Going co-educational

Matthew Burke, Headmaster of Mount House School in Hadley Wood, North London, looks at the process of going co-educational, and the opportunities that such a move presents.

This month, Mount House School opened its doors to its first ever intake of boys. We are admitting boys to the First Form (Year 7) and Sixth Form and, by 2022, the school will be entirely co-educational.

In many ways – apart from the obvious! – little will change when we go co-educational. The fundamentals will remain; we will still be a warm and welcoming school, where every individual will be valued and every child’s unique talents will be identified and nurtured. Our school ethos of being a caring and respectful community, where children feel supported and where individuality and self-confidence are fostered, will remain at the heart of all we do.

For us, welcoming boys is a natural step, but we didn’t take the decision to go co-ed lightly. Given that Mount House had been blessed with a more than respectable reputation in its former life as an all-girls school, it was very important to us that the great traditional strengths of the school continue to be felt by both genders from the outset.

We recognise that moving from an all-girl environment to co-education is going to be a challenge, both for the girls currently at the school and the boys joining from September.

In becoming co-ed, we aim to open up new opportunities to a wider audience. We hope to foster a new sporting culture, where the girls will, literally, compete on a level playing field with the boys. We aim to break down the traditional perceptions that netball and hockey are for girls, while the boys tackle rugby, football and cricket.

Both boys and girls will have full access to all the main school sports and we are organising a full calendar of fixtures against local schools and in national competitions.

We also plan to set a trend for new mixed-sex teams which, while unable to compete at league or county level, will be able to play friendly matches against teams from other schools.

Another advantage is the further enrichment of our pastoral system. The sense of extended family that our house and tutor system gives pupils will be stronger by including boys, ultimately aiding the culture of mutual respect and good manners required for relationships throughout life.

Likewise, a mixed Sixth Form means students will be more confident when taking those first, often faltering, steps into employment or further education, being at ease when studying or working alongside the opposite sex.

We live in an age which believes everyone has the right – and ability – to achieve, whatever their gender.

Our girls already excel at maths and sciences and will certainly give the boys a run for their money in all subject fields.

More than half the current (female) sixth form at Mount House is studying A-level Maths and last year’s A-level results for Maths were in the top 5% nationally.

Able students are encouraged to take their Maths GCSE at the end of Year 10 and 70% of them gained As and A*s in Maths in 2017. Following this outstanding success, we are now looking to create a centre of excellence for Maths and Physics, as well as Music and Sport.

For the majority of our teaching staff, co-education will not provide any new challenges. Most teachers have experience, and a proven track record of success, in co-ed schools. For those that haven’t had that experience, we will be providing top quality in-service training prior to the start of the next school year.

It is clear that there will need to be a full review of the texts and resources used in the classroom. Where necessary, these will be revised to reflect the change in pupil population and to ensure the enthusiasm of both genders in every lesson.

In addition, we will be providing a new Computing & Technology course from September - not using wood, metal and plastics, but technology based around electronics, control systems and robotics.

With the move to co-education will come the need to provide basic facilities for boys. We are currently creating high quality changing rooms, showers and toilets for male pupils which will be fully functioning by September.

It’s a far cry from 1903, when Mount House – formerly St Martha’s Catholic School for Girls – was opened by the Sisters of the Order of St Martha.

Girls were taught to cook, sew and know their place. Interestingly, there remains more school provision for girls in the Barnet area than for boys – another reason we decided to open our doors to boys.

Mount House School will be one of only a small handful of independent co-educational senior day schools in North London. This, coupled with our small class sizes – which we will maintain – and our family school ethos, we believe makes our offering somewhat unique.

There will always be some parents who prefer single sex schooling. Every child is different and one size does not necessarily fit all, that we accept.

But, at the end of the day, good teachers are the key to academic success. That – and happy students.

We believe our future plans for Mount House will tick both of these boxes.

‘Coeducational Excellence, Where Everyone Is Known, Cherished and Challenged’

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