The cut-off mark to gain entry into the Illawarra’s only selective high school rose by five marks for the 2016 Year 7 cohort.
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NSW Department of Education figures provided to the Illawarra Mercury show the minimum entry score required for Smith’s Hill High School’s current Year 7 cohort was 187 out of 300, a rise of five marks on the 2015 minimum entry of 182 and eight marks higher than the 2014 entry cut-off of 179.
Smith’s Hill High School’s minimum entry score also shows the school’s mark is now above more than half of the state’s selective high schools, coming in equal 20th out of the 45 selective school minimum scores that were published.
In 2015 Smith’s Hill’s minimum entry score was the 23rd highest across NSW selective schools, an improvement on its 2014 position as the 26th.
A cohort of 13,118 students across the state sat the Selective High School Placement Test last year to earn one of the 4,215 places available in Year 7 this year.
The selective school test has four components; reading and writing, mathematics and general ability, with each student's primary school assessment of their performance in English and mathematics also taken into account.
A Department of Education spokesperson said the minimum entry score was determined by the geographical location of the schools and the academic merit of the applicants.
Students were placed in a rank order to fill available vacancies and the mark obtained by the lowest scoring student to accept a place is then published as the minimum entry score.
“The minimum entry scores for selective high schools reflect the placement score of the last student who accepts an offer to that school,” he said.
“The minimum entry score cannot be used either to rank schools against each other or to gauge the popularity of the same school across three years.”
Smith’s Hill High School’s minimum score this year was higher than Merewether High School in the Hunter region, which had a mark of 183, but fell below Caringbah High School in the Sutherland Shire, which had a minimum mark of 192.
Sydney’s James Ruse Agricultural High School had the highest entrance mark of 239, followed by Baulkham Hills High with 231 and North Sydney Boys High with 225.
The Selective High School Placement Test for entry to Year 7 in 2017 was held on March 10 with student’s notified in early July whether they have been successful.
Those who miss out on a place in Year 7 can apply for selective school vacancies which may arise in later years. Applications for entry into Years 8 to 12 in 2017, open on June 27.
2016 minimum entry scores
Below are the scores students needed to earn a place in Year 7 at one of the state’s 45 selective high schools. A total of 13,118 applicants tried out for 4,215 Year 7 2016 vacancies at NSW selective high schools.
- 239 James Ruse Agricultural HS
- 231 Baulkham Hills HS
- 225 North Sydney Boys HS
- 214 Sydney Girls HS
- 213 Hornsby Girls HS
- 212 North Sydney Girls HS
- 212 Sydney Boys HS
- 211 Fort Street HS
- 211 Girraween HS
- 210 Normanhurst Boys HS
- 205 Northern Beaches Secondary College (Manly)
- 200 Hurlstone Agricultural HS (Day)
- 200 Penrith HS
- 196 Chatswood HS
- 195 St George Girls HS
- 192 Parramatta HS
- 192 Caringbah HS
- 192 Sydney Technical HS
- 190 Sefton HS
- 187 Smith’s Hill HS
- 187 Ryde Secondary College
- 183 Blacktown Boys HS
- 183 Merewether HS
- 181 Tempe HS
- 180 Gosford HS
- 180 Blacktown Girls HS
- 180 Sydney Secondary College (Balmain)
- 180 Sydney Secondary College (Leichhardt)
- 175 Macquarie Fields HS
- 171 Alexandria Park Community School
- 170 Virtual Selective School (Aurora College)
- 167 Moorebank HS
- 167 Prairiewood HS
- 166 Bonnyrigg HS
- 165 Rose Bay Secondary College
- 163 Kooringal HS
- 162 Elizabeth Macarthur HS
- 161 Armidale HS
- 161 Duval HS
- 161 Gorokan HS
- 161 Granville Boys HS
- 160 Auburn Girls HS
- 160 Grafton HS
- 160 Karabar HS
- 160 Peel HS
Source: NSW Department of Education
