Enrolment process

Choosing a school for your child is a very personal decision and there are many questions you will want to ask. It is also important to see the students, observe ‘real-life’ lessons and feel the pulse of daily life within a school. 

St Andrew’s Cathedral School Tours are conducted regularly to fit in with your busy schedule and to ensure that the groups are not an overwhelming size. This is a great way to see the School in action on a normal school day!

Bookings are essential.

We look forward to introducing St Andrew’s Cathedral School to you and your child/ren.

St Andrew’s Cathedral School is a day school for girls and boys from Kindergarten through to Year 12, right in the heart of Sydney. 

Entry

Entry into a year group is subject to available places, with major intakes at Kindergarten, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 11. Entry to other year groups will be considered if there is a vacancy.

Students entering Kindergarten must be five years of age by 31st July, the year they commence. All Kindergarten children must undertake a readiness for school assessment before they are offered a place. If parents have already indicated specific learning needs, an alternative and/or additional assessment process may be required.

Applications

Applications will be processed once the information on the Application Form is completed and submitted, and all requested supporting documentation and reports have been received, along with the non-refundable Application Fee of $300.

A separate Application Form must be submitted for each child.

Due to high demand for places at the School, we strongly advise parents to submit their child’s Application Form well before the desired year of entry, to avoid disappointment.

Entrance for new students is preferred at the commencement of an academic year. Entrance at other times of the year has been accommodated, depending upon individual circumstances and available places.  

Family law matters

The School is unable to involve itself in any family law matters. In the case of all families, including divorced or separated families, it is the School’s assumption and understanding that prior to contacting the School, both parents are in agreement to the application and possible enrolment of their child.

Unless otherwise stated in Family Court Orders, both parents are required to sign the Application for Enrolment Form as well as the person responsible for paying the fees, and should a place be offered, both parents must sign the Enrolment Contract, including the Conditions of Enrolment.

Online Application Form

When you fill in your online Application Form you will also be required to upload some, or all, of the following support documentation:

• Child’s Birth Certificate
• Child’s Recent school reports and NAPLAN report
• Child’s Immunisation Certificate
• Court Orders or Parenting Plan, if applicable
• Child’s Citizenship or Residency documents
• Parent/s ID documents

The form will take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete. You can save your progress and return to it at a later date.

To start your Application, please click on the Apply Now button below and enter your email address.

You will also need to provide a password and verify your email address by clicking on a link that is sent to you via email before you can start filling out the online Application Form. The online Application Form requires an electronic signature from both parents/carers (unless the applicant is from a sole parent/carer family) and an online credit card payment of $300 (or $450 for students on an Overseas Student Visa) before it is considered to be complete and submitted to the Enrolments Office.

Using your email address, you will be able to save your progress and come back to the Application Form at a later date to continue if required. Your email address also becomes your username for your St Andrew’s Cathedral School enrolment dashboard. Your St Andrew’s Cathedral School enrolment dashboard is where you can track progress, update contact details and complete any outstanding tasks related to the enrolment applications such as providing updated documents.

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Once we have processed your child’s Application, they will be registered in the School’s administration system for the calendar year and grade of entry requested. 

Placement on the waiting list does not guarantee an offer of enrolment.

Whilst the School does its best to accommodate all enrolment requests, it is unable to guarantee a position to any student, as often student applications far exceed available places.

The partnership between the parents and the School is a very important part of any child’s learning journey – and it starts with full disclosure of all information pertaining to your child’s educational, social, physical or emotional needs.

The School reserves the right not to offer any student a place at the School or to defer the offer of a place to any student at its discretion but particularly when the parents, having been aware of the student’s educational needs, decline to disclose those needs or withhold relevant information pertaining to the student.

Approximately 6-24 months prior to commencement date, (depending upon the grade of entry) students and their parents or carers will be invited into the School for an interview with a member of the Executive team. Academic Reports, the behaviour and effort your child has demonstrated on their learning journey will be discussed, alongside areas of interest both inside and outside of the classroom. It is a great opportunity for both students and parents to ask lots of questions regarding the ethos and day-to-day running of the School and for the School to progress down the path of understanding your child better.

Private Tours can be arranged directly after the interview, with an Enrolments team member, if members of the family or your child has not already toured the School.

Places are offered at the discretion of the Head of School, and an interview does not guarantee an offer of a place.

Where additional needs have been disclosed by the parent, the School will make an initial assessment of the child’s needs at this point. This interview therefore becomes the start of a collaborative planning process between the parent, child and the School and additional meetings or information will be exchanged throughout the enrolment process. This process may include the provision of specialist reports, a member of our specialised learning team visiting the child at their current school for an observation and/or the home, to assist in assessing the learning needs of the child.

All offers of enrolment are made at the Head of School’s discretion.

When determining the offer of a place at the School, the School gives consideration to the following factors:

1. the date of lodgement of the Application for Enrolment form providing the family have not been offered previously and deferred to a later entry point;
2. affiliation with the school (former student, sibling of a current or former student or child or grandchild of a former student) or an aligned school (eg: Claremont College or Mosman Preparatory School, for Year 7 entry);
3. academic, musical or sporting ability;
4. child of ordained Anglican Clergy;
5. church involvement;
6. class size and ability;
7. overseas student mix;
8. pastoral considerations;
9. a child’s willingness and ability to contribute to the wider life of the school;
10. evidence of leadership and good character;
11. school readiness (see Kindergarten age below); and
12. “best fit” for the child

If successful, you will receive an Offer of Place from St Andrew’s Cathedral School via email, where you will be directed to accept the offer online. To secure your place you must accept the offer online within 10 working days of receipt, by agreeing to the Terms and Conditions of Enrolment at SACS, signing it electronically and paying the enrolment fee of $3000 (plus $10000 bond for students on an Overseas Student Visa). Both Parent/Carers (unless the applicant is from a sole parent/carer family) are required to sign from separate devices or desktop computers. The primary point of contact will use their email address to log-in to the enrolment dashboard to accept the offer while the secondary point of contact will be sent a unique link and identify themselves by providing name, email address and applicant’s DOB to electronically sign the Enrolment Acceptance.

After signatures of both parent/carers and payment of the enrolment fee is completed, the offer of a place is considered to be accepted by SACS and PDF copies of the acceptance will be sent to the School and to the parents.

Failure to accept the Offer in the required time may result in the position being re-offered to another child awaiting entry to the School. The non-refundable enrolment fee is additional to tuition and other fees, and is not credited to the first Term’s fees.

When parents accept the offer, there is a legally binding contract between them and the School.

Starting school for the first time, or starting at a new school can be daunting for any child, so the School has put a lot of thought into how to transition students well.  For students with a confirmed place, Orientation events for most year groups are held in November in the year before entry. This provides our new students and their families with the opportunity to meet each other, as well as some of our current students and staff. 

During Orientation, all aspects of life at St Andrew’s Cathedral School, both academic and co-curricular, will be explained. There is a dedicated new parent information site provided with all the information parents will need to start school ‘in the know,’ and a series of emails will be sent to all new families detailing everything from how to sign up for sport and musical groups, through to parking, Uniform Shop and canteen details.