Are Melbourne's elite select-entry schools favouring boys over girls?

Every five years, an extra school of boys graduates from Victoria's four select-entry high schools, according to Education Department data.

It's a situation Mac.Robertson Girls High School principal Toni Meath describes as "unfair".

"This disadvantages academically able girls," she says.

"This school has produced some of our finest leaders, and the fact that more boys get an opportunity to enter these spaces isn't fair."

Between 2010 and 2015, an additional 692 boys were accepted into Victoria's select-entry schools.

Boys currently make up 56 per cent of all enrolments and for the past five years, more boys than girls have sat the select-entry entrance tests.

This has prompted the Education Department to consider reaching out to high-achieving girls via social media and their schools to encourage them to sit the high stakes tests.

"The selection process for the select entry high schools is rigorous and independent, and the Department is examining ways to encourage more girls to apply for places," a Department spokeswoman said.

Most of the imbalance stems from Melbourne High School's ability to accept around 330 year 9 students every year, compared to Mac.Robertson Girls High School's intake of around 225 students.

Co-ed select entry state schools Nossal High and Suzanne Cory High Schools enrol more boys than girls, but last year they reversed an almost five-year trend and accepted more girls than boys.

One solution being pushed by Dr Meath is an expansion of Mac.Robertson Girls High or a new campus.

"Our buildings are at capacity. We have no sporting grounds," she says.

"We want girls to have an opportunity to have feminist role models, which we know is important for their growth."

Year 12 Mac.Robertson Girls High School student Freya Permezel says more girls should be able to access select-entry schools.

"The extra places allocated to boys allows boys to proceed at a higher level in their careers or they have extra opportunities," she says

She says select-entry schools had a culture where everyone was motivated to work hard.

"No one ever feels like they are studying too much," she says.

"You are never going to be in a class that is disrupted and you are never bored in class. The teachers are there to challenge you and your cohort is there to challenge you."

Her classmate Caitlin Flemming agrees.

"I wanted to challenge myself, the classes are fast-paced and we are always extending ourselves beyond the classroom. That's the major difference between a normal school and a select-entry school."

On her first day at the school in Year 9, Caitlin says she was "squashed" by other students in the crowded corridors.

"We are bursting at the seams," she says.

Nossal High School principal Roger Page said selection to his school was based on academic merit. He said the gender mix had been "pretty equal" over the years.