The NSW Supreme Court has ruled girls will be able to attend Newington College from next year.
It follows a push from a group of alumni opposing the change, which ultimately ended up in court.
The case’s lead plaintiff was an unnamed current student. The plaintiff argued the school was breaching its founding document by allowing co-education.
Supreme Court Justice Guy Parker ruled against the student, finding the school’s founding document was gender-neutral.
Co-ed plans
Newington College is a private school in Sydney that has historically been a single-sex boys school.
In November 2023, Newington announced plans to transition from single-sex to co-education.
Girls were to be accepted into Kindergarten and Year 5 from 2026, and Year 7 and Year 11 from 2028.
Lawsuit
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Last year, a lawsuit was launched against the school.
The claim centred on the school’s founding trust deed, written in 1873, which says it has been established to provide “an efficient course of education for youth”.
A Newington student was the lead plaintiff. Lawyers for this student, who has been kept anonymous in court proceedings, claimed the word “youth” was intended to mean boys. Under this argument, the school is breaching the terms of the trust by becoming co-ed.
Decision
Today, Justice Parker concluded that the word “youth” in the trust deed was used in a “gender-neutral sense”.
Therefore, he ruled the document does “not mandate male-only enrolment at [Newington] College.”
As such, Newington will now transition to co-education as planned.
