St Paul’s Catholic College, Manly: 93-year-old boy’s school to enrol girls from 2025

A 93-year-old Sydney Catholic boys high school is set to open its doors to girls for the first time.

The St Paul's Catholic College campus on North Head at Manly, will be enrolling girls from 2025. Picture: St Paul's Catholic College

One of the northern beaches’ oldest boys only secondary schools is going co-ed.

Officials confirmed on Friday that 93-year-old St Paul’s Catholic College at Manly will begin enrolling girls from 2025.

The first female intake into the campus on North Head will begin with years 7 and 11.

It’s part of a wider plan by Catholic Schools Broken Bay (CSBB) to “strengthen and shape the future of Catholic schools on the northern beaches”.

Planning is also underway for a “Stage 3 (year 5 and 6) Learning Hub” located at Manly’s St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, to give students better access to specialist teachers and resources in preparation for high school.

St Paul's Catholic College, Manly, will have girls in years 7 and 11 coming through the gates in three years time. Picture: Supplied

And CSBB said it wanted to improve the educational “pathways” from Preschool to Year 12.

Changes at St Pauls’ come as federal government figures showed that enrolments at the college had been dropping. The school lost 314 students between 2017 and 2021.

In 2021 there were 330 boys, in years 7 to 12, enrolled in the school that began its life as Christian Brothers Manly in Raglan St, according to its latest annual report.

A food technology class at the, currently, all boys St Paul's Catholic College, Manly. Picture: St Paul's Catholic College

At St Augustine’s College, another all boys school at Brookvale, enrolment is at a steady 1200 students. It takes in boys from year 5 to year 12.

The only girls Catholic high school on the northern beaches, Stella Maris at Queenscliff, also had a steady enrolment of 936 in 2021. In 2017 Stella had 897 students.

Moves to enrol girls come after a length review by the CSBB — part of the Broken Bay Catholic Archdiocese.

Students working at the all boys St Paul's Catholic College, Manly. Picture: St Paul's Catholic College

CSBB said the changes came after the analysis of “current and emerging community needs” and the identification of “future plans and opportunities for growth”.

Its director of schools, Danny Casey, said they were made after extensive feedback from parents, students and schools as part of its “Towards 2025” reform plan.

“The community has spoken, and we have listened,” Mr Casey said.

“We’re not just in the teaching business, we’re in the learning business.

“We’ve really wanted to listen carefully, we’ve wanted to look at how we transform what we do to better meet the needs of … the community through the very extensive consultation”.

Bishop Anthony Randazzo (right) at the official opening of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Primary School's new learning centre at Wyoming, on the Central Coast, in 2019. Picture: Troy Snook

“A coeducational pathway was one of the big things that came through on our consultations and that’s why we’ve responded in the way we have.”

Mr Casey said the CSBB wold also look at strengthening the support for not only St Paul’s and St Mary’s, but St John the Baptist Primary School at Freshwater, St Keiran’s at Manly Vale and St Cecilia’s at Balgowlah

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, the Most Reverend Anthony Randazzo released details of the changes to students, staff and parents on Friday.

“We have made extraordinary progress in the delivery of authentic professional Catholic education and continue to reimagine the way we serve the needs of the community today and into the future,” he said.