What you need to earn to send your kids to the best-performing private schools in South Africa

Those wanting to send their children to some of South Africa’s most prestigious and best-performing private schools will have to earn up to R2.65 million a year, or R221,000 per month.

When parents invest in expensive private schools in South Africa, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect exceptional academic performance.

The high tuition fees should translate into a superior educational environment characterised by smaller class sizes, highly qualified teachers, and access to advanced learning resources.

These elements create an optimal setting for academic success, justifying the financial investment.

Parents expect these institutions to provide a robust education that not only meets but exceeds national standards.

This expectation drives schools to maintain high academic performance, ensuring students are well-prepared for tertiary education and competitive job markets.

Considering this, BusinessTech looked at how much you would need to earn to send your child to some of the best-performing private schools in the country.

As of the end of 2023, there were over 24,800 independent schools registered across South Africa.

This makes it incredibly hard to ascertain which private schools are ultimately the best-performing in the country.

Because of this, we looked at the most expensive and well-known private schools in the country historically tracked by BusinssTech and which performed the best in their final matric exams in 2023.

The schools tracked are generally the schools that cost over R120,000 per annum in school fees.

Using these schools also provides an earning cap, which means any other private school is likely to be less expensive and, therefore, require a smaller salary.

Interestingly, following the 2023 matric results, the list of the top 10 best-performing private schools features five all-girl schools, four co-ed schools, and only one all-boys school.

However, the only featured boys school—St John’s College—was also the top school in the country, reporting an average of 4.13 distinctions per candidate.

St John’s College is followed by SAHETI and Redhill School, two co-ed schools, which both averaged 4 distinctions per candidate.

The top five were rounded out by girls’ schools—Roedean School for Girls and Kingsmead College— which also tied with an average of 3.8 distinctions per candidate.

This last to the top 10 included Crawford College Sandton, Durban Girls’ College, St Andrew’s Senderwood, St Mary’s Waverly, and Herzlia High School.

How much you need to earn

According to experts, assuming a parent or household hasn’t saved for schooling, it is advisable (although this would be different in each household) to allocate no more than 10-15% of your annual household income to education expenses.

In 2024, there are at least six now charging more than R350,000 a year for boarding and tuition.

Hilton College in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands retains its title as the most expensive school in the country.

Its annual fees (which only allow for boarding) are R397,660 for 2024, up 7.5% from last year.

Michaelhouse, St Andrew’s College in Makhanda, Roedean School for Girls, St John’s College, and Kearsney College have joined the R350,000-plus club.

Private school fees for day schoolers increased at an average of 7.3% across the schools we assess each year.

For boarding schools, a similar pattern was seen, with an average increase of around 7.3% and the upper end at 9.4%.

For the purpose of this article, we looked at how much you’d have to earn to send your child to the top three best-performing all-boys, all-girls, and co-ed schools in South Africa.

Those who wish to send their child to these top-performing private schools will have to earn between R1 million and R2.7 million annually.

However, while this is the salary required for South Africa’s most expensive schools, Momentum data shows that the average private school fee in South Africa will reach R125,000 in 2025.

This works out to a required salary of R833,000 a year or R69,444 per month.

The table below shows the top-performing schools tracked by BusinesstechTech, their average distinctions per candidate for 2023 and how much you need to earn to enrol your child at the school.

Read: The jobs that pay private school-level salaries in South Africa