'Bracing' recession hailed by girls' head

Girls are growing up surrounded by a "toxic cocktail" of Botox and binge drinking, a leading headmistress warned today.

Vicky Tuck, president of the Girls' Schools Association, said parents wanted girls to be educated separately "to prolong the wholesomeness of society".

Speaking at the GSA conference near Winchester, she said: "Some parents today are very anxious about their daughters growing up too fast. They are worried - aren't we all? - about a coarsening of society and the toxic cocktail of binge drinking, internet safety and the early sexualisation of girls.

"Sometimes, surrounded by media reports on Botox and bingeing, it's easy to feel we live in a moral vacuum, garden in a gale. But we must go on gardening. Am I alone in finding the economic downturn somehow bracing? Perhaps it will spell the end of the conspicuous and ultimately unfulfilling materialism of the me, me, me society. Let's hope so."

Mrs Tuck, head of Cheltenham Ladies' College, said many parents lack confidence in their abilities and need schools to give guidance. The GSA is setting up a website offering advice on problems such as eating disorders.

Mrs Tuck also claimed that boys and girls need a separate education because of "neurological differences", adding: "I have a hunch that in 50 years time, or maybe only 25, people will be doubled up with laughter when they discover that people once thought it was a good idea to educate adolescent boys and girls together."