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Choosing between a single-sex or mixed school can create a dilemma for children and parents.  Parents often feel their children will be able to work harder at a single-sex school with fewer distractions; but what do young people themselves say about single sex schools?  Are girls more confident of their abilities without boys around? Do boys concentrate more without girls to distract them?

Fleur

My primary school, like most, was mixed so I thought with all girls it would be a bit weird.

But now I prefer going to an all-girls school. With boys around I wouldn't be able to work as hard. My dad prefers it that there are no boys.

There's no one to impress at a girls school. People come in and say: "Oh, I just got out of bed". But that's all right because there's nobody to look good for. You can look bad at school and when you go out you can show everyone how good you can look.

If we did have a mixed school, I think by year 11 you'd be bored of the boys anyway. You'd have already been out with every single one of them!

Baz   

My mates go to mixed schools, so that's how I meet most of my girls. I know people who, because they don't have links with girls, don't get to talk to them or won't just go up and talk to them. They don't meet girls through school, so don't really end up going out with girls. There's nothing wrong with them though.

Mature boys probably end up getting more girls. More childish boys will hang out with their mates rather than go out with girls. When you're higher up in the school you get more confident about talking to girls.

Gordon

The main advantage of going to an all-boys school is there are fewer distractions, I'd say. With girls around I think we'd be more mouthy to the teachers, trying to show off. At a boys school you can act yourself. It's much easier to relax. Boys don't show off in front of each other.

When you're in year seven you're just happy being with your mates. But when you start seeing your mates talking to girls you think, "I've got to try that". You just get interested in talking to girls and then you get addicted!

Yajnah

Being in an all-girls school you can associate with your friends more. Boys distract you. At a girls school you can be closer to your friends, without being interrupted by boys. Although, being just girls, there are lots of arguments.

We have discos with the local boys schools. I've been to some of them but I can't be bothered with them anymore. Meeting boys isn't really the most important thing right now.

Boys worry about girls too much sometimes. That's all they care about really. But we know how to control ourselves.

Jasmin   

When I'm older, it's all going to depend on my education, so I'm just looking towards that really. I know I'll meet boys through other stuff, like my youth club and the pantomime I'm in. You might not meet boys in secondary school, but you'll make friends with them at university or at work, so I wouldn't be too worried about it at the moment.

We have discos with boys' schools, but not many. But it's better like that. It makes you want to go to them more. Boys are distracting, but they probably say the same things about us.