Are single sex schools all they’re cracked out to be?

“Single sex teaching works when you have the correct people in place,” says Hamayon

Pramanik, Head of Communications at Forest School.

Forest School in Waltham Forest, is a single sex school with a twist; both boys and girls attend the school.

Forest School teach children in mixed classrooms between four and seven years old and then children are separated when they reach the age of seven. From there children are taught in separate classes however they do spend break times and lunchtime together.

“At that age boys and girls learn differently,” says Hamayon. He explains that each gender tends to be more confident without the other in class. At Forest School there are a lot of girls who choose to study physics, which is commonly a ‘man’s subject.’ Likewise a lot of boys study drama. He says this is due to the fact classes are separated which allows each student to excel in class without the pressure of the other sex being in the room.

This alone should be a good indication that single sex classrooms work if each sex is performing better without the other in the room. Surely if your child is going to perform better in a single sex environment, why wouldn’t you go for this option? Surely isn’t it better to allow your child to get the grades they need so they are able to start their career?

Here at La Dolce Vita we believe getting the grades so you can get the best start in your career is vital. It’s not the only way to start your career but it is the most common way. It can be argued that people who attended a single sex school are more confident in the working environment because they have been encouraged to be secure during their school days. This is an important transferable skill to take into the workplace.

Single sex schooling is traditional in the United Kingdom. The first mixed school in the UK was founded in 1893 in Hampshire. Since then mixed schools have become more and more common to the point where single sex schools are in the minority nowadays. Forest School is no exception to this tradition as it was initially a boy’s school and when girls were finally accepted it “made sense” to teach each gender separately, Hamayon says.

Councillor Mark Rusling says children and young people tend to perform better when they are in single sex classes because statistics show they are “less distracted” when the opposite sex is not in the same classroom as them.

Whether this is the reality or whether it’s all psychological is a different matter but what can be determined is that this is the case because Forest School came fourth in the Waltham Forest School League table. Another single sex school, Connaught School for Girls, came third.

Councillor Rusling, who oversees children and young people in Waltham Forest Council, says that the fact two schools where the children are taught in a single sex environment came third and fourth in the table “speaks for itself.” Single sex schools dominate the Waltham Forest League table’s top five places and this is why the councillor believes single sex schools are good for the borough.

Photo credit; Dan Brickley

Looking at the wider picture, single sex schools across the country tend to perform better than mixed schools. This does not apply to every single sex school because it depends on who is teaching the children and how they are being taught, however this is an accurate sweeping statement. For example, the top school in North East England is a single sex school.

It is not clear why boys and girls learn differently however Hamayon Pramanik, Head of Communications at Forest School, suggests girls need more direction than boys. He says in a single sex classroom, boys are more confident and are more likely to take risks whereas girls need to “work to rules” and need to work as part of a process. Theories like his could explain why single sex schools gain better academic results because they are able to adapt their teaching methods to suit each gender. Obviously this isn’t practical in a mixed classroom where both genders are present so the teacher has to teach to suit all needs.