Another boys' school to admit girls

REDRIC'E School, And
over, Hants, is the latest Catholic boys' school to admit girl pupils. It announced at the weekend that girls aged 12 to 18 would be accepted as day pupils from next September.
Redrice, a public school with 150 pupils. mostly boarders, was founded in 1961. A statement from the joint headmasters, Mr. L. A. F. Stokes and Mr. R. Arnold Jones, said the decision to admit girls had been taken by the governors as a result of a number of inquiries from local parents.
"A few girls from the nearby girls' school, Rookwood, have been taking part in sixth form science classes for the past two years and a questionnaire sent to parents last year showed that in gerieral they were in favour of the principle of co-education.
"From the start it has been the school's policy to admit a certain number of pupils from all parts of the world, and the successful integration of boys of different nationalities and religious affiliations into an essentially British school was followed by the admission of a small but growing number of day boys of all denominations.
"The governors feel that the time has now come to take the next logical step in offering day places to girls."
Mr. Stokes added that the school was "open-minded" about how many girls it would take in the first year or what their ages would be. There was no question at present of admitting girls as boarders.
A number of other Catholic boys' schools have decided on a limited measure of co-education in recent months, including Belmont Abbey, Hereford, where there are plans for sixthform girl boarders.
Girls from the Convent of St. Maur, Weybridge, Surrey, are attending classes in science, economics and history in the sixth form of the nearby St. George's College for Boys.