Cheltenham Ladies' College principal hopes for moral boost from credit crunch

The cry of 'Oh mummy, not quail's eggs again' at the family picnic could be a thing of the past after the principal of England's most exclusive girls' school said she hoped the credit crunch would make her students less materialistic.

Vicky Tuck, principal of the £25,000-a-year Cheltenham Ladies' College, whose past pupils include actress Kristin Scott-Thomas and socialite Tamara Beckworth, said she found the economic downturn "bracing" and hoped it would end the materialistic "me, me, me society".

At the start of the Girls' Schools Association's (GSA's) annual conference in Hampshire yesterday – which represents 200 fee-paying girls' schools – Mrs Tuck also announced that the GSA would be launching a website that will give parents advice on raising their daughters.

Later, she ridiculed the thinking behind co-educational schools and warned against girls' schools lowering standards by trying to cut costs in the current economic climate.

Mrs Tuck told delegates that parents today were anxious their daughters were growing up too fast and were worried that they were exposed to many negative influences.

Mrs Tuck said: "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 said school communities were the "antidote to self-absorption and narrow-mindedness".

She said "prolonging the wholesomeness of childhood" is often cited by parents as a key reason for choosing a girls' school.

Parents 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," she said.

Now in a bid to allay the fears of parents Mrs Tuck said the GSA would, in January, be launching the website, mydaughter.co.uk, to give advice to parents on raising girls.

Mrs Tuck also told delegates that it was "good risk management" for every independent school to consider the possible impact of a recession, adding: "Maybe there are costs you can cut, but don't dilute the essence of what your schools do that make them distinctive enough from the state provision that parents feel that their investment justified."

Mrs Tuck also spoke of single-sex education and the need to teach girls differently to boys. She said girls' brains were "wired differently" and it was "crucial to cater for their separate needs".

She said: "I have a hunch that in 50 years' time, or maybe only 25, people will be doubled up with laughter when they watch documentaries about the history of education and discover that people once thought it was a good idea to educate adolescent boys and girls together."

In September, the college came second to The Royal High School, Bath, in the top 10 independent schools based on the average GCSE points achieved per candidate.