The Australian families sending their kids to high school in Israel

By Year 12, Jewish school fees in Australia can exceed $40,000 a year per child, which, for many families, is simply not affordable.

In this context, an international program called Naale Elite Academy offering Australian teenagers the opportunity to complete high school in Israel from Year 9 to Year 12 at no cost is becoming increasingly attractive to some parents.

The program offers a high school education from Year 9-12, fully subsidised by the Jewish Agency and Ministry of Education in Israel. 

Naale was founded in the 1990s, originally to help teenagers from the former USSR integrate into Israeli society ahead of their parents making aliyah, and it later expanded to students from around the world. An Australia–New Zealand office opened just before the pandemic.

Last year regional manager Anat Aloni placed five Australians in the program but this year she already has 15 enquiries.  

Naale affiliates with more than a dozen schools across Israel, including religious, secular, Modern Orthodox and Chabad schools. Students are placed in on-campus boarding schools alongside teenagers from more than 70 countries, including other English-speaking countries from the US, UK, South Africa and Canada, as well as their Israeli counterparts. Students complete the Israeli Bagrut high school certificate, which is internationally recognised and can be used to apply to Australian universities. 

Australian applicants who attend the Naale program come from across Australia, including regional and rural areas, and from families with very different levels of religious observance.