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High Notes, Vol 25 No 13, May 10 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to those students who competed at the Combined Independent Schools Swimming carnival this week: Will Meng (7F), Maksim Kireev (8R), Ryan Chai (9S), Kester Jan (9S), Jiazi Chen (10T), Mark Yan (10F), Jinu Shin (11S) and David Kim (12S). It is a fine achievement to qualify for this high standard meet. Well done also to Hudson Cai (10M), who earned a perfect score in the National Latin Examination. This USA-based competition has tens of thousands of participants and is highly regard by classicists. Congratulations to Tommy Xu (11E) who competed in the world U17 Fencing championships in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He finished a creditable 43/150 in Epée – winning five group stage bouts and one elimination bout. Congratulations to our fencing squad who retained the AJ Rae Shield for teams fencing last Saturday. Gold medals were won by – U18 Epée Team [Tommy Xu (11E), Xavier Perry (11M), Hudson Cai (10M) and Daniel Zhu (9R)]; U16 Sabre team [ Ethan Li (10F), Akith Perera (11E), Nathan Lee (11R) & Daniel Iliffe (11R); and U18 Sabre Team [Daniel Iliffe (11R), Jayden HO (12M), Samuel Hui (12T), & Oscar Shi (12S). Well done to all competitors!

Winter Sport Co-payments  

Invoices for participation in winter sports have been posted on Schoolbytes and EBS using our spreadsheet of charges endorsed by Associations and co-curricular committees. As usual, we ask for your support by paying them promptly. All of our winter sports depend on a timely settling of invoiced co-payments to pay coaches. Parents are reminded that all programs have to meet their budgetary obligations and cannot do so without maximum support from everyone. Our sports are delivered at a fraction of their actual cost, being subsidised by allocations from the school’s budget, parking revenues and ASF donations, along with the structural support and supervision provided by the school with assistance from the co-curricular support levy. Please attend to your son’s winter sports co-payment now.

Early offers to university agreement

Education Ministers across Australia have agreed that early offers should not be issued by universities before September for 2024-25. They have agreed also that a national framework should be developed in time for 2027 commencements at university. This is a very welcome step towards improving the timing, frequency and transparency of early offers and admissions. Our experience at High has been that students who receive early offers frequently disengaged from the curriculum and perform at the HSC at a level well below their indicated ability. A standard approach by universities will make the final year of schooling more like what it used to be – a rite of passage framed around a high stakes examination.

Closer Reading: What am I reading?

The first step in closer reading is to know what classification of text it is that you are reading, so that you can find its generic features and be prepared for the possible intentions of and expected languages uses by, the composer. Articles are prose compositions found in journals, magazines, newspapers, and encyclopaedias and are factual, informative and topical. An article is usually reliant for comprehension and significance on other matter in the publication. In the case of leading articles, whilst purporting to present objective presentations of fact, they are in reality espousing the editorial policy of the newspaper proprietors. By contrast, in an essay, emphasis is placed on literary qualities and on the personality of the writer. The essay [Montaigne – ‘essai’- attempt] is characterised by brevity and a concern for style and expression. A formal essay is generally critical, biographical, or historical, usually carefully composed, logical and careful in its treatment of its subject matter. An informal essay is personal, imaginative and is characterised by digressions, free association of ideas, humour, and fantasy.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal