Extending
co-education

Co-educational year groups will be phased into the school from Years 6 and 7, with our first co-educational cohorts arriving in September 2027.  Each year group will evolve as below: 

This means that Trinity will be fully co-educational by September 2031.

We want to provide for younger girls what we are currently able to offer only to boys aged 10 to 16: a nurturing, academically ambitious environment with first-rate co-curricular opportunities.

Many parents already choose us for the diversity of our student body. We know this is one of the most significant factors in growing our students’ values and character, and in preparing them for the world beyond school. Over the last 14 years, we have also seen the positive impact of our co-educational Sixth Form. We believe that extending co-education will enable us to do this even more effectively.

The John Whitgift Foundation provided for younger girls at Old Palace, but the closure of that school means we now have the right opportunity to extend our offer to younger girls.

We intend to increase overall student numbers from 1050 currently to 1400 by 2033.  This means the growth will be gradual, allowing us to manage carefully how the school evolves its pastoral and other provision.

A particular strength of Trinity is the breadth and depth of our co-curricular activity. Scaling up to around 100 girls and 100 boys in every year group will create greater opportunities for students to find others who share their interests, whether that’s in the creative arts, sport, outdoor activities or academic societies, and it will support our students in excelling to the highest level.

Growing the school will also enable greater investment in our facilities and better opportunities for all students, particularly in the performing arts and sports.

While year group sizes will increase, class sizes will remain the same.  A typical year group currently is 135 students up to GCSE and 165 students at A Level. With the exception of Year 6, which will remain at 48 students, year groups will grow to no more than 200 students in every year.  Class sizes up to GCSE will vary by subject, as they do now, from some very small classes to a maximum of 24.  At A Level the average class size is around 11 students and will remain so.

We aim to achieve equal numbers of boys and girls in each year group as soon as we can. In the first year (from September 2027), we plan to have 24 girls and 24 boys join Year 6 and expect to have between 70 and 100 girls and 100 boys in Year 7.

Yes, but not significantly and this is one reason why the school will grow.  Typically, there are currently around 135 boys in each year group up to GCSE, and about 110 boys in each Sixth Form year group.  We expect there to be up to 100 boys and 100 girls in every year group once co-education is fully established.

Trinity is in a strong academic position already, and neither governors nor senior leadership are seeking to drive up academic standards further through this change. We value high academic achievement but also the co-curricular strengths of the school, and we already bring students to Trinity who excel in both.  Our admissions process will continue to seek students who will thrive in an academically ambitious environment, as well as those who will embrace and excel in the broader opportunities available here.

We are confident in our ability to provide a welcoming and nurturing environment for all our students, such that everyone feels they are known and belong in our community.  We believe the greatest impact on student experience comes from the relationships they have with staff and with each other; we have a strongly empathetic, knowledgeable and motivated staff body who are excited by making this change, and boys and girls in the school who will be excellent role models.

In preparation for this change we are reviewing every element of our provision, using expertise and experience both internally and from outside the school to ensure we can provide the best education for both girls and boys. A significant majority of our staff have worked in co-ed or girls schools, some of them in key pastoral or academic roles.

We don’t believe that boys and girls learn in a fundamentally different way; good teaching is good teaching for both. We are confident that our staff are already providing lessons that will enable both girls and boys to excel, but we are looking at all areas of our students’ experience, to ensure that we anticipate what all our students, including younger girls, will need to thrive.

We already review all parts of our curriculum regularly to ensure it is representative and relevant, and this will continue.  We do not believe we need to change the curriculum significantly, as boys and girls should have the same subject opportunities and experiences. Some changes will of course be made in subjects such as Personal Development, PE and Games, and we have already begun engaging with colleagues from fully co-educational and girls-only schools to understand best practice.

Summaries of research in this area suggest that, when other determining factors are removed, there is no significant link between the type of school and academic outcomes.  There are many examples of excellent schools of all types.

The most important influences on academic and other outcomes are the quality of teaching and the quality of pastoral care; we are confident that our teachers will extend these successfully to younger girls.

Research on diversity consistently demonstrates the value of exposure to a wider range of student perspectives, so extending our co-educational provision throughout the school will enable us to better create this environment for all our students.

The broad lesson is that girls can, and already do, thrive at Trinity. Whilst it would be naïve of us not to think that further careful planning and adaptation will be necessary for younger girls, the experiences of the 600+ girls who have joined our Sixth Form since 2011 suggest this is a resource and opportunity-rich environment for them, in which they can thrive socially, academically and in their wider interests.

As the school grows, we will work hard to ensure that we don’t lose the essential feel of the community that students currently enjoy; this is why gradual growth is important. Managing the experience of our students through the planning of our pastoral care and curriculum, improving social spaces, and expanding the physical site will all serve to ensure that we maintain the current atmosphere in the school.

We are fortunate to be well-resourced already, but the transition to full co-education will accelerate investment in our facilities over the next three years.  There are obvious changes to make, such as changing rooms and toilets, but our creative and performing arts facilities will also be expanded to match the standards of our Music School. Sports facilities will see the construction of a new netball facility and significant improvements in our main pitches, including the renewal of one of our hockey astros to an elite standard. We will expand our sports centre, creating a new strength and conditioning facility as well as two dance and sport studios. Our investment will ensure that the sports facilities provide first class opportunities for both boys and girls.

We will also be investing in a new dining facility, new classrooms, and, in time, a new, enlarged Sixth Form centre, which will allow us to create pastoral/social areas for other sections of the school as well. We are planning a significant development of our Performing Arts spaces and, through sensitive landscaping, will create an ideal environment for current and future students to meet, socialise and play.  We are in the early planning stages for these developments and look forward to sharing more when they are ready.

No.  We are fortunate to have the support of the Foundation to enable this work, and we will benefit from the economies of scale that a larger school offers. Fees have been significantly affected by external factors recently, including inflation and government policy.  We are planning this investment such that fee increases will be inflation-led only.  Our fee level is such that parents should expect first-class opportunities, and we will have a site that can provide this.

We will be holding information events for current parents and for prospective parents, which will give opportunities to hear more about our plans as they develop and to ask questions.  These will be advertised separately at a later date.

We welcome any enquiries from prospective parents now through our admissions office, so please contact the Admissions Team on admissions@trinity.croydon.sch.uk or call 020 8656 9541.

For any general enquiries from current or prospective parents about our transition to full co-education, please email co-education@trinity.croydon.sch.uk