EDUCATION
Single-sex schools rush to go co-ed in fight for survival
Labour’s VAT plans, pension hikes and changing tastes among parents are piling pressure on head teachers
The Times
Single-sex private schools are disappearing as more go co-educational to shore up their survival amid intense competition for children and spiralling costs.
Labour’s plans to charge 20 per cent VAT on fees and soaring employer pension contributions — up 75 per cent in five years from next year — are adding to the woes of independent schools.
Amid claims that single-sex education is going out of fashion, at least a dozen schools have revealed they will go co-educational in the past two years and at least seven private schools have closed or announced they will shut this year.
Fewer than 100 fee-charging boys’ schools registered with the Independent Schools Council (ISC) remain in the UK, half that of 30 years ago, and financial pressures and
