‘No need to add more pressure’: Selective school offers out as gender quotas take effect

As the clock ticked toward noon, Akshaya Valluri’s Year 6 classroom began counting down. For 16,473 children across the state, it was time to find out if they had secured a spot in a public selective school. Only one in four would make the cut.

“I didn’t know how scared I would be,” said 11-year-old Akshaya. A surprise early mark from her father revealed the answer – Akshaya had made it into Penrith High School.

This year, Penrith was the second-most popular choice among hopeful applicants to the state’s selective school system. More than 1100 students listed it as their first choice. Baulkham Hills High School was the most popular, with 1369 students listing the school as their first choice, followed by Penrith with 1105 and Sydney Boys High.

Akshaya’s family did not list James Ruse Agricultural High School, noting the slim chances of success, though the odds were in her favour.

Under an overhaul of the system announced last year, an equal number of places will be allocated for girls and boys at each co-ed selective school and opportunity class starting in 2027. Female students have long been underrepresented: last year, 58 per cent of students in the selective system were boys and 42 per cent were girls.

The rollout of gender quotas is expected to lead to a decline in the number of boys by about 1000 students over the next six years, an analysis of enrolment data shows.

Akshaya isn’t sure she’ll accept her offer at Penrith. The Castle Hill Public School student is a talented musician and has secured a scholarship to study at Northholm Grammar School.

“I still feel proud of the selective achievement, but I’m most likely going to take the scholarship because that was our main target,” she said.

Tutoring business owner Tysan Allen said it was common for high-achieving students to also apply for scholarships at nearby private schools, sometimes turning down top selective schools such as James Ruse or Baulkham Hills for those offers.

“We have a lot of students wanting to get the best education they can in high school, but there’s no guarantee of getting a scholarship offer. It’s very competitive, so they give themselves both pathways and see where they land,” Allen said.

For 11-year-old Wahroonga Public School student Pratyush Joshi, Wednesday’s results were a welcome relief. Finding out he had made it into Gosford High School lifted a weight off his shoulders. When he finished his exam back in May, he said it felt like “there was 100 kilograms that I had to lift up, and then like somebody replaced it with a feather”.

His mum, Purvi, said she hadn’t realised how daunting the selective process would be and tried hard to reduce the pressure. “Once we got into the rhythm, I think our priorities shifted towards making sure that his mental health is preserved, and he doesn’t feel burnt out,” she said.

She did not let him know about gender quotas. “These kids are so little, there’s already so much pressure. There’s no need to add more, saying you’re a boy, so you’re at a disadvantage,” she said.

For the 2027 intake, there were 2076 first-round offers made to girls and 2188 to boys.

“Small differences in the number of offers made to boys and girls occur when a school does not have enough applications from boys or girls to fill all places available,” said a department spokesperson.

The department said there was a “healthy gender balance across the cohort”.

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