Best Girls Schools in Sydney | 2025 Rankings & Insights
Sydney’s private girls schools have a long tradition of academic ambition, pastoral care and broad learning opportunities. Schools360’s 2025 Rankings offer an independent view of the schools that stand out across student development, learning environment, culture and institutional excellence.
Use the table below to explore the leaders in Sydney’s private girls education for 2025.
Updated December 2025 · Independent analysis by Schools360
2025 Rankings | Sydney Private Girls Schools
This table shows the full list of private girls schools in Sydney, NSW for 2025.
Top 10 Girls Schools in Sydney (2025)
Image credit: Kambala, Rose Bay
1. St Catherine’s School
Location: Waverley
Type: Independent girls school
Strengths: Highest overall performance in the Sydney girls category with an S360 score of 92.5 percent. Strong Academic Excellence, well-developed wellbeing systems and extensive program breadth. A consistently high-performing school with depth across all building blocks.
2. Pymble Ladies' College
Location: Pymble
Type: Independent non-denominational girls school
Strengths: Strong all-round profile with a 92.0 percent score. Excellent Learning Environment, broad co-curricular programs and strong academic pathways. Highly regarded for scale, choice and student development.
3. Loreto Kirribilli
Location: Kirribilli
Type: Independent Catholic girls school
Strengths: Strong academic profile supported by high-quality wellbeing and a positive school culture. The 90.9 percent score reflects strong governance and consistent outcomes across learning programs and environment.
4. Ravenswood School for Girls
Location: Gordon
Type: Independent Christian girls school
Strengths: A 90.7 percent score driven by balanced academic performance, strong wellbeing and well-developed leadership and co-curricular opportunities. Known for supportive culture and breadth of programs.
5. Abbotsleigh
Location: Wahroonga
Type: Independent Christian girls school
Strengths: A strong all-round performer scoring 90.2 percent. High academic expectations, strong wellbeing and a stable learning environment position Abbotsleigh consistently among NSW’s strongest girls schools.
6. Kambala
Location: Rose Bay
Type: Independent Anglican girls school
Strengths: Also on 90.2 percent. Strong academic results, high-quality facilities and a well-developed learning environment. Known for student ambition, leadership pathways and program depth.
7. PLC Sydney
Location: Croydon
Type: Independent Christian girls school
Strengths: A strong 89.8 percent score reflecting balanced strengths across academics, wellbeing and learning environment quality. Mature pastoral systems and broad co-curricular programs drive positive student outcomes.
8. MLC School
Location: Burwood
Type: Independent Anglican girls school
Strengths: Scores 89.4 percent with consistent strength across all building blocks. Known for academic depth, diverse programs and a strong culture of student empowerment.
9. Wenona School
Location: North Sydney
Type: Independent girls school
Strengths: An 89.1 percent score driven by strong academics and a supportive environment. Known for high-quality teaching, culture and leadership development.
10. SCEGGS Darlinghurst
Location: Darlinghurst
Type: Independent Anglican girls school
Strengths: An 88.1 percent score. Strong wellbeing performance, robust academic outcomes and a distinctive culture that supports student confidence, creativity and engagement.
Key Insights
The top girls schools in Sydney demonstrate strong overall performance profiles, with several schools achieving scores above 90 percent across the Schools360 building blocks.
Academic strength is consistently high, with St Catherine’s, Pymble Ladies’ College, Loreto Kirribilli and Ravenswood forming the clear academic top tier. These schools combine strong senior pathways with well-developed support systems and high student expectations.
Learning Environment scores are solid across the leading schools. Many achieve results in the high eighties and low nineties, reflecting strong teaching quality, engaged classrooms and well-developed facilities.
Learning Programs show significant breadth. Schools such as Pymble Ladies’ College, Ravenswood, PLC Sydney and MLC School offer extensive opportunities in sport, arts, music, STEM and leadership, which translate into well-rounded student outcomes.
Student Wellbeing performance is strong across the category. Consistently high scores point to mature pastoral systems, positive school cultures and environments that support student development and belonging.
Institutional Excellence is stable across the top performers, with schools such as Loreto Kirribilli, Abbotsleigh, Kambala and Wenona demonstrating sound governance and organisational capability.
Overall, Sydney’s leading girls schools pair academic strength with strong wellbeing culture and program depth. Their balanced performance across all five building blocks underpins consistently strong student outcomes.
Snapshot for 2025
Multiple girls schools score above 90 percent in S360 performance.
Learning Environment is strong across the category with many schools above 88 percent.
Program breadth is a major strength, particularly in schools like PLC Pymble, Ravenswood and MLC School.
Wellbeing scores are consistently strong across the Top 10.
Institutional Excellence is stable across leading schools, supported by strong governance and culture.
The top performers cluster in Sydney’s northern, north-western and eastern suburbs, forming one of Australia’s strongest schooling regions.
Frequently Asked Questions
These questions help explain how Schools360 evaluates and updates private school rankings across Australia.
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Schools360 uses a 60-Element Scoring Framework that assesses academic results, learning environment, student wellbeing, culture, co-curricular depth and institutional excellence. The framework focuses on balanced, holistic school performance rather than a single academic metric.
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Rankings are based on publicly available data, school-reported information and independent Schools360 research. Each school’s profile reflects the most reliable and current data available at the time of the annual update.
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Rankings are updated annually, with the current page reflecting the latest 2025 update. Additional refinements may be made when schools provide new information or when verified updates become available.
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Yes. Each school’s profile includes an option for corrections or feedback. Schools360 reviews all submissions and updates school profiles when verified changes are received.
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