🔔 OC results for 2027 entry were released on 9 September 2026. Just got a score and wondering which schools it puts in range? Start with the 2026 reference lines for boys and girls just below — and see how to read the score report and what happens next for the full results-day walkthrough.
One of the most common questions parents ask when preparing for the OC test is: "Which school should we aim for?" The answer depends on more than just your child's score — location, available places, and how competitive each school has historically been all play a role.
This guide covers every OC school in NSW: their official minimum entry scores, available places, NAPLAN performance, and what that means for your preference list. For our top picks by region, see our guide to the best OC schools in Sydney.
What This Guide Ranks — and What It Doesn't
Two completely different numbers get called "OC school rankings", and confusing them is the single most common mistake parents make when building a preference list:
| Measure | What it tells you | Best available data |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum entry score | How hard it is to get in — the score of the last student offered a place | Official NSW figures, published up to 2021 |
| NAPLAN performance | How the whole school performs academically, OC and non-OC students combined | 2025 NAPLAN, via ACARA My School |
These two measures do not move together. Ryde Public School had the 6th-highest entry score in NSW in 2021 (236) but sits 35th among government primary schools on 2025 NAPLAN. Sutherland Public School is the reverse: a mid-pack entry score (220) but 3rd on 2025 NAPLAN.
Neither number is wrong — they measure different things. If you are deciding where to list a school on your preference form, the entry score is what matters. If you are asking what the school's overall academic environment is like, NAPLAN is more relevant. This guide gives you both, clearly separated.
How Many OC Schools Are There?
As of the 2026 OC Placement Test (for Year 5 entry in 2027), NSW has 88 schools with opportunity classes, plus Aurora College, a virtual school offering 100 places for students in rural and remote areas — 89 opportunity classes in total.
That comes to 1,840 Year 5 places: 1,740 at physical schools and 100 through Aurora College.
Two scheduling quirks worth knowing:
- Glenbrook and Blaxland East alternate. The two Blue Mountains schools take an intake in alternating years. Blaxland East has the 2027 intake (30 places); Glenbrook has no 2027 intake.
- Ironbark Ridge and Blaxcell Street have been reduced from 30 places to 15 from Term 1, 2026.
Starting from the 2027 intake, a gender balance requirement also applies: in 15-place OC classes, places are allocated as 7 boys + 7 girls + 1 on merit regardless of gender. This is a change from previous years, when placement was purely score-based.
2026 Results: Where the Lines Landed for 2027 Entry
The Department still publishes no cutoffs, so after results came out on 9 September 2026 we compiled reference lines from parent-reported outcomes. 2027 is the first OC intake with gender-balanced places, so every level has two lines — one for boys, one for girls.
- Boys
- Girls
View data table
| Level | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|
| S+ | 105 | 101 |
| S- | 100 | 97 |
| A+ | 96 | 93 |
| A- | 94 | 91 |
| B+ | 91 | 88 |
| B- | 88 | 84 |
Reference scores on a 120-point mock-test scale (Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills, 40 each), compiled from parent-reported 2026 outcomes. Not official NSW figures. Level C (all other OC schools) is a range: boys 80–85, girls 75–80.
| Level | Schools | Boys | Girls |
|---|---|---|---|
| S+ | Beecroft | 105 | 101 |
| S- | Matthew Pearce, North Rocks, Ermington, Artarmon | 100 | 97 |
| A+ | Dural, Chatswood, Lindfield East, Waitara, Wahroonga | 96 | 93 |
| A- | Ironbark Ridge, Ryde, Summer Hill, Hurstville | 94 | 91 |
| B+ | Quakers Hill, Neutral Bay, Greystanes, Ashfield, Woollahra | 91 | 88 |
| B- | Sutherland, Earlwood, Balmain, Miranda, Caringbah North | 88 | 84 |
| C | All other OC schools | 80–85 | 75–80 |
Three things stand out:
- A girl's line sits about one level above a boy's. Girls' S+ (101) is roughly boys' S- (100); girls' S- (97) is roughly boys' A+ (96); girls' A- and boys' B+ are both 91. The same score reaches about one level higher for a girl.
- S- to A- is tightly packed. Those 13 schools span just 6 points — one or two questions on a mock test — so preference order matters as much as a couple of extra marks.
- Some schools within a level can be ordered. From children who were on one school's reserve list while getting an offer from another: Matthew Pearce sat above North Rocks; a family reported a Dural reserve place with a Chatswood offer, so Dural sat above Chatswood; and Chatswood and Lindfield East both sat above Waitara. Other schools in the same level have no such pairing yet, so we don't rank them.
How to use these numbers: they are on a 120-point mock-test scale, not the official 300-point scale, and they are not official. Mock scores from different providers are not directly comparable — the same child can score around 10 points apart on two providers' papers — so check which scale your child's number comes from before reading it against this table.
The 2021 official table below is still the last published data, and it is useful for the full list of 88 schools — but the 2026 order has moved. Ryde and Ironbark Ridge, both in the 2021 top band, now sit at A-; Lindfield East, Wahroonga and Miranda, which never had a published score, now have a place in the ladder.
Official Minimum Entry Scores
This is the closest thing to a real cutoff table that exists. The NSW Department of Education published minimum entry scores — the score of the last student offered a place at each school — every year until 25 May 2021, then stopped. The stated reason was to discourage "chasing a number" and to protect student privacy and wellbeing.
That means the 2021 figures below are the last official data available, and they are now several years old. Treat them as a historical ranking of relative competitiveness, not as a target to hit — the 2026 reference lines above show the order has since shifted. Scores are out of 300 (Reading, Mathematical Reasoning and Thinking Skills, 100 each), and most regional schools sat at or near the bottom of the scale (around 160; a couple dipped to 158–159 in 2017) — schools sitting at 160 filled their class with every eligible applicant.
The "2017–2021 range" column shows how much each school moved across the five published years. A school with a wide range is volatile; a narrow range is stable.
Entry score 230+ — 11 schools
| School | Region | Places | 2021 entry score | 2017–2021 range | 2025 NAPLAN (gov) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beecroft PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 250 | 245–251 | #1 |
| Matthew Pearce PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 248 | 234–248 | #2 |
| Ermington PS | Western Sydney | 30 | 244 | 234–244 | #4 |
| North Rocks PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 244 | 238–244 | #16 |
| Dural PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 237 | 225–237 | #11 |
| Ryde PS | Western Sydney | 30 | 236 | 223–236 | #35 |
| Artarmon PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 235 | 229–235 | #7 |
| Chatswood PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 235 | 224–235 | #36 |
| Ironbark Ridge PS | North Shore & Hills | 15 | 235 | 220–235 | #25 |
| Summer Hill PS | Inner West | 30 | 235 | 233–238 | #5 |
| Waitara PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 233 | 226–237 | #9 |
Entry score 210–229 — 19 schools
| School | Region | Places | 2021 entry score | 2017–2021 range | 2025 NAPLAN (gov) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral Bay PS | North Shore & Hills | 30 | 229 | 222–229 | #20 |
| Hurstville PS | Southern Sydney | 60 | 227 | 217–227 | #6 |
| Quakers Hill PS | Western Sydney | 30 | 227 | 217–227 | #33 |
| Ashfield PS | Inner West | 30 | 226 | 217–226 | #15 |
| Greystanes PS | Western Sydney | 30 | 226 | 224–228 | #67 |
| Earlwood PS | Inner West | 30 | 220 | 212–222 | #30 |
| Sutherland PS | Southern Sydney | 30 | 220 | 209–220 | #3 |
| Woollahra PS | Eastern Suburbs | 30 | 220 | 217–227 | #23 |
| Picnic Point PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 219 | 214–223 | #27 |
| Georges Hall PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 218 | 217–225 | — |
| Balgowlah Heights PS | Northern Beaches | 15 | 217 | 211–223 | #48 |
| Balmain PS | Inner West | 30 | 217 | 207–217 | #17 |
| Blacktown South PS | Western Sydney | 15 | 216 | 204–218 | — |
| Holsworthy PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 216 | 212–224 | #74 |
| Leumeah PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 216 | 206–216 | — |
| Wilkins PS | Inner West | 30 | 216 | 208–216 | #92 |
| Caringbah North PS | Southern Sydney | 15 | 212 | 208–216 | — |
| St Johns Park PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 211 | 201–228 | — |
| Blaxcell Street PS | Western Sydney | 15 | 210 | 201–210 | — |
Entry score 190–209 — 16 schools
| School | Region | Places | 2021 entry score | 2017–2021 range | 2025 NAPLAN (gov) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gosford PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 30 | 209 | 197–209 | #73 |
| Mona Vale PS | Northern Beaches | 30 | 209 | 207–216 | — |
| Wollongong PS | Illawarra & South Coast | 30 | 208 | 205–213 | #70 |
| Alexandria Park PS | Inner West | 30 | 207 | 202–212 | — |
| Casula PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 207 | 205–209 | — |
| St Andrews PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 206 | 190–206 | — |
| Greenacre PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 203 | 200–209 | — |
| Newbridge Heights PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 202 | 197–213 | — |
| Kingswood PS | Western Sydney | 15 | 201 | 183–201 | — |
| Harrington Street PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 200 | 200–214 | — |
| Colyton PS | Western Sydney | 15 | 197 | 185–197 | — |
| Smithfield PS | Western Sydney | 15 | 197 | 189–204 | — |
| Tighes Hill PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 197 | 178–197 | #80 |
| New Lambton South PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 195 | 188–211 | — |
| Wentworth Falls PS | Blue Mountains | 15 | 194 | 165–194 | — |
| Camden South PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 190 | 186–190 | — |
Entry score 160–189 — 29 schools
| School | Region | Places | 2021 entry score | 2017–2021 range | 2025 NAPLAN (gov) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bradbury PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 189 | 176–190 | — |
| Maryland PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 188 | 170–188 | — |
| Blaxland East PS | Blue Mountains | 30 | 186 | 186 | — |
| Wyong PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 30 | 183 | 166–183 | — |
| Richmond PS | Western Sydney | 30 | 182 | 161–182 | #26 |
| Jewells PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 180 | 172–192 | — |
| Alstonville PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 176 | 161–176 | — |
| Bathurst West PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 173 | 160–173 | — |
| Rutherford PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 172 | 165–177 | — |
| Tamworth PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 171 | 171–183 | — |
| Sturt PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 169 | 164–181 | — |
| Soldiers Point PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 168 | 167–183 | — |
| Dubbo West PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 167 | 160–167 | — |
| Armidale City PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 165 | 164–185 | — |
| Queanbeyan South PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 165 | 160–168 | — |
| Cudgegong Valley PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 163 | 159–169 | — |
| Goonellabah PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 163 | 160–164 | — |
| Biraban PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 162 | 160–168 | — |
| Coonabarabran PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 161 | 160–163 | — |
| Illaroo Road PS | Illawarra & South Coast | 15 | 161 | 158–169 | — |
| Lithgow PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 161 | 160–162 | — |
| Tahmoor PS | South West Sydney | 15 | 161 | 160–171 | — |
| Cessnock West PS | Central Coast & Hunter | 15 | 160 | 160–164 | — |
| Goulburn West PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–174 | — |
| Moree PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–164 | — |
| Port Macquarie PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–164 | — |
| South Grafton PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–162 | — |
| Tamworth South PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–162 | — |
| Toormina PS | Regional NSW | 15 | 160 | 160–163 | — |
Schools With No Published Entry Score
These 13 schools have no official entry score because their opportunity class opened after 2021 (or, in Glenbrook's case, has no intake this year). There is no reliable public figure for them — treat any number you see quoted elsewhere with suspicion.
| School | Region | Suburb | Places |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blacktown West PS | Western Sydney | Blacktown | 15 |
| Brookvale PS | Northern Beaches | Brookvale | 15 |
| Doonside PS | Western Sydney | Doonside | 15 |
| Glenbrook PS | Blue Mountains | Glenbrook | — |
| Guildford West PS | Western Sydney | Guildford West | 15 |
| Lindfield East PS | North Shore & Hills | East Lindfield | 15 |
| Maroubra Junction PS | Eastern Suburbs | Maroubra | 15 |
| Miranda PS | Southern Sydney | Miranda | 15 |
| Moss Vale PS | Regional NSW | Moss Vale | 15 |
| Penrith PS | Western Sydney | Penrith | 15 |
| St Clair PS | Western Sydney | St Clair | 15 |
| Toongabbie PS | Western Sydney | Toongabbie | 15 |
| Wahroonga PS | North Shore & Hills | Wahroonga | 15 |
2025 NAPLAN: A Different Measure
The table below ranks OC schools by 2025 NAPLAN performance across the whole school — all students, not just the opportunity class. Source: myschoolranking.com, built on ACARA My School data.
An important limitation: only 31 of the 88 OC schools appear in the 2025 Top 200 at all. The other 57 did not, which is not a verdict on their opportunity class — whole-school NAPLAN is dominated by the mainstream cohort, and at a school with one 15-place OC class the OC students are a small minority of the year group.
| OC rank | School | Places | 2025 rank among NSW gov primary schools | 2021 entry score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Beecroft PS | 30 | #1 | 250 |
| #2 | Matthew Pearce PS | 30 | #2 | 248 |
| #3 | Sutherland PS | 30 | #3 | 220 |
| #4 | Ermington PS | 30 | #4 | 244 |
| #5 | Summer Hill PS | 30 | #5 | 235 |
| #6 | Hurstville PS | 60 | #6 | 227 |
| #7 | Artarmon PS | 30 | #7 | 235 |
| #8 | Waitara PS | 30 | #9 | 233 |
| #9 | Dural PS | 30 | #11 | 237 |
| #10 | Ashfield PS | 30 | #15 | 226 |
| #11 | North Rocks PS | 30 | #16 | 244 |
| #12 | Balmain PS | 30 | #17 | 217 |
| #13 | Neutral Bay PS | 30 | #20 | 229 |
| #14 | Lindfield East PS | 15 | #22 | — |
| #15 | Woollahra PS | 30 | #23 | 220 |
| #16 | Ironbark Ridge PS | 15 | #25 | 235 |
| #17 | Richmond PS | 30 | #26 | 182 |
| #18 | Picnic Point PS | 15 | #27 | 219 |
| #19 | Earlwood PS | 30 | #30 | 220 |
| #20 | Quakers Hill PS | 30 | #33 | 227 |
| #21 | Ryde PS | 30 | #35 | 236 |
| #22 | Chatswood PS | 30 | #36 | 235 |
| #23 | Wahroonga PS | 15 | #43 | — |
| #24 | Balgowlah Heights PS | 15 | #48 | 217 |
| #25 | Greystanes PS | 30 | #67 | 226 |
| #26 | Wollongong PS | 30 | #70 | 208 |
| #27 | Gosford PS | 30 | #73 | 209 |
| #28 | Holsworthy PS | 15 | #74 | 216 |
| #29 | Tighes Hill PS | 15 | #80 | 197 |
| #30 | Maroubra Junction PS | 15 | #82 | — |
| #31 | Wilkins PS | 30 | #92 | 216 |
Rankings also move a lot year to year. Woollahra was 1st among OC schools on 2024 data and 15th on 2025; Sutherland went from 13th to 3rd. This is another reason to weight entry scores more heavily than NAPLAN when you are building a preference list.
Finding OC Schools Near You
All 88 schools by region, with 2021 entry score where one exists and places in brackets:
North Shore & Hills — 11 schools, 285 places
Beecroft 250 (30), Matthew Pearce 248 (30), North Rocks 244 (30), Dural 237 (30), Artarmon 235 (30), Chatswood 235 (30), Ironbark Ridge 235 (15), Waitara 233 (30), Neutral Bay 229 (30), Lindfield East (15), Wahroonga (15)
Inner West — 6 schools, 180 places
Summer Hill 235 (30), Ashfield 226 (30), Earlwood 220 (30), Balmain 217 (30), Wilkins 216 (30), Alexandria Park 207 (30)
Eastern Suburbs — 2 schools, 45 places
Woollahra 220 (30), Maroubra Junction (15)
Southern Sydney — 4 schools, 120 places
Hurstville 227 (60), Sutherland 220 (30), Caringbah North 212 (15), Miranda (15)
Northern Beaches — 3 schools, 60 places
Balgowlah Heights 217 (15), Mona Vale 209 (30), Brookvale (15)
Western Sydney — 16 schools, 315 places
Ermington 244 (30), Ryde 236 (30), Quakers Hill 227 (30), Greystanes 226 (30), Blacktown South 216 (15), Blaxcell Street 210 (15), Kingswood 201 (15), Colyton 197 (15), Smithfield 197 (15), Richmond 182 (30), Blacktown West (15), Doonside (15), Guildford West (15), Penrith (15), St Clair (15), Toongabbie (15)
South West Sydney — 13 schools, 195 places
Picnic Point 219 (15), Georges Hall 218 (15), Holsworthy 216 (15), Leumeah 216 (15), St Johns Park 211 (15), Casula 207 (15), St Andrews 206 (15), Greenacre 203 (15), Newbridge Heights 202 (15), Harrington Street 200 (15), Camden South 190 (15), Bradbury 189 (15), Tahmoor 161 (15)
Blue Mountains — 3 schools, 45 places
Wentworth Falls 194 (15), Blaxland East 186 (30), Glenbrook (no 2027 intake)
Central Coast & Hunter — 10 schools, 180 places
Gosford 209 (30), Tighes Hill 197 (15), New Lambton South 195 (15), Maryland 188 (15), Wyong 183 (30), Jewells 180 (15), Rutherford 172 (15), Soldiers Point 168 (15), Biraban 162 (15), Cessnock West 160 (15)
Illawarra & South Coast — 2 schools, 45 places
Wollongong 208 (30), Illaroo Road 161 (15)
Regional NSW — 18 schools, 270 places
Alstonville 176 (15), Bathurst West 173 (15), Tamworth 171 (15), Sturt 169 (15), Dubbo West 167 (15), Armidale City 165 (15), Queanbeyan South 165 (15), Cudgegong Valley 163 (15), Goonellabah 163 (15), Coonabarabran 161 (15), Lithgow 161 (15), Goulburn West 160 (15), Moree 160 (15), Port Macquarie 160 (15), South Grafton 160 (15), Tamworth South 160 (15), Toormina 160 (15), Moss Vale (15)
How to Use This Data for Your Strategy
1. Be realistic about the top band
Only 11 schools required 230+ in 2021, offering about 315 places between them. Against roughly 13,000 students sitting the test, that is around 1 in 41. The next band down (210–229, 19 schools) roughly doubles your odds.
2. Geography matters more than most parents expect
There is no catchment restriction on OC preferences — you can list any school, up to a maximum of four. But the tables above show how unevenly the places are spread: North Shore & Hills has 285 places across 11 schools, while the Eastern Suburbs has 45 across two. With only four slots, a realistic list usually mixes a genuinely local school with one or two you would be willing to commute to.
3. Read the range column, not just the 2021 score
St Johns Park moved from 228 to 201 across five published years — a 27-point swing. Beecroft moved six points in the same period. A school with a wide range is one where a single strong or weak applicant pool changes the answer, so build in a margin.
4. Use the numbers to calibrate preparation
If your child's mock test scores sit around the 200 mark, targeting the 190–209 band (and listing one or two 210–229 schools optimistically) is more strategic than assuming a 230+ placement will happen with a few more weeks of practice.
That calibration only holds if the score came from realistic conditions — a full-length OC trial test online, timed and on screen the way the placement test now runs, rather than a stack of untimed worksheets.
Frequently Asked Questions
What score does my child need for a specific OC school?
For 2027 entry, the reference lines by level (boys and girls separately) at the top of this guide are the most current picture; the official minimum entry scores (up to 2021) are the last published data. NSW Education has not published cutoffs since. Cutoffs shift every year with the applicant pool, and the 2027 gender balance rule adds a further change. Use the tables to rank schools by relative competitiveness rather than to hit an exact number. The official OC past papers and answer keys are the closest thing to a free measuring stick.
Why did NSW stop publishing cutoff scores?
The department said past reporting of scores affected student privacy and wellbeing, and encouraged unhealthy competition. The last official figures were published in May 2021; since then it has published neither minimum entry scores nor individual placement ranks.
Can my child attend an OC school outside our local area?
Yes. There is no geographic restriction on OC preferences. Consider the daily commute, though — some families choose a closer school over a more competitive distant one for practical reasons.
Why is a well-known school ranked lower than I expected?
Check which measure you are looking at. Chatswood, for example, had one of the highest entry scores in NSW in 2021 (235, equal 7th) but sits 36th on 2025 whole-school NAPLAN. Both facts are true and they describe different things.
How many OC schools should we list as preferences?
Up to four. That is the maximum the application allows, and it makes each slot valuable. A workable split is one "reach" school, two where your child's expected score is a comfortable fit, and one genuine safety. NSW Education also advises listing only schools you would actually accept — fewer than four is fine if the fourth is one you would decline.
Are regional OC schools less competitive?
Generally yes — many regional schools sat at or near the bottom of the scale (around 160) in the published years, meaning every eligible applicant was offered a place. That reflects a smaller local applicant pool, not a lower-quality program.
Start With a Clear Baseline
Knowing where the 88 OC schools sit relative to each other is useful context. But the most important number isn't a school's entry score — it's your child's current level and where they need to improve.
A diagnostic mock test that breaks performance down by subject and sub-skill gives you the data to build an effective preparation plan — and to set realistic school targets.
Take a free diagnostic mock test →
Last updated: September 2026. Minimum entry scores: NSW Department of Education, "Minimum entry scores for OC placement", published 2017–2021 (discontinued from 2022). School list and places: NSW Department of Education, current as at September 2026. NAPLAN rankings: 2025 NAPLAN via ACARA My School / myschoolranking.com.
Read our complete OC Test 2026 Guide → NSW Selective School Rankings & Cutoff Scores → Compare free OC mock test platforms →