As students across NSW receive their HSC results, schools will also be eagerly examining their performances.
Here are the top-ranked schools in the state for 2024.
North Sydney Boys High School is once again top of the class in the Higher School Certificate rankings
The school located in Sydney’s lower north shore narrowly edged out James Ruse Agricultural High after thousands of NSW school leavers received their HSC results on Wednesday.
North Sydney Boys narrowly edged out their selective public school rivals for a second year in a row with a success rate of 64.9 per cent.
North Sydney Boys High School is once again top of the class in the Higher School Certificate rankings
The school located in Sydney’s lower north shore narrowly edged out James Ruse Agricultural High after thousands of NSW school leavers received their HSC results on Wednesday.
North Sydney Boys narrowly edged out their selective public school rivals for a second year in a row with a success rate of 64.9 per cent.
Seven selective public high schools took out the top 10 spots in the HSC rankings.
The third best ranking school was Sydney Grammar followed by Normanhurst Boys.
Baulkham Hills, Hornsby Girls, North Sydney Girls, Sydney Boys and all-girls private school Abbotsleigh rounded out the top 10.
Reddam House, a private co-ed school in Bondi, was once again the top-placed private school after they held onto fifth spot.
Newtown High School of Performing Arts jumped more than 30 places to come in at 56th while Epping Boys High produced their best ever results.
The non-selective school in Sydney’s north-west, climbed 20 places to achieve a ranking of 60th with a success rate of almost 25 per cent.
Other significant improvers include Barrenjoey High, which climbed 223 spots while The Ponds High in Sydney’s north-west rose by more than 100 places just nine years after the school opened its doors.
James Ruse, which was originally set up as a boys farming school in Carlingford, first topped the HSC rankings in 1996 after it stole the title from Sydney Grammar.
North Sydney Boys uploaded a video to Facebook, which showed the 2024 cohort celebrating the impressive achievement.
I just got a text,’ North Sydney Boys principal Brian Ferguson began
‘You did it again. The best school in the state.’
Mr Ferguson told the Herald: ‘I feel like we’ve done the impossible and it feels a bit surreal. They were really inspired from last year, the notion of ‘you can’ and ‘it’s possible.’
‘I am incredibly excited just to see the fruits of a year group that worked so hard to try and follow the example of the previous year.’
James Ruse principal Matthew Dopierala, who moved to the Carlingford school from North Sydney Boys in November, said students and staff were pleased to maintain second spot.
‘We are working with the brightest kids in the system, and we are so happy for them,’ Mr Dopierala said.
Barrenjoey High, The Ponds High and Pittwater House School were among the most improved schools across the state this year.
Barrenjoey High climbed by a massive 223 spots to achieve a ranking of 144th with a success rate of 13.51 per cent.
There are 57,194 students eligible for an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Rank) this year and the median ATAR for girls was 72.40.
The figure for boys was 70.4.
The top ATAR mark of 99.95 was achieved by nine girls and 42 boys.
The analysis by the Herald only consists of schools that have registered results for at least 150 HSC subjects.
