High Notes, Vol 10 No 16, May 29 2009
From the Principal
High Talent
Congratulations to Andy Ho (Year 10) on his 3rd place in NSW (7th in Australia) in the ASX Share
Market Game. Well done to Matthew McDonald (Year 9) who was selected in the AFL Sydney Brumbies
to play in the state tournament in Coffs Harbour.
What is the national curriculum agenda?
The National Curriculum Board has the brief to design a national curriculum that sets core
content and achievement standards for each level of schooling. It is to establish the standards
as the basis for the national testing and measurement program (NAPLAN). It is to ensure that
student achievement is reported on the same scale and in the same way, nationally. It is to
broaden options for students considering different futures and is to provide flexibility for
systems and schools to deliver the curriculum. K-12 curriculum is to be written for English,
mathematics, the sciences and history by 2011. It is also to develop a literacy and numeracy
skills continuum. A second phase of development is planned for geography and languages.
Developing Creative Skills
The fastest growing jobs are in emerging industries that rely on the creative capacities of their
workers. Creativity involves thinking unconventionally, being iconoclastic, imagining new
scenarios and generally thinking ‘outside the square’. Sternberg and Williams, in
How to Develop Student Creativity, offer four competencies they consider essential for
creative expression: capturing (preserving new ideas in a folder), challenging (giving ourselves
tough problems to solve), broadening (boosting our capacity by learning interesting new things)
and surrounding (associating with interesting and diverse things and people). Teachers and
parents need to model these skills to develop them in children.
What can you do about the stress you are feeling?
Employ cognitive behaviour therapy
Sit quietly and breathe deeply for two minutes. Force yourself to take an action – set a
goal, get out a problem you have to solve, brainstorm an essay question, prepare a study
timetable. Work actively at your computer or just with a notebook / textbook/ or paper. Challenge
your own unhelpful thinking. Say to yourself that you can succeed – one part of a task at a
time. Use your own mind to confront the stressors in your life.
The grass in the courtyard
Our school policy is that we allow boys to leave their bags on the grass during exams. That is
not the case at any other time. Now that the examination period is over, all boys should be aware
that walking on the grass is a punishable offence. Boys were once caned on the spot for walking
across the grass. These days we ask for your cooperation before resorting to punishment. If every
boy thinks it is OK for him to take a short cut, pretty soon we will have no grass. We have
flower pots and boxes lining the walkways and seats in apertures to indicate that traffic is to
go around, not through the courtyards. The cloisters and courtyard are traditional features of
our learning environment. Please respect them.
Dr K A Jaggar
H1N1 Influenza Information
DEPT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING H1N1 Influenza 09 (Human Swine Flu) Information
NSW
Health has confirmed a small number of schools in Victoria and South Australia have been closed
for seven days due to confirmed cases of human swine influenza. These decisions were taken as a
precautionary measure to prevent the spread of the virus.
To limit the potential exposure, NSW Health has advised that for the time being, any student who
travels to Mexico, USA, Canada, Japan or Panama should be excluded from school for seven days
after arriving home. During these seven days, the student should stay home whether or not they
have flu symptoms. This is because a person infected with flu can spread the virus a whole
day before they start to feel unwell.
During the seven days that a student is away from school, they should not attend after
school activities, community events, sporting events or training, public entertainment
facilities, or go to shopping malls/centres. Students should remain at home as much as possible,
and away from other people.
Please contact the school to advise us if you are keeping your child at home for seven days after
they have arrived home after travelling to one of the identified countries. The school will
arrange for education materials to be available for your child for the time they are excluded
from school.
Students will not be recorded as being absent from school for the exclusion period. The
attendance register will record them as having an approved exemption from school.
This strategy is important and will help protect the whole community.
If you would like more information about swine influenza, this can be accessed on the NSW Health
website ()
News from Classics
Scholarship offers to our students
In March of this year, the Years 9-12 Latin students sat the National Latin Examination organised
through the University of Virginia, USA. You may recall from a previous newsletter that there
were a number of high achievers in that competition, and Sydney Boys High received a letter of
congratulations on our achievement from the University.
Recently, we received a letter from the University stating that the Senior students who sat the
Examination who achieved a Gold Medal are invited to apply for a Scholarship valued at $ US
1,000. This means that Christian Katsikaros (Year 12) and John Wormell (Year 11) are eligible for
this special award. Congratulations to these two students.
D Matsos, Latin
From the Andrews Library
Book and Junior Library
Coping with a book library and a cyber library!
Senior students please note! The Andrews library is still your book library!
Library book loans were down by 400 but with seniors in temporarily last week now down 114
As you are no longer in a book culture when you go to your library, window advertisements of
brand new Senior Fiction will be displayed on the corridors leading to the Senior Library Stairs.
So look for new fiction there please.
PARENTS PLEASE NOTE
The Andrews Librarian has always purchased fiction for the three age groups of Juniors Years 7
& 8, Middle Years 9 & 10 and Senior Years 11 & 12. Book lists reflecting this can be
obtained via your son’s portal – Library Enquiry – Catalogue – this is
online if you enter the terms “Junior Fiction”, “Mid-school fiction” and
“Senior Fiction”. Likewise an entry of “New Fiction 2009” will give you a
list of the newest books.
Another reminder to your sons that the Library’s catalogue is a database which can be
searched via subject, author or title just like Google and can be very rewarding. We are very
fortunate to have lots of lovely new books on the full range of school subjects.
Mrs Crothers – Librarian
Andrews Junior and Book Library
Music Notices
Music Camp
Our Annual Music Camp will be held at Galston Gorge Conference Centre this term from
Tuesday-Thursday 2nd to 4th of June (Week 5). Students will depart from school at 8am on
Tuesday morning and return on Thursday at approximately 3pm for a BBQ dinner with a Camp Concert
starting at 6pm.
Music Tour
The next instalment of $1500 is due on the 30th June 2009, please make payments directly to
Angas Travel and they will provide us with receipt of payments on the 2nd of July 2009.
Please Mail to: ANGAS Travel, 303 Angas St, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000. Toll Free no. 1800
671 331
Education Expo Week
The HSC Elective Music students performed at Westfield Eastgardens last Tuesday as part of
Education Week. This gave the students a performance opportunity in preparation for their HSC
practical examinations later in the year. They performed on centre stage pieces from their HSC
music repertoire and impressed an enthusiastic audience. Congratulations to all the boys who
represented HIGH outstandingly with their wonderful performances.
HSC Music Workshop
There will be a combined Music Workshop with SGHS for HSC Elective Music students on Tuesday
the 16th of June 2009 from 3:30-5:30pm in their Campbell Hall (SGHS). The workshop will be a
great opportunity for the students from both schools to hear and critique each other and have
feedback on their own performances. Students in HSC Music 1, Music 2 and Music Extension will
each present one piece on the day.
Marching Band - Photos
Photos of the Marching Band from the ANZAC Day performance are available on the Student R Drive
under Music – Marching Band. If you have any additional photos taken from ANZAC Day or the
performance at the Heritage game in the SCG we would greatly appreciate you forwarding them to
the Music Department for our Music Tour promotion Next Year. Please contact us on 9361-6910 (Ext.
109) or email:
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Cabaret Night
Our Annual Cabaret Night will be held on Saturday the 27th of June 2009 this term with the all
day Jazz workshop on Friday the 26th of June for all members of the Stage Band. This will be an
entertaining evening. All members of Stage Band, Senior Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra will
be involved on Cabaret Night.
Grand Piano For Sale
2003 Boston (Steinway 178 model) for sale in very good condition, $22,000 (ono). RRP for second
hand is $25,000. Please see the Music Staff if you are interested or contact 0416 740 813.
SBHS Debating
Congratulations to all boys who have participated in the Friday Evening Debating Competition
– all Years have made the semi finals! The first round is THIS Friday at Newington with the
second round of semis to be held at Knox on Friday 12th June. Debates, speakers and topic areas
are listed below. Best of luck to all boys!
Congratulations also to our Yr 10 History Debaters who won their first round of the Les
Gordon Trophy Competition against South Sydney High on the topic That the Western Front was more
significant to Australia than Gallipoli. They now progress to the next round against Burwood
Girls. Matter is exceptionally important in this competition so keep up the good work boys.
FED Final Series
SEMI FINAL 1 - FED comp @ NEWINGTON
FRIDAY 29th May
TOPIC AREA- Media and The Arts
YEAR 7 (v Barker)
1. Geoffrey Liu
2. Peter Stephens
3. Edric Wang
4. William Wu
SENIOR A (v Joeys)
1. Chris
2. Taz
3. Christian
4. Julian
SEMI FINAL 2 - FED comp @ KNOX
FRIDAY 12th June
TOPIC AREA- Education
YEAR 7
pending success in first semi
YEAR 8 (v tbc)
1. Kritman Dahmoon
2. Wilber Koslowski
3. Connor Robinson
4. Amarbir Singh
YEAR 9 (v Trinity)
tbc
YEAR 10 (v Knox)
tbc
SENIOR B (v Barker)
Declan
John
Puneet
Dan Luo
SENIOR A
No second semi required
More information can be found at and will be emailed to you
on a weekly basis.
Please CHECK YOUR EMAIL regularly and ensure we have current contact details for both students
and parents.
PARENTS: If you are not receiving weekly emails about debating please email us at
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and ask to be added to the parent
group for your child’s year.
Dana Quick
Debating Coordinator
SHS Football: The Onion Bag
Player obligations
Players are obligated to attend all fixtures.
Regrettably the subject of players failing to honour their Saturday commitment needs to be
addressed yet again. Last weekend as many as 90 players failed to show up at their match. Some
teams had to play with as few as 7 players, others had to rely on borrowing players from other
teams to field a full squad. If there are any doubts about a fixture being cancelled due to wet
weather, players are advised to check the sports fixture draw located in “Upcoming
Events” on the home page of the school website . The website will be updated
immediately any cancellations are made.
Players unavailable to play need to explain their situation with the MIC in the week prior to the
match. (Friday is too late). Players failing to do so may be excluded from the football program.
It is the responsibility of the player to organise a replacement and inform the MIC.
Team Lists
Team lists are posted on the noticeboard outside DT staffroom. Please check each week for updated
lists.
Kick-off Times & Venues
Match times and venues are posted on the noticeboard outside DT staffroom and next to the
canteen. They will also be posted in “Upcoming Events” on the home page of the school
website NB:
Match times/venues may not be finalised until a few days before each game.
How to get to away games
See . Click on
“Links” from the left side of Home page, and then click on “Venue Information
for each AAGPS school” or check the Google Maps available in “Upcoming Events”
on the home page of the school website
Contact List
Regular updates eg about wet weather instructions, directions for getting to venues, fundraising
parking events etc are emailed to the Football Contact List. To add your contact details to this
list, please email
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Fixtures this weekend (May 30)
This Saturday, the 1st and 2nd grade teams are travelling to Armidale with the rugby teams. The
majority of our other matches will be internal trials. Check details in Upcoming Events on the
home page of the school website .
Fixtures next weekend (June 6)
There are no matches on Saturday June 6 due to the long weekend.
Match Reports
3rd Grade v Shore 0-0
SBHS Third grade football played their first game of the season against Shore on Saturday. The
team had not trained or played together yet and this showed in a solid performance that lacked
fluidity and creativity. The 0-0 score line was a fair result with both teams struggling to
control the game and ball for sustained periods. The highlights of the game included two free
kicks by Kieran Taylor, and one by Paul Simos, that looked certain to hit the back of the net
only to be pushed out by a resilient Shore goalkeeper. The game also came at a loss for third
grade as Enoch Hui picked up a knee injury in the first half. Hopefully the x-rays give the team
good news. A promising start for the team and we hope to improve a lot in games to come as our
experience, as a team, grows.
15D v Shore won 8-2
The field was wet and slippery. It was terrible to play on and there were puddles everywhere. Our
team only had 8 players so we borrowed Jerry and Kevin. Just minutes into the first half Shore
got past our defence and scored. We scored the equaliser straight after. At the end of the first
half the score was levelled at 2-2. Shore kicked off but High was the better team and scored some
quick goals. A long pass from Cameron up to the box saw the ball in the back of the net again.
Shore had some close chances but Allen was too good for them. The ball was in Shore’s box
again and a magnificent cross from Cameron saw Kevin score again. Jerry scored 5 goals and Kevin
scored a hat-trick. Cameron Wan. Captain of the 15D’s.
4th Grade v Shore Won 4-0 (an edited version)
Anxiety, tension, fear. These are the emotions that usually accompany a player when he steps on
to the pitch for the first game of the season, but not so for the fellas from 4th Grade. We went
on proud, we went on eager, we went on hungry (literally) but most importantly, we went on
looking to secure an opening season win against the boys from Shore. And secure a win we did,
with the game running right to the line and ending in a nail-biting 4-0 finish, High School on
top.
I would like to take some time now then to acknowledge a few key figures from the day, and first
up is Mishu Osinski, he played yet another great game in defence, holding the backline together
and stopping any attack that come our way. Then you’ve got the big man himself, William Lin
(who funnily enough, is not part of the ‘BigMenPair’, the other spot being taken by
Jackson Meaney), playing in the position of Goalkeeper, he earns himself a special mention due to
the fact that he played three games on the day, and also got his white shorts dirty whilst diving
into the mud. And the final mention goes out to all the Year 11s who played on Saturday, you guys
are stepping into a legacy of glory and you pulled up to the task remarkably well. Keep up the
good work boys, and we’ll see what the rest of the season brings us.
Quote of the Week
'Very few of us have any idea whatsoever of what life is like living in a goldfish bowl, except,
of course, for those of us who are goldfish.' - Graham Taylor
Mr R.Gifford
MIC Football
SBHS Wk: 9361 6910 Ext:119 Voice mail: 291
Email:
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P&C: High Society
The Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & C
Julie Connolly P&C President
Parents Portal in School’s Intranet
We have set up – with fantastic support from David Isaacs – a Parents Portal within
the School’s Intranet. The Parents Portal is designed for parents to have direct access to
P & C, Year Group, Sub-committee and other High Community information. The content is still
in its infancy but will grow over time. At this stage, information includes contact details for
members of the P & C executive, Year Group and Sub-committee representatives and minutes from
P & C meetings.
To log in to the Parent Portal:
- Go to the School's website
- Click the 'Intranet Login' button
- Type your Year Group username and password ****
- Click Login
- You should now be in the Parents Portal
Parents can find out the login details for the Parents Portal by asking their child - students
can look up the username and password to the Parents Portal by going to the Student Portal and
clicking the "Parents Login" link. This system will assist in maintaining security of the
School’s intranet and avoid the publishing of login details and passwords. Students should
all be reasonably familiar with the use of the Portal - it gets quite high usage. Try logging in!
If you have any problems, please call Julie Connolly on 0418 470 203.
Last Week’s P & C Meeting
Last week’s P & C meeting was held in the new Senior Library. What a fantastic space,
obviously designed and operated to maximise senior study time and effectiveness. Dr Jaggar gave a
very enlightening and comprehensive analysis of HSC results for the Class of 2008 and trends in
SBHS HSC performance. His analysis is available on the School’s website through the
’HSC Results’ link. Our warmest thanks to Dr Jaggar for his obvious dedication and
interest in each of our sons reaching their potential.
The P & C meeting unanimously passed the increase in annual Library Fund contribution for
each student to $125.00 from 2010. This contribution is tax deductible for parents and will
assist in meeting the ongoing operating costs of both Junior and Senior libraries. The complete
minutes of the May P & C meeting are available on the Parents Portal.
Upcoming Parent Meetings & Events (details in High Notes)
-
Debating Supporters’ Group – 6.30pm Tuesday 2nd June, Staff Common Room
If you would like to have any parent community news or upcoming events included in High
Society, please contact Julie Connolly, P&C President,
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; 0418 470 203
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