Recommendations for Private Girl's Secondary School Melbourne

Hi, I have started to have mild panic attacks over the fact that our DD is not on the waiting list for any schools. I went to a playgroup recently and that was all everyone talked about and it made me feel sick. We are wanting to send her to a private girl's school, preferably Catholic but am open to other schools. The main requirements are good academics plus access to sports and the arts plus a friendly environment. We are currently living in Carnegie, but who knows where we will be in the next few years. Also, is is important to send them from year 5 so they are not the odd ones out in year 8? I am from Brisbane so am clueless regarding Melbourne schools. We will most likely choose St Kevin's for our son.

Please help, so I don't feel so lost at sea.

Hi Katiegirl,

I went to Shelford Girls Grammar which is in Caulfield North, not very far from you. It's an anglican school, and it's nice and small compared to other private schools. I went there for 6 years and left in 2003 so not too long ago! I can highly recommend the school for sport, music & performing arts - and not sure if it matters much to you, but the languages they teach are Japanese and French.

Other schools near-ish to you are Sacre Coeur (Catholic) which is in Malvern/Glen Iris, and Korowa (Anglican) which is pretty much next door. If you're sending your DS to St Kevin's, then there's quite a few girls' schools nearby but I don't know too much about them.

It's really hard choosing - DS is on several waiting lists, but like you, I have no idea where we'll be living in 10 years time so I've put his name down for schools all over Melbourne! Good luck with it all :)

I think Presentation College in Windsor
Sacred heart in oakleigh, kilbreda in mentone,
Skevs is a long way for you, have you looked at de la sale, I think that's catholic?

I went to Kilbreda in Mentone. Probably a bit far for you and not worth the travel.

A friend went to Sacre Coeur and she had a great experience.

Pandora, isn't St Kevin's in Toorak?? That's not too far from Carnegie - closer than Mentone anyhow. Only a few stations by train. I often saw lots of St Kev's kids on the train on my way to school and I'm not too far from Carnegie. Unless I'm thinking of a completely different school!!! At least I thought it was St Kevin's...green, blue, yellow striped blazer...???

Anyway, there are so many girls' schools around that area - it's a matter of trying to find the one you like best and it gets so overwhelming! Go to lots of open days and ask other parents.

I went to Sacred Heart Girls College in Oakleigh :) - was highly academic when i was there (17yrs ago!) , not sure what their arts curriculum is like now but wasn't very big when i attended, but the sporting side of things were highly regarded.

Lol. Yes you are right. Hehe inwas thinking of scotch which is a little farther. But Then I am somewhat geographically challenged. I thought Carnegie was near chaddy? Plus was thinking driving time not trains

My sister went to Sacre Coeur in Glen Iris, she loved it. They have a big focus on academic excellence but also arts, music and sport. Their VCE results are always high (I think something like 50% of students get over 80 and 98% go on to uni). It's on the smaller side and goes from prep to yr 12. I went to Avila in Mount Waverley, it was a decent school but I don't think I'd ever send my daughter there should I have one. The other catholic girls schools around your area would be Presentation College in Windsor, Genezzano in Kew, Loreto in Toorak, Our Lady Sacred Heart in Bentleigh, Sienna in Camberwell, Star of the Sea in Gardenvale and Sacred Heart in Oakleigh.

For boys there is St Kevins (or Skevs as we affectionately called it) in Toorak, De la Salle in Malvern, Salesian in Chadstone and Mazenod in Mulgrave.
If you want to know anything about any of the schools I mentioned feel free to msg me, I have friends who went to most of them :)

St Catherine's is in Toorak and is the girls equivalent of Scotch/St Kev's. I reckon check the schools out before you start putting names down as the schools described previously are all quite different! It is worth noting the difference between the 'private' Catholic schools and the rest - cost is a big difference there. Most of the private schools have bus lines from all over Melb too may be worth considering.

Thank you all so much for your replies. It seems ridiculous to be worrying about this at such an early age, but I know that spaces fill early. I am currently realising I totally dropped the ball on a 3 year old kinder place and it isn't looking good!

I will look into the schools you have all mentioned. Some were already on my list, like Sacre Coeur, Genazzano and Siena (does anyone have any opinions on Siena?). Also, I don't think St Kevin's is too far from Carnegie, especially on the train. Even driving it isn't too bad.

When I was at a playgroup the mothers were talking about what you can do to help secure scholarships in Year 5. Their children were only in kinder and prep and they were talking about what extra curricular activities would help secure a scholarship as well as getting extra tutoring. It seemed really sad to me that these little children were not just doing an activity for fun but because it reflected well on their 'well-rounded-ness'. I felt so panicked when I left. Needless to say, I have not gone back to that playgroup!