Students oppose plan to make Canberra girls’ school co-educational

Pink ribbons tied to trees and fences outside Canberra’s St Clare’s College mark a student campaign to keep the school girls-only. The campaign follows a proposal to admit boys to the Catholic school, which has educated girls for more than 60 years.

Year 12 student Brigid Norgrove said students valued the environment created by single-sex education. "We want to remain a single-sex school, it's what makes St Clare's so special," she said.

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We want to remain a single-sex school, it's what makes St Clare's so special.

Fellow Year 12 student Abby Bartkowiak said the objection was not directed at boys, but at what students believed girls could lose. She pointed to subjects typically dominated by men, including physical education and design and emerging technologies, where she said girls could be disadvantaged.

The possible shift to co-education is one of three options being considered by Catholic Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn Education Limited to meet demand for Catholic secondary education in southern Canberra. The authority is also examining whether existing sites in Canberra’s south-west could be expanded or repurposed, and whether land purchases across the border in New South Wales could help meet demand.

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It's not the fact we are against boys; we are against the fact that girls would be losing out.

Leigh Southwell, whose two daughters attend St Clare’s, said she was surprised and disappointed by the proposal. "I really feel there is a value to the school being single-sex," she said. "It unashamedly empowers girls to be leaders and actually caters their education towards girls only."

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I really feel there is a value to the school being single-sex. It unashamedly empowers girls to be leaders and actually caters their education towards girls only.

The authority said a survey of parents with children from kindergarten to Year 5 in Australian Capital Territory Catholic schools indicated demand for more co-educational secondary options in Canberra’s south. St Mary MacKillop College, an existing co-educational Catholic school, has a long waiting list and turned away more than 150 families seeking enrolment for 2027.

CACGEL executive director David de Carvalho said in a statement that no final decision had been made. "The question before us is not about the quality of education at St Clare's," he said. "It's about how we plan responsibly for the future and respond to the need."

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The question before us is not about the quality of education at St Clare's. It's about how we plan responsibly for the future and respond to the need.