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Ava is shopping with her mum. Sheâs 10. Feisty. Articulate. And unsure. Her mother wants to buy her a new swimsuit. Ava wants to get one, too, just not the two-piece her mother has chosen for her. âI feel like I have a bit of a belly,â she says. Her friends, listening to the story a few days later, all nod.
âMy parents say that when I get older itâs going to stretch out and be okay. But I think I have a really big ribcage.â She stands in front of her friends and holds her hands stiff against her sides. âSee, you can see the outline.â
Fees for Australia s most expensive private schools have blown out to almost $500,000 despite the financial disaster of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Two schools in NSW and Victoria are now charging more than $40,000 a year for Year 12 tuition - SCEGGS Darlinghurst in Sydney and Melbourne s Geelong Grammar.
Geelong Grammar remains the most expensive private school in the country - charging $42,792 for students in their final year of high school.
Geelong Grammar remains the most expensive private school in Australia - charging $42,792 for students in Year 12
Queensland s heftiest fees are charged by Brisbane Grammar School - where parents will have to pay $29,450 in 2021
DESPERATE parents are going to extraordinary lengths to get their children into private schools, subverting enrolment procedures they say unfairly favour the brightest students. From donating tens of thousands of dollars worth of sporting equipment to lying about their religious faith, nothing is off the table. Family connections and being enrolled since birth are no longer guarantees in a fight for placements that has become obsessive . Meanwhile, huge sums are being spent tutoring children as young as seven ahead of international exams that pit them against peers in Asia and give them an edge on NAPLAN, key determinants of enrolment success.
Class of 2020 waking up to new score After a tumultuous final year hit hard by COVID-19, the class of 2020 - pioneers since their very first day at school - will wake to another first on Saturday.
Education by Antonia O’Flaherty
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Subscriber only More than 40,000 Queensland students will make history today as the first cohort to graduate with a Year 12 Certificate under the new senior school curriculum with thousands to receive the state s first ATARs. The Class of 2020 were the first full cohort of Prep, the first Year 7 students in high schools and the first Queenslanders to receive the Australian Tertiary Admission Rank, which Education Minister Grace Grace said made them educational pioneers .
Screams and crying as Queensland s top ATAR scores revealed Queensland’s top students have been revealed with just 30 achieving the highest Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 99.95 across the state.
Education by Antonia O’Flaherty
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Subscriber only The first Queensland students to receive the highest ATAR have been revealed with top-performing students celebrating achieving the best ranking of 99.95. The results were published earlier than expected today with 30 Queensland students achieving the perfect score while 694 achieved a 98.9 and above, and 5,343 students received a 91.50 above, and in total 19,524 finished above a ranking of 65.50. Brisbane Girls Grammar School student Matina Samios, 18 said after a sleepless night it was a relief to wake up to the ATAR of her dreams.