Gosford High School in Years 8 to 11: Applying, the HAST and the Interview

Test for Years 8 to 11

HAST: ACER's Higher Ability Selection Test

Years taken

8, 9, 10 and 11, through one round. No entry into Year 12

How to apply

Paper only: deliver it to the school office or post it. No electronic or late applications

Interview

Only for applicants the Selection Committee invites once the HAST results are in

Previous round (2027 entry)

Applications from Wednesday 17 June until 3:00pm Friday 24 July 2026. HAST in the school hall on Saturday 8 August 2026

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Gosford High School has not yet published dates

Last checked 3 October 2026 against Gosford High School's enrolment page, its enrolment policy for Years 8 to 11 and its guidelines for reviews of selection decisions.

Gosford High School is a co-educational government school on Racecourse Road, Gosford, teaching Years 7 to 12. It was the first high school to open in Gosford, in 1927, and since 1992 it has catered specifically for high potential and gifted students. For Year 7, entry is handled separately by the NSW Department of Education's Selective Education Team. From Year 8 to Year 11, the school receives applications and selects students itself. Our selective school transfer guide compares Gosford High School with the other NSW selective schools that take students after Year 7, including the test each of them uses.

How Years 8 to 11 entry works at Gosford High School

Last cycle, for 2027 entry, ran as follows, going by Gosford High School's enrolment page and enrolment policy. Because the school applies its own selection criteria, the policy strongly recommends reading it carefully, and it is worth reading both documents again once the next round opens.

1. Choose up to three selective high schools, and your first preference. Send each one a separate application. At Gosford High School, your first preference also decides the test venue and the fee (see "First preference, the fee and the test venue" below).
2. Download the form while applications are open. The school hosts the application form the NSW Department of Education publishes for Years 8 to 11 (form for 2027 entry) and asks families to download it within the open dates. Tick the year your child wants to enter: Year 8, 9, 10 or 11.
3. Write a covering letter and copy the documents set out in "What to attach".
4. Pay the application fee. Last cycle Gosford High School charged $140 when it was your first choice and $50 when it was not. The enrolment page carried a payment link, and the policy says the completed application is returned to the school with a payment. Ask the school office if you are unsure how to show you have paid.
5. Deliver or post a paper copy by 3:00pm sharp on the closing day. Gosford High School accepts applications in person at its office or by post, not electronically, and does not accept late ones. In the 2027-entry round the deadline was 3:00pm sharp, on Friday 24 July 2026. The policy is explicit that mail arriving after that time is not accepted, so allow for postage.
6. The HAST. If Gosford High School is first on your list, your child takes the test in the school hall on Racecourse Road. In the 2027-entry round the test was on Saturday 8 August 2026, starting at 9:00am according to the enrolment policy. Each applicant needs photo ID on the day.
7. The Selection Committee assesses each application. The Principal chairs it, with a parent representative and the Deputy Principal for the year group. Every application is assessed at least twice, and the assessments are combined into a rank order list. For last cycle, the school set August to September 2026 for the committee to consider applications.
8. Some applicants are invited to an interview. The committee decides how many interviews to hold once it has reviewed the HAST results. An invited applicant must attend to be eligible, and must back the claims in the application with evidence. The panel looks at the application and at how well the applicant suits Gosford High School.
9. The outcome comes by post. After the interviews, the Principal and the committee complete a final rank order list. For last cycle, the school set September to October 2026 for outcome advice by Australia Post. Unsuccessful applicants are told by mail and have the right to appeal (see "If your child is not offered entry" below).

The enrolment policy adds some conditions. Your child must hold Australian or New Zealand citizenship or Australian permanent residency, and your family needs to be living in NSW, with proof of residency, when the school year begins. There is no entry into Year 12 at Gosford High School. A brother, sister or parent who attends or attended the school does not give automatic entry: a family claim only gives priority between applicants of equal merit, and you must tell the enrolment officer you are making one when you submit the application, so ask the school how to lodge it. The school also expects every student to take part in all school carnivals and whole-school events.

What the Selection Committee weighs

The enrolment policy lists twelve things the committee considers:

• your child's educational history
• results in statewide tests such as NAPLAN, and in academic competitions
• HAST performance, compared with students already enrolled at Gosford High School
• sporting interests and accomplishments
• co-curricular interests and abilities
• your child's reasons for wanting to attend
• whether the subjects or courses your child wants, or the combination of them, are available
• how close you live and how easy the school is to get to
• compassionate circumstances and disadvantage
• whether a brother or sister is already enrolled
• the impact on local public comprehensive schools
• the effects on local area selective classes in comprehensive schools

What to attach

For 2027 entry, the enrolment page asked for these with the application:

• a covering letter to go with the form
• copies of your child's birth certificate, citizenship certificate or passport, together with visa documents
• copies of your child's school reports from the past two years
• the current year's half-yearly report
• copies of the most recent NAPLAN results
• copies of achievements and awards
• copies of anything else that supports your child's progress

If the half-yearly report is not ready before the closing date, the school asks you to send the application on time with all the other documents. NAPLAN results from the current year can be emailed to the school when they arrive. The enrolment policy asks for the last two NAPLAN results rather than the most recent, so include both if you have them.

First preference, the fee and the test venue

Gosford High School and several other selective schools coordinate how they run the entry test for Years 8 to 11. In the 2027-entry round, your order of preference decided what you paid and where your child sat the test:

• Gosford High School first. You applied and paid at Gosford High School, $140, and your child sat the HAST in its hall.
• Gosford High School second or third. You paid a $50 administration fee, and your child sat the HAST at one of the other schools in the group.

The policy says the fee covers the administration, processing and assessment of applications. It also says some students at NSW Department of Education schools can have their test fees waived, depending on where their current school is. Contact Gosford High School to find out whether that applies to your child.

Gosford High School lists these schools as the rest of its group:

• Caringbah High School
• Fort Street High School (Year 11 applicants only)
• Girraween High School
• Hornsby Girls High School
• Hurlstone Agricultural High School
• Macquarie Fields High School
• Manly Selective Campus
• Penrith Selective High School
• St George Girls High School
• Sydney Technical High, in the school's wording

As at 3 October 2026, from Gosford High School's enrolment page. Both fees above applied to the 2027-entry round.

If your first preference is a selective school outside this group, the enrolment page does not say where your child would sit the HAST, so check with Gosford High School before paying. For any selective school not listed, it advises contacting that school directly.

If your child is not offered entry

Gosford High School keeps a reserve list. When a vacancy arises, the school contacts applicants on it and invites them to an interview, and if the interview is successful it makes an offer. The list stays current until the following year's application process begins.

You can also ask for the decision to be reviewed. Write to the Principal of one school only, by email, fax or post, so that the request reaches Gosford High School within seven days of the date on the outcome letter. The school's review guidelines name two grounds that will generally be considered valid: the committee did not follow its own published criteria, or something unforeseen and beyond your or your child's control affected their performance, as long as it is not one of the exclusions the guidelines list. Incomplete documentation is one of those exclusions, which is one more reason to send everything with the application. Within 14 days of submitting the request, you are told either the outcome or that the request is not valid.

Key dates

Last cycle: 2027 entry (HAST sat in August 2026)

Gosford High School's enrolment page is still set out for the 2027-entry round. The days applications opened and closed match the NSW Department of Education's Years 8 to 11 timeline, while the 3:00pm deadline, the test in the school hall and the outcome advice by post are the school's own.

As at 3 October 2026; each row gives its own source. All six dates are from the 2027-entry round and do not apply to 2028 entry.

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Gosford High School has published nothing yet for 2028 entry. We checked every page in the school's own site index on 3 October 2026, along with its enrolment policy and application form, and found no 2028-entry date. The NSW Department of Education says the 2027-entry applications have closed and lists no later dates. Check Gosford High School's enrolment page from time to time. For the schools that have already named a month for 2028-entry applications, see our selective school transfer guide.

The test

Gosford High School's enrolment policy calls it the Gosford High School Placement Test, but the test is the Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST), which the school says ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research, developed in Melbourne. ACER's participating schools list puts Gosford High School under its junior, middle and senior secondary levels; together those three levels span entry from Year 8 to Year 11. The school does not say which HAST package it uses; ACER's bulletin says a package has either three or four tests.

Our HAST guide sets out what each HAST test asks of your child, and how preparing for Year 8 entry differs from preparing for Year 11.

How we prepare students for Gosford High School

Gosford High School's committee compares your child's HAST performance with students already at the school, and reads it beside their school reports, NAPLAN results, competitions and activities. Test day is one part of the decision; the record your child builds at school is another. Because an invited applicant must back the application with evidence at interview, list only achievements you can document.

Our HAST course gets your child ready for the test. Over a term there are ten two-hour lessons, held weekly for a small group, live on Microsoft Teams. Your child also gets recordings of each lesson, lesson and homework booklets, feedback on marked homework, and a full-length mock exam, reviewed in depth after marking. Because it is all online, your child can join from home anywhere on the Central Coast, with no travel to Sydney.

We write our own HAST-style questions for the course. ACER does not supply them, and they are not past papers. If you would like to talk through Gosford High School's application with us, book a short call.

Free practice and guides

• Free practice: 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.

HAST tutoring fees

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.

To find a HAST class that fits your week, see the timetable. For our other courses and what they cost, see courses and prices.

Our students at Gosford High School

Selective Success Academy students have been offered entry to Gosford High School. That comes from the offer-school list we keep, last updated 2 October 2026. We do not publish a tally for Gosford High School.

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 Gosford High School entry

What test will my child sit for Gosford High School?

It is ACER's Higher Ability Selection Test, known as the HAST. Gosford High School's enrolment page says Years 8 to 11 applicants will need to sit it. With Gosford High School as your first preference, your child sits it in the school hall; otherwise, at another school in its coordinating group. Our HAST guide describes each part of the test.

How many places are there?

The answer differs between year levels, and from school to school. Under the NSW Department of Education's rules, each selective school handles its own vacancies, assessments and decisions; at Gosford High School, a Selection Committee chaired by the Principal decides on applications. Selective Success Academy does not quote a figure for Gosford High School or for any other school. A short call with us can cover the year your child is applying for.

Has Gosford High School published its 2028-entry dates?

Not yet. On 3 October 2026, Gosford High School's enrolment page was still set out for the 2027-entry round, and the NSW Department of Education said applications for that round had closed. In that round the window ran from Wednesday 17 June 2026 to 3:00pm sharp on Friday 24 July 2026. Test day at the school was Saturday 8 August 2026. Check its enrolment page now and then for new dates.

Can I apply to Gosford High School online or by email?

No. Every Years 8 to 11 application to Gosford High School must be a hard copy, delivered to the school office or posted, and the school does not accept them electronically. For 2027 entry the closing time was 3:00pm sharp on Friday 24 July 2026. The school refused late applications, and a posted application had to reach it by that time.

Does Gosford High School interview applicants?

Some of them. Once the HAST results are reviewed, the Selection Committee decides how many interviews to hold. An applicant who is invited must attend to be eligible, and must support the claims in the application with evidence. The interview looks at the application and at the applicant's suitability for Gosford High School. The school does not publish interview dates or a format.

How much does it cost to apply to Gosford High School?

For 2027 entry, the fee was $140 when Gosford High School was your first choice and your child sat the HAST there. When it was not your first choice, it was a $50 administration fee. The school says some students at NSW Department of Education schools can have their test fees waived, depending on where their current school is, so ask the school if that may apply. The school has not yet published its 2028-entry fee.

Sources

Every page and document below was read on 3 October 2026.

• Gosford High School: Enrol
• Gosford High School: enrolment policy for Years 8 to 11 (PDF)
• Gosford High School: guidelines for reviews of selection decisions (PDF)
• NSW Department of Education: Years 8 to 11 selective application form for 2027 entry, as hosted on Gosford High School's site (PDF)
• Gosford High School: home page
• Gosford High School: why choose us
• Gosford High School: our principal and staff
• Gosford High School: contact us
• NSW Department of Education: selective school applications in Years 8 to 11
• NSW Department of Education: the selective high schools of NSW
• ACER: schools that use the HAST
• ACER: HAST support for students
• ACER: HAST Student Information Bulletin for secondary entry (PDF)