A fully selective public high school in Petersham, in Sydney’s inner west, for boys and girls in Years 7 to 12. The school says it is the oldest government high school in Australia. Fully selective means every student was chosen for a selective place. Here’s how to get in, how its students do in the HSC (the exams at the end of Year 12), and what the school is like.
Bing’s Academy is independent of the school. Every figure here is from a public source, named under each section.
start here
Most Fort Street students start in Year 7. Years 7 to 10 have at most 150 students, so a place opens only when a student leaves. Years 11 and 12 have between 160 and 170, so some new students join in Year 11; the school doesn’t say how many.
What the school says: “There is a maximum enrolment of 150 students in each of Years 7-10. There are between 160 and 170 students in each of Years 11 and 12.” The school’s website, read 28 October 2026
Year 7 places go through the Department’s Selective test. Places in Years 8 to 10 go through the school’s own application and a panel. Year 11 also uses HAST (the Higher Ability Selection Test), a test several selective schools share (our HAST guide).
The Year 7 application and test dates are official, and so is the mid-June opening of Fort Street’s applications. The other dates show the usual timing.
Inside Fort Street · once your child is in
Every student here already has a selective place.
Source: NSW Department of Education (Year 7; who can apply); Fort Street High School’s website and enrolment documents (Years 8 to 11; other classes), read 28 October 2026.
The HSC is the set of exams at the end of Year 12. Each HSC subject is marked out of 100. The school’s yearly report lists the average mark of its Year 12 students in each subject, next to the NSW average. Subjects with fewer than 10 students are not listed. Selective schools choose most of their students by test, so their averages usually sit above the NSW average: the useful part is which subjects are strongest.
Source: the school’s 2025 annual report, NSW Department of Education (CC BY 4.0). These results are shown on their own. We don’t rank or compare schools by results.
A Band 6 is the top result in an HSC subject. Here is what the count tells you, and what it doesn’t.
Source: NESA’s HSC merit lists, 2021 to 2025, counted by Bing’s Academy. These counts are shown on their own. We don’t rank or compare schools by results.
Source: the school’s 2025 annual report; NSW Department of Education school data, 2 October 2026 (CC BY 4.0); Google Maps and Transport for NSW.
For Year 11 only. Years 8 to 10 have no test: a panel shortlists applications and interviews when a place comes up. For Year 7, children sit the Selective test.
150: 75 for boys and 75 for girls, from the Department’s list (read 28 October 2026).
Yes. In 2025 it had 616 boys and 300 girls.
The Department doesn’t publish one. It changes every year, depending on who applies.
Of the 22 students we taught who sat the Selective test in 2026, 17 received an offer of a selective place (not always at this school). We will never promise a place: the Department marks the exam and the cut-offs move every year. What we can promise is that you will know where your child stands, for Year 7 or for HAST.
