Choosing a recently co-ed private primary school: what should we look for?

[Keyboardpacifist]

We're looking at private primary schools for our daughter and I notice that some have been co-ed since the beginning (1950s latest) and others are more recently turned co-ed (2020s). I'm not sure how much this matters so I'd love people's experiences of sending their kids to a more recently turned co-ed when they're the "new" set of pupils.

• If Snobe says it's now a 1:1 ratio is it a non issue
• Are there extra things we should look into at open days?
• Is it different primary Vs secondary (we're looking at primary)
• Is it different if it's a boys' school originally or girls' school originally (we have both among our options)
• Would it put you off and why, or under what circumstances?

If it has been co-ed for a full cycle of children (reception through to year 6/8) then I'd have less concern. But I would want to know about:

• the ratio of boys/girls
• whether there are enough children to have sports teams for both sexes
• whether the extracurricular options speak to both boys/girls
• for further up in the school, whether there are any bulling/behaviour concerns
• how they approach PHSE

How many teachers have previously taught Co-Ed for how long and how long ago.

If it is selective, you might want to check whether they still maintain the right balance of boys and girls.
And it’s also worth bearing in mind that if they are undersubscribed for one gender, then they will fill it up with the other and so it is not the question that you could end up with an unbalanced gender cohort.

Oh - and leaver destinations. Are they as clued up on supporting boys/girls onto their next schools?

I would try to get an understanding of the culture and whether there are elements of unconscious bias.

Just coming at this from another angle, some schools may have changed to co-ed recently as they are trying to boost numbers and have financial security. Just worth a consideration having been there in the private sector and our DC school closing.

I’d want to know that they were financially viable before I did any more investigations.

What other single sex options are around locally?

My co-ed private all through is very close to some highly selective girls' schools, and not many boys schools, selective or otherwise, and a few non-selective schools. This means we get a wide abiltiy range of boys, but not necessarily the top end of girls.

Definitely look at the balance. I saw one co-ed school that was so heavily tilted towards the boys it put me off instantly for my girls. If there are lots of girl only schools then the co-ed dynamics will change depending on the other schools locally. I’d not be too worried though if it’s gone through a full cycle. There is literally no way on this earth though I’d put my girls into a newly formed co-ed school.

No single sex options in this city. We have a shortlist of 5 schools and all 5 are co-ed.

What's happend is that both the single sex schools have gone co-ed in the 2020s. One is now 1:1 ratio and the other is 1:3 (more girls at the ex girls' school). Next city over has one girls' private school but multiple co-ed private schools.

By the time DD joins there will have been at least one full cycle of co-ed in primary. The other three have been coed since before I was born so less bothered about those.

Interesting! If anything I feel I might prefer the ex-boys' school as it has far better sports facilities and better extra curricular club variety in senior. But that's just on the website I don't know how it really feels to the pupils in practice.

I looked round a former boys’ school that had recently started taking girls as well. The main thing that put me off was that the proportion of girls was still very low (note: this was for Year 6 entry). But what I found very telling was that when I asked what the benefits of going co-educational were, they could think of lots for the boys and the school, but none for the girls.

What sort of things might you look for or ask at an open day to determine this?

Oof. That's a question I'll add to my list, thank you

This is a great point thank you

2020s is quite vague. If it was 2020, classes are full and it’s at a near enough equal boys to girls ratio then fine- it’s far enough in the past to have reestablished its identity, dealt with any staff churn and for staff to get proper coed experience including moving kids on to next schools. If it went coed v recently then you don’t know what you’re getting and if it also has suspiciously small classes I’d be very worried that it was a last ditch attempt before closure.

Interesting. I've said 2020s for the purposes of the thread, but I know the exact year for each 😅

What would you consider suspiciously small? Most of the private schools round here seems to say average 17 pupils in a class which is already mind boggling to me when state is 30!

Anything between 15-20 I think is likely fine although I’d ask what their max class size is at an open day to get a better idea. If classes are smaller than that, and especially if it’s a one form entry, I’d personally be worried.

Also take average with a big pinch of salt. I’ve seen schools that have said similar and actually they have a massive bulge nursery class because of a shortage of places in the area, an ok sized pre prep, then seem to lose a load of kids at 7+ so the older years are tiny with unequal boy-girl splits. I’d want to go on a tour and see the classes for myself.

I would look for a near equal ratio of boys and girls else I’d strike it off my list. My DD went to a coed prep with around 15-17 in a class and around 40-45 in the year. Around 25+ boys and 20ish girls. That was too small a pool for friendships and she had problems all the way through. Luckily her bff was a boy. By year4 I found the girls and boys plays seperately and parties were almost separate. So if you don’t have a group that fits you can feel quite lonely. Younger DD went all girls and she has masses of friends.

whichever school you go for - aim for around 22-25 girls in the year group if you can.

Ask the kids that are giving you the tour. The girl giving me the tour of the school I hated answered pretty honestly that there was one year that only has 3-4 girls and they didn’t like it.

Any 7+ only coed preps such as Merlin, Wimbledon, and Wetherby are 90% boys.

Also important to know if they are going co-ed because of falling rolls. This is particularly significant (IMHO) with boys schools suddenly taking girls.

Interesting. By the time DD starts reception the ex-boys' school will have been co-ed for 6 years.

I did some digging and realised had misunderstood the ex-girls' website and they have actually had their primary school co-ed since the late 90s and only started accepting boys into secondary in the 2020s.

The ex-boys' cites changing landscapes post-covid as rationale for their shift to accepting girls... but it also went fully co-ed just one year after the ex-girls' did. And has a tricky origin story.

So the timeline is a little bizarre but goes something like:

Start:
School 1. Originally founded 1800s as all girls' school
School 2. Originally founded 1100s (!) as all boys' school

70s
School 1. Still all girls throughout
School 2. Accepted girls (merged with secondary modern)

80s
School 1. Still all girls throughout
School 2. School closed down!!! Pupils moved to a new co-ed comprehensive

90s
School 1. Admits boys into EYFS
School 2. Reopened site as "new" all boys secondary

00s
School 1. Admits boys all through primary. All girls in secondary
School 2. Admits girls to sixth form only. Added an all boys prep. Still all boys the rest of secondary. Still has girls in sixth form only.

10s
School 1. Admits boys to Y7 and Y12
School 2. Added an all boys EYFS and KS1 to make all boys primary. All boys the rest of secondary. Girls sixth form only.

20s
School 1. Fully co-ed accepting boys and girls to every year from EYFS through to sixth form
School 2. Admits girls to primary, then one year later to Y7 too so fully co-ed

So it looks like the ex-girls' had a healthy intake of both for primary but the boys used to be stopped from entering secondary so went, perhaps, to the boys' school. As soon as they allowed boys into secondary, perhaps it negatively affected the boys' school for numbers.

The ex-girls' has bigger classes (about triple the ex-boys'). Which has surprised me because the ex-boys' has significantly better grounds, and a prettier listed building... goes to show what assumptions I made there! They also have access to better sports etc facilities and things on paper. Though the ex-boys' sports stuff is off-site and the ex-girls' is all on-site so maybe it's the little things.

Looks like parents are voting with their feet as they say... 🤔

None of our shortlisted 5 use the 7+ although three are academically selective.