John David Buchanan took over from Talbot Griffith in 1958, and played himself in quietly until the Circular 10/65 which demanded comprehensivisation of maintained schools, of which Oakham was one as a Direct Grant school for the Rutland dayboys. He and the Rutland Local Education Authority did not see eye to eye on the possibilities of re-organisation of Rutland's schools, and as a result in 1970 the school (then 700 in size, all boys) reverted to full independence from the local authority, and in 1971, Oakham admitted female pupils for the first time, with the intention from the beginning of being co-educational throughout. The school is fully co-educational throughout the whole age range (10-18), with an approximately 50:50 split at all levels (c550 boys and c500 girls in 2011-12). There are an equal number of girls' houses (8) to boys' houses. When Buchanan retired in 1977 the school was 950 in total size (c550 boys and 400 girls), and the next headmaster, Richard Bull (1977–84, before he went on to be headmaster of Rugby) continued the co-education process; but it was not until 1990 that the process was completed during the headmastership of Graham Smallbone (1985–96) and equality of numbers gained. When Tony Little, later headmaster of Eton, took over in 1996 there were 528 boys and 510 girls in a school of 1038. Furthermore, the school is pretty evenly spread between boarders and day, although there do exist "day boarders" from 13 and "transitional boarders" from 10-13.