Perth Private School Fees in 2026

Perth's best-known private schools charge between about $30,000 and $37,500 a year for Year 7 once you count the compulsory extras, while a Catholic systemic college like Corpus Christi is $11,094 all-in — and much of the affordable end sits lower again. Below are the 2026 fees we could confirm on each school's own published schedule, the schools we could not verify (and why we won't guess), and how the whole thirteen years looks.

A note on sources and dates. Every dollar figure here was read from the school's own 2026 fee schedule in September 2026. Fees change every year, most of Perth's top schools band Year 7 with the years around it (7–8, 7–9, 7–10 or 7–12), and levies vary — always confirm the current, full figure with the school.

Key takeaways

• Perth's top tier is tightly packed and almost all single-sex. The dearest schools we verified run from Christ Church Grammar and St Hilda's (~$37,000) down through PLC, Hale, Wesley, Perth College, St Mary's and Penrhos (~$30,000) — every one of them a single-sex Anglican school in the wealthy western or riverside suburbs.
• Tuition is not always the bill. Some schools quote a comprehensive fee (Christ Church and Wesley include camps, devices and excursions); others add compulsory levies on top (St Hilda's +$950, Hale +$980, PLC +$884).
• The Catholic systemic colleges are the affordable end. Corpus Christi College charges $9,390 tuition, $11,094 all-in — roughly a third of the top independents.
• We corrected the numbers that circulate wrongly. Wesley is $34,125 (not the $37,713 aggregators show — that's a mistyped Christ Church figure); St Mary's is $30,620; Perth College $31,086.

The verified numbers: what Perth schools charge in 2026

These are the schools whose 2026 schedules we could read at source. Tuition and the compulsory all-in are shown separately where a school breaks them out.

The independents cluster tightly at the top — a $7,000 spread across eight schools — and almost all of them are single-sex, which is the real story of Perth fees (below). The Catholic systemic colleges sit far below: Catholic Education WA sets the rules for fees but no single figure, so each college's board sets its own, and Corpus Christi's $11,094 all-in is a representative verified example rather than a system-wide number.

The schools we could not verify — and why we won't guess

• Methodist Ladies' College (MLC) Perth — its fees page shows no dollar figures, and there's a live trap: the "MLC 2026" schedule that surfaces online is MLC Melbourne's (a different school, Year 7 $40,395). We won't attach a Melbourne number to a Perth school.
• Scotch College (Swanbourne) and Aquinas College (Salter Point) — both publish their 2026 schedules only as Issuu image embeds, which can't be machine-read. Open them in a browser. (Note: the readable "Aquinas $26,162" PDF online is a university residential college, not the Salter Point boys' school.)

If a school you're considering isn't in the verified table, that's why — check its own schedule.

Single-sex schooling is the real fee story in Perth

Perth's expensive tier is not a random collection of schools — it is almost entirely single-sex. Every one of the eight independents above is a boys' or girls' school, and they occupy a tight arc of riverside and western suburbs — Claremont, Mosman Park, Peppermint Grove, Wembley Downs, Swanbourne — roughly 9 to 11km from the CBD.

Read that carefully, though: the fee gap reflects what kind of school tends to be single-sex in Perth — old, well-endowed, in expensive suburbs — not a price attached to single-sex teaching itself. Plenty of co-educational and systemic Catholic schools cost a fraction as much. We looked at this pattern across the country in single-sex versus co-ed school fees, and at how the sectors compare in Catholic versus independent fees.

It also means the suburb, not just the school, deserves a look — a family in Ellenbrook or Baldivis choosing a western-suburbs school is signing up for a daily commute that will shape six years far more than a few thousand dollars of fee difference. Before you commit, check what runs near the school after 3pm in our Kids' Activity Index.

The whole thirteen years, in context

For the total cost of schooling in Western Australia — fees plus the parent contributions and ancillaries (uniforms, devices, camps) that go with them — Futurity's Cost of Education Index 2026 puts a Perth child starting school in 2026 at:

WA independent schooling, at $331,525 over thirteen years, is the lowest total of any mainland state on Futurity's numbers — even though its top schools charge as much per year as Sydney's. Read those totals carefully: they bundle fees with the extras families spend across thirteen years, so they are not tuition bills, and the National Catholic Education Commission has publicly disputed how the ancillaries are estimated. Fees are rising about 5–6% a year, roughly double CPI (ABS, via Futurity). For the six-year math and how families fund it, see how families pay for private school fees.

So what are the "best" private schools in Perth?

Honest answer: we do not publish an academic ranking of Perth schools, and you should be wary of any site that does. We hold fee data, locations, sectors and contact details — but no current NAPLAN or ATAR results for WA schools, so we are not in a position to rank them on outcomes, and a ranking built on fees alone is just a list of expensive schools wearing a rosette. What to use instead, in rough order of usefulness:

1. The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) for WACE and ATAR outcomes — the official source for WA senior-secondary results.
2. My School (ACARA) for NAPLAN and each school's ICSEA profile. ICSEA matters: it measures the socio-educational advantage of a school's intake, and comparing two schools without it tells you more about their enrolment than their teaching.
3. Open days, and a walk-through on an ordinary Tuesday — the second is more informative than the first.
4. The specific programs your child needs — the instrumental music, the literacy support, the subject they care about run to Year 12.

Fees belong on that list, but near the bottom, and mostly as a constraint rather than a signal.

Frequently asked questions

How much are private school fees in Perth in 2026? The best-known independents charge about $30,000–$37,500 a year all-in for Year 7 (Christ Church $37,173, St Hilda's $37,491, down to St Mary's ~$30,620), while the Catholic systemic colleges are far cheaper — Corpus Christi is $9,390 tuition, $11,094 all-in.

What is the most expensive school in Perth? Of the schools that publish a readable 2026 schedule, Christ Church Grammar and St Hilda's are the highest, around $37,000–$37,500 for Year 7. Some well-known schools (MLC, Scotch, Aquinas) publish their fees only as image embeds we can't machine-read, so we can't rank them.

Are Perth's private schools cheaper than the east coast? Per year, the top schools are comparable. But over the whole thirteen years, Futurity's 2026 index puts WA independent schooling at $331,525 — the lowest total of any mainland state.

Do these fees include everything? No. Some schools (Christ Church, Wesley) quote a comprehensive fee; others add compulsory technology and resource levies on top, and none include uniforms or voluntary building-fund donations. Most band Year 7 with the years around it. Ask the school for its full 2026 schedule.

School fee figures are each school's own published 2026 schedule, read at source in September 2026. Thirteen-year totals are from Futurity Investment Group's Cost of Education Index 2026. Fees change annually, levies vary, and most Perth schools price Year 7 as part of a band — confirm current figures with the school before enrolling. AroundSchools holds no WA academic results and does not rank schools on quality.