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High Notes, Vol 24 No 14, May 19 2023

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Henry Lau (11S) on his recent selection into the NSWCIS U16 Basketball team.

The Online Clearance Form

We have implemented a bespoke piece of software designed by Old Boy Eric Holmstrom to make the administration of Clearance Forms paperless. Parents and students can easily view contributions, co-payments, outstanding library books, levies or equipment borrowed and not returned. Rather than chase individual teachers to get signatures on paper, students now have to just go to the Student Portal on the website, click on ‘My Portal at a glance’ and choose ‘My Clearance Form.’ Red crosses or green ticks beside items indicate what has been paid or returned and what is still owing.

Not involving teachers in this process saves them precious down time and spares students running around the school on compliance tasks for each faculty. SAS staff have less time taken up signing off on individual Clearance Form items for students. The system’s first test was with Year 12 reports which went smoothly for the most part. One glitch we did discover was that payments made after 6pm may not be processed completely for 36 hours. Consequently, within that timeframe, students who enter their names on the ‘Stragglers Reports Sheet’ with timeslots, situated on the Waterhouse Desk, may find their payments have not cleared. To overcome this problem, students have been using their phones to show me copies of electronic receipts, thereby allowing me to discuss their reports with them. So, if the website doesn’t show nothing owed, bring a photo of the payment on your phone when you come for the interview.

With the assistance of mobile phones and the good software application, moving away from paper Clearance Forms looks like being a relatively easy transition. I want to acknowledge and thank students and staff for making this transition so seamless.

The Co-Curricular Supervision Levy

In order for us to run a six-day school with after-hours activities for 15 sports, debating, music ensembles, cadets and chess, we need to provide a teacher/MIC/ manager for organisation of the activity and staff to provide supervision of students to meet our duty of care obligations. The DoE does not fund the extra training sessions and competitions on Friday evenings and Saturdays. Some parents are asking: ‘Why should I pay this co-curricular levy when I’m paying quite a lot in co-payments for a sport or activity for a season? The money raised from the levy is used to pay for the time that supervising teachers/MICs have to spend on the activity. Their duties include but are not limited to hiring and managing coaches; organising teams, booking fixtures and venues; buying and managing equipment; supervising coaches during training sessions; coordinating results recording / publishing; following up on attendance; awarding Student Award Scheme participation points in a text file; getting reports from sports captains; managing assemblies and dinners; as well as travelling and being there for competition fixtures on Friday nights or Saturdays. All these non-teaching duties take time for which personnel must have some compensation, by way of time, money or a combination of both. In 2022 our parents paid $195,780 ($162/student) to support these programs.

In addition, the levy is used to pay for health and safety services and equipment. Physiotherapy services are provided at certain venues and at selected times at school in the winter season to assess injuries to students. Also, an extra allowance is given to the Head Teacher Sport to manage the overall sports program. The levy has to meet the cost of running athletics, sprints and swimming programs which are provided free of charge to all students. The levy does not cover the running costs of sports – coaches’ fees, venue hire, equipment, consumables. All these items must be funded through co-payments, parking receipts and school budget allocations.

To clarify why the levy is necessary and should be supported by all parents, I want to share with you the direct costs to the school of management, supervision and duty of care of sport and co-curricular activities. Staff members are remunerated by way of allowances (time free from face-to-face), or the period equivalent in money or a combination of the two. Non-teachers are paid the equivalent of the period allowance that would have been offered to teachers. The employment on costs of >18% are also paid by the school. The cost to the school for these services in 2023 will be $500,695 for sport and $103,554 for co-curricular. As well, we pay a capitation fee of $86k to the AAGPS+CIS in order to be a financial member and compete in their competitions. This amounts to $571 per student. Please support the school in its attempt to deliver a plethora of high-quality co-curricular activities by contributing to the Co-Curricular Supervision levy each year.

Legally Blonde – Our SBHS-SGHS Musical Co-production

Come and be entertained in the Governors Centre by our students performing in Legally Blonde – the acclaimed musical. Students and staff from both schools have been heavily involved for months to bring this co-production to the stage. Shows are scheduled for Wednesday May 24 from 7pm - 9:50pm; Thursday May 25 from 7pm - 9:50pm; Saturday May 27 from 7pm - 9:50pm; and the final show on Sunday May 28 from 2pm to 4:50pm. Please support our Musical. Tickets :

Canteen Week

Next week is Canteen Week, May 22-26 during which schools acknowledge and celebrate the great work and service to students by Canteen Managers and volunteer parents and friends.  Our P & C run Canteen is certified as a Healthy Canteen and offers variety, quality and economy to our boys. The students enjoy the range of options and the cashless purchasing arrangements offered.  Let us all say ‘thank you’ during the week to our Canteen staff when being served or when ordering food. They are friendly, caring and earn much needed funds for the school to use for the benefit of the boys – buses, textbooks, contributions to prizes, equipment and assets.

Sentence Conscious Pedagogy: expanding sentences with Subordinating Conjunctions.

An easy way to make sentences more complex is to begin them with a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions connect subordinating clauses to main clauses. E.g. Because my train came half an hour late, I arrived very late for school. Common subordinating conjunctions: because, when, where, if, unless, although, though, since, before, after, while, even though. Mix up your sentences to make them more vivid and interesting.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal