Single sex classes in mixed comprehensive

[Rufustherednosedreindeer]

I don't want to go into too many details but one of the classes in my year 10 child's senior school is all boys and the other is all girls

This doesn't sit well with me and I have never heard of it before, I am going to query this with the school directly, but before I do does any body else have experience of this?

What do you think? Good idea? And if so why?

Thanks

Several years ago I taught in a mixed comp that did this with the teaching of Applied Science (a 50% coursework subject). I got the boys to teach (my class had previously had 21 boys and 4 girls in it anyway). They were only split for boys/girls with C/D/E predicted /target grades. They were hard work, took a lot of motivating and their behaviour wasn't perfect despite my strictness but they were a great bunch of lads. They all got higher grades than expected including 5 B grades.

I have a daughter and would object to her being split into an all girls class for science, particularly physics. The underlying implication is that teaching boys and girls science should be different because they have different ability. This is doing nothing to dispel the attitude that biology is a girl's science and physics is for boys.

When I was in school, we were split into single sex classes from y10 for PSE which included sex-ed (as in the past girls had said they were made to feel uncomfortable in mixed sex groups). Due to the way our GCSE timetabling worked, we were in exactly the same class for IT as well. Could it be something like this which has caused the split in his other class as well?

Fair enough, query it with the school, but if it has been done for a reason, then they are probably unlikely to change it just for your son.

My DD goes to an indie school where they do this from year 7-11. They have girls and boys forms too. The odd GCSE class is mixed if it's a subject with few students but generally all the classes are single sex. Of course they all get to socialise at breaks and lunch.

When they get into the VI form they go back co-ed again as they say research shows that purely single sex education can lead students to struggle socially when they go to uni.

It is known as a diamond model of education and lots of schools are starting to do it- one of our local state schools does this. Strange as they say the boys behave better when the girls are not there.

If discipline is the issue I would take it up with the head.