The schools where Queensland’s elite really send their kids

Queensland’s biggest movers and shakers are snubbing ritzy private schools, with details revealing the surprise schools they send their kids. SEARCH INTERACTIVE

Stephanie Bennett

3 min read

July 17, 2021 - 12:00AM

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Queensland’s biggest movers and shakers are snubbing ritzy private schools in favour of public education, with an exclusive Courier-Mail analysis revealing the schools where the state’s most privileged families really send their kids.

The recent national data measuring parents’ professional status and educational backgrounds shows Rainworth State School in Bardon is home to kids from some of the most advantaged families in the state.

The school recorded the highest Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage score in Queensland, and was named as being more “educationally advantaged” than 99 per cent of schools in the country.

With soaring NAPLAN results over the past several years, the primary school has become hugely in-demand, with in-catchment property prices at a premium.

A whopping 87 per cent of the school’s families land in the top quarter of socio-educational status, behind only Brisbane Grammar School, which charges annual tuition fees of almost $30,000.

Brisbane Grammar School

Ashgrove State School, Bardon State School, and Chapel Hill State School also take kids from some of the city’s most well-off families, with higher ICSEA scores than private schools such as Anglican Church Grammar, Brisbane Boys’ College and St Margaret’s Anglican Girls School.

Meanwhile, high school students who attend selective public school the Queensland Academy for Science Mathematics and Technology come from more privileged families than those attending pricey privates such as Brisbane Girls Grammar School, St Aidan’s Anglican School and All Hallows’ School.

Brisbane State High School – which selects about 1000 students each year out of catchment – also scored a ICSEA well above the national average, with 65 per cent of students from families in the highest category of socio-educational status.

The Queensland Academy for Science, Mathematics and Technology at Brisbane’s Toowong

While parents could save more than $150,000 per child in school fees by opting for a public education, experts say affluent mums and dads are likely to pump saved cash into extras such as private tutoring.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle said there were several reasons why some public schools increasingly have children from such well-off backgrounds, including the high property prices in the areas they were located.

“It’s (also about) the sort of parents they attract, and that you do have a lot of high-earning parents who are swinging back to public education,” he said.

“Here you’ve got pretty discerning parents who certainly have the resources to choose an independent school, but are backing the public education system because, particularly these selective schools, are really delivering a lot academically.”

Calculated by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority each year, a school’s ICSEA takes into account parents’ occupation – such as if they are a senior executive, a qualified professional, a tradesman, hospitality staff, or unemployed – as well as their highest-completed education level.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle

It also takes into consideration a school’s remoteness and the percentage of Indigenous student enrolment.

Of the top ten most advantaged Queensland primary and high schools, none of them have more than 10 per cent of families in the bottom half of socio-economic status – whether public or private.

University of New South Wales professor of education policy Pasi Sahlberg said research showed that kids from privileged backgrounds consistently did better at school than those from more disadvantaged backgrounds, but there was no evidence to suggest children from rich families were innately more intelligent.

Rather, parents who are highly-educated and in high-profile professions tend to have the cash to spend on the tutoring often needed to gain access to in-demand schools.

“When parents begin preparing their kids to those high school admission tests – to both public and independent high schools – in early years of primary school, it makes the playing field uneven for different kids much before the actual transition to high school,” he said.

“I am sure there are scores of lower middle-class and poorer parents who know this situation and don’t even bother considering taking their kids to sit these tests, except in rare cases of naturally talented children.”