Billanook College is an independent, co-educational day school in Mooroolbark, a leafy suburb in Melbourne’s outer east, roughly a 45-minute drive from the city centre. This guide pulls together what the College publishes about its own programs, entry requirements, fees and application process, so that an overseas family can plan against a clear set of facts — and know exactly which items the public pages leave open.
What kind of school Billanook College is
Billanook College describes itself as an open-entry, co-educational, non-denominational school. The College’s enrolment page states that it welcomes students of all learning abilities, nationalities and faiths, and its child-safety material frames the College as a child-safe organisation. It is a day school — there is no boarding — so international families need to arrange their own accommodation and care in the Melbourne area.
The College was founded in 1980 by a group of local parents who wanted a co-educational primary and secondary school in the outer east of Melbourne. The first intake of 150 students met in the Parish Hall of St. Andrew’s Church in Lilydale with ten teachers. Today the College reports a community of almost 1,000 students and around 150 staff across Early Learning, Primary and Secondary. The name “Billanook” is the site’s Wurundjeri name, and the school motto is “Growing and Caring”. The campus sits at 197 Cardigan Road, Mooroolbark, Victoria, and the College operates as a CRICOS-registered provider (CRICOS 00131M) for its international program.
Programs at Billanook College: Early Learning to VCE
Billanook College runs four broad levels: an Early Learning program, Primary School (Prep to Year 6), Middle School (Years 7 to 9) and Senior School (Years 10 to 12), where students complete the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). International students can apply from Primary through to Secondary, which the College presents as a way to keep one continuous educational journey rather than switching schools mid-way.
The College describes its curriculum through a learning framework built on three strands — Mastery, Discovery and Journey — covering foundations, personal interests and real-world learning. Its campus is made up of several learning areas: the Primary Centre, the Mastery Centre, the New Primary Hub and the Senior Learning Precinct. The Senior School pages emphasise a wide range of VCE subjects, flexible timetables and individualised mentoring, with wellbeing support through the Aspire Program and careers advice from trained staff. Subjects the College names across its material include Music, Science, Art, English, Technology and Philosophy. As with any school’s marketing, these descriptions are the College’s own claims; what is verifiable from its pages is the structure, the levels and the subjects it says it offers.
International entry requirements at Billanook College
English is the language of instruction in all subjects at Billanook College, and the College states that proficiency in English is essential for international students. It accepts three modes of objective English assessment: the IELTS Assessment, the Australian Education Assessments Service (AEAS) test and the I-DAT Assessment. Notably, the application page does not publish the specific required score for each mode — it directs applicants to confirm the required level with the Registrar. The College also reserves the right to waive the formal English assessment on a case-by-case basis.
Applicants who do not yet meet the English bar may receive a conditional offer requiring completion of additional English tuition (ELICOS) before starting. The College currently accepts four ELICOS programs as suitable preparation: Avalon College, Acknowledge Education, Hawthorn Learning and SACE English Language Centre, with the required duration advised by the College’s Student Pathways Manager.
The other entry requirements are academic and personal. Applicants must submit a certified copy of their academic transcript from the previous two years of study, which the College uses to judge academic strengths and the most appropriate entry level. There is also a required application interview with the Student Pathways Manager. Because the required English scores are not published, a family cannot know the exact bar from the website alone — that is a genuine gap in the public information, not something this guide can fill with an estimate.
2026 tuition and fee schedule
Billanook College publishes its fees in a dedicated International Fee Schedule, and the figures below are from the 2026 schedule as accessed 2026-08-05. Compulsory tuition is charged per year level and paid in AUD:
- Prep: 25,690 AUD per year
- Years 1 and 2: 26,985 AUD per year
- Years 3 and 4: 28,935 AUD per year
- Years 5 and 6: 32,435 AUD per year
- Years 7 to 12: 32,435 AUD per year
Under the same schedule (accessed 2026-08-05), tuition is payable in full in advance of the school year in October each year, and fees are payable in full within 30 days of invoice. On top of tuition, the schedule lists compulsory non-tuition items: an International Program Composite Fee of 1,195 AUD per year for Prep to Year 9 and 1,950 AUD per year for Years 10-11; an ICT Levy of 220 AUD per year for Years 5-11; VCAA registration of about 365-480 AUD per year for Years 10-12; a non-refundable Administration Fee of 2,275 AUD paid once on enrolment; Overseas Student Health Cover of about 800 AUD per year paid on enrolment; and estimated annual costs of 630 AUD for the College uniform and 600 AUD for textbooks, both payable to external providers.
The same 2026 schedule (accessed 2026-08-05) also lists optional, non-compulsory costs: user-pays trips and camps of roughly 600-7,000 AUD and a charter bus transport service of 350-1,500 AUD per year; music lessons, tennis coaching, volleyball program fees and social events are listed as available on enquiry. There is no published figure for living costs, flights or holiday arrangements, so those have to be budgeted separately by the family.
Application documents and process
Billanook College’s application page sets out the documents needed to start an application: the enrolment application form, a certified and translated copy of the applicant’s school reports from the last two years, a passport or birth certificate as proof of identity, and an English Language Proficiency Assessment Report. The College notes that families may choose to submit the other documents before the English assessment is undertaken.
The process itself is described in four entry-requirement steps: English language testing, submission of previous academic results, satisfactory completion of the application interview, and review against the fee schedule. The College states that applicants should consider their capacity to maintain fee payments for the full duration of study. Because the College is registered under the ESOS framework, international students benefit from the welfare and support safeguards that framework provides; the College links the ESOS Framework and its factsheet from its student-support pages.
Support, campus and getting there
Billanook College positions its international program as deliberately small, which it says allows individual care and attention, and it highlights a peaceful, safe study location, modern facilities and a large range of subjects. The student-support structure covers the enrolment journey, and the College says it works in partnership with parents on student wellbeing. For transport, the College runs an extensive network of more than 20 bus routes with 265 bus stops, plus a charter bus service for those who prefer it.
What to verify before you commit
Two items stand out as not fully answered by the public pages. First, the exact English score required for each assessment mode is not published; second, the College does not publish a living-cost estimate or details of accommodation arrangements for international day students. Both need to be confirmed against current information before a family makes a commitment. All figures in this guide come from Billanook College’s own website, read on 5 August 2026; the fee schedule carries a 2026-08 edition stamp, while most other pages show no revision date, so re-check the current year’s numbers when you plan. If your child’s situation is specific — the right entry year, the English level, the realistic budget — it is worth talking it through with our consultants, who can help you line up the school’s published requirements with your own timeline before you commit.