Abingdon and Abingdon Prep School in Oxfordshire have announced that they are both to go co-educational.

Abingdon Prep School will admit girls to its pre-prep from September this year, and to Years 3 to 6 from September next year.

Abingdon Senior School will admit girls to its 1st Year (Year 7) and sixth form (Year 12) from September 2026.

In a statement the schools said: “Abingdon and Abingdon Prep School have long been highly successful but we want the education we deliver to be reflective of today’s society – one where equal opportunity for the sexes is promoted and in which both girls and boys should be able to be as ambitious as each other and be in control of their own future success. We believe that the life skills of teamwork, emotional intelligence, mutual understanding and the ability to relate to others are better fostered in a co-educational environment and one which more closely mirrors the conditions of real life. Our values of intellectual curiosity; a balanced education; and outstanding pastoral support will remain the core of all that we do and we believe a stronger and better Abingdon will emerge as a result of this move.”

Professor Mike Stevens, chair of governors for The Abingdon Foundation, commented: “I am very excited by what this development will mean for the Abingdonians of the future. The Abingdon I have known has always been open to the opportunities that change can bring and our decision has been driven by what we think is best for education today. As the senior school’s aims and ethos statement already expresses it, Abingdon has “a constant eye on innovation to reflect the needs of a rapidly-changing world”. Our vision is very much of a stronger Abingdon Foundation with the proposition of an education that will be exceptional for both girls and boys in terms of its opportunities, its excitement and its ambition for their future.”