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Dani Hacket with son Xavier who was caught in the selective exam chaos last year and Naplan this year.

‘Not good enough’: NAPLAN test failure run by same company as selective school chaos

Xavier Hacket was caught in two meltdowns caused by tech company Janison. His mother says it’s not fair.

  • Emily Kowal

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Siblings Sharvil and Shanaya Pandir have been tutored for NAPLAN.

NAPLAN boss issues warning to parents on ‘horrendous misuse’ of student results

Some schools are using the exam results in assessing a student’s suitability for enrolment.

  • Jackson Graham, Ellie Busby and Cindy Yin
A student sits the NAPLAN exam in 20024.

Testing chief decries use of NAPLAN scores as entrance exam for private schools

A competitive culture is emerging around the national test, and the NAPLAN head has urged parents to refuse requests by in-demand schools to provide results when trying to enrol their children.

  • Jackson Graham
Sarah Peddie-McGuirk and James Turnbull with their children, Henry, 6, and Sadie, 4.

Sarah thought she had years to pick a high school. By year 3, kids were already leaving

As public education in NSW recorded 7000 fewer students last year, can anything be done to stop the parent rush to private schools?

  • Christopher Harris
HSC students from Aquinas Catholic College in Menai with mathematics teacher Vanessa Bauer.

Revealed: The best public, private and Catholic schools for HSC maths

A systemic Catholic school in the Shire is among those who outperformed top private and selective schools this year.

  • Christopher Harris and Nigel Gladstone
North Sydney Girls High’s Valery Lin and Emily Phi topped the state in advanced English.

The five-letter formula that saw this school’s HSC English marks soar

North Sydney Girls deputy principal said the perfect-scoring essays turned in by the school’s year 12 cohort shared a common structure.

  • Emily Kowal, Nigel Gladstone and Siena Fagan
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Six of the nine James Ruse students who received an ATAR of 99.95. From left: Terry Chen, Nina Chen, Selina Ma, Nikil Andepalli, Peter Shan and Srihaas Komminni.

Meet every student who got 99.95 in the 2025 HSC

HSC students from four Sydney selective schools have taken out more than half of the top ATAR ranks.

  • Emily Kaine, Ricky Blank and Frances Howe
Penrith Selective High School students Yingye Chen, Shabad Nagpal, Freya Stewart, Ryan Wen, Rupali Wadhwa.

‘We don’t want to be that traditional selective’: The schools that surged in the 2025 HSC

Some schools jumped more than 100 places in this year’s HSC. See the list of the state’s most improved.

  • Christopher Harris and Nigel Gladstone
North Sydney Boys students at their celebration on Thursday, left, and their plush toy mascot, Don the Falcon. 

Behind every North Sydney Boys HSC student was a plush toy called Don

North Sydney Boys and James Ruse students take us inside their remarkable achievements in this year’s HSC.

  • Emily Kowal and Ellie Busby
North Sydney Boys tops the HSC for the third time in 2025.

North Sydney Boys, James Ruse bolt away in HSC rankings

The state’s top two schools have set an extraordinary standard in 2025.

  • Christopher Harris, Nigel Gladstone and Emily Kowal