IT WASN’T an easy or quick decision. Principal Jon Charlton knew some parents wouldn’t be happy to learn that Kilvington Girls Grammar is turning coeducational from next year.

Kilvington’s board had considered converting this small, independent school in Ormond to coeducation for more than a decade, but only acted after a strategic planning meeting 15 months ago.

The board decided that, with a roll of 500 students and about 50 girls at VCE level, the school wasn’t big enough to offer the breadth of subjects required. After confidential conversations with other schools, it decided it was better to bring in boys in a graduated way, with girls and boys in separate classes for core subjects in the middle years.

Mr Charlton spent a great deal of time poring over the latest research on the merits of single-sex and coeducational schools, and he is convinced it is the right decision. Acknowledging a widely held belief in the community that boys do better in coeducational schools and girls perform better in single-sex classrooms, he says the latest research reveals that any differences are not very significant.

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/single-sex-or-coed-the-gender-agenda-20100827-13voh.html?rand=1282895165662