Old boys network opposes push to enrol girls at Sydney’s Newington College

An influential ‘old boys’ network is railing against plans to admit girls to a private school that has educated boys in Sydney for 160 years.

Newington College in Sydney’s inner west. Picture: Justin Lloyd

An influential “old boys’’ network is railing against plans to admit girls to a leading private school that has educated boys in Sydney for 160 years.

Newington College, a GPS Uniting Church school that charges up to $38,884 a year in tuition fees, told parents on Monday it would transition to a coeducational facility within 10 years.

The move drew criticism from prominent Old Newingtonian Ian Webster, a publisher and grazier whose two sons and his father also attended the school.

Mr Webster said parents would lose the right to choose a boys school for their sons’ education. He said a network of old boys was opposing the change.

“Tradition is part of it,’’ he told The Australian. “A lot of relationships are formed with other boys and other schools, through sport and other extra-curricular activities, and the friendships carry through a lifetime.

“Boys and girls develop differently. In the formative years … there shouldn’t be great distractions, competition and emotional differences.’’

Mr Webster said he knew of four “Old Newingtonian” donors who were considering changing their bequests in protest against the co-ed transition.

The college announced it would not take in female boarders, but would welcome girls in kindergarten and year 5 at Wyvery and Lindfield preparatory schools in 2026, allowing them to join the senior campus as day students in years 7 and 11 in 2028.

“Our students will enter a world that will require them to walk and work alongside all genders collaboratively, respectfully and empathetically as colleagues, employers, employees, partners, parents and friends,’’ the college states on its website.

“We believe the best way to prepare them for these roles is for different genders to learn alongside each other in an everyday, unremarkable way during their childhood and adolescence.

“Although some Newington students already interact with girls in drama productions, orchestra and cadets … daily connections will facilitate everyday and authentic relations and experiences.’’

Girls will join male students at Newington College, as the school transitions to a coeducational campus.

The college said “diversity and inclusiveness are increasingly important in our culture’’.

“They are now the norm, not the exception,’’ it said.

The college said it would also enrol transgender students.

“We are well aware that, like most schools, our community will include children who change or do not identify with a gender,’’ it said. “We will respect and accommodate that, just as many other schools do already.’’

The college said it would build new bathrooms, and may have to build a second oval beneath the existing oval.

Mr Webster said the school did not have enough space to build the extra classrooms, toilets and sporting grounds needed to accommodate girls. “The cost will be absolutely massive,’’ he said.