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Emma McDonald, deputy head and head of senior school at St Michael\u2019s Grammar School.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Simon Schluter<\/cite><\/p>\n The lack of boys\u2019 schools creates a cutthroat environment in which co-educational schools must apply for exemptions to the Equal Opportunities Act to discriminate based on gender to maintain a balance, offering girls-only scholarships, easy access to waiting lists, women-focused alumni groups and female-focused advertising.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a result, you have this massive imbalance of demand. Girls have so many options that schools have to market and attract them. They don\u2019t need boys because boys are trying to get in,\u201d said Paul O\u2019Shannassy, managing director at Regent Consulting, which provides advice to parents about private schools in Australia.<\/p>\n The imbalance has a flow-on effect on public schools, which are also left struggling to enrol female students, particularly in areas with high numbers of girls-only schools.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, inner-Melbourne private school Wesley College applied for an exemption to the Equal Opportunities Act at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal so it could discriminate based on gender to maintain a balance of girls and boys.<\/p>\n Kate Evans with her six-year-old daughter Riley, who attends Wesley College.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n The school, which will charge $40,053 a year for senior students next year, was originally a boys\u2019 school but became co-educational in 1978.<\/p>\n St Michael\u2019s Grammar School in St Kilda was granted exemptions to the Act in 2007, 2010 and 2013 and again in 2018, when it outlined that achieving gender equality was a critical issue.<\/p>\n Emma McDonald, deputy head and head of senior school, said the school\u2019s \u201ccrucial\u201d exemption lasted until 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cWe aim to have a gender balance as close to 50:50 across the school. We consider the balance at both a macro and micro level. If necessary, we will restrict the size of the class to assist in achieving a gender balance,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n McDonald said they received more applications from boys than girls. The waitlist for 2025 and 2026 is around 40 per cent girls and 60 per cent boys.<\/p>\n She said they had strong demand from boys, partially because there were fewer independent boys schools in Melbourne and because parents saw the benefits of a co-educational environment. <\/p>\n Caulfield Grammar School was granted an exemption, set to expire this year, to structure waiting and enrolment lists to target prospective students of either gender.<\/p>\n Geelong Grammar, one of Victoria\u2019s most expensive private schools, has an exemption in place until 2024.<\/p>\n Geelong Grammar is allowed to structure waiting and enrolment lists to target prospective students of either gender.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Vince Caligiuri<\/cite><\/p>\n O\u2019Shannassy said girls\u2019 schools were under pressure to maintain enrolments and be innovative in a competitive market. \u201cIf you have a boy, you are less fussy, because you have to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He believes one of the reasons more boys\u2019 schools have become co-ed is because of the physical size of the schools, while smaller boutique girls\u2019 schools do not have the space to expand to take on more students.<\/p>\n He said it also meant schools could be selective of their students.<\/p>\n Fintona Girls\u2019 School principal Rachael Falloon said some families are told by schools there would not be a place for their son unless they also enrolled their daughter.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the past six years, I am aware of two families who have moved their daughter from Fintona to secure the school of choice for their son,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The competition at some girls\u2019 schools has been so great, they\u2019ve closed or merged. In 2019, Catholic girls\u2019 school Presentation College Windsor closed due to low enrolments and merged with Christian Brothers College St Kilda to create St Mary\u2019s College. Catholic girls\u2019 school St Aloysius College began enrolling boys in 2023.<\/p>\n Enrolments at all-girls school Genazzano FCJ College in Kew have dropped in the past five years from 1026 girls in 2017 to 768 in 2022.<\/p>\n Shelford Girls\u2019 Grammar in Caulfield has dropped from 504 girls to 447 in 2022. The school is partnering with Caulfield Grammar School.<\/p>\n Demand at Brighton Grammar School continues to exceed supply.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Joe Armao<\/cite><\/p>\n Brighton Grammar School headmaster Ross Featherston said demand was exceeding supply at their boys\u2019 school. The Brighton school, which caters for 1366 students from early learning to year 12, will charge more than $37,000 for year 12 in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201dOur enrolments have grown by over 25 per cent in the last eight years, which is great, but as we want to maintain our mid-size enrolment number, this growth has led to waitlists.\u201d<\/p>\n Featherston said parents put their son on waitlists for the school as soon as they were born.<\/p>\n Deakin University senior education lecturer Emma Rowe said private and public schools had different playing fields for enrolment processes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the same for public schools because they don\u2019t have the ability to be so selective,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n \u201cSupposedly, we have school choice, where parents feel empowered by their choices, but I think that\u2019s not the case. I think parents feel stressed, constrained, they don\u2019t feel like they have abundant choices,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s all these different situations where particular students might be less desirable in the context of a competitive market,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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