# North Sydney Girls High School

North Sydney Girls' High School (abbreviated as NSGHS, more commonly known as NSG) is a government-funded single-sex academically selective secondary day school for girls, located in Crows Nest, in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Established in 1914, the school caters for approximately 910 students from Year 7 to Year 12. Admission to the school is based entirely on academic results through the Selective High Schools Test undertaken by students in Year 6.
In 2023, North Sydney Girls was ranked fourth among all high schools in Sydney.
In 2001, The Sun-Herald ranked North Sydney Girls High School first in Australia's top ten girls' schools, based on the number of its alumnae mentioned in the Who's Who in Australia. In 2022, North Sydney Girls High School ranked as the fourth high school in the state, based on the percentage of exams sat that achieved a Distinguished Achievers (DA).

## History

North Sydney Girls' High School was officially founded in 1914 with an enrolment of 194 students. The school was originally located on the corner of Hazelbank Road and the Pacific Highway (where Cammeraygal High School (junior campus) is now situated). By the 1980s, it was felt that the site could no longer meet the needs of the school, and years of intense lobbying for improved facilities followed. When the New South Wales Government decided to close Crows Nest Boys High School, the facility was transferred to North Sydney Girls. In December 1993, North Sydney Girls High officially moved to its current location, following a $6 million building and renovations project.

## Academics
### Enrolments

North Sydney Girls is an academically selective high school; admission to the school for Year 7 is determined by results in the Selective High Schools test, which is open to all Year 6 students in NSW. A small number of students from other high schools are accepted into years 8 to 12, with applications made to the school to sit for an entrance exam.

### Award system

At North Sydney Girls High School, awards are given based on academic performance, sport performance, service to school and other merits across all years.

### Academic results

The school performs well in public examinations, and in recent years has been placed as the leading girls' school in New South Wales in the Higher School Certificate (HSC) examinations. Annually, at least 30% of Year 12 students achieve places in the top 1% of the HSC.

### Curriculum

North Sydney Girls High School is registered and accredited with the New South Wales Board of Studies, and therefore follows the mandated curriculum for all years.

## Co- and extracurricular activities

NSGHS offers a diverse range of extracurricular activities.

### Music and drama

NSGHS has a theatresports troupe, junior drama ensemble, Year 10 drama night, and various clubs available to seniors.
Instrumental ensembles and bands include the advanced string ensemble, stage (jazz) band, jazz ensemble, concert band, symphony orchestra, wind orchestra, wind ensemble, and beginner band. Choirs and vocal ensembles include Year 7 choir, junior choir, intermediate choir, combined (NSGHS & NSBHS) choir, senior vocal, and the a capella group.

### Sport and outdoor activity

Co-curricular sports include basketball, skiing, hockey, cricket, badminton, table tennis, taekwondo, rowing, kayaking, touch football, water polo, fencing, netball, tennis, and volleyball. NSGHS also has a chess club, dance ensembles, and a cadet program at Marist Catholic College North Shore, and has had students participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme.

## Notable alumnae
### Academic

* Dame Valerie Beral – breast cancer epidemiologist
* Anna Katherine Donald – Rhodes Scholar (1989)
* Dame Janet Ritterman – former director of the Royal College of Music in London, from 1993 to 2005.

### Entertainment, media and the arts

* Benita Collings – Play School presenter
* Ruth Cracknell – actress
* Ceridwen Dovey – author
* Jill Hellyer – author and poet
* Nathalie Kelley – actress
* Nicole Kidman – actress
* Samantha Lang – film and theatre director
* Catherine Martin – production designer
* Lucy Maunder – cabaret and theatre performer
* Janet Patterson – costume designer and production designer
* Cassandra Pybus – historian and author
* Margaret Throsby – ABC Classic FM presenter
* Naomi Watts – actress
* Wengie – YouTube personality, singer, voice actress
* Nina Oyama – comedian, writer, actor, and director
* Nagi Maehashi – cook, writer and businesswoman

### Politics, public service and the law

* Sally Dowling – NSW Director of Public Prosecutions
* Shelley Hancock – teacher and parliamentarian; elected as a member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for South Coast (Liberal Party)
* Justice Lucy McCallum – Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
* Nancy Grace Augusta Wake resistance fighter known to the Germans as "the White Mouse"; the most decorated woman of World War Two

### Sport

* Elise Simone Ashton (née Norwood) – Olympic water polo player

## Principals

The school principals have been:
| Years | Principal |
| 1914–1923 | Janette Grossman |
| 1924–1937 | Ida Slack |
| 1938–1941 | Lilian Geer |
| 1942–1949 | Vera Howard |
| 1950–1955 | Elizabeth Booth |
| 1956–1958 | Edith Kane |
| 1959–1962 | Jessie Simons |
| 1963–1968 | Dorothy Dey |
| 1969–1976 | Joan Morris |
| 1976–1982 | Shirley Hokin |
| 1982–1986 | Joan Whittaker |
| 1987–1990 | Betty Anderson |
| 1990–1996 | Isobel Seivl |
| 1997–2005 | Louise Robert-Smith |
| 2006–2012 | Meredith Ash |
| 2012–2018 | David Tomlin |
| 2019–present | Megan Connors |