Selective schools in New South Wales, Australia are government high schools operated by the New South Wales Department of Education that accept their students based upon their academic merit. Each year, approximately 15,000 Year 6 students across the state of New South Wales optionally undertake the Selective High School Placement Test to seek one of the 3,600 places offered for first-year entry into selective high schools. For Year 8 to Year 12 entry into selective schools, students do not take an external test, however they can apply directly to a school for entry. The application package is standard to all government selective schools, with internal selection committees considering applications each year in August–September. History The first government selective high schools in NSW were established in the late 19th and early 20th century. The selective school system at the turn of the 20th century included both schools newly established as selective schools, and older schools with selective entry that were brought into the system. The oldest selective schools included Bathurst High School, Fort Street High School, Goulburn High School and Sydney High School (now Sydney Boys High School and Sydney Girls High School). Many of the oldest selective schools in NSW have always been selective since establishment, including Fort Street (1849), Sydney Boys and Sydney Girls (1883), North Sydney Girls High School (1914), North Sydney Boys High School (1915), Hurlstone Agricultural High School (1959) and James Ruse Agricultural High School (1959). Before World War II, most of the state's government high schools were selective. In 1957, a government report recommended the conversion of selective schools to comprehensive schools, reflecting changes in education philosophy. As a result, from the early 1960s, most selective schools were converted to comprehensive schools. The conversion was resisted by parents and influential alumni of especially inner-city selective schools such as Fort Street. As a result, a small number of selective schools survived the reforms: Fort Street, Sydney Boys, Sydney Girls, North Sydney Boys, North Sydney Girls, James Ruse and Hurlstone. However, in 1988, the NSW government began increasing the number of selective schools and also made an important reform, abolishing catchment restrictions for selective schools so that any student in NSW could apply to attend any selective school. In 1995, the NSW government under Bob Carr created some partially selective schools (i.e. schools with both comprehensive and selective streams). In 2010, 14 more comprehensive high schools became