Winchester College Considers Admitting Girls
One of England’s oldest boys’ public schools, 600-year-old Winchester College, is considering the admission of girls.
The £40,000-a-year school said any such decision would be made by the governing body, according to a report in The Times newspaper. It is one of only five remaining boys’ boarding schools.
The other four all boys boarding schools are Sherborne, Eton, Harrow and Radley.
Clarissa Farr, a member of the college’s governing body, said: “The past year has forced all schools to examine the quality, accessibility and relevance of their offer. Any school not engaging in these challenging conversations is not facing the future.”
A member of the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference, the professional association for heads of top independent schools, said this weekend:
“After the criticism of entitled male behaviour during the #MeToo movement and the debates about toxic masculinity, some of the remaining all-boys’, all-boarding schools are thinking hard about whether they should go co-educational. There are only four still remaining — that is not even a rump. No one wants to be the last one standing ... I think that all four will fall.”
Defenders say single-sex schools give boys and girls a chance to grow up free from the distractions of the opposite sex. Girls are more likely to do science A-levels in girls-only schools; boys more likely to take English literature A-level.
Single-sex schools still dominate exam league tables.
