Prince William and Kate may shun royal tradition by sending Prince George to this school

Change is afoot

Prince William and his wife Kate might shun royal tradition and enrol Prince George in a 'modern' mixed school, according to reports. Which isn't the first time Prince William would be breaking royal protocol. 

Little Prince George has only just started primary school, but reports have already started to suggest where he might go next.

According to The Sunday Times, William and Kate might be considering sending their firstborn to a mixed gender school, shunning the royal tradition of sending children to a single-sex school.

A source told the publication: 'The word on the street is that his parents want co-education and boarding when he leaves prep school.'

The newspaper also reported that Brighton College could be a strong contender, as it's been the most popular choice of senior education in recent years for Thomas's finishers.

According to recent figures, most pupils leaving Thomas's Battersea school have opted co-educational schools, instead of single-sex schools.

The headmaster of the school tipped to be the place where George will carry on his education told The Sunday Times that this would be a 'groundbreaking' decision for the royal family. 

The head of the school also added that the young royal parents' decision would be in line with other 'modern parents', who feel 'increasingly strongly that segregating their sons from their daughters is unnatural and not obvious preparation for a world where women and men are equal partners at work'.

If true, Kate and Wills' decision to send George to a mixed school would break royal tradition, as both William and Harry attended an all-boys school. 

The royal brothers went to Eton, the prestigious all-boys boarding school in Berkshire whose alumni includes actor Tom Hiddleston, former Prime Minister David Cameron and politician Boris Johnson.

However, the little royal would be following in his mum's footsteps, as Kate went to co-educational boarding school Marlborough College

There's been a lot of a debate around mixed and single-sex schools, with experts torn between what the best approach is for children entering education. 

Previous research published in the American journal Science suggested that women who attended an all-girls school were 'compromised in the workplace as their ability to network and cooperate with men was inhibited'.

However, other studies have suggested girls and boys have different learning needs, so both genders can benefit from different learning environments. 

Brighton College, which was founded in 1845, is one the most prestigious mixed gender school in the UK, having been voted the UK's Independent School of the Year 2013-2014.

The school has also consistently been placed in the top 10 schools for boys and girls in England in the past few years in terms of academic results, and it also has a strong focus on teaching gender equality to its pupils.