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High Notes, Vol 23 No 30, September 23 2022

From the Principal

High Talent

At the 2022 AAGPS Athletics Championships, there were some impressive individual results, particularly from our U13 years age group. Event winners were: U13 4x100m relay - Liwen Dang, Mark Yan, Roger He and Alex Rhufus (49.51); Lachlan Leung U14 long jump (5.84); Dylan Dutt U15 long jump (5.85); James McLoughlan U14 hurdles (Division 15.66); and Mark Yan U13 100m (Division-12.76). Second places went to: Alex Ruhfus 100m (12.09) & 200m (24.96); Kane Shields Open 1500m; Max Russell U17 1500m; Aiden McManus U14 1500m; Mark Yan U13 400m (59.67); and James Law U15 100m hurdles (Division 15.13). Third place getters were:  Kane Shields Open 800m; Max Russell Open 3000m (8.49.68) and Aiden McManus U14 800m (2.13.65). Congratulations to these talented and dedicated boys for their great results.  Overall results were mixed. The Junior Division came 5th (13 points behind Shore). The Senior Division finished 7th and the Intermediate Division 8th (11 points behind SGS). Well done to our teams, staff and student helpers on a great day of racing with many records broken.

Year 12 Farewell & Graduation Assembly 2022: Farewell Booklet Message

It is sobering to consider that the Class of 2022 spent half of their time at High under pandemic conditions.  Our society has been disrupted and weakened by the prolonged effects of the stresses of lockdowns, learning from home, constant vaccination requirements, social distancing and mask-wearing mandates and recommendations.  You have had a lot to endure for a long time.  I am proud of the manner in which the cohort coped during these hard years.  From my perspective, I see boys maturing into men by just 鈥済etting on with the job.鈥�  Most of you have shown the grit and resilience to overcome the obstacles and try to pursue as 鈥榥ormal鈥� a life as possible in these troubled times.  Luckily, we have been able to hold most events in our calendar in the usual format 鈥� despite the weather being so unusually wet. As we have seen politically, climate change is a big issue, surpassed only recently by cost of living rises. Let us hope that next year is closer to the 鈥榥ormal鈥� that we used to know.

It is fitting to acknowledge and congratulate again the Year 12 students who have achieved great results as individuals or as members of a team.  At CHS Rowing, Jack Smiles and Maxime Jalbert-Locke won five gold medals each.  In swimming, Adam Davies won the 18 years breaststroke at a GPS Carnival and gained GPS combined selection and All Schools qualification. Sam Ezra, Nathan Cox and Daniel Low were in crews that qualified from NSW to attend the National Schools Sailing Championships. Our CHS Knockout Basketball team won the NSW competition in dominant fashion led by Isaac Ayoubi, Zac Taylor, Richard Lu and Blake Mulholland. Isaac was selected in the NSW CIS basketball team.

At the Metropolitan District Rifle Association match, Jackie Wu shot a perfect 50 with 10 centres at 800m 鈥� a school record. Jackie, Martin Lee, Leo Weng, Eddie Zhang, Emmett Kim Narushima, Andy Xia and Cameron Young were members of the all-conquering rifle shooting first grade team 鈥� All Schools winners and GPS Champions.  Jackie, Martin, Leo, Eddie, Emmett and Cameron were selected for the combined GPS team (an unprecedented number of seven shooters were selected from High). Jackie鈥檚 record of four combined GPS teams is a new benchmark accomplishment at High. Terence Lim, Geoffrey Ma and Isaac Cheer were members of the Second Grade Premiership winning Rifle Shooting team.

Brendan Alcorn and Nicholas Chen won gold as a member of the epee team at the AJ Rae Schools Team Championships. In sabre Yu Ming Lee was in a gold-winning team. Paul Fang represented the successful Sydney East Volleyball team in its win in the NSW inter-regional carnival. Congratulations to Owen Seong and Paul as members of the successful GPS Honours team which defeated CAS. Owen and Paul along with Eric Lin and Justin Chen were members of the CHS Knockout Volleyball Championship winning team.

Nelson Cheng won gold in his division at the NSW Weightlifting Championships.  In athletics Kane Shields represented Australia at the Oceania Games in the 1500m event. Nicholas Francis was a member of the team that won the Friday Evening Debating Competition. Martin Lee, Yu Ming Lee and Dylan Freeman won gold medals in the National Latin Examination. Dean Nguyen was honoured with a Youth Community Service Award at Government House.

As you complete your final year at High, take with you this thought about your cohort鈥檚 endurance and optimism. 鈥楻esilience is based on compassion for ourselves as well as compassion for others鈥� (Sharon Salzberg). We have this wider understanding of compassion as one of our school values. Your own wellbeing is important so that you can take on life鈥檚 challenges. We nearly always work better in the company of others. We can help each other.  I hope you take compassion with you as a lifelong character trait. It was my honour to serve you as your principal.

Farewell Assembly Speech

'Good afternoon Year 12, staff and parents. Welcome to our Farewell and Graduation Assembly for the Class of 2022. I acknowledge the Gadigal people on whose country we meet and pay my respects to elders, past, present and emerging. Lads, as you come to the end of your formal schooling I have to apologise to you for the cultural experiences at High forgone due to the pandemic and its effects. It was not the usual six years at High with all the customary events and rites of passage. We all tried our best, but important pieces were missing from our historical practices. You have had to revive the events and kick start the communal spirit that was lost during enforced isolation. You have made it easier for those who come after you to consolidate and deepen the High experience for new cohorts of students.

'One hundred and seventy-four of you are completing your six year journey at High. For half of that time you have been impacted by the pandemic. In my Principal鈥檚 Message printed in the Year 12 Farewell Booklet, which you will receive today, I alluded to your grit and resilience in the face of ongoing obstacles. A selection of notable results by Year 12 students is included for your perusal. My thanks go to our executive team of Joshua, Rahul and Yu Ming. Leadership is often a lonely place where decisions have to be made. Thank you to all of our departing student leaders 鈥� Prefects, SRC, Community Service, PAWS, Equality, Social Justice, Environment 鈥� your growth in leadership and understanding of service will stand you in good stead in your adult lives.

'I want to recognise and honour the six scholar-sportsmen who competed in two seasons of GPS Saturday sport and earned 99.5 ATAR or higher in the Trial HSC (2021-10). They will be presented prizes at Presentation Night next year. Well done to Jason Yan for participating in four sports in his final year. Seven boys played three GPS sports in Year 12. I want to thank the 77 Year 12 boys who showed pride in their school and represented High in at least two GPS sports in their last year. Another 68 played one sport. In this third COVID-19 year, 71.8% of the cohort showed their commitment to our scholar-sportsman ethos right to the end. These statistics again affirm that our students value participation in school sport. Twenty-five students played two GPS sports for six years and another 41, one sport. I applaud our graduating Year group for their dedication to our ethos.

'Congratulations to the most able and committed Year 12 students who represented the school at the highest levels in multiple sports this year. There were 28 boys from Year 1 who competed in first or second grade in two seasons of sport this year. 鈥楾riple Firsts鈥� were Nelson Cheng, Klimenty Tsoutsman, Kane Shields and Ashwin Barrett. Our 鈥楧ouble Firsts鈥� were Anthony Wang, Albert Giles, Cody Robinson, Thomas Britton, Leon Chau, Maxime Jalbert-Locke, Jia Jie Sheng, Jack Smiles, Brendan Alcorn, Nicholas Chen, Samuel Ezra, Daniel Low, Yu Ming Lee, David Li, Thomas McFarland, Tarrant Williams, Song Chen and Nikolai Shchekochikhin. Our 鈥極ne-Two Club鈥� comprised Danny Pan and Alex Xue. This year our only 鈥楧ouble-Two鈥� was Alexander Girdis. Thank you all for your commitment to the values of our school 鈥� dedication and integrity 鈥� combined with the pursuit of excellence. Thank you to all the MICs, coaches and parents who helped to make our best practice co-curricular programs successful.

'I want to expand on the value of compassion in our lives that I offered in my Principal鈥檚 Message. Arthur Schopenhauer believed it was the basis of all morality. Compassion is care for self and others. It is about the acceptance and forgiveness of weakness or error. Compassion is about caring for others and developing modes of behaviour that are respectful of others. It is about behaviour 鈥� right or wrong, good or bad, as measured by the yardstick of living with others and treating them humanely. As a first principle, treat people equally. As the black activist and politician Jesse Jackson said, 鈥渘ever look down on anybody unless you are helping them up鈥�. To be compassionate is to reach out to others in word or deed. It is to recognise that we all have strengths and weaknesses and share the frailty of the human condition. People everywhere are trying to achieve goals, succeed, love, be loved, find happiness and intellectual satisfaction, enjoy friendships and have some fun. Our humanity is our equality. Having compassion is an indication of our otherness, of our commonality of hope, fear, hardship and suffering. It is a worthwhile value that we strive to model and inculcate at High.

'I wish you all the best in your HSC results and I hope and trust that you will be all successful in gaining entry to your chosen tertiary options.

'Good luck and goodbye!'
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal