Australia’s richest schools revealed
Funding in education is a divisive topic at the best of times, but with new data from the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority’s MySchool, the divide between public and private school has never been more apparent.
With five years’ worth of financial data at its disposal, news.com.au ranked Australia’s schools by wealth in each state, and by combining each institution’s gross income across its fees, its government funding, and the likes of donation income.
According to the study, the top five wealthiest schools in New South Wales were - from first to fifth - Wahroonga’s Knox Grammar School, Darlinghurst’s Sydney Grammar School, Hornsby’s Barker College, Bellevue Hill’s The Scots College, and Pymble’s Pymble Ladies’ College.
The results also revealed that New South Wales’ wealthiest school - Knox Grammar School - has gained more money through fees, funding, and donations over the course of five years than the total economic output of five of Australia’s Pacific island neighbours.
Non-government schools account for 56 of the state’s richest, with Cherrybrook Technology High School - a secondary school in northwest Sydney - the highest-earning public school.
Victoria’s top five were Keysborough’s Haileybury College, Melbourne’s Wesley College, St Kilda East’s Caulfield Grammar School, Kew’s Carey Baptist Grammar School, and Ivanhoe’s Ivanhoe Grammar School.
And Victoria’s richest - Haileybury College - has more money than the bottom 300 schools combined, according to new data, with a staggering five-year income of $677m.
However, it has also been reported that many Victorian state schools receive more per student from the government than the top private schools.
Similar to Victoria, Queensland’s top five made more money over a five year period than the bottom 300, prompting renewed calls for the state and federal governments to negotiate on school funding.
And those top five were Brisbane’s Brisbane Grammar School, East Brisbane’s Anglican Church Grammar School, Indooroopilly’s St Peters Lutheran College, Reedy Creek’s King’s Christian College, and Brisbane’s Brisbane Girls Grammar School.
South Australia’s top five were St Peters’ St Peters’ College, Somerton Park’s Sacred Heart College, Marion’s Westminster School, Findon’s Nazareth Catholic College, and Kent Town’s Prince Alfred College.
The findings revealed that some of the inner-city colleges were bringing in up to 100 times more than their country school counterparts, and that St Peter’s College could boast a five-year gross income of almost a quarter of a billion dollars.
Meanwhile, at small town Port Neill Primary School on the Eyre Peninsula, the gross income for the same period came in at just over $2.5m.
Tasmania’s top five were North Hobart’s The Friends’ School, Prospect Vale’s St Patrick’s College, Newstead’s Scotch Oakburn College, Sandy Bay’s The Hutchins School, and Launceston’s Launceston College.
And Tasmania’s richest, The Friends’ School, was revealed to be raking in over $158.3m over five years, with an astounding average cost per student of $29,070.
The Northern Territory’s top five wealthiest schools were The Garden’s Darwin High School, Humpty Doo’s Taminmin College, Howard Springs’ Good Shepherd Lutheran College, Wadeye’s Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Thamarrurr Catholic College, and Rapid Creek’s The Essington School.
Darwin High School had a gross income of $118.1m, while the region’s second wealthiest - Taminmin College - had one just shy of the former’s at $118m. However, Tipperary Station School had the lowest gross income of any of the territory’s schools, bringing in just $2.1m.
Western Australia’s top five were Claremont’s Christ Church Grammar School, Wembley Downs’ Hale School, Swanbourne’s Scotch College, Karrinyup’s St Mary’s Anglican Girls’ School, and Duncraig’s St Stephen’s School.
And last but not least, the Australian Capital Territory’s five richest schools were Red Hill’s Canberra Grammar School, Bruce’s Radford College, Deakin’s Canberra Girls Grammar School, Isabella Plains’ St Mary MacKillop College, and Pearce’s Marist College Canberra.
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