Trinity to go co-ed

[R3mR3m]

https://insidecroydon.com/2024/07/29/charity-fails-to-rule-out-co-ed-future-for-trinity-boys-school/amp/

Does anyone know if there is any truth to this??

Not enough girls in the area.

There are plenty of girls. Old Palace is closing down.

What do you mean not enough girls in the area? could you elaborate on this?

Do you think this could be the reason behind the decision? (If true)

Don't they already take girls at sixth form? Think there was a similar rumour 10+ years ago.

Lots of schools do this due to falling demand, Highgate being one of the best known examples.

The Croydon under 18s population is falling dramatically, as it is throughout London. This does not mean there are hundreds of girls waiting for independent places that would make it financially feasible to undertake the provision of mixed facilities. The sixth formers are largely irrelevant as they were part of an earlier bulge in birth rates.

Old Palace girls have largely been absorbed by other schools, both State and Independent, only the GCSE and A Level cohorts remaining.

Or maybe, not enough families in the area that value their daughters' education to the same extent as their sons', and are willing to pay for it...

Local girls' schools that have closed down within my memory are Old Palace, Croham Hurst, Commonweal Lodge, Greenacre. I'm not aware of boys' schools closing in the same sort of numbers (if at all). Additionally, Dunottar became coed relatively recently.

I think I remember seeing some kind of parents' survey last term where one of the questions asked how people felt about Trinity going fully coed. But most Trinity parents I know are perfectly happy sending their daughters to different schools (Croydon High, mostly) - if they wanted coed, they could have chosen somewhere like Caterham. So I don't know how much of an appetite there will be for it, really.

When the Whitgift Foundation announced it was closing Old Palace, it said it would think about how to support girls’ education in the future. Admitting girls to Trinity could perhaps be a way of doing that.

A way of increasing numbers? Birth rates have dropped dramatically which is impacts all types of schools. Privates then have financial constraints.

Yes one of Whitgift or Trinity will go fully co-ed in coming years. Presumably T as already has girls in sixth form.

I would be surprised if as early as Sept 2025 but who knows.