Crosby's Merchant Taylors' boys and girls schools to merge

The newly-merged Merchant Taylors' School will be based at the current boys' school site

An independent girls' school on Merseyside is to join its boys' counterpart to create one senior school, governors have announced.

Merchant Taylors' Girls' School and the boys' school in Crosby will become Merchant Taylors' School from September 2025.

It will be based at the current boys' school site known as the Harrison site.

The girls' school won a gold medal in the European Choir Games in Sweden in November.

Fees for both the boys' school and the girls' school, which were set up in 1620 and 1888 respectively, are currently more than £13,000 a year.

The Merchant Taylors' School will be co-educational for all pupils aged 4-18 and led by Dr Michael Alderson.

'Financial efficiency'

Philip Marshall KC, chair of the board of governors and an alumnus of the school, said the move "allows us to broaden and strengthen our academic provision, while developing new opportunities and ensuring that access to those opportunities is the same for every pupil".

The school said it had made improvements to facilities, adjustments to the curriculum as well as additional support for pupils and staff, have been carefully considered "to ensure a seamless transition to co-education".

Inspectors found safeguarding failings at the boys' school last year.

In May inspectors found the boys' school was failing to keep all of its pupils safe and lacked the "leadership" to tackle "ongoing inappropriate behaviour".

In response, head teacher Deiniol Williams, said "robust action" had already been taken and the school would not tolerate the behaviour of "a minority".

A monitoring inspection by the Independent Schools Inspectorate in January found the school complied with all the Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 and governors and leaders had "fully and effectively" implemented the action plan submitted following the May inspection.