Penrith Selective High School: How Years 8 to 11 Entry Works

The test

Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST) by ACER, run by the school in August

Entry years

Years 8, 9, 10 and 11. No new students in Year 12

How to apply

Last cycle: the Department's form, a fee paid online, then the school's online form or in person

Last cycle, 2027 entry

Applications closed 24 July 2026. HAST sat 8 August 2026

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

Applications open mid June 2027, the school says. No other dates yet

Last checked 1 October 2026 against the school's enrolment page and the Years 8 to 11 applications page of the NSW Department of Education.

How Years 8 to 11 entry works at Penrith Selective High School

Penrith Selective High School is a co-educational public school on Dharug Country in Penrith. It was a comprehensive high school from 1950 and has been fully selective since 1989. Entry in Years 8 to 11 is not run centrally: the school manages its own applications, its own HAST sitting and its own selection decisions. For how this compares with other schools, see our guide to selective school transfer in Years 8 to 11.

Here is how the last round, for 2027 entry, worked, as set out on the school's own enrolment page:

1. Check the timing and eligibility. The NSW Department of Education says to apply the year before entry, so a Year 8 student applies to start Year 9. The school says its Years 8 to 11 applications typically open in mid June and close in July, and that students must be Australian or New Zealand citizens or permanent residents of NSW.
2. Choose your preferences. Penrith Selective High School can be one of up to three selective high schools on your list. Each school must receive its own application form, and the order of preference must match on all of them.
3. Download and complete the application form. Penrith Selective High School uses the standard NSW Department of Education form for Years 8 to 11, linked from the school's enrolment page.
4. Pay the application fee online and keep the receipt. The school's payment portal opens when applications open. Last cycle the fee was $130 if your child sat the HAST at Penrith Selective High School, or $50 if they sat it at another school.
5. Submit the form, the receipt and the documents through the school's Google Form, or in person. The school does not take applications by email or post, and it does not accept late applications.
6. Watch for the school's email. The school emails a submission receipt and information about the HAST. The receipt can take up to five days. Test-day details such as arrival time are not on the school's website, so keep that email.
7. Sit the HAST in August. Last cycle the school set 8 August 2026. Where your child sits depends on your preferences, explained below.
8. Attend an interview if the school asks. The school says interviews may be conducted as part of its selection process. It does not say when, or who is interviewed.
9. Receive the outcome. The selection committee looks at academic merit: the HAST results, the application with its documents, and any interview. Last cycle the NSW Department of Education gave September to October 2026 for outcomes, with successful students starting in late January 2027.

Sources, read 1 October 2026: the school's home page and enrolment page, and the Department's Years 8 to 11 page for when to apply and the outcome window.

What to attach

For 2027 entry, Penrith Selective High School wanted every upload as a PDF, named with your child's full name and the year they were applying for. Supporting documents had to be copies, merged into a single PDF. It asked for:

• a copy of your child's birth certificate or passport, or Australian citizenship or visa records if your child was not born in Australia
• the receipt for the application fee
• the completed application form, as a PDF
• school reports: last cycle, the 2025 half-yearly and yearly reports and the 2026 half-yearly report. If your child's school had not released the half-yearly report by the closing date, it could be emailed afterwards
• your child's last NAPLAN reports, or the last two NAPLAN reports for Year 11 applicants
• evidence of academic achievements outside school, such as ICAS, from the past two years, up to 10 pages
• evidence of extracurricular activities, up to 10 pages

The list for 2028 entry is not published yet, so check the school's page when applications open.

Where your child sits the HAST

Penrith Selective High School shares HAST results with ten other schools. For Fort Street High School, the arrangement covers the Year 11 exam only.

• Caringbah High School
• Fort Street High School, Year 11 exam only
• Girraween High School
• Gosford High School
• Hornsby Girls High School
• Hurlstone Agricultural High School
• Macquarie Fields High School
• Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus
• St George Girls High School
• Sydney Technical High School

When the test date is the same, the school says, your child sits the HAST once, at your first-preference school, and the schools share the result. Last cycle, its page set out these cases, with that cycle's fees:

• Penrith Selective High School is your first preference. Your child sits the HAST at the school, 158-240 High St, Penrith. The fee was $130.
• Your first preference is one of the schools above. Your child applies, pays and sits the HAST at that school. You still send Penrith Selective High School its own application and pay its fee, $50 last cycle, so it has your preference on record.
• Penrith Selective High School is your second preference, and your first is not one of the schools above. The school's example is Blacktown Boys High School. You pay Penrith Selective High School's full fee, $130 last cycle, and your child sits the HAST there.

If your preferences match none of these, ask the school which applies before you pay.

Sources: the school's enrolment page and its contact page, read 1 October 2026.

Key dates

Last cycle at Penrith Selective High School: 2027 entry (exams in August 2026)

Applications for 2027 entry have closed, the school's page says. Use these dates to see the shape of the year, not as the dates for 2028 entry.

As at 1 October 2026.

2028 entry (exams in August 2027)

The school's enrolment page says applications for 2028 entry open in mid June 2027. It gives no exact day. As at 1 October 2026, the school has not published a closing date, a test date or a fee for 2028 entry, and the NSW Department of Education has published no 2028-entry dates. The school says it will update its enrolment page with active links once applications open.

The school's Open Night is on 20 October 2026, from 4.50pm to 6.50pm. When we read its page on 1 October 2026, bookings had not yet opened.

The test: the HAST

Penrith Selective High School uses the Higher Ability Selection Test (HAST), developed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), and runs its own sitting in August. ACER lists the school at all three secondary levels, and the level your child sits follows the year they are applying for: Junior for Year 8, Middle for Years 9 and 10, Senior for Year 11. Our HAST guide explains the four tests, their timing, what the school sees in the results and how to prepare.

Sources: the school's enrolment page, and ACER's list of HAST participating schools and HAST student support page, read 1 October 2026.

How we prepare students for Penrith Selective High School

Our HAST course is tutoring and exam preparation in one, taught live in small groups on Microsoft Teams, so your child can join from home. Because Penrith Selective High School shares its HAST results with the schools listed above, one sitting can count for more than one school on your list.

The HAST is one part of what the selection committee considers. Last cycle the school also asked for school reports, NAPLAN results and evidence of achievements and activities. These come from your child's years at school, so it helps to gather them well before applications for 2028 entry open in mid June 2027.

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.

Class times for each year level are on the timetable. If none of them fits your family's week, tell us, because we can often arrange another time.

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.

Our students at Penrith Selective High School

Penrith Selective High School is one of the schools where Selective Success Academy students have received Year 8 to 11 offers. Our 80+ selective school offers span many schools, and some of them are on our results page.

Rated 5/5 from 90+ parent reviews

Questions parents ask about Penrith Selective High School entry

How many places are there?

We do not give a figure, for this school or any other. The NSW Department of Education says places depend on students leaving and that each school is different, so they change from year to year and between year levels. Each selective school, Penrith Selective High School included, makes its own placement decisions. If you would like to weigh Penrith Selective High School against the other schools you are considering, book a call.

When can we apply to Penrith Selective High School for 2028 entry (exams in August 2027)?

From mid June 2027, the school says. It has not yet published a closing date, a test date or a fee for 2028 entry, and the NSW Department of Education has published no 2028-entry dates. Last cycle, applications closed on 24 July 2026 and the HAST was held on 8 August 2026.

What does it cost to apply?

Two amounts applied last cycle, for 2027 entry: $130 when the HAST was sat at Penrith Selective High School, and $50 when it was sat elsewhere. The school's payment portal opens with applications, and the receipt goes in with your documents. Its fee for 2028 entry is not published yet.

If we apply to more than one HAST school, does my child sit the test more than once?

Not if the schools share results and test on the same day. Penrith Selective High School says that when the test date is the same, the student sits the test at their first preference school, and it shares results with the schools listed on this page. Each school still needs its own application. A school that uses a different test, such as the EduTest, needs its own sitting.

Does Penrith Selective High School interview applicants?

It may. The school's enrolment page lists interviews as something that may be part of its selection process, alongside the HAST results and the application. It does not say when interviews are held or who is asked, so if you need to plan around one, ask the school.

My child is already at a selective school. Can they move to Penrith Selective High School?

Only by applying. Penrith Selective High School says students cannot transfer automatically between selective high schools, so your child goes through the same steps as every other applicant: the form, the documents and the HAST. The selective school transfer guide sets out how moving schools in Years 8 to 11 works across NSW.