The History of
Girls at Ampleforth By Hugh Codrington (Member of staff 1987-2015)
T
o begin with a possibly apocryphal story. In the mid-1980s parents gathered at Exhibition and, as they took their places awaiting the arrival of the Headmaster’s party, they read the magazine published by sixth formers. The leading article commented on the forthcoming announcement that Ampleforth was about to become a fully co-educational school. Conversations of astonishment went through the audience. Fr Dominic Milroy, the Headmaster, arrived, stood and invited the sixth formers who had executed the hoax to come forward and congratulated them on a first-class joke.
It would be churlish to deny that the main reason for considering the entry of girls to the school was economic. Like many similar all boys’ boarding schools, Ampleforth’s numbers dropped in the early 1990s. With the exception of roughly half a dozen schools, almost exclusively in the south of the country, many of the traditional schools had already admitted girls or were considering the co-education option. The boarding sector as a whole was shrinking but Ampleforth was prone to particular pressures. The importance of a specifically Catholic education for Catholic families was declining, a trend experienced in other Catholic independent schools such as Douai, Belmont and Buckfast all of which were to close. There was, moreover, a trend for those families who chose the boarding option to pick schools relatively close to home to make access to their children easier. Ampleforth’s relatively remote location is a curse as well as a blessing.
Only about ten years later, in 1996, girls were first officially admitted to Ampleforth. Now they make up almost half the school roll. Ampleforth is unquestionably a coeducational school and a very different establishment from the all boys’ school it had been since its foundation in the first years of the nineteenth century and Two important meetings since the enterprising sixth took place at this time that formers had committed their considerably helped our jape. It may be of some interest strategic thinking. Firstly, a 2006 to reflect on why and how the parent, Alfons Brenninkmeyer, College went through the process of generously invited a small group change. At the time, I was the Director of comprising Abbot Timothy, the Headmaster Admissions and so I had some insight into the Fr Leo Chamberlain, the Procurator Peter Bryan, transition but it transpired I had a vested interest Fr Gabriel Everitt and me to a conference in as well with two daughters of school age and a Amsterdam. The purpose was to see if any number of nieces interested in the prospect of lessons could be learned from the decline in coming to school in the Valley. Dutch Catholic education. Secondly, we invited marketing experts from Cranfield School of I say ‘officially admitted’ because a number of girls Management to offer advice. Together these had been educated in the Sixth Form since the meetings were very useful and helped us to early 1970s, almost exclusively the daughters of lay concentrate on finding solutions to the problem staff. However, they did not officially exist – they of our declining numbers. Adopting coappeared on no school lists, were not counted in the education was an obvious choice. school roll and even struggled to find a suitable loo! 24 | AUTUMN 2022 | AMPLEFORTH DIARY