A partially selective public high school in Richmond, in the Hawkesbury, that is part of Richmond Agricultural College. Its selective stream, which began in 2022, runs from Year 7 to Year 10 and studies agriculture at the college’s Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Education. Partially selective means it has selective classes alongside classes for local students. 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.
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The selective stream is a set of classes for students offered a selective place, most of them through the Selective test in Year 6. At Richmond it runs in Years 7 to 10, and students spend 60% of their timetable at the Centre of Excellence and 40% at Richmond High School.
What the school says: “The Centre and Richmond High School offer a two-school delivery model for students in our AgSTEM Selective and AgSTEM Specialty streams in Years 7-10. Students spend 60% of their timetable at the Centre at the Western Sydney University/TAFE campus and 40% at the Richmond HS.” The Centre of Excellence’s enrolment page, read 28 October 2026
Year 7 places go through the Department’s Selective test. Selective places in Years 8 to 10 go through the Centre of Excellence: the Department’s form, the Centre’s own application and an interview.
The Year 7 dates are the Department’s official dates. Last round: 17 June to 24 July 2026, from the Centre’s page. The 2028 dates aren’t announced yet.
Ignite and the AgSTEM Specialty stream don’t go through the Selective test, so make sure you apply for the one you mean.
| Question | Selective stream | Ignite | AgSTEM Specialty stream |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who chooses | For Year 7, the Department, by the Selective test | Richmond High School | The Centre of Excellence |
| Test | Yes: the Selective test, on a computer in Year 6 | None mentioned. | None mentioned: a portfolio and an interview. |
| Who can apply | Families living in NSW | Children in Year 6. Families from outside the local area can apply, and both principals decide. | Any child who can enrol in Year 7 at a NSW public high school. There’s no local area. |
| How to apply | Apply online to the Department | An online application with information from you and your child (about 30 minutes), and your child’s Year 5 NAPLAN results and Year 5 report. The school calls it a staged process but doesn’t list the stages. | An expression of interest and a portfolio. Shortlisted children are interviewed, and referees are checked. |
| When | 5 November 2026 to 15 February 2027, for Year 7 in 2028 (official) | Last round, for Year 7 in 2027, applications were open until Week 8 of Term 2. | Last round, for 2027 entry: applications opened on 21 February 2026, and the first round closed at 3 pm on 21 July 2026. Later applications go on a waiting list. |
The dates for the classes are last round’s; the next round isn’t announced yet.
Source: NSW Department of Education (Year 7; who can apply); the Centre of Excellence’s enrolment page, and Richmond’s pages on other classes, read 28 October 2026; Richmond High School’s 2021 annual report (the selective stream “commencing in 2022”).
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. The marks cover every Year 12 student at Richmond, whichever classes they were in.
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 counts cover the whole school, not only the selective stream. 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.
No. Years 8 to 10 selective places go through the Centre of Excellence: its own application, a shortlist and an interview.
30 selective places in Year 7: 15 for boys and 15 for girls. From the Department’s list (read 28 October 2026).
Richmond Agricultural College’s Centre of Excellence in Agricultural Education, at Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury campus. Selective students spend 60% of their timetable there and 40% at Richmond High School.
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 joining later.
