Who is in the corridor
Most European internationals are co-ed by design. Single-sex is a particular Tuesday, usually a UK or Irish one. Decide it for this child, not for a newspaper column.
On the continental international map, co-ed is the default. UN campuses, American diplomas, IB day houses, European Schools: boys and girls in the same corridor, the same lunch, the same exam hall.
Single-sex in this guide is mostly a British and Irish story — a boys’ boarding house, a girls’ day school, a London house that still splits the sexes in the way it always has. It is not a ranking. It is a climate. Some children restore in it. Some spend their courage pretending they do not mind.
We have walked three useful doors already. Use the portraits for fees, dates, and inspection lines. This note is how to know whether you are even in that conversation.
Boys — the school’s published pupil body is boys. Eton College is the stark version: every boy boards, the useful story is the Year 5 registration close and the house, not the novel.
Girls — St Paul’s Girls’ School on Brook Green is a day school. The admissions pages are specific about tests, offers, and a rule the school prints: it does not sponsor a student visa. Students live in London with their parents. That is a different Tuesday from a Berkshire boarding house.
Boys — St Paul’s School in Barnes shares the founder’s name with Brook Green and not a river. Most boys go home; boarding starts at Year 9. Dulwich College is the south-London boys’ campus, co-ed only in the early-years house, boarding from Year 9. Walk Alleyn’s the same week if mixed is also on the list — same neighbourhood, different gate.
Mixed houses — Westminster School is the in-between the inspectorate language still needs: boys and girls, not the same pattern in every year, a day-and-boarding life beside the Abbey. Read the portrait. Do not flatten it into “co-ed like an IB campus.” Highgate and Alleyn’s are mixed day houses, north and south, with no boarding corridor.
If a brochure says “we are essentially co-ed now” and the admissions page still splits 13+ and 16+ by sex, believe the admissions page.
The honest reasons are few. Write them down.
The dishonest reasons are louder. “Girls learn better without boys” as a universal law. “Boys need to be made into men.” A newspaper study from another decade. A grandparent’s memory of a house that no longer exists.
If two adults in the house disagree, do not average the disagreement into a co-ed international that pleases nobody and a single-sex boarding house that pleases the other nobody. Name the disagreement. One of you is usually worried about universities. The other is usually worried about 4 p.m.
A posting in Vienna, Prague, Amsterdam, or Madrid will not offer you a menu of boys’ and girls’ internationals. The internationals are co-ed. The national private houses may have a church or a Gymnasium habit; that is a different question (ethos, language, leaving certificate), not “single-sex like Eton.”
If single-sex is a hard requirement and you are moving to the continent, say that in the first week. You may be choosing boarding in Britain plus holidays home, not a day campus beside the UN. Boarding or day is that decision. London and the boarding map are where those portraits live.
Ask what “single-sex” means at this age — all the way up, or only until 16. Ask where the other sex appears: societies, a brother school, a sixth-form bus, never.
Ask what happens for a child who is not sure they fit the house’s idea of a boy or a girl. A kind school can answer without frost. A frozen answer is also information.
Ask the inspection line, not the Latin on the gate. Eton’s November 2024 ISI visit, the portrait says, both praised the co-curricular life and asked the school to keep working on relationships education. That is the useful paragraph.
Then watch the children, not the statue. Are they allowed to be a bit silly in the corridor? Do they look at one another? Is there a place to sit when you are eleven and the day is too much?
Ten tour questions still apply. Leave the SAT-average question at home unless you are choosing a sixth form this year.
Friendly orientation, not formal admissions advice. Always confirm dates with the school.
A large boys’ campus on Dulwich Common, with a co-ed early-years house and boarding from Year 9. The 2026–27 fee table lives on the college’s own page. We will not guess the numbers the site keeps behind a script.
Eton, BerkshireThe useful Eton story is not the novel. It is the 31 August registration date, the house, three Halves at the published fee, and an inspection that both praised the co-curricular life and asked the school to keep working on relationships education.
LondonBrook Green is a day school. Students live in London with their parents, usually within a 50-minute commute. The admissions pages are specific about tests, offers, and the rule that the school does not sponsor a student visa.
LondonThe boys’ house on the Thames in Barnes shares a name with Brook Green and not a Monday. Most boys go home at night. Boarding starts at Year 9. The January 2025 inspection met every standard and asked the senior school to make PSHE land better.
The letters on the leaver’s certificate matter. They are not the whole child. Here is how to tell them apart without a headache, and without pretending every door stays open.
16 minYou do not need a perfect algorithm. You need a few true things about your child, a boring list on the fridge, and the courage to ignore a beautiful campus that does not fit.
15 minTuition is the number on the homepage. The PDF is the number that arrives in March. Here is how to read the second one, without inventing a euro, a krona, or a deadline.
12 minSkip the question about last year’s average. Ask the ones that make a teacher’s face change. Then look at the corridor while they answer.