Applying to Smith's Hill High School in Years 8 to 11: The Eligibility Test and Interview

The test

An eligibility test: four separate tasks, done online at the school

Years it takes

Years 8, 9, 10 and 11, by applying to the school itself; no Year 12 entry

How to apply

The application form and copies of academic evidence, emailed or handed in at the school office

Interview

Yes, with the Principal, for students who meet the entry benchmarks

Current round

Open for "entry in 2026/2027", as at 3 October 2026

2028 entry

Not mentioned anywhere on the school's website, as at 3 October 2026

Last checked 3 October 2026 by re-reading Smith's Hill High School's own enrolment page and contact page, the NSW Department of Education's Years 8 to 11 application guidance and the other official pages listed under Sources.

Smith's Hill High School is a co-educational school for Years 7 to 12 on Gipps Street in Wollongong. It calls itself fully academically selective, and the NSW Department of Education's list of selective high schools shows it as fully selective. The school has no local area intake, and it selects students on academic merit. For Year 7 entry, it directs all enquiries to the Selective Education Team of the NSW Department of Education, which runs that process; once Semester 1 of Year 7 is over, families apply to Smith's Hill High School directly. If Smith's Hill High School is one of several schools on your list, our selective school transfer guide covers how Years 8 to 11 entry differs from Year 7 across NSW.

How Years 8 to 11 entry works at Smith's Hill High School

The steps below follow the school's enrolment page for the round it calls "2026/2027", checked on 3 October 2026, with the address and office hours from its contact page. The school points out that each selective school runs its own application and selection for Years 8 to 11, so do not assume another school's steps apply here.

1. Start with the year level. Smith's Hill High School accepts applications for Years 8 to 11 and takes no new students into Year 12. The application form asks which academic year you are applying for.
2. See whether your child fits the school's guide. The enrolment page says that, as a guide, students should be "at or near the top of their current school cohort in several subjects".
3. Complete the Department's form. Smith's Hill High School links the NSW Department of Education's Years 8 to 11 application form for 2027 entry from its enrolment page. If Smith's Hill High School is not your only choice, the form says each school's principal gets a completed copy, up to a maximum of three schools.
4. Email the form and copies of the evidence, or hand them in at the school office. "What to send" below lists the evidence, and the email address is on the school's enrolment page. Email is how the school prefers to correspond, so give an address you check often. The office is open Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 3:30pm, during school terms.
5. The selection panel reads the evidence first. If the academic information looks likely to meet the entry benchmarks, the school emails you to invite your child to sit the eligibility test. If it does not, the school emails to say the application has been unsuccessful and your child has not been invited to the test. You can still ask for your child to sit it.
6. Pay the fee and sit the eligibility test. The school charges a non-refundable $130 administration fee, payable before the test. The four tasks are done online at the school, 35-37 Gipps St, Wollongong. Small group tours of the school run on testing days; contact the office to ask about one.
7. Results, then the panel's decision. You receive a detailed report of your child's performance in each of the four tasks by email. The panel weighs the test results together with the academic evidence, and emails you the outcome.
8. An interview with the Principal. Students who meet the entry benchmarks are invited, with their parents, to an interview with the Principal. If it shows your child suits the selective school environment, your child joins the eligibility list, and the school confirms it by email.
9. Wait on the eligibility list. Offers are made from it: the selection panel refers to the list to decide who is offered enrolment whenever a vacancy arises. Being on the list does not mean an offer will follow, the school says.

A new student comes into Year 8, 9 or 10 only after a current student leaves, according to the enrolment page. When an offer does come for one of those years, it asks you to accept within 48 hours, and expects your child to start within 7 days of accepting.

Year 11 is handled differently. The school may take in extra students at that level, subject to its selection criteria and to room in particular subjects. Its page gives no test date, acceptance window or start rule for Year 11, so ask the school office.

Eligibility test results stay valid for two years, and your child stays on the list for that time. The school asks families to keep it updated with new school reports and NAPLAN results. After two years on the list, your child sits the eligibility test again, with another $130 fee, so the panel can compare applicants fairly.

What to send

Smith's Hill High School asks for copies of the original documents:

• the application form, filled in
• your child's last two school reports
• NAPLAN results for Year 5 and Year 7, or for Year 7 and Year 9
• results from any national competitions, or other evidence of academic merit
• a current email address

The school's page does not list proof of identity or residency among these. Across NSW, the Department expects the application to include a birth certificate, citizenship or passport copy, so check with Smith's Hill High School whether to send one. If your child is offered enrolment, the school asks for documents that support your child's residency status. The school notes that only Australian citizens, permanent residents and some temporary resident visa subclasses can enrol at a public selective high school.

Does your child have a disability and need adjustments? The NSW Department of Education's advice is to tell Smith's Hill High School early.

Key dates

The current round: entry in 2026/2027

Smith's Hill High School sets its own dates for Years 8 to 11 entry. On 3 October 2026, its enrolment page listed applications for entry in 2026/2027 as open.

Status of each row as at 3 October 2026, read on Smith's Hill High School's enrolment page.

Confirm every date with the school office before you rely on it. The form the school links is the Department's form for 2027 entry, and it prints the closing date of the Department's own round, which has already passed. The school's page still shows its applications as open, so ask the office which deadline applies to your child.

2028 entry

Nothing yet. As at 3 October 2026, none of Smith's Hill High School's web pages mentions 2028 entry, its current round is labelled 2026/2027, and the NSW Department of Education's Years 8 to 11 page gives no 2028 dates. Until the school publishes something, its enrolment page is worth checking each term.

The test

The eligibility test at Smith's Hill High School has four separate tasks, done online at the school: reading (comprehension), writing, numeracy with no calculator, and general ability. The school does not say who writes it, and no official source links it to the HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test) or the EduTest: Smith's Hill High School is on neither the HAST schools list kept by ACER, the Australian Council for Educational Research, nor Edutest's list of client schools.

To compare it with the HAST, the EduTest and the other tests NSW selective schools use for Years 8 to 11 entry, see our selective school transfer guide.

How we prepare students for Smith's Hill High School

Selective Success Academy does not run a course written for the eligibility test at Smith's Hill High School. Our EduTest and HAST courses teach reading comprehension, writing, mathematics and reasoning. Those overlap with the four areas the school lists, but the school describes its tasks only by area, so we cannot say how closely they match.

For a Smith's Hill High School applicant, either course is ten weekly lessons of two hours a term, taught live to a small group on Microsoft Teams. Each term comes with lesson recordings, booklets for lessons and homework, marked weekly homework with feedback, and a full-length mock exam that is then reviewed in detail. The practice material is written by Selective Success Academy. It is not the school's test, and it is not past papers.

Which course fits depends on the rest of your list. If your child is also applying to a school that uses the EduTest or the HAST, start with that test: see our EduTest guide and our HAST guide. If Smith's Hill High School is the only school on your list, book a short call and we will help you choose.

The school's own description of the tasks points to three things to practise:

• No calculator. The numeracy task allows none, so practise maths by hand.
• On a screen. All four tasks are done online, so include some practice reading and answering on a computer.
• Writing is a task of its own. Set aside time for it each week. In our EduTest and HAST courses, written homework is marked and returned with feedback.

Every class is online, so your child can join from Wollongong or anywhere else. Class days and times are on the timetable, and courses and prices lists every course we teach.

Guides for applying

• 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.

Term fees for our EduTest and HAST courses

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.

Questions parents ask about Smith's Hill High School entry

What is the Smith's Hill High School eligibility test?

Smith's Hill High School calls it an eligibility test. Your child sits four tasks online at the school, in reading (comprehension), writing, numeracy without a calculator and general ability. The school does not name who writes the test, and Smith's Hill High School is not on ACER's list of HAST schools or Edutest's list of client schools.

How many places are there?

Places at any selective school change with the year your child would join and differ from school to school, and each school makes its own decisions about them. At Smith's Hill High School, Years 8, 9 and 10 take a new student only after an existing one leaves, and in Year 11 the school may take extra students who meet its selection criteria, if there is room in their subjects. Selective Success Academy leaves any count out on purpose, here and for every other school. Book a short call, tell us which year your child would join, and we can go through what that means at Smith's Hill High School.

Are applications open, and when is the test?

As at 3 October 2026, yes: the school's enrolment page shows applications open for entry in 2026/2027. It gives a closing date, and a test date for Years 8, 9 and 10, but neither has a year, so we have not repeated them. Read them on the school's enrolment page and confirm them with the school office. As for 2028 entry, the school has not said anything yet.

Is there a fee for the eligibility test?

The school charges every student who sits the eligibility test a non-refundable administration fee of $130, paid before the test. A student who has spent two years on the eligibility list and sits the test again pays $130 for that test too. The enrolment page does not say how to pay, so ask the school office.

Is there an interview with the Principal?

Yes. Students who meet the entry benchmarks are invited, together with their parents, to an interview with the Principal. If the interview shows your child suits the selective school environment, your child goes on the eligibility list and the school confirms it by email. Its page gives no date, length or format for the interview.

Does being on the eligibility list mean an offer?

No, not by itself. When a vacancy arises, the selection panel looks at the eligibility list to decide who is offered enrolment. Your child stays on the list for two years, and the school asks you to send updated reports and NAPLAN results in that time. After that, your child sits the eligibility test again.

Sources

These are the pages behind every fact above, each read on 3 October 2026.

• Smith's Hill High School: Enrol
• Smith's Hill High School: Years 8 to 11 application form for 2027 entry (PDF, the NSW Department of Education's form)
• Smith's Hill High School: contact us
• Smith's Hill High School: home page
• Smith's Hill High School: why choose us
• NSW Department of Education: the Years 8 to 11 selective applications page that Smith's Hill High School links for parents
• NSW Department of Education: the selective high schools list, which shows Smith's Hill High School as fully selective
• ACER: HAST participating schools
• Edutest: client schools