Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School
585 Calala Lane, Calala NSW 2340
Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School is a government secondary school in Calala, NSW for Years 7–12 with about 606 students. It is an agricultural selective school. Its ICSEA is 1,025, where the national average is 1000.
Teaching staff: ACARA School Profile 2025. Source: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Terms
Attendance and enrolment
Enrolments by year, 2016–2025. Latest 606.
About this school, from public sources
Public online sources describe Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School as a selective boys' agricultural boarding and day school in Calala, near Tamworth, established in 1939. The school combines agriculture and vocational training with STEM and robotics, using two on-campus working farms and horticulture facilities across 191 hectares. It is noted for a close-knit boarding community, strong student welfare support including a 24/7 health centre, and above-average NAPLAN results for its Year 7 cohort.
Often praised
- hands-on working farm program
- strong student welfare/boarding care
- above-average NAPLAN results
This note was generated from publicly available online sources (the school's website, official pages and online feedback) as at September 2026. It reflects what is said online, not an assessment by SchoolList AU or any government body, and it deliberately records only neutral and positive points. Confidence: medium. Verify anything important with the school. Report an inaccuracy.
NAPLAN
School-level NAPLAN results are published by ACARA on My School under terms that do not allow them to be reproduced here. See Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School on My School · Why some data is missing
HSC 2025
Last 5 years
| Year | Band 6 / E4 results per Year 12 student | Band 6 / E4 results |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 0.16 | 13 |
| 2024 | 0.18 | 16 |
| 2023 | 0.48 | 35 |
| 2022 | 0.16 | 13 |
| 2021 | 0.11 | 8 |
Counts are derived from NESA's published merit lists and exclude students who opted out of publication. The per-student figure divides each year's count by that year's Year 12 enrolment from ACARA's August census, so it is approximate. NSW law does not permit ranking schools by results, so no rank or percentile is shown.
Selective entry
Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School is a agricultural selective school. Entry is by the state placement test in the year before starting; applications open early in the year. The department no longer publishes per-school minimum entry scores.
Location and nearby schools
Straight-line distances. List every school within 5 to 50 km.
| School | Suburb | Type | Distance | ICSEA | Students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carinya Christian School Tamworth | Tamworth | Independent k–12 / combined | 3.9 km | 1,034 | 857 |
| Tamworth High School | South Tamworth | Public high school | 7.0 km | 860 | 658 |
| Oxley High School | North Tamworth | Public high school | 7.8 km | 936 | 1,004 |
| Calrossy Anglican School - Simpson House Campus | Tamworth | Independent high school | 9.3 km | — | — |
| McCarthy Catholic College | West Tamworth | Catholic high school | 9.3 km | 991 | 935 |
| Peel High SchoolPartially | Tamworth | Public high school | 9.3 km | 831 | 629 |
| Calrossy Anglican School | Tamworth | Independent high school | 11.1 km | 1,079 | 1,033 |
| Calrossy Anglican School - William Cowper Campus | Tamworth | Independent k–12 / combined | 11.1 km | — | — |
Schools with a similar ICSEA in NSW
Same sector and type, ICSEA within 25 points. This is the comparison that separates teaching from postcode.
| School | Suburb | Type | Students | ICSEA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quakers Hill High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Quakers Hill | Public high school · 7-12 | 925 | 1,025 |
| Bungendore High School | Bungendore | Public high school · 7-12 | 197 | 1,026 |
| Newcastle High School | Hamilton | Public high school · 7-12 | 1,072 | 1,027 |
| Springwood High School | Faulconbridge | Public high school · 7-12 | 565 | 1,027 |
| Georges River College, Oatley Senior Campus | Oatley | Public high school · 11-12 | 740 | 1,022 |
| Heathcote High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Heathcote | Public high school · 7-12 | 633 | 1,028 |
About this data
- nsw-doe-master
- nsw-doe-selective
- acara-profile
- acara-enrolments-grade
- nsw-doe-attendance
- nsw-doe-enrolment-history
- nsw-nesa-hsc
Figures are from the latest published datasets and can lag the school by a year. Confirm enrolment rules and catchment boundaries with the school or department before relying on them.