Oh boy, Cranbrook School makes historic call

After more than a century as a boys-only school, Cranbrook has made the momentous decision to accept girls.

Cranbrook students in front of the school's boarding house.

After more than a century as a boys-only school, Cranbrook has made the momentous decision to accept girls.

Located near the harbour in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, the independent school now educates about 1200 boys, including between 80 and 90 boarders. Soon girls will share the historic school, beginning with Years 7 and 11 in 2026, and moving through the senior school until it is fully co-educational in 2029.

The transition has been in the works since 2021, when the school’s council began exploring the idea and considering various co-educational possibilities.

Acting Cranbrook head Michele Marquet says the council definitively decided in 2022 Cranbrook would admit girls, and “from that point we have been preparing in earnest”.

The school held a series of forums with Cranbrook families so any questions could be answered in person. The council’s decision to accept girls elicited “huge support” from recent graduates and old boys, Marquet says, and more broadly about 70 per cent of the Cranbrook community was in favour of the move. “Generally, there was an openness and a warmth from the community about going co-educational.”

Acting Cranbrook head Michele Marquet

In a marked contrast, a similar decision to accept girls at another historic Sydney boys school – Newington – was this year met with fury and street protests from a strident element of the school’s community.

Marquet says Cranbrook’s decision to admit girls was recognition that the school years are “a preparation for living in the real world, the world as it will be, rather than as it was”. She points out Cranbrook’s preschool has cared for little girls for 70 years.

A school committee is now considering policies, facilities – including bathrooms and change-rooms – uniforms and other issues that must be resolved before the first girls walk through the door in 2026.

The idea of admitting girls had resonance at Cranbrook because the school has offered international baccalaureate programs for some time, and Marquet points out most IB schools around the world are co-educational.

The school decided to admit girls in Years 7 and 11 – the Year 11 girls so there would potentially be girls in leadership positions right from the beginning.

“We’ve adopted a staged approach to co-education coming into Cranbrook, so we are focusing very heavily on getting the first couple of years right,” Marquet says, adding that boarding for girls was on the agenda.