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

I agree @flourandeggs but the closure of such a well established school in the general locale was bound to make them reassess their own risk.

Our school has 50% boarders, 50% day and in the current Y7 there are only two international boarders and they are learning remotely in their home country still. There’s usually 10-12 in each year group. Those higher up the school have decreased in number too. The current Y7 has been able to fill places with day girls but there’s a big gap in revenues and who knows how long it might continue.

Shock horror that a school is being dragged into the 21st century...

Pressed post too soon....

So if Winchester has seen a similar pressure on fee revenues, then I think they may well start trying to appeal to a wider audience, be that within the all boys realm or going co-Ed.

I doubt WinColl is struggling. They turned down 3 boys from my sons prep school (entry Sept 2020) and accepted two (very bright academic boys). They are also building a new gym hall at the moment.

I agree with poster who said St Mary’s Shaftesbury closing would have little affect, very small and Catholic, Downside might benefit or St Mary’s Ascot.

I have no direct connection with either school btw, just have a few friends with children currently at WC and a friends daughters went to St Mary Sh a few years ago. St Mary’s Shaftesbury struggled for years, Dorset Council have recently bought the property.

To rebrand a 600 year old school is pretty cataclysmic.

But so many schools have already done it, many very successfully. It's hardly cataclysmic!

@HostaFireAndIce. True! It was my word for the day. Which ones do you think have done it best?

I think that’s an interesting question actually. There’s a lot of schools that we think of as big co-Ed public schools that were of course once single sex and we forget that now. Schools like Ampleforth and Downside mentioned above, Wellington College, Repton, Rugby, even Sevenoaks, which I can hardly imagine as an all-Boys’ school now. There are loads more, of course, and probably better examples than these.
I think because it happened a while ago, people forget, whereas I still have to remind myself that the Perse Boys isn’t all boys anymore. If Winchester does go coed, it will feel odd for a while but eventually it will be a coed academic powerhouse, rather than a boys’ one. That’s presumably what’s prompted the consideration.

Sorry, that was waffly and didn’t really answer the question 😂

I am a current WinColl parent and would say this is a bit of a non-story. The governors review many aspects of the school routinely including its single sex position. In fact they have been reviewing the co-ed option since the 19th century, so I wouldn’t hold my breath if you are expecting a dramatic change!

How come we often hear of all-boys' schools considering going co-ed, especially the well-known ones like SPS/Winchester/etc, but we rarely hear, if ever, of all-girls' schools threatening to go co-ed? Imagine how families at SPGS/CLSG/NLCS/WA/et al would feel if their Governors are talking about admitting boys into their esteemed halls?

If I were to venture a guess, would it be due to an attempt to raise GCSE/A-Level rankings by admitting girls as top girls' schools are ranked higher than boys' schools as alluded to in the article?

Would be interesting to see if the number of uk applicants had dropped over the last few years,certainly we are aware of parents that thought it would be a great fit,went for a look and decided no for a variety of reasons,from very poor facilities to the fact they seemed to be rather proud that boys in the first two years were banned from having laptops(cant believe thats still true?),havent looked at exam results recently but was told Oxbridge numbers were down a fair bit?
We didnt look as we knew it wasnt the right place for our boys but its always had a very loyal following and for the right boy is Im sure a fantastic choice.

First I heard about this was an apologetic letter from the school last night.
It seems the Sunday Times asked them if they would ever go coed and they answered that that was a matter for the governing body.

So no I’m not expecting win col to go coed any time soon.
The school is 4x oversubscribed so it doesn’t need the pupils.
Moreover many like me chose it for their sons specifically because it is single sex.
Single sex girls boarding schools (Wycombe abbey, roedeen etc) of comparable quality exist also.
And my daughters go to St Swithun’s the single sex girls school in Winchester.
When boys and girls are obviously so different quite why anyone would think educating them together is a good idea is odd. The distraction of the opposite sex being present is not a positive.
That’s what university is for.

Same here RJP1.

I imagine they’ll be some full inboxes this morning.

@RJP1 nothing wrong with a good bit of healthy distraction IMO. It's the repressed ones you have to worry about!

@RJP1 on the contrary I can't think why educating them separately is a good idea.

Dont Winchester close the admissions book after theyve got a certain number on it?
Are laptops still banned for the first couple of years?
Why would the Sunday Times ring up and ask that question,if they hadnt heard something,did they ring up every other single sex senior school and ask them...?

On a slight tangent, I’ve just heard about Sherborne Prep joining up with Sherborne Boys, and Knighton House being bought by Bryanston. I think we’ll see quite a few changes in the next few years in order to save money/increase numbers - whether mergers or going co-Ed.
Has anyone heard of any other mergers due to Covid?

Every boy at WinColl has a laptop which is specified by the school and I believe is the same one as the Dons have. Remote learning has been very good. My ds currently has a timetable of 100% contact hours as he’s in an exam year.

@SomethingInTheWaySheCooks I am also a parent at WinColl and (apart from the email yesterday) haven't got any info on if it will go coed. What do you think will happen?

Thecrankyone I am not losing any sleep over this!

@flourandeggs

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!

Can I ask what sort of particular boy does it suit? Thanks

Hmm ... While all that might have been true at some point in the past, it seems to be a bit of a myth now. The particular boys who suit Winchester are the ones who took up an offer there, rather than Eton or Radley ...

I have it from the horse's mouth (former ten year old prep schooler) that those of his friends who went to Winchester in the past few years were no different, in brain or personality, to the boys who went elsewhere. Former ten year old also acknowledges that, while he had a different favourite amongst the small number of schools we applied to, he would have been perfectly happy at Winchester.

So - what sort of boy? Clever, independent, well organised. It's a boarding school, there would be no point being there unless you actually enjoy the company of your peers. And it could be miserable if you don't have a good amount of self-confidence and resilience. I can't think of anything particularly distinct that would mark out a 2021 Winchester boy as in any way different to other clever, fortunate schoolboys.

Hmmm it seems like Clarissa's comments imply there is more than the regular review on the subject going on. Or she may have made a mistake with those comments, it wouldn't be the first time as I am told by some friends who had girls at SPGS during her time that she likes to be in the limelight with the press.

It would be a great thing to have Winchester as choice for the girls though. Can see them being more pragmatic and advancing with times, would not say the same thing about Eton though, just imagine reducing the boys intake by half! Institutionally forbidding as it would shake the establishment.

Agreed with Clarissa always seeking the press but why care about "shaking the establishment"?

For sure, parents who chose single-sex for their sons (or daughters) in the first place have reasons to do so and, if they didn't, would have gone for co-eds. Surely, it wouldn't be fair to them to change the "establishment" when its the products and services they bought into and sought in the first place. There are markets for different needs and there are already plenty of good girls' and co-ed schools for girls.

How would SPGS and NLCS families feel if they let boys in?

It's like the lingerie tycoon trying to break into a 187 year-old men's-only club, The Garrick Club, through legal channels. I mean, you can't find any other clubs you want to join?

Didn't their Head oversee the introduction of girls in Sixth Form at his previous school (also 600 odd years old)? So it is probably his 'thing' to make his mark on the school and get remembered.