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High Notes, Vol 14 No 11, April 12 2013
From the Principal
End of Term 1
High Talent
Athletics Benchmarking
General Service Contributions and Co-payments
Summer season co-payments are due now. Invoices have been posted. Most activities outside of the
school setting cost c$200 per season. At High we try to keep the costs down by
subsidising many activities through parking. In addition $150 from the general contribution for
1182 boys is directed towards sports administration and supervision, principally through wages
and allowances to MICs. Co-payments are generally $110 except for sports such as rowing, sailing
or rifle shooting where significant extra costs are unavoidable and the co-payments are set by
the Associations or Committees including parents. It would be very helpful if co-payments were
made before the end of term 2, week 2. 
Baby Photo CompetitionStudents have spent the past three weeks desperately trying to identify staff members from their baby photos, for a chance to enter the PAWS Committee’s prize draw. Which teacher played with a doll when they were tiny? And whose smile hasn’t changed? Thank you to all the students who assisted in the fundraiser event, supporting the Animal Welfare League NSW and to the teachers who risked their ridicule to help raise money for our charity of choice.
Congratulations to David Wu in Year 8, who won the main prize – a $200 Luna Park Family
pass.
Careers NewsIt is important that parents and students have access to the latest careers news and information. The Careers News section of the Student Portal and of the Parents Portal is updated daily with this latest information. Visit the Careers News section to read the latest information about:
And much more. Log into the Student or Parent Portal by clicking the Intranet Login link on the Sydney Boys High School website.
Please see the Careers Adviser if you have any further questions.
From the CanteenAs Term 1 comes to an end we would like to thank all of our volunteers who have helped out in the canteen this term, remember all profits from the canteen are returned to the school to purchase necessary equipment for our sons.
Thanks to the volunteers last week: Each month a parent who has helped out in the canteen goes into a draw to win a $10.00 canteen voucher for their son. Congratulations to our winners for Term 1 :-
FEBRUARY- Pit Trent,
Hope everyone has a safe and relaxing break and we’ll see you all back next term with a
couple of new items for the cooler weather!
SBHS DebatingMIC’s ReportThis week some boys let us down and I am very grateful to Symeon Ziegler and Ganeshmoorthy Chandraskaran who stepped in at the very last minute and thus avoided us having to forfeit debates which would have been very embarrassing. The coaches were off last week because they were at the Gold Coast at an Australian debating competition. I hope the coaches don't mind but I thought everyone would be interested to see our coaches results. There were 329 speakers and these are the results. Well done to everyone. We are very lucky at High to have such excellent debaters on board as coaches. In addition to this Sarah Mourney and Lucy Connell were in the team came second overall.
Justin Chan 6th Our own debates on Friday saw us with a few near wins, but unfortunately it was only Year 11 and Year 12 who won their debates.
I hope everyone has a lovely break over the holidays and is able to relax before next term when
we will be back in earnest with trials for GPS. I can already confirm that Year 10 trials will
take place on 10th May so be sure to sign up if you are interested. Debating Prefect’s ReportThis week saw a break for all the boys debating in the FED competition, but the Eastside participants continuing debating for one more week before the end of term break. It is important to note that most coaches were away at the World Debating Championship’s seeing our coaches pulling off stunning performances ranking them amongst the best in the world! We’re very lucky to be able to have such high quality coaches helping nurture the talent at High. This week Eastside saw a mixed bag of results. Our match up against Scots saw our junior teams struggle on a difficult topic of “That western countries should only give aid to democratic countries.” However, they have improved considerably and are gaining good momentum for the PDC competitions and the GPS season. /p> HHowever, our senior team’s saw much more successful week with both the year 11 and year 12 teams winning their respective debates against Scots on the topic “That the US should supply weapons to the Free Syria Army”. The Year 12s were on the negative team and were comprehensively able to argue how the long term effects of such a policy could ultimately affect the entire world along with the importance of upholding democracy and sovereignty. In the Year 11 debate, High was on the affirmative and were able to take the moral high ground against their opponents arguing the need to end the violence of Bashar Al-Assad’s dictatorship; only possible by supplying modern weapons to the FSA. Well done to both teams for two great debates!
Tip of the week – Eye Contact: This week’s tip is particularly
relevant for junior debaters at High. Maintaining eye contact with your audience makes the
audience feel like you’re talking with them allowing them to feel more inclined to support
your argument. It also is the foundation of a confident speaker who knows what he is talking
about. A good way to do this is to make sure you are not writing out your speech in full, but
rather using palm cards and making bullet points about the things you want to cover in your
speech. SHS Rowing
SBHS Rowers win NSW Championship School at CHS 2013 Medal Winners
Thank you –
Music Notes
MARCHING BAND HOLIDAY REHEARSALS
Tuesday 16th April 9:30am-12:30pm Please notify the music staff if you are unable to make any of these sessions.
ANNUAL MUSIC CAMP 2013 All music camp payments to the main office by Friday 3rd of May 2013 (Term 2 Week 1).
ENSEMBLES TERM 2 The 2013 ensemble rehearsal timetable is provided below:
What’s Up in the McDonald Senior Library?The first term has sped by in the Senior Library with the beginning of the school year 2013 showing even more intensive use of this facility! Numbers of students using the space as individuals in their free periods has increased again with an average of 60 plus students per class period (with a timetabled free period or if they have a teacher absent with no substitute) and much larger groups in the morning, lunch and recess breaks. The new timetable with longer periods has meant that students remain to work for an hour at a time. Students are working in groups and completing individual work as well as spending productive time reading and viewing literature. With the ever growing collection of new books, magazines and DVD’s we have noticed that borrowing by students has also been steadily increasing with over 1521 items borrowed in Term 1 this year, a rise of around 260 items lent out in the same period last year. We put this down to a rise in the numbers of books Year 10 – 12 students are borrowing due to more choice in number and range of resources available. The library has also been involved in a series of lessons to join students in Year 10 Geography elective classes up to the State Library and show them how to access and search the online resources available through this amazing institution. During Term 2 the whole of Year 10 will be involved in this program and will be coming through their transition class to join and be given instruction on accessing and use of online resources available to State Library members. This will hopefully set students up for their senior study and research needs into the future beyond high school. This program is one that has been running since 2010 with all Year 10 students involved. NEW BOOKS FOR HOLIDAY LOANS As the end of term approaches we will be adding books purchased earlier in the term. We were lucky to attend a heavily discounted buying day at Kinokuniya bookstore and with cheaper prices were able to add many more exciting titles to our collections both in Junior and Senior libraries. So students are encouraged to borrow up to 10 titles to read over the school holiday break if time and study pre exams permit! Don’t forget to view all the new titles added to both libraries on the school webpage and from the link in the Library Enquiry screen in your portal. An email will also be sent periodically to your school (DEC) email with the new titles featured. Recently read and recommended titles by Ms Gordon are: Lionheart by Sharon Penman – Historical fiction set in time of King Richard in the 12th century (the Lionheart) and the Crusades. This is a fascinating insight into his personality and that of Saladin his worthy and respected opponent during this period. The book describes the intrigues behind all the battles in the Holy Land and those at home in England with his brother John plotting with the French king to take the throne. Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks (who won Pulitzer prize for literature for March about the American Civil War and also wrote Year of Wonders about the Plague or “Black Death” in England in 14th century) – again a historical recreation of the story of the first Native American to attend a newly established Harvard University United States in the 18th century. This highlights the struggles and privations of a dispossessed community and individual’s like Caleb who must fight prejudice and hostility to succeed in a ‘white man’s world’ and to maintain and be true to his indigenous family and community.
Please ask Ms Gordon to help you if you need help to find particular titles or subject/genre
titles, a related text for HSC studies or just a good book to read. I read across the genres,
crime, fantasy, dystopian, literary fiction, teenage and realistic fiction and non-fiction and
can usually find something for everyone. Remember, according to the research, those who read for
pleasure regularly will improve not only their English results but their understandings across
the curriculum and hence these results as well!
From the Andrews Junior LibraryLIBRARY VISIONARIES – AN EVENING WITH CURTIS WONG World Wide Telescope: The interactive sky on your desktop The 2 librarians attended an open discussion/lecture at the State Library this week by Microsoft’s Professor Curtis Wong who has patented many digital products and who demonstrated an Astronomical type of Google Earth which rotated sections of the telescope enhanced universe. Professor Wong described his products as democratising Astronomy and Science in general. Curtis Wong is a visionary in that. he showed how digital tools can be used to visually explore the correctness of Scientific theories like the big bang theory and to invite other minds, including those of school students, to contemplate and test academic theories. Two other speakers – the curator of the State Library’s historical collection and an Aboriginal Astro Physicist Professor Martin Nakarta spoke of their hopes that digitised products would assist research in the area of indigenous stories about the stars and giving the public digitised access to Library historical collections. What I took away from this evening was a conviction that our Library is correct to change its focus slightly as it is this year to enabling staff and students to search for and find the increasing number of audio visual educational material now being collected on our W drive. The attraction of this type of teaching medium has all the potential for self-directed learning Curtis Wong saw in his digitised astronomical data. Astronomers among you can see the same demonstration we saw live if you Google” Curtis Wong”. E RESOURCES – TRIAL FOR 5 WEEKS (STUDENTS AND STAFF) Both staff and students may trial the following e resources. Please go to Library Enquiry home page, E-Resources trial, and click on the link. The Junior Library is interested in entering the world of Library e resources and would like to know if you think we should purchase these databases.
Biography In Context PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE Year 7 are reminded that everyone will be automatically entered into the Premier’s Reading Challenge – to read 20 books in a year. NEW RESOURCES – HOLIDAY READING?
New resources are coming out into the Library in good time for the Term 1 holidays.
School Student Transport SchemeSchool Student Code of Conduct – Students travelling on buses must :-
Students are reminded to:-
During 2013, authorised officers will be deployed to inspect Code of Conduct compliance on school bus services in the Eastern Region. Students who are found to have breached their obligations may lose their travel entitlement and possibly incur an infringement.
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Sydney Boys High School
