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Single-sex schools can put girls at a ‘huge disadvantage’ if they fail to learn to socialise with boys, a leading headmaster has warned.

Richard Cairns, head of the private co-educational Brighton College, says girls could get star grades, but have problems at work because they are unable to talk to boys.

He said he was puzzled by parents who have ‘outdated notions’ about young women performing better in girls-only schools.

Writing in the magazine www.independentschoolparent.com he says: “All parents looking for a school for their daughter have broadly similar criteria in mind - they want somewhere that readies their child for the world beyond the school gates, academically and socially.

“That is why I am often perplexed when they end up being swayed by outdated notions about girls performing better in single sex schools and plump for that deeply unrealistic world.

“After all, if girls do not learn to socialise with boys as children, what happens when they go out into the work place?

“They may have a clutch of A*s and a first class degree but if they cannot meaningfully converse and communicate with male colleagues they will be at a huge disadvantage.”

But Caroline Jordan, president of the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) said it was ‘old-fashioned’ to assume that these schools do not offer plenty of appropriate opportunities for young women to interact with young men.

She added: “Whilst Mr Cairns may find it unpalatable, the truth is that girls’ schools feature heavily at the top the league tables for independent schools and have done for decades.

“It may also have escaped his attention that all girls’ schools provide plenty of appropriate opportunities for interaction with boys - in fact, it is rather old-fashioned to assume anything other.”