Illness/misadventure

If a student is ill or suffers a misadventure that affects his or her performance in the test or prevented attendance at the test, parents can submit a request for consideration of illness/misadventure within 5 working days after the test.

Selection

For placement in 2024, the results of the Selective High Schools Placement Test alone are used to determine placement. Alternative evidence of academic merit is sought for students who missed the test where an illness/misadventure request has been submitted and accepted by the selection committee.

Outcomes

Students receive an email advising that the outcome of their selective high school application is available in their application dashboard. Offers must be responded to by the response due date shown in the outcome or it will lapse.

Parents who believe there may be an error with the Writing test scores can submit a Results enquiry within 5 working days after the outcome is sent.

Instead of the usual outcome letter, relevant parents will be notified if their child has been found to have engaged in malpractice during the test and has been disqualified from selective high school placement as a result.

Parents of students who miss the test without submitting an illness/misadventure request will also be notified that they have been disqualified from further consideration for selective high school placement.

If parents believe the placement outcome or the malpractice determination is incorrect they can submit an appeal within 5 working days of the outcome being released.

Appeals against the outcome of results enquiries must be submitted within 5 working days of the Results enquiry outcome being released.

Reserve lists

Students who qualify for reserve lists are offered places at the school as vacancies occur until the end of Term 1 in the year of placement. Parents should withdraw from a reserve list in the application dashboard if they do not want a place at the school.

Students holding offers will be removed from any reserve lists if they keep their offer by 3pm on 18 December 2023, at the end of the school year.

Support for students

Entry to selective high schools is very competitive. Only approximately 1 in 4 students can be placed. Only students who are considered capable of doing well at the particular selective high school are offered a place.

Key indicators of success in selective high school include:

• test and results
• a student's willingness to learn
• how students respond to teachers and interact with other students.

Students who do not gain entry can still achieve success at a comprehensive high school. Students at comprehensive high schools can achieve results as good, or better, than selective high school students. Comprehensive high schools have gifted and talented programs as part of the Department of Education's high potential and gifted education policy.