Hawthorn at a glance
Hawthorn contains 10 schools reporting to ACARA — predominantly primary schools across the 6 Independent, 3 Government, 1 Catholic sector mix. ICSEA values across these schools range from 1093 to 1188, with a mean of 1151 — that is the socio-educational backdrop you should keep in mind when comparing NAPLAN scores within the suburb.
1 of the 10 schools flag two or more STEM signals in their published curriculum (robotics, coding, IB MYP science, etc.).
Second-language programs visible across the suburb's schools: French, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin.
How Hawthorn reads
Hawthorn reads as a high-advantage, independent-heavy suburb where brand and environment may matter as much as incremental score differences. The suburb trend is broadly flat, the ICSEA profile is elevated, and the table is dominated by established schools.
This is not a breadth-of-market suburb in the Glen Waverley sense. It is a concentrated, premium-feeling page where a handful of known schools shape the way the suburb is searched.
The Year 5 line is effectively flat over the long window. In Hawthorn, that probably says more about a mature high-performing market than about weak outcomes.
Despite the suburb’s reputation, the current crawl surfaces relatively few STEM signals. That should be read cautiously: the stronger story here is school profile and intake context, not the presence or absence of a single program label.
11-year NAPLAN trend (Year 5 mean across all suburb schools)
What this page can hide
High ICSEA can make the suburb look uniformly strong even when the lived school experience differs significantly across schools.
Because many families search Hawthorn with prior expectations, this page is especially vulnerable to confirmation bias. Use it to slow down, not to reinforce assumptions.
Schools in Hawthorn
| School | Sector | Type | ICSEA | NAPLAN | Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scotch College | Independent | Combined | 1188 | 550.2 (Y5) | FrenchItalianMandarin |
| Erasmus Primary School | Independent | Primary | 1187 | 537.2 (Y5) | — |
| St Joseph's School | Catholic | Primary | 1156 | 528.6 (Y5) | — |
| Bialik College | Independent | Combined | 1164 | 528.6 (Y5) | — |
| Glenferrie Primary School | Government | Primary | 1160 | 524.2 (Y5) | Italian |
| Hawthorn West Primary School | Government | Primary | 1165 | 513.6 (Y5) | STEMJapanese |
| Rossbourne School | Independent | Secondary | 1100 | – | — |
| Swinburne Senior Secondary College | Government | Secondary | 1093 | – | — |
| Strathcona Baptist Girls' Grammar - Hawthorn Campus | Independent | Combined | – | – | — |
| SEDA College (Victoria) - Hawthorn Talented Player Program (TPP) | Independent | Secondary | – | – | — |
NAPLAN column shows the latest-year mean across the 5 subjects for the indicated grade (Y5 for primary, Y9 for secondary). Click a school name to open it in the map view.
Nearby suburbs
What to verify before shortlisting
- Ask whether you are buying into school brand, school fit, or suburb identity; in Hawthorn those are easy to blur together.
- If you care about specific STEM or language pathways, verify them directly rather than assuming a premium school automatically offers them at the depth you expect.
- Compare Hawthorn with Camberwell by school culture and pathway, not only by suburb reputation.
Frequently asked questions
What's a good NAPLAN score for schools in Hawthorn?
There is no suburb-specific official benchmark for “good”. A reasonable first read is to compare each school with the broader national range and then, more importantly, with schools at similar ICSEA. In Hawthorn, some schools sit well above the national Year 5 average, but that does not automatically tell you whether they are adding more value than a lower-scoring school with a very different intake profile.
How do I check the school catchment for Hawthorn?
Open a school from the table and inspect it in the map view. Where department or ACARA-linked catchment data is available, that is the best starting point. Catchment boundaries can change, though, so the cautious step is to confirm with the relevant education authority or the school before relying on it.
Which is the best primary school in Hawthorn?
There is no single factual answer to that. The table is sorted by latest NAPLAN mean, which is useful for orientation, but a family could still reasonably prefer a different school because of sector, fees, language offering, learning support, distance, or culture. This page is best used to narrow the field, not to end the decision.
Suburb schools report generated by Schoogaroo from public data (ACARA / My School and state sources). Latest version: https://www.schoogaroo.com/suburbs/vic/hawthorn - verify enrolment details with the school or the relevant education authority.