THE region's top grammar school has shocked parents by saying it will admit girls for the first time in its 450-year history.

The headteacher of Newcastle Grammar School made the announcement to parents at a packed speech day event at the all-boy school.

James Miller said the need to change with the times was the main motivation behind the move.

The school will spend £1m on improvements before girls are introduced to the sixth form in 2002. They plan to eventually admit girls from age 11 upwards.

Mr Miller, speaking after breaking the news to parents, said the school changed tack because it adhered to a simple conviction that "things had changed over the last 40 years".

He denied that financial reasons were behind the decision.

He said: "All universities are co-educational, no Oxbridge colleges are male only, and our ex-students will not only work with women, they will work for them - a highly desirable state of affairs.

"A single-sex sixth form is not now just anomalous, it is far from the best preparation for life after school."

Last year, another North-East school, Durham School, allowed its first female pupil, Olivia Rae, into its enclosures.

Other independent schools remain adamantly single-sex. A spokesman for Teesside High School, based at Eaglescliffe, said they still have widespread support for their girls-only policy.

He said: "We can find little evidence that a co-educational route enjoys a great deal of support among parents, and there is significant evidence, from our own experience and elsewhere, that girls benefit greatly from the kind of environment provided here."