Message from Daisy Turnbull, Director of Coeducation and Academy

With the Paris Olympics over and Australia having our most successful medal tally ever, I thought it was a good time to discuss sport in a coeducational context at Cranbrook. 

The past few years have shown that the increased visibility and investment in women’s sport has had an impact not only on the medal tally (13 of 18 Australian gold medal winners were female), but at the grassroots level. This is why sport, along with our students’ involvement in the Arts and Service, is so fundamental to the balanced coeducation offering at Cranbrook. 

As a founding member of the CAS, our male students will continue to compete across the sports they always have. 

For our female students, we have been accepted into the Independent Sporting Association (ISA) for Saturday sporting competitions and carnivals. Initially our female students will compete in the ISA in Basketball, Tennis, and Touch Football in summer and netball and Football (soccer) for winter. 

Students who wish to compete in other sports will be able to participate in some of our independent competitions including Rowing, Sailing, and Snowsports. There is opportunity for girls to compete in some of our CAS teams, but this will be considered in each instance. 

We are very proud of the fact that at Cranbrook, all students participate in a sport in both seasons, and that will continue. The benefits of physical activity and sport are well known, and data continues to show that 85% of girls aged 5 – 15 years old do not achieve an adequate level of physical activities (NSW Office of Sport). For that reason, we see our mandatory Sports Programme as integral not only to students’ physical health, but their mental and academic acuity as well. 

Training will be coeducational, which means all Year 7 basketballers will train together, even though the girls will compete in the ISA and boys compete in the CAS. This will give students an opportunity to learn and play together. We are excited about coeducational sport at Cranbrook and look forward to engaging in the ISA competition alongside other great coeducational schools.

Daisy Turnbull
Director of Coeducation and Academy