Starting selective school: from enrolment to the first weeks
Independent. Not affiliated with the NSW Department of Education.
What happens after we accept the offer?
The Department emails you an online enrolment, which you finish within 21NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published weeks. Enrolment is then finalised after meeting the school with identity and medical documents1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published.
Accept the offer in the dashboard
Do it by the response due date shown beside the offer. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
Finish the online enrolment
Within 21NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published weeks of the email. Watch your junk folder too.
Read the school's own steps
Check the enrolment information on the school's website1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
Tell the school what it needs to know
Let the principal know of any special circumstances, allergies, health or medical conditions2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
Meet the school
Bring identity and medical documents. That finalises the enrolment. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
Your child must also meet all of the Department's enrolment conditions1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. One of them is that families live in NSW by the start of the entry year. 3NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
What should we have ready?
Gather these before you meet the school, so one visit is enough. The school's website may ask for more.
Your child's identity documents, such as a birth certificate or passport.
Medical documents, and notes on any allergies or health conditions. 2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published
The enrolment email and your dashboard login.
A list of questions for the school (there's one further down this page).
Which dates still matter before Year 7?
Three dates matter now: the reserve decision date, the start of the school year and the end of reserve offers. The first matters only if you're also on a higher-choice reserve list.
3 December 2026, 3 pm (Sydney time)3NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
Reserve decision date
Holding an accepted offer after this time takes your child off higher-choice lists. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
late January2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published
The school year starts
After the summer holidays. 2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published
until the end of Term 1 20274NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published
Reserve offers can come
After that, vacancies go through the Years 8 to 11 process4NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published.
The calendar feed adds published dates, with reminders before each one. It needs no account and sends nothing about your child. Your school's own first-day details come from the school.
Could a reserve offer still change our school?
Yes, if your child is on a higher-choice reserve list. Reserve offers can come until the end of Term 1 20274NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published, so one can arrive after Year 7 has started.
If you hold an accepted offer, your child comes off higher-choice lists at the reserve decision date. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published To keep waiting past it, you'd have to decline the offer you hold. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
| Your situation | What happens if a higher-choice offer comes |
|---|---|
| Before 3 December 2026, 3 pm (Sydney time)3NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published, holding an offer | You choose. Accept it and you get a new enrolment email, and the earlier enrolment is cancelled automatically1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. Decline it and you keep your place. 1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published |
| After that date, holding an offer | No higher-choice offer comes: your child is off those lists. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published |
| You declined your offer to keep waiting | You hold no place while you wait, and a later offer isn't promised. 5NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published |
Work through the reserve decision, with the band your child holds.
Can we put off the start?
No. Enrolment in a selective high school cannot be deferred1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published.
If your child must start after the first day, discuss any delayed start with the principal1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. The holidays have their own route: message the Selective Education Team if it has to be arranged in the school holidays1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
What changes in Year 7?
Your child joins a public high school with the same curriculum as every other: all NSW public schools follow the same NSW curriculum5NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. What differs is the class around them, and what the school offers beyond it.
| School type | What it means in Year 7 |
|---|---|
| Fully selective | every student is placed through the selective process6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. |
| Partially selective | selective classes inside a local high school6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published, alongside local students. |
| Agricultural | A selective school where agriculture is compulsory in Years 7 to 106NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. |
Selective schools may offer a variety of electives, or subjects taught with accelerated learning techniques5NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. They generally offer a range of sporting, musical and creative activities5NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
Who do we talk to at the new school?
Once Year 7 starts, you have more than one teacher to talk to. The Department names the subject teacher, the head teacher or the year adviser2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
A subject teacher can talk about that subject. For how your child is settling in overall, the year adviser is often the first call.
What will it cost?
There are no fees to enrol at a selective school, and no attendance fees except boarding. 7NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published 6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published Schools can ask for some contributions, and families in hardship get help.
| Cost | The rule |
|---|---|
| Attendance | No attendance fees, except boarding6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. |
| Voluntary school contribution | Paying is at the discretion of parents and carers8NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. It's capped at A$1108NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published for secondary schools. That cap applies in 2026. |
| Subject contributions | Only for elective and senior (Stage 6) subjects, never mandatory core subjects8NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. |
| Other contributions | For mandatory excursions such as camps and carnivals, and specialist programs such as sport or performing arts8NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. |
| If money is tight | Schools must help with part or all of these costs in financial hardship8NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. No student can be kept out of lessons or school activities for not paying8NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published. |
Ask the school for its uniform, device and stationery list early, so costs are spread over the summer.
How will our child get to school?
Plan the trip before the first day, and try it once together. The Department notes that a school close to home can mean less travel, more time for other activities5NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published.
Students may be eligible for free or subsidised travel to and from school9Transport for NSW · 13 October 2026 · Published. Transport for NSW handles school travel passes, so check its school student travel page for your child's new school.
You've done the trip once together, at school time.
Your child knows what to do if a bus or train is late.
You've checked travel pass eligibility for the new school.
There's a plan for wet days and late finishes.
How do we help our child settle in?
Expect the first term to feel big, and keep home life steady. A longer day, new friends and many teachers take time to get used to.
In a class where everyone sat the same test, some children stop standing out the way they used to. That can sting. The Department's advice for children with high potential fits here.
Praise effort, not rank
The Department suggests you praise and celebrate effort10NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
Make room for struggle
Talk about how learning means making mistakes and struggling at times, not always being the best10NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
Keep sleep and play
Agree on screen time and gaming before term starts, when nobody's tired. Keep weekends for rest and friends.
Stay in touch with the school
If something worries you, start with the year adviser. 2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published
Your child earned this place by being themselves. The first weeks are for finding their feet, not for proving anything.
What should we ask the school?
Many families ask these at an orientation, an information evening or the enrolment meeting. Ask whatever the school's website doesn't answer.
Is there an orientation or welcome day for new Year 7 students, and when?
What is the first-day start time, and where do new students go?
What uniform, device and stationery does Year 7 need?
Who is the Year 7 year adviser, and how do we contact them?
What electives, clubs and sport are open to Year 7?
What contributions does the school ask for, and what help is there?
What can we know now, and what can't we?
You can know the enrolment steps, the rules and the published dates. Other details only the school or the reserve round can settle.
| You can know | Not known yet |
|---|---|
| The enrolment deadline: 21NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published weeks from the email | Your child's class and friends |
| The school year starts in late January2NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published | The school's own first-day plans |
| Reserve offers can come until the end of Term 1 20274NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published | Whether a higher-choice offer will come: list movement is not published1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Not published |
| The voluntary contribution cap: A$1108NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published in 2026 | Each school's own subject and excursion costs |
How does this look for real families?
Each case sets out the rules for one family. Which school is right stays with the family.
An offer accepted, Band D at a higher choice
The child has accepted a place and is in Band D on a higher choice's reserve list.
Band D's estimate is by the end of December4NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published, after the reserve decision date of 3 December 2026, 3 pm (Sydney time)3NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. Keeping the offer ends the higher-choice wait then. To keep waiting, the family must decline the offer by that time. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
A higher-choice offer arrives in Term 1
The family declined their first offer to keep waiting. A higher-choice offer comes after school has started.
Offers can come until the end of Term 1 20274NSW Education · 18 October 2026 · Published. If they accept, they finish a new enrolment within 21NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published weeks, and the child moves to that school. 1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published
Overseas until mid-February
The family will be away when the school year starts.
Enrolment at a selective school can't be put off. 1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published They discuss any delayed start with the principal1NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published. Over summer, the route is to message the Selective Education Team if it has to be arranged in the school holidays1NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published.
A boarding place at an agricultural school
The child has a place at an agricultural school and the family lives far away.
Boarding is the one attendance fee a selective school charges. 6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published For boarding at Farrer and Yanco, families apply to the school6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published.
Where do we act, officially?
Enrolment happens through the Department's email and your school. These pages cover the steps.
- Outcomes and school enrolment: enrolment after an offer, and delayed starts.
- Getting ready for high school: term dates and who to contact.
- School student travel: travel passes, from Transport for NSW.
Questions parents ask about starting selective school
Can we move to another selective school later?
Not automatically. There are no transfers between selective schools, so you apply again like any other family. 11NSW Education · 13 October 2026 · Published Each school runs its own entry for Years 8 to 11. 11NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published
Does our child need to study over the summer?
That's your family's choice. Rest, reading for fun and time with friends are a fine start to Year 7.
Can a sibling get a place because our child has one?
No. No priority for siblings6NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published: each child needs the test performance on their own.
What if we move house before Year 7?
Tell the school early. Families must live in NSW by the start of the entry year 3NSW Education · 12 October 2026 · Published, and travel may change, so recheck the trip.