Selective entry high schools

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply for and attend a selective entry high school, candidates must be in their second year of secondary schooling (Year 8), have not previously sat the examination for Year 9 entry, and be:

• an Australian citizen; or
• a New Zealand citizen residing in Australia; or
• holders of a visa or ImmiCard, which would exempt them from paying International Student Fees to attend a Victorian government school. For further information, refer to International Student Visa Fee Table at: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/international-student-program/policy and the ImmiCard section of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s website at: https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Refu/Immi; or
• able to meet the citizenship or visa criteria by the time offers are made.

Candidates who are offered a place must provide original documents, such as a Certificate of Evidence of Australian Citizenship, visa and/or birth certificate, to the selective entry high school to complete and maintain enrolment. Offers and enrolment will be withdrawn if eligibility requirements for enrolment are not met and maintained.

Students attending government and non-government schools are eligible to apply, as are home-school students who are registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.

Fee-paying international students enrolled in Victorian schools are not eligible to apply.

The eligibility criteria apply to students living in Victoria, interstate or overseas.

Applying for entry to selective entry high schools

Each year approximately 1,000 places are available for Year 9 entry across the four selective entry high schools (SEHS).

A centralised selection process, including an entrance examination, is used to determine entry to the schools at Year 9. A small number of places may become available at Years 10 and 11, and entrance at these year levels is managed directly by the schools.

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) manages the applications and offers process for Year 9 entry on behalf of the Department.

Applications must be made online at: https://vic.registration.selectiveentry.acer.org

To commence an application, candidates need:

• their Victorian Student Number (VSN), if relevant.
• a method of payment for the application fees.
• both their parent/carer’s and their own Centrelink Customer Reference Number (CRN) if applying under the Equity Consideration Category.

Application fee

Applications are free for families with a valid health care card or pensioner concession card, and for First Nations families.

Families who do not meet these criteria but face financial barriers paying the application can apply for a fee reduction based on financial hardship.

If a candidate’s eligibility to have the fee waived or reduced cannot be confirmed, they will be required to pay the application fee.

Requests for accessibility arrangements for the examination

Special arrangements for the examination (e.g. wheelchair access, materials for visually impaired candidates) will be organised where required. Requests for special arrangements must be made by through the application portal by the deadline provided.

All requests must be made using the special arrangements application form in the application portal.

Requests to sit the examination remotely or on an alternative date

Subject to the provision of suitable evidence, candidates may be eligible to sit the examination interstate or overseas or on an alternative date in the following circumstances:

Requests to sit the examination outside of Melbourne or on alternative dates due to reasons not outlined above (for example, family holidays or special occasions) cannot be accommodated.

All requests must be made using the special arrangements application form in the application portal. Requests must be accompanied by suitable evidence and submitted before the deadline provided.

ACER may contact a candidate’s school principal or designated parents/carers if clarification is required.

The remote sitting must take place in the timeframe specified by ACER. During the examination, the candidate must be supervised by a representative of an approved invigilating organisation determined by ACER.

Examination

The selective entry high schools’ examination takes place in June each year. The examination takes place across multiple venues, with applicants assigned to an examination centre via email once the applications period has closed.

The entrance exam assesses students’ aptitude for higher order thinking, problem-solving, reasoning, creative thinking, comprehension, interpretation and their ability to apply known concepts to situations. The required knowledge in any section will not exceed that found in the Year 8 curriculum.

Please see the ACER website for more information.

Selection policy

Places at the selective entry high schools are offered as follows:

1. Standard merit – 85% of places will be offered based on rank from exam performance.
2. Equity consideration – up to 10% of places will be offered based on exam performance and ability to meet the conditions for equity (see below).
3. Principal discretion – up to 5% of places will be offered at the discretion of the principal of the individual selective entry high school.

Cap on source school offers

There is a cap on the number of offers that can be made to students from a single source school. A source school is the school a student is enrolled in at Year 8.

This cap is designed to minimise the impact on source schools and means that no more than 4% of students from a single source school (excluding prep to Year 9 schools) are offered standard and principal discretion places at selective entry high schools. For schools that are prep to Year 9 only, a 10% cap applies.

Standard and Principal discretion offers are subject to the cap. The equity consideration category is not subject to the cap.

Students currently enrolled in home-school, an interstate or overseas school are treated as discrete school cohorts, with a cap on the places on offer. Places at the co-educational selective entry high schools may also be subject to the use of a special measure by the principal to ensure the schools maintain a gender balance.

Equity consideration category

Candidates are eligible for a place in the equity consideration category if they:

• have parents or guardians with either a Commonwealth Health Care Card or a Pensioner Concession Card and/or
• identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

The application form requires both the primary cardholder and applicant’s Customer Reference Number (CRN). The cardholder status will be electronically confirmed by Centrelink.

This verification process confirms a child’s eligibility for equity consideration only. No further detail (e.g. personal financial information) is required.

For more details about Centrelink please visit the Centrelink page on the Services Australia website.

Principal discretion category

Up to 5% of places can be filled through the principal discretion category.

Following the examination, the principals of the selective entry high schools may invite selected students who received strong results on the SEHS admission examination to submit an application under the principal’s discretion category. An invitation to submit an application for the principal’s discretion category is not an offer of a place at the school.

Applications will be reviewed by a panel convened by the principal of the school, and any selection panel members appointed by the principal.

The process of applying for a place via the principal’s discretion category involves:

• Filling in an application form (and providing accompanying documentation, if required)
• For candidates that are shortlisted following review of their application, participating in an interview at the school. This interview will be conducted by a selection panel appointed by the principal.
• Following this process, successful candidates will be made an offer. Unsuccessful candidates will be informed of the outcome of their application.

In their selection process, principals and selection panels may consider a range of criteria, including:

• Results from the SEHS admissions examination run by ACER
• Recent academic performance, demonstrated via recent school reports
• Demonstration of co-curricular and extra-curricular participation and achievements
• A candidate’s articulation of the reasons they want to attend a SEHS, and what they will bring to the school community
• A candidate’s preferred school
• Whether a candidate currently has siblings at the school, or a sibling has received an offer.

Concerns about the offers process

General, standard or equity offers concerns

If you have concerns about the administration of the Selective Entry High School exam and standard or equity offers process, please contact the ACER team.

Principal discretion category (PDC) offers concerns

Please note that this process is only available to candidates who were invited to apply for PDC, completed the PDC application process and did not receive a PDC offer.

Schools do not have the capacity to respond to concerns in relation to candidates who were not invited to apply for PDC. You will not receive a response to your communication in these circumstances.

For candidates invited to apply for PDC consideration who did not receive a PDC offer, if you have concerns about the administration of the PDC process, please contact the school principal.

If you continue to have concern following the above process, you can contact the department’s South Eastern or South Western regional office.

Regional office contact details and locations are on the department’s website.

Please note that the regional offices will not respond to concerns if parents or carers have not followed the above steps first.

Offers process

Offers of places at selective entry high schools are made in rounds, based on the availability of places at the schools. Most places in selective entry high schools are filled in the first round, with a small number of places offered through subsequent rounds.

Dates for the offers round are published at: https://selectiveentry.acer.org/vic

Notification to source schools

Government schools will be notified of their students that have accepted a place at a selective entry high school to support the transfer of students and assist in resource planning.

It is the responsibility of parents/carers to notify their child’s non-government school if they have accepted a place at a selective entry high school.