Single sex high schools yay or nay ?

[nameisnotimportant]

I'm looking for opinions on single sex high schools. Are they better or worse ?
Would you prefer one over the other for your child ? Even better if you went to a single sex high school, how did you find it ?

Went to an all girls school, hated it. It was a very very long time ago.

Based on my experiences as both a pupil and teacher, I would consider sending my daughter to ones local one but not my son. That could be specifically about those schools though. The boys who didn't fit in were thoroughly miserable and nobody cared. They were boys who I feel would have been much happier in mixed schools.

I went to both and liked both. Atmosphere was more grown up at a mixed school, all girls was pleasantly free of the male gaze but could be a bit cliquey and gossipy.
DD goes to a mixed school but I think she would be happier at an all girls but that's not an option where we live.

I would always send a daughter of mine to single sex. I went to a single sex school and loved it, and my daughter loves her single sex school. She was seriously fed up of the sexist crap from boys by year 6.

Went to all girls until 6th form. Liked both. Mine will go to single sex secondary and switch at Y12 too.

@OoopsIDidIt that's a really interesting perspective thank you

Definitely thinking single sex for girls abs mixed for boys - that’s what the research suggests!

It was a long time ago but I went to an all girls secondary having come from a mixed primary. I loved it! I remember being astounded in my first year with girls talking about bras and periods so freely. In primary the girls were too afraid to wear bras as the boys would ping the straps So my all girls secondary felt like such a safe place in comparison. There was also less pressure to act cool to impress the boys. I got to make male friends through various hobby groups instead (once they'd all matured a bit )

I went to a single sex school and whilst I enjoyed it there was a lot of bitchiness/bullying in my year group. I was also quite awkward around boys when I went to uni. Despite that I have sent both my DDs to a single sex school. There are still pros and cons. Pastoral care, which was non existent 30 years ago, is now a real focus at school. Ideally I would encourage a change to co-Ed for 6th form but DD1 doesn’t want to change. I think she is starting to miss boys though. I do like the fact that boys are not a distraction and there is no culture of make up and hair straightening for school going on!

I don’t have any personal experience. Only private schools have that option in the area but having a son and daughter I can see how they learn very differently and mature at different times so on the surface I think that separate schooling could work very well.

Dd1 is going to a girls grammar in September. My dn is already there and loves it. They are v similar characters so dd1 can't wait.

Both my dds struggle with boys behaviour in mixed primary.

Dn is in year 9. She describes the school as having nothing that's in or out. Lots of arty creative types.

The school runs long term projects in conservation and engineering so lots of work around gender stereotypes.

We are v excited.

I went to a single sex high school and would definitely have considered one if I had a DD. Like a PP, I think mixed is better for boys.
As a pupil, single sex was fab for challenging stereotypes and championing women. I think it's no coincidence that myself and friends moved into careers that were traditionally male-dominated.

It’s nice to hear so many positive views of all girls schools. I don’t have any friends who went to girls schools and actually enjoyed it. A lot of talk of bullying and bitchyness. So hopefully that’s a sign that things have improved? I did wonder whether social media would have made things even worse.

@Lockdown2021 that's one of my main concerns is that they won't learn to interact with the other sex. I guess activities outside of school would help.

Talking of girls being ‘bitchy’ is so horribly sexist. There are nasty individuals in all schools. But why would girls be more ‘bitchy’ in an all-girls’ school than in a mixed-sex school? Why is there this patriarchal idea that boys somehow help girls to get on with each other?

My experience, and the experience of my daughter and all her school friends is that girls are much happier free of sexist comments and fear of upskirting etc from boys. Free from ‘it’s not attractive for girls to be clever’, free from boys dominating in the classroom, and free from ‘certain subjects are for boys’.

I’m sure many/ most girls are happy and thrive in mixed sex schools. But girls who have had bad experiences in single sex schools may well have had exactly the same experiences or worse in mixed sex.

@NoToMisogyny that's exactly what I was thinking. Surely girls can be bitchy in both types of schools. Also some of the most bitchy people I have ever met have been men 😂

Yes, both my children (DS and DD) going to single sex schools. I went to a single School and thrived in the environment however I never understood why until started viewing prospective schools for my own DC's. I discovered some subjects are dominated by one sex over another eg computer science classes huge % of boys and arts and drama skewed to girls. You don't see this in single sex schools, kid choose out of interest and talent. I don't want my children to miss out because a subject is perceived to be for the other sex. I also saw the most amazing displays of woodwork in an all girls school - yet another subject that would be male dominated in a coed.

I was neither here nor there about it until DD started high school. I guess I kind of believed the idea that co-Ed was “better” because it reflected real life.

Guess what, real life is sexist, misogynistic and downright dangerous for girls. Keeping them out of it for as long as possible is a gift.

In primary school DD was already being sexually harassed by boys. Her teacher overlooked her during maths lessons in favour of boys.

Sending her to an all girls high school (academically selective state school) has been the single best decision we have ever made for her. The encouragement and support of every girl’s talent and interests just blows me away. At my coed comprehensive you would have been eaten alive if you’d dared to excel in anything apart from being pretty and playing girls sport. The bullying by boys was vicious, physical and always threatening. DD has a freedom I didn’t know existed.

DD is now in yr 9 and has absolutely blossomed at her school. DS goes to the brother school and it is also a great school but I feel like he would be equally happy at a coed school.

I am strongly against single sex schools. They are artificial and a breeding ground for bullying. And it's pretty insulting to suggest girls can't do well with boys around. Why not?

We moved away for a couple of years during my secondary education so I went to both. Started and finished at single sex, mixed in the middle. Both were considered academically excellent but I did much better at all girls.

Mixed was 100x bitchier and I find it really weird that theres a cliche about girls schools being bitchy. We were so much more relaxed without boys around and didnt have the daily low level sexual harassment. The thing I appreciated most though was the freedom to ask questions and have real discussions in class without the bravado and pisstaking that comes with having young men around.

I did have male friends outside of school, but when I went to uni I did feel a bit naive and out of my depth with men. But I also didnt take any s*. I was astounded by some of the sexist crap my friends seemed to be acclimatized too.

I went to an all girls school and loved it. 35 years ago I did maths and physics A levels, because they were available and I enjoyed hte subjects. It was really rare - when I started uni, I was told several times that I couldn't possibly have those A levels as I was a girl!

I think girls really benefit from being themselves. They can take advantage of all that is on offer, rather than feeling pressurised into doing traditionally more female subjects. They don't have to compete with boys in the classroom, they don't have to put up with sexist behaviour. They will gain confidence in themselves and their own ability. My DD went all girls to GCSE and you could see her confidence growing, and her assurance that being female was a positive thing, and shouldn't hold you back.

I know there is an argument that it means girls feel awkward in male company and don't know how to deal with them, but I never found this to be an issue. My DD transferred to a boys school with co-ed 6th form for A levels - one of about 40 girls in a 6th form of about 150. She has taken to it without any problems mixing with all the boys.

My Ds also went to a boys school. The school knew boys, how they behave, what types of teaching they respond best to, etc. And the boys were encouraged to follow their own interests so had huge choirs and orchestras. I don't think you get many boys singing in a mixed environment.

Why on earth would single sex schools be a ‘breeding ground for bullying’?

I depends upon the personality of your child. I ideally I would like my DD to attend a school with a diamond model. There are benefits to being in a single sex environment and co-ed. However how do I explain to my DD that after attending a co-ed primary that it is okay to be separated by gender. What happens to those children that consider themselves to be non-binary?

I went to a mixed state school and with the exception of drama, I don’t recognise comments about girls and boys being more directed to particular subjects. I did maths and chemistry A levels and the class was pretty balanced. Can’t remember what it was called but the GCSE I took which included woodwork, etc was also pretty balanced.

It was a massive shock when I went into the world of work to find myself in a heavily male dominated environment!

This is a really interesting discussion and I’ve welcomed hearing differing viewpoints. As I mentioned before i found it helpful to hear such positive views on single sex schools, particularly for girls, as that’s not the experience of a number of my friends.

I guess there’s something at the back of my mind though saying it’s just not representative of the real world and what we are trying to achieve in terms of workplace diversity. Why when we are striving for equality would we want to keep boys and girls separated? If it’s not ok to have single sex workplaces why is it ok to have single sex schools? We encourage organisations to be diverse, and there is a lot of focus on how diverse organisations actually perform better. Are children missing something if they are not getting the point of view of the opposite sex?

I don’t know the answer either way but think it’s an interesting one to think about.