North Sydney Girls High School


North Sydney Girls' High School is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for girls, located in Crows Nest, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1914, the school caters for approximately 910 students from Year 7 to Year 12. Admission to the school is based entirely on academic results through the Selective High School Placement Test undertaken by students in Year 6. In 2025, North Sydney Girls was ranked fourth among all high schools in Sydney.

History

North Sydney Girls' High School was officially founded in 1914 with an enrolment of 194 students. The school was originally located on the corner of Hazelbank Road and the Pacific Highway, where Cammeraygal High School's junior campus is now situated. By the 1980s, it was felt that the site could no longer meet the needs of the school, and years of intense lobbying for improved facilities followed. After the Government of New South Wales decided to close Crows Nest Boys High School, the site was earmarked for North Sydney Girls High with the move to its current location, following a $6 million building and renovations project occurring in December 1993.

Academics

Enrolments

North Sydney Girls is an academically selective high school; admission to the school for Year 7 is determined by results in the Selective High Schools test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 12, with applications made to the school to sit for an entrance exam.

Award system

At North Sydney Girls High School, awards are given based on academic performance, sport performance, service to school and other merits across all years.

Academic results

In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked North Sydney Girls High School first in Australia's top ten girls' schools, based on the number of its alumnae mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia. In 2022, North Sydney Girls High School ranked as the fourth high school in the state, based on the percentage of exams sat that achieved a Distinguished Achievers.
Generally, around 20-30% of students earn ATAR ranks between 99-99.95.

Co- and extracurricular activities

NSGHS offers a diverse range of extracurricular activities.

Music and drama

NSGHS has a theatresports troupe, junior drama ensemble, Year 10 drama night, and various clubs available to seniors.
Instrumental ensembles and bands include the advanced string ensemble, stage band, jazz ensemble, concert band, symphony orchestra, wind orchestra, wind ensemble, and beginner band. Choirs and vocal ensembles include Year 7 choir, junior choir, intermediate choir, combined choir, senior vocal, and the a capella group.

Sport and outdoor activity

Co-curricular sports include basketball, skiing, hockey, cricket, badminton, table tennis, taekwondo, rowing, kayaking, touch football, water polo, fencing, netball, tennis, and volleyball. NSGHS also has a chess club, dance ensembles, and a cadet program at Marist Catholic College North Shore, and has had students participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

Notable alumnae

Academic

  • Dame Valerie Beralbreast cancer epidemiologist
  • Anna Katherine DonaldRhodes Scholar
  • Dame Janet Rittermanformer director of the Royal College of Music in London, from 1993 to 2005.

    Entertainment, media and the arts

  • Benita CollingsPlay School presenter
  • Ruth Cracknellactress
  • Ceridwen Doveyauthor
  • Jill Hellyerauthor and poet
  • Elsa Jacoby – actress and soprano
  • Nathalie Kelleyactress
  • Nicole Kidmanactress
  • Samantha Langfilm and theatre director
  • Catherine Martinproduction designer
  • Lucy Maundercabaret and theatre performer
  • Janet Pattersoncostume designer and production designer
  • Cassandra Pybushistorian and author
  • Margaret ThrosbyABC Classic FM presenter
  • Naomi Wattsactress
  • WengieYouTube personality, singer, voice actress
  • Nina Oyamacomedian, writer, actor, and director
  • Nagi Maehashi – cook, writer and businesswoman

    Politics, public service and the law

  • Sally DowlingNSW Director of Public Prosecutions
  • Shelley Hancockteacher and parliamentarian; elected as a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for South Coast
  • Justice Lucy McCallumChief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
  • Nancy Grace Augusta Wake resistance fighter known to the Germans as "the White Mouse"; the most decorated woman of World War Two

    Sport

  • Elise Simone Ashton Olympic water polo player

    Principals

The school principals have been:
YearsPrincipal
1914–1923Janette Grossman
1924–1937Ida Slack
1938–1941Lilian Geer
1942–1949Vera Howard
1950–1955Elizabeth Booth
1956–1958Edith Kane
1959–1962Jessie Simons
1963–1968Dorothy Dey
1969–1976Joan Morris
1976–1982Shirley Hokin
1982–1986Joan Whittaker
1987–1990Betty Anderson
1990–1996Isobel Seivl
1997–2005Louise Robert-Smith
2006–2012Meredith Ash
2012–2018David Tomlin
2019–presentMegan Connors