Thinking about enrolling your child at an affordable high school in Brisbane in the near future?
The cost of living is biting hard with less free cash, less flexibility and less disposable income. It begs the question of where you can hold back on spending excess cash — including schooling.
Yes, education should always be a priority. But what if you could actually get a better education, for less cost? No one wants to compromise their child’s education because of financial strain — but what if there was no compromise?
We’ve done the calculations, and worked out what the most cost efficient schools are, based on return per dollar — how much value are you really getting out of the best of the best schools?
Top ATAR Schools in Brisbane Based on Tuition Fees
Top ATAR Schools Weighted by Lowest Weekly Housing Price in Brisbane
How We Calculated the Scores
To calculate the ranking, publicly released data was gathered for each school including data on the percentage of students at each school who scored ATAR results above 80, 90, 95 and 99. 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.
With tuition fees, by simply dividing the cost of tuition by the outperformance percentage, you can work out how much value per dollar you are getting in each school (or in other words, it’s an ROI figure).
The Top ATAR Schools in Brisbane Based on Tuition Fees
The average tuition fees for QLD private schools this year will amount to $10,679, but which schools actually return the most value per dollar?
The first category was the Top ATAR Schools based on Tuition Fees, which had some surprising results. Redlands College came out on top, with All Hallows’ School and Brisbane Girls Grammar following closely by.
As you can see, Redlands College had an ROI score of $58.51, meaning that for every % above the state average that a student scores, it costs roughly ~$58 in school fees!
| Ranking # | School | Outperforming Score (%) | Tuition Cost ($) | ROI ($ cost per %) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Redlands College | 172.44% | $10,090.00 | $58.51 |
| 2 | All Hallows' School | 213.58% | $15,705.00 | $73.53 |
| 3 | Brisbane Girls Grammar School | 345.81% | $28,555.00 | $82.58 |
| 4 | Brisbane Grammar School | 352.55% | $30,320.00 | $86.00 |
| 5 | Ormiston College | 172.44% | $15,371.00 | $89.14 |
| 6 | Mt St Michael's College | 138.96% | $12,669.00 | $91.17 |
| 7 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | 234.77% | $28,421.00 | $121.06 |
| 8 | Mount Alvernia College | 80.77% | $10,565.00 | $130.80 |
| 9 | Genesis Christian College | 11.17% | $1,495.00 | $133.83 |
| 10 | Anglican Church Grammar School | 223.60% | $30,266.00 | $135.36 |
| 11 | St Margaret's Anglican Girls School | 201.34% | $28,635.00 | $142.22 |
| 12 | Northside Christian College | 64.98% | $9,350.00 | $143.90 |
| 13 | Villanova College | 103.95% | $15,741.00 | $151.43 |
| 14 | Ipswich Girls' Grammar School | 121.11% | $19,052.00 | $157.31 |
| 15 | St Rita's College | 56.96% | $10,670.00 | $187.32 |
| 16 | Sheldon College | 86.03% | $17,032.00 | $197.97 |
| 17 | Cannon Hill Anglican College | 86.65% | $18,160.00 | $209.57 |
| 18 | St Laurence's College | 50.90% | $10,713.00 | $210.47 |
| 19 | St John Fisher College | 17.22% | $3,646.00 | $211.74 |
| 20 | Loreto College Coorparoo | 60.52% | $13,216.00 | $218.38 |
This means that overall, these schools are the most value for money that Brisbane consumers can get, however, they range in school type and gender streaming.
Learn more about the top Brisbane schools ranked by school type!
The Top ATAR Schools in Brisbane by Average Weekly Housing Cost
This next category ranked a weekly housing cost we created with ATAR performance. The weekly average housing cost factored in average mortgage repayments with average rent, to create an overall figure for each suburb.
| Ranking # | School | Suburb | Average Weekly Housing Cost ($) | Weighted Performance Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ipswich Girls' Grammar School | Ipswich | 400 | 289% |
| 2 | Brisbane Grammar School | Brisbane | 700 | 270% |
| 3 | Brisbane Girls Grammar School | Spring Hill | 700 | 262% |
| 4 | Brisbane State High School | South Brisbane | 637 | 179% |
| 5 | St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School | Corinda | 650 | 179% |
| 6 | Sheldon College | Sheldon | 473 | 176% |
| 7 | Mansfield State High School | Mansfield | 612 | 164% |
| 8 | All Hallows' School | Brisbane | 700 | 105% |
| 9 | Anglican Church Grammar School | East Brisbane | 720 | 97% |
| 10 | Redlands College | Wellington Point | 665 | 90% |
| 11 | Canterbury College | Waterford | 520 | 78% |
| 12 | Somerville House | South Brisbane | 637 | 66% |
| 13 | Ormiston College | Ormiston | 700 | 56% |
| 14 | Genesis Christian College | Bray Park | 505 | 55% |
| 15 | St John's Anglican College | Forest Lake | 520 | 54% |
| 16 | Cannon Hill Anglican College | Cannon Hill | 600 | 52% |
| 17 | Mount Gravatt State High School | Mount Gravatt | 527 | 45% |
| 18 | St Paul's School | Bald Hills | 530 | 42% |
| 19 | Grace Lutheran College | Rothwell | 520 | 38% |
| 20 | The Springfield Anglican College | Springfield | 517 | 33% |
| 21 | The Lakes College | North Lakes | 570 | 31% |
| 22 | Northside Christian College | Everton Park | 595 | 31% |
| 23 | Villanova College | Coorparoo | 650 | 24% |
| 24 | St Joseph's Nudgee College | Boondall | 570 | 19% |
| 25 | Mount Alvernia College | Kedron | 630 | 16% |
Ipswich Girls’ Grammar came out on top in terms of cheapest housing cost for schools, followed by the Brisbane Grammar twins, and Brisbane State High, whose results were so high, that even with higher housing costs, it was worth the investment.
In terms of other cost-efficient schools based on housing cost, Sheldon College in 6th place ($473 p/w), Genesis Christian College in 14th place ($505 p/w) and Springfield Anglican College in 20th place ($517 p/w) are also very economic options.
The Verdict
Even though the cost of living is surging with no relief on the horizon, prospective school goers should know that there are high value per dollar schools out there, that can help you get the most for your investment!
So, where to next? Check out how co-ed and single sex schools rank in Brisbane based on ATAR results!
Curious how some schools got such high results? Read on why Term 2 is actually the MOST important term of the QCE!
Don’t see your school on here? It’s likely that your school does not publicly publish their ATAR data or we missed your results! Publicly submit your data in 2023 or contact us at [email protected] to submit your results to Art of Smart Education.
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