The Essington School charging $170,000+ for a child’s full education

Most of Darwin’s independent schools have released their 2022 fees, with parents to fork out hundred of thousands to put their child all the way through one prestigious institute.

PARENTS can expect to fork out more than $170,000 to put their child all the way through one of Darwin’s leading schools, with educators pushing out new fees ahead of the 2022 school year.

One child’s tuition at Darwin’s most expensive school, The Essington School, comes to a total $172,420 — starting from kindergarten to year 12.

This does not include enrolment or entrance fees, or other charges such as camps and excursions.

The majority of NT schools begin Term 1 on January 31, with remote schools to return on February 1 (except Gunbalunya School).

Here’s the total fees for Darwin and Palmerston independent schools from transition to year 12. The fees do not include levies and other charges.

Darwin independent school fees

Darwin independent schools	Total standard fees as of 2022 (unless specified)
The Essington School	$172,420 (kindergarten to year 12)
Haileybury Rendall	$131,270 (transition to year 12)
Good Shepherd Lutheran College	$58,535 (transition to year 12)
Palmerston Christian School	$53,448 (transition to year 12, 2021 rates)
Marrara Christian College	$49,127 (transition to year 9)
Milkwood Steiner School	$45,772 (kindergarten to class 6)
Sattler Christian College	$34,191 (transition to year 10, 2021 rates)
St John's College	$23,980 (years 7 to 12)
NT Christian College	$19,209 (year 10 to 12, works with MCC to accomodate students)

In late 2021 The Essington School released its 2022 tuition fees, hiking up prices by 14.9 per cent.

Principal Brian Kennelly told the NT News a new method of funding — based on the median income of parents or guardians of students rather than the socio-economic status of their residence — largely pushed the price jump.

“The new way of measuring has really impacted on us for a whole lots of reasons,” he said.

“They’ve taken census data over the last three or four years that has inflated our families’ income a little bit.”

”The Federal Government perceive that our families can afford to pay more fees, but there is no regional indexation.”

Brian Kennelly, principal at the Essington School. Picture: Justin Kennedy

Mr Kennelly said plans for refurbishment and rebuilding have also played a part in the steep incline.

“We have a master plan that is going to be implemented over the next 5 years which will renovate and build state of the art facilities for students,” he said.

The plans involve bringing back three levels of their students from where they currently are housed at Charles Darwin University.

The move to a higher tuition fee structure has hit some parents hard, with a number of families no longer able to afford the costs but Mr Kennelly said it was all part of long-term planning.

“This is about strategic planning, as we look into our future, we can see in the long term we need to put up our fees to maintain the same level of education,” he said.

Originally published as The Essington School charging $170,000+ for a child’s full education