Council votes to make last all-girls state school co-ed
by Catherine Anderson
THE last all-girls state school in Scotland will start admitting boys in 2021 after councillors voted unanimously in favour of the controversial move on Thursday morning.
Notre Dame High School in Glasgow’s West End has been in the spotlight in recent years with campaigners making “passionate” cases for and against the school becoming co-educational.
Notre Dame High for All, the group leading the call for change, responded to Thursday’s announcement on Twitter, saying: “The future is bright for all our children at their fully inclusive, welcoming local school!”
On November 28, Chris Cunningham, Glasgow City Council (GCC) convener for education, presented a report to the City Administration Committee recommending that it vote to allow boys to be taught at the school.
The report detailed the findings of a consultation in which three options were proposed: no change; retaining the all-girl status but altering the local catchment area; or changing the school to be co-educational.
45.9% of consultees – including parents and guardians, staff, children and young people – voted for the third option of making the school co-educational.
However, the result was controversial, as campaign group Girls For Notre Dame said the combined 39.9% and 13.4% for options one and two put the vote to maintain the all-girls status in the majority.
Probed on Thursday by the committee’s Conservative group about “difficulties” interpreting the results, Councillor Cunningham said it “was useful and of value” to provide a range of options to consultees.
Labour councillor Frank McAveety expressed appreciation for the “passionate” campaigns on either side of the debate.
He also raised concerns expressed by the Muslim Council of Scotland (MCS) that there had been “no meaningful effort” to reach out to Muslim organisations during the consultation process.
A statement from the MCS said that almost half the school’s pupils are Muslim.
Maureen McKenna, GCC’s director of education expressed “regret” at the MCS’s remarks.
Following an approximately 50-minute discussion, the committee voted unanimously in favour of making the high school co-educational.
Boys will be admitted into S1 only in August 2021, enabling “a five-year period of transition before the school became fully co-educational”.
