A fully selective public high school in Penrith, in Sydney’s west, for boys and girls in 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 Penrith students start in Year 7. In the other years, a place opens up when a student leaves, so the number changes every year.
What the school says: “Approximately 15 additional students are admitted into Year 10.” “Generally, only a small number of places (average 3-5 spaces per cohort) become available at Penrith Selective High School in Years 8, 9 and 11.” The school’s website, read 27 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, and so is the mid-June opening of Penrith’s applications. The other dates show the usual timing.
Inside Penrith · once your child is in
Every student here already has a selective place. These are the classes and courses the school chooses students for once they’re in, and any that every student takes.
Mathematics Advanced, Ancient History or Business Studies. Accelerated Ancient History runs across Years 10 and 11, and students sit its HSC early.
The HSC.
The school doesn’t publish how students are chosen.
Source: NSW Department of Education (Year 7); Penrith Selective High School’s website, read 27 October 2026 (Years 8 to 11). Other classes: Penrith’s website and enrolment documents, 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. The school’s own report counts five state ranks; NESA lists two under Penrith. 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.
150: 75 for boys and 75 for girls, from the Department’s list (10 September 2026).
Yes. In 2025 it had 529 boys and 399 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.
