Numerous single-sex boys’ schools across Sydney are among the fastest-growing public secondary education options, an analysis of five years of enrolment data shows.
There are at least an extra 100 students each at Blacktown Boys, Granville Boys, Belmore Boys and James Cook Boys Technology High compared to five years ago as the government moves to merge single-sex schools to create more co-ed options.
A P&C Federation survey last year found that 89 per cent of parents thought single-sex education was not a priority for them when selecting a school for their child, making it the lowest factor out of 20 indicators. Good behaviour, protection from bullying and a good principal were at the top of parents’ priority lists.
NSW Department of Education director of educational leadership Lauretta Claus, who oversees 19 schools in the Canterbury area, said Ashfield Boys was very popular with parents and faced pressure in terms of out-of-area enrolment inquiries. It has added an extra 40 students in the past five years.
“Their numbers have been very, very strong for a long time,” she said.
Claus said the popularity of schools such as Ashfield and Belmore Boys was typically driven by long-serving principals who knew their area well.
“The conversations at the bus stop or at the local supermarket are ‘my son goes to Belmore Boys’. The community feels very, very confident in the school and what the type of education that can be offered to their boys there,” she said.
Four out of the top 10 performing schools in the 2024 HSC were boys’ schools, including Sydney Grammar, Normanhurst Boys and North Sydney Boys. Six of the top 20 were boys’ schools, including Knox Grammar and St Aloysius.
The surge in popularity of boys’ schools comes as the government has combined, or planned to merge, numerous single-sex schools in some parts of Sydney as an election commitment to deliver statewide access to co-education. That includes James Cook in Sydney’s south and Asquith Boys in the north.
Parent Dawn Kilkelly, who has been president of the P&C at Asquith Boys for the past five years, said she had mixed feelings about the school becoming co-ed as it had been beneficial for her son.
“He was very happy to go to a single-sex school. He wanted to focus on his schooling and not have the distraction of girls,” she said.
“My son is sport-orientated … how do you keep an active boy focused when they can’t do any physical activity?”
Tim Bowden, headmaster of the all-boys Trinity Grammar, said parents were increasingly aware of the challenges boys face and were recognising the value of schools that specialised in educating boys. He noted a longitudinal study from New Zealand between 2010 and 2022, which made a clear case for boys’ education.
“The clear statement of this finding was quite confronting,” he said.
“I have often stated that single-sex schools are a valid option or that a single-sex school is a good context for a boy to be educated, but the findings of this research challenged me to consider whether there are grounds to assert the case for boys’ schools more strongly.
“The growing popularity of boys’ schools (in the public system) may point to parents drawing a similar conclusion.”
Blacktown Boys had an increase of more than 100 students over the past five years. Parents will find out this year if it will be merged with a girls’ school as part of statewide plans to provide more co-ed options. James Cook in Sydney’s south will also become co-ed.
Parag Modi and his son Hirsh, 14, who goes to Blacktown Boys High School.Credit: Wolter Peeters
Parag Modi, who made an out-of-area application for his son Hirsh, 14, to attend Blacktown Boys two years ago, chose it not because it was single-sex but rather because it was simply where his friends were going, and he got into a gifted and talented program. He thinks becoming co-ed would be beneficial for students.
“It is a good thing. In the real world, boys are working with the girls,” Modi said.
His son, Hirsh, also said he does not think his classmates would mind. “We’re just there to learn and have fun. We wouldn’t care,” he said.
A 2021 Monash University study of Sydney’s public school catchment zones found a price premium of 2 per cent for homes in single-sex school zones relative to comparable homes across the border in coeducational school zones.
“The most obvious interpretation is that people do see some value in single-sex schools,” report author Daniel Mesler said.
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