Revealed: The best public, private and Catholic schools for HSC maths

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When children come in for an enrolment interview at Aquinas Catholic College in Menai, principal James Clancy looks over their primary school report card.

While parents might care about grades, Clancy looks at how a student has been scored by their primary teachers for the effort they put into their schoolwork.

“It tends to play second fiddle,” he admits. But he wants to see how much effort a student puts in, not just their academic skills.

HSC students from Aquinas Catholic College in Menai with mathematics teacher Vanessa Bauer.

Over the past seven years, his school has lifted its ranking in HSC league tables, this year placing 107th overall, an improvement he attributed to that effort his students put in.

The top-performing school in HSC mathematics advanced and extension this year was the academically rigorous Al-Faisal College, followed by public selective schools North Sydney Boys and James Ruse.

But they were followed by Aquinas, whose small cohort who took on advanced and extension mathematics outperformed many academically selective schools and all high-fee private schools, with more than three-quarters of students scoring above 90 per cent in both subjects.

“We want them to be challenged but not to the point where it is too much and they give up,” Clancy said.

For year 11 and 12, the school hires ex-students to offer additional tutoring after school, and the HSC students who record the biggest improvement in marks between assessment tasks are presented with an award.

“It is recognition, because 90 per cent of students do not receive an academic award,” he said.

Aquinas’ head of mathematics, Cynthia Athayde, said the school had focused on challenging students in maths.

“We try and extend them in the junior years and push them ... so they’re not worried about doing things and getting them wrong,” she said.

Carlingford High’s mathematics advanced and extension results were among the best of the state’s comprehensive public schools.

Its principal, David Krust, said parents were supportive, students really wanted to learn and teachers put a lot of hard work in.

“That confluence of parents, students, teachers – it creates a culture of success, a culture of high achievement. And that’s infectious,” he said.

Krust believes the school’s HSC success in 2025 can also be tracked back to change implemented five years ago after he initiated a widespread review of its teaching.

“I actually did an audit of all the programs in the school … because I wanted to look at the quality of them and see where they were sitting,” he said.

He brought in an external consultant – an ex-principal – who changed the entire school’s program: the lessons, content and delivery for every subject. Krust said having someone from outside the school was key to getting teachers to buy in.

“There’s credibility attached to that, rather than just the principal or deputy trying to push an idea, there’s someone else that can come in with an external eye and some expertise in that space and identify how we could do things in a better way.”

Carlingford High mathematics teacher Grace Tang said the overhaul changed the way they taught the subject.

“We had two extension 2 classes this year, which is pretty phenomenal for a co‑educational, non‑selective school. So we’re really proud of that,” she said.

Carlingford High School students Alexander Holovenko and Lina Tran, who received top band results for extension 2 mathematics in the HSC.

Alexander Holovenko, a graduating year 12 student at the school, said his attitude towards maths had changed since he was in year 7 when he found it enjoyable “but it wasn’t anything special”.

“Towards the end of year 10 and year 11, I just found it very interesting with all the possibilities … I found myself investigating things by myself and trying to take things to the next level.”

In the mathematics standard HSC course, Al-Faisal College outperformed Al Noori Muslim School this year, which had held the top spot for two consecutive years. Reddam House, which ranked first in 2022, was third.

Northern Beaches SC Balgowlah Boys was the best comprehensive school in the standard course.