St Mary’s Cathedral College in inner Sydney, a 200-year-old boys’ school and alma mater of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has confirmed it will begin enrolling girls next year. Source: Daily Telegraph.
The school has been a boys’ school for the past 57 years of its 200-year history but will begin enrolling female students from Kindergarten to Year 7 in 2025.
The staggered approach will see the Class of 2030 become the first to see the school’s co-educational transition fully realised.
Sydney Catholic Schools executive director Tony Farley said the decision to go co-ed was in response to parent demand, with the “overwhelming majority” supportive of the move.
With the school’s population drawn from all over Sydney, a co-educational offering at St Mary’s “is going to be a very, very popular option”, he said.
While the inner city college, which currently charges annual tuition fees of between $3520 and $5525, already has coeducational roots, several of Sydney’s oldest and most expensive boys’ schools have in recent years unveiled plans to introduce girls to the ire of parents and old boys.
Newington College in Stanmore, a Uniting Church school that charges up to $42,000 in tuition fees, has seen a backlash in the form of a parent-led protest and legal challenge to its decision after announcing it would go co-ed in stages from 2026.
Mr Farley said Sydney’s diocesan schools have learned to “acknowledge the reservations” of parents who aren’t fans of the move.
“There’s extraordinary tradition, and a sense of belonging that you get with a school. You have to respect that,” he said.
“The key thing is to continue to honour the views and the feelings of those who don’t think it’s the best option, and walk with them through it.”
FULL STORY
St Mary’s Cathedral College: Inner Sydney Catholic boys’ school confirms plans to enrol girls (By Eilidh Sproul-Mellis, Daily Telegraph)
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