探花视频

High Notes, Vol 24 No 13, May 12 2023

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our fencers again. In our New South Wales Schools Fencing League U19 Epee competition. Jack Wang (12M) won gold and Jarrod Su (12R) silver. At the NSW Fencing Association U15 Sabre Competition, Akith Perera (10E) and Ethan Li (9F) shared bronze. Well done, boys! CDTSGT Dean Johnsun (11F) represented the 探花视频 Cadet Unit (SHSCU) in the 2023 Australian Army Cadets' National Adventure Training Award (ATA), held in Tasmania in April. He successfully completed ATA and was awarded the prized 鈥淏oomerang and Torch鈥� Adventure Training Award badge. Some of the challenges faced by the cadets included watermanship, ropes courses, survival, navigating by day and night in the bush. Well done, Dean! Congratulations to our 1st XV Rugby team 鈥� the boys had a narrow win over Newington 3rd Grade last Saturday. Let鈥檚 acknowledge Luka Miletic (11R) who, with his partner, won 鈥楤est Delegates鈥� as the nation of Bhutan at the Model United Nations Competition held at Baulkham Hills High.

Assessment and Reporting Update

Year 7 assessments commence in Week 4 from Monday May 15 to Friday May 18. Reports will be finalised for students with completed Clearance Forms to discuss with the Principal from June 5.

Properties Update

After laying additional concrete slabs alongside the asphalt path beside the tennis courts, four new jarrah seats have been installed for passive recreation and viewing of tennis matches.  A large patch of artificial grass has been laid on the slab next to the trailer compound so that the scrum machine can be rolled out and used for scrum practice for our rugby teams.  Fencers may also use the space as a spill-over training area. The long-awaited extension to the roof of the COLA was installed during the week.  The facility will now have significant additional weather protection form easterly rain events.  The batting and bowling creases in the COLA were worn and needed replacing, as did the nets which have lasted the best part of 15 years.  These works are underway.

Welcome to Country signage has been installed next to the Bear Pit stairs to add to our 鈥榳ayfinding project鈥�.

In our GPS sports gallery we have added a second Honour Board to accommodate our 2nd Grade GPS Premiers and Champions.  The existing board is full, thanks in particular to the great form of volleyball and rile shooting 2nd Grade teams over recent years.  I look forward to adding High successes to the new Honour Board.

Significant electrical cabling work has been completed in preparation for the completion of the Cooler Classrooms Project.  We are grateful for the replacement of end of life cables and ageing distribution boards.  McDonald Wing has yet to be connected to the main building via a new cable.  This is planned to be installed in Semester 2.

Interpreting Semester 1 Year 12 Reports

All Year 12 students should have their reports. For the first time during their high school life, the students have an ATAR calculation based on their best ten units. However, not all parts of their courses have been examined at this time. The full examination doesn鈥檛 happen until the Trial HSC in August.  A limited number of topics have been completed in the HSC courses so far this year. Despite these limitations, the May report is extremely important as a yard stick for possible HSC performance.  Every year I would love to be proved wrong.  Every year I would be glad to applaud students who do much better than their ATAR prediction derived from their April performances. Inevitably, if nothing changes in the students approach to study and revision, the predictions will be more or less accurate, assuming our quantum and spread of marks earned this year are similar to those earned in last year鈥檚 HSC.

The first report in Year 12 is often a wakeup call for boys who have been coasting. Students ought to take advantage of practice tasks, opportunities for re-writes or early submission of drafts of essays to receive very useful feedback prior to submission of their work. Lunchtime workshops are also offered for some courses. Individual Faculties also provide targeted coaching for students with weaknesses in the period up until the HSC Trial examination. Students with their backs to the wall start to listen when we talk to them about study routines, life balance and focus. I hope parents will support us once again this year by impressing upon their sons how important it is from now on to get themselves organised, stick to a study routine and find the time each week to work hard. It is equally important to maintain co-curricular activities and to sleep well.

Sentence Conscious Pedagogy: Expanding on Kernel sentences.

A kernel sentence is a brief but complete sentence. Use common question words to expand on the kernel sentence to make it more informative.eg who, what, where, when, how and why? Eg The class will decide. After reading all the material, for and against, about our national holiday in January, which has become a divisive topic in our society, the class will decide on whether it would be better to move Australia Day or rename it.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal