Smiths Hill High School
35-37 Gipps St, Wollongong NSW 2500
Smiths Hill High School is a government secondary school in Wollongong, NSW for Years 7–12 with about 735 students. It is a fully selective school. Its ICSEA is 1,186, 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 736.
About this school, from public sources
Based on public information from the school's own website and directory listings, Smith's Hill High School is a fully academically selective, co-educational government high school in central Wollongong. It offers a rigorous, extension-focused curriculum for high-potential students, with subject acceleration, STEM offerings, and a broad range of creative and performing arts, sporting, leadership, and community-service activities. Its central location gives students access to nearby cultural, university, and sporting facilities. The school also emphasises inclusion, wellbeing support, and cultural celebration events.
Often praised
- academically selective curriculum
- strong extension/acceleration options
- extracurricular and leadership opportunities
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 Smiths Hill 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 | 1.38 | 185 |
| 2024 | 1.37 | 173 |
| 2023 | 1.51 | 192 |
| 2022 | 1.10 | 131 |
| 2021 | 1.40 | 173 |
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
Smiths Hill 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Mary Star of the Sea College | Wollongong | Independent high school | 0.9 km | 1,104 | 1,128 |
| Wollongong High School of the Performing Arts | Fairy Meadow | Public high school | 1.5 km | 1,075 | 1,168 |
| Keira High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Fairy Meadow | Public high school | 1.6 km | 984 | 723 |
| Elonera Montessori School | Mount Ousley | Independent k–12 / combined | 1.9 km | 1,108 | 187 |
| The Illawarra Grammar School | Wollongong West | Independent k–12 / combined | 2.5 km | 1,159 | 970 |
| Edmund Rice College | West Wollongong | Independent high school | 3.0 km | 1,083 | 1,054 |
| Figtree High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Figtree | Public high school | 4.3 km | 1,013 | 880 |
| Corrimal High SchoolGifted class: Gifted class | Corrimal | Public high school | 5.1 km | 940 | 569 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penrith High SchoolFully | Penrith | Public high school · 7-12 | 928 | 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 |
| North Sydney Boys High SchoolFully | North Sydney | Public high school · 7-12 | 933 | 1,195 |
| Fort Street High SchoolFully | Petersham | Public high school · 7-12 | 916 | 1,176 |
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.