Trust + transparency
Data methodology + editorial standards
How we collect, verify + publish data on 215 Australian private schools. Source attribution per dataset, editorial standards, our approach to corrections, and CC BY 4.0 licensing for republication.
What we publish
5 datasets, fully documented
School directory (215 schools)
Open page →Update cadence
Continuous; full audit annually January
Fields
Name, slug, city, suburb · Sector + religion · Gender + year levels · ICSEA + founded year · Year 7 + Year 12 fees 2026 · Boarding fee 2026 · Standout programs · Source URLs per school
Method
Each school's 2026 fee schedule was fetched from its published Admissions or Fees page during November 2025 — January 2026. ICSEA values from ACARA's MySchool register. Standout programs hand-curated from each school's website + annual reports.
Year 12 ATAR outcomes (47 schools)
Open page →Update cadence
Annually after state results released (January–February)
Fields
Median ATAR (where published) · % ATAR 99+ / 95+ / 90+ / 80+ · Median VCE study score (Vic only) · % study scores 40+ (Vic only) · IB Diploma flag · Source URL per state
Method
Better Education aggregates results published by schools + each state's results notification. We fetch the 5 state pages (HSC, VCE, QCE, SACE, WACE), parse the 5 ranking tables per page, then match against our 215-school directory by city + name (city-disambiguation prevents PLC Sydney being matched to PLC Melbourne). Only confident matches included — 47 schools at last update.
Fee inflation 2018-2026 (215 schools, 9 years)
Open page →Source
School annual reports (verified) + ABS Cat 6401.0 (indexed)
www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/price-indexes-and-inflation/consumer-price-index-australiaUpdate cadence
Annually after each fee year published (typically October)
Fields
Year 12 fee per year 2018-2026 · Verified flag (true / indexed-estimate) · Annual % change · Cumulative 9-year % change
Method
For 10 schools (Sydney Grammar, Scotch Melbourne, MGS, Geelong Grammar, King's, Knox, Cranbrook, Newington, Scots Sydney, Shore) we have full verified 9-year chains sourced from school annual reports + published fee schedules. For the remaining 205 schools, we apply the ABS Consumer Price Index secondary-education sub-series (Cat 6401.0) backwards from each school's verified 2026 fee, year-by-year. Annual rates applied: 2018 +3.2%, 2019 +3.4%, 2020 +3.2%, 2021 +2.5%, 2022 +5.7%, 2023 +6.1%, 2024 +5.3%, 2025 +4.7%, 2026 +5.1%. Audit sample shows estimates are within ±5% of actual for most schools.
NAPLAN national 2025
Open page →Update cadence
Annually August (when ACARA releases new dataset)
Fields
Mean scores by year level (3/5/7/9) + domain · % Strong or above · % Exceeding · % Developing · State + parental-education subgroup breakdown · Year-on-year trend
Method
Direct extraction from ACARA's 48MB official Excel release using xlsx npm package + scripts/parse-naplan-acara.mjs. National + state + parental-education subgroups all published by ACARA at row level. Per-school NAPLAN data is on MySchool (linked from each provider page).
University destinations + Group of 8 (national)
Open page →Source
Group of 8 published statistics + UAC offer round data + QS World University Rankings 2025
go8.edu.au/Update cadence
Annually as new offer round + QS rankings published
Fields
G8 university list with founded year + QS rank · Indicative ATAR cutoffs by course · City-by-city destination patterns
Method
G8 facts publicly available. ATAR cutoffs aggregated across UAC, VTAC, QTAC, SATAC + TISC published offer rounds. City patterns documented from years of UAC + state TAC reporting + media coverage. Per-school destination data not yet aggregated (most schools publish behind Cloudflare-protected results pages requiring per-school audit).
Editorial standards
7 commitments we hold ourselves to
Verified data takes precedence over estimates
Where we have a school's fee, ICSEA, ATAR or NAPLAN figure from a primary source, we cite + use it. Where we don't, we either estimate using a documented methodology (ABS-indexed fees) or omit the field. We never invent figures.
Estimates are visually distinguished from verified data
On every per-school chart + table, verified data points are filled circles; indexed estimates are hollow circles with the methodology disclosed inline. The "Verified" column on /fee-inflation/ shows which schools have full verified chains.
Citations + sources on every dataset
Every major data page has a Methodology section identifying source, methodology + suggested citation. Sources include direct links to the original publisher.
CC BY 4.0 licensing for backlinks + research
All datasets we produce are released under Creative Commons BY 4.0 — free to republish with attribution. CSV downloads at /press/. JSON-LD Dataset schema on every data page for AI engine + research database eligibility.
No paid placements; no review counts where reviews don't exist
Schools cannot pay for higher rankings. Review-based aggregateRating schemas are gated on actual reviewCount > 0 (we never display fake stars). Schools are ranked on ICSEA, fee, outcomes — never editorial preference.
Per-school data must be school-attributable
When a per-school ATAR or fee figure is shown, the source URL is recorded + linkable. Discrepancies between our published figure + the school's current website are corrected within 7 days of being flagged.
Honest about gaps
Per-school NAPLAN trends, per-school university destinations + per-school scholarship details require manual audit per school + are not yet aggregated. Each affected page discloses this gap + provides a direct CTA to the school's own page.
Corrections + change log
Recent updates + corrections
If you find an error in our data, contact [email protected]. We aim to correct verifiable errors within 7 days + log them publicly here.
12 May 2026
Site relaunched with 14 of 15 Tier 1-3 features built (NAPLAN, ATAR outcomes, fee inflation tracker, university destinations, scholarships guide, school finder quiz, shortlist comparison, sibling calculator, open days guide, learning support, international students, Catholic systemic explainer, boarding directory, annual reports guide). Bus route calculator (#9) deferred (needs GTFS API).
12 May 2026
Real ATAR outcomes data for 47 schools published, sourced from Better Education state rankings.
12 May 2026
NAPLAN 2025 national dataset published, sourced from ACARA 48MB Excel release.
12 May 2026
Fee inflation tracker published — 10 schools verified, 205 ABS-indexed.
12 May 2026
Press kit + 4 CC BY 4.0 CSV downloads published at /press/.
Republication, citations + reuse
All datasets we publish are released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0). You may republish, build derivative datasets, embed in research outputs, and use commercially.
Required: attribution to "Compare Private Schools" with link back to compareprivateschools.com.au + the relevant page (e.g. /fee-inflation/, /outcomes/, /naplan/).
Where source data is from third parties (ACARA NAPLAN, Better Education ATAR, ABS), please cite the original source as well — full citation provided per dataset above.
For raw CSV downloads + suggested-citation strings per dataset, see our press kit.