23-04-2025
A 20 per cent enrolment fall at private boys' school is all part of its plan
With their gorgeous grounds and enviable waiting lists, Melbourne's most expensive boys' schools are mostly doing very nicely, thank you very much.
Still, of the seven boys' schools charging more than $30,000 a year – Brighton Grammar, Melbourne Grammar, Scotch College, St Kevin's, Camberwell Grammar, Trinity Grammar and Xavier College – one stands out.
Xavier is the only pricey boys' school to have lost enrolments. Its student numbers have dropped 19.5 per cent over the past five years, according to MySchool data.
At the other end of the spectrum, Brighton Grammar has increased enrolments by 12.3 per cent over the same period.
Now, not every school wants or needs to increase student numbers. But a 20 per cent fall – to 1558 students last year – is sizeable and comes after some big years for the Catholic school.
In 2020, Xavier announced it would shut its Brighton campus, home to about 220 students from early years to year 8, because of insufficient enrolments. It later sold the bayside land for $100 million and poured big money into its Kew campuses.
There have also been negative headlines regarding historic sexual abuse cases and a cyberattack that led to the theft of personal information relating to students or their families.
A well-connected education source, not keen to be identified talking about the sector, suggested some parents were rattled by the school's new model of putting year 7 and 8 students with secondary students rather than with primary students nearby.
