Michael Blake knows the criticism of all-boys schools as hotbeds of outdated gender stereotypes and ideals that don’t prep boys for a modern and diverse society. But as the headmaster of one of Sydney’s oldest, largest and most rugby-obsessed Catholic boys’ schools, he’s not buying it.

Inside the 142-year old St Joseph’s College Hunters Hill, occupying a prime hilltop perch in Sydney’s inner north, Mr Blake insists the single-sex approach is helping boys to keep step and excel in the modern world.