THE head teacher of a private girls’ school near York has defended single-sex education as he looks forward to retirement at the end of this term.

Dr Geoffrey Chapman will step down after 16 years as headmaster of Queen Margaret’s School at Escrick, and said he now intends to play golf in every state of America.

“No one is ever prepared for retirement and it’s a new territory, but I am looking forward to it,” he said.

“Someone said you should retire while you are young enough to enjoy it. My wife is retiring at the same time and we are both looking forward to it.”

Dr Chapman started his career in higher education and was professor of classics at Natal University in Durban, South Africa. He returned to England with his wife, Valerie, in 1988 after the birth of their children.

“I then went to Christ’s Hospital in Sussex, then moved up here to Queen Margaret’s in 1993,” he said. “These are interesting times for boarding schools. We have always had to run very fast just to stay in the same place, because not everybody’s idea of schooling is single-sex schooling.

“But it is being revived,” he said. “Particularly in state schools, because scientific research shows that boys’ and girls’ brains work very differently and people are realising it does them no harm to be taught separately.

“I am very confident the new head will carry it forward.”

Looking back over his 16 years at the £7,500-a-term school, Dr Chapman said he would miss the younger pupils, whom he described as “very motivated”.

However, he said: “What I won't miss is the increased pressure from anxious parents who want their girls to do exceptionally well, and the red tape which binds us from central government.”

Dr Chapman is now looking forward to a barbecue which will take place in his honour at the school on Sunday, before he leaves St Margaret’s for the final time in two weeks.

“I’m going to play some golf with my wife,” he said. “And my daughter lives in America with her children, and we plan to drive through America in a Winnebago, playing golf in every state.”