Better Education analysis reveals Sydney’s top secondary schools
The top 100 secondary schools in Sydney have been named, with many government colleges achieving top marks in key subjects and outperforming private campuses. See the full list.
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The top 100 secondary schools in Sydney have been named, with many government colleges outperforming private campuses that charge big fees.
The Better Education analysis of 2024 academic outcomes shows Sydney’s selective government schools including James Ruse Agricultural High School, Baulkham Hills High School, North Sydney Girls High School and North Sydney Boys High School, have achieved outstanding results in key subjects, making them some of the state’s best.
All of the top 20 schools are fully-selective public schools, with the exception of Sydney Grammar, which is selective, but private.
The website is run independently and describes its aim as providing “informative and comparative school results, as a guide for parents wanting to make choices about schooling for their children”.
Sydney’s wealthy north shore and eastern suburbs private schools dominate the top half of the list including Abbotsleigh, St Aloys, Knox, Reddam, Pymble Ladies College and Ravenswood.
The analysis showed 33 out of the top 100 were government schools, while other secondary schools listed were independent including private and Catholic schools.
STAND-OUT STARS
James Ruse Agricultural High School
Despite losing its long-held place at the top of the HSC leaderboards in 2023 to fellow selective school North Sydney Boys, Ruse remains the best school in the state by Better Education’s measures – and equally so in parents’ eyes, with families throwing cash at selective test tutors to get their kids into the school with the highest minimum entry score.
Now under the leadership of Matt Dopierala, who replaced Rachel Powell at the helm this year, the 66-year-old school will be looking to shake off past controversies – including recent allegations of rampant racism among students – and reclaim its top spot.
Knox Grammar School
Knox retains its status as one of the city’s most desirable and high-performing single-sex private schools, despite high-profile controversies over student behaviour and tuition fees in excess of $42,000 per year, second only to St Aloysius’ College in Kirribilli for academic performance among all-boys independent schools.
The 101-year-old Uniting Church-affiliated institution also outperforms its north shore sister school Ravenswood based on Better Education’s metrics, with whom it shares a mixed-gender cadet unit among other combined extra-curricular activities.
Northholm Grammar School
A $23,230 per-year coeducational Anglican school set in the semi-regional suburb of Arcadia in Sydney’s northwest, Northholm Grammar is an up-and-comer among the best schools in the state, having risen from below 120th spot in the 2022 HSC to the top 50 over the past two years.
Former principal Christopher Bradbury, who this year moved to head up Canberra’s Radford College, oversaw a doubling of student enrolments and previously told The Daily Telegraph the “keys to our success” at Northholm are weekly assessments, tracking of individual students and the mutual setting of “stretch targets” for each pupil.
Al-Faisal College
Not one but three campuses within Al-Faisal’s network of southwest Sydney Islamic schools – Campbelltown, Auburn and Liverpool – made it onto Better Education’s top 100 list, with the College unveiling a fourth campus in Lakemba earlier this year (its grand opening marred by an online bomb threat now before the courts).
The highest rated remains the original Auburn campus, the largest of the three with nearly 2200 students enrolled, gaining five out of five stars in both English and maths. All applicants for Kindergarten through to Year 12 have to take an entrance exam before they’re offered a place, and the College once gave out $500 cash bonuses to high performers prompting legislators to ban the practice.
St Mary’s Cathedral College
St Mary’s rounds out Better Education’s list of top schools and is the only diocesan Catholic school to make the cut. The alma mater of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, St Mary’s is located in the heart of the Sydney CBD and is part of the Sydney Catholic Schools network.
The College recently made the decision to transition from an all-boys school to a co-ed one, introducing girls to the cohort earlier this year with Year 7 students, but whether this major change will have an impact on its academic output remains to be seen.
Principal Kerrie McDiarmid previously told The Daily Telegraph part of the school’s success – and its students’ – is a robust character education program and “respect … at the heart of our environment”.
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