The different types of NSW selective high schools: what they are and how to choose

There are 27 partially selective high schools in NSW with academic selective streams for Year 7 entry.

These schools have a mix of students. A portion of each year group is placed through the selective application process and attends selective classes. The rest of the year group attends the same school through local area enrolment and is in non-selective classes.

For students who receive a selective offer at a partially selective school, the selective stream runs from Year 7 to Year 10. At the end of Year 10, selective and non-selective students are combined for Years 11 and 12.

This is something families sometimes miss. A student who gets into the selective stream of a partially selective school is not in a fully selective environment for their HSC years. If a fully selective academic environment for Years 11 and 12 is the priority, a fully selective school is the right application.

That said, partially selective schools have real advantages. A student who scores well enough for a partially selective school but not for a fully selective school is still accessing an accelerated learning environment for four years. For students who do not receive a selective offer at all, attending a partially selective school even on the non-selective side can be worthwhile. The academic culture of the broader school, lifted by the presence of a selective cohort, tends to produce stronger results than a purely local public school in the same area.

One important note: you cannot simply enrol into the selective stream of a partially selective school at the start of Year 7. Entry into the selective stream requires a selective school offer through the Year 6 placement process.

Show all 27 schools ↓

Sports high schools and performing arts high schools are not included in this list. Those schools select students based on sports ability or audition performance, not the academic selective placement test.

School participation in the selective system can change. Verify the current list on the NSW DoE website.

In 2024, 18,544 students sat the NSW Selective High School Placement Test. With 4,338 places available, the overall acceptance rate was approximately 1 in 4. That figure is the system-wide rate. The effective acceptance rate for any individual student is lower, because it depends on which schools they nominate as preferences and how competitive those particular schools are. A student who lists only the most sought-after fully selective schools will be competing against a much narrower field for a much smaller number of places.

The number of places and the schools included in the selective system can change from year to year. The current list of all selective high schools and their individual place numbers is available on the NSW Department of Education website.