Mike Tindall’s old school with 400 years of history is going co-ed in response to Labour’s plans to impose VAT on fees_Nhy
The 433-year-old school of former England rugby star Mike Tindall is set to go co-educational in response to the government’s plans to impose VAT on tuition fees.
Wakefield Grammar School Foundation will merge its two single-sex schools together from the start of the 2026 academic year.
The move will see Queen Elizabeth Grammar School for boys combine resources with Wakefield Girl’s High School for different portions of student’s educations.
This approach will see boys and girls have separate academic lessons from Years 7 to 11 but share extracurricular activities and other topics such as health, social and economic education, before a full merger in sixth form.
Described by the school’s foundation as a ‘proactive’ measure to ensure it remains competitive in attracting students, the schools are set to see a 17 per cent fee increase this January.
According to the the foundation, this is due to the ever-rising running costs and the impending 20 per cent VAT set to be imposed by Labour on school fees.
There had also been plans to ditch the historic names of both schools, but the Telegraph have reported that following pushback from parents due to fears it would dilute school history and tradition, the move has been scrapped.
Instead, both Queen Elizabeth Grammar School and Wakefield Girls’ High School, plus the group’s Wakefield Grammar Pre-Preparatory School, will all be renamed Queen Elizabeth’s School, Wakefield.
Queen Elizabeth Grammar School for boys boasts Mike Tindall as a former pupil
One aggrieved parent drew comparisons between the merging of schools and the controversial Jaguar car rebrand in November.
The parent also voiced their belief that the merger signified the unintended consequences of Labour’s tax hike, adding that it would dilute Britain’s esteemed educational system.
‘For centuries one of the appeals of a great British private education has been knowing that these storied institutions provide a steady guiding hand to shape and mould the next generation’, the concerned parent said.
‘Parents like me put their money and faith in the belief that these schools will afford an education and history for their children that can be appreciated and valued beyond their own lifetime’, they added.
The news of the Wakefield school merger comes off the back of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) warning last month that the government’s plan to impose a tuition tax would have a ‘seismic impact’ on girls’ education.
Other school headmasters have been reacting to the tax, with headmistress Jane Gandee of St Swithun’s Girls’ School saying that the Labour VAT policy has the potential to create an uneven playing field for girls’ education.
According to the 2024 Schools Council’s census, there are 101 fully single-sex independent boys’ schools in the UK and 155 fee-charging girls’ schools, with a number of these also announcing radical changes off the back of the tuition tax.
Prior Park College in Bath is set to end its near-200-year-long affiliation with the Catholic Church as it attempts to attract more pupils, instead shifting its official denomination to the broader umbrella of Christianity.
Wakefield Grammar School Foundation will merge its two single-sex schools together from the start of the 2026 academic year
The decision to make its schools co-educational followed ‘months of careful consideration’, Wakefield Grammar School Foundation said.
In a statement on its website, they said: ‘We are dedicated to maintaining our tradition of academic excellence while adapting to modern educational needs and taking sensible account of societal changes. Women and men are working alongside each other in higher education and the workplace, and it is important that education prepares girls and boys for that’.
From January 1 when the new tuition tax is imposed, fees at the schools will shoot from £5,633 per term to £6,587 for Year 7 students and above.
The treasury have stated their hope that the additional revenue raised from the tax will total almost £2 billion with the help of the removal of business rate reliefs from private schools with charitable status.
Labour has said it will spend the money raised on measures to improve standards in state schools, including the recruitment of 6,500 new teachers by the end of this Parliament.
