Low-fee private schools are booming in these Melbourne suburbs

Low-fee private schools in Melbourne’s expanding outer suburbs are helping drive the boom in enrolments in the independent education sector.

As parents flock to faith-based education and the special assistance model, private school enrolments grew at three times the rate of those at government and Catholic schools over the last year, according to data from Independent Schools Victoria (ISV).

The independent sector grew by 3.34 per cent, while Catholic schools grew by 1.2 per cent and government schools by 0.7 per cent.

However, the majority of students in Victoria are still enrolled in state schools, with nearly 666,000 young people attending a public school.

Hume Anglican Grammar, in Melbourne’s north, is the fastest growing private school in the state, with campuses in Mickleham, Donnybrook and Kalkallo.

Nearly 400 students enrolled last year, a 17.1 per cent increase from 2023 to 2024, according to government figures.

Faten Eren said she considered all options for her son, Aydin, but when they arrived at Hume Grammar’s Freier campus in Mickleham for open day, it felt like home.

The family also considered the local public schools but decided they were too crowded.

At Hume Grammar, Eren feels her son gets tailored attention.

“He was a shy little boy when he started in prep, and by the end of the year he was class captain and was even speaking at assembly,” she said.

Another parent, Simon Perryman, said he and his wife did a lot of research into schools in the area before deciding on the independent school.

He said the teachers were lovely, the students were considerate and the school had strong academic results. They also felt the school resonated with their own Christian values.

“They want the students to develop into good people, not just looking at them based on results,” Perryman said.

Principal Bill Sweeney said the school, which opened in 2008, was in a rapidly growing part of Melbourne.

He said he expects the school to have more than 3500 students across its three campuses in the next four years, as well as about 400 teachers and general employees, making it one of the largest private schools in Victoria.

“Our age is one of our strengths,” he said. “I do not think we are bound as much by age-old traditions as some other schools, so there is a great sense of excitement for something new.”

He said the growth brings opportunity, including more elective subjects, more co-curricular activities, leadership opportunities and more sporting teams.

“[Students] have a greater number of areas where one may find their niche, or to serve and contribute, and of course - more success.”

Sweeney said the school had an open enrolment policy and many students were from different cultural, religious and language backgrounds.

Two-thirds of Hume’s students go on to study science, engineering, IT and health at university, he said.

Tuition fees for Year 12 students are $9440, which Sweeney said made it more affordable than other private schools.

In terms of the growth data, ISV chief executive Rachel Holthouse said this was part of a decade-long pattern across all three school sectors.

“The growth [for independent schools] is made up of new schools and campuses in high-growth areas of metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria,” Holthouse said.

Special assistance schools were the strongest growth segment in the sector, she added. The Age reported in March that enrolments at these schools grew by 21 per cent last year.

“Enrolments in lower-fee schools reflects the trend that middle to lower-income families are choosing to invest in education that accounts for their needs.”

According to the ISV, which uses Census data, key drivers of growth in the sector include schools adding additional campuses, which are often built in areas to which more people are moving; high population growth; and a lack of state school infrastructure to keep up with demand.

Melbourne’s outer suburbs are surging in population, including the Casey, Cardinia, Hume, Whittlesea, Wyndham, Melton and Moorabool council areas.

Islamic schools are also growing – there was an 8.4 per cent increase in enrolments at Springvale’s Minaret College from 2023 to 2024, according to the ISV.

Meanwhile, the Indie School in Wodonga, a special assistance school, grew by 27.8 per cent.

More than 4500 students are enrolled at about 30 special assistance schools across 47 campuses in Victoria, while about 15,500 students are enrolled nationally.

Deakin University education expert Emma Rowe said it was unsurprising parents were choosing independent schools when they were funded so generously.

“Capital funding is for buildings, fancy pools, gymnasiums, importing limestone from Scotland or having nine rugby pitches,” Rowe said.

“Capital funding for independent schools has been disproportionately uneven, and it resulted in an absurd disparity in facilities between public schools and independent schools.”

She said these facilities were appealing to parents.

Rowe said more parents were choosing to send their children to private schools for secondary education, whereas the growth in the government sector was in primary schools.

However, she said the independent sector’s unregulated fees contribute to inequality.

“[T]hey charge unregulated, uncapped tuition fees that serve as a discriminatory measure. They impede equitable access and lead to more segregated schools.”

Instead, she wants to see capital funding linked to tuition fees.

“If a school is charging tuition fees, it should have a direct relationship to the level of funding they receive from the government.”