Coeducation Update
Well, that is almost a wrap on Term 1 for 2025 – our final Term 1 as a single sex school! We have held events for our first coeducational cohorts, with two Year 10 events, including a multisports event for students in Hewan, Strickland, Thomas and Wakehurst. Term 2 will be a busy term for Year 10 2025 with the subject selection process kicking off, and our incoming Year 11 girls attending these events in their House groups.
We also had our first orientation afternoon tea for Year 7 2027, with epic Bin Ball battles and human bingo games. For our Year 7 2026 cohort, they had a follow up dance lesson with Colourbeat. These Year 7 orientation activities will continue in Term 2 with Year 7 2026 having an event on public speaking, and Year 7 2027 having their first Colourbeat dance event.
Thank you to all the Year 11 students who have volunteered for these events and shown gentle leadership and encouragement to our current students, as well as the incoming boys and girls. And an extra thank you to the staff who have volunteered their time, beyond their teaching load, to be active in the coeducation preparation for our campus.
This term, we also started Observation Days at a coeducational school in Sydney that has welcomed our staff to attend for a day to learn about the similarities and differences between their teaching experience at Cranbrook and in coeducational settings. This term, two Mathematics teachers attended and, next term, English teachers will be visiting. We hope to have teachers from most of our senior faculties attend a day of observation at a coeducational school by the end of 2025.
This month, Plan International released Stage 2 of their Gender Compass study. Some of the findings they had included:
- 2 in 3 Australians believe both men and women are held back by rigid gender expectations and want to move forward from these expectations.
- 3 in 4 Australians are open to discussing gender equality and related topics at work, and the most common feelings expressed in response to this scenario were hopeful, proud, safe and enthusiastic.
But for me, the most important finding was that 8 out of 10 Australians say we need to stop pitting men and women against each other and focus on how we can all work together. They found that for education, the most important thing schools and communities can do for young people is to teach empathy and respect from a young age. Cranbrook continues to focus on this strongly through the Student Wellbeing Program, and conversations throughout the day, House and cohort.
Daisy Turnbull
Director of Coeducation
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