Best independent Catholic schools in Australia

IB Diploma alongside HSC · Loreto Sisters Mary Ward tradition · Sydney Harbour campus

Mary Ward Loreto Sisters tradition · Boarding house for regional NSW · Strong HSC academic outcomes

Opus Dei Personal Prelature affiliated · Strong HSC academic outcomes · Single-sex Catholic girls north-west Sydney

Oldest secondary school in Brisbane · Strong academic + Mercy social-justice tradition · Very competitive fee for top-tier ICSEA

Jesuit Magis + Ignatian formation · Strong HSC academic outcomes · Senior Trial Court mentoring (legal pathway)

ICSEA 1178 puts Sacré Cœur among the most advantaged girls' schools in Victoria; it was the top-performing Catholic school in Victoria for VCE in 2022 · One of a global network of Sacred Heart (RSCJ/Sophie Barat) schools founded in France in 1800; small by design (~700 students) with a roughly 1:8 student-teacher ratio · Offers both the VCE and is known for a values-based 'Goals and Criteria' Sacred Heart education spanning Prep to Year 12 on the one Burke Road campus

Mercy Sisters Catherine McAuley tradition · North Sydney harbour campus · Mid-fee Catholic girls option

Top-ranked Catholic girls' school by VCE (ranked 7th statewide in 2023) · One of the top school rowing programs nationally · Six consecutive GSV Athletics Championships (2014-2019); Positive Education curriculum

Jesuit education in the Ignatian tradition · Largest GPS boarding school by tradition; major rowing program · Strong service-learning and Jesuit retreat program

Joint Jesuit + Loreto Sisters foundation · Strong music + drama programs · Mid-fee Catholic co-ed in Perth west

Sacred Heart Madeleine Sophie Barat tradition · Largest girls' boarding school in QLD · Strong music + drama programs

ICSEA 1163 — more educationally advantaged than roughly 96% of Australian schools; one of the highest-ICSEA Catholic girls' schools in NSW · Member of the global Society of the Sacred Heart network (Goals & Criteria of Sacred Heart education); harbourfront Rose Bay campus on the former Convent of the Sacred Heart estate dating to 1882 · One of the few remaining girls' boarding schools in eastern Sydney — around 150 boarders Year 7-12, with sibling discounts of 25% on boarding

Presentation Sisters tradition · Bayside Melbourne Catholic girls · Mid-fee Catholic option

The world's first Jesuit school to go fully co-educational (Reception to Year 12), making the change in 1996; founded by the Jesuits on their 1951 return to Adelaide · Very high socio-educational advantage: ICSEA 1156, among the highest of any school in this group, with roughly 68% of students in the top SEA quarter · 16-hectare (40-acre) Senior School campus at Athelstone; part of the global Jesuit schools network tracing to Messina, Sicily (1548)

Jesuit education tradition with Ignatian formation and community service focus · 30 APS football premierships and elite rowing (16 Olympic/World representatives) · Annual Maytime Fair raising $100,000+ for Jesuit Mission work

Independent Catholic boys' day school founded in 1937 by the Congregation of Christian Brothers, now in the Edmund Rice Education Australia tradition; around 1,130 students across Years 5-12 on Sydney's lower North Shore · ICSEA 1149 (the highest of this comparison set and well above the national median of 1000) · Strong rugby and broader sporting pedigree; alumni include Wallabies captain Michael Hooper, NRL coach Des Hasler, cricketer Jackson Bird, broadcaster Ben Fordham and former NSW Deputy Premier John Watkins

Presentation Sisters Nano Nagle tradition · Strong music + drama programs · Lower-fee Catholic girls option in Perth

Edmund Rice tradition · Strong rowing + AFL programs · Toorak elite community at lower fee

ICSEA 1139 (93rd percentile nationally); ~1,800 students, one of Brisbane's largest Catholic boys' schools · Boarding for up to ~220 boys (Years 6-12), currently ~170 boarders - a major regional/rural Queensland feeder · Powerhouse sporting alumni: Wallabies captain John Eales, Test cricketer Matthew Hayden and Brisbane Lions forward Charlie Cameron; facilities include the Matthew Hayden cricket complex and an Olympic-size heated pool

Mary Ward Loreto Sisters tradition · Lower-fee Catholic girls option · Strong music + drama programs

Sisters of Charity Mary Aikenhead tradition · Day + small boarding house · Potts Point inner-city campus

IB Diploma alongside SACE · Mercy Sisters Catherine McAuley tradition · Lower-fee Catholic co-ed

Feeder primary for St Joseph's Nudgee College · Edmund Rice tradition · Lower-fee Catholic boys primary

Marist Brothers Champagnat tradition · Mid-fee Catholic boys option in Sydney North · Strong rugby tradition

Mercy Sisters Catherine McAuley tradition · WA's oldest girls' Catholic school · Perth CBD campus

Marist Brothers tradition of holistic education · Strong rugby and cricket programs · Member of Associated Southern Colleges

Founded by the Dominican Sisters in 1940; one of Melbourne's few Dominican girls' schools, with a charism built on study, prayer, community and service · ICSEA 1132 with ~784 students Years 7-12; mid-range Catholic-school fees ($24,220 Year 12 in 2026) relative to the more expensive independent girls' schools nearby · Single-campus Years 7-12 girls' college on Riversdale Road, Camberwell with strong VCE and co-curricular (music, sport, debating) programs

Victoria's only Catholic all-girls boarding school (Hopetoun Hall) · Annual musical productions in partnership with Xavier College · Strong rowing program (Years 8-12) and GSV premierships in netball, tennis and basketball

ICSEA 1130 - well above average; ~1,000-1,200 girls, Years 5-12 · Lowest tuition of the four at a flat $13,950/yr across all year levels, making it a comparatively affordable Catholic girls' option in inner-north Brisbane · Founded 1926 by the Presentation Sisters; celebrating its centenary in 2026 and now governed by Mercy Partners on the historic Stanley Hall site in Clayfield

ICSEA 1126 - more educationally advantaged than roughly 93% of Australian schools · Edmund Rice Education Australia boys' school on the former Nudgee Junior College site; a single flat Year 7-12 tuition of $17,992 makes it one of the more accessibly priced GPS-adjacent Brisbane boys' schools · Co-curricular sport, camps and most activities (AFL, rugby, cricket, swimming, strength & conditioning) are included in tuition rather than charged as extras