Concerns at Wychwood School, Oxford - seeking other families

[Galanthus78]

The situation re Wychwood going co-ed is of great concern to my DD who is a pupil at the school, and to us. We've given the powers-that-be a chance to reassure us, and DD has talked extensively with staff; if anything, we've become even more concerned. DD has now asked us to actively seek her a place elsewhere, which seems a real shame after several (mostly) happy years there.

Are there any other parents around?

Specifically, we have 3 main concerns, which I'll go into, below.

Wychwood as it is doesn't really have a good business model in the Oxford private school market. But given the excellent boys' schools in the area I'm not convinced it will do any better co-ed, and will lose many families who chose single sex intentionally.
If you want girls single sex, the obvious places are OHS for bright girls, Headington for sporty and/or confident or boarding, St Edward's for co-ed boarding and all rounders, MCS for bright and musical sixth form girls, Rye St Anthony for nurturing, and then Tudor Hall is near enough for nurturing single sex boarding but bigger, and HelKats in Abingdon as an alternative to OHS. D'Overbroeks co-ed nurturing day.
Most families I know don't consider Wychwood and those that do have very much been looking at single sex

@SchrodingersUnicorn When we did tours last year in the area, we found Rye the most similar to Wychwood with a bit more religion and a lot less trans stuff.

We liked Rye a lot. Nurturing but seemed eminently sensible and supportive.

Is Rye quite religious?

@pasturespastures its catholic (but the diosces [sp?] thinks it’s not that good at being catholic). There is chapel and everyone has to do RS GCSE.

A lot of people like to promise to "vote with their feet" in various situations and then, when push comes to shove, decide they can't be bothered, or that things weren't so bad as they feared after all.

It is possible that the school has reached the conclusion after a great deal of careful consideration that this is the best commercial decision for them to make. After all there are plenty of successful mixed independent schools and single-sex schools may be seen as rather old-fashioned. Perhaps they are in some financial trouble and this is the best option for them - other than putting up fees which might well annoy parents even more.

I would assume financial difficulties. If so then don’t assume that, if these aren’t solved, the school would close at a convenient point (like the end of a year) or that you would get notice. When I was young a nearby school closed a week after Easter - which really stuffed up their pupils’ exams. And I know another school that closed at the end of May a few years ago. Though suspicion around finance would also make me question which boys would choose to attend,

i do know a girls school that went co-Ed - for financial reasons but not immediate pressures. They introduced boys into the youngest year group (4/5 years old) so it took over a decade before the whole school was coed as the boys aged up through the school. If there is time, that seems a much better way to go coed, also means you only need to invest in boys toilets/changing rooms for primary to begin with.

You mention trans a lot. Do you think they might have had boys identifying as girls wishing to join? That this could be driven by ideology rather than finance? In that case I would still run just as fast.

@Shelefttheweb The slow introduction into lower years is the norm. This was sprung on at parents out of nowhere with no consultation whatsoever.

Which makes me wonder if it was ideological. Especially with a ‘beyond binary’ type tagline. How can you believe gender identity is most important and remain a single sex school? Who owns the school/made the decision? Is it privately owned? A charity? If a charity can you object to its change of purpose?

@Shelefttheweb Again, I'm not a parent, we only toured the school but certainly looks like it is ideological if not financial. I can't imagine they're expecting a huge influx of boys, their accounts aren't great but not, we're shutting tomorrow bad. There's been very sudden changes in the school in the school even when we toured it last year, and I suspect this is probably more to do with the type of school they're trying to create than any significant financial problems.
As already mentioned by someone else, their twitter is very quiet about this. Their marketing for this is shoddy at best, that popup is so ugly and doesn't match the rest of the website. It just doesn't feel like they're marketing it. I can't put my finger on it, it doesn't seem like they are trying to attract boys, just changing it to being able to take boys.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think their current model is financially viable, their enrollment is tiny and by the sounds of things, only getting smaller but this feels like it's the end of a preempted plan, especially as they're treating parents with such a lack of care. I refuse to believe someone would put millions into a school and be this careless with the investment. Just doesn't make sense.

Just looked up the website: 112 pupils? I spoke to the head of a private school recently who felt that anything under 200 pupils was not financially.

*viable

@Shelefttheweb Exactly. With such a tiny cohort you'd be doing everything you can to make the current parents happy, and ensuring your marketing is really top notch.
This feels like the end of a plan that doesn't have the current girls at the centre. If it did, they and their parents wouldn't be treated the way they have been.

There is a new website launching soon and they had their photoshoot in January. I would have done all that back in September if it was actually properly planned though, and launched the new co-ed website at the same time as the announcement to parents and just timed it so they could have started marketing to boys early in the application season. They say it has been planned for ages though?

I don’t see how any school-browsing parent of boys would look at the site now and think “oh great!”. Unless… well. Maybe there is a nuance when you actually call them up. Speculation isn’t helping though, and isn’t what the OP is asking for.

Money has been spent on the school since it was bought, but not huge sums. That’s all still in the planning stage for this coming summer.

@pasturespastures You're absolutely right, it's not helpful to speculate. I guess it's just really strange so it's difficult not to. I'm quite angry as well, for all the girls and parents. It seems almost personal as we were so close to sending DD there and she would've been in the thick of this in Y10. You seem so reasonable and nice, do they not see how lucky they are to have parents like this?
Nothing adds up, even the boy in the popup looks so angry. I can't see why they would put a picture like that to attract parents of boys.
I'm glad OP has had some input from parents though, and I do really hope everyone who wants out, finds the right place, and for those who stay, it works out.

lol - I like that. Coming from my own religious background I think it's important that the authorities don't think you're doing a brilliant job at your faith, because then you're probably being a bit TOO religious. 😆

Just looked up the new owner.

albion-schools.com

It is only therefore by thinking differently and acting collaboratively can we hope to continue to provide a format of education that is accessible, affordable and free of prejudices relating to gender, race, colour or creed.

Though the parent company is a property investment company, so their focus is on financial return for the ‘asset class’. www.e3cap.com/investment-strategies/

I’m afraid I don’t know the school but have read the thread and my interest has been piqued by what @Shelefttheweb gas uncovered. What is the potential value of development on the school site if the school closes?! I mean it’s Oxford- which is one of the most desirable & wealthy locations in the South so I’m guessing quite a bit. From what I’ve read (112 pupils?!) this school is not viable - I’d secure a place elsewhere from Sept 23 asap.

Their website isn't even up to date. The Admissions page invites girls to sit for entrance exams for admission in September 2021.

Keep it simple - you wanted a girls school, your needs haven't changed - the schools gone co-ed and therefore you move as soon as a suitable girls place can be found. Move forward as the schools unlikely to reverse their decision and if they did I would still worry about it happening further down the line.

@BodenCardiganNot If they want admissions for all year groups, for Sept start, those prospective parents of boys will need to give notice of fees to their current schools really soon. You'd think they'd be pumping out marketing for that asap, but it doesn't seem to be happening. I was on their admissions marketing list and would get emails periodically about open days. I didn't even get an email informing me of this announcement, found out on here.

We have decided as parents of a daughter who attends Wychwood to remain and support the school as many have. Why? Because when we went to talk to the Head she gave us confidence, strength of reason and genuinely cares. There is no financial debacle that we could see, no rush or unpreparedness (although none of this can be easy for parents who originally chose single sex and we found it tough initially) and the one thing we got out of our meeting was passion. I think the few who are upset are shouting in desperation - my advice would be go and talk but it’s not helping you or Oxford schools to ask for help here as people don’t have the answers - only the school has and the parents of those pupils attending the school. Please go and talk to the school - please don’t bring the name of the school my daughter adores into the mud on social media just because you are cross.

@May09Bump Reframing it in my mind, to remember that DD’s needs haven’t changed but the school are no longer offering what she needs, is really helpful, actually. Thank you.
She’s looked at another school now and we’ve had a verbal offer of a place there. It looks like the formalities will be complete in time for us to give notice shortly. I’m sad about it on one level, but there has been so much change so quickly at Wychwood that we’ve lost confidence in the leadership.

@Everywhichway2023 I'm glad you've managed to work it out between you and the school, however I've not come across a Wychwood parent on here or in real life that has said anything but positive things about the school, up until September. Voicing disappointment about such a drastic change that happened without consultation is understandable, as is voicing disappointment in the management when the backlash from said decision isn't being handled well.
All of the things talked about on here are facts available to everyone, there is no hearsay or gossip or slander. When there was speculation a parent who is unhappy with the change defended the school! No one is dragging the school through mud on here. I think the schools management are doing that all by themselves. It is obviously a much loved school but don't gaslight other parents and try to change their lived experience. I doubt anyone decides to move schools without first trying to talk.