Private school scholarships in Sydney: a region-by-region guide (2028 entry)

Sydney private schools in every region — from Penrith to Chatswood, Hurstville to Hornsby — run scholarship rounds, and the 2028-entry season is starting now. We checked 24 schools' own scholarship pages on 4 September 2026: 19 run rounds, most open applications in October and November 2026, close them in the first week of February 2027 and test in mid-to-late February 2027. One is already open and about to shut — MLC School in Burwood closes registrations on 30 September 2026 and tests on 17 October. Awards typically remit 25–75% of tuition, which at Sydney fees is worth anywhere from about $2,000 to over $20,000 a year.

Key takeaways

• Open right now: MLC School (Years 7–11, 2028 entry) — registrations close Wednesday 30 September 2026, testing 17 October. It runs unusually early; miss it and the next chances open in October–November.
• The season's shape: most schools open October–November 2026 (Knox 9 Nov, Danebank 11 Nov, Barker in Term 4), close in the first week of February 2027, and test 12–28 February 2027.
• The ACER cooperative round (used by Penrith Anglican, St Paul's Grammar, Santa Sabina and others) opens 21 September 2026, closes 7 February 2027, tests Saturday 27 February 2027.
• What it's worth: at the median NSW independent school's Year 7 fee ($9,488), a 50% award saves about $28,500 across Years 7–12; at a top-tier school it clears $140,000.
• Know your test: among the schools that name a provider, Academic Assessment Services (AAS) dominates Sydney (7 schools) ahead of ACER (5). None of the 19 uses Edutest.
• Not every big name plays: William Clarke, Oakhill and St Patrick's Strathfield offer no entry scholarships, and Riverview is deliberately bursaries-only.

What is still open right now

• MLC School (Burwood) — All-Rounder and Music scholarships for Years 7–11, 2028 entry are open now: registrations close 30 September 2026, testing day is Saturday 17 October 2026. MLC's scholarship page has the application link.
• ACER registrations open 21 September 2026 for the February 2027 cooperative test — you can register before most school pages have even updated for the new cycle.
• Tara Anglican (North Parramatta) still lists its regional boarding scholarships for 2027 entry as open.
• The Hills Grammar School (Kenthurst) has flagged its Year 7 2028 round as restricted: only current students, families with a secured future enrolment, or those on the waitlist with a paid application by 30 November 2026 may apply. If Hills is your target, the waitlist deadline is the real deadline.
• Monte Sant' Angelo (North Sydney) closed its 2027 means-tested bursary round on 4 September 2026; its 2028 scholarship dates weren't published when we checked — worth a follow-up with the registrar.

The 2028-entry calendar: what opens between now and Christmas

Every date below was read on the school's own scholarship page (or ACER's) on 4 September 2026. "Not yet published" means exactly that — those schools post dates for the new cycle later in the year, so bookmark their pages.

Year 7 fees are from our published NSW fee data, correct as at September 2026.

What a scholarship is actually worth in Sydney

Across the 408 NSW non-government schools that publish fees on AroundSchools, the median Year 7 fee is $7,916 a year — $3,786 at the median Catholic school and $9,488 at the median independent school, with the dearest quarter starting at $16,560 and the very top of the market at $49,521. Most academic and general-excellence scholarships remit between 25% and 75% of tuition (Trinity says most of its awards sit in that band, and very few are full-fee; a small number of means-tested awards do reach 100%), so the same "50% scholarship" is worth wildly different amounts depending on the school.

Two things the chart understates. First, awards usually run from entry until the end of Year 12, so multiply the annual saving by six for a Year 7 award. Second, tuition is not the whole bill — uniforms, technology levies, camps and co-curricular fees are almost never covered (Tara and Penrith Anglican both say so explicitly), and application costs are real: Knox charges a $175 registration fee, and Our Lady of Mercy College lists a $200 testing fee plus acceptance fees for successful applicants.

Scholarship searches are a whole-of-Sydney thing

The regions below are not our guess. They are where Sydney parents actually searched for "private school scholarships" plus a suburb on Google over the last 90 days — and the striking thing is how even the spread is, from Penrith to Chatswood.

Inner West — Strathfield and Burwood

The densest scholarship corridor in Sydney: four schools within a couple of suburbs.

• Meriden School (girls, Strathfield, Year 7 fee $34,400) runs Academic and Music awards at full or part tuition for up to six years, the means-tested Fidelis award (up to 50%, Years 7 and 10) and a sport award at up to 75% (Years 9–10). 2028 registrations open in October 2026 — details.
• Trinity Grammar School (boys, Summer Hill with a Strathfield prep campus, $40,250) offers Academic, Music and All-round awards; the school is unusually frank that most awards cover 25–75% and very few are full — details. Registrations have historically opened mid-November, two years before entry.
• MLC School (girls, Burwood, $36,400) — the one that's open now; see above.
• Santa Sabina College (Strathfield, $27,532) runs Academic, Music, All Round Excellence and Foundation awards at Years 5, 7 and 10 through the ACER program, with 2028 applications opening from September 2026 — details.

Note for Strathfield families: St Patrick's College states plainly that it offers no scholarships for incoming students.

Parramatta and North Parramatta

• The King's School (boys, North Parramatta, $40,440) awards most of its scholarships at Year 7 entry, some means-tested, with bursaries that can assist boarding. The 2027 round has closed and 2028 dates weren't published when we checked — the school offers an email notification list on its scholarships page. Tests with AAS.
• Tara Anglican School for Girls (girls, North Parramatta, $31,650) runs Academic All-Rounder (Years 7 and 9), Music (Year 7) and regional boarding awards at partial or full remission — 2028 applications open October 2026, testing with AAS — details.
• Our Lady of Mercy College (girls, Parramatta, $14,115) offers General Excellence, performing arts, sport and alumnae awards at Year 7, at full or part remission; its stated pattern is applications opening the first day of October and closing in February — details.

The Hills — Castle Hill and Kellyville

The Hills is where checking the school's own page matters most. The Hills Grammar School (Kenthurst, $28,790) covers all or part of tuition, but its Year 7 2028 round is restricted to current students, secured future enrolments and waitlisted families with a paid application lodged by 30 November 2026 — details. Meanwhile the area's two other big independents sit this game out: William Clarke College answers "Do we offer academic, music or sporting scholarships?" with a flat no (need-based assistance only), and Oakhill College's enrolment pages carry no scholarship program at all. Practical upshot for Hills families: the nearest open merit rounds are Barker (Hornsby), King's and Tara (North Parramatta).

Blacktown and the Greater West

An honest answer, because nobody else gives one: we could not verify a single scholarship-offering independent school in Blacktown itself — Tyndale Christian School's enrolment pages carry no scholarship program. Blacktown families searching for scholarships are really choosing a direction to travel: east to King's or Tara (North Parramatta), north-east to Hills Grammar (with the waitlist caveat above), or west to Penrith's two ACER schools below. Georges River Grammar (Georges Hall) is the value option to the south.

Penrith and the Outer West

The west's two rounds are among the clearest-published in Sydney, and both test on the ACER cooperative day:

• Penrith Anglican College (Orchard Hills, $9,580) runs Academic, Music, Visual Arts and All-Rounder awards across Years 5, 7, 9 and 11 at full or part remission. ACER applications close Sunday 7 February 2027; the test is Saturday 27 February 2027 — details.
• St Paul's Grammar School (Cranebrook, $18,300) offers Academic, All-Rounder and Performing Arts awards at Years 5, 7, 9 and 11 plus financial-support places; it is an ACER examination centre, and its 2028 dates weren't posted yet when we checked — details.

Hornsby and the Upper North Shore

• Barker College (Hornsby, $42,300) publishes the strongest award range in this guide: Year 7 academic scholarships up to 100%, music 50–100%, plus co-curricular and Year 10 awards. Applications open in Term 4 2026 and testing is Thursday 18 February 2027, with AAS — details.
• Knox Grammar School (boys, Wahroonga, $42,640) has the most complete published calendar in Sydney: registrations open Monday 9 November 2026, close midnight Thursday 4 February 2027, exams Sunday 21 February 2027 (Years 7–11) and 28 February (Year 5). Registration costs $175. Awards span academic, music, all-rounder, sons of old boys and regional boarding — details.

Chatswood and the Lower North Shore

• St Pius X College (boys, Chatswood, $12,900) takes a different approach: seven academic scholarships awarded annually by the principal plus equity scholarships for Indigenous and refugee students — awarded, not applied for through a public test round — details.
• Roseville College (girls, Roseville, $34,025) runs Academic, All-Rounder and Music awards at Year 7, senior versions at Years 8–11, and means-tested Foundation awards to full remission. Its 2027 round opened in late October and closed in January; 2028 dates weren't published yet — details. Tests with AAS.
• Monte Sant' Angelo Mercy College (girls, North Sydney, $26,560) runs a Year 7 ACER-based scholarship, senior awards, and means-tested bursaries from 20% to full remission — 2028 dates not yet published — details.

Eastwood, Ryde and the Northern District

No school inside Eastwood or Ryde runs a public merit round, but the surrounding ring does. Arden Anglican School (Beecroft/Epping, $24,332) offers Year 7 Academic and Music awards at whole or part tuition; its stated pattern is applications opening in October of Year 5 and closing in February of Year 6, tested online at home with AAS — details. For families thinking of St Ignatius' College Riverview (Lane Cove): it offers no merit scholarships at all, by policy — instead it runs one of Sydney's largest means-tested bursary programs, supporting more than 60 students and awarding $2.0M in 2025 — details. Otherwise Eastwood and Ryde sit within reach of the Inner West group to the south and Knox and Barker to the north.

Hurstville and St George

• Danebank (girls, Hurstville, $24,880) has already published its full 2028 calendar: Academic, Music, Sporting, All-Rounder, Old Girl and First Nations awards open 11 November 2026, close 3 February 2027, and the assessment is Friday 12 February 2027 — details.
• St George Christian School (Hurstville, $4,230 — the lowest fee in this guide) runs Academic and Music awards at Years 7 and 11 through ACER; an enrolment application must be lodged before you can register. Its Year 7 2028 dates weren't published yet — details.

Bankstown and the South-West

Georges River Grammar (Georges Hall, $13,130) is the south-west's verified round: Academic awards at Years 5, 7, 9 and 11 (opens October 2026, AAS test in February 2027) plus drama, music, visual arts and sport "ability" awards opening March 2027 — details. Beyond that, Bankstown sits within practical reach of Trinity (Summer Hill) and Danebank (Hurstville) above.

Which test will your child sit?

Among the 12 schools in this guide that name their provider, seven test with Academic Assessment Services (Barker, Knox, Roseville, Tara, King's, Georges River Grammar, Arden) and five through ACER's cooperative program (Penrith Anglican, St Paul's, Santa Sabina, St George Christian, Monte). None uses Edutest — in Sydney it barely figures, whatever the national prep-industry marketing says. The formats differ enough to matter; our ACER vs Edutest vs AAS comparison breaks down what each test asks. The tactical consequence: pick two or three target schools on the same provider and one preparation effort covers all of them.

Schools we checked that do not offer scholarships

So you don't waste an afternoon searching: William Clarke College (Kellyville — "no", need-based assistance only), St Patrick's College (Strathfield — none for incoming students), Oakhill College (Castle Hill — no program on its enrolment pages), Tyndale Christian School (Blacktown — none), and St Ignatius' College Riverview (Lane Cove — means-tested bursaries only, no merit awards).

If a scholarship is out of reach or the maths doesn't work, the no-fee alternative is a selective public school: NSW runs the largest selective system in the country, and the Selective High School Placement Test is a separate process with its own timeline — check the NSW Education page for the current cycle.

How to give your child a real shot

• Start with the test provider, not the school. One preparation effort can cover several schools on the same test — see the provider chart above.
• Registrations close weeks before the exam, and Knox says outright that late applications are not considered. Put the close date in your calendar, not the test date.
• Timing matters more than tutoring. Most families start too late; when to start preparing sets out a realistic runway, and the private school entry timeline shows how scholarship rounds fit into the wider enrolment cycle.
• Read how offers play out before you sit anything — the complete Australian scholarships guide covers values, conditions and what happens after results.
• Ask about bursaries directly. Means-tested bursaries are quieter than scholarships and often more generous — Riverview's program above is the proof — and registrars will tell you what exists if you ask.

Frequently asked questions

When do 2028-entry scholarship applications open in Sydney?

Mostly October and November 2026: Knox opens 9 November, Danebank 11 November, Barker in Term 4, and Meriden, Tara, Santa Sabina and Georges River Grammar during October. Applications then close in the first week of February 2027 and testing runs 12–28 February 2027. The exceptions run early: MLC School closes 30 September 2026, and ACER's own registration portal opens 21 September 2026.

How much do private school scholarships cover?

Most academic and general-excellence awards in Sydney remit 25–75% of tuition; a small number of flagship or means-tested awards reach 100%. At the median NSW independent school a half-fee award is worth about $4,744 a year, or roughly $28,500 across Years 7–12 at today's published fees.

Which test will my child sit?

Depends on the school: AAS for Barker, Knox, Roseville, Tara, King's, Georges River Grammar and Arden; the ACER cooperative test (27 February 2027) for Penrith Anglican, St Paul's, Santa Sabina, St George Christian and Monte. None of the schools in this guide uses Edutest.

Are scholarships only for Year 7 entry?

Year 7 is the biggest intake, but Penrith Anglican, St Paul's and Georges River Grammar run Year 5 rounds, Knox tests Years 5–11, and several schools run Year 10 or 11 awards. Check the school's own page — every one is linked above.

Do Catholic systemic schools offer scholarships?

Rarely — most systemic Catholic schools keep fees low for everyone (median Year 7 fee $3,786 in NSW) rather than discounting for a few. The Catholic-tradition schools that do run rounds are the independent congregational colleges — Santa Sabina, OLMC Parramatta, Monte and St Pius X all appear above.

Every scholarship, date and dollar figure in this guide was read on the named school's own scholarship page (or ACER's) on 4 September 2026. Schools change these pages every cycle — confirm on the school's page, linked above, before you plan around a date.

Fee figures come from our published NSW school-fee data (408 schools, correct as at September 2026). Browse independent schools across NSW, or see what else is on for kids in Strathfield, Castle Hill, Chatswood, Parramatta and every other Sydney suburb.