̽»¨ÊÓƵ

High Notes, Vol 25 No 22, July 26 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

As we kick off a new term, it’s great to have a large number of success stories to share with our community.

Henry Lau (12S) has just been signed as a development player for the Sydney Kings for the upcoming season, one of the first development players signed by the Kings in their history! Congratulations Henry on such an amazing achievement and we wish you the best of luck in a thriving basketball career.

Over the holidays at the 32nd Sutherland Shire and St George Youth Music Awards 2024, Liam Greacen (11E) placed second in the SMC Banksia Award for Young Composers and received Highly Commended in the Performance on Alto Saxophone. Well done, Liam!

This week it was also announced that Dylan Dutt (11F) has been accepted into the UBS Finance Academy workshops that run in the October holidays. Well done on getting into this highly competitive program Dylan!

Last weekend, Sydney High won the All-Schools Rifle Shooting event at Malabar in what was a close competition. Mark Sukhovsky (11R) was King of the Range with a score of 115.9. The school also won the David Rose Snap Match with Jensen Wang (10F) as joint King of the Range on a score of 39/40. Well done to all boys in their respective events.

In fencing last weekend, there were numerous great results for the students. Tommy Xu (11E) won equal Bronze in the Boys Epee Individual event. In the Boys Epee Team event the SBHS Epee A Team consisting of Tommy Xu (11E), Xavier Perry (11M), Hudson Cai (10M), Jamison Lai (11E) won Gold, while the SBHS Epee B Team of Daniel Zhu (9R), Benjamin Wu (10F), Vihaan Rajit (10E), Lucas Wang (10R) won equal Bronze.

In the Boys Sabre Individual event Daniel Iliffe (11R) won Gold, Jayden Ho (12M) won Silver and Oscar Shi (12S) won equal Bronze. In the Boys Sabre Team event the SBHS Sabre A Team of Daniel Iliffe (11R), Oscar Shi (12S), Jayden Ho (12M), Samuel Hui (12T) won Gold, while the SBHS Sabre B Team of Ethan Li (10F), Mahesh Karki (11S), Akith Perera (11E), Nathan Lee (11R) won Silver.

Furthermore, in the Boys Foil Individual event Benjamin Dang (10R) won Gold, while in the Boys Foil Team event our team of Dean Johnsun (12F), Benjamin Dang (10R), Andrew Wang (12S), Henry Lin (12S) won Gold.

With a clean sweep in the team fencing events, winning Gold in all 3 weapons, SBHS won the Championship title this year. Well done to all our fencers on this fantastic achievement and their ongoing success this season!

Pre-Trial HSC Practice

In other news, during the holidays we had 142 students complete pre-trial HSC practice papers in the Great Hall over two days. This was a great opportunity for the boys to get invaluable experience at sitting an unseen paper under examination conditions for three hours. I’d like to thank the executive for providing this opportunity to the boys through their preparation of the papers and to Mr Barris for overseeing the tasks during the break. Doing past papers, particularly under time constraints, is such an important skill for success in the HSC. I highly recommend that all boys sitting the HSC (and in other year groups when their examinations are coming up) complete a number of past papers to maximise their results.

Holiday Works

This break there was also a large number of works being done across the school site. The eagerly awaited air conditioning in the Junior Library has been completed in what’s been a long journey including several delays over a number of years. A new NBN line was also installed in the school to allow better access to the internet across all aspects of the school. Additionally, blinds were replaced in various locations across the school, all while a number of rectification works were undertaken around the site. A massive thank you to our General Assistant Jim Crampton for his efforts in keeping the school facilities in the shape that they are.

NAPLAN Results

And on a final note, the school received personalised copies of NAPLAN results this week, which were distributed to students in Years 7 and 9. Further data for analysis across each cohort will be available to the school in coming weeks, when the executive will develop plans to continue students’ growth in reading, writing, numeracy and effective use of language. I encourage parents to look over their son’s NAPLAN report to discuss his areas of strength and areas he could improve. By enhancing the boys’ ability in these fundamental literacy and numeracy skills in their early years of high school they will be better placed to succeed in the years ahead.
Jamie Kay
Relieving Principal