Girls Grammar expands into primary years amid competition for enrolments
One of Brisbane’s most successful and most expensive schools has opened its doors to primary students for the first time, joining other private sector schools by increasing early parental involvement.
First Years 5 and 6 students walked through the gates of Brisbane Girls’ Grammar School’s new primary year campus, opposite the secondary school site, on Wednesday.
Principal Jacinda Euler Welsh said the school chose to create the new campus more than two years ago.
“More and more parents were looking for 5th and 6th grades, and we found that mainly boys’ schools were offering 5th and 6th grades and there were far fewer places for girls,” Euler Welsh said.
He said that girls’ secondary schools offer places for about 300 students to enter the 5th grade, while boys’ schools offer places for about 2,000 students to enter the 5th grade.
The new campus cost approximately $30 million to build and mirrors the school’s main area along the way, in both values and visuals. Tuition fees alone will set a family back $29,316 for the year.
“When you look at the arch at the front of the school, which is the iconic Girls Grammar arch, you will see that they are two-thirds scale within the secondary school,” Euler Welsh said.
“They are the right size for little girls, but they keep both sides of the school connected.”
Professor Helen Proctor, an expert on education policy at the University of Sydney, said private schools opening primary campuses were hoping to buy loyalty.
“They are competing with public schools and other private schools that are much cheaper,” he said.
“This is a financial decision, [but] “That doesn’t mean it’s just a financial decision.”
Parents are increasingly shopping for the school that best matches their child, Proctor said, and they now have more money to do so in the private sector.
“Maybe 30 or 40 years ago parents would either send their kids to the local public school, or if they were Catholic or private school parents, they would send their kids to the local Catholic school or private school that had some sort of affiliation,” he said.
He said private high schools are now keen to give students and families a taste of the opportunities they offer before the secondary years, which is more costly for both parents and schools.
“They can familiarize young students with the functioning of the school and the culture of the school and adopt them early, thus reducing the likelihood of them going to other schools for high school,” he said.
Anna Marsden, whose daughter Lucy started Year 5 at Girls’ Grammar this year after leaving Milton State School, said the timing was “serendipity”.
“We had always wanted to go to the Girls’ Grammar school, so we left it when we were very young,” Marsden said.
“As soon as we have the opportunity to suggest that it may enter the initial recruitment [of the new school] …we jumped at the chance.”
Eight other independent and Catholic high schools across Brisbane have introduced year 5 entry in the last four years, starting with St Rita’s College.
Proctor said the flip side of early entry into sought-after high schools is a shift away from local elementary schools, both state and Catholic.
Trevor Cobbold, national convener of public school lobby group Save Our Schools, said the rise in private school enrollment was increasing social segregation.
“This means moving middle-class, higher-income families out of public schools,” he said.
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