Sydney school shake-ups might be further on the cards, with the NSW government delivering on its election commitment to ensure every family in NSW can choose a coed public high school.
As demand for co-education continues to grow, the NSW Government has also commenced work to ensure children in all intake areas outside of Sydney have a guaranteed option to attend a coeducational public high school by 2027.
The move towards co-education was controversial when Newington College in Sydney announced its phased transition to co-education in November 2023. The private boy's school will start accepting girls into Kindergarten and Year 5 from 2026 and Year 7 and Year 11 from 2028, with an entire coeducational school by 2033.
The decision was met with bizarre protests from the college's parents. One parent tearing up at the thought that his grandson would now find it a little more challenging to be an 'Old Boy' like he and his son are, all thanks to the introduction of girls in the school.
The NSW Government is making it known that it will continue to deliver on its election commitment to ensure every family in NSW has the option of choosing a coed public high school, with thousands of families across Sydney set to benefit from next year.
The government completed a review of intake areas in Sydney suburbs where students previously only had a single-sex public high school. As a result, the intake boundaries of 20 coeducational high schools have been adjusted. Schools include Homebush, Granville, Punchbowl, and Ashfield Boys, as well as Beverly Hills, Strathfield, Burwood, and Bankstown Girls, just to name a few.
The review done by the government included extensive consultation with the community, staff, and students from more than 120 schools and more than 300 parents and carers of students. The Department of Education considered enrolment trends, public transport access, the capacity of the coeducational high schools, and student numbers across catchment areas in adjusting intake areas.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said,
“The NSW Labor Government is delivering on its commitment to provide guaranteed access to co-educational high schools.
“There is growing interest in co-education, and no family should have to face leaving their local area to access a co-educational high school.
“These changes have been made in consultation with local communities to provide guaranteed access to coeducational high school education for the first time.”
Young boys and girls should learn to work alongside and converse with each other, especially during the formative years of high school. With a workforce of both men and women, children should be exposed to the exact workings of life in their early years. However, some parents see the sudden change from single-sex schools to co-education as a threat to their children's education. They believe introducing girls into boys' schools will be disruptive and negatively impact their sons' learning and vice versa.
The North Shore has its fair share of single-sex private and public schools. With greater demand across the educational landscape for the inclusion of co-ed education within single-sex schools, these same schools across the North Shore could also introduce coed learning if they see it necessary or beneficial.
On the surface, it may seem like a mild debate, but if more schools follow suit to the likes of Newington College, that small number of angry parents could grow in numbers. Time will tell if the future of co-ed schooling becomes the new norm.
