After 160 years, all-girls Villa Maria to allow boys

Villa Maria High School

After 160 years of being a school for girls, Villa Maria is moving toward co-education.

The school administration sent a notice to students and parents on Friday announcing the school would begin admitting boys to Grade 7 (Secondary 1) as of September 2016.

“It's not going to be the same school anymore. We know that for sure,” said secondary five student Prathna Kanthasany.

The private school said that current students will not have to share classes with boys, and will continue that way until they graduate.

Villa parent Stephania Mambro said the news made her emotional.

“I'm a proud Villa graduate and it's sad to say, I cried, I was saddened by it. I think it's important to have that all girls atmosphere and not have to have the distraction of boys.”

The co-ed education is just one part of what the school is calling a new program, that will also include new study guides, and new programs in specific fields.

But McGill professor Jon Bradley believes the real reason for the change is money. Even though Villa Maria doesn't currently have an enrolment problem, he feels the decision to add boys is the result of changing demographics.

160-year-old school

Villa Maria was founded by the Congregation Notre Dame as a private girls school in 1854, and is the oldest private school for girls in Montreal.

It was a boarding school for more than 100 years, even for children whose families lived in the city, but the residence eventually closed in 1966.

The school also stopped teaching elementary students in the 1970s, and shifted from a Catholic basis for education to a secular system.

End of gender segregation

Several other private schools that offered classes only to boys or girls have either gone co-ed or closed.

College Jean-de-Brebeuf, which opened as a boys-only school in 1928, opened a separate girls school in 2013. Classes are separated by gender but there are communal areas for boys and girls.

Lower Canada College shifted to co-ed education in 1992.

Queen of Angels Academy, which operated as an all-girls school in Dorval for 125 years, closed its doors for good on June 30, 2014.

However several private all-girls and all-boys schools remain in Montreal, including Trafalgar, Sacred Heart, Selwyn House, and Loyola High School

Bradley says there's no proof that students do better without the distraction of the opposite sex. He said he thinks the notion of single-sex schools is antiquated.

“Our schools were set up 150 years ago when the schooling of boys and girls was very different. Society was different, the girls didn't stay in school as long, they were preparing to be homemakers,” he said.