Victoria’s shrinking and growing private schools revealed

Turf wars, unpopular teachers and demographic shifts have seen many private schools across Victoria lose a flood of students, with Catholic schools in Melbourne’s outer eastern suburbs faring the worst. These are the state’s shrinking schools.

Turf wars and unpopular teachers are among the factors that saw some Victorian private schools shed students.

Turf wars, demographic changes and unpopular staff members are contributing to just over half of all Victorian private schools shrinking in recent years.

A five-year snapshot of enrolment data from 2018 to 2023 for 700 private schools shows 359 have grown, 324 have shrunk and only 16 have stayed exactly the same. The new data has just been released by the federal government.

The school with the biggest enrolment drop is St Philip’s School in Blackburn North, which has gone from 110 enrolments in 2018 to just 44 in 2023 — a 60 per cent drop.

The ten schools with the biggest decreases in pupils are all Catholic providers, with many in the outer eastern suburbs.

The figures reveal the winners and losers of so-called turf wars between schools.

In Kew, Genazzano has decreased by 24 per cent over the past five years but other nearby Catholic girls’ schools, Siena College in Camberwell and Our Lady of Sion in Box Hill have not changed numbers at all.

In Mount Eliza, Toorak College is up 12 per cent and Peninsula Grammar is down two per cent.

Xavier College is down 17 per cent but Catholic rival St Kevin’s College is up by three per cent.

In the southeast, De La Salle College is down 12 per cent while St Bede’s College is up 26 per cent.

The data also shows private girls’ only schools have been struggling, with Shelford Girls’ Grammar down 19 per cent while Caulfield Grammar, the co-ed school which is taking it over in 2025, is up seven per cent.

It’s a similar picture in Mentone, with Kilbreda College down four per cent and Mentone Girls’ Grammar down 17 per cent but Mentone Grammar is up 21 per cent.

One school posting a 47 per cent decline in pupils — from 228 five years ago to 120 in 2023 — is St Charles Borromeo in Templestowe.

St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School in Bannockburn grew 337 per cent.

A parent said leadership issues have “caused a large volume of staff to leave and parents to pull out their children”.

Nearby St Kevin’s School in the same suburb has increased by 13 per cent and Our Lady of the Pines has decreased its numbers, but only by 14 students in the past five years.

The St Charles Borromeo parent said staff are “blaming the other school for stealing their students”.

“It’s a total mess.”

The school has denied “poaching” of students and but said some families have chosen to move to other Catholic schools. Enrolment at the school next year is anticipated to be 50 students.

In Geelong, St Patrick’s School is down 11 per cent, losing 50 students, Geelong Grammar is down 8 per cent and St Mary’s School is down two per cent. Big winners are Geelong College, up 17 per cent, and Geelong Lutheran College, up 118 per cent.

In Ballarat, St Alipius Parish School has lost 17 per cent of students in the last five years and, Ballarat Steiner School and St Patrick’s College have each lost seven per cent. Ballarat Clarendon College has increased by 27 per cent and Ballarat Grammar by 23 per cent.

Our Lady of the Way Catholic Primary School in Wallan experienced the most student growth of any private school in Victoria.

In Bendigo, Marist College has surged ahead with a 54 per cent jump in enrolments and Creek Street Christian College has increased by 40 per cent. However, both Girton Grammar (minus eight per cent) and St Peter’s School (minus 21 per cent) have gone down in numbers.

Despite a decline in enrolments in some areas, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) CEO Edward Simons said enrolments have increased overall.

“Modelling shows that demand for Catholic education is growing particularly strongly

in Melbourne’s northern and western corridors, where MACS has opened 12 schools

since 2018, now educating over 4750 students,” he said.

“In looking to service the growth corridors of Melbourne, we are also committed to

supporting small schools to thrive in a range of contexts,” he said.

“One of the key challenges is keeping up with changing demographics and delivering

school infrastructure quickly enough to meet increasing demand.”

The top ten shrinking schools list includes St Joseph’s in Black Rock, which is closing at the end of the year, but the figures show other metropolitan Catholic schools could also be in danger of closing.

A number of institutions with big increases in numbers are lower-cost Christian schools such as Australian Christian College in Benalla and schools in growth areas such as Melton, Torquay and Cowes.

Top ten shrinking schools

St Philip’s School, Blackburn North - 60%

Holy Saviour Parish School, Vermont South - 58%

St Brendan’s Primary School, Dunnstown - 56%

St Brendan’s School, Flemington - 56%

St Peter and Paul’s School, Doncaster East - 52%

St Anne’s School, Kew East - 52%

St Joseph’s School, Orbost - 51%

Christ Our Holy Redeemer School, Oakleigh East - 49%

St Joseph’s School, Black Rock - 48%

St Stephen’s School, Reservoir - 48%

Top ten growing schools

Our Lady of the Way Catholic Primary School, Wallan + 847%

Lisieux Catholic Primary School, Torquay, + 550%

Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Cowes + 505%

Harkaway Hills College, Narre Warren North, + 382%

Oscar Romero Catholic Primary School, Craigieburn + 378%

Australian Christian College, Benalla, + 337%

St Mary MacKillop Catholic Primary School, Bannockburn + 337%

Heritage College Knox, The Basin + 224%

Al Iman College, Melton South + 184%

Cheder Levi Yitzchok, South Yarra + 165%

Source: Federal Government