Yesterday
North Sydney wants to tax private schools, charge for NYE fireworks
The cash-strapped council wants to raise up to $1 million from non-government schools and charge $50 for the harbour fireworks.
This Month
Why we need a tax on private schools and health insurance
It is odd that many who talk about wanting more tax revenue to come from the GST would balk at the easiest services to broaden it to.
The key to Middle East peace
Readers’ letters on a two-state solution in the Middle East, Albanese’s lack of meetings with Trump, efficient courts, gender quotas in the Liberal Party, CBA’s relationship with NPS and Australia’s fuel security.
June
North West Shelf approval on the money, say AFR readers
The government’s decision, which has angered environmentalists, is overwhelmingly supported by our readers.
How this school is changing girls’ study of economics
A Melbourne private school has driven a remarkable turnaround in the number of students, particularly females, taking up the subject for year 12.
May
Newington co-ed fight raises questions about private school charities
When you count so many investment bankers and accounting partners among your old boys, it’s no wonder your trust structures get complicated.
Newington defeats old boy challenge to co-ed plans
Justice Guy Parker put a swift end to a challenge to stop girls attending the Sydney private school.
Unis should focus on the education of Australians, says Jason Clare
The minister says Labor’s policies on cutting student debt helped return the party to office. He wants to use its second term to deal with “unfinished business”.
Battle over all-boys private school hinges on just one word
An 1873 trust deed says Sydney’s Newington College was set up to educate ‘youth’. A group of former students says that means boys only.
Inside private school retreats trying to knock entitlement out of kids
A small number of schools have long-term residential programs designed to teach resilience, teamwork and compassion. But do they work?
March
Ballarat private school expels students over ‘hazing’
Ballarat Grammar principal Adam Heath said an internal investigation confirmed that older boarders had harmed younger boys in “completely unacceptable” behaviour.
Gina Rinehart jolts parents at ‘woke’ St Hilda’s
The country’s richest person continues to inspire at her Perth alma mater.
Sayers Group the latest beneficiary in Newington co-ed tussle
The Sydney boys school may be winning its battle to admit girls by 2026, but it’s clocked up some expenses doing so.
February
Local students taking A-level fast-track to Oxford
A private school in Sydney is offering British A-levels as an alternative to the HSC.
Parents continue shift to private schools
The rising tide of families electing to send their children to private schools has accelerated since COVID-19.
Inside the fight to keep girls out of boys’ schools
This week on The Fin podcast, AFR Magazine contributor Brook Turner on why Sydney has become the epicentre of this battle and whether there is still a place in Australia for single-sex schools.
January
‘We did not expect the intensity’: Newington hits back at co-ed row
Coeducation is seen as the future of school. So why is Newington College in Sydney at the centre of a debate so hot that parents are withdrawing boys?
‘We became a pinata’: The culture war tearing a school apart
How its decision to go co-ed made Newington College in Sydney the country’s most talked-about school.
Private or not, Sydney most expensive for schools
The annual Cost of Education Index found the total cost of educating a child in a private school in Sydney rose by 9 per cent in the past year.
Private schools raise fees at three times rate of inflation
For a decade or more, private schools have increased their fees by far more than the CPI. This year is no different, and schools have a range of explanations.