A fully selective public high school in central Wollongong, in the Illawarra, 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.
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Most Smith’s Hill students start in Year 7. Each of Years 7 to 10 is limited to 120 students, so a place opens only when a student leaves. Year 11 can take up to 20 extra students. The school runs its own round in Term 4, and successful applicants go on an eligibility list for two years.
What the school says: “For Year 11, up to 20 additional vacancies may be offered, subject to applicants satisfying the advertised selection criteria.” 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, tests and interview. For Year 11, ask the school.
The Year 7 dates are the Department’s official dates. The Years 8 to 10 dates are from Smith’s Hill’s own page, for entry during 2027; after the test come an interview and an eligibility list for two years. It doesn’t give Year 11 dates: ask the school.
Inside Smith’s Hill · once your child is in
Every student here already has a selective place.
Source: NSW Department of Education (Year 7; who can apply); Smith’s Hill High School’s enrolment page, and Smith’s Hill’s pages on 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.
No. It runs its own entry: a panel review, four online tests at the school for some students, and an interview with the principal.
120: 60 for boys and 60 for girls, from the Department’s list (read 28 October 2026).
Yes. In 2025 it had 415 boys and 320 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 joining later.
