Cranbrook has always been a progressive school and our approach to learning has an emphasis on diversity and inclusion. As an International Baccalaureate Continuum School we want our students to leave school as citizens of the world—team players who relish the chance to work collaboratively, appreciating the differences and strengths of others. Coeducation is therefore a natural progression for us.
When is Cranbrook becoming coeducational?
Cranbrook’s two pre-schools are already coeducational, but we will welcome girls to the Senior School in 2026 for Year 7 and Year 11. Our younger girls will start school with visible female role models in the older years. Our Year 7 girls will have the opportunity to join Cranbrook’s innovative International Baccalaureate (IB) Middle Years Programme (MYP); our Year 11 girls can choose between the IB Diploma Programme or the HSC.
By 2029 the school will have girls in every year of the Senior School.
What’s the Cranbrook difference? Why should I send my daughter to study with you?
A Cranbrook education is rich, challenging and fulfilling. We celebrate intellectual versatility, academic hunger, curiosity and creativity, not only in the classroom but through our extensive co-curricular programmes, including Music, Drama and Debating. The recent revitalisation of our Senior Campus means we offer facilities that provide the latest in teaching and learning, as well as outstanding performance spaces, sporting venues, space for spiritual reflection and a new ‘dining commons’ that brings everyone together.
While we are an open entry school, our focus on the individual means we are known for our exceptional academic results. Our Year 7 girls will have the chance to be taught through the ‘lens’ of the IB, a systematic and innovative approach that makes real world connections and helps students ‘learn how to learn’, building valuable skills for the senior years. Our Year 11 girls will enjoy Cranbrook’s wide subject choice and have the option to study the HSC or choose the IB Diploma Programme. The programmes we have developed in recent years, including the Year 11 and Year 12 College, the Cranbrook Academy and experiential Wolgan Valley campus, offer a rewarding co-curricular experience for all students.
How will girls be selected?
Through the same selection process as boys. They will complete an online application, sit an academic test, and be offered an interview. Admissions interviews for Year 7, 2026 will be conducted for both boys and girls from October 2023. Places are then offered two years out from the year of commencement. We anticipate commencing interviews and subsequent offers at the end of 2024 for girls wishing to join Year 11 in 2026.
All Year 7, 2026 applicants and acceptors will be eligible to apply for a Year 7, 2026 Academic and Music Scholarship. The Scholarships will be awarded on merit regardless of gender.
How many girls will be in each year group?
We are committed to providing a supportive, inspiring and progressive environment for our girls, whom we anticipate will comprise 40% of each Year Group, whilst continuing to maintain the excellent breadth and depth of experience across the academic, co-curricular and pastoral pillars that our current students receive.
How much experience do your teachers have in educating girls?
From our Headmaster down, many of Cranbrook’s teachers have considerable experience teaching in coeducational classrooms. We have been educating girls in our pre-schools for several generations.
The School has also embarked upon a programme of learning to support a coeducational environment for our teachers, and partnerships with other schools, such as Barker, are also informing this process.
Given the initial uneven ratios of girls to boys, what are you doing to ensure the girls feel comfortable and at home?
We have been planning for coeducation for a while, with dedicated staff and dedicated areas in the school to ensure our girls will feel comfortable and at home on our campus. Our new facilities at Bellevue Hill have been designed to accommodate boys and girls in learning spaces and with sporting facilities, and we have a programme of works across the rest of the campus to ensure there are coeducational facilities across the school.
The School has implemented a Coeducation Committee to manage the school’s transition towards coeducation, they will be addressing and preparing everything from uniforms to curriculum options, leadership opportunities to sporting teams. We are also adjusting our wellbeing programme. Our ambition for girls joining the School is that their experience of Cranbrook should be every bit as rich, challenging and fulfilling as it is for boys.
When can we apply? What do we have to do?
We have opened a waitpool. Parents can download an application form from the Apply to Enrol page on the School’s website.
