In the eastern suburbs,where parents face a similar dilemma,the NSW government is considering turning Randwick Boys'High School – which has planty of spare classrooms – into a co-ed school,and preserving Randwick Girls'as a single-sex school.

Randwick Girls'parents have historically opposed the merging of the two schools,while boys'school parents have supported it. Labor has promised to build a completely new co-educational school in the Coogee district if elected.

In the Inner West,a merger of Canterbury Girls'and Canterbury Boys'would face less opposition than in Randwick,according to the the Summer Hill P&C survey,which found parents of girls were as keen on co-ed schools as parents of boys.

"The mums that I talk to want their girls to go to school that reflects the workplace,the university in the real world,"said Katherine Wake,a parent in the area who has daughters aged 12 and nine.

The issue worrying parents in the inner west and eastern suburbs is also facing other parents across Sydney. There are more than 10 catchments in which the only public high school option is a single-sex school.

In areas where there are single-sex schools there is often a high proportion of boys in nearby co-ed schools. For example,at Kingsgrove North High School,to the south of Canterbury,two-thirds of students are boys.

Excluding the four girls'schools without a male equivalent,enrolments at girls'schools outnumber those at boys'schools by 30 per cent.

A NSW Department of Education spokesman said the department was committed to discussing public schooling options with communities. Two nearby co-ed high schools – Marrickville and Kingsgrove North – had"significant capacity",he said.