WHILE single-sex classes are being heralded as the answer to the education gender gap, 20 boys in north Oxfordshire decided if you can’t beat them, join them.
Left without a school because local mixed comprehensives were full, their parents turned to the county’s only single-sex state school - Milham Ford, for girls.
However, acting head Anne Peterson, was forced to turn the 12 and 13-year-olds away because they were not “eligible”. It might be for the best in the long run. The school faces an uncertain future. It is one of the upper schools ear-marked for closure under he county’s plans to move from a three-tier to a two-tier system.
Ms Peterson said the boys’ parents had been impressed by the school’s inspection report, which praises its quiet classes. GCSE results are slightly below the national average.
Robert Capstick, principal education officer, said: “The boys were offered places at schools which were not as close to their homes as they or we would wish - although they were still within three miles. Some parents have basically been questioning whether there could be space for boys as well at Milham Ford girls school.”
