Co-Educational FROM 2025

The Kingsley School will be extending co-education from the Prep School into the Senior School from September 2025. This will be a phased introduction, with boys initially joining Years 7 and 12, and the School becoming fully co-educational by 2029. 

Founded in 1884 by Rose Kingsley, our school has a long-standing tradition of championing individuality. As we celebrate our 140th anniversary, we are thrilled to extend the benefits of our educational and pastoral excellence to boys too. Together, our students—both girls and boys—will collaborate and learn from one another, enriching their experiences and fostering true understanding, respect, and empathy for what it means to be young women and men in today’s society. 

Throughout our history, we have been committed to providing the best possible education, nurturing confidence, integrity, and excellence in every child under our care. Our dedication to these principles remains unwavering. Recent inspections have praised Kingsley’s culture of high expectations and exceptional pastoral care, which empowers students to thrive and enjoy their school experience. 

Kingsley is also part of a family of schools. As a proud member of Warwick Schools Foundation, we share the educational ethos and values of the Foundation and have the best of both worlds – our bespoke and tailored educational experience at our site here in the heart of Leamington, as well as wide-reaching opportunities afforded by our partnership. We describe the educational experience for our Warwick Campus students as being the ‘best of both worlds’ – single-sex schools whose co-location means students can work together meaningfully as they progress through the year groups. 

With a fully co-educational Kingsley School, we will offer the ‘best of all worlds’. 

In this milestone 140th anniversary year, our incoming Year 7 and Year 12 students of 2025 will be true pioneers, contributing to the next exciting chapter in our school’s rich history. Future Kingsley students will look back with gratitude at the trailblazers of 2025 who helped shape the path toward academic excellence. To honor this historic moment, we are proud to introduce the Pioneer Scholarship—offering up to a 50% fee reduction for Year 7 and Year 12 entrants in 2025 who exemplify adventure, entrepreneurship, and a spirit of service. Find out more on our Scholarship page. 

Learn more in our Q&A below.

Warwick Schools Foundation is proud of all its pupils in each of its schools. We strive to ensure that all are supported as best they can be in their educational journeys and as well-prepared as well as possible for life beyond school. Our pupils learning to work side by side with those with different interests, gifts and talents is an important skill. We believe that it is therefore important for all pupils, regardless of whether they are girls or boys, to able to interact as part of their school experience. On our Warwick Campus, this is able to happen in a 'best of both worlds' environment, where girls and boys have numerous opportunities to work together. We have considered carefully how this approach could be extended to Kingsley and have concluded that the logistical obstacles are simply too significant. We also believe that offering a selective, co-educational school as part of the Foundation's charitable activities, offers even greater choice to parents.
Kingsley's ethos and values will continue to set it apart. It will also be the only selective, fully co-educational independent school in the Warwick Schools Foundation family of schools. We want the school to mean as much as it can to children who will benefit from learning here. Our values are universal, and are as important for boys as well as girls. What is sometimes less celebrated - but we know is important to current and prospective families - is that the results the girls achieve in their public examinations individually are exceptional, and collectively their achievements outshine many other independent schools, including locally. We hope that this will be better understood, as it is an important feature which marks Kingsley out from many other schools.
We believe September is the right time to communicate this important and exciting news. It gives everyone in the current school community time to consider the changes, and also gives parents whose children are currently applying to the school plenty of notice, so that they can make fully informed decisions.  Giving almost two years’ notice also means that parents with children in Year 5 can now consider Kingsley for their sons as well as their daughters.
Governors and senior executives, including Mr Mercer-Kelly and his team, have been considering this for some months. The outcomes of a recent survey have been part of this information-gathering exercise, where it was apparent that for the majority of those who completed the survey - current and prospective parents - the single-sex offering was not the decisive factor in their decision-making process. It is important to say that leadership of the school is enthusiastic about this development.
No.  We know that the individual care and attention to each of our pupils currently - girls and boys - is rightly prized. This will not change.
Over the next two years, we will be preparing to welcome boys into the senior school buildings. There will be no disruption to current pupils' education.
This will be done in a steady, planned, and phased way. We will admit boys into Years 7 and 12 from September 2025. This means that girls currently in Year 10 will be the first to experience co-education. Should there be enquiries for entry into other years groups, we will consider each on a case-by-case basis. A co-education transition team has been formed, led by Ms Dawn Morgan, Director of Sixth Form.
We are committed to Kingsley as a nurturing, family school with high standards pastorally and academically. We envisage that over time, class sizes in the Prep will be around 16, in KS3 and KS4 around 20 (as they are currently) although ultimately, we aim to have three forms rather than two, and total numbers in the Sixth Form of around 60. In the relatively recent past, Kingsley’s roll has been significantly larger, at over 500. However, we do not feel that being a school this size would not suit its ethos, nor the estate in Leamington.
Our aim is that over time, the school is fully co-educational: 50% girls, 50% boys. We know this will take time to achieve.
Rightly, our staff in the senior school are experts in teaching girls. However, all teachers have co-educational experience as part of their training, and we also have many staff who have significant expertise teaching in a co-educational setting. In addition, we have exceptional knowledge of educating boys, given the expertise at Warwick School. This means that we have a unique insight into ensuring that both girls and boys flourish, and have the best possible experience pastorally, academically and in their co-curricular programme. 
We will be reviewing the curriculum so that it is accessible and appropriate for all. This includes PSHE. We will also be reviewing our subject offer, expanding where appropriate, including subjects at GCSE and in the Sixth Form, with a view to increasing choice for all.
Some rearranging of facilities, such as lavatories and changing rooms, will be required. All pupils will have appropriate welfare provision.
We will need to request a 'material change' inspection from ISI (the Independent Schools Inspectorate) who will be commissioned to undertake a review of readiness and fitness to accommodate boys, on behalf of the Department for Education. The Foundation has significant experience of successful material change inspections, most recently to enable King's High to admit boarders. 
The sports the girls love will still be taught and played. There will be new sports for boys and girls, and some sport will be co-educational. In short, there will be more sporting opportunities for the girls, as well as plenty for the boys. The sports facilities development announced recently may be found here. This will provide unrivalled access to the highest-level facilities for both girls and boys.
As announced at the start of term, we are already developing the co-curricular offer. This will continue.  Please see this brochure outlining our planned developments.
We are committed to pupils across our schools working together meaningfully. For example, it is our intention to extend Friday Activities from September 2024. Whilst these activities change from year to year, a flavour of the activities on offer may be found here. We expect opportunities for Kingsley pupils to make the most of being part of a family of schools to develop further in the months ahead.
No. The ‘best of both worlds’ provision on the Warwick Campus is well-established and very successful, the co-location of schools enabling pupils to work together meaningfully as they progress through the year groups. By admitting boys to the Senior School and Sixth Form at Kingsley, we will be offering parents a real choice: co-education at Kingsley or ‘best of both worlds’ on the Warwick Campus schools. Overall, we believe this offers the ‘best of all worlds’.



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    Leamington Spa
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