Mixed or single sex

[theITgirl]

Going to an open evening tonight for Secondary school for DS.
We have a choice and should be able to get either as we are definately within catchment or single sex & probably for mixed as well. the mixed school is the closest school for DD (year 2). BTW also girls school nearby in adjoining town.

Both schools get fantastic results and have very good / outstanding ofsteds.
Our 'sink' school still beats all national averages.

Boys School:
Ex Grammer
Science / Technology specialist - DS's has been more interested in this over the years.
995 pupils - mixed 6th form
Closer (about 10 mins walk)
Very strict, but turns out beautifully mannered boys.
Pupils getting A* to C GCSE inc Maths & English 64%

Mixed Sch:
Humanities specialist - DS showed a real flair for Humanities last year and (exceptional on his school report)
About 20/25 mins walk
1020 pupils
Pupils getting A* to C GCSE inc Maths & English 64%

Is the fact he will go to a day school and have a sister balance out the social impact of going to a single sex school?

Was his humanities report last year a one-off or will that really be his thing?

He can be a bit of a crybaby sensitive, will a boys school be too rough and tumble for him?

i don't know, but I do know that both my ds and dd insisted on mixed schools because it balances out the overly male/female behaviours that can arise in single sex (in their opinion).

Both mine really wanted mixed. We have a DD and DS and it is what we wanted for them too, DH and I went to single sex schools. They also like being together although there are two years between them.

Thanks for opinions. I was totally pro for the boys till I got last years report and realised how good he was at humanities

Do you know how boys perform in comparison to girls at the mixed school? Our local comp has good OFSTED and reasonable results but girls outperform boys in every subject. Maybe something to check to get the overall picture?

Although the schools specialise in a particular area, what do they offer through the rest of the curriculum?

Do you want your children to go to the same school or are you happy for them to go to different schools?

Are there extra-curricular activities or sports etc that your son would like to do that only one school offers, or is there a subject he would like at only one?

I think it's important for him to have contact and be used to being around girls, but as someone who went to an all-girls school and had brothers, I got enough "contact" from a few mixed activities outside school.

I think the mixed sixth form would make all the difference.

I wouldn't go on whether he's inclined to humanities or sciences now. At secondary it's all very different and things do change - my dd hated science at primary and preferred humanities. She's now doing 3 separate sciences at secondary and less keen on humanities.

For the mixed school I'd check out how boys perform in relation to girls (usually behind)

I think that boys schools being rough and tumble is a bit of a stereotype - you need to go and see it really.

No right or wrong answer. They both sound good schools so good luck!

Yes I would def check if they can give you a breakdown of results for boys & girls. Our local mixed school gets slightly better results than the all-boys one but they are being a bit cagy about the breakdown... The boys school gets very good results in English and overall they focus on teaching styles/methods that suit boys.

The other thing I like about the all-boys school is that lots of the boys do things like Food Tech, whereas I suspect in a mixed school those subjects would be viewed as girls' subjects iyswim...

Someone asked about breakdown of results for mixed sex school, Everyone was entered for a minimum of 5 GCSE's The 2010 results 72% boys got 5 A-C GCSE's inc Maths & English & 72% of girls (making a total of 75% !!!) some dodgy rounding up there. Only 1 girl didn't get 5 or more A-G grades at GCSE. You can see the breakdown by subject and it looks pretty even.

8 boys & 12 girls did food tech
But no girls did product design and no boys did textiles.

We saw this school last night and I really liked it.
You must do either triple or double science.
You must do at least 1 Humanities History, Geog or RE
You must do English, ICT & Maths
You don't choose GCSE subjects till the end of year 9, so study everything until then.
Everyone starts French for 3 hrs a week. End of year 7 you get 2 hrs of French & 1 hour of either German, Spanish or Italian. Year 8 2 hours french & 2 hours other Language. Year 9 same again or 3 hours in one language.

Does that seem reasonable?

DH doesn't think a Humanities should be compulsory, I think that it should be at least one.

Sports they do Hockey & Rugby plus loads of others, which are DS's favourites at the moment. They have a swimming pool as well

Very big on music (1 in 5 learn an instrument) and you get the chance to try out a few different instruments in year 7.

Students showing us round were lovely, polite, articulate and concentrated on their group while showing us round rather than finishing off the conversation with their friends.

DS really liked the school, the size worried him but the other school is no different.

Last year they had 700 applicants for 160 places. God, I hope we live close enough!

Other school has open evening on Monday.

So will update then. Even if nobody reads this, I can use it to compare the schools

Sounds good so far

We are doing the rounds too and have seen a very mixed bag.

I wouldn't worry too much about a school's specialisation or profile: it does not mean that they can not be good at other things too. Dd's secondary is a business and technology college, which sounds a dreadful fit for dd (humanities/English/drama sort of person)- but they have been brilliant, the English teaching is very good, they have really got her into history and geography, and the drama seems very good too. All the profile means is that she has to take one practical subject (tech) for her GSCE, which doesn't seem a great hardship.

Looked round a maths and computing college the other day and their drama facilities were wonderful.

But we are putting a lot of store on pupil behaviour and pupil/staff interactions.

If I were in your position, would put mixed school as first choice - having a sibling at the school would mean your dd would definitely get a place and the boys school as second choice. Otherwise you're going to have a similar dilemma in 4 years time but the girls school is further away!

Mixed school does sound very oversubscribed nut what is closest distance people lived last year to get a place ? This information should be available but sometimes things do vary a bit from year to year so try to get this info for several years if possible.

Put your postcode into a website such as www.upmystreet.com and then search under secondary schools. A list comes up with your nearest school first and it tells you the distance your home is from the school.

Hope that helps

Am in similar position trying to decide between mixed and girls only so know how it feels!

The mixed school sounds good.

Speaking as someone who went to a single sex school, I must say a lot of the stereotypes about them are just plain wrong. IME you don't get an overly 'girly' feel (obviously I was at an all girls!) and one of the main positives was that no one took the piss out of people (ie me!) who were doing traditionally 'male' subjects. I had friends at the boys school up the road so I socialised with plenty of people of the opposite gender (several of them did textiles , I think its less of an issue in single sex as you don't get the unbalanced class ratios making people feel embarassed). This only happens out of school time though.

For me that was a positive as it really did stop a lot of the distractions/playing up to get the hot guys attention that can sometimes go on in mixed. I think whether this is a positive or a negative really depends on the individual child though, because it is important to mix with the opposite sex at least sometimes. It depends on if the child has other friends out of school IMO.
Does your son have a clear preference?

Mixed always. I went to girls school and hated it. Dh went to boys school and hated it. I really don't agree with splitting children up for education.

I was really shy and found it very difficult to interact with boys when I got to university.

If your child works hard and is motivated he will do well at either school.

Forgot to add that I went to a single sex school myself. Upside was that I did end up with 3 Science A levels (and Science degree) that would have been harder at co-ed school due to peer pressure. University gave me a a lower offer though as Science teaching wasless strong at girls schools in those days. Downside was that the only boys I knew were my younger brothers friends!
My brothers all boys school had a strong emphasis on sport particularly rugby and I really wouldn't recommend this to a boy who wasn't good at sport.

My OH (who went to a mixed school) seems keen on the all girls school. I would prefer mixed. DD does spend most of playtime playing sport and youth club time playing football with the boys so I think she should be at a co-ed school.