Outcome of applications

• Outcome letters
• Assessment scores and other results
• Response to offers
• Early advice
• Late offers
• Change of choice
• Reminder letter
• Authority to attend
• Withdrawal of offers
• Holiday arrangements

The Selective High School and Opportunity Class Placement Unit will send advice in early July telling applicants if the child:

1. is being offered a place and/or
2. has been placed on a reserve list and/or
3. has been unsuccessful for one or more choices.
   

In some cases students might not be sent an outcome advice at the same time as the rest of the candidates. These students could be placed on 'Hold' while the selection committee carries out further enquiries.

Candidates will receive with their outcome the mark out of 300 they achieved in the selective high school placement process, provided that they sat the Selective High School Placement Test and/or had moderated school assessment scores.

Further details of the marks achieved by your child will be available on written request.

Request for scores form
No further information about the performance of individual students, school cohorts or the wider candidature will be made available.

If you receive an offer you must fill out a response form and return it by the date shown on the response form (generally 14 days after the date of the offer). The printed offer response form must be returned by post as the forms will be processed electronically and faxes may distort the barcodes. You must respond to the Unit not to the individual schools.

Some late offers will be made by telephone and these will usually require responses within 48 hours. The Unit may assume that the offer has been declined if you do not respond by the due date. If you accept an offer and later change your mind you should let the Unit know immediately, so that the next eligible applicant can be offered the place.

Outcome advice is sent as soon as the information is available and checked. However, if you have a good reason for needing to know the possible outcome early (e.g. having to pay a non-refundable deposit exceeding $600 to secure a place at an alternative school), you should:

1. contact the Unit for an Early advice request form.

2. complete the form, enclosing evidence (e.g. a letter offering a place at a non-government high school with the closing date and the amount of the deposit clearly stated).

3. sign the undertaking to keep the information strictly confidential and return the form to the Unit.

4. telephone the Unit a day or two before the deadline and, if the early release of information has been approved, you will be told the likely outcome as it appears at the time.

This information is given only once. It is important to understand that the accuracy of this early information cannot be guaranteed as the selection process will not be complete at that stage. Generally the only information the Unit can be reasonably certain about at that stage is whether a particular student is unsuccessful for all choices. No information will be available before mid-June.

Parents whose children are on reserve lists will be offered a place if their position on a reserve list is reached.

These offers can be made at any time from July 2010 until mid-June 2011 when the Years 8 to 12 application process begins. Students who have been offered a place and are also on reserve lists for higher choices will be sent a subsequent offer if their reserve list position is reached. Such offers will be made whether or not previous offers have been accepted or declined.

Note that after the end of the 2010 school year, no further offers will be made to students who have already accepted a place at a selective high school unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Before 3 May 2010

If you wish to change your choice of schools before 3 May 2010 you should notify the Unit in writing of your request. This is the date by which all information starts to be prepared for selection committees.

After 3 May 2010

Changes of choice cannot be accepted after this date as they cannot be processed in time for selection committees to be presented with the relevant information.

If you have clearly demonstrable extenuating circumstances such as the purchase of a new residence in a suburb or town very far from the previous residence, you may request a change of choice accompanied by a full explanation and supporting documents. The request for a change of choice will be subject to approval by the delegate of the selection committees.

Approval will not be given for a change of choice on the grounds that the student did not qualify for the original choices.

Correspondence will be sent in November 2010 reminding parents or carers who have accepted a place or are on a reserve list that they should notify the Unit if they no longer want the place, so that an offer can be made to the next eligible applicant.

Once you have accepted an offer you might be asked to fill in enrolment forms for your child during the school's orientation program. Even if you have completed enrolment papers at the school, you will be sent a letter from the NSW Department of Education and Training authorising your child to attend the school.

This letter will be sent in January 2011. Apart from giving official authorisation for your child to attend a selective high school, this letter serves as a reminder to people who no longer wish to take up their offer that they should notify the Unit, so that the place can be offered to the next eligible applicant.

To finalise enrolment at a selective high school you must have:

1. received authorisation from the Selective High School and Opportunity Class Placement Unit

2. satisfied all NSW Department of Education and Training enrolment requirements.

Offers will be withdrawn if it is found that students do not satisfy all the requirements, such as residency, or if students do not enrol at the school at the beginning of the school year without providing a satisfactory explanation.

Offers or enrolments may be terminated if placement is made on the basis of false or misleading information.

Any deferment must be negotiated with the Unit before enrolment. You cannot defer enrolment beyond the first day of Term 2, 2011.

Offers will lapse if the Unit, after at least three attempts, is unable to contact the applicant to make the offer or determine the response. 

If you will be away when offers are being made, you should notify the Unit of a contact address, telephone number or email address and the length of time you will be away. In some circumstances the Unit may contact the special contact person listed on the application form. If your child is on a reserve list you may accept in advance any offer that may be made while you are on holidays.