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High Notes, Vol 23 No 32, October 21 2022

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our Theatre Sports team who competed in Heat 1 of Impro Australia’s Theatre Sports School Challenge – Max McLeod (8F), Alex Pidcock (8F), Nathan Nguyen (8S) Michael Zhuo (8S) and Gordon Guo (8T).

Staff Changes

We welcome Matthew Hood who joined our Science Faculty at the beginning of Term 4. I wish him a productive, rewarding and happy time at High.

From the SHS Foundation: Message to the Sydney Boys High School Community

'Many may be aware that representatives of the School have spent the past several years seeking to secure a long term commitment for our near 100-year historical access arrangements to the Fairland Pavilion at McKay Sports fields. The SBHS licence to occupy the Fairland Pavilion expired on 31 December 2019 and has continued on a month to month basis since then.

'We have now been advised by the Trust that controls Centennial Park that the licence will not be renewed and the Trust (a government body) intends to control and charge a fee for accessing the pavilion (funded and built by SHS Old Boys).  This is a similar arrangement to how we have accessed the sporting fields since 2001. The arrangement, however, denies us certainty that the fields and pavilion will be available when GPS games are scheduled and is an added financial burden on our limited funds.

'We continue discussions with the Trust to try and alleviate the uncertainty and financial burden that these arrangements have on the school and intend making representation at Minister level.  We will keep the school parents and supporters abreast of these discussions. At this stage we do not want the disagreement we have with the Trust to be aired in the media, however if you wish to express your support for the school to continue without restriction in accordance with our historical access arrangements the pavilion and sporting fields, you might do so in an email to the Chair of the ̽»¨ÊÓƵ Foundation This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Mr Alex Feldman
Chair
̽»¨ÊÓƵ Foundation Ltd'

NB - Your responses or comments should be directed only to the Chair of the Foundation at this stage while the Foundation negotiates with the Greater Sydney Parklands Trust on our behalf. Our future strategy will depend upon the outcome of these negotiations. Any publicity at this time might harm our case as we work within Government agencies to find a resolution to our problem.

Properties Update

The asphalting of the Cutler Drive car park areas has been completed, apart from some drainage works and parking bay area marking. Our new perimeter fence is nearing completion. More than $31k was spent on concreting works to achieve – a wheelchair access ramp into McDonald Wing; a wider access for cars to park behind McDonald Wing; a broad pad to be covered with artificial grass to allow rugby boys to practise with the scrum machine on the compound and a drain and apron to control water flows from the basketball courts on The Flat. Thank you to John Prorellis and Jim Crampton for all their work to make these improvements to our grounds happen.

NESA Releases Timeline for Curriculum Reform

If you have a son in the Junior school, he will be affected directly by the curriculum reform that was promised after the Curriculum Review Final Report, written by Professor Geoff Masters, released in June, 2020.

The intention was to reduce content in syllabuses by up to 20% so that learning could be ‘deep and slow’ rather than ‘shallow and fast’. A more detailed curriculum reform timeline has been released and is available on the NESA website: .

The information provides what new syllabuses are coming, and in what year our school will need to plan and prepare or implement them. We have started preliminary planning in scheduling time for the various Faculties to be provided with time.

Traffic Movement on School Grounds

Staff members complain quite often that car spaces in the Cleveland Street car parking area are unavailable in the mornings due to parents occupying the spaces waiting in their cars or parents blocking access to parking spaces. School policy is that parents are asked to enter from Cleveland St. via gate one and drop off boys at the end of the tennis courts and then proceed out through gate two. Cars driving through the car park and doing three-point turns near the bus bay and driving out again cause congestion and can prove hazardous to pedestrian traffic through the area. The safety of our students is paramount.  Parents are asked to try to stay out of the car park area around the gym and to observe school policy concerning dropping off students.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal