What you pay vs. what you get at Victoria’s ritziest schools

Parents are splashing the cash for their children to attend the state’s most prestigious schools, which include Olympic-grade swimming pools and equestrian centres.

The Hamilton and Alexandra College features an equestrian centre.

Parents are forking out up to $40,000 a year for their children to attend the most prestigious private schools in Victoria, in a bid to give them the best education.

But they’re not just digging deep into the hip pocket for good grades, with some schools offering state-of-the-art facilities for the high price tag.

From Olympic-grade swimming pools to equestrian centres where students can bring their own horse, we have located the schools with the flashiest facilities where parents are paying top dollar.

Caulfield Grammar School Aquatic & Wellbeing Centre

The $25 million Aquatic and Wellbeing Centre at Caulfield Grammar’s St Kilda East campus, which was built by ADCO, won the Master Builders Victoria Excellence in Construction Commercial Buildings $20m – $30m award in 2020.

The state-of-the-art facility boasts a 50-metre Olympic-sized pool with a movable floor that can be lowered and raised to adjust the water depth, and an integrated movable boom and pop-up pool wall.

The indoor pool is also heated and is surrounded by ample stadium seating for families. There is also a 3.8m dive bowl.

Currently, 3324 students are enrolled at the co-ed combined school, located in the city’s southeast.

Annual tuition fees start from $21,951 for the school’s early learning centre program and ranges to $37,553 for Year 12 students.

Padua College St. Clare Performing Arts Centre

Architect Baldasso Cortese in collaboration with theatre consultants Charcoalblue brought to life the 300-seat performing arts centre at Padua College in Mornington in 2022.

The building comprises of a number of teaching and performing spaces, change facilities and a music practice room.

But its main features are retractable seating and mechanical decking that allows the space to conform into various seating configurations.

Outdoor performance spaces are also part of the facility along the eastern deck and bleachers facing the oval.

Catholic Education Melbourne, FMG Engineering and Waterman Group were also consultants on the project.

Padua College is a Catholic coeducational high school with campuses in Mornington, Rosebud and Tyabb.

The Hamilton and Alexandra College Equestrian Centre

Students can bring their own horse or form a bond with the college’s horses at The Hamilton and Alexandra Equestrian Centre.

The school’s Myrniong campus is home to the facility, which is also next to the school’s boarding houses and junior campus.

The centre has private paddocks, an all-weather arena with light, a sand arena, a cross country course, a round yard and extensive undercover stables.

Students as young as prep can participate in the centre’s co-curricular programs, while the horsemanship elective is offered for years 8 and 9 students and a Certificate II in Equine Industry is offered for Year 10, 11 and 12 pupils.

A number of events are also hosted at the centre, including the annual Western District Inter-School Equestrian Championships, The Hamilton and Alexandra College and Geelong Dressage Championships and the Inter-House Show Jumping and Dressage events.

Families pay up to $22,641 a year to send their children to The Hamilton and Alexandra College, with fees varying depending on the year level.

There are additional fees for Horsemanship including $518 tuition fee per term, $555 Agistment fee per term and a $445 horse hire fee per term.

Ballarat Grammar Farm Campus

Grade four Ballarat Grammar students have access to the school’s purpose-built Mount Rowan Farm Campus where pupils can engage in “rich learning experiences through exploration and inquiry”.

The program encourages students to connect with the environment and learn how to care for animals.

Students spend four days at the Mount Rowan campus and one day at their Junior campus, where they undertake specialist classes including sport, art, dance and drama.

The farm itself is on 120 acres, with learning opportunities also available for kinder and senior school students.

School fees range between $8340 annually to $24,540 per year, depending on a student’s year level, with 1815 students enrolled at the school.

Scotch College Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science

Built by Kane Constructions, the $32 million art science centre at the prestigious Scotch College is a three-level building that has a semi-basement car park and rooftop teaching space.

The award-winning Sir Zelman Cowen Centre for Science also has science labs with fume cupboards, aquariums, extractions arms, vacuum suction and soldering hoods.

Collaborative lounge areas, media booths, reading nooks, an auditorium and staff facilities are also inside the stone-facade building.

Parents pay up to $40,286 per year to send their boys to the combined private school, with fees varying depending on a student’s year level.

Other facilities on offer at the school include boarding and sporting amenities.

Penleigh & Essendon Grammar School Gym and Events Centre

The private school in Keilor spent $26.5 million on its state-of-the-art gym and events centre.

Construction of the brick-tiled, curve design building took 19 months to complete and includes a fitness centre, two large indoor sports courts, a multipurpose room, function room, kitchen, classroom and study areas.

There is also an office, reception and change room amenities, with the building earning two awards in 2021 – the Master Builders Australia – National Education Facility Award and Master Builders Victoria Commercial Buildings $20-30m Award.

Sports and performing arts are among a number of opportunities available to students beyond the classroom, with school fees in the thousands.

Ivanhoe Grammar School Sports & Aquatic Centre

Located at the school’s Ridgeway Campus, the Ivanhoe Grammar School Sports and Aquatic Centre has two rooftop courts for netball and tennis and an Olympic-sized hydro floor swimming pool.

It also has four basketball courts with NBA standard floors – which the school claims is the first of their kind built in Australia.

Other facilities within the stadium include eight indoor volleyball courts, 16 badminton courts, weights and fitness rooms, two multipurpose rooms for table tennis as well as a large entrance foyer with a cafe.

Construction company Building Engineering and architects McIldowie Partners collaborated on the eco-friendly, world-class centre which has six levels.

Tuition fees vary from $20,620 for prep per year to $32,000 per year for Years 9 to 12 for the Ivanhoe campus.

Facilities spread across 550 hectares of Geelong Grammar

Geelong Grammar’s Timbertop campus and Corio campus are located on a combined area of approximately 550 hectares, giving the school plenty of space for its outstanding facilities.

The two campuses have purpose-built facilities for specific year levels, as well as modern libraries, a state-of-the-art wellness centre, and multimedia centres.

There are also stables for students to keep their horses as well as areas to ride them.

The Timbertop campus – which is only for Year 9 students – has a vineyard and a fully functioning farm.

Fees for the Timbertop campus are $84,240 per year.