Thinking about sending your child to a high school in Brisbane, but aren’t sure which option to go with? One of the most important decisions a family will ever make is the school to which they send their children.
Choosing a school is a huge decision, and there are many factors to consider, such as tuition cost, gender-streaming, private vs public, academic performance, and more! But we also know that without the right data, it can be all too easy to fall into the trap of school marketing or ease of access.
We’ve put in the hours, done the research, and have created the ‘2023 Ultimate Brisbane School Ranking List’ to help you make the right call with your student about the high school they want to graduate from. What are you waiting for? Check it out below!
How Our Brisbane School Ranking Works
Top 50 Brisbane Schools Ranking List
Top 99 ATAR Schools
Top 95 ATAR Schools
Top 90 ATAR Schools
Top 80 ATAR Schools
Top State Schools
Top Private Schools
Top Gender-Streamed Schools
Top Value Schools
How Our Brisbane School Ranking Works
Since the new ATAR system was introduced, the QCAA has stopped releasing individual school performance data to the public domain, instead releasing subject-specific data. At Art of Smart Education, however, we are committed to data-driven insights, that help every day students and parents to make life-impacting decisions.
To calculate the ranking, we gathered publicly released data for each school, and averaged publicly released data from each school on the percentage of students who achieved above 80, 90, 95 and 99 ATAR results. We then averaged those percentages into a single score.
This was mapped against the state distribution (using the publicly released QTAC information), and then bravo! We are then able to identify the number of times (outperforming percentage) that a school performs above the state distribution.
Top 50 Brisbane Schools Ranking List
Here is the final list of the top schools in Brisbane based solely on pure academic performance.
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming State Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane Grammar School | 353% |
| 2 | Brisbane Girls Grammar School | 346% |
| 3 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 235% |
| 4 | Brisbane State High School | 224% |
| 5 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 224% |
| 6 | All Hallows' School | 214% |
| 7 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 201% |
| 8 | Mansfield State High School | 191% |
| 9 | Ormiston College | 172% |
| 10 | Redlands College | 172% |
| 11 | Mt St Michael's College | 139% |
| 12 | Somerville House | 129% |
| 13 | Ipswich Girls' Grammar School | 121% |
| 14 | Villanova College | 104% |
| 15 | Brisbane Boys' College | 103% |
| 16 | Stuartholme School | 89% |
| 17 | Cannon Hill Anglican College | 87% |
| 18 | Sheldon College | 86% |
| 19 | Mount Alvernia College | 81% |
| 20 | Marist College Ashgrove | 73% |
| 21 | Moreton Bay Boys College | 72% |
| 22 | The Gap State High School | 71% |
| 23 | Corinda State High School | 71% |
| 24 | Northside Christian College | 65% |
| 25 | Loreto College Coorparoo | 61% |
| 26 | St Rita's College | 57% |
| 27 | St Laurence's College | 51% |
| 28 | Kenmore State High School | 51% |
| 29 | Moreton Bay College | 50% |
| 30 | St Peters Lutheran College | 49% |
| 31 | Redeemer Lutheran College | 47% |
| 32 | Citipointe Christian College | 45% |
| 33 | John Paul College | 44% |
| 34 | The Lakes College | 44% |
| 35 | Canterbury College | 43% |
| 36 | Saint Stephen's College | 39% |
| 37 | St Joseph's Nudgee College | 34% |
| 38 | Stretton State College | 27% |
| 39 | St John's Anglican College | 23% |
| 40 | Indooroopilly State High School | 21% |
| 41 | Balmoral State High School | 21% |
| 42 | Mount Gravatt State High School | 21% |
| 43 | St Paul's School | 20% |
| 44 | Mary Mackillop College | 19% |
| 45 | St John Fisher College | 17% |
| 46 | MacGregor State High School | 17% |
| 47 | Prince of Peace Lutheran College | 17% |
| 48 | Brigidine College | 16% |
| 49 | Genesis Christian College | 11% |
| 50 | Grace Lutheran College | 9% |
| 51 | The Springfield Anglican College | 2% |
| 52 | Ambrose Treacy College | -4% |
| 53 | Brisbane Christian College | -31% |
| 54 | Assisi Catholic College | -31% |
Top 10 School Trends
- Topping the list we have the Brisbane Grammar and Girls Grammar Schools, however immediately after we begin to see a few Anglican schools coming out with excellent results.
- The data is quite clear that currently, many private schools and colleges are well outperforming the state, however there are a few exceptions with Brisbane, Mansfield, The Gap and Corina State High Schools all making the Top 25! These could be great options if you are thinking of taking the public education route!
- Another key observation is that schools from all across the wider Brisbane area are performing significantly well, and it is not just the inner-city colleges that are producing high ATAR results!
- There also appears to be a big difference between the Top 10 and then the rest of the 40 schools, with the Top 10 exhibiting scores of 172%-353%, which drops off significantly to 139% and below after that!
Public vs Private vs Anglican vs State
- Anglican schools had the top mean outperforming percentages, with the average score coming in at 104%, closely followed by general private sector schools at 93%
- It should be noted that general private schools dominated this list, with 21 out of the 50 schools being listed as private.
Now that we know how many schools from each category made it into the Top 50, it would be beneficial to understand how well each category performed.
As can be seen, whilst Anglican schools had the lowest percentage in the Top 50, they significantly outperform the rest of the schools in state outperformance, making these institutions competitive in the market.
| School Type | Average Outperformance Score (%) |
|---|---|
| Anglican | 104% |
| Catholic | 61% |
| Private | 93% |
| Public | 72% |
Private schools appear to be a safer and less competitive route, sitting 93% above the state average out of the Top 50 schools.
Read more about which school type performed best here!
Gender Streamed vs Co-Ed
- Co-Ed Schools made up a slight majority of the Top 50 schools, with gender streamed schools still grabbing a bulk amount of the Top 50.
Now again, it is beneficial for us to grasp the average outperformance of each school sector, compared to the state average!
| School Type | Average Outperformance Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Girls | 118% |
| Boys | 112% |
| CoEd | 54% |
As can be seen, Girls schools come out on top in terms of performance, with boys following closely behind. But Gender-streamed schools appear to be incredibly competitive in the education space dominating general Co-Ed schools.
See more in-depth analysis on Boys, Girls and Co-Ed schools here!
Top Brisbane School Ranking by ATAR Brackets
We’ve seen how schools performed overall, but not all students and families are looking to achieve a Top 99 ATAR, whilst some students are needing it to get into medicine! Allow us to break down each bracket, and provide some more insight into where might be best for you!
99 ATAR
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming State % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane Grammar School | 571% |
| 2 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 495% |
| 3 | Brisbane State High School | 495% |
| 4 | Brisbane Girls Grammar School | 479% |
| 5 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 376% |
| 6 | All Hallows' School | 364% |
| 7 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 301% |
| 8 | Mansfield State High School | 257% |
| 9 | Ipswich Girls' Grammar School | 217% |
| 10 | Somerville House | 213% |
The Top 99 ATAR schools were very similar to the top overall results, however, Somerville House managed to climb the ladder to prove it’s outperformance when it comes to the best of the best results! This means that Somerville likely has a small very high achieving cohort, with a overall lower average.
95 ATAR
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming State Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane Grammar School | 280% |
| 2 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 268% |
| 3 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 253% |
| 4 | All Hallows' School | 223% |
| 5 | Brisbane State High School | 213% |
| 6 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 188% |
| 7 | Mansfield State High School | 180% |
| 8 | Redlands College | 172% |
| 9 | Ormiston College | 172% |
| 10 | Mt St Michael's College | 148% |
The 95 ATAR space appears to be dominated by many Anglican schools that are proving just how competitive private religious schools can be. Brisbane Grammar has maintained its leadership over all the rest of the competition, however.
Ipswich Girls Grammar and Somerville House have dropped out of the top 10, meaning that whilst they have a high 99 ATAR cohort, they lagged behind in the 95 range.
90 ATAR
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming State % |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brisbane Girls Grammar School | 212% |
| 2 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 211% |
| 3 | Brisbane Grammar School | 207% |
| 4 | All Hallows' School | 175% |
| 5 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 152% |
| 6 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 134% |
| 7 | Mansfield State High School | 134% |
| 8 | Brisbane State High School | 130% |
| 9 | Mt St Michael's College | 130% |
| 10 | Somerville House | 127% |
The 90 ATAR bracket is looking very similar to that of the top 99 ATAR schools, with the notable exception that Brisbane Grammar has been overtaken by Brisbane Girls Grammar School and St Aidan’s Anglican Girl’s School. This means that overall Brisbane Girl’s have more students who achieve above a 90, but Brisbane Grammar has higher averages overall.
Both Mansfield and Brisbane State High School have also maintained incredible results for the public education domain. Both Redlands and Ormiston College have dropped out of the top 10, with Somerville House coming back in with Mt St Michael’s College.
80 ATAR
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming State Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 99% |
| 2 | Stuartholme School | 99% |
| 3 | All Hallows' School | 92% |
| 4 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 85% |
| 5 | Somerville House | 78% |
| 6 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 76% |
| 7 | Mount Alvernia College | 68% |
| 8 | Sheldon College | 64% |
| 9 | Brisbane State High School | 60% |
| 10 | Loreto College Coorparoo | 60% |
Things get shaken up quite dramatically in the 80 ATAR bracket, with brand new names appearing, and the previous top schools dropping out due to them not reporting the 80 ATAR range. Stuartholme School, although not appearing in the top results previously, has demonstrated it’s ability to get good holistic results, along with Loreto College Coorparoo, Mount Alvernia College, and Sheldon College!
These schools are not necessarily the highest performing, since other schools that perform highly do not report 80+ results. However, these schools demonstrate holistic ability to get the majority of their cohorts above the ATAR 80 mark.
Other Factors
Academics isn’t everything when it comes to a family making a call about a potential school! That’s why we’ve done the research and taken the time to make guides based off a tonne of different factors families need to weigh up into the school journey, such as cost, sector, gender-streaming and tuition! Check out the relevant articles below to help you make an informed call!
Top Brisbane ATAR State Schools
Top Brisbane ATAR Private Schools
Top Brisbane ATAR Boys Schools
Top Brisbane ATAR Girls Schools
Wondering how these schools achieved such high results? It’s likely they applied themselves all year round instead of just towards externals! Read more on why Term 2 is the most important term for success in the QCE!
Don’t see your school on here? It’s likely that your school does not publicly publish their ATAR data! Publicly submit your data if you were missed in 2023 or contact us at [email protected] to submit your results to Art of Smart Education! Note that we don’t include schools that only produce IB results to improve internal validity.
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