To my knowledge, Cheltenham Girls' High School is an academically comprehensive school, not a partially selective school. This means that the concepts of mainstream and selective classes are not applicable at this school. Cheltenham Girls' High School seemingly ranks consistently higher than Ryde Secondary College - 84th vs 124th as per 2020 data.
Essentially, your choice would depend on what you want/are looking for in terms of your studies:
- Do you want to study in a selective environment at a lower-ranked school, whose cohort may not be as academically capable, solely because it offers a selective environment?
- Do you want to study in a regular environment at a higher ranked school, but one in which the cohort may be more academically capable overall? Keep in mind that in partially selective schools, classes are combined in year 12, meaning that you will end up studying alongside students who attended both types of classes in year 12.
Despite being a comprehensive school, CGHS's academic consistency constitutes a significant advantage over partially selective RSC. You will most likely become part of a more academically capable cohort at CGHS, as opposed to that of RSC. In terms of how this is related to your HSC, this can be beneficial with respect to the Assessment Mark, which contributes 50% of your HSC mark (final mark) for a particular subject. This mark is determined using your ranks relative to your cohort across your respective subjects in addition to your cohort's performance in the HSC exams, meaning that being part of an academically capable cohort can have a positive effect on said mark, particularly if you are able to ensure optimal performance throughout your school-based assessment tasks/exams.
I hope this helps!
