High Notes, Vol 17 No 8, March 24 2016
High Talent
At the season finale swimming carnival at SOPAC, High teams
acquitted themselves well. The seniors finished 3rd in the point score to Newington. The
Intermediate boys were 4th to the winners, Shore. Our juniors finished 5th to the high scoring
Newington. The team and the supporters on the night were a credit to the school. Individual
championship honours went to: William Lee 14 Years 50m breaststroke (32.64) and butterfly
(29.90), Kalem Best 17 Years 50m freestyle champion (25.17) and 15 Years 50m breaststroke Allen
Guo (33.92). Our 17 Years medley relay team (Rowlands, Kuo, Schofield L, Best) won in 1.56.53.
Division wins were recorded by James Luo (14 Years 50m breaststroke), Irvin Tsui (15 Years 50m
breaststroke), Christian Haddo (18+ 50m breaststroke) and Luke Schofield (17 Years 50m
butterfly). The swimming program was managed again in great style by Mr Loizou, our MIC.
Congratulations to him and to his competitive squad of dedicated swimmers.
Laser Cutter in Operation
It is an important step forward in precision
technology for High to have its own laser cutter. The piece of equipment expands the
possibilities for the type and variety of products that the students (and staff) can create. It
can engrave, shape or cut with great precision. It is controlled by a computer and is an exciting
step in the enlargement of our capacity to produce cutting edge products. There may be many
opportunities for creative and commercial usage of the equipment. The total cost of the
equipment, its exhaust facility and peripherals was c.$50k. This represents a major capital
expense item for the school. I am confident that our students and staff will make great use of
its potential.
Key Ingredients to High as an Effective Digital School
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A shared vision. Since 2000 we have had a consistent vision. Bring the world into the
classroom and then connect learners to the world.
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Strategy and guiding principles. Our first priority was to put a PC on every
teacher’s desk. Then we installed a data projector and PC in every teaching space. Stage
3 involved supporting BYOD and network interface. Teachers first was the guiding principle.
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Network architecture. After 2000 we made the decision to build the backbone first. We
have achieved that and are now upgrading it. Connect the peripherals. We established specialist
spaces with more computers for student use and expanded our printing capacity. Maintain
and upgrade ICT in the classroom. We now have a big network which requires constant maintenance
and equipment replacement. Develop communications in public spaces. We are now turning our
attention to the Great Hall and the libraries. Aim for high end connectivity. We have
successfully lobbied to have our bandwidth increased from 50Mb to 100Mb.
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ICT Policies and guidelines. Since the early 2000s our acceptable usage of the
internet policy and its associated protocols have been in place. We managed the DER laptop
rollout to students and have supported the program up to our last cohort – Year 12,
2016.
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ICT Technical support services. Our first objective was to support the network. Next
we needed to manage DER. We have funded the TSO role since the program terminated. Our
next objective is to fully support all our learners, both BYOD students and staff.
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Digital Learning space. We have installed high capacity servers, routers and switches
to facilitate data storage, collection, access and distribution. We have moved to improve the
DoE Wi-Fi system left over from DER but face an imminent major expense to replace the
obsolescent hardware
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Access. We provide support for every teacher and learner through BYOD.
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Applications, software and instructional toolsets. We have consistently developed
teachers’ capacities to interface with the administration of the school. We have
sophisticated student information software and online support but we need to ramp up our effort
to upskill teachers. The recommended target is teacher facility with at least 12
applications.
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Professional learning. Our IT staff, particularly James Rudd, has supported individual
teachers and faculties in personal upskilling projects. Staff are encouraged to hold faculty
sessions to improve their familiarity with the useful applications and features of our school
programs. We could work on improving our website refreshment protocols as some of the data and
structures are dated or inaccurate. Better content and functionality from our site is a goal
going forward.
Governors Centre Update
The Development Application document (all 628
pages) has been finalised and signed off by PCG members Danny Flynn, Alan Khaw, John Prorellis
and me. I want to thank members for their work on the project so far and also extend my thanks to
Geoff Andrews and Ian Sweeting for their service to the school in preparing the design. Our
project managers TKD now have to go through the process of lodgement with City of Sydney Council.
It will be a couple of months at least before we know if we have been successful. In the
meantime, Paul Almond (SHS Foundation & OBU President) and Kate Morgan (SGHS Old Girl) are
working with Gilbert and Tobin to draw up an agreement for the two schools to move to the next
stage – development, construction and management of the project.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal
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