This academic year marks a key milestone in the school’s history as Colfe’s celebrates 25 years since the Senior school became fully co-educational and welcomed girls into Year 7 for the first time.
Although the school had admitted girls into the Sixth Form since 1977, the first Year 7 girls stepped through the doors in September 1999. To commemorate this moment in its history, a series of activities have been held to celebrate the inclusion of girls and reflect on life in a co-educational school.
A video was produced which celebrated the best aspects of co-education, through the words of current pupils and staff. The film was screened at a special assembly where, as they approach the end of their time at Colfe’s, School Captains Mirja and Fred looked back at their experiences growing up in a co-education school.
The first cohort of girls in Year 7 numbered only 23 and joined a school with nearly 350 years of history as a boys-only institution. These pioneering ‘frontier girls’ paved the way for the equal representation that is evident today; girls participate and compete equally in all academic settings from the humanities, languages and arts to STEM and sport.
Co-curricular activities have seen a significant impact from the arrival of girls, from House events to drama and musical productions. Less than a century before these girls joined, Women’s Suffrage and the motion “That the [voting] franchise should be extended to women” was the topic of that year’s Debating Society, as reported in the 1908 Colfeian magazine. Today, Colfe’s girls represent the school in the most prestigious national Debating competitions.
Over 25 years, some significant milestones have been reached:
- In 1999, 23 girls joined in Year 7. Girls now number just under 400 in the senior school, representing almost 45% of the entire senior cohort. Numbers in the Junior school are similar, with girls representing 45% of the pupil roll from Nursery to Year 6.
- The number of girls taking STEM subjects at A-Level has doubled in the past 10 years.
- Approximately half of each cohort over the last five years, whether boys or girls, have gone on to study STEM subjects at university, with the remainder studying subjects within the humanities, arts, languages or law.
- In 2024, almost 50% of both boys and girls went on to study STEM subjects at university. Courses including medicine, biomedical science, aeronautical and aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, accounting and economics were chosen by both. Across the rest of the year group, an equal proportion of boys and girls went on to study subjects across the arts, humanities and languages.
- Among the 2025 Y13 cohort, 45% of girls are planning on reading STEM subjects at university, with choices including Chemistry, Computer Science, Economics, Bio-medicine, Mathematics, Natural Sciences, Pharmacology, Medicinal Chemistry, Dentistry, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine. The range of universities includes Bath, Bristol, Durham, Exeter, Kings College London, Leeds, Nottingham and Oxford.
- In the past 20 years, Colfe’s has launched several new societies including DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) and FemSoc (Feminist Society), leading to initiatives including author talks from many celebrated authors and 2024’s first Culture Day.
- The school held its inaugural Women in STEM event in 2024, hosting a range of leading speakers from the worlds of medicine, engineering, AI, environmental industry and finance, and subsequent networking event attended by many Old Colfeians now working in STEM. The event was born from an idea formed at FemSoc.
- In 1999 although football, trampolining, basketball and water polo were offered as extra-curricular clubs for girls, the core curriculum sports for girls were netball, hockey and swimming. Now, in 2025, girls play and compete in football, cricket, athletics, netball, hocky, cross-country, swimming and water polo. Extra-curricular opportunities – for girls and boys – include all of these sports as well as rugby, tennis, cycling/triathlon and aquatics.
Headmaster Richard Russell said:
“Colfe’s is co-educational because the rest of your life is co-educational. We believe firmly that boys and girls who grow up alongside each other will be better prepared to thrive in their lives beyond school. The experience of our pupils is that growing up together brings a sense of ease with each other, a sense of equality, respect and support.
“Co-education benefits all, regardless of gender, and this is reflected in recent academic research which concludes that “students in co-educational settings demonstrate better communication skills and higher self-confidence than their counterparts in single-sex schools.”[1] Self-assurance and self-confidence (but never arrogance) are nurtured in the co-educational environment, both inside and outside the classroom.
“When I joined Colfe’s 20 years ago it was still very much a ‘boys’ school’, and I knew this particularly having come from leading a boys’ school, but the integration has been so successful that today the school is a genuinely co-educational environment in which boys and girls play an equal role in all ways. From CCF and sports to drama and debating, boys and girls have opportunities to discover and develop shared interests in a much broader range of activity than might otherwise be the case. It also allows expression of identity in a wider, more open way than in the single-sex setting.
“Pupils see mutual respect, support and diversity modelled in our staff community and from our student leaders as well. Mixed sporting teams celebrate victories together and enjoy the camaraderie and healthy competition of the many House and co-curricular activities.”
Charlotte Kuti (nee Onwudiwe), one of the very first girls to join Colfe’s in Year 7, told us of her recollections of being one of the first girls in Year 7 back in 1999:
“Being the youngest in the whole senior school and one of only a handful of girls back then was pretty daunting to say the least! However, we were always well supported and never made to feel out of place and soon enough, the fact we were outnumbered didn’t even cross our minds. It helped us all form a sense of togetherness and a great ‘girl code’ – we were all on the same team which is an excellent mindset to have amongst girls especially as you grow into a woman. The experience at Colfe’s was a great stepping stone into life as an adult especially into the world of work.”
Current School Captain Mirja (Y13), who is currently holding offers from Bristol, University College London and Manchester to study Mathematics, said:
“I’ve enjoyed studying STEM subjects throughout my time at Colfe’s, and would argue that the school has never made me feel that maths or other STEM subjects are traditionally “male”, and I therefore never felt held back or inhibited. My classes have always been mixed, and there is a significant number of girls in my Further Maths class now.”
Fellow School Captain Fred (Y13) said:
“I don’t think I really understood in Year 7 how important co-education really is, but looking back now, I realise how it has helped me to understand how life works. Being with a mix brings integration, inclusion and diversity which is important at school and in life. It has also meant I have had the opportunity to become friends with girls, bring a better understanding of a breadth of perspectives and I definitely have a wider friendship group as a result.”
[1] S. Koza Ciftci, Engin Karadag, F. Melis Cin
Between gendered walls: Assessing the impact of single-sex and co-education on student achievement, self-confidence, and communication skills
Women’s Studies International Forum, Volume 107, 2024
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2024.103003
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277539524001419
