Every family on a reserve list is given the same guidance: band A means roughly a month, band B roughly two. It is one estimate applied to every school in the state. Across the 2024 offer season we kept a copy of the Department's progress page each time it changed — and the schools behaved nothing like each other.
On 30 August 2024, a family watching Karabar High School and a family watching North Sydney Boys High School saw the same thing: band A. By December, Karabar had worked through its entire reserve list — everyone waiting received an offer. North Sydney Boys had moved to band B and stayed there.
Every student on the reserve list received an offer.
One band in nearly four months.
Pick the school your child is waiting on. This shows what its reserve list actually did across the 2024 season.
This list went a long way — from band A in August to band F by December. A lot of offered places were declined here.
Taller and darker means the school was offering from further down its reserve list. A dash means the list had been worked through entirely. Bands are the Department’s own A–F estimates, not position numbers — and this is one season, not a forecast.
Read across each row. The letter is the band that school was offering from on that date; a dash means the list had been worked through entirely.
| Selective high school | 30/8 | 4/9 | 10/9 | 17/9 | 20/9 | 30/9 | 9/10 | 29/10 | 30/10 | 31/10 | 2/11 | 30/11 | 19/12 | Ended at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryde Secondary College | A | B | B | B | D | D | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Normanhurst Boys High School | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | Band C · moved 2 |
| North Sydney Boys High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | Band B · moved 1 |
| North Sydney Girls High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Hornsby Girls High School | B | B | B | C | D | D | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 4 |
| Chatswood High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| James Ruse Agricultural High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | C | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Baulkham Hills High School | A | A | B | B | B | C | C | C | D | D | D | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Girraween High School | A | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Fort Street High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
Reserve band offered by selected schools in Sydney's north, 30 August to 19 December 2024 (2025 entry). Source: NSW Department of Education progress page, recorded at each change.
Band figures © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2024, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Compilation, arrangement and analysis © PEN Education 2026 — please credit and link if you reuse it.
At 6 schools the reserve list was worked through completely by December. For families waiting at those schools, the position on the list stopped mattering — the queue ran out before the students did.
At the other end, 5 schools never got past band B in the whole season. Almost nobody offered a place at these schools turned it down.
Ordered by how deep the list went. Scroll the table sideways to see the full season.
| Selective high school | 30/8 | 4/9 | 10/9 | 17/9 | 20/9 | 30/9 | 9/10 | 29/10 | 30/10 | 31/10 | 2/11 | 30/11 | 19/12 | Ended at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smiths Hill High School | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | D | D | D | E | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Sefton High School | B | B | B | B | C | D | D | E | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 4 |
| Ryde Secondary College | A | B | B | B | D | D | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Richmond High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | D | D | E | E | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Penrith High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | D | D | D | E | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Northern Beaches Secondary College Manly Campus | A | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | C | C | E | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| North Sydney Girls High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Moorebank High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Merewether High School | A | B | B | B | B | C | D | D | D | D | E | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Macquarie Fields High School | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | C | C | D | F | Band F · moved 4 |
| Kooringal High School | A | A | A | D | D | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| James Ruse Agricultural High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | C | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Hornsby Girls High School | B | B | B | C | D | D | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 4 |
| Gorokan High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | D | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Elizabeth Macarthur High School | B | B | B | D | D | D | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 4 |
| Baulkham Hills High School | A | A | B | B | B | C | C | C | D | D | D | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Armidale Secondary College | A | A | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Alexandria Park Community School | A | A | B | B | B | C | D | E | E | E | E | F | F | Band F · moved 5 |
| Tempe High School | A | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt Campus | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Sydney Girls High School | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | D | E | Band E · moved 3 |
| St George Girls High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Rose Bay Secondary College | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Parramatta High School | A | A | A | B | C | C | D | D | D | D | D | E | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Hurlstone Agricultural High School | A | A | A | A | B | C | C | C | C | C | C | C | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Fort Street High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School (Male boarder) | A | A | A | A | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Blacktown Girls High School | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | D | D | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Auburn Girls High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | D | E | E | Band E · moved 4 |
| Sydney Technical High School | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | D | Band D · moved 2 |
| Sydney Secondary College Balmain Campus | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Gosford High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | D | D | D | D | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Girraween High School | A | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Chatswood High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | D | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Blacktown Boys High School | A | A | B | B | C | C | C | C | C | C | C | D | D | Band D · moved 3 |
| Sydney Boys High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | Band C · moved 2 |
| Normanhurst Boys High School | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | Band C · moved 2 |
| Granville Boys High School | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | Band C · moved 1 |
| Caringbah High School | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | C | Band C · moved 1 |
| Bonnyrigg High School | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | C | Band C · moved 2 |
| Prairiewood High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | Band B · moved 1 |
| North Sydney Boys High School | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | Band B · moved 1 |
| Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School | A | A | A | A | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | Band B · moved 1 |
| Yanco Agricultural High School (Male boarder) | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Band A · no movement |
| Yanco Agricultural High School (Female boarder) | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | A | Band A · no movement |
| Peel High School | B | B | B | B | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
| Karabar High School | A | A | A | F | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
| Hurlstone Agricultural High School (Male boarder) | A | A | A | A | A | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
| Hurlstone Agricultural High School (Female boarder) | A | A | A | A | A | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
| Grafton High School | A | B | F | F | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
| Aurora College (Virtual) | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | List exhausted |
Reserve band offered by every NSW selective high school, 30 August to 19 December 2024 (2025 entry). Bands are the Department's own A–F estimates, not position numbers. Source: NSW Department of Education progress page, recorded at each change.
Band figures © State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2024, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Compilation, arrangement and analysis © PEN Education 2026 — please credit and link if you reuse it.
During the offer season the Department published a page showing which reserve band each selective high school was currently offering from, updated whenever a school moved from one band to the next. It shows the present state only — no history is kept, and the Department has since stopped updating it entirely.
We kept a copy each time it changed. This table is those copies, placed side by side: 13 points between 30 August and 19 December 2024.
The underlying band values are the NSW Department of Education’s own published figures, reused under the terms it applies to its material.
© State of New South Wales (Department of Education), 2024. Licensed under CC BY 4.0. Changes were made: figures published on separate dates have been combined into a single time series, ordered by depth, and presented as a table with summary counts. The Department does not endorse this presentation.
The individual band figures belong to the Department under the licence above. The record assembled from them does not exist anywhere else: it was built by keeping a copy of the Department’s page each time it changed across the 2024 season, then combining those copies into a single series.
The selection, arrangement, analysis and written commentary on this page are © PEN Education 2026. If you cite or reproduce any part of it, please credit PEN Education and link to this page. We are glad for it to be useful — we would rather it be quoted correctly than copied silently.
When a student is placed on a reserve list for a selective high school, the Department assigns a band from A to F indicating roughly how soon an offer might come. Band A means an offer is estimated within one month of the outcome notification, band B within two months, and so on to band F, where an offer is described as unlikely by the end of the year. The bands are estimates, not guarantees.
Because the estimate is generic and the schools are not. The band a school is currently offering from depends on how many families decline their places there, and that varies enormously. In the 2024 season Karabar High School worked through its entire reserve list, while North Sydney Boys High School moved from band A to band B and stopped. Both would have shown "band A" to a waiting family in August.
From the Department itself. During the offer season it published a page titled "Progress of reserve bands", showing which band each selective high school was currently offering from. That page shows the current position only — it does not keep a history, and the Department has since stopped updating it. This table is built from copies taken at 13 points between 30 August and 19 December 2024.
No. The Department publishes bands, not positions. This data shows how deep into its reserve list each school had reached at each date — not how many students sit in a band, and not where any individual child sits.
Not necessarily, and it should not be treated as a forecast. It covers one cycle, the 2025 intake. What it does show is the scale of variation between schools, which a single statewide estimate cannot capture — and that variation is itself the useful finding.
The Department states that a student can remain on a reserve list and be placed up until the end of Term 1 of the entry year. This table ends on 19 December 2024, which is when the Department stopped updating during that season — movement after that date is not captured here.
Last reviewed 2 August 2026. Where official materials do not state something clearly, this guide says so rather than fill the gap. Rules and dates change — confirm against the source before acting on them.
