Sydney's Top 100 Public Primary Schools (2026 Ranking)

Every year, News Corp publishes a national ranking of Australian primary schools built on public NAPLAN results — and every year, Sydney parents scroll straight to the same question: where does my local public school sit, and which suburbs dominate the top? Below is the 2026 list of the top 100 public primary schools in Sydney, complete with each school's suburb and its rank on the national table of roughly 5,000 schools.

Two things jump out immediately. First, New South Wales schools sweep the entire national top 5. Second, the list is overwhelmingly concentrated in a handful of Sydney regions — the Upper North Shore and the Hills District in particular. If you are weighing up a house move, a school catchment, or an OC and selective strategy, this is the map you want in front of you.

How This Ranking Works (and What It Isn't)

This is a media ranking built on publicly reported NAPLAN data — the standardised Year 3 and Year 5 literacy and numeracy tests every Australian student sits. Schools are ordered by their average performance across those results. It is a useful, data-driven snapshot, but it is important to be clear about what it is not:

• It is not an official NSW Department of Education ranking. The Department does not rank or league-table its schools.
• A high rank reflects average NAPLAN scores, which correlate strongly with a school's socio-educational profile (ICSEA) — not just teaching quality.
• It is a primary-school academic ranking. It is not a list of OC (Opportunity Class) schools, and a top-100 placing does not mean a school hosts an OC class. More on that below.

Read it as a starting point for conversations and research — not the final word on any school.

The Top 5: A Clean NSW Sweep

Australia's five highest-ranked public primary schools in 2026 are all in Sydney's north:

1. Beecroft Public School (Beecroft) — national #1
2. Roseville Public School (Roseville) — national #2
3. Matthew Pearce Public School (Baulkham Hills) — national #3
4. St Ives North Public School (St Ives) — national #4
5. Lindfield East Public School (East Lindfield) — national #5

Four of the five sit on the Upper North Shore; Matthew Pearce anchors the Hills. These are the suburbs where "school-catchment premium" is baked hardest into house prices.

The School-Zone Hotspots

Zoom out from individual schools and clear clusters emerge. A few catchment "postcodes of interest" account for a huge share of the top 100:

• Epping — Epping PS (#6), Epping West (#14), Epping Heights (#19) and Epping North (#78) put four schools on the list from one suburb.
• Carlingford — Murray Farm (#9), Carlingford West (#12), Carlingford PS (#72) and Roselea (#88).
• Castle Hill & Baulkham Hills — Matthew Pearce (#3), Oakhill Drive (#11), Jasper Road (#33), Excelsior (#38), Crestwood (#53), Castle Hill PS (#56), Samuel Gilbert (#66) and Baulkham Hills North (#79). The Hills is the deepest cluster on the whole list.
• St Ives · Lindfield · Killara — St Ives North (#4), Lindfield East (#5), Lindfield (#23), Beaumont Road (#40) and Killara PS (#86).

The Inner West (Summer Hill, Annandale, Balmain, Leichhardt) and the Eastern Suburbs (Woollahra, Rose Bay, Bronte, Bellevue Hill) also feature, but the centre of gravity is unmistakably the north-west.

The Full Top 100

Here is every school, ranked 1–100 within Sydney, with its suburb and its position on the national table.

What This Means for OC and Selective Families

If you are preparing your child for the OC (Opportunity Class) or selective high school tests, resist the temptation to read this list as a to-do. A few honest points:

• A top-ranked primary school is not an OC school. OC — in Chinese, 天才班 — is a separate two-year academically selective stream running across Years 5 and 6 inside selected NSW public primary schools. There are 88 OC schools across NSW (57 in metropolitan Sydney, 31 rural and regional), plus Aurora College online. Whether a school appears in this NAPLAN ranking has no bearing on whether it hosts an OC class.
• You don't need to attend a top-100 school to sit the OC or selective test. Every eligible NSW student can apply, regardless of which primary school they attend. Placement is decided by the test, not by your current school's ranking.
• The overlap is about geography, not entitlement. The same North Shore and Hills suburbs that dominate this list are also where OC and selective competition is fiercest — strong local cohorts, high parent engagement, and busy tutoring markets. A great catchment can lift the peer group your child learns alongside, but it doesn't grant a place anywhere selective.
• Preferences matter. The NSW OC application lets you nominate up to four schools in order of preference (the fourth choice is unique to OC — selective high school allows three). Order never changes your odds at any single school; it only decides which offer you receive if your child qualifies for more than one.

To see which schools actually host an OC class near you — the list that matters for applications — use AcePath's OC schools directory and map, which is drawn from the official NSW Department of Education directory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a top-100 school automatically an OC school?

No. This is a NAPLAN-based ranking of ordinary public primary schools. OC status is separate and set by the NSW Department of Education. Some ranked schools host an OC class and many do not — always check the official OC schools directory rather than assuming.

How were these schools ranked?

By average performance on publicly reported NAPLAN (Year 3 and Year 5) literacy and numeracy results, as compiled in News Corp's national primary-school comparison of around 5,000 schools. The "national rank" column shows each Sydney school's position on that full Australian table.

Does my child need to attend a top-ranked school to get into OC or a selective high school?

No. Entry is decided by the OC Placement Test and the Selective High School Test, which any eligible NSW student can sit regardless of their current primary school. A strong school can help build the skills, but it confers no advantage in the selection process itself.

Why are so many top schools on the North Shore and in the Hills?

NAPLAN averages correlate strongly with a suburb's socio-educational profile (ICSEA). The Upper North Shore and the Hills District combine high parental education, stable enrolments and strong community demand for academic results — which is reflected in both this ranking and in OC and selective competition.

Where can I see OC and selective schools near me instead?

Use AcePath's nearby OC schools map and our selective schools map. They plot the schools that actually run selective programs — the ones that matter when you build your application preference list.

Start Preparing the Right Way

A great catchment is a head start, not a plan. The families who win OC and selective places pair a strong school with deliberate practice on the exact test format. Try a free AcePath OC sample quiz to see where your child stands, then explore our OC and selective practice packs built to match the NSW test.