleased but it will definitely need some rebranding!

flourandeggs, you could be right. However, with so many more schools now co-ed, it could be that parents are looking for a more modern approach to education which is seen to be inclusive.

@JustRichmal the quote from Clarissa Farr in the article is somewhat telling. I agree though about co-ed and my DC are all at co-ed schools as both my husband and I were at single sex and felt we wanted something different for our DC. I am just quite surprised to see such a top school considering the move, I thought a school of that reputation was immune, and wonder if it is an indication of what a tough year it has been even for the most successful schools.

I couldn't read the article beyond the intro. The starting point could be girls in the 6th form. I could imagine demand for that maybe?

A local girls school closing is often a driving factor

@Hazelnutlatteplease but surely not for one of the 'greats'? It has to be more than that I think. To rebrand a 600 year old school is pretty cataclysmic.

I don’t believe for a second Winchester is struggling. I suppose it might be short of UK pupils, but very much doubt that too.

So - it will be one or other of

• They are starting to notice that an increasing number of parents of the boys they really want are having doubts about single sex education, and think they might as well get on with making the change now

• and/or they think it will happen some time as being a bastion of male privilege is out of step, and doing it now is way of stealing a march on Eton/Harrow as no. 1 UK school, especially in the light of the very odd teacher just sacked from Eton

I think it is also about having your "pick" of students and parents voting with their feet. Maybe they are starting to see that don't get so many applications, or not from the quality that they used to - you said yourself you are not doing single sex despite being single sex educated? Winchester probably wants their pick of the crop, rather than just accepting those of a certain quality from the reduced pool of boys whose parent will countenance it? I understand from MN that there are a few who leave in sixth form now to Peter Symonds due to perception of easier applications from state system AND single sex being less highly prized after 16, so maybe that is part of it and where they would start?

My DH was single sex educated at one of the "survivor" single sex schools named in the articles and feels it was a terrible fit for him, very old fashioned in terms of segregation from the real world and would never send his son there. I know others who feel similarly. Obviously not everyone - I understand people DO still send their kids to these schools of course, but I can genuinely see, for example, that there is a good chance that Prince George will be educated at a co-Ed establishment rather than an all boys institution, which does show that times are changing. You can obviously top up from overseas as a school like Winchester, but then there is probably a tipping point where the school starts to be more "international" and not the "British institution" than even those international parents might want.

Wanting govt/charity grants?

My son went to a state boys' grammar. They missed out on loads of funding/grants in the noughties, at a time when most schools were having money thrown at them by the Govt, EU, etc., for new sports halls, new halls/theatres, extensions, new buildings, etc. They had an old school and it was literally falling apart, leaking roofs, crumbling wooden temporary classrooms, etc.

One of the reasons they missed out was that they couldn't "tick the boxes" on the claim forms - selectives weren't favoured, single sex wasn't favoured, the old buildings weren't disability friendly (and couldn't be made so due to narrow staircases, listed building, etc). Nearly all the clams they made were rejected.

It took a new head, a new "business development manager" and a few replacements on the board of governors, to change the mindset and they spent a few years working on diversity etc. One of the massve changes they made was to make the sixth for co-ed - that opened the floodgates to loads of grants as they cleverly decided to convert the oldest building (tiny rooms, steep staircases, rooms in the loftspace etc) which was semi-derelict into a co-ed sixth form centre.

Also watching with interest ...

Though I'm fascinated, OP by your own investment in this story?

@PursuingProxemicExactitude own interest is v close family who went there & I have friends with boys there. It just surprised me when I read the article this morning. I think more than anything I felt a bit sad which surprises me as like I said I am not a fan of single sex, and my own children are actually at our local comp so I don't hang out in such rarefied circles, but I have always thought it was a rather nice school that sat comfortably in its niche and suited lots of the children that went there. Which as one poster said it is probably absolutely possible to perpetuate with girls going, but might take a bit of rebranding. I'm quite interested in branding as well!

I remember when we were taking a ten year old to visit various schools, Winchester struck me as the place I would most have liked to attend myself. If only ... (Would have suited me much more than the girls' school I was at decades ago.) It seemed wondrously calm and civilised. Though we all preferred the erm domestic arrangements at another school.

They'll probably be able to find girls who are the same as the type of boy who suits Wincoll

Just did a Google search and came up with a pretty much identical story from 2006. Winchester isn't struggling, either financially or for pupil numbers. My guess is this is one of the perennial questions that all schools ask themselves as they do their long term visioning and planning. Any institution should challenge its inherited assumptions, and be prepared to adapt. I don't see Winchester choosing or needing to move in that direction any time soon though.

@flourandeggs

Yes quite often. If theres a tradition of the boys going to one school and the girls going to the other when the girls closes it prompts the boys to go Co-ed. I dont know Winchester but this really wouldn't surprise me.

Girls can, at last, have access to the very generous bursary pots available at these schools? Wycombe Abbey, Benenden, CLC and Roedean have nothing like the bursary funds available at these old boys schools.

Providing equal access to a Winchester education regardless of sex, religion, race or financial background? I am a big fan of single sex education so would be a bit annoyed if our school went co-Ed, but if the school are looking at how they can modernise their approach then surely this would be it.

Also, St Mary’s in Shaftesbury closed last year. Just over an hour away by car and a traditional girls day and boarding school.

Winchester has St Swithun's which is a girls mixed day/boarding school.

@Zodlebud in terms of 'branding' wouldn't the St Mary's girls be more likely to have been sent to Ampleforth (whilst they could!) Or Downside? I had a feeling it's USP was a) catholic and b) all rounders rather than academic and quirky?