Tonbridge School or Winchester College

[Marshmallowtreat]

My DS has been offered a place at Winchester College and Tonbridge School for year 9.
We are finding difficult to make a decision at the moment.

Can any current or recent parents offer advice?
He is currently at a London day school so he will be new to boarding.

@neighneighbours

I disagree that girls are needed to civilise the boys. Boys are not plain old brutes who need girls to "Civilise" them please. On the other hand, I do agree that it does help with grades eventhough the Top Academic Boys schools don't really need that.

@WEEonline
Eventhough I don't agree with some of the things you wrote, I do agree that this is a way of trying to readdress the perceived gender imbalance women have suffered over the centuries. Also the Schools with the best facilities and deepest pockets have been historically all boys school i.e Former all boys turned coeds like Charterhouse,Rugby,King's Canterbury, Shrewsbury,marlborough,Uppingham,Stowe et al.

I just found out there are only 48 all boys schools remaining(minus the ones that accept girls in sixth form only) as opposed to 142 all girls schools in the UK.

I was also looking this up yesterday after a discussion with someone. I think it's a real shame choices for all boys' schools are being so reduced when there is plenty of choice for girls.

The formal letter to parents with all details is dated yesterday and arrived yesterday. They said the announcement coincides with her first day of term in Sydney. It looks like they sent all this to the papers at the same time as to the parents. 😏

Some parents are away on holiday now, not looking at emails etc. Did I miss something ?

@Legoninjago1

I find it insane tbh. At this rate, we'd have no All boys school left.

Elizabeth Stone seems to be a high calibre individual and I certainly have nothing against women leaders in predominantly male organisations. But I think if I were a Winchester parent right now, following the fait accompli on girls and day pupils, I’d be feeling that my sons were of no interest to the Governing body any more. Appointing a female Head from an all-girls school at this particular juncture won’t reassure current chequebooks parents that the school is interested in a transition that minimises disruption or that it still prizes it’s boys. It’s telling that there was so much speculation in advance that the Governors wouldn’t be able to resist appointing a woman.

I think it's getting harder for single sex independent schools. Cost of living, more focus on state schools at Oxbridge, less interest from overseas reduces numbers applying to independent schools and the massive challenges of gender identity that is currently pervading the wider discourse doesn't make life any easier. My DS is 12 and has 3 close friends who claim the they are non-binary. What do single sex schools do?

They're businesses first and foremost and need to attract and retain kids to survive.