“It might be a boys’ school, but it’s got a really unique culture … it’s a place where every boy can find their tribe,” he said.
From the private all-boys sector, St Kevin’s College most recently made the top 10 list for VCE performance in 2018, when using the study score metric.
Fees for year 12 students at the independent school in Toorak were $25,625 in 2023, putting it at the lower end of the fee scale for all-boys schools.
The fees for year 12 students at Brighton Grammar School, the top-performing all-boys school in 2023 – although it was behind 15 all-girls and co-ed schools – are $38,342.
Melbourne Grammar School, which is single-sex after primary, was the next best-performing all-boys school in 2023 (in 19th place overall). Year 12 fees were more than $41,640 in 2023.
High-fee co-ed and all-girls schools in Melbourne dominated VCE performance in Victoria over the past decade, apart from one regional outlier.
Ballarat Clarendon College, a non-government co-ed school charging more than $29,900 for year 12 students, topped the list the past two years.
Almost 46 per cent of the school’s 266 students enrolled in VCE achieved a study score of 40 or above in 2023 and 35.5 per cent did in 2022.
Mac.Robertson Girls’ High School, a selective all-girls school, was the only other government school on the list of high performers the past 10 years.
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More than 29 per cent of the school’s 562-strong cohort achieved a study score of 40 or above in 2023, which gave the school a median study score of 36.
Co-ed non-government schools Bialik College in Hawthorn, where fees for year 12 students are $29,290, and Mount Scopus Memorial College in Burwood, which charges $43,555, have consistently made the list of top 10 performing schools for several years.
Professor Helen Proctor, an education expert from the University of Sydney, said there was no conclusive evidence that single-sex or co-educational schooling yielded better academic outcomes than the other.
Proctor, who studies education through a historical prism, said debates on the benefits of single-sex or co-educational schools often neglected social class as a driver of academic performance.
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“There’s no real logical or rational reason for single-sex education, but people have really strong emotional attachment, particularly to sending their girls to girls’ schools,” she said.
Proctor said it was surprising Australia’s single-sex schools had survived this long.
Geelong Grammar School, Caulfield Grammar and Wesley College are among the Victorian co-ed schools that began as all-boys schools. All three now seek exemptions from the Equal Opportunity Act to allow them to structure waiting and enrolment lists to achieve gender balance.
Wesley College won the right to enrol more girls next year when it was granted an exemption from the act by the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, after arguing it might otherwise turn into a boys’ school.
The decision has enabled Wesley to advertise for students, structure waiting lists, allocate placements and offer enrolments and scholarships based on gender.
*Yesodei HaTorah College, whose seven year 12 students helped it achieve a ranking of sixth for study scores in 2023, was excluded due to its small size.
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Source Agencies
