A fully selective public high school for girls in Hornsby, in Sydney’s north, for Years 7 to 12. 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 Hornsby Girls students start in Year 7. Years 7 to 10 each keep 120 places, so a place opens only when a student leaves. Year 11 isn’t held to 120: the principal decides how many new students to take, and it varies each year.
What the school says: “As the school only maintains 120 places in each of the Year groups from 7 - 10, new students can only come into these year groups if a current student leaves the school. In Year 11 the Principal determines the number of new students in this year based on their performance in the HAST test.” The school’s website, read 28 October 2026
Year 7 places go through the Department’s Selective test. Places in Years 8 to 11 go through the school’s own application and HAST (the Higher Ability Selection Test), a test several selective schools share (our HAST guide).
The Year 7 application and test dates are official. The other dates are typical, based on the 2026 round: the school hasn’t announced its own dates for 2028 entry yet.
Inside Hornsby Girls · once your child is in
Every student here already has a selective place.
Source: NSW Department of Education (Year 7; who can apply); Hornsby Girls 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 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.
Yes, for Years 8 to 11. HAST is the Higher Ability Selection Test. The schools that use it hold it on one shared day in August, and your child sits it once. For Year 7, children sit the Selective test instead.
120, all for girls, from the Department’s list (read 28 October 2026).
Yes. All 720 students in 2025 were 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.
