North Sydney Boys High School once again tops its class in Higher School Certificates rankings
The school on Sydney’s lower north shore narrowly edged out James Ruse Agriculture High after thousands of NSW school leavers received their HSC results on Wednesday.
The North Sydney Boys narrowly edged out their selective public school rivals for the second year in a row with a success rate of 64.9 per cent.
Their previous 2023 feat ended James Ruse’s 27-year reign as the top-performing school in New South Wales.
The results are based on extensive analysis by the Sydney Morning Herald, which calculates its success rate rankings based on band 6 and 90+ grades compared to the number of students taking exams.
The North Sydney Boys managed to retain first place after the Crows Nest school steadily improved its Advanced English scores over the past six years.
Despite taking the top spot, its success rate decreased by 4.1 percent after reaching a rate of 69 percent last year.
James Ruse took second place after improving almost three percentage points to achieve a success rate of 62.88 percent.
North Sydney Boys High School (pictured) narrowly edged out its prestigious selective public school rivals with a success rate of 64.9 per cent to claim top spot.
Seven selective public secondary schools occupied the top 10 places in the HSC rankings.
The third highest ranked school was Sydney Grammar followed by Normanhurst Boys.
Baulkham Hills, Hornsby Girls, North Sydney Girls, Sydney Boys and Abbotsleigh private girls’ school completed the top 10.
Reddam House, a co-educational private school in Bondi, was once again the top-ranked private school after coming in fifth place.
Newtown High School of Performing Arts jumped more than 30 places to reach 56th place, while Epping Boys High produced its best ever results.
The non-selective north-west Sydney school rose 20 places to 60th place with a success rate of almost 25 per cent.
Other significant improvements include Barrenjoey High, which rose 223 places, while The Ponds High in Sydney’s northwest rose more than 100 places just nine years after the school opened its doors.
Originally set up as a boys’ agricultural school in Carlingford, James Ruse first topped the HSC rankings in 1996 after stealing the title from Sydney Grammar.
North Sydney Boys School graduates celebrate after maintaining top spot in HSC rankings
James Ruse Agriculture High (pictured) took second place after improving almost three percentage points to achieve a success rate of 62.88 per cent.
North Sydney Boys uploaded a video to Facebook, showing the 2024 cohort celebrating the impressive achievement.
I just got a text,” North Sydney Boys manager Brian Ferguson began.
‘You did it again. The best school in the state.
Ferguson told the Herald: “I feel like we’ve done the impossible and it feels a bit surreal.” They were very inspired by last year, the notion of “you can” and “it is possible.”
Seven selective public secondary schools achieved top 10 places in their year’s HSC rankings
“I’m incredibly excited to see the fruits of a year-long group that worked so hard to try to follow the previous year’s lead.”
James Ruse principal Matthew Dopierala, who moved to Carlingford School from North Sydney Boys in November, said students and staff were happy to maintain second place.
“We are working with the brightest kids in the system and we are very happy for them,” Dopierala said.
Barrenjoey High, The Ponds High and Pittwater House School were among the most improved schools across the state this year.
Barrenjoey High rose 223 places to reach 144th place with a success rate of 13.51 per cent.
There are 57,194 students eligible for an ATAR (Australian Tertiary Admission Range) this year and the average ATAR for girls was 72.40.
The figure for children was 70.4.
The highest ATAR score of 99.95 was achieved by nine girls and 42 boys.
The Herald’s analysis only consists of schools that have recorded results in at least 150 HSC subjects.