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IGNITE program FAQ: twelve parent questions answered

Twelve of the questions South Australian families ask most often about the IGNITE programs — the three schools, ACER HAST and IGNITE entry, single applications, percentile thresholds, fees, zone-free entry, results timing and special provisions.

By Braintree Editorial, Braintree Coaching Australia editorial team

Reviewed by Braintree Academic Panel on

Last updated

Quick Answer

Families most often ask which three schools offer IGNITE and how they differ, what assessment is used, whether they can apply to more than one school, what percentile entry needs, whether the program is zone-free, what it costs, and when results arrive. This page answers the twelve we field most frequently and pairs with the IGNITE program preparation hub for the wider context.

  • Questions answered12
  • Pairs with hub/ignite-program-preparation-south-australia
  • Test administratorACER
  • Results timeline~9–10 weeks

Read the full IGNITE Program Preparation for South Australian Specialised Public Secondary Schools guide.

The questions below are the twelve IGNITE questions our faculty at Braintree Coaching Australia fields most often from South Australian families preparing for entry to Glenunga International High School, The Heights School and Aberfoyle Park High School. They sit alongside, rather than duplicate, the broader exam-overview answers on our IGNITE program preparation hub — read the hub first if a fundamentals question (what IGNITE is, which schools offer it, how to build a study plan) is still open, then come back here for the deeper, practical questions that follow.

How does this FAQ pair with the rest of the IGNITE spokes?

The FAQ block below covers the three schools, the ACER assessment used, single applications, percentile thresholds, application timing, zone-free entry, fees, the paper-based format, entry years, the related STEM and Summit programs, and special provisions. For the section-by-section walkthrough of every IGNITE paper — timing, question counts and what each component asks of your child — see our IGNITE assessment format guide spoke. For how raw scores, standardised scores, percentiles and stanines work once results arrive, see our IGNITE results and percentile interpretation spoke, and for practice material to build the habit, see our IGNITE practice tests and resources spoke. The IGNITE assessment is built, marked and reported by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), while the programs themselves are administered by the Department for Education, South Australia; confirm the specifics with the school your child is applying to.

At a glance

Key facts.

Schools
Glenunga International, The Heights, Aberfoyle Park
Assessment
ACER HAST or ACER IGNITE assessment
Entry year
Year 7 (Year 5 at Glenunga with principal recommendation)
Applications
One IGNITE school per cycle via the ACER portal
Cost structure
Standard public-school fees plus an assessment fee
Results reference
High-ability cohort, not the general population
FAQ

Common questions, plainly answered.

12 questions our faculty fields most often about this exam.

General

Three South Australian public schools run IGNITE programs. Glenunga International High School (eastern Adelaide) has the largest intake at approximately 100 students per year and accepts both Year 7 and Year 5 entry, the latter by principal recommendation. The Heights School (north-eastern Adelaide) accepts approximately 60 students annually and is the only IGNITE school using ACER's dedicated IGNITE assessment rather than HAST. Aberfoyle Park High School (southern Adelaide) operates a more flexible intake with an integrated curriculum and a music-specialisation strand. Each school publishes its own assessment date and application timeline through the ACER IGNITE portal.

Glenunga International and Aberfoyle Park use the ACER HAST (Higher Ability Selection Test) for IGNITE entry. The Heights uses the dedicated ACER IGNITE assessment, which is structurally similar but separately calibrated. Both are paper-based, run roughly two to three hours of testing time, are administered by ACER on a scheduled date, and report results against a high-ability reference cohort. Calculators are not permitted in the mathematical-reasoning component of either paper, and preparation for one transfers directly to the other.

No. Only one IGNITE application may be lodged per cycle through the ACER portal. Families nominate Glenunga International, The Heights or Aberfoyle Park at the time of application and cannot change the selection after submission or apply to multiple IGNITE schools simultaneously. This makes the school choice the single most consequential decision in the process, and it must be made before the assessment is sat. If unsuccessful, a family may reapply to the same or a different IGNITE school in a subsequent cycle.

The IGNITE schools do not publish fixed cut-offs because the threshold moves annually with the strength of the applicant pool. As a working guide from the 2025 cycle, competitive entry sits at or above the 85th percentile relative to the high-ability reference cohort. Glenunga is typically the most contested at the 88th to 90th-plus percentile, The Heights around the 85th to 88th-plus, and Aberfoyle Park around the 80th to 85th-plus. Balanced performance across all four components matters more than a single high component score.

IGNITE applications typically open in November or December for entry the following year. The registration deadline is early February, assessment sittings run in late February and March, results are released about nine to ten weeks after sitting (commonly in May), and acceptance deadlines fall in June. Schools sometimes cap applications, so early registration is recommended. Exact dates vary by school each year and are published on the ACER IGNITE portal and individual school websites in October and November.

Yes. IGNITE programs are zone-free, so students from anywhere in South Australia — including regional centres such as Gawler, Murray Bridge, Victor Harbor, Port Augusta, Whyalla and Mount Gambier — may apply. Families considering enrolment from outside metropolitan Adelaide need to plan commute time, transport options and whether a daily round trip is sustainable across six years of Year 7 to Year 12 study; some regional families arrange accommodation with relatives or a homestay. Regional applicants are not penalised in the assessment or ranking.

IGNITE is delivered inside the standard South Australian public-school system, so there is no additional tuition fee beyond the regular materials and services charge published by each school. Families pay the ACER assessment fee at application — approximately A$145 to A$155 in the 2026 cycle, with a partial refund of around A$20 to A$25 for School Card holders — then ongoing costs typical of public secondary schooling such as uniforms, textbooks and excursion levies. There is no premium fee attached to the IGNITE stream itself.

The IGNITE assessment is paper-based, not computer-based. Candidates complete the multiple-choice components with pencil and the Written Expression task with pen. This differs from assessments such as the NSW Selective High Schools Test and the Opportunity Class (OC) Test, which moved to a computer-based format. The practical implication for preparation is that your child should practise on paper — reading passages from print, working mathematics by hand, and writing extended responses with a pen under timed conditions — rather than relying solely on screen-based practice.

Most families find Abstract Reasoning the most challenging component, because it is the section least connected to school curriculum. It measures visual pattern recognition, sequences and matrices independent of language or prior knowledge, and Year 6 students new to ability testing most often lose marks in the opening items while they orient to the format. It rewards methodical daily practice with rotation, reflection and matrix puzzles more than any other component, and small gains in it can move a child several percentile points against the high-ability cohort.

The primary entry point for all three IGNITE schools is Year 6 into Year 7. Glenunga International also accepts a small number of Year 5 applications by principal recommendation and evidence of exceptional ability; The Heights and Aberfoyle Park focus on Year 7 entry. Later-year intakes (after Year 7) exist but have very limited places. Families should plan around the Year 7 entry as the main pathway and treat Year 5 Glenunga entry as a separate, recommendation-based route.

IGNITE refers specifically to the gifted-and-talented streams at Glenunga, The Heights and Aberfoyle Park. South Australia also runs related Department for Education Special Interest programs — STEM streams at Adelaide Botanic High School and Norwood Morialta High School, the Summit program at Unley High School, and the Astra program at Woodville High School — that use the same ACER HAST assessment but operate as separate applications with their own intake numbers and curriculum focuses. The application processes are independent, so a family may apply to one IGNITE school and one STEM or Summit program in the same cycle.

Yes. ACER offers special provisions for students with a documented disability or learning difficulty, arranged through the application at the time of registration. Adjustments can include extra time, rest breaks, a separate testing room, reader or scribe support, alternative-format materials such as large print, and assistive technology where appropriate. To request provisions, apply early and supply supporting documentation — for example a medical report, an educational psychologist assessment, or a current learning support plan. Contact the school and ACER well before the scheduled sitting.

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