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iloveeggs

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Penrith sucks ass cause you cant do the subjects you wanna do and have to deal with a shit load of requirements
unpopular opinion but the requirements are not that unreasonable in my opinion. if you can't make the cut in penrith i think its not worth moving to girra/baulko etc. to go do the subjects you want to bc in those schools its actually harder to rank better.

in y10 you have to make top 48 for phys (top 33%) and top 72 for chem and e1 maths (top 50%). in y11 you have to be top 24 in the e1 cohort to make 4u. if you look at the number of band 6s in the cohort, if you are good enough to make it in you are likely good enough to band 6 or do well enough to not drag the high performing students down. and thats in PENRITH not girra or another higher ranking school, so how does that translate across to a higher ranking school if you're like below top 33% in penrith?

penrith actually has these restrictions because of staffing restrictions as a main reason (which ensures most of their staff is qualified to teach that subject and aren't teaching out of their area of expertise) and in order to deter people that drag the cohort down from joining so they can have overall a higher number of band 6s. sounds really harsh but in reality it is what keeps the median atar high and since most people there want a 95+ atar most ppl aren't extremely pissed abt it bc most ppl make it into chem and e1 at least and that means they are in a high performing cohort.

so ultimately if you are smart you will thrive either way ngl. if you are struggling to meet cut offs at penrith for anything other than 4u maths and maybe physics i would be a bit concerned
 

Solarised

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my mate from soccer goes to Penrith and all they do is complain about it cus the school is acc so shit academically .
Facilities wise you are better off at penrith cus girrra’s facitlities r so shit but in terms of jus education wise

1. You have to to entrance tests for physics and chemistry, so you can’t even pick the subjects you want
2, you are capped at 12 units in year 11 so if you do ext 1 maths or eng you have to do SOR asw or philosophy as your last unit which sucks bad
3. You get no free periods and if you keep your 12 units you have the same subjects every day unless you drop 1 or 2 units
- you can only drop subjects in term 2 of year 12 if you are doing 12 units , you can only drop if you are doing 13 due to picking up 4u eng, 4u math, history ext etc.
4. The school is also really far away, like he gets home at like 5pm everyday and hes liked tired 24/7 so girra wld def be better transport wise cus year 12 will be so exhausting esp if you have morning classes for ext subjects
5. The schools ranking will def go down after this year ( 2024 pshs cohort is rlly smart ) because all the good teachers have left so we left will all the shit ones
6. Giirra also better ranked so if i was you id pick girra any day
so you go penrith cuz you said we all left with the shit ones? I feel like you just described your life ngl

edit your full comment is saved here btw :angel:
 
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Hey all,

Which school is better, Penrith or Girraween? I have received offers from both, and I am more inclined to pick Girraween, but I keep hearing mixed reviews from different people, websites and even study discussion websites like these regarding Girraween's performance, especialy lately as it is falling ranks. Can somebody please tell me which one is better and how they both pale in comparison, because I really don't know if I'm being honest. Please also consider the future of both schools, as I am getting entry into Year 9 and will spend 4 years at either of these.

Thank you.
I GO PENRITH PICK GIRRA PLEASE DONT COME HERE its really bad they don't care about students they rlly only care abt rank
 

sly_lyepat

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my cohort was shit and still is
very strange people in that year
damn i have a mate who is 2026 and their cohort is crazy at math, penrith math program (in junior years at least) is imo really good and they do a bunch of topics early, i heard i becomes shit in senior though and all other subjects are average
 
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iloveeggs

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damn i have a mate who is 2026 and their cohort is crazy at math, penrith math program (in junior years at least) is imo really good and they do a bunch of topics early, i heard i becomes shit in senior though and all other subjects are average
um no they aren't crazy and doing topics early doesn't align with the pace of baulko/nsg/a lot of private schools that accelerate even further. but it is true that penrith's maths is good ig. i think penrith's maths is good and girra's sciences are good, i would not call either school crazy good tho

all other subjects are not average, penrith arguably has a really strong humanities cohort with one guy in the past few years getting a 99+ atar doing no maths (pretty sure i saw them on hsc ninja) and state ranks in humanities are pretty acheivable for penrith cohorts historically, and they did come first in the state for ancient last year. there are a few really high achieving maths extension students over the past few years but that trend is dying out slowly. advanced maths, adv eng is average (still objectively good considering the rest of the state), bio and chem are alr, phys is cooked, social sciences is decent and tech and pdhpe is ok

the complaint abt penrith is not the academics per se (its not like its the kind of school that you have to rank like top 10 if you want to band 6) its that they make up dumbass rules to manufacture a competitive environment e.g. restrictions to cohort sizes for subjects, mandatory pre and post exam buffers, pressure to do easier subjects to band 6 in order to increase the schools band 6 number, in some cases out right shaming in class settings if you do badly etc. only complaint is that its a toxic environment academically
 

sly_lyepat

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um no they aren't crazy and doing topics early doesn't align with the pace of baulko/nsg/a lot of private schools that accelerate even further. but it is true that penrith's maths is good ig. i think penrith's maths is good and girra's sciences are good, i would not call either school crazy good tho

all other subjects are not average, penrith arguably has a really strong humanities cohort with one guy in the past few years getting a 99+ atar doing no maths (pretty sure i saw them on hsc ninja) and state ranks in humanities are pretty acheivable for penrith cohorts historically, and they did come first in the state for ancient last year. there are a few really high achieving maths extension students over the past few years but that trend is dying out slowly. advanced maths, adv eng is average (still objectively good considering the rest of the state), bio and chem are alr, phys is cooked, social sciences is decent and tech and pdhpe is ok

the complaint abt penrith is not the academics per se (its not like its the kind of school that you have to rank like top 10 if you want to band 6) its that they make up dumbass rules to manufacture a competitive environment e.g. restrictions to cohort sizes for subjects, mandatory pre and post exam buffers, pressure to do easier subjects to band 6 in order to increase the schools band 6 number, in some cases out right shaming in class settings if you do badly etc. only complaint is that its a toxic environment academically
my perception may be skewed cause my school even though its private does not accelerate that much in year 10 (the most we do is 3d trig and functions, i see penrith doing logs and shit from t1) so i think what their doing is crazy while in reality it might not be if you looking at top 50 schools my schools around 100
 

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