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High Notes, Vol 24 No 10, April 06 2023

From the Principal

Term 1 Ends

Thank you to everybody for a very productive Term 1. Many things have been achieved. We have finalised our Annual School Report and our much-revised revised Strategic Improvement Plan (SIP). Our staff teams have made progress in addressing the elements in our SIP – focussing on school growth measures and embedding differentiated units of work into our Stage 4 programs. We are also adding literacy and numeracy progression activities in our Stage 4 programs. We are interacting on a schoolwide basis to improve wellbeing for students and staff with respectful relationship building and wellbeing activities, including goal setting. We are working hard on our reading and writing to lift our standard across the school. We hope we are achieving a balance between challenge and support – for students and staff.

High Talent

Congratulations to our 11 swimmers who were selected in the Combined GPS Swimming Team – Ryan Chai (8S), Jiazi Chen (9T), Joshua Chen (7E), John Hong (10F), Kester Jan (8S), David Kim (11E), Jinu Shin (10S), Brendan Tan (9S), Jaden Yi (12T), Oliver Yin (9T), and Jason Yu (10S).  Great to see all Years with swimming representative selection. Well done to our fencers in the Roberta Nutt Individual Fencing competition - U13 sabre - silver Aaron Li (8S); Epee - bronze William Huang (7F); U15 Epee – silver Xavier Perry (10M), Hudson Cai (9M) & Daniel Zhu (8R) equal bronze; U15 sabre – Akith Pereira (10E) bronze.

Ban on students shopping at Woolworths Central

Despite repeated instructions to the contrary, multiple students have been caught entering Woolworths at Central. Students and parents are advised that Woolworths management will be sending us security footage of any student entering the premises and once we identify them, they will face strong negative consequences – not because they entered the store, but because they were instructed by the Principal not to do so, constituting an act of defiance. Before I can try to negotiate a lift of the ban on High students entering the store, I will need to demonstrate that High students have complied with the exclusion from the premises…it’s up to you.

Anzac Day Assembly

We held our Anzac Day Assembly on Wednesday, April 5. My address to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Distinguished guests Colonel Andrew White – NSW Austral AC Brigade Commander AAC, Lt-Colonel Andrew Bernie – CO UNSW Regiment, Tim McGregor RAN Rtd representing Petersham RSL, Mr Warren Crotty representing Maroubra RSL, Old Boys – Commander Andrew Dale RFD RANR, Mr Darren Howard representing SHSOBU and Mr John Frith - welcome to our Anzac Day Assembly.

"Our education system has always deemed it important to hold an Anzac Day Assembly, even if the last day of term one is our only opportunity before Anzac Day on April 25th. On this occasion, I like to draw the attention of the School to some of the current theatres in which our service personnel are engaged. Operation Accordion in the Middle East has reduced to 70 due to our withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan. They provide communications and surveillance functions in support of our personnel. Operation Mazurka is the ADF’s contribution to the Multinational Force and Observers in Sinai, Egypt. There are 27 personnel there. Recently, 70 ADF training personnel deployed to the UK to take part in Operation INTERFLEX to train Ukrainian citizen soldiers. The ADFs biggest commitment is to Operation Resolute (600 personnel), to protect Australia’s borders and economic interests within our economic Exclusion zone, covering 10% of the world’s surface. They assist also in regional support for countries in the Pacific impacted by extreme weather events, such as Vanuatu, where HMAS Canberra was deployed on March 5 with 600 personnel. On Anzac Day we extend our thanks and appreciation to service personnel deployed overseas or at sea, away from their families, who help keep Australia safe by assisting with regional and international peacekeeping efforts. Anzac Day is a time for us to remember those who served across the generations and in the many theatres of conflict. We acknowledge them and thank them for their service as we honour those who made the supreme sacrifice for their country. As citizens we hope never to have to serve as they did, in defence of their country or to support the idea of freedom as expressed in democratic government, with its values of an independent judiciary, respect for the rule of law and freedom of speech. We pay our respects to them and to our dwindling number of veterans, some of whom sent their apologies as being too old or frail to attend our assembly today.

The Russian army invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The heroic Ukrainian resistance and their capacity for resilience and self-sacrifice have resulted in a grinding war of attrition a year later.  The Russian propaganda has turned the conflict into a war of survival against the corrupt and domineering NATO alliance and neo-Nazi Ukrainians with no appropriate family values. The characterisation of the conflict as a proxy war with the West has escalated the scale and the human catastrophe of the war. The threat of possible deployment of nuclear weaponry by Russia suggests Russia may retaliate if sophisticated tanks and fighter jets are sent to the war zone on Ukraine’s behalf and deployed against Russian forces.

As both sides are claiming the conflict as an existential war, a negotiated solution seems inevitable as the NATO members count the cost of their long term support for Ukraine, and Russia draws down deeply on its vast foreign currency reserves from oil and gas sales amidst growing international isolation. Perhaps the Russian separatist areas of the Donbas, where there has been an ongoing insurrection since 2014, might eventually be the price for peace, with NATO or EU membership as a sweetener for Ukraine. As we meet, no proposals for a negotiated settlement have been discussed by emissaries from the warring parties.

Australia has supplied military assistance of $475 million so far, principally in the supply of 90 Bushmaster all-terrain vehicles.  Taking a stand has international consequences.  The sharply increased frequency, intensity and sophistication of cyber-attacks on our institutions can be sheeted home in part to our international position on Ukraine. We see this as yet another test for democracies around the world. Do we believe in democracy enough to defend our values everywhere? Will we be prepared to pay the price?

On Anzac Day, we take time out to understand more about our military history and to honour those who died for our country in all wars. We pay our respects to those who died fighting for us and never returned to their families. Their families too, were forever changed by war. We think of them today. We thank our marching band who will represent us at the Anzac March and also our cadets who will serve at memorials or in catafalque parties. Please pay your part on our National Day of Remembrance by attending a service, watching the march, going to your local memorial to see who served and died in your suburb or just by reading or viewing material about the ANZAC tradition. ‘Lest we forget’."

Sentence Conscious Pedagogy: Sentences

A sentence consists of a word or group of words that includes a subject and a predicate and that expresses a complete thought. It usually consists of a noun or pronoun and a verb. Simple sentences contain a single idea. Eg The bells rang. Single word sentences are possible. Fire! Sit down! These are sentences because they have a subject (everyone who can hear the command). So, technically they have a subject and a verb. Compound / coordinate sentences, contain two or more coordinate clauses. Eg Bill went to history and Ming set off for chemistry. Complex sentences have a principal clause and a subordinate clause. Eg Because he was so late coming to school he ran up Cutler Drive to roll call.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal