Victoria’s most disadvantaged and well-off schools revealed

Analysis of the financial and socio-economic rankings of Victoria’s schools has revealed which are the most disadvantaged.

Analysis of the financial and socio-economic rankings of Victoria’s schools has revealed which are the most disadvantaged.

Victoria’s poorest schools have become more financially disadvantaged than they were five years ago, while half of the state’s most elite schools are now better off.

Analysis of the financial and socio-economic rankings of Victoria’s schools – calculated to work out how much state and federal funding each one receives – shows 16 of the 20 poorest ones have lower scores in 2021, compared with 2016.

The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) assigns every Australian school with an Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA) rating each year, which considers a range of factors, such as a school’s location, parents’ incomes, resources and the proportion of Indigenous students. A score of 1000 is the median ranking for a school.

Orbost North Primary School was ranked the most disadvantaged school in Victoria, slipping from 874 in 2016 to 762 by 2021.

The biggest ranking drop was at Merrigum Primary School, west of Shepparton, which recorded a 21.1 per cent fall, going from an average-income school of 1003 to just 791.

Haileybury College in Keysborough

Half of Victoria’s 20 most well-off schools upped their ranking over the five-year period. Fitzroy North’s Deutsche Schule Melbourne reported the biggest improvement, rising from 1163 to 121.

Of the 10 that had their ICSEA score increase, eight still received a higher amount of taxpayer-funded money. For instance, Canterbury Primary School received $3,980,447 in state government funding in 2016 when it had a ranking of 1170, but its funding rose to $4,447,597 in 2021, despite its higher 1185 ICSEA score in 2021.

Haileybury College in Keysborough was ranked 1167 and received more than $3m five years ago, before scoring 1181 and getting $4.2m last year.

Trevor Cobbold, national convener of lobby group Save our Schools, said the growing split between the most advantaged and disadvantaged schools showed that state and federal funding into public schools had remained “inadequate” because it had not yet offset the former Liberal state government’s funding cuts.

“The figures reflect increasing social segregation in the school system with higher concentration of advantaged students in advantaged schools and higher concentration of disadvantaged students in disadvantaged schools,” he said.

ICSEA rankings showed Christ Church Grammar School in South Yarra was Victoria’s most advantaged school, with a 2021 score of 1220.

The state government implemented the equity-based funding model in 2016 after a damning national review into the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged schools.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said government school funding was based on a school’s size and level of disadvantage and had increased during that period. “The Victorian government has invested $2.68bn in schools equity funding since 2016, which ensures every school is supported to achieve the best possible outcomes for every student, no matter their background or where they go to school.”