Elite Brisbane school adds new Years 5 and 6 cohort

One of Brisbane’s most prestigious private schools has announced it will start taking in students from Year 5 and 6.

• NAPLAN: Every Qld school ranked

The prestigious Brisbane Girls Grammar School has revealed it will add 200 Years 5 and 6 students to its cohort in 2026.

In a letter issued to families on Monday, BGGS said its new Junior School would be taught in a “purposed-designed, five-storey building” located at 89 Gregory Terrace - directly across from the existing Spring Hill high school, with the first cohort of new students to be introduced in 2026.

Applications for the new year groups are now open however, parents who had applied for their child to enter Year 7 in 2028 will be given first priority for the new Year 5 group.

Parents wishing to make an earlier switch will be able to change their applications to indicate their child would prefer to start in Year 5 or 6. If unsuccessful, the Year 7 application will remain valid.

An estimated 100 students would be accepted into each of the Year 5 and Year 6 2026 cohorts, with BGGS confirming places to the new year levels would be offered based on the date order of original applications.

Brisbane Girls Grammar School will take in Years 5 and 6 from 2026.

Classes will consist of 25 students, with each class appointed a “core” primary school teacher, however, official schooling hours are yet to be confirmed by BGGS.

Principal Jacinda Euler Welsh will lead the new Junior School, with teaching staff yet to be appointed.

In an online statement, Ms Euler Welsh said younger students would benefit from the early introduction to BGGS.

“The BGGS Junior School will be a smaller, close-knit community in which younger girls can immerse themselves in a rigorous and inspiring experience of education,” she said.

“We are looking forward to the energy, curiosity and joy that Year 5 and 6 students will undoubtedly bring to our School when they join us in 2026.”

A spokeswoman for BGGS said the decision to introduce Years 5 and 6 had been considered over some time.

“The feedback we have received has been very positive and we have received strong interest in Year 5 since the announcement was made yesterday,” she said.

The new junior campus will include a library, science, art and music spaces, a tuckshop and various green play spaces.

Students will also have access to the existing BGGS campus including the pool, sports centre and sports fields and both the Figtree Pocket and Mary Valley outdoor education centres.

The decision to add the Junior School was made by the Board of Trustees.

In the letter issued to parents on Monday, the school’s Board of Trustees Chair Julie McKay and Ms Euler Welsh, said BGGS hoped the “significant decision” would be embraced by the community.

“Just as we now couldn’t imagine out school without Year 7 (which was introduced in 2015 —, the staff, students and families of Brisbane Girls Grammar School will undoubtedly find their experienced enriched with the arrival of our new and youngest students in 2016,” the letter wrote.

“We trust that this significant decision will be embraced by our community, knowing that we remain committed to the vision that has guided our school since 1875 – providing a broad, liberal education for girls and young women in the Grammar traditional of exceptional scholarship.”

BGGS stressed that current Year 7 teachings would remain separate from the Junior School curriculum, with the young students to be prepared appropriately for high school.

The Junior School students would also remain physically separate from the BGGS secondary school across the road on Gregory Tce.

BGGS has stated on its website that it has not considered offering a full primary school.