Tintern Grammar cops heat on social media for only offering flight subject to grade 6 boys
A Ringwood East private school which was girls-only for more than a century has come under fire for being “out of touch” — including from a female former student and now-Qantas pilot — after a gaffe meant a flight subject was offered just to boys.
Outer East
Don't miss out on the headlines from Outer East. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A private school in Melbourne’s east will offer aviation studies to its Grade 6 girls next year after copping turbulence for only offering it to the boys.
Ringwood East’s Tintern Grammar, previously a girls-only school for more than a century, promoted its flight unit for Year 6 boys on its Facebook page and the school’s website.
The October 29 post, which was deleted following inquiries from Maroondah Leader, included a picture of students at Tyabb Airfield, where they received tuition on flight principles and co-piloted a single-engine plane.
The post prompted questions from users who asked why girls did not get the same experience.
The school responded by stating its Grade 6 girls were “offered different experiences according to the units being studied in class”.
Tintern, founded as a girls-only school in 1877, introduced its boys’ school Southwood in 1999 before the two merged in 2014.
MORE: FIDGET SPINNER MAKES TINTERN STUDENT CHAMPION
SCOTTY JAMES MOBBED AT OLD SCHOOL
RINGWOOD’S MAROONDAH HIGHWAY BUILDING BOOM
The flight unit was previously taught at Southwood while Tintern students learn in same-sex classes from Prep to Year 9.
Tintern Grammar alumni Sarah Potter said excluding girls from the subject was “out of touch with what’s happening in the greater world”.
“For a school that started off being an all-girls school … for them to not be offering females a progressive subject like aviation is atrocious,” she told Maroondah Leader.
Principal Brad Fry replied to the post through his personal Facebook page on November 2, confirming the school’s Year 6 boys and girls would study the unit in 2020.
He told Maroondah Leader the Year 6 girls were meant to study flight this year but arrangements were lost in a job handover.
“When I saw the (Facebook) post I wondered why the girls weren’t going,” Mr Fry said.
“We don’t have anything to hide on this, expect for the fact that we didn’t get it done this year and it was an oversight,” he said.
“I understand that frustrates people, but we are absolutely committed to equal opportunities for girls and boys.”
Mr Fry said Tintern was offering its Year 7-12 girls free access to 20 spaces in a flight school following an invite from a pilot who is a former student.