Empowering Students Together

As we continue our journey towards coeducation we are excited to be embracing a future where diversity and equality are at the forefront of our educational mission.

The decision to transition to a coeducational environment is driven by a commitment to provide a more egalitarian learning experience, reflecting the dynamic and interconnected world beyond the classroom. As Cranbrook School prepares to welcome its first cohort of female students in the Senior School in 2026, the community eagerly anticipates the rich perspectives and opportunities this new chapter will bring.

Our Director of Coeducation, Daisy Turnbull, reflects on the progress made so far and the plans for the coming year, on the journey to coeducation.

I AM OFTEN ASKED WHY someone should send their daughter to Cranbrook. When reflecting on this question, I find it helpful to share from a personal perspective and in selecting a school for my own children I have needed to separate my current role from this important decision. Both my daughter and my son are currently on Cranbrook’s waitlist, which like all parents, was a decision I made after careful consideration, with the knowledge and strong belief that Cranbrook will be ready for coeducation and will be the best environment for both my children to attend together. There are many considerations when preparing any school for coeducation. This article focuses on three key areas: female leadership, coeducational opportunities, and wellbeing.

Uniform

Diversity To Be Offered To Girls

Female visibility, leadership, and language.

AS WE TRANSITION TO A COEDUCATIONAL MODEL, it is crucial for our school to continue to ensure that females are well-represented in leadership roles. This representation fosters an inclusive environment where both male and female students can see themselves reflected in positions of authority and influence. Cranbrook has an equal gender balance at different levels of management across the School, from Executive level, to our Senior Leadership Team and throughout middle leadership across all campuses.

We are increasing the visibility of these leaders through school assemblies, through articles and contributions in our weekly parent newsletter as well as looking at the language we use around the School to ensure it is not only respectful but embraces and encourages female leadership. This is not just important for the students who will be part of coeducational cohorts, but for all students to leave Cranbrook with an expectation and appreciation for female leaders.

Another significant change for the School as we move towards coeducation is addressing language conventions to reflect all genders. Language creates stories, it creates mythology and a connection between people, history and place. As we talk about adapting our language as we move towards coeducation, it should not be to remove the stories, or the history of our school, but to develop and deepen those stories to reflect more people, not just young women, but anyone who needs the story to live by.

A lot is often said about the role of language in culture, how it can be seamlessly part of a community, or stand out. Amid constantly evolving language, especially with young people adopting terms online from memes and TikTok videos, it becomes easily apparent that language can create subcultures.

Language is at the heart of how we as a school community communicate. In Assembly, our Acting Head of School, Mrs Marquet, explained to the Senior School that the time has come to move away from the term ‘Housemaster’ towards the title ‘Head of House’ across the whole School. This change is being introduced from now, and you will see changes in email signatures, signage and general use. Changes in language usage take time to become a natural part of how we speak, so instigating these changes now will ensure these changes are embedded for the beginning of our coeducational journey.

Recently, there has been a lot in the media surrounding some negative male influencers and how they are impacting schools. The most important thing a school can do when faced with language that is derogatory or sexist is to show the exact opposite. Not just to say, “That’s not ok” but, “Here is what language we should be using.” We need to use language that not only neutralises but counteracts some of the unhelpful language young people are hearing and using, online. Ideally, our language should help build respect for others, no matter who they are.

The move to coeducation allows us to explore and adopt language that promotes inclusion. Frequently, we say “boys”, “guys” and even “lads” or “gents”, because for more than 100 years we have been, and we still are, a boys’ school. But as we move towards coeducation, we will adjust the terms we use to be gender inclusive, or gender neutral, so incoming female students are included, as well as ensuring the stories we tell in the School, and across our community, show the contribution and leadership of women.

Welcoming and embracing changes to our language is fundamental to ensuring Cranbrook is a truly coeducational environment, encouraging young men and women to work together throughout their journey at school.

This new approach to language is also mirrored in our approach to curriculum as we review our programmes to ensure they are taking advantage of the options available to increase female visibility and discussion around current issues. For example, in Year 10 Commerce, we study employment issues and discuss the gender pay gap in detail, and even assess the issue in assessments.

The curriculum is something we are already working on, looking at the range of subjects we teach and which ones to add. This is in the context that Cranbrook already has a very broad range of subjects it offers for the HSC as well as the IB Diploma Programme. This year for example we have added an accelerated Studies of Religion subject for the HSC, as well as Business Services in the IB offering too.

Coeducational opportunities IN SOME FABULOUS NEWS, it has been confirmed that Cranbrook’s female students will compete in Sydney’s Independent Sporting Association (ISA) competition. This opportunity allows Cranbrook’s future female athletes to showcase their talent and represent the School in various sports disciplines, including Netball, Basketball, Football, Touch Football, Swimming, and Athletics. Cranbrook female athletes will also have the opportunity to compete in CAS and state-run sports such as Tennis, Volleyball, Snow Sports, AFL, Water Polo, Cricket, Rowing, Sailing and Cross Country.

Cranbrook is also working actively with girls’ schools, with fun activities like Touch Football competitions and Ceroc Dancing, as well as enriching the curriculum with speakers and co-learning opportunities. These interactions are not just for the students who will be part of coeducation, but for all Cranbrook students.

In Term 2 this year, we welcomed some of our incoming Year 7 2026 students, who join teachers and met each other over an afternoon tea and games afternoon. We also enjoyed a workshop run by the Academy for Enterprising Girls, for our incoming and waitlisted girls from 2026 onwards as an opportunity to meet each other in an engaging and entrepreneurial context. Our approach to sport will aim for equality of access. As girls enrol, we will be finding out their interests for sport and shaping teams to compete in those sports. We will be aiming for coeducational training together where appropriate - for example Strength & Conditioning training in the morning can be run with all students. We are having conversations with sporting associations as well, and the CAS, as shown through Barker College, have some coeducational teams in younger cohorts for some sports.

In 2025 we are adding Dance as an after school co-curricular offering for our current, and waitlisted students to participate in and we are also exploring adding this as a curriculum subject in the coming years as well. Again, this is an activity I know many of our current students would also enjoy.

Wellbeing

OUR STUDENT WELLBEING PROGRAMME, run by the Director of Student Wellbeing Angelique Sanders, is being created with coeducation in mind. Some of the wellbeing modules being explored this year include social emotional literacy and giving young men the language and the tools to be emotionally aware, empathetic and to promote equity. Our Tomorrow Man workshops are run for students in Years 10 – 12, and when we have girls we will have Tomorrow Woman running sessions alongside.

There is not one girlhood, just as there is not one boyhood. There is diversity in expression and experience of childhood and adolescence. The fundamental factor in student wellbeing is belonging, regardless of their experience.

So too will the diversity of experience be offered to girls – in academia, in sport, in the arts, in co-curricular, and in the uniform.

We are incredibly excited about welcoming such an impressive cohort of girls to our school in 2026.