A school-by-school analysis of Ballarat's education data over the past decade reveals Ballarat students are more likely to be enrolled in independent and Catholic schools than children in other parts of the state.

In 2023 there were 22,605 children enrolled in government, Catholic and independent schools across the city - 11 per cent more than filled classrooms a decade ago in 2014.

Just over 16 per cent of those children were in independent schools, 27.4 per cent were in Catholic schools, and the remainder in government primary and secondary schools.

It's little surprise that many of the fastest growing schools are in or near areas of new development such as Lucas and Winter Valley.

Lucas Primary School, which opened its doors in 2020 with 79 pupils, has almost quadrupled in size to have 376 enrolments in 2023.

Nearby Delacombe Primary School, whose enrolment zone takes in many of the new estates in Bonshaw and Winter Valley, has almost doubled in size with much of the growth coming over the past five years as new homes have been finished at a rapid rate.

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In 2014 the school taught 274 students and in 2023 its enrolment stood at 533 - an increase of 95 per cent.

A new Catholic primary will be built in Winter Valley - the suburb's first school - and is expected to open in 2028.

Over the same time as the new Lucas Primary has been opened, enrolment numbers have fallen at nearby Alfredton Primary, which was bursting at the seams before the new school opened.

Newlyn Primary School and Cape Clear Primary were also among the district's booming schools, though building off small student numbers.

Newlyn Primary had just eight students in 2014, and had built gradually over the years until two big enrolment years in 2021 and again in 2023 bringing its population to 33, while Cape Clear grew from 12 students a decade ago to 21 in 2023 coming off a peak year in 2019 when there were 30 pupils.

Ballarat's newest secondary schools - Mount Rowan and Woodmans Hill - which both began operating as stand-alone secondary colleges in 2019 after previously being campuses of Ballarat Secondary College, have experienced rapid growth.

Secondary school zones in Ballarat were redrawn during 2019 for the 2020 school year to account for the city's growing population and school capacity - expanding the zones for the new schools and reducing the Ballarat High School and Phoenix P-12 Community College zones slightly.

The number of secondary students in government high schools - Phoenix P-12 Community College, Woodmans Hill Secondary College, Mount Rowan Secondary College, Mount Clear College and Ballarat High School - has grown 10 per cent in five years and 14 per cent over the past decade to 4844 students.

Woodmans Hill started with 377 students and grew to 533 last year - a 41 per cent increase while Mount Rowan began life with 372 students and had 633 in 2023 - a growth of 70 per cent.

Phoenix P-12 Community College's secondary student numbers jumped seven per cent over the same period, but a whopping 38 per cent over 10 years - and its overall number of children including primary pupils grew 45 per cent over the decade.

Mount Clear College and Ballarat High school numbers have remained fairly constant across the decade.

Ballarat's biggest schools are its two most expensive independent schools - Ballarat Grammar and Ballarat Clarendon College - and both have experienced massive growth over the past 10 years across all year levels from prep to year 12.

Ballarat Grammar is the city's biggest school with 1815 children and teens enrolled - almost 500 more than a decade ago when it had 1322 pupils.

Ballarat Clarendon College is the city's second biggest school with 1772 students, up from 1238 10 years ago.

One in six Ballarat students, or 15.6 per cent of the city's total student population, attends Ballarat Grammar or Ballarat Clarendon College.

That percentage has grown over the past decade from 12.4 per cent of the city's students to 15.6 with almost two per cent of that growth coming in the past five years.

Both schools have also seen an increase in the number of boarders, drawing students from across the state and the country to live and learn at the school.

Next year Ballarat Grammar will have 278 boarding students - up from 212 in 2016.

"It seems Ballarat is a destination for education," said Ballarat Grammar headmaster Adam Heath. "It's always been regarded highly. People are visiting leading schools in Melbourne and Geelong and still choosing to come to Ballarat.

"The growth we are seeing is not Ballarat schools competing for one another's students - it seems as though we are getting a bonus of students who are choosing to come in."

Ballarat's other schools with student populations of more than 1000 include Phoenix P-12 Community College with 1553 students, up from 1067 in 2014, Ballarat High School with 1459 (up from 1408), St Patrick's College with 1235 (1361), Damascus College's 1171 (1029), and Mount Clear College 1036 (1058).

By numbers alone there are more children attending Catholic primary and secondary schools in Ballarat now than 10 years ago - 6284 in 2023 compared to 6128 in 2014 - but the proportion of all students in Ballarat's Catholic education system has fallen slightly from 29.8 per cent a decade ago to 27.4 per cent in 2023.

It is still well above the state average of 20.8 per cent of students in the Catholic system.

The city's biggest Catholic school is St Patrick's College with 1235 boys enrolled in 2023, but its numbers have fallen seven per cent in the past five years.

Damascus College is not far behind with 1171 students last year - its largest student population, and a record number of 235 year seven students starting in 2024. In 2023 there were 208 year seven students. The expansion brings the year level to nine 'core group' classes.

There were 159 'class of 2023' year 12 students who graduated from the school last month.

St Francis Xavier is the city's largest Catholic primary school with 465 pupils in 2023 - having grown 33 per cent over the past decade.

It means 44.8 per cent of all Ballarat's students, or 10,280, were educated outside the state system in 2023 - a similar proportion as has been the case over the past 10 years - significantly more than the statewide average of 36.4 per cent.

Buninyong Primary School remains the city's largest primary school with 623 pupils (up from 606 a decade ago but down from almost 700 in 2018) with Delacombe at 533 (274), Alfredton 475 (570), St Francis Xavier 465 (348) and Black Hill 431 (543) rounding out the top five.