Student’s Legal Bid To Stop Newington College From Becoming Co-Ed Rejected
Image: Newington College
A Newington College student has lost his legal bid to challenge the private school from enrolling girls.
‘Student A,’ a Stanmore student, took legal action to stop Newington College from becoming coeducational, arguing that the word “youth” in the school’s 1873 trust deed refers exclusively to boys and young men.
Newington College’s secondary school fees start at $41,751 for students enrolling in years 7 and 8, and goes up to $45,369 for students in their senior year.
On Wednesday, presiding judge Justice Guy Parker rejected student A’s claim. Justice Parker concluded the term “youth” in the 152-year-old-trust deed was used in a “gender neutral sense” and did not mandate “males only at the college”, as reported by The Guardian.
During court, Justice Parker declared, “On the evidence, I think that the meaning of the term [youth] has not changed since 1873”.
Newington College’s Coed Plans
The private school first announced plans to become co-educational in November 2023.
Newington College will begin accepting girls into Kindergarten and Year 5 from 2026 at the Lindfield and Stanmore Prep campuses. In 2028, the private school will begin accepting girls into Year 7 and Year 11 at the Senior campus in Stanmore, before the college becomes fully coed in 2033.
In January, more than 50 boys had been removed from the college after the school announced it would be transitioning to coeducation from 2026.
However, according to the AFR, almost 1000 girls have since applied to enrol in the college.
Newington College describes itself as a “Uniting Church school” that offers “high quality education and a diverse co-curricular program to primary and secondary school students”.
The college is a “proud member of the Great Public Schools Association – an association of boys’ schools in New South Wales”.
Newington’s principal Michael Parker welcomed the court’s decision, writing in a letter to the school’s community, “We have been steadfast in our position throughout these proceedings and we remain excited to build on our rich history and traditions by taking Newington into our next era”.
“We look forward now to uniting around our future vision for Newington College as a respected, modern and dynamic school for boys, girls, young men and young women from next year and into the future,” Parker wrote.
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