One of Britain's most eminent public schools for boys, Abingdon in Oxfordshire, has hired a New Zealand head teacher, Felicity Lusk.
Not only will she be the first female head for the school in its 753-year history, she will be the first to run a boys' public boarding school in Britain, The Times newspaper reported.
Previously she was headmistress of the Oxford High School for Girls, but she said: "There is not much I don't know about adolescent boys".
Miss Lusk, who plays the organ, studied music at Victoria University, in Wellington and after graduating, became director of music at Wellington East Girls' College.
She moved to England in 1990 and became deputy head teacher of the Hasmonean High School, in London.
The newspaper said her move to Abingdon School, in Oxfordshire, "breaks the final taboo in public school education for boys".
Miss Lusk, 53, will take the reins in September next year at the school, which puts a strong emphasis on sport and extracurricular activities.
Divorced, with one son, Miss Lusk said she was ready to rise to the challenge of leading more than 1000 boys.
“I have worked with boys before and all young people have the same aspirations.
“Leadership is not about gender.
"There aren't many women doing what I'm going to be doing, I think they (Abingdon) have been quite brave," she said.
"A last bastion of education has been broken through".
The school, with pupils aged 4 to 18, costs 27,000 pounds ($NZ63,000) a year for boarders and only 20 per cent of its staff are women.
Miss Lush said she sent her own son to co-ed schools because they were all close to home, but in general she supported single-sex education for pupils between 11 and 16.
"Boys and girls learn differently. Girls tend to be more perfectionists, and need more encouraging with questioning skills and responding," she told the Telegraph.
"Boys are robust, need careful structuring, and tend to do everything at the last minute."
She had little patience with the suggestion that being a working single parent was tough: "My son boarded; others use nannies. I just feel fantastically privileged to have a child."
"Parents get a lot of brickbats for wanting to provide for their children. It's very sad. I've never got my head around the British angst about the class system. People come to New Zealand with nothing and make something of their lives.
"I'm a great believer in letting children try things out. If it doesn't work, let go. If a child hates piano, why do it? Don't force a child to study medicine if the child wants to go to drama school. Ambition is the great motivator."
Her son has given her two pieces of advice.
"Get alongside the boys and talk to them. And don't embarrass yourself.”
NZPA