Industry News
Demand for girls' boarding "resilient"
Posted on 26th October 2007
The demand for all-girls boarding schools is "remarkably resilient", an expert has commented.
Sheila Cooper, executive director of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA), made her comments to the Independent, claiming there has been a sharp decline in the numbers of boys-only schools across the whole independent sector.
Boys' schools began accepting girls more for economic reasons than because of a commitment to the principles of co-education, she continued.
At a recent seminar, Frances King the headmistress of Heathfield St Mary's School in Ascot, claimed single-sex boarding protected children from an increasingly sexualised society, the Independent reports.
"It's about allowing them to remain boys and girls for a little bit longer," she claimed, and has previously referred to co-educational boarding as a danger to teenage girls.
The GSA claims girls and boys mature at different rates and so learn in different ways. It says an education geared specifically towards girls can benefit them and reports that single-sex schools "dominate" the league tables.
© Adfero Ltd