Manly Selective Campus: Year 8 to 11 Entry, the HAST and How to Apply

Test

ACER's HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test)

Year levels taken

Year 8, 9, 10 or 11, through a single round the campus runs itself

Lodging the form

The NSW Department of Education's form, handed in at the campus or mailed. Email is not accepted

Where the HAST is sat

At the campus in North Curl Curl, when it is your first preference

Last round at the campus (2027 entry)

Opened 17 June 2026 and closed 4pm Friday 24 July 2026; the HAST followed on Saturday 8 August 2026

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Not announced by the campus as at 3 October 2026

Last checked 3 October 2026 against the campus's Years 8 to 11 application page, its enrolment policy and the NSW Department of Education's guidance for families applying for Years 8 to 11.

Despite the name, the campus is not in Manly. It is at 138 Abbott Road, North Curl Curl, and it is the selective campus among the five campuses of Northern Beaches Secondary College, teaching Years 7 to 12. The campus says local area enrolment does not apply to it, because it is a selective school. Entry in Year 7 works differently: the NSW Department of Education handles it, not the campus. If a transfer after Year 7 is new to you, our selective school transfer guide shows which test other NSW selective schools use for those years.

How Years 8 to 11 entry works at Manly Selective Campus

This is how last cycle's round, for 2027 entry, ran. The steps come from the campus's Years 8 to 11 application page and from the enrolment policy that page sends you to for what to submit. The policy dates from 2023 and differs from the application page on how to lodge and on the fee. Where the two differ, this guide follows the application page.

1. Settle your order of preference. Under the NSW Department of Education's rules, a family can list as many as three selective high schools, sending a separate form to each and keeping the schools in one order of preference on every form. At Manly Selective Campus the order also affects the HAST venue and the fee (see "Fees and the HAST venue" below).
2. Download the form when the round opens. The campus uses the Department's Selective Schools form. Last cycle its page linked the Department's application form for 2027 entry, which has a box to tick for Year 8, 9, 10 or 11.
3. Copy the documents. The campus asks for copies of each item under "What to attach" below.
4. Pay the fee. The campus wants it with the application by the closing date. The campus prefers card payment through its online payment portal, and also accepts a cheque made out to the campus or payment at the school office. Last cycle the fee was $140 or $50, depending on where your child sat the HAST.
5. Lodge the application in person or by mail. Hand it in at the campus or post it, by the closing date, with the documents. Emailed applications are not accepted. A form mailed on the closing day must be postmarked that day by the Post Office. Last cycle the round closed at 4pm on Friday 24 July 2026. The enrolment policy allows a late application only in exceptional circumstances, usually a family arriving from interstate or overseas, or documented conditions that explain why the date could not be met.
6. Look for the campus's letter. Manly Selective Campus acknowledges every application in writing. Its page gives no date for this.
7. Test day. The campus says the test is usually held at the school on a Saturday in August. In the 2027-entry round the date was Saturday 8 August 2026, at 138 Abbott Road, North Curl Curl, for applicants who listed the campus first. No arrival, start or finish time was published for that sitting.
8. A selection committee judges academic merit. Under the enrolment policy, the committee includes the principal. It weighs your child's written application and supporting evidence, their HAST result and any other information you provide. For senior students applying for a specialist course, the head teacher of that subject may be consulted.
9. The outcome comes in writing. The campus says outcome advice goes to applicants in October or November. Its enrolment policy says letters go out only once the committee has assessed every application, and that an applicant may be offered entry, added to a reserve list or advised that the application did not succeed. If your child is offered entry, you confirm in writing and lodge the enrolment documents by the date the campus sets.

Interview, Year 12 and the start date. Neither the campus's application page nor its enrolment policy mentions an interview, as at 3 October 2026. The application page covers Years 8 to 11 only and says nothing about Year 12 entry. The policy adds that entry is offered for the following calendar year unless exceptional circumstances apply.

What to attach

For 2027 entry, Manly Selective Campus asked for the completed form with copies of:

• your child's birth certificate, Australian citizenship or permanent residency certificate, or visa
• their Semester 2, 2025 and Semester 1, 2026 school reports
• the latest NAPLAN results your child has
• any external academic achievements

The enrolment policy suggests the kinds of evidence to include: recent reports, NAPLAN results, success in external academic competitions and other measurable academic achievement. The committee reads that evidence beside the HAST result, so include what your child has.

Fees and the HAST venue

Last cycle, Manly Selective Campus set its fee by where your child sat the HAST:

• $140 if your child sat the HAST at Manly Selective Campus. The campus links this fee to listing it first on the form.
• $50 where the HAST was sat at another school on the campus's list, below.

The other schools on the campus's list, each written here with its full name:

• Caringbah High School
• Fort Street High School, which the campus marks for Year 11
• Girraween High School
• Gosford High School
• Hornsby Girls High School
• Hurlstone Agricultural High School
• Penrith Selective High School, which the campus lists as Penrith High School
• St George Girls High School
• Sydney Technical High School

As at 3 October 2026, from Manly Selective Campus's Years 8 to 11 application page. Both fees applied to the 2027-entry round.

Macquarie Fields High School is not on the campus's list. If Macquarie Fields High School is your first preference, ask Manly Selective Campus which fee applies before you pay. ACER's own advice, when two schools test on the same date, is to choose one school to sit at. The campus's page does not say which schools on its list tested on the same date as Manly Selective Campus.

The campus's 2023 enrolment policy calls the fee non-refundable. Its current application page does not say either way.

Key dates

2027 entry, last cycle (exams in August 2026)

Manly Selective Campus's application page still shows the 2027-entry round, which the NSW Department of Education has marked closed. The days the round opened and closed are the same as the Department's published window for Years 8 to 11 entry. The 4pm closing time, the HAST date and the October or November outcome window are the campus's own.

Dates as at 3 October 2026; each row names its source.

The campus's window for outcome advice, October or November, ends later than the Department-wide window of September to October. The table gives each as its source states it.

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Manly Selective Campus has not published a 2028-entry date. On 3 October 2026 we read its Years 8 to 11 application page, every other page in the campus's section of the college website and its enrolment policy, and none mentions 2028 entry. The NSW Department of Education's page also still shows only the 2027-entry timeline, and it warns that dates and procedures may change. Check the campus's application page regularly. Our selective school transfer guide quotes each school that has published when its 2028-entry round opens. Manly Selective Campus is not yet among them.

Principal's Tours

Manly Selective Campus runs Principal's Tours, a walk-and-talk with the Principal that starts at 9:30am from the front office and lasts an hour to an hour and a half. Booking is essential. As at 3 October 2026, no tour date is posted; the campus's events and calendar page says dates and a registration link will appear there when available.

The test

Every Year 8, 9, 10 and 11 applicant to Manly Selective Campus takes ACER's Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST); ACER is the Australian Council for Educational Research. According to the campus's enrolment policy, the application fee covers ACER's setting and marking of the test and the supervision of the August sitting. ACER's list of participating schools names the college rather than the campus, at three HAST levels: junior, middle and senior secondary. Which of those your child sits follows from the year they would join the campus.

Read our HAST guide for each test, the timing and the level for every year of entry.

How we prepare students for Manly Selective Campus

Applicants for Manly Selective Campus join our HAST course: small-group HAST tutoring taught live over Microsoft Teams. A term holds ten lessons, one a week, each two hours long. Lessons are recorded for catching up, lesson and homework booklets are supplied, homework comes back each week with marking feedback, and a full-length mock exam ends with a comprehensive review. Selective Success Academy writes the course's practice questions to match the HAST's style. They are not ACER's questions and not past papers.

Under the campus's enrolment policy, the selection committee reads the HAST result beside the written application and supporting evidence. A strong HAST result therefore counts alongside your child's reports and achievements, not on its own. Our course works on the HAST itself. If you would like help reading what Manly Selective Campus asks for, book a short call.

For Year 11 entry, one detail from the campus's Stage 6 course outlines, the edition for Year 11 in 2027, is worth knowing: English Advanced is mandatory for every student. The outlines add that a senior student may be able to study a course the campus does not offer at another Northern Beaches Secondary College campus, although cross-campus courses run only when enough students at the home campus choose them.

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.
• By entry year: Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 entry, every school compared.

What HAST preparation 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.

This term's HAST classes are on our timetable, grouped by year level. Everything else we teach, with prices, is under courses and prices.

Our students at Manly Selective Campus

Students taught by Selective Success Academy have been offered entry to Manly Selective Campus, as our list of offer schools stood on 2 October 2026. The offer total and the parent reviews below are academy-wide; they are not specific to this campus.

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 Manly Selective Campus entry

Is Manly Selective Campus part of Northern Beaches Secondary College?

Yes. It is the selective campus of Northern Beaches Secondary College, one of the college's five campuses, and it teaches Years 7 to 12 at North Curl Curl. The school's own website calls it Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus, or Manly Campus for short. Entry to Years 8 to 11 is through the campus's own application and the HAST.

How many places are there?

Places vary by school and year level, and each school decides its own. At Manly Selective Campus the decisions rest with a selection committee that includes the principal. We never publish a figure for places at any school, Manly Selective Campus included. Book a short call to talk about the year your child would enter.

When will Manly Selective Campus open applications for 2028 entry?

The campus has not said. As at 3 October 2026, its Years 8 to 11 application page still describes the 2027-entry round, and no 2028-entry date appears on any of the campus's pages or on the NSW Department of Education's page. For comparison, last cycle's round opened on Wednesday 17 June 2026 and shut at 4pm on Friday 24 July 2026. The HAST was sat on Saturday 8 August 2026. Keep checking the campus's application page.

How much is the Manly Selective Campus application fee?

Last cycle, for 2027 entry, families paid $140 when their child sat the HAST at Manly Selective Campus as first preference, and $50 when the test was sat at another school on the campus's list. The campus prefers card payment through its online portal, and also takes a cheque or payment at the school office. No 2028-entry fee has appeared on the campus's page yet.

Can I email the application?

No. Manly Selective Campus does not accept emailed applications. Lodge the form and documents in person or by mail by the closing date, with the fee paid. A form posted on the closing day needs that day's Post Office postmark.

Does Manly Selective Campus interview applicants?

Not as far as its published documents show. As at 3 October 2026, Manly Selective Campus's application page and enrolment policy say nothing about interviewing Years 8 to 11 applicants. The policy describes a selection committee, including the principal, that weighs the written application, the supporting evidence and the HAST result.

Sources

All sources were checked on 3 October 2026. The campus's own pages appear under its official name.

• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: Year 8 to 11 application for entry
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: enrol
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: enrolment policy, 2023 (PDF)
• NSW Department of Education: Years 8 to 11 application form for 2027 entry (PDF, on the campus's site)
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: home page
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: about us
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: contact us
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: events and calendar
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus: Stage 6 course outlines (PDF)
• Northern Beaches Secondary College: our college
• NSW Department of Education: selective high schools, Years 8 to 11 applications
• NSW Department of Education: list of selective high schools
• ACER: HAST participating schools
• ACER: HAST student support