Brisbane Boys’ College enrolment slides, classes left empty

Enrolment has plunged at Brisbane Boys’ College after years of turmoil have taken their toll on parent confidence.

Student numbers have dropped as much as 10 per cent at Brisbane Boys’ College as years of turmoil have taken their toll on parent confidence at the elite Toowong school.

Quest Newspapers believes this year’s enrolment will come in about 1395 students, well down on a peak of as many as 1570 two years ago.

There are believed to be three empty classrooms in the junior school, 150 empty seats in the senior school and 36 empty beds in its boarding house.

Brisbane Boys College in Toowong. Picture: Tara Croser

It comes as several senior staff announced their resignations recently, including Headmaster Paul Brown who will step down at the end of the year.

And it was revealed last week that Lea Walker-Franks, wife of Deputy Headmaster Peter Franks and director of community engagement, had tendered her resignation.

Mr Brown said she was held in the highest regard by the school.

Lea Walker-Franks at the Gambaros Ball A-List in 2019. She has left to “pursue new business opportunities’’. Picture: AAP/John Gass

At least 14 members of BBC’s governing body, the Presbyterian and Methodist Schools’ Association, or Council members of the four schools overseen by the PMSA, have resigned since 2019.

It is believed many left out of frustration at the direction of BBC or of the PMSA, including BBC Council Chair Mark Gray who issued a blistering resignation letter in August last year.

The enrolment slump comes as the latest ABS statistics, for 2019, revealed a surge in enrolments at Queensland’s independent and Catholic schools.

There were so many new students at Brisbane State High School this year that some had to sit in the library until space could be found for them.

BBC Council Chair Mark Gray issued a blistering resignation letter. Picture: Wesley Monts

But parents and Old Boys hope a recent wave of resignations will create a “clean slate’’ and allow the prestigious school, established in 1902, to rebuild.

Morale was boosted dramatically on the weekend when BBC won the coveted Head of the River rowing event for the first time since 2002.

The school’s First XV also won the GPS rugby premiership outright last year, for the first time in six decades, another major morale booster.

“ … we can hope for a turnaround. We need to be patient, there is now real hope the school will be able to get back on track,’’ a BBC Old Boy said.

He said many hoped Mr Brown’s replacement would be an Old Boy who understood the school’s proud history.

“One of the reasons for the drop in junior enrolments is four (teacher) appointments from (Redlands’) Sheldon College,’’ he said.

“People started calling (BBC) Sheldon College West and were wondering ‘why not send my son to Sheldon instead?’’’

Mr Brown, who announced recently that he would step down at the end of the year after taking off terms two and three for a sabbatical, said he was “comfortable’’ with enrolment numbers.

“In the very competitive independent education sector enrolments can fluctuate year to year, and as one of Queensland’s leading boarding schools we have certainly felt the impact of COVID and the related border closures,’’ Mr Brown said.

BBC Headmaster Paul Brown will step down at the end of this year.

“The College is comfortable with its current level of enrolment and is confident of achieving steady growth in the years to follow.

“Our most recent parent survey provided overwhelmingly positive feedback and we enjoyed a year of great success in 2020 across a range of areas including academic results, student wellbeing outcomes and co-curricular achievements to name a few.

“The data confirms the College is in an excellent position moving forward and we continue to focus on our core business of providing the best possible educational experience to our students.”

The most current MySchool data for BBC said it had 1503 students in 2018 and had 1484 students in 2019.

The Good Schools Guide put enrolment at 1506 last year, and the Private Schools Directory estimated enrolment at 1570 in 2019.

Quest Newspapers understands enrolment this year was about 1395, including about 298 for the junior school.

Old Boys and staff at Brisbane Boys’ College are hopeful it will soon “turn a corner’’.

The Good Schools Guide estimated junior school enrolment at 368 last year, while the Private Schools Directory estimated it was 340 two years ago.

Enrolment data is not included on BBC’s annual reports.

A BBC spokeswoman said only the MySchool data was reliable and that the figure of 1395 enrolments for this year was “inaccurate’’, but did not provide enrolment details.

Another Old Boy said some parents who ordinarily would have sent their sons to BBC had in recent years opted for Ambrose Treacy College, in Indooroopilly, or other nearby high-quality schools.

But he and other sources said it was disappointing that some loyal and much-loved people had quit in frustration.