Prince George’s new school.

Very well put Cold.

paddyann54

Aren,t ALL schools supposed to be safe?
After Dunblane schools are secured from unwanted visitors doors locked and entry for everyone checked.
Maybe these royal children should see how the rest of us live and understand that they are not universally liked/loved .
That might stop the entitled behaviour of them as adults!
A good dose of reality can only be for their benefit

I find it a bit disturbing that you think that royal children should be subjected to threats and possibly terrorists to give them "a good dose of reality"

Most children don't have crazy people breaking into their schools looking for them specifically - which happened when George (aged 4) attended the St Thomas' Battersea Day school so I don't blame them at all for putting security high on the agenda.

George is their child, not mine!
Let them choose what is right for them.

Resilience is a gift and a skill most powerfully learned as a result of adapting well in the face of adversity, trauma or significant stress.

I like you M0nica realised as a child that building resilience was the best survival strategy to some challenging events. Once learned it's there to fall back on when needed. A kind of inner, secret super power.

Humans have capacity to reframe things in their mind to manage negative thoughts then take steps to solve problems and prioritise self care. It was the greatest gift my mother gave me- though she did not realise that's what she was doing.

Mollygo

M0nica I agree about the nastiness of some girls in all girls schools, actually in any school. You had to be in a co ed school to know how bad the boys were.
It’s good news either if it made you resilient. It doesn’t always have that effect.

I am a lazy person and always look for the easiest way out of trouble and I would really recommend resilience as the easiest way out of many unpleasant situations.

M0nica I agree about the nastiness of some girls in all girls schools, actually in any school. You had to be in a co ed school to know how bad the boys were.
It’s good news either if it made you resilient. It doesn’t always have that effect.

Mollygo I was bullied at school by other pupils and held in contempt by the nuns. Girls are generally held to be the nastier sex when it comes to bullying.

It makes you very resilient

I went to a girl Catholic day school. I've a much younger brother and 8 older sisters. Schooling is for the person in school, imo. I'd no need of boys in school. I bid my husbands work, in a male environment, quite well. Interacting well, with men, is easy to me, school boy antics tend to make me cringe.

I went to an all girls grammar school and never gave a thought to envying one of my best friends who went to a co-ed grammar. We were close because our RAF fathers had had identical postings most of our lives so we shared many overseas experiences - apart from our education . Her parents were regarded as being more cool and trendy than mine, which infuriated my very attractive and stylish mother! 😂
For some reason I always felt I was the one benefiting from a better education and as I grew through my teens I preferred my relationships with boys to be separate from school where my friendships were strong and long lasting.

I had boyfriends who went to the boys grammar who were nice and good fun but I definitely did not want to sit next to them in class.

It would have blown the mystique!! 😂😂

M0nica

When I went to university I was far more confident in male company than many of my friends who had been at co-ed schools.

Possibly because you hadn’t suffered the treatment some boys dished out to girls back then (and now, for all I know).

I can never understand why people get so worked up about single sex schools and the social effects.

A child, let us say a girl, at a single sex school, may have brothers, her friends will have brothers, she will do out of school activities in a co-ed situation. There will be male relations around.

i went to a convent boarding school and had no brothers, but friends did and, my father being in the army, there were plenty of dishy young subalterns around in the holidays.

When I went to university I was far more confident in male company than many of my friends who had been at co-ed schools.

The global educational consensus suggests that school quality, teaching standards, and student background dictate academic success far more than whether the classrooms are mixed or separated.

Studies measuring "mental toughness" show that girls in single-sex environments often report higher levels of emotional control, body confidence, and a greater willingness to participate in competitive sports without the fear of negative judgment.

Although the opposite does not appear to be true in boys’ schools, girls at single-sex schools are nearly three times more likely to study further maths and over twice as likely to take physics compared to their co-ed peers.

Analysis shows that the credence given to, or acceptance of, any of this data depends on which type of schooling is being promoted.

Reading the various reports, it would seem that single sex schools benefit girls more than boys.
Is that a valid reason for promoting co-ed?

This is really my point.
The single sex grammar schools were selective.

The meta analysis and more recent work shows that if other factors are considered there is almost no difference.

I always thought there would be.
It's like the more recent studies about girls and STEM subjects. More do take them and some to A level but the tendency is that these girls do other things on the whole at university (I think it was Economics).

What most studies do find though is that the young people leaving education feel better equipped if they were educated in mixed sex environments.

When I've got a minute I'll see if I can find the papers.

NotSpaghetti, my knowledge, which I acknowledge will be out of date, now, twelve years into retirement, refers to the county of my schooling, and a large part of my teaching career, Kent.
Kent has a selective secondary system, and had, and continues to have, single sex grammar schools.
The selection criteria for both boys and girls was not based on the pupil's neighborhood, nor the ability of the parents to pay fees, but on a series of tests .
There was, of course, some manipulation to ensure that the number of successful boys equalled the number of successful girls, but that would certainly be a subject for a different thread!

MartavTaurus

Thanks for the picture. Your DH looks good in a dress. I see he has the obligatory yellow socks too.
I’ll bet his parents were proud that he wore it.

ferry23

Padstow13

Just what the average 13 year wants - a trad school uniform made up of a Victorian frock coat and stiff wing collar to match.

Still, it has to be a million miles better than recent proposals that school uniforms should get an update and pupils should be allowed to wear tracksuits.

Really? If they look like chavs the chances are they might start acting like chavs......

The wing collars at Eton are only worn by the seniors.

So Prince George won't be wearing one for some time to come. And I doubt he'll lose much sleep about his uniform, he knows what Eton is all about, his Father went there and he's lived in the area for long enough, so he'll be used to seeing the uniform.

Could be worse.
My DH wore a dress!

At least he wasn’t sent to Gordonstoun like his poor grandfather. Charles hated it and must have thought his parents hated him at times .
I think Prince George should be given a voice .

Padstow13

Just what the average 13 year wants - a trad school uniform made up of a Victorian frock coat and stiff wing collar to match.

Still, it has to be a million miles better than recent proposals that school uniforms should get an update and pupils should be allowed to wear tracksuits.

Really? If they look like chavs the chances are they might start acting like chavs......

The wing collars at Eton are only worn by the seniors.

So Prince George won't be wearing one for some time to come. And I doubt he'll lose much sleep about his uniform, he knows what Eton is all about, his Father went there and he's lived in the area for long enough, so he'll be used to seeing the uniform.

Of the many schools near us, 4 are selective. 3 single-sex and one co-ed.
3 out of 4 do better academically than the remaining schools, and 2 of the single sex schools do better in terms of academic results than the co-eds.

^ Aside from "performance" though - students in coeducational schools have better communication skills and felt more socially prepared for the real world when they leave.^

Certainly that’s what AI still says, but it surely depends on each individual child.

The children who, outside school hours, participate in mixed sex activities like navy cadets, or mixed-sex sports, or even those I see meeting up in town after school, whilst still in school uniform from don't seem to lack communication skills or the ability to mix.

IMO "prepared for the real world" means having the practical skills, emotional resilience, and financial independence necessary to navigate adulthood. It transitions someone from a sheltered, theory-based environment—like school—into a self-sufficient lifestyle where actions have immediate consequences.

I’m not sure any school, single-sex or co-ed does that very well in today’s world.

I think it would be best if the school were mixed but the classes single sex. That way they could concentrate in class but mix with others of the opposite sex during breaks. Why has this never been tried? I think it would work.

When girls' only Grammar schools were scholarship entry only the pupils came from a wide range of socio- economic backgrounds were responsible for true social mobility. Labour were responsible for the destruction of grammar school education available to all. Mine still remains single -sex scholarship only and continues to outstrip the boys' Grammar, now reduced to fee-paying.
Living in a different part of the country now the comprehensives here do well according to their catchment area, but they are far too large and have such a wide range of pupils' needs to cater for.

Chocolatelovinggran

Historic data suggests that girls in single sex schools outperform their peers, and boys in single sex schools do less well than their peers in mixed schools.

I think this is not true if you are talking about "performance".

In the past there was a lot of raw data out there which suggested that was the truth but meta analysis shows it to be false.

So, for example, Single-sex girls' schools are mainly fee paying, selective, or located in wealthier areas. The girls come from more privileged homes in the first place and start at these schools with higher academic achievements

When you compare girls of the same socioeconomic background and prior ability, the academic differences between single-sex and mixed schools shrinks to nearly nothing.

A single-sex environment actually boosts performance (and order, and engagement) for lower-achieving, lower-income and ethnic minority boys.

Also boys in single sex schools are more likely to take subjects that were considered "girls" subjects such as modern languages.

Aside from "performance" though - students in coeducational schools have better communication skills and felt more socially prepared for the real world when they leave.

Now I’m very curious to know where Charlotte will go

My bet would be Marlborough.

There’s more to life than academia ??

I think both boys and girls do better academically studying in single sex schools. Our daughter was in one from 3-15 and loved it. Unfortunately, we had to move away and she really struggled in the mixed high school.