Diamond schools: the best of both worlds

Imagine a school that you could send your son and daughter to. A single school that fitted your ideal for both single-sex and co-ed education, operating from nursery to sixth form, covering all bases. One school — not three or four. A school that, for the final two years, allowed young adults of both genders to share lessons and facilities.

But imagine no more, for these schools exist, and they’re called diamond schools. (So-called because of the shape of the structure: genders together at the beginning and end, but apart in the middle.) There are just 13 of them in the country. Blending single-sex and co-ed teaching in the same institution makes them stand out as shining beacons in a fairly conservative landscape. Offerings vary, but the basic idea of co-ed junior years, single-sex for senior school and a co-ed sixth form prevails throughout. As the fashionable preference swings from single-sex to co-ed and back again, diamond schools occupy a unique compromise.