Revealed: Top 100 Victorian Secondary Schools

The top 100 secondary schools in Victoria have been named, with many low-cost private schools outperforming private colleges. See the full list.

Victoria’s top 100 secondary schools contain plenty of low-fee gems outranking elite private colleges.

A number of Christian colleges are highly scored and offer excellent value for money. They include Lighthouse Christian College in Cranbourne, which has annual fees of around $9000 in year 12 and St Andrews Christian College in Wantirna South, which charges around $12,000 in year 12.

Both scored an impressive 99 on the Better Education rankings. Waverley Christian College, which has campuses in Wantirna South and Narre Warren South, scored 98 and has year 12 fees of around $12,000, including levies.

Lighthouse Christian College offers excellent value for money.

Analysis by Better Education takes into account the school’s 2024 academic performance as well as the socio-economic status of the student population. The overall score is an index of performance, not a ranking and the best score is 100 and the worst is 60.

The website is run independently and describes its aim as providing “informative and comparative school results, including school rankings or ratings and lists of best performing schools, to parents wanting to make ­choices about schooling for their children”.

A total of 23 of the state’s 100 best providers are government schools, with the four selective campuses topping the list: Melbourne High, Mac.Robertson Girls’ High, Nossal High and Suzanne Cory High.

Other state superstars with low voluntary fees include Glen Waverley Secondary College which has a score of 98, followed by Balwyn High (97), East Doncaster Secondary College (97) and Box Hill High (97), McKinnon Secondary College (97) and Highvale Secondary College (97).

Glen Waverley Secondary College is another state school superstar.

There are also 24 girls’ schools on the list - including both state and private colleges- compared to only eight boys’ schools. Apart from Mac.Robertson Girls’ High, the top-scoring girls schools are Presbyterian Ladies’ College in Burwood and Fintona Girls’ School in Balwyn which both attracted the maximum score of 100.

Apart from Melbourne High, the highest-scoring boys’ schools are Camberwell Grammar, Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College which all attracted a score of 99.

Here are some other stand-out schools with top marks and low fees.

Harkaway Hills College, Narre Warren North

Score: 99

The girls’ school, with students in prep to year 10, has a brother school, Lysterfield Lake College, offering classes from year three to year eight. It is opening new year levels up to year 12 as the current cohort ages.

The Catholic school is run by the Parents for Education (PARED) Victoria Foundation, and is founded on the principle that parents are the primary educators and that schools exist to give parents every support. Its numbers have steadily grown from 76 in 2010 to 285 in 2024. Principal Mary Broadsmith says the school is “working with tried and true methods to ensure that crucial steps in early literacy are made by every child”.

“What makes Harkaway Hills exceptional is our unique system of personalised education that assists parents as the primary educators of their children and supports each student to be the best person he or she can be.”

The organisation is seeking approval to build a new campus for Lysterfield Lake College, but has been so far thwarted by local objections. Harkaway Hills’ score of 99 means it out-performs many high fee schools such as Strathcona, Toorak College, Brighton Grammar and Trinity Grammar.

Box Hill High, Box Hill

Score: 97

Dating back to 1930, this historic high school can be overshadowed by nearby secondary big-names such as Balwyn High. But the school’s sound results and high demand illustrate its strong commitment to excellence. Principal Kellie Ind says the school “places students at the centre of our vibrant and nurturing learning community and achieves excellent results because of the positive attitudes of our students, support from our parents and community partnerships and our commitment to high quality teaching and learning”.

Box Hill High School.

The class of 2024 achieved top results, with five students attracting an ATAR of 99+, putting them in the top one per cent of the state. One third of the school’s students achieved an ATAR of over 90 and 58 per cent received over 80. My School website lists average school fees at just $944 a year, which includes higher fees paid by its 60 international students.

Mazenod College, Mulgrave

Score: 96

Mulgrave Catholic school Mazenod College, which has fees of just over $10,000 in year 12, is another high performer. It has the same score as top-fee private schools such as Wesley College and Ivanhoe Grammar that charge more than three times as much. Principal Paul Shannon says Mazenod is “committed to the holistic development of each boy and the pursuit of personal excellence in the intellectual, social, moral, spiritual and cultural dimensions of school life”. An enrolment of more than 1400 - a number that’s stayed consistently high in recent years - is testament to the school’s success. The school in 2024 posted a median ATAR score of 33, and celebrated 13.5 per cent of students getting a score of over 40.

In recent years the school has been celebrating high results from students, including dux of 2023 Alexander Tsipos, who achieved a perfect ATAR of 99.95. Tsipos earned the highest possible ATAR score and was the first in Mazenod College history to do so. The school has moved on positively from a horrific assault which occurred on a year 11 school camp in 2020.

Good News Lutheran College, Tarneit

Score: 93

Good News Lutheran College, which offers a “Christ-centred” education in Tarneit, has been celebrating impressive results under principal Fiona McAuliffe.

McAuliffe said the school aims “to support every student in discovering their passion and purpose by providing broad opportunities and discovering what makes them thrive”.

The school also offers the IB curriculum framework throughout all years, as well as a highly regarded maintstream academic program.

One of 16 Lutheran schools in Victoria, it has grown steadily, with a new Mambourin campus in Wyndham opening in 2025. The school now has over 1,600 students across all year levels, up from 1000 in 2019. The opening of the new school is a boost to the Wyndham area, which has a fast-growing population and a strong demand for new schools.

Despite having fees of under $10,000 a year, it scored the same as top-tier schools Geelong Grammar, Mentone Grammar and The Geelong College in the Better Education rankings.

Hume Anglican Grammar, Mickleham

Score: 95

The fast-growing school with campuses in Mickleham, Donnybrook and Kalkallo aims to be both high-achieving and affordable. The school ensures that fees are as low as possible to allow it to welcome a broad range of families under the leadership of principal Bill Sweeney.

Last year the school celebrated excellent results, with dux Meron Nona, earning the school’s highest ATAR in 13 years – 99.55.

“I’m overjoyed that I was able to push myself for the past 12 months and achieve my absolute best, and that is all I could have wanted,” the star student said.

The school was established in 2008 by St Peter’s Church and opened with just 37 students. It moved to the picturesque Mt Ridley campus in 2011, with the school thriving on the 10-hectare site containing heritage buildings dating back to 1850.

Its Better Education rating of 95 puts it above many top-tier and high-cost schools such as Xavier College, Peninsula Grammar, Firbank Grammar and Alphington Grammar.

Originally published as Revealed: Top 100 Victorian Secondary Schools