High Notes, Vol 17 No 12, May 06 2016
High Talent
Congratulations to Nathan Wang (7R) and William Lee (9R),
breaststroke and Jake Rowlands (11R) individual medley, who qualified to compete at All Schools
this week – a great achievement boys! In their final swim for High, the 4 x 50 relay
team of Kalem, Christian, Luke and Andrew, set a time of 1.42.41 to beat the other two GPS
representatives at the CIS Swimming Carnival, finishing a close 4th to the CAS schools. They have
claimed the record for the fastest relay swim ever by High boys! Great job! Well done to Esmond
Ye (12M) and Arthur Chao (12R) who have made it as one of the top 5 teams in Australia in the
AusCase competition.
Staff Changes
As a result of a merit selection process Mr Michael
Cinquetti, a teacher at SGHS, has been appointed as Head Teacher of English at High. He takes up
his appointment on day 1 term 3. Mr Geoff Stein, Head Teacher PDHPE, is taking on the
administrative and supervision functions of the LOTE faculty. Mr George Barris is the executive
member in charge of the Practicum Program / UNSW partnership.
Vaccinations
Our HPV dose 1 coverage in term 1, 2016, was only 90.6% of
students. To be most effective for everyone, the vaccination rate needs to be as close to 100% as
possible. Many schools are in the 95-100% range. In the interests of public health and personal
security from infection by preventable disease, parents are asked to enrol their sons in the full
program of vaccinations as and when offered by the school.
Carpark Safety and Protocols
Parents are requested again to drop off their
sons between gate 1 and gate 2 rather than driving up to where the buses are parked and then
doing a three-point turn before driving out again. Also, parents waiting for their sons should
not occupy staff car spaces, nor block entry to these. Staff members have priority and need to be
able to park and get to class on time.
Weights Room Memberships Now Available Until 27 May
The Weights Room
operates much more effectively if all boys get their training in how to use the various pieces of
equipment and in proper lifting technique as soon as possible. Kurt Rich provides this service at
the beginning of each year and can tailor individual programs for members after the introductory
sessions. Having a fixed clientele makes his job more productive and leads to a better training
experience for members. Hence, we decided to close off memberships by the end of February each
year. Boys who had not paid by that time could no longer attend the weights room.
As a transition measure for 2016 only, we are offering boys a second chance to
join the weights room for the rest of the year at a cost of $200. Memberships will not be
available after Friday 27 May for the rest of the year. It is not our intention in 2017 to have
two periods of time for boys to pay for their memberships. Boys should be organised this year to
join up by the end of February 2017.
Student Awards Scheme - NAPLAN Results
Boys in Years 7 and 9 sit the NAPLAN
tests this month. We want to incentivise performance in NAPLAN. We will be offering up to a
maximum of 20 Award Scheme points for the four tests – 5 points each. Boys maintaining
their expected growth trajectory will receive three points and those exceeding it, five. The idea
is for all boys to try their best in each test to prove to themselves that they are progressing
well at school, from Year 5 to Year 7 or from Year 7 to Year 9. Often, boys don’t treat the
tests as seriously as they might – rushing through just to finish early or working
carelessly because the results don’t count on their reports. We want to give them an extra
reason to try hard, to use all the available time and to check their answers for careless errors
or mistakes of logic or judgement. In short, we want to nurture the process of performing to your
best ability under pressure.
Solar Energy Project
Since October 2009, High has had 35 solar panels
generating electricity which is automatically consumed by the school and is not separately
metered. The tracking technology on our school site indicates that since installation, the 6.3kw
capacity system has generated 41.2 megawatts of electricity with a calculated CO2 saving of 36.3
tonnes. Regrettably, this output represents only 1/72 of our electricity consumption in the last
6 years. Our electricity bill exceeds $100k pa. Our technology is superseded and the new
generation of photovoltaic panels are much more efficient. To make a substantial difference to
our costs we would need to put in a lot of panels. One quotation indicates we could install 300
panels on the north facing roofs of A block and the Great Hall. Our energy production could then
exceed 54kw. For Stage 2 a more modest proposal is to install sufficient panels to generate 10kw
of power and a second inverter. Whereas the initial system cost $65k including a solar grant of
$50k., this system can be installed for c$28k (approximately twice the generation for less than
half of the cost). Not all investments are purely driven by economics. We are doing two things
– modelling sustainability to our students and doing something locally to address a global
climate change issue. Our fundraising target is $20k. The remainder will come from school funds.
If you are interested in making a tax deductible donation to this project, donate to the SHS
Building Fund. Include a notation ‘solar project’ to distinguish the gift from those
preferred for the Governors Centre Project. For more information about the project contact me on
9662 9320 or
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Invoices for Summer Activities Co-payments
Families have had invoices
posted for term 1 activities. Despite these charges, most activities are also heavily subsidised
from school funds, particularly in direct grants from school funds (general service
contributions), provision of MICs, teacher supervision, WHS compliance costs and first aid costs
(co-curricular supervision levy) and parking allocation support. Co-payments are used primarily
for the provision of coaching. In basketball alone, a team of over 50 people delivers the
program! We have staff, students, Old Boys, parents and volunteers working to make your
son’s school experiences more enjoyable. It would be appreciated if you could make your
co-payments promptly. Thank you.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal
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