Here come the girls!

Tuesday 07 January 2020

Girls will be able to attend Elizabeth College Secondary School in the future following a historic decision to make the boys-only school co-educational.

Elizabeth College has announced it will become a fully co-educational school from September 2021, welcoming girls as well as boys from the age of 2 ½ all the way through to 18.

The Board of Directors have decided to make this move to fully co-educational to ”recognise the needs of contemporary society and building on both our well-established co-educational offering in the Junior School".

Principal Jenny Palmer said the move was also in response to the "positive impact of our twenty-year Sixth Form partnership with The Ladies’ College", which has highlighted the benefits of co-education. 

"We are delighted to be making this announcement and excited to be able to offer families with both girls and boys our unique Elizabeth College education," she said.

Pictured: Elizabeth College agreed to purchase Canada Court, a neighbouring building currently occupied by RBC, in order to expand the school study and enhance teaching and study areas. 

"Our aspiration is that everything that parents and pupils currently enjoy about Elizabeth College - the outstanding teaching, excellent pastoral care, focus on individuals and superb co-curricular opportunities - will continue and indeed be enhanced by a fully co-educational environment.”

The Very Reverend Tim Barker, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said it was a continuation of the college's traditions, rather than a break from them.

“We have seen that parents are increasingly looking for a school which can serve both their daughters and sons, from the preschool all the way through to Sixth Form," he said. "This change continues the traditions of Elizabeth College in serving the whole of the Guernsey community and means that brothers and sisters will be able to enjoy together the excellent, broad and stimulating education on offer here.”

Pictured: Tim Barker, right, said the decision was responding to demand from parents for co-education. 

Girls will be able to join Year 7 and Year 12 in September 2021, with a view that the school will be entirely co-educational by 2025. The Junior School has been co-educational since 2008.

The college said the decision was not financially driven: "This is about the educational experience.  Our pupil numbers are strong and there is a healthy demand for the quality and style of education that we deliver."

Pictured l-r: The Ladies College, Blanchelande College and Elizabeth College. 

This decision means The Ladies College will be the only single-sex school in the Bailiwick, offering girls an education from pre-school to sixth form. Blanchelande College is now fully co-educational from the age of four up, having started to accept boys throughout the school in the last few years ahead of its sixth form reopening in September. 

Guernsey's States run secondary schools are going through a period of transformation, and the President of the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture has wished Elizabeth College well with its own planned changes. 

Deputy Matt Fallaize said: "This change doesn’t affect our plans. It is entirely a matter for Elizabeth College and we wish them good luck."

Pictured top: Elizabeth College Principal Jenny Palmer.