Fort Street High School
620 PARRAMATTA ROAD, Petersham NSW 2049
Fort Street High School is a government secondary school in Petersham, NSW for Years 7–12 with about 916 students. It is a fully selective school. Its ICSEA is 1,176, where the national average is 1000.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander share, Teaching staff: ACARA School Profile 2025. Source: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Terms
Attendance and enrolment
Enrolments by year, 2016–2025. Latest 917.
About this school, from public sources
Public information describes Fort Street High School as a fully selective, co-educational NSW government secondary school in Petersham, and the oldest selective high school in Australia, dating to 1849. Entry is via the NSW Selective High School Placement Test, with around 920 students from a wide range of language backgrounds. The school is noted for strong HSC results, including a high number of Distinguished Achievers, and a high proportion of graduates proceeding to university.
Often praised
- Oldest selective school in Australia
- Strong HSC academic results
- High university progression rate
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 Fort Street 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 | 2.28 | 361 |
| 2024 | 2.13 | 335 |
| 2023 | 2.07 | 323 |
| 2022 | 2.03 | 314 |
| 2021 | 2.29 | 371 |
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, apart from the permitted top-10% list, which this school is on.
Selective entry
Fort Street High School is a fully 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian Brothers' High School Lewisham | Lewisham | Independent k–12 / combined | 1.0 km | 1,074 | 1,231 |
| Newington College | Stanmore | Independent high school | 1.2 km | 1,182 | 2,072 |
| Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt CampusPartiallyGifted class: Gifted class | Leichhardt | Public high school | 1.3 km | 1,104 | 784 |
| Dulwich High School of Visual Arts and DesignGifted class: Gifted class | Dulwich Hill | Public high school | 1.7 km | 1,092 | 804 |
| Marrickville High School | Marrickville | Public high school | 1.8 km | 1,052 | 624 |
| Trinity Grammar School Bishop Chambers House | Summer Hill | Independent k–12 / combined | 2.0 km | — | — |
| The Athena School | Newtown | Independent k–12 / combined | 2.1 km | 1,058 | 52 |
| St Maroun's College | Marrickville | Independent k–12 / combined | 2.2 km | 1,051 | 567 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caringbah High SchoolFully | Caringbah | Public high school · 7-12 | 900 | 1,172 |
| Penrith High SchoolFully | Penrith | Public high school · 7-12 | 928 | 1,186 |
| Smiths Hill High SchoolFully | Wollongong | Public high school · 7-12 | 735 | 1,186 |
| Sydney Boys High SchoolFully | Moore Park | Public high school · 7-12 | 1,202 | 1,189 |
| Sydney Girls High SchoolFully | Surry Hills | Public high school · 7-12 | 929 | 1,193 |
| Conservatorium High School | Sydney | Public high school · 7-12 | 153 | 1,194 |
About this data
- nsw-doe-master
- nsw-doe-selective
- acara-profile
- acara-enrolments-grade
- nsw-doe-attendance
- nsw-doe-enrolment-history
- nsw-nesa-hsc
- school-website
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.