[Transcript of video animation: ‘Get the whole picture about selective high schools’ (3 minutes 50 seconds)]

[Fort Street student 2]
Everyone is super nerdy and always studying.

[Baulkham Hills student 3]
I think everyone is super nerdy.

[Baulkham Hills student 1]

Yeah.

[Baulkham Hills student 3]

We've got an all nerd school. But I think there's a community in that. I'm not even kidding.

[Fort Street student 2]
I think a good balance is what we all have.

[Baulkham Hills student 1]
There is no student diversity.

[Fort Street student 2]
Wrong.

[Caringbah student 2]
It's, you know, people come from all over. And in terms of like diversity, it's a very diverse environment, very, in terms of not just like, you know, appearance or culture, but like in terms of who we are as people, which I think is really important.

There is too much academic pressure.

[Fort Street student 2]
I think there's a there's a healthy, like, push to get us to perform to our best ability. But I don't think like any of it is, like, too stressful or, like, unwarranted. Like everything is for, our like, best performance yeah.

[Caringbah student 3]
I think with the stigma of this pressure, the teachers try really hard to combat it. They always say, 'Just do your best'. And that's that's it. There's no point always aiming to get 100% because that is not achievable. And if you do your best, really, that's what you're improving on and that's the skills you're building and the skills you're going to keep for life.

[Caringbah student 1]
Everyone is super competitive and focused on beating each other

[Baulkham Hills student 3]
I care about how well I do as like myself. I know a lot of other people do feel this competition is a good opportunity for them and they thrive when they're like competing against others.

[Caringbah student 3]
People love to share resources, again, love to make sure everyone else understands the concept and we're just teaching and learning together.

[Baulkham Hills student 3]
It is not a supportive environment. I think it is. I think we are supportive of each other.

[Caringbah student 3]:
It's just a supportive environment that allows everyone to do that best and to, you know, follow their interests.

[Fort Street student 2]
That’s false, I think it is a supportive environment. Yeah.

[Fort Street student 3]
Yeah. We all try and push each other up. We all support each other. We’re all there for each other. We all help each other.

[Fort Street student 2]
The students are all coached. Nope! I’m not.

[Fort Street student 1]
I’m not.

[Fort Street student 3]
Neither am I.

[Baulkham Hills student 3]
No, we are definitely not all coached.

[Caringbah student 3]
The teachers here are excellent at their jobs and they understand what they're teaching very well and they have all the resources to give us.

[Caringbah student 1]
It's hard to make friends.

I was a bit scared to come to this school because I didn't know anyone but, um, you click really, really easily.

[Fort Street student 3]
I really connected with a lot of people really well, really fast. Better than any other schools I've ever been to.

[Caringbah student 2]
We're all really good friends and there's a really positive atmosphere just in the school. And yeah, I think it's I think it's a really, really good environment to be in.

[Baulkham Hills student 1]
Question is, the students are only good at academics.

[Fort Street student 1]
I mean, we're all here because we're good academics, but that's not the only thing.

[Baulkham Hills student 3]
Well, I mean, even if you look at all of us, we all have extracurriculars. And I think, I think everyone in our grade, in our school has something outside of academics that they really are good at or they really like putting in a lot of effort and passion into.

[Caringbah student 1]
A big part of doing well in academics is just having like an all around like balance in your life. And I feel like the school's sense of balance is really good. We have, yes, sport creative stuff. We have. Yeah, it's way more than just academic performance. So yeah.

[Fort Street student 3]
Anyone who's thinking about going to the selective schools test, just give it a go. It doesn't matter if you get in. It doesn't matter if you don't get in, give it a go. If you get into a selective school, that's amazing. Come join our cool, quirky cohorts. Yeah, you'll find people that you belong with.

[End of transcript]

The Conservatorium High School is a specialist high school that is not part of the selective high schools program.

However, applicants sit the Selective High School Placement Test as part of the separate application process for Year 7 entry into the Conservatorium High School.

Applicants for the Conservatorium High School must:

• complete the Conservatorium High School application processes — see their website
• apply for selective high school placement and sit the Selective High School Placement Test.

As well as applying for the Conservatorium High School, applicants can choose up to 3 selective high schools.

If applying for entry to the Conservatorium High School only, applicants must select any selective high school in order to submit the application.

Parents and carers must then send a message to the Selective Education Unit to tell us that they are applying only for placement at the Conservatorium High School.

Following the Selective High School Placement Test, students' results will be sent to the Conservatorium High School to be used in their selection process.

For more information visit the Conservatorium High School.

If your child is outside the usual age range or school year when applying, you must provide reasons for this in your application.

If your child is in Year 7 at the time of the test, you must provide a full explanation of why your child is repeating with supporting documentation including from your child's school principal.

If you want your child to be accelerated from Year 5 to Year 7 in the following year, you must provide your reasons and evidence of support from your child’s school principal.

A student will not be eligible to sit the placement test if supporting evidence is not included in their application within 2 weeks of the application closing date.

When deciding on applications for students seeking acceleration the selection committee will consider the evidence provided in accordance with section 1.4.4 of the High potential and gifted education standards. Additional information may be requested from your child's school.

Providing incorrect information about your child's school year may result in your child's application or placement offers being withdrawn.

Entry to selective high schools is based on a student's academic merit. Therefore, the placement of one sibling does not guarantee the placement of another. Each sibling needs to meet the test performance requirements to receive an offer.

Siblings of students placed in a selective high school are not guaranteed a non-selective place at the same school, unless they are living within the school's intake area.

Parents and carers may apply to the school for out-of-area enrolment, but are subject to enrolment eligibility and the schools' capacity to accept non-local students. Parents and carers should consider this when choosing schools. For more information, please refer to the Selective high schools and opportunity class placement procedures.