Our judges aren’t after glossy slogans or a carefully buffed prospectus. They want the real thing — the story.

What was 2025–26 actually like in your school? What did it sound like at 8.15am when the doors opened? What was in the air at break time? They want to hear the low buzz of a physics experiment taking shape, the burst of laughter outside the drama studio, the thud of a netball landing cleanly in the circle. Most of all, they want to grasp why the children in your care aren’t just doing well, but flourishing — and why you’re quietly (or not so quietly) proud to work there.

So be bold. Bring the place to life. Of course, we want to see the results and the hard evidence — the grades, the destinations, the participation figures — but spare us the bullet-point parade. Instead, show us what those achievements actually mean in the lived reality of a busy, ambitious co-educational school. If our judges pushed open your front doors on a wet Wednesday in November, what would strike them first? The warmth? The energy? The sense of purpose? Convince them that within moments they’d know this is somewhere rather special.

Resilience is very much the watchword of the moment in our sector, prompting a clear-eyed focus on the future amongst leadership teams up and down the country. So please weave an explanation of how your school is taking sensible, forward-thinking steps to shore up its long-term stability into your answers.

There are three areas we’d like you to tackle head on.

• What makes your school standout? 
  What makes your school a proper co-educational force to be reckoned with? Not simply successful, but genuinely distinctive in the way boys and girls grow up and learn together. How do they challenge each other academically, spur one another on in sport, share the stage, take joint responsibility as leaders? Where are stereotypes quietly dismantled and ambitions raised? Tell us about the big wins — the stellar results, the top-tier university offers, the trophies and productions — but root them in the story of a confident, collaborative co-ed culture. We’re looking for that indefinable spark: excellence not just in performance, but in character. (Around 200 words.)
• How have you delivered for your students?

  Show us how your co-educational approach has delivered in practical terms this year. How have you responded to the needs of your pupils in 2025–26? Perhaps you’ve rethought leadership, broadened subject choices, strengthened pastoral care, or opened doors that widened horizons. Whatever the initiative, explain why it mattered and what shifted because of it. We want to see that co-education in your school is deliberate and dynamic — not a default setting, but a conscious strength. (Around 150 words.)

• What values guide your school?

  What do you really stand for? In a restless, fast-moving century, how are you shaping young men and women who are thoughtful, resilient and ready for the world beyond the school gates? How do those values play out in everyday interactions — in classrooms, on the touchline, in the way pupils speak to one another? And how does learning side by side prepare them for adult life in all its complexity? (Around 150 words.)

In short, don’t just tell us you’re good. Let us feel it. Let us see it. Show us a co-educational school that isn’t merely keeping up, but confidently setting the standard.