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Australia · Entry test

Selective schools reserve lists and later offers

A selective schools reserve list is a waiting list. In New South Wales (NSW), when a family declines a place, the offer goes to the next eligible student on that school’s reserve list, and your dashboard shows a reserve band estimating when that might be. There’s no guarantee of an offer. Victoria fills places through offer rounds instead.

  • A to FNSW reserve bands, estimates only
  • No guaranteeOf an offer from a reserve list
  • Term 4 20272028 entry reserve decision, to be confirmed
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Updated October 2026 · Written from official sources, listed at the bottom of this page

How does the NSW selective schools reserve list work?

Your child can be on reserve lists for schools higher on your list than the one that made an offer, or for a school with no offer at all. If their position is reached, the Selective Education Team emails you to log in and accept or decline by the due date. Accepting a new offer automatically declines the earlier one.

  • Offers from the reserve lists can come up to the end of Term 1 of the entry year. After that, vacancies go through the Years 8 to 11 process.
  • There’s no reserve list for Aurora College.
  • If you withdraw from a list, you can’t change your mind later.

NSW reserve bands

BandEstimated offer
ABy the end of September
BBy the end of October
CBy the end of November
DBy the end of December
EBy the end of January
FUnlikely to get an offer

The bands come from how families declined offers at each school the year before. In band F, any offer that does come is likely to be after the school year starts.

The reserve decision date

You can hold an accepted offer and stay on a higher choice’s reserve list until the reserve decision date. After it, students holding an accepted offer come off every reserve list. To stay on a list after that date, you must decline the offer you hold, and a declined offer can’t be taken back. For Year 7 entry in 2027, the department set the reserve decision date as 3 December 2026 at 3:00 pm.

Later offer rounds in Victoria

RoundOffers outOffers close
Round 213 August 2026, 10:00 am17 August 2026, 11:59 pm
Round 320 August 2026, 10:00 am24 August 2026, 11:59 pm

Those are the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) dates for Year 9 entry in 2027, after Round 1. ACER says around 90% of places are taken in Round 1.

You can accept a lower preference and still get a higher one in a later round. Late offers can continue until the end of Term 4, based on preferences, ranking and the school’s gender balance. An offer that isn’t answered by its deadline goes to the next candidate.

Sources: NSW Department of Education · ACER and 2 more. Checked October 2026.

Rules and fees can change, so check the official site before your test.

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