A TOP independent girls' school has announced that it will open its doors to boys from September.

Teesside Prep and High School, in Eaglescliffe, near Stockton, will welcome boys into the school's nursery as part of a phased scheme.

Headteacher Hilary French said the shift in admission's policy had been prompted by changes in social trends.

"A school cannot stay static, it has to change with society," she said.

"We realised that a school that only offered education to girls was not a very attractive prospect to parents nowadays."

The number of pupils at independent schools in the UK has fallen for the first time in a decade. This time last year there were 504,830 independent school pupils nationally, compared with 501,580 now.

Teesside High, which dates back to the 1870s, admitted boys into the infant section for a short period during the 1970s. This time, male pupils will be phased in slowly with the school becoming mixed.

Mrs French said the fee-paying school would continue its policy of single sex education, with boys and girls being taught separately after the age of six.

She said: "We still believe very much in the principal of single sex education as the most effective way of teaching students."