Penola Catholic College Emu Plains
Emu Plains NSW 2750
Penola Catholic College Emu Plains is a Catholic secondary school in Emu Plains, NSW for Years 7–12 with about 709 students. Its ICSEA is 1,024, where the national average is 1000.
Sector, ICSEA, Enrolments, Language background, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander share, Year range, Teaching staff, School website: ACARA School Profile 2025. Source: Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA). Terms
About this school, from public sources
Drawn from public online sources: Penola Catholic College is a Catholic co-educational secondary school for Years 7-12 in Emu Plains, western Sydney, formerly McCarthy Catholic College and renamed in 2020 after Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Its values are courage, compassion, integrity and hope. It takes part in the P-TECH program with industry partners, covering cyber security, robotics and artificial intelligence, and has about 709 students.
Often praised
- P-TECH industry partnership program
- Courage, compassion, integrity, hope
- Cyber security and robotics
This note was generated from publicly available online sources (the school's website, official pages and online feedback) as at October 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: high. 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 Penola Catholic College Emu Plains 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 | 0.09 | 5 |
| 2024 | 0.08 | 5 |
| 2023 | 0.10 | 5 |
| 2022 | 0.12 | 7 |
| 2021 | 0.14 | 6 |
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.
Location and nearby schools
Straight-line distances. List every school within 5 to 50 km.
| School | Suburb | Type | Distance | ICSEA | Students |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CathWest Innovation College McCarthy Campus | Emu Plains | Catholic high school | 0.1 km | — | — |
| Nepean Creative and Performing Arts High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Emu Plains | Public high school | 1.0 km | 994 | 802 |
| Penrith High SchoolFully | Penrith | Public high school | 3.0 km | 1,186 | 928 |
| St Dominic's College | Kingswood | Independent high school | 3.7 km | 1,008 | 1,010 |
| Cranebrook High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Cranebrook | Public high school | 3.8 km | 916 | 871 |
| Jamison High School | South Penrith | Public high school | 4.0 km | 964 | 834 |
| Kingswood High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Kingswood | Public high school | 4.6 km | 955 | 1,005 |
| Caroline Chisholm College | Glenmore Park | Catholic high school | 4.8 km | 1,054 | 1,011 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| All Saints College | Maitland | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 1,191 | 1,023 |
| Trinity Catholic College Goulburn | Goulburn | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 714 | 1,025 |
| Xavier College | Llandilo | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 1,185 | 1,025 |
| St Paul's Catholic College | Booragul | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 636 | 1,026 |
| MacKillop College Bathurst | Bathurst | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 691 | 1,027 |
| Kildare Catholic College | Wagga Wagga | Catholic high school · 7-12 | 972 | 1,028 |
About this data
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.