Westminster School going co-ed

[jobadoo]

Newspapers report today that Westminster School will start admitinggirls in the Under School and Senior School, going fully co-ed by 2030. I don't understand why only boys schools going co-ed and not girls schools, setting aside the academic argument that girls bring better results. Or maybe that's the only reason?

Tbh I'm not surprised. The pool of pupils going to schools like this is tiny. They have Harrow, Eton and St Paul's to compete with in the local vicinity, whereas girls it's really only Wycombe Abbey. The other famously academic girls schools are all day. This opens up a huge pool of candidates without lowering the academic integrity of the school. It is a good long term strategy to ensure the viability of the school, whilst we go through very low birth rates in London.

Very good news and I suspect at least in part a response to the allegations made during #everyonesinvited, as well as giving them a bigger pool to take pupils from.

Going co-ed has been a trend in the last 10 years so not surprising at all. No girls schools willing to take boys.

Not sure about low birth rates in London. School admission statistics seem to suggest ongoing demand for school places across all year groups. With London, it's not the birth rate as many London pupils were born overseas.

@jobadoo Falling pupil numbers in London is a well known thing. Plenty of preps and state schools closing due to low numbers.

Schools like Westminster won't be as effected obviously but there are less and less people willing to send their kids to these types of schools so their pool of applicants is small and only getting smaller. Public perception of kids educated at schools like this is very different now too, UK parents will think twice about the effects of a name like this following their son through his life. I don't think international parents will care but Westminster won't want the reputation of being a mostly international school.
They will want to keep their high academic standards and when your pool of pupils is so small, it can end up being difficult to do that.

Where do you think the London hedge fund managers, investment bankers, private equity executives send their children to school? Plus the property developers. And many more with money. I don't see them reducing in numbers.

Closures of schools in London?

Are you sure? I can think of several newly opened, and none whatsoever that have closed.

Those who want single sex day schools in London will still have plenty of choice.

My old single sex girls grammar has started admitting boys, so it goes sometimes happen that way around. Lack of single sex boys provision in the area and excess girls places, apparently.

There is a lot of demand for highly academic boys schools in London. But none has opened, only seeing boys schools going co-ed. Among the top ranked private schools girls schools dominate. It takes a lot of time to build a strong brand.

Lots of money from baby boomers sending grandchildren to priavte schools.

There have been lots of new private secondary schools opening up in London. Presumably they are responding to demand. Boarding is becoming less popular, so it is hardly surprising.

*private schools

Part of me wonders if this is to get around the ever growing ‘trans’ issue. If they admit girls they can admit the boys who are identifying as girls and girls identifying as boys. This is a huge issue at the moment.

I never said those people won't send their kids to a private school. Pupil number in London are dropping. Hop over to the primary forum, preps are closing, giving parents less than a terms notice. There's been lots of talk about this topic on thefe. Here's an article about the state primaries in Camden. Also closing at an alarming rate. Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it's not happening. There will always be demand for very academic private school places, I'm not sure all these new non selective private secondaries will survive that long though.

https://www.camdennewjournal.co.uk/article/fourth-primary-school-to-close-down-in-pupil-shortage-crisis#:~:text=A%20FOURTH%20primary%20school%20is,30%20due%20to%20falling%20rolls.

I have not seen any recent (last 5 years) academic research showing it is better at single sex school, boys or girls. Heard it a lot verbally but no link to actual research with large sample size and data. They may be going coed due to secondary coed London getting a surge of applications. Harder to get in and some parents wants their sons and daughters to go to the same school and have similar education level or experience.
Most top European schools are coed, as well as HK, Korea etc so those families may not feel single is viable.
Top performing prep and secondary have lots of applications despite London birth rate due to international work posting or preference of English education.

it's just the way the world is going. no co-ed schools are moving to single sex, some single sex schools are moving to co-ed. the last few single sex schools have doubtless got decades, maybe even centuries to run but the trend is clear.

for what it's worth my hunch has always been that the research on whether kids do better in single or mixed sex schools is, at least at the margins, a bit shonky. I know in some instances it has been commissioned as an advocacy/marketing piece by e.g. chains or associations of private girls' schools.

I also wonder if the EverythingInvited movement has also driven the trend.

Being a mum of two primary school aged boys and having grown up in a country where single sex schools didn't and still don't exist I would have thought boys only environment would be better for boys in this country to about 16 provided the parents actively engage in guiding their sons through this tulmulous puberty age outside of school. Having the opposite sex in the classroom is highly distracting between 13 and 16 and no parents can help.

@Dodgeitornot
which prep schools have closed? I was reading just the other day that Brighton College have a new Prep in Westminster.
The Camden article refers to state primaries and the reasons given would suggest that there is scope for a prep there.

Westminster’s decision is linked to the results of a review by Fiona Scolding KC, which the school commissioned following Everyone’s Invited.

I went there myself as a sixth-former, and although girls thrived there academically, there were issues with feeling like we were a bolt-on to the school (brought in to burnish the results) rather than really belonging. By getting girls in sooner they will solve that problem and double their pool of applicants, so all good from the school’s point of view. There is an asymmetry about this trend though, as others have said: far more boys’ than girls’ schools go co-ed, and every time they do it shrinks the number of boys’ places further.

Have they said how this will be rolled out?

Fantastic news. I am massively against single sex schools and this can only be a good thing. Habs are moving towards being much more engaged with the boys and girls school with a planned co-Ed 6th form. City juniors is mixed, a girls school near us has gone co-Ed, much better

They have said very little beyond that they expect to be fully coed by 2030, including WUS.

Are you going to the women's drinks, @LarkDescending ?

@FullBloom I seem to have dropped off the women’s network radar! I went to one of the very first events and never heard anything again. When are the drinks? DM me if you like.

50 years of women at Westminster- drinks on 22 June. If you email the alumni office you should get back on the list.

Ah brilliant. Thanks @FullBloom

Don't know about Westminster specifically, but I think it's a shame that the pool of schools for boys is shrinking. There are so many fabulous choices for girls but at this rate there'll be hardly anything left for boys seeking single sex education, for whatever reason.

I thought the 50 year celebration at Westminster took place in 2022. What is happening in June this year.