Top school calls halt to scholarships
A prestigious Catholic girls' school has suspended academic scholarships this year and is considering whether to abolish them, questioning whether rewarding a few bright students is the best use of funds.
Santa Maria College principal Ian Elder said he had concerns about the purpose of scholarships offered by most private schools.
"Is it to attract highly intelligent students who will increase the academic profile of the school, particularly when league tables are produced at the end of Year 12," he wrote in a recent newsletter to parents.
"Or is it aimed at academically able students who come from families who could not afford full tuition fees?"
He said the second option fitted better with the Catholic sense of social justice, but such students were already eligible for bursaries.
Mr Elder said scholarship tests measured innate ability, not persistence and application that, combined with ability, were better predictors of success.
"I've always believed if you've got a God-given advantage of having a great intellect, why should you get a 50 per cent reduction in your fees?"
The Attadale school, which charges up to $11,800 a year in fees, has surveyed parents on whether to retain scholarships.
Mr Elder said opinion was divided, with some concerned that if Santa Maria did not offer incentives to attract the brightest minds, the school's name would not feature on lists of the State's top prize-winning students.
Others preferred to direct scholarship money to programs that benefited all students.
Mr Elder said Santa Maria was "not about elitism" and had met a goal to lift its median ATAR to 90.
"We haven't achieved it because of the scholarship holders, (or) because of the high-flyers who will do well in whatever school they're in," he said. "We've achieved it by looking at the middle, with that mantra that everyone can improve."
