London: The British all-boys school that famed English playwright William Shakespeare attended has opened its doors to girls for the first time in its 460-year history.
Over 30 girls have started the September term taking their A-levels at King Edward VI School in Stratford-upon-Avon.
More than 200 girls from 38 different schools applied for sixth form places at the school, BBC News reported.
"The Bard would have seen girls as a great addition to the School, in the same way he would have welcomed girls performing his plays in the modern era," Headmaster Bennet Carr said.
"Research shows male and female students tend to bring different learning styles, approaches and perspectives to their A-level studies and both genders benefit from seeing how each other work," Carr said.
The move follows a unanimous decision by the school`s board of governors in 2011, after previous proposals to admit girls were initially rejected in 2002.
Shakespeare is believed to have attended the school, which was about a quarter-mile from his home, from the age of 7 in 1571, although no attendance records for the period survives.
The Bard of Avon left school and formal education when he was around fourteen because of his father`s financial difficulties.
PTI
