{"id":92448,"date":"2026-07-29T02:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/92448\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T02:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T02:09:13","slug":"britain-should-save-its-single-sex-schools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/92448\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain should save its single-sex schools"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since at least 1256, when Abingdon School opened its doors for the first time, Britain has been home to single-sex schools. They have proved bastions of excellence and opportunity, places rich in history that have shaped some of this country’s most famous sons and daughters, from Winston Churchill to Jane Austen. But as an analysis by this newspaper has revealed, such institutions may soon be a thing of the past.<\/p>\n

While the overall number of private schools has remained relatively constant over the past decade-and-a-half, the number of single-sex private schools has collapsed. Falling pupil numbers and changing parental mores mean that, if trends continue, independent girls’ schools could be extinct in little more than 50 years,<\/a> with their male equivalents dying out soon after.<\/p>\n

Some \u2013 particularly those on the Left \u2013 might welcome this. But anyone who cares about education should be profoundly concerned.<\/p>\n

Study after study indicates the same thing: Single-sex education<\/a> can be a great boon for children. Girls and boys in single-sex schools consistently achieve higher exam grades than their peers in co-ed institutions. More likely to be freed from romantic distraction and some of the intense social pressures that come with adolescence, pupils generally report being better able to focus in class.<\/p>\n

Critics accuse single-sex schools of being relics of the past. But the reality is rather different. Single-sex schools can break down<\/a> the stereotypes surrounding subject choices that may otherwise afflict status conscious teenagers. In an all-girls’ school there is no such thing as “boys’ subject”, and the uptake of maths and physics is often higher than the national average. This can only be beneficial to the individuals concerned and the country as a whole. Pastoral care, too, can be tailored towards issues specific to one sex, particularly when dealing with sensitive issues such as body image or puberty.<\/p>\n

From Rugby School in Tom Brown’s Schooldays to Enid Blyton’s Malory Towers and the thinly-veiled version of King Edward’s School, Birmingham, in Jonathan Coe’s The Rotters’ Club, the single-sex school has long held a cherished place in the English imagination.<\/p>\n

Were the decline of such establishments to continue, Britain would lose not merely a host of high-quality educational institutions which have served communities for generations, but a part of the country’s soul.<\/p>\n

Try full access to The Telegraph free today. Unlock their award-winning website and essential news app, plus useful tools and expert guides for your money, health and holidays.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since at least 1256, when Abingdon School opened its doors for the first time, Britain has been home…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":92449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[39434,13,38964,32517,39435,5120],"class_list":["post-92448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-britain","tag-abingdon-school","tag-britain","tag-jane-austen","tag-private-schools","tag-sons-and-daughters","tag-winston-churchill"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117000835496140329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}