Figure 1.-- Many prep schools have mixed pre-preps regardless of their gender orientation. Thus many prepschools have girls in the pre-prep. There are normally comparable numbers of boys and girls in the junior forms at the prep school level, but many girls leave their prep schools earlier than the boys. |
Many prep schools have mixed pre-preps regardless of their gender orientation. Thus many prepschools have girls in the pre-prep. This varies from school to school, but moxed pre-preps are quite common. Then parents choose either an all girls' school or a coed school. Coed schools normally have comparable numbers of boys and girls in the younger forms. This is usually not the case in the senior forms. Girls generally leave earlier than the boys. Theh generally leave at 11 or 12, the usual ages for entry into girls' Public Schools. The fact that girls mature somewhat faster than boys provides a psychologically valid reason for this difference. Some older girls may remain, however, either because their Public School has the same entry age for girls and boys or because they will be attending a state school. This was built into the system at the time that most girls attended all-girl prep schools. Now that many prep schools have shifted to coeducation it causes soime difficiculties. When any of the girls leave at age 11 it maeans that the upper two forms of the school will be smaller than the junior forms. This of cource affects the economic s of running the school.
