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Home
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High Notes, Vol 12 No 39, December 09 2011
From the Principal
High Talent Ivor Metcalf placed second in the U18 high jump (big PB 2.05cm.) at the Australian All Schools Athletics meet last weekend. He was 5th in the U18 110m hurdles (14.44). Adam Booth ran a respectable 6th in the 2000m steeplechase in 6m40.55s.Congratulations to both boys. Good news from Bendigo. Our opens basketball team defeated the Chinese National U-17 side playing as an invitational entry in the Australian Schools basketball tournament. The boys won their semi-final against Box Hill and meet the Chinese team in the final. In Melbourne at the Australian Schools Volleyball tournament our first grade volleyball team has had back to back victories against Melbourne High and Toowoomba High. They also beat Loxton (SA) and Upwey (Vic). The U14 boys (Division 1) have had wins against Billanook, Eltham and Monbulk High Schools from Victoria but lost to Heathfield. The U16 team (Division 2) have also had wins against East Murray (SA), Nudgee (Qld.), Wilunga and Bendigo (Vic.). Thank you to the 96 parent mentors who have so kindly volunteered to contact the parents of incoming students for 2012 to assist them with transition into High in their first few weeks.
Reports Update
Network Infrastructure Modernisation Plan Report
The successful implementation of the plan so far has encouraged the ICT staff to push ahead with
the 2012-13 plan and complete the works next year. Your sons will have the benefit of a 10Gbps
backbone capability by the end of next year. Your support via the technology levy has really
helped to make this modernisation possible. 
Amnesty International 2011 Schools ConferenceOn Friday the 25th of November, nine students from Year 10 went on a very interesting Human Rights Conference and Workshop run by Amnesty International for NSW schools. Throughout the day we participated in various thought provoking and sometimes confronting activities highlighting human rights in regard to refugees and Aboriginal people, issues that have a relevance to our own lives. The day started off with a speech from the Amnesty Australia Youth Co-ordinator, who introduced us to the superb work conducted by Amnesty throughout the world in their effort to eradicate abuse of human rights. The keynote speech by the NSW Branch President spoke of the increasing roles that young people are taking in the world and the power that each and every one of us has. To quote him: “You are not the future leaders of tomorrow. You are the leaders of TODAY.” The day proceeded to a series of workshops where we split into various groups to discuss issues regarding Aboriginal people around the world. The word ‘Aborigine’ does not specifically relate to native Australians but native peoples of all countries. We looked at various issues concerning Aborigines everywhere and particularly looked at the land rights movement of Vincent Lingiarri. Through this we looked at the “Declaration of Rights for Aboriginal People” and how despite the work of the UN treaty, Native rights are still being abused. It taught us how rights were being abused and what measures were necessary in order to stop them from recurring. We then moved on to looking at a particular story about an Afghani child refugee and his confronting and extremely daunting and dangerous journey to Australia whilst fleeing from the Taliban. It showed that despite what we hear from the media about refugees, their journeys are often much more complex than what we have originally perceived. It also demonstrated how the media we see and read all around us exaggerate and often unfairly report and encourage negative views on refugees. These revelations saw some students get increasingly upset about the current state of refugees in Australia. The workshops led perfectly on to the final part of the day called “creative campaigning”. This is a new style of campaigning designed to use creative mechanisms to spread information about and attract attention to a particular issue. Students broke up into larger groups to discuss various, creative ideas to raise awareness and tackle an issue chosen by them. After agreeing on an issue and an idea, the group nominated a spokesperson to communicate their ideas to the reassembled conference participants. Khushaal Vyas, Agnish Nayak and Jonathan Clements-Lendrum were all selected as speakers and explained their interesting campaigning ideas to a very high standard, impressing teachers, students and members of Amnesty.
We took a lot from the day and it taught us to keep an open mind when discussing delicate issues
like refugees and Aboriginal people. It further honed our leadership skills and also encouraged
us to become proactive individuals as well as showing us that each individual can make a
difference to the seemingly unsolvable issues of our time.
News From LatinNATIONAL LATIN EXAM, 2012On March 12th 2012, the school will once again be conducting the National Latin Exam, an international examination organized by Mary Washington College, Virginia, USA. Each year, approximately 110 schools enter this competition. The students at Sydney Boys High generally achieve highly, gaining gold and silver medals and scholarship offers for senior students. The exam in 2012 will involve all students of Latin in Years 9 to 12. The multiple-choice examination runs for 40 minutes and will be held in the School Hall, with an outside invigilator.
Students can find examples of past exam papers by accessing the following website: It is a good idea to prepare for the
March 2012 exam by practising with the past exam papers on this website. Students will be
examined on grammatical constructions and knowledge of vocabulary, including English derivatives.
There will also be a few questions on geography, history and mythology.
From the Library
ENOUGH GOOD BLOGS TO BEGIN UPLOADING TO OUR WEBSITE Here are two good Blogs written today: Angel by James Patterson is published by Young Arrow. Angel is a science fiction novel which poses the question of whether genetic mutation is wrong. I really loved this subliminal message that was hidden in the book. It is intended to be aimed at young adults (13-17). Angel is part of an ongoing series called "Maximum Ride" and is preceded by Fang and succeeded by the soon-to-be-released Nevermore. Angel is written in 1st person. I believe that the author tries to entertain and make the reader feel like the world he or she is reading is real. He does this by using immaculate description, urban slang and things that the younger generation can relate to; such as: relationships and using the word "school" to describe a facility where fiendish things happen. I found this technique very interesting and I was completely hooked. The plot that the author has conjured up is also very interesting; this also contributes to entertaining the reader. Max, a teenager, who is a genetic mutant, has just been left by the man she loved (Fang) and is the leader of a flock (her siblings that she leads), all the while she is still dejected and distraught. Max has 5 siblings and they all live with their mother, Dr Martinez, and are all mutants. The plot is further developed when two men walk into Max's house via the front door with news that there will be an apocalypse and Max and her flock will have to save the world. They also say that most of the human population will perish and that to sustain a society, Max will have to find a mate and create a democracy. This news made Max and Dr Martinez completely distraught. After she regathered herself, Dr Martinez stood up for Max and said, "she is too young to think of such things". Something I did not like about this book is how the author starts off the book. He starts off by describing Max escaping from an unknown facility. This is all action-packed for the first couple of pages, until Max wakes up and we realise that the action-packed section was all just a dream. Using a dream to start off a book is very cliché and this shows that the author wanted to quickly catch our attention but did not know how, so he found an easy and common way of doing it.
I also did not understand why the books name was "Angel". Angel is only focused at the end of the
book. Max, Fang and Dylan are the main focuses for most of the book. I think that the book should
have been named after those characters instead, but the preceding books had those titles.
All in all I believe that Angel by James Patterson is an exceptional book, with a few minor
flaws.
Ship of Destiny [Robin Hobb] Following the events of “The Mad Ship”, the dragon Tintaglia is freed from her coffin while Malta attempts to navigate the acid river in a decomposing boat. Athela and Brashen, finally at sea together, sail the Liveship Paragon into Pirate waters to rescue their own ship Vivacia, stolen by the Pirate King. However, mutiny stirs within the crew of the ship, and the mad ship itself is losing control. All the time, the serpents and sea monsters surround the ship and cause all sorts of trouble for Athela and Brashen on their epic quest. Hobb has once again pulled of a series as successful as her renowned Assassin Trilogy, yet she uses a very different way of portraying his wonderful fantasy world. Morals such as marriage (perhaps too mature for someone in Year 7 or even 8) are dotted through the tightly woven plot, but they are not forced which results in a well-rounded storyline. However, I did find that the core of the story revolved around the narrators' state of depression, and didn’t focus on action and adventure as much as her other books. The action was slower. The third person perspective jumping back and forth from one character to another developed the plot well, as each new character and each new chapter slowly unravelled the storyline. Robin Hobb has used her superior writing skill to entertain the audience, but also to inform about certain issues in our own society such as political and financial power struggles. A particularly successful part of writing in the book is her portrayal of Tintaglia. She uses very simple language to show how different the beast is from the rest of the characters, and display’s skilfully her wisdom and raw intelligence. The story begins with Tintaglia, released into the wild, as she glides through the water. This was an interesting way to begin the story, and I felt like it grabbed the attention and interest of the reader very well. Even someone who had not read the other books (like myself) would get a good idea of what was going on before the end of the first chapter, and this is an extremely important element in a book which belongs to a series.
Personally, I felt that even though a bit mature and tedious to read at times, this book is yet
another masterpiece from Robin Hobb. The well-rounded conclusion to the series really wrapped
everything up well, and even though it is not as action-filled as the Assassin series, it is
certainly up there in terms of fantastical value. If I were to rate this book, it would be a very
solid 8.5/10.
Die Letzte Deutsche Frage (in diesem Jahr)Die Deutschen verbrauchen 129 Liter , die Australier 256 Liter Wasser pro Person pro Tag. The sharp eyes of Kevin Fan (Year 7) spotted the information on one of the calendar pictures in the Languages corridor – have a look at the lowest and highest consumption of water. Interesting isn’t it? And whilst you are at it, let your eyes wander over some of the other posters; is it a flying saucer? Can that contraption actually move? And what is that cannon shooting into the air? –
Now for the last question this year and as Christmas is rapidly approaching – eine
Weihnachtsfrage: eine Maus, eine Orgel, zwei Männer und eine Gitarre – eine
Legende!
From the CanteenOnly one more week to go, so some items will be in short supply as we run down our stock for the long holiday break. Hope to see all our helpers at the Volunteers Party on Monday night. Apologies and thanks to Maria Farrell, Jian Ping Lee and Lin Jin who were omitted from last Thursday’s list.
A big thank you to our wonderful volunteers last week.
Thank You
Sports DonationsGPS sports competition is very demanding on people and resources. At High we have ongoing needs for facilities development, equipment and development through expert coaching. If you would like to help through a tax deductible donation for a particular sport, the appropriate form can be posted to you by calling 9361 6910. Alternatively, you can go to our website click on Sport / Sports Donations to download either Development Donation Form or Equipment and Facility Donation Form.
High FamilyThe Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & CIf you would like to have any parent community news or upcoming events included in High Family, please contact Ian Sweeting P&C President This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Upcoming P&C Parking EventsPlease find listed below upcoming P&C parking events. Parking raises a significant amount of funds for the P&C sub-committees and their associated co-curricular activities. These fund-raising activities allow the school to provide the boys with experiences more often associated with private schools (and at a significantly lower cost). Please make sure you check with your group’s parking co-ordinator to confirm the exact start and finish times for particular events.
Friday 16 December 7:30pm – T20 Cricket (Basketball) The Governors’ Centre (GCEE)Last Sunday, a number of our parents on the P&C spent their afternoon calling on parents of Year 7 boys to talk about the GCEE project, the voluntary building fund contributions, and the monthly giving programme. I would like to take this opportunity to thank these parents for giving up their valuable time to this important initiative. Further, I would like to thank the Year 7 parents, who were overwhelmingly courteous and gracious towards our volunteers, despite the fact it was most likely a rare moment to relax at this hectic time of the year. This weekend on Sunday December 11, we will be undertaking a similar exercise, speaking to parents in Year 8. Once again, if you don’t receive a call and would like someone to contact you regarding these important matters, please email Ian Sweeting This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or Pam Jepson This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and we would be happy to arrange a time to speak to you. P&C Thank You PartyIt is a pleasant change for the P&C and school to be able to offer something back to those who, throughout the year, volunteer their time and resources to the school without complaint. This is the driver behind the P&C Thank You Party to be held in the Great Hall on Monday 12 December at 5:30pm to 7:30pm. This event is for all the parents, teachers, support staff and community members who in myriad ways support our boys. Please allow us this chance to say “Thank You”. Remember too, that this will be one of the last chances to farewell parents of 2011 Year 12 boys. A light supper, courtesy of our indomitable sailing group, refreshments and some excellent jazz will be provided. You do not require a ticket to attend, however, we would appreciate it if you could RSVP your attendance by Monday to Cathy Northey via email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 2012 New Parents Welcome and Information EveningOne of the first P&C events in the new year will be the New Parents Welcome and Information Evening to be held second day of Term 1 on Tuesday 31 January 2012. The Welcome Evening is an excellent opportunity for the school to pass on critical information to incoming parents regarding school activities, co-curricular activities, school culture and expectations. Feedback from those who attended the 2011 Welcome Evening has confirmed that the transition to High for new parents and boys was facilitated by this event, and there is evidence that it improves parents’ engagement in the school community. As the event is held on the second day after returning to school, it is necessary to begin detailed preparation prior to the end of this term. Consequently, the P&C would like to arrange a time to meet with Year Advisers, Co-curricular Support Groups and Catering during the next week to discuss arrangements and ensure a successful event. Big Night OutHigh’s answer to MasterChef is scheduled for Saturday 31 March 2012. Please put this date in your diary so as not to miss out on this fantastic culinary experience. Upcoming Meetings & EventsP&C Thank You Party – 5.30pm, Monday 12th December – Great Hall Ian Sweeting
High TideSydney Boys High School Sailing
3 December 2011 Marcus James and Thomas Shortridge were again the standout skipper and crew this week, with a win in the first race and a third placing in the second race, to make the highest benchmark of two podium places in two races and really improve his chances of winning the Saturday Point Score. Other boats and skippers (Darren Tiang, Bart Daniels and Tim Pilien) were able to place in the top ten in both races, aided by the absence of the Cranbrook sailors this week. Race One had a good breeze from the NW to begin, but the wind began to drop and both it and the second race were shortened due to the lack of wind. Marcus James again sailed well and again turned a poor start in the second race into a reasonable finish, Darren Tiang sailed consistently and gained some impressive placings in both races, but the highlight of the round were the good performances of the less experienced sailors in the program. Julian Edgtton sailing with Kah-Yang Wong (left) were very impressive in their first race as a crew and although sportingly giving the rest of the fleet a ten minute advantage at the start, they sailed very well in the conditions to a very good tenth position out of about twenty boats. Kai Matsumoto and Tiger Zhang on 14, shared the helming duties and gained some good mid fleet places. Finally Dexter Gordon stepped up and skippered consistently with places in the mid fleet. He was ably helped by Toby Funston in the bow. With the lack of experienced skippers this week, it was pleasing to see budding skippers step up and take on the responsibility of the helm. Jamison Tsai, York Wang and Chris Huang crewed in the second race. Ascham entered four crews in this Round and sailed impressively in the first race. Next week is the Sailing Fun Picnic Day at the DBSC. All Junior and Senior sailors are invited to attend together with their families to enjoy the harbour with a sail and the facilities of DBSC with a BBQ and sausage sizzle. Bring a plate of food, salad or sauce, etc. 8.30-9.00am start. Round Six sailing results are summarised below. 3 December 2011
Final results next week
First XIII CyclingThe first eight have recently completed a nine week cycling program which culminated in a punishing 12 kilometre Time Trial. So called the “race of truth” because of it requires cyclists to ride directly against the clock, riders are asked to reach deep into their unknown stores of courage, honesty and determination. Rest assured that our members of the first eight showed great depth of character in pushing themselves well beyond their personal limit. The times for the 12km Time Trial are listed below.
Ben Wilcox 19.52 (36.36km per hour)
Sydney Boys High School Cricket
1st XI – High 133 (50) (O. Meroni 49, J. Moffat 34, L. Katupitiya 14) defeated by St Ignatius 5/134 (30) (J. Moffat 2/17 [6)] 2nd XI – St Ignatius 8/195 (50) (A. Kaluve 3/34 [9], D. Guptaa 2/18 [5], S. Sivayogarayan 2/41 [10]) defeated High 8/104 (50) (S. Dhingra 29, S. Thushyanthan 28, V. Avudainayagam 15) High won the toss and asked Riverview to bat and at 12 overs were 2/27 then a spate of wides and no balls allowed Riverview to gain some momentum which brought Sachin Dhingra 0/31 (10) and Shivaangar Thushyanthan 0/24(7) back into the attack in short spells, to bring back the scoring. Anup Kaluve bowling with good control early, took a wicket in each of his first two overs and Dhruv Guptaa chipped in with wickets through some smart change of pace bowling. Tushaar Garg, Aditya Koneru, Raunak Sura (on debut) all bowled economically in short spells. Once again 24 sundries of 18 wides, 3 no balls and 3 leg byes gifted Riverview 24 runs for little effort, which came back later to bite us. Anup Kaluve (13) opened the batting for the first time with regular opener Aditya Koneru and we lost Aditya in the 8th over. Shivaangar Thushyanthan continued his form with an entertaining (28) before being caught, and we lost Visakan Thayalan (0) and Jesse Cooper (5) in quick succession. Then the partnership of the day, between Sachin Tendulakar (oops, sorry!! we mean our Sachin Dhingra) (29) who smashed the ball to all parts of the field in partnership with Vishnu Avudainayagam (15),who showed at 14 years of age, the maturity of a very fine top order stroke maker, with great shot selections and a very bright future in cricket at High. Once again we paid the price for wides and no balls gifting the opposition runs and although we are still having problems hitting off the square and finding the gaps, improvement is showing in every outing. Well done, boys, for hanging in there and keeping the opposition on their toes. 4th XI – High 9/34 (J. Yang 13) defeated by Scots 0/36 5th XI – High 58 (20) (L. De La Cour 18) defeated by Scots 0/61 (7) 16A – St Ignatius 8/132 (32) (A. Dao 2/8 [6], G. Farrugia 1/9 [5], M. Yu 1/15 [5] defeated High 64 (28) (L. De Fonseka 16, C. Mao 12*, J. Seroukas 11) 16B – Scots 4/200 (32) (S. Subramanian 1/19 [5], S. Gallagher 1/19 [3], N. Selvakkumar 1/30 [4]) defeated High 74 (20) (E. Yu 21, J. Huang 8, H. Gu 6) Coming right after camp, a tired but resilient bunch of men played this match. As soon as the match started, wickets were coming fast but High was unable to react swiftly to these chances and thus missed out on some crucial wickets. Nevertheless our bowlers were able to scrape away some dust and end up with a handful of wickets. As High came to the crease, it became obvious that we lacked attention in the field and thus started losing momentum. High batted aggressively and were rewarded with a good total. Shots were played and boundaries were reached and despite a loss with a tired team, it was enjoyable nonetheless. Our batsmen needed to watch the ball more closely to avoid future wickets. A great, sound effort from High. 15A – St Ignatius 5/186 (32) (T. Hossain 1/18 [6], G. Shankar 1/21 [3], J. Chew 1/25 [6]) defeated High 68 (24) (G. Shankar 29, M. Betbeder 11, T. Hossain 6) 15B – Scots 6/206 (30) (J. Lin 3/36 [5], J. Tran 1/2 [1], S. Baranwal 1/10 [2]) defeated High 111 (30) (J. Zhou 31, A. Allingham 29, N. Mostafa 18) 14A – St Ignatius 162 (31.5) (E.Hall 4/37 [6], H.Puvanenthiran 2/14 [6], R.Hossain 2/25 [4]) defeated High 5/107 (32) (K.Subbanna 33, E.Hall 32, P.Yu 14, S.Nampalli 11*)
High elected to bowl on a green and muddy wicket yet for the first 16 overs, couldn’t make
use of it, taking only 1 wicket. But in the end the spinners did the job taking 6 wickets between
them and we bowled them out. The solid opening partnership between Karthik and Thomas ended when
Thomas got a cracker and was caught behind. Eli and Karthik steadied the ship and batted through
most of the innings before Eli tried to hit out. A final surge meant that we scored more than 2/3
of our runs in the 2nd half. 14B – High 94 (N. Rahman 30, A. Deep 16, M. Koslowski 11) defeated by Scots 3/95 (20) (M. Koslowski 1/13 [4], H. Ou 1/14 [3])
Sydney Boys High TennisSecond Grade Match Report – 3 December 2011
This week High played Scots away, looking to post a good performance in the season opener. The
day started off positively with the No 1 doubles narrowly taking the first set 7-5. The second
set was similar to the first, and after several match points we were able to close out the match.
Our No 2 doubles launched a fightback late in the second set but ultimately it was not enough to
get them over the line. Down on the scoreboard 2-1 after doubles, we knew we needed to be
successful in 4 of our 6 singles matches to win overall. Unfortunately this was not the case and
High went down 6 matches to 3. However various positives could be taken away from the
performance. Young Adam played a well fought singles match, coming back to win in two tough sets
after being down 4-1 in the first. Initially down a set, James Chee showed great determination to
clinch the second set and storm home in the third. Although disappointed not to begin the season
with a win, many valuable lessons were learned and we eagerly look forward to playing Shore in
the first fixture of the New Year.
PDHPE Sport Skill AssessmentPerfect Scores 2011
Improved Performers 2011
From PDHPEAs the year comes to a close I would like to thank all the students who really had a go and tried to improve their skill and fitness levels. Following is a breakdown of the grades awarded in PDHPE this year.
Also attached (above) is the information regarding the Skill Assessment Perfect Scores and
Improved Performers. Congratulations to all these students, this information will be displayed in
901 during Term 1 2012.
SBHS RowingRiverview Gold Cup ResultsThe Junior boys were excited about the expedition around to Lane Cove for the Riverview Regatta in front of the school grounds. With some Year 9 crew members injured or sick, the Year 8 1st quad had the opportunity to race as a Year 9 4th quad and did very well beating the Redlands crew to the finish line. Congratulations to Year 8 1st quad - Stuart Benjamin, Jacob Katafono, Oliver Lethbridge, Wesley Zhang and cox, Remi Lim. Upcoming Events
Social Events
Rowing: Shed Race Family Open DayThe Rowing Committee extends an invitation to the Sydney High Rowing Community to come to the annual Shed Race and Family Day
Saturday 10th December 2011 SHED RACE - All High crews row in the handicapped ‘shed race’ which gets under way at 8.30am and finishes in front of the High sheds, so come along and watch the crews as they race to the finish, approximately 9am. FAMILY DAY – Following the shed race, the committee host a relaxed, informal occasion for all families.
We hope to see all the current rowing families, as well as the 2010 new intake of students enjoying our open day.
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Sydney Boys High School
