Newington College boys against co-ed are battling to be heard

Students who disagree with Newington’s move to enrol girls — fearing it will turn their illustrious school into a building site and undermine sports performance — are struggling to be heard.

Newington College students who oppose the decision to go co-ed agreed to shelve plans for a protest after being offered meetings with the school council, but the discussions ended up happening without them.

Meanwhile, one of Newington’s most illustrious former students, retired judge Angus Talbot, has resigned from the school’s multimillion-dollar charitable foundation.

Newington has been under siege since November 20, when College Council chairman Tony McDonald announced that girls would be enrolled from 2026.

Many parents say they did not choose co-education and that the change was imposed on their families by the council without proper notice or consultation.

A group of parents has gone so far as to enlist a law firm to challenge the school over whether the co-ed move is legal under the Newington College Act of NSW parliament.

Not everyone is happy about Newington College’s plan to go co-ed. Picture: Justin Lloyd

It is not just some parents and ‘old boys’ who are dismayed.

The Daily Telegraph has seen an email sent by a Year 11 student to his peers which proposed holding a meeting and protest outside the main hall starting 15 minutes before the end of lunchtime on November 24.

The email said: “As all of you are aware there is a threat to Newington’s future (co-education and rapid growth).

“Potentially, this will see the school turned into a building site and may threaten the sporting heritage of the school,” he wrote.

A group of former Newington College councillors recently warned that the school’s membership of the exclusive Great Public Schools (GPS) sports association would also be jeopardised “as numbers of boys progressively reduce to uncompetitive levels”.

The boy’s email continued: “Many of you right now are very upset and concerned with what has happened. This feeling is evident across the school, with the old boys and many parents.

“The school has not yet heard our voice or understood the depth of feeling on this issue.

Newington old boy and retired judge Angus Talbot. Picture: Wikipedia

“To demonstrate our resolve and protest the decision we propose the following course of action: we will meet outside Centenary hall on Monday 15 minutes before lunch ends … and will continue into the first half of period five (if required).”

However, the meeting and protest did not go ahead after school staff told the student it would clash with exams.

It’s believed a group of boys, known as the Save Newington Student Committee (SNSC), then began planning to hold a protest early in the new school year.

But that plan has been scotched too.

At an information session on December 7, parents raised concerns with staff that their sons’ views had been silenced or suppressed.

In a statement to The Telegraph on Thursday, headmaster Michael Parker said “students were offered, as an alternative to a protest, a meeting with council members to air their concerns with them directly, which they took.

“Two constructive and helpful meetings with council members followed. A variety of students’ views have been and are being encouraged and respectfully considered.”

The family of the student who wrote the email said he and the SNSC were not involved in the meetings.

Newington said the councillors met with 20 to 30 boys but were not aware of “each individual child”.

In his statement, Mr Parker also thanked Mr Talbot for his service with the Newington Foundation, which leads fundraising for scholarships and building projects.

Mr Talbot — who is a retired judge of the NSW Land and Environment Court, a former chairman of the Newington Council and an old boy of the school — did not respond to repeated requests for comment.