Joining Fort Street High School in Years 8 to 11

Test, by year level

Years 8 to 10: none. Year 11: the HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test), developed by ACER

Entry into

Years 8 to 10, and Year 11, each with its own process on the school's page

How to apply

The school will update its requirements when applications open. About four weeks to apply and pay, and nothing late is accepted

Interview

Yes, for the applicants the school selects, at both entry points

Last cycle (2027 entry)

Closed. On the Department's timeline, applications were open 17 June to 24 July 2026

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

In the school's own words, applications "will open mid June 2027". It has published no closing, test or interview date

Last checked 3 October 2026 against Fort Street High School's enrolment page, ACER's list of HAST schools and the Years 8 to 11 page of the NSW Department of Education.

How Years 8 to 11 entry works at Fort Street High School

Fort Street High School is at 620 Parramatta Road, Petersham, with access via Palace Street. It was established as the Fort Street Model School in 1849, and the school describes itself as the oldest government high school in Australia. It is fully academically selective and co-educational. Entry is competitive and based on academic merit, and the school has no local area intake. For Year 7, families apply through the NSW Department of Education; entry into Years 8 to 11 is run by the school itself.

Its enrolment page gives Years 8 to 10 one section and Year 11 another, and the two work differently. As at 3 October 2026, both sections say the school will update its application requirements when 2028-entry applications open in mid June 2027. Read the steps below as the shape of the process, then check the page again when the round opens.

Years 8 to 10: no test, a selection panel, then an interview

1. Apply inside the window. The school says applicants will have about four weeks to submit the application and the payment. For how to apply, it links to the NSW Department of Education's Years 8 to 11 page. That page asks families to check on each school's website whether it uses its own online application form or the general form, so look on Fort Street High School's site when the window opens.
2. Do not leave it to the last day. The school strongly advises submitting earlier than the cutoff, and says no late applications or payments will be accepted.
3. The selection panel reads every application. There is no entrance test for these years. The panel reviews all applications and draws up a shortlist.
4. An interview, once a current student leaves. The school takes a new student into these years only when someone already enrolled leaves. Then it interviews selected candidates from the shortlist and offers the place. The school publishes no date for these interviews or offers.

Year 11: the HAST, then an interview

1. Choose your schools. The school says applicants can list up to three schools as their preferences. The NSW Department of Education then asks for a separate form for each school on that list, with the schools put in the same order on every form.
2. Apply and pay in time. The same rules apply as for Years 8 to 10: about four weeks to submit the application and payment, and nothing accepted late.
3. Sit the HAST. All Year 11 applicants must sit it. Fort Street High School and a group of other schools hold the sitting on the same day. The venue is your first-preference school, which means Fort Street High School itself when it heads your list. If your first preference is not part of the group, your child sits it at your second or third preference school, provided that school is in the same group.
4. An interview, for some applicants. In the school's words, "Successful applicants will be invited to attend interviews depending on their Acer HAST results and merit of application." It has not published interview dates.
5. The outcome. Fort Street High School has published no outcome date. The NSW Department of Education's window for last cycle's outcomes is September to October 2026, and successful applicants start in late January 2027.

The enrolment page also says successful applicants are invited to an orientation day in Term 4, with the date and program sent to families closer to the time. It does not say which entry points that day covers, so ask the school if your child's offer comes at another time of year.

What to attach

As at 3 October 2026, Fort Street High School lists no attachments for Years 8 to 11. It says further information on application requirements will be updated when applications open. Two things are already clear:

• From the NSW Department of Education, for every school: attach your child's birth certificate, passport or citizenship document as a copy, plus any other forms the school asks for.
• Fort Street High School asks every successful applicant to show original documents before enrolment can be finalised. Its examples are citizenship evidence, birth certificates and visas.

The school says students who want to enrol must be Australian citizens or permanent residents of Australia, and that citizens of New Zealand are eligible for selective high school entry. A payment is due with the application, but the school has not published the amount. The Department says each school tells families whether there is a fee.

Key dates

Last cycle: 2027 entry

Fort Street High School's page now says only that applications for 2027 entry have closed, in both sections. The page shows no dates of its own for that round, so the table uses the NSW Department of Education's general timeline for Years 8 to 11 entry, not dates Fort Street High School set.

As at 3 October 2026, Fort Street High School's page shows no 2027-entry dates of its own, and no Year 11 HAST date.

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Fort Street High School has said when 2028-entry applications open. Both sections of its enrolment page say: "Applications for entry in 2028 will open mid June 2027." No day within June is given. Applicants will then have about four weeks to submit the application and payment, the school says, but as at 3 October 2026 it has not published a closing date, a HAST date, an interview date or a fee. The Department has not yet added 2028-entry dates to its Years 8 to 11 page either. Keep the school's enrolment page bookmarked for June 2027.

School tours and open evenings

The school runs school tours and open evenings so families can understand Fort Street High School's values and educational philosophy, and bookings are essential. In 2026 it held an open event on Monday 2 March, school tours on Wednesday 27 May, and tours during Fort Fest on Friday 18 September. All of them have passed, and as at 3 October 2026 the school lists no later tour or open evening.

The test

For Year 11 entry, every applicant to Fort Street High School must sit the HAST, the Higher Ability Selection Test developed by ACER, which the school calls the "Acer HAST". ACER lists the school at its Senior secondary level only, the level ACER sets for Year 10 students seeking Year 11 entry. Years 8 to 10 have no entrance test at this school.

Read our HAST guide for what each section of the test covers and how Year 10 students prepare for Year 11 entry.

How we prepare students for Fort Street High School

Only Year 11 entry at Fort Street High School has a test, so that is where our tutoring comes in. The HAST is sat in Year 10, and your child prepares for it in our HAST course: tutoring and exam preparation in a small group, live on Microsoft Teams, with ten weekly two-hour lessons each term. Our timetable shows the HAST classes by year level. The practice material we write follows the style of the HAST. It is Selective Success Academy's own, not ACER's, and it is not past papers.

The test is not the whole decision at Fort Street High School. The school invites Year 11 applicants to interview depending on their HAST results and the merit of their application, so the application deserves the same care as the test. If your child is aiming for Year 11, it also helps to know that the school offers English in Years 11 and 12 at Advanced or Extension level only.

For Years 8 to 10, Fort Street High School sets no test, so there is nothing to sit for this school. If another school on your list tests for those years with the HAST or the EduTest, our HAST and EduTest courses prepare for it, and our guide to selective school transfer shows which test each school uses. Book a short call and we can go through the schools on your child's list together.

Free practice and guides

• Free practice: for Year 11 entry, our HAST practice test, with worked answers.
• The application: what each school asks for, and how to make each part strong.
• The interview: selective school interview questions and how to prepare.
• By entry year: Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 entry, every school compared.

What our HAST course costs

Prices as at 1 October 2026.

The live term course is 20 hours of teaching, so $900 works out at $45 an hour. It includes small group classes, lesson recordings, a full-length mock exam with a comprehensive review, marking feedback on weekly homework and the mock, lesson and homework booklets, and online messaging support.

A question bank gives your child practice. It does not contain any teaching hours, and it cannot tell you which school to apply to, what the school report needs to show, or when the application closes.

Our students at Fort Street High School

Selective Success Academy students have received offers to Fort Street High School, as at 2 October 2026. The figures and reviews below are for Selective Success Academy as a whole, not for this school alone.

Who teaches this

Ilia founded Selective Success Academy and is its head tutor. He has been through this himself: he missed out on selective school at first, then entered North Sydney Boys High School by lateral transfer. He became a North Sydney Boys High School Dux, finished school with a 99.90 ATAR and now studies Medicine at UNSW. His story was featured in The Sydney Morning Herald in April 2026.

What families say

Rated 5/5 from 90+ parent reviews

80+ selective school offers. See our students' results

Questions parents ask about Fort Street High School entry

Is there an entrance test for Years 8 to 10 at Fort Street High School?

No. Fort Street High School's enrolment page says there is no entrance test for entry into Years 8 to 10. Instead, a selection panel reviews every application and draws up a shortlist. The test applies to Year 11 only: every Year 11 applicant must sit the HAST, the Higher Ability Selection Test developed by ACER.

How many places are there?

We never quote a number of places. They differ between schools and between year levels, and each school decides its own. Fort Street High School's enrolment page says that in Years 8 to 10 a new student is taken in only after a current one leaves. Book a short call to go over your child's year level and where Fort Street High School sits on your list.

When can we apply to Fort Street High School for 2028 entry?

From mid June 2027. Fort Street High School's enrolment page says, "Applications for entry in 2028 will open mid June 2027," in both its Years 8 to 10 and Year 11 sections, and that applicants will have about four weeks to submit the application and payment. As at 3 October 2026 there is no exact day yet, and no closing date, HAST date or fee for 2028 entry.

Will my child be interviewed?

If the school selects them, yes. For Year 11, the school says successful applicants are invited to interviews depending on their HAST results and the merit of their application. For Years 8 to 10, selected candidates from the school's shortlist are interviewed once a current student leaves, and the school then makes an offer. It has not published interview dates for either.

Does Fort Street High School charge an application fee?

Yes, a payment is due with the application, but Fort Street High School has not published the amount, as at 3 October 2026. The NSW Department of Education says each school tells families whether there is a fee. Look for the amount on the school's enrolment page when applications open in mid June 2027.

Where does my child sit the HAST for Year 11?

Usually at your first-preference school. Fort Street High School and a group of other schools hold the HAST on the same day. If your first preference is not in that group, your child sits the test at your second or third preference school, provided it is part of the same group. When Fort Street High School is your first preference, the test is at the school in Petersham.

Sources

Read on 3 October 2026, Fort Street High School's own pages first, then the NSW Department of Education and ACER.

• Fort Street High School: enrol
• Fort Street High School: contact us
• Fort Street High School: why choose us
• Fort Street High School: learning
• NSW Department of Education: selective high schools, Years 8 to 11 applications
• ACER: HAST participating schools
• ACER: HAST student support