St Gabriel's School in Newbury set for co-ed status

School moves to welcome boys into Year 7 from September 2022

At a time when the world is changing, Newbury's St Gabriel's School has announced a bold change of its own.

From September 2022, it will start welcoming boys into Year 7 for the first time in its 91-year history.

And from 2026, it will become an all through co-educational school, meaning it will provide education for boys and girls from nursery through to sixth form.

Currently, the independent day school only teaches boys up until Year 6.

The school's principal, Ricki Smith, said that the decision was made "because the time for change was now".

Speaking exclusively to the Newbury Weekly News, Mr Smith said: "The world has been turned upside down by Covid and people are seeing things in a different way.

"People's priorities have changed and to a large degree, what people need has changed as well.

"And as our world changes, so must the education we provide.

"With the continuous and increasing demand from families and current parents for their sons to join the senior school, the decision to become fully co-educational has been part of the school's long-term strategic plan for some years.

"The work-life balance for families is an ever-present challenge and the opportunity for children, sons and daughters, to embrace the same educational opportunities under one roof at St Gabriel's is a compelling and unique offering .

"We appreciate this is a bold change, but in many ways it doesn't change much at all.

"The values that have supported St Gabriel's over the last 90 years will be the same values that will see the school thrive in the next 90 years.

"We feel we have got a fantastic school and a fantastic offering in terms of education, so there's no reason we can't offer it to boys as well as girls.

"We believe it will make it a much more balanced environment and enable us to provide a more rounded education."

St Gabriel's Junior School became co-educational in 2014. Prior to that, its only boys were those attending the nursery.

The move to a fully co-educational senior school will be incremental, with the first cohort of boys being offered places in Year 7 in 2022.

A second entry point of Year 9 and Year 12 (Sixth Form) will be established in September 2024.

Mr Smith said this gradual movement towards becoming fully co-educational will allow the school to evolve in a "measured and considered manner".

For more details, visit St Gabriel's website.