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High Notes, Vol 15 No 19, June 20 2014
From the Principal
High Talent
Monthly Giving Scheme
PE Uniform Thursday – Trial The School Council and Executive discussed this issue and raised reservations about implementing the idea in practice. Importantly, it was felt that boys might wear non-High tracksuits, hoodies or jumpers over their sports uniform and thus ruin the overall appearance of our school. It was a concern that they would start wearing tracksuits on other days or after PE lessons in the hope of escaping detection through teacher confusion or lack of will to enforce uniform policy. Some teachers were concerned that behaviour might deteriorate when boys are not in standard school uniform. School assemblies might also be reduced in tone by having a cohort of boys in PE uniform during the ceremonies. The ‘thin end of the wedge’ argument was raised with fears that the wearing of school uniform might degenerate and become unenforceable. On the positive side, there was a feeling that the boys do retain pride in their uniform without being policed to wear it. Some people were of the view that being able to wear a tracksuit on a sports day would be liberating, helpful in terms of washing school shirts and more efficient when relieving the burden of carrying PE gear in bags that are already inordinately heavy or in a separate bag that could be forgotten or mislaid. Fewer items in lost property might also be an outcome. Assembly policy is that assemblies are held on Tuesdays or Fridays, so the assembly argument was neutralised. It was decided that a Trial of wearing the full PE uniform to school on Thursdays would be undertaken in Term 4. I will be seeking feedback at the end of the year to determine whether the Trial should be extended or terminated.
Badges Committee – Edging Braid on blazers
Melbourne High Visit 
Educational Access SchemeMost institutions that participate in the University Admissions Centre (UAC) have an Educational Access Scheme (EAS) for applicants who have experienced long term educational disadvantage. To qualify applicants must demonstrate that their educational performance during Years 11 and 12 or equivalent has been seriously affected by circumstances beyond their choice or control. Students applying for the Educational Access Scheme (EAS) for Universities in 2015 will need to download their booklets and applications forms from the website
If you require a Statement of Support from the school counsellors, your EAS form will need to be
in to them with all required documentation by the beginning of week 8, Term 3. However a prior
interview is recommended with the counsellors as soon as possible. The responsibility for sending
the finalised application to UAC by closing date (usually by end of September) rests with the
individual student.
Kevin Lee Latin QuizLast week on the 11th of June, Sydney Boys High entered a Junior and a Senior team in the Kevin Lee Latin Quiz held at North Sydney Boys High. Both teams reached the final. Congratulations to our Junior or mixed age team (made up of students from Years 8 to 10 ), which gained third place just behind Sydney Girls High and Frensham.
Students had to answer questions on Latin vocabulary, grammar, derivations, mythology, literature
and popular culture. It was a fun and exciting evening for all students involved. Other
participating schools included North Sydney Girls High, North Sydney Boys High, Meriden, Shore
and St Aloysius.
Parent-Teacher Interviews
Years 7 and 11 will take place on
Years 8 and 10 will take place on Booking interviews with your son’s teachersThis year we will again use a web based electronic scheduling system for arranging interviews. This produces better results for all participants, especially more compact time schedules for both parents and teachers. The system works as follows –
Mr R Dowdell
High Store
STOCKTAKE SALE
HIGH Polar Fleece Jumper $69 NOW $49
SBHS DebatingDebating MIC ReportEsmond Ye, Arthur Chao, Thomas Shortridge and Max Koslowski are successfully through to the Semi Finals of the Dr Evatt debating competition. This is an excellent achievement as there were 200 teams competing. The organisers congratulated everyone who took part stating that the quality of the competition was very high this year. On Friday we held social debates with Newington. These were an excellent opportunity for coaches to see the GPS teams in action - many for the first time and for you all to try out the new prep and speaking times Thanks to all the parent helpers on Friday. There was a wonderful atmosphere in the common room with everyone pulling together to help Dora Shapiro on her first evening coordinating supper. We send our best wishes to Nina, who has fallen quite badly, and hope for her speedy recovery. It is disappointing that there are some students who did not contribute and I would like to think that those boys come to find me over this week and give the $5 expected. I understand that some boys didn't realise they were debating until late and that the chair people were chosen late, but there is an expectation that if you want to share the supper then you must contribute. This needs to improve to 100% of students contributing for GPS. We are well known for providing the best suppers on the debating circuit – let’s keep up our well deserved reputation. Well done to the Year 10 team who beat Melbourne High on the topic “That we should legalise performance enhancing drugs.” It was great for the boys to debate to such a large audience. The quality of debate was high and the material delivered highly suitable for the audience. Thomas Shortridge received the best speaker nomination from the adjudicators who were from the UNSW Debating Society.
This week sees us saying a sad good bye to coach Sarah Greenbaum who is going off to bigger and
better things with two months at the United Nations Development Program, a Semester of Law at
Hong Kong Uni and then a two month internship in Asia (to be finalised). Sarah has been a
fantastic asset to the debating program at High and she will be missed by the Year 7s who she
currently coaches and especially by the Year 10s who she has coached regularly over the years and
definitely by me. Debating Prefect ReportLast week, we had social debates against Newington which provided all teams with a chance to acclimatise themselves with the new GPS rules – 45 minute prep time, new speaking times and no coin toss. Many teams debated together for the first time. All teams received sporting topics, with the seniors having “That we should boycott the 2022 World Cup, unless Qatar significantly improves its human rights laws”. It proved to be very difficult especially when we did not know anything about the human rights abuses in Qatar regarding the “kafala” system that ties workers to their employers. Junior teams debated the chestnut topic – “That we should legalise performance enhancing drugs in sports”. Being social debates there were no winners or losers but everyone walked away with useful experiences/feedback for the first week of GPS competition.
Tip of the Week:
From the Andrews Junior Library
HOLIDAYS – A CHANCE TO HONE YOUR READING SKILLS
APPS FOR STUDENTS
BIG THANKS TO OUR FANTASTIC LIBRARY MONITORS
What’s up in the McDonald Senior Library?Year 12 students will begin their HSC assessments this week which started on Wednesday 18th June with a student study day. Some of these students will make use of the library to work without distractions. It’s hard to believe that the HSC Trial examinations are imminent and that they will shortly be preparing to sit their final HSC examinations! Of course the Senior Library will continue to support Year 12s by providing useful and appropriate resources, a place to work uninterrupted and comfortably, and help from the teacher librarian if needed. Please note that Year 12s using resources from the library ie. Items listed as borrowed in their name, will be reminded to return any overdue items or request renewals if needed during the next few months. Many items borrowed by Year 12 students in their final year have not been returned previously, before students leave, and this means many hundreds of dollars worth of books lost are no longer available to the students in following years to use. Parents, can you please ensure that you remind your sons to return resources prior to their study break and before they sit for the HSC exams. If they need to keep books they can request special loan from the librarians. Teacher Librarian at Librarians’ network meetingThe teacher librarian in the Senior Library attended a meeting titled “Connect to Reading” hosted by the Sutherland Shire Teacher Librarians @ the Children’s Bookshop in Beecroft this week. The speakers included the owner of the bookshop and English lecturer at Macquarie University and UTS, Paul MacDonald and young adult author Will Kostakis. Paul discussed the CBC awards shortlisted books including Will’s nominated title The First Third and also spoke about the importance of reading to ensure excellence in learning. He espoused an expanded view of literacy including reading for pleasure as being essential to ensuring students do well in their studies. “Reading for pleasure is the most important way to advance literacy attainment in children.” (National Literacy Trust, UK, 2006) He also made recommendations of books suitable for the Senior Library which will be purchased and added when processed. Please keep your eye on the school website for weekly listings of new books and other resources added to our collection regularly and these will be included. Paul also spoke about the importance of having adult role models who read regularly and how this will influence how much and enthusiastically they read. “Children who know adults who read for pleasure take it for granted that reading is a valuable and worthwhile activity.” (National Literacy Trust, UK, 2006) Both libraries at SBH run a reading reward scheme, the VIP Reading Program where boys who read 10 books at least can win vouchers to purchase books. The program now awards a voucher in each library twice a Year to each year level at school assemblies. Mr Kay the Head Teacher in charge of libraries at SBH along with, of course, the teacher librarians see this as a way of raising the importance of reading in the educational and future lives of students.
The SBH English department also promote reading in their Wide Reading program where they bring
their classes to the libraries to read and borrow books. We will be continuing to display
many new titles each week both physically in the libraries and on the school website especially
encouraging the boys to borrow books during the holiday break. See this week’s newest
titles below.
Blood Fun Run ReportOn the early and downcast morning of 6th of June, a group of young leaders led by Adilmorad and Bosco set out to fulfil the promise of a fun run with the sole aim to raise both money and awareness of the importance of donating blood. Despite cold rainy weather, these boys pushed forward with the event. Tables set up under the tree, and armed with a laptop and whistle, the CSC busily set up the registration spot for the runners. A track was marked with cones and followed the concrete path around Moore Park West to ensure an easy and safe run. Despite the hard drizzle, there was a large turnout. Around thirty boys came out to support the Blood Drive by dressing in bright red. As they started to huddle at the starting line, the whistle blew at 8:30am and they were off. The runners were allowed to run as much as they wanted and many chose to push themselves in support of this great cause. The morning fun run ended an hour after with Stephen Chung completing the most number of laps. Winners, runner-ups and participants all received prizes as they crossed the finish line. Congratulations and thanks to all the runners and CSC members who braved the wet weather to raise awareness around the importance of donating blood.
A whopping $777.50 for Australian Red Cross was raised by 18 of the runners.
Your SRCWater Cooler FilterThe SRC are fully funding a water filter station for your use. This will be situated behind the Great Hall kitchen next to the school bubblers, which is a central location within the school. The water filter is here and is in the plumbing and technical phase before it can actually be put in for use. The expected date is last week of term 2 or very early term 3. Thank you to all the students for their patience! Plastic ID CardsOur old ID cards are going to finally get an upgrade as we move into using proper plastic ID cards. The cards have almost finished being designed. Every student next year will be issued with a plastic card and replacement ID cards this year will also be the new plastic cards. Award Scheme BraidingOur system of achieving braiding has an addition thanks to your voice. Originally braiding was only attainable after achieving a line or house colours. From now on braiding can be obtained by achieving the Platinum Award in the school Award Scheme system for students who started in Year 7 and the gold award for the students who started in Year 9. This system will give another option and a different means of getting braiding on your blazer especially for those not as involved in sports and debating. Talent QuestThe SBHS/SGHS joint talent quest will be held on the Monday, 21st of July in the Sydney Girls Multi-Purpose Hall at lunchtime. Auditions will be in the first week of term 3 and there will be many prizes for the winners. There will be 6 acts and a special surprise act so make sure to buy your tickets. Tickets will be $3 and $3.50 at the door and can be bought from an SRC member. Keep Your School BeautifulThe SRC have been doing their part to keep our school beautiful. This has been achieved by introducing more bins, repainting the toilets; cleaning the school drains and general clean up around the school. However it is your duty as well, so please do your part and help keep our school beautiful Sport uniform for Year 7sThe Year 7 cohort was significantly in favour of being able to wear the sports uniform on Thursdays. The SRC supports this proposal. If the Year 7s do not abuse this privilege it may be extended to higher Years. Sydney High ChantsA chants competition was held to come up with some new ideas for our school chants. There was a very positive response and the winners have received a $50 book voucher and 5 award scheme points. Resulting from this a chants rally was held where these new chants were tried out down on the Flat. There was a huge response from the rest of the school and this fuelled us at the AAGPS athletics carnival. This year the crowd was the biggest it has ever been and the athletes performed very well. Student Run OrganisationsThe SRC has proposed the idea of student run organisations including a more formal approach to the student run classes. The idea is still in the thinking stage, but the progress is looking good. The result of this will include a smoother approach to the student run classes which can be expected at the start of Year 12. Similarly clubs can be organised by students with approval from a teacher, like university clubs, where students can focus on anything sensible within their interest. Clubs looking to be introduced right now are the economics club and table tennis club. If you have any suggestions feel free to talk to any SRC member or leave a message on the discussion section on the SRC website or the Facebook page. The SRC is always looking for new ideas to help improve the school.
Music NotesSMC FinalistKevin Ke (Year 11) has progressed to the Finals of the 2014 Sutherland Shire and St George Youth Music Award. A concert will be held on Friday June 27th at 7pm in the Sutherland Memorial School of Arts consisting of 13 performing finalists. All are welcome and tickets may be purchased from Pat 9528 8294/Lynn 9521 7071 or are available at the door. HSC Music 2 StudentsReminder to all HSC Music students to start refining your compositions and performances.
Important Dates for Term 3: Term 3 Ensemble RehearsalsThere will be minor changes to the ensemble rehearsal schedule. Please make sure to double check the timetable. All ensembles will run in Week 1, Term 3. The 2014 ensemble rehearsal timetable is provided below:
ASX Share Market Game Semester 1, 2014Well done to everyone who participated in the Game. 364 students participated in the Semester 1 Game with the final portfolio value above the national average. The market was as volatile as usual with the following being the main characteristics; The All Ordinaries (XAO) was down 0.46%. The best performing sector was utilities up 6.68% followed closely by telecommunications up 5.16%. The worst performing sector was consumer discretionary, down 5.8% followed by IT and health care both down just under 4%. The top stock was Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) due to the takeover offer up 35.2% followed closely by mining company PanAust Limited (PNA) up 33%, also after a takeover offer. The worst performing stock was biotech stock Acrux (ACR) down over 50%. The average portfolio value was $49,200 and the number of syndicates in profit was only 39%.
Mr T P Dolan
Football Results2014 Term 2 Week 7
MIC of Football ReportComing into this week we knew we had a tough day ahead of us playing against one of the power houses in GPS Football, Newington College. Unfortunately with the heavy rain accumulated throughout the week and Friday night, most fixtures were cancelled. Only our U14s and Opens players managed to get a game in. The U14s came up against a very well disciplined age group, scoring many goals against our boys. Credit to the boys for all turning up and playing in difficult conditions especially knowing the Socceroos were playing at the same time. Although we ended up losing, the match of the day goes to our 14Es who kept fighting until the end only to concede a couple of late goals. The game was back and forth creating a lot of excitement for everyone on the side lines. The 1st XI had the old cliché “A game of two halves”. In the first half we were dynamic, passing the ball, running hard and creating several chances, while Newington only created the one chance. We went into half time with the score levelled at 0-0 and the boys feeling positively about the game and how we felt we were the better team in the half. Unfortunately, we had two boys who were unable to come back on in the second half and 15 minutes in, our Lucas Neil of the team, Michael Cui, got red carded causing a lot of disarray among the team. This allowed Newington to open up the game and they ended up scoring 6 goals to our 1 in the final half hour. The boys were deflated, but can see there were many positives to take away from the game. The rest of the Opens teams played well winning our 3rd XI, 6th XI and 8th XI games. Well done to Anthony Yu for scoring a hat-trick. Again I just want to make special mention of all the boys for turning up on Saturday. I am very proud of them for making the effort to come along despite the wet conditions and muddy fields they had to play on. Last Saturday night the Combined GPS Football 1st XI and 2nd XI teams were announced. I am proud to say two of our boys were named in the GPS 2nd XI side, Jesse Cooper and Michael Cui who was also named as captain for the team. On Sunday they had a training session and that night was the GPS football dinner where the boys received their jersey. This Saturday we have no fixtures due to private school holidays. St Ignatius’ College, Riverview have kindly invited our 1st and 2nd XI squad to play in a trial match over at Narrabeen where they are having a football camp. Over the holidays we will be conducting a Football training camp open to all players. Please see the attached letter for further details. I have created a Twitter account for regular updates in results, information and wet weather. This does not replace the school wet weather website. The link can be accessed by phone or web browser without signing in or having a twitter account. Please Note:
Geoff Tesoriero
SBHS RugbyHigh Rugby = High Spirit
High v ScotsThe first GPS game started for many teams as a bye as rained forced a washout for teams playing at Centennial Park. The 13s teams were still able to play as were 1st and 2nd XV. It was great to see the 13As start their official GPS season with a win. Unfortunately for the 1st XV, Scots 3rd XV started too strong and they could not run them home in the 2nd half.
Team of the week – 13As Melbourne High VisitIn the third year of the Melbourne High School Exchange, Sydney Boys High School hosted MHS. The combined under 15s/16s team from SBHS was successful in the Rugby game as well as the Oztag game. Both games were played in great spirit. Holiday training
Week 1 – Tuesday 10am Coogee (1sts only) Schedule for the remainder of the year
Mr G Barris
Volleyball Notes
Junior Bs
Junior As
From the CanteenThank you to our wonderful volunteers over the past two weeks, without your help we could not provide the healthy homemade foods we prepare to feed our hungry boys.
Week of 2-6 June
Week of 9-13June
Football Holiday TrainingDear Football players and families, Over the holiday break we will be conducting three football training sessions open to all players in all age groups. We will split the groups up into juniors (U13-U14) and seniors (U15-Opens). There will be no official staff member on duty, but we will have four of our football coaches looking after the boys. Details are:
Senior Coaches:
Junior Coaches:
Dates:
Fields:
Cost:
Uniform:
Food and Beverages:
RSVP:
Regards,
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Sydney Boys High School
