The richest schools in southeast Melbourne revealed
Analysis of finances across Melbourne’s wealthy southeastern private school belt has revealed huge fee-based incomes. Data revealed one school made a staggering $321.6 million in three years, and highlighted how little some public schools scrape by on. How does yours compare?
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The richest school in Melbourne’s southeast made more than $320 million in three years, statistics reveal.
An independent analysis of school financial records from the MySchool website have shown the massive amount of money some schools make every year, and how little others are forced to scrape by on.
The figures reveal Wesley College, which has campuses in Elsternwick, Melbourne’s CBD and Glen Waverley, made a gross income of $321.6 million from 2015-17.
It was also the most expensive school in the area, with parents paying an average of $30,441 for their child’s education in 2017.
The MySchool figures include all fees, charges and parental contributions as well as state and federal government funding and any other private sources from 2015-17.
Haileybury College was the second richest, with a gross income of $314 million, according to the most recent financial records.
Principal Derek Scott said the college was Australia’s largest school, with 4370 students from the early learning centre up to year 12.
“Haileybury’s main expense is in employing and training quality teachers to deliver an academic program that is among the best in Australia and saw Haileybury recognised as 2018 Australian School of the Year,” he said.
For 2015-18, most of the school’s capital expenditure went towards buying and developing a new campus in the city, touted as Melbourne’s first vertical school, he said.
The region’s third richest school was Caulfield Grammar School which had a gross income of $301.3 million.
The data does not include any deductions for capital works or debt servicing. The analysis does not include special schools or schools that did not have complete financial data in MySchool for one or more of 2015, 2016 or 2017.
Region’s richest schools
Wesley College: $321.6 million
Haileybury College: $314 million
Caulfield Grammar School: $301.3 million
St Leonard’s College: $127.4 million
Mentone Grammar School: $122 million
St Michael’s Grammar School: $116.7 million
Brighton Grammar School: $113.5 million
Padua College: $111.9 million
Peninsula Grammar: $109.7 million
Flinders Christian Community College: $100.2 million
Region’s poorest schools
Le Page Primary School: $2.3 million
St Aloysius’ School: $3.8 million
Karingal Heights Primary School: $4 million
Wallaroo Primary School: $4.3 million
Tyabb Railway Station Primary School: $4.3 million
Clayton South Primary School: $4.6 million
Divrei Emineh: $5.2 million
Seaford Park Primary School: $5.2 million
Bittern Primary School: $5.6 million
Mordialloc Beach Primary School: $5.6 million
Region’s schools that cost parents the most
Wesley College: $30,441
Caulfield Grammar School: $26,867
Brighton Grammar School: $26,736
St Michael’s Grammar School: $25,731
St Leonard’s College: $25,717
Toorak College: $24,053
Mentone Grammar School: $22,957
Haileybury College: $22,713
Firbank Grammar School: $22,481
Mentone Girls’ Grammar School: $21,867
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