How this 162-year-old Sydney private boys school is preparing for girls

In the months after Newington College announced the all-boys private school would start enrolling girls, headmaster Michael Parker visited a handful of elite British schools that made the same leap into co-education.

“The feeling was if schools like Winchester and Rugby School could do it, then so can Newington,” he said.

Parker spent several days at Winchester College, a 643-year-old elite English boys school that broke with tradition in 2022 when it switched to co-ed; and at Rugby School, founded in 1567 as a boys’ boarding school and which became fully co-educational in 1992.

Newington College will become co-educational in kindergarten and year 5 from next year. Pictured is Autumn Gruber, who will start alongside her older brother Patton. Credit: Steven Siewert

“When you step in