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High Notes, Vol 25 No 3, February 16 2024

From the Principal

High Talent

Many school records were broken at our successful swimming carnival last week. Jiazi Chen (10T) – 16 years 50m backstroke (29.65), 16 years 50m Freestyle (24.85) & 16 years 50m Butterfly (27.22). Brian Ahn (12M) -18 Years 50 Breaststroke (35.81) & 18 Years 50 Butterfly (31.28). In 50m back stroke -David Kim (12E) 17 years (30.41) & Brian Cho (12S) 18 Years (31.06). In 50m breaststroke - Brendan Tan (10S) 16 Years (34.44) & John Hong (11F) 17 Years (33.56). Jinu Shin (11S) 17 Years 50 Butterfly (28.49). Congratulations to our Swimming Carnival Age Champions: 12 years – Robert Lei (7F), 13 years – Joshua Chen (8E), 14 years – Ryan Chai (9S), 15 years – Joshua Park (9T), 16 years – Jiazi Chen (10T), 17 years – Jason Yu (11S) and 18 years – Brian Ahn (12M). Well done to Jake Rowlands for his organisation of the day and thank you to all the staff who helped make the event run smoothly.

Summer Sports Assembly

Luke Schofields spoke about his journey as a scholar and now full-time athlete and how his life journey has been shared so closely with his twin brother Jayden. My speech on summer sport is reprinted below.

"Turning now to our other focus for this morning’s assembly, summer sport, I extend a warm welcome to our special guest, Luke Schofields (SHS-2016). I want to acknowledge our teams on their efforts in Term 4, 2023 and as always, encourage them to work hard together for the rest of the competition season in Term 1 this year. Thank you to our stalwart MIC of Cricket, David Smith for his dedication to the role and that of Cricket Coaching Coordinator. A special thank you to him, Hannah Jackson, Lisa Jennings, and the Cricket Committee for their work in hosting the Five Highs Tournament. We welcome Tim Affleck as first XI coach with Michael Quinn returning to guide the 2nd XI. Thank you to all our staff coaches, particularly long-serving Andrew Fuller. Thank you to the Cricket Committee, in particular Saheel Afiz (President), Rajesh Lucknauth (Treasurer) and Sai Prasad Nayani (Secretary). Thank you to the match day helpers who organise the food and drinks – David Royal, Khaled Faisal, Ramakanth Rajagopal, Sujeewa Liyanage and Zonald Sharafi.

"In basketball, long-term MIC & Coaching Coordinator Ben Hayman, is rebuilding the program. Thank you for your perseverance in difficult personal circumstances. Old Boy Geoff Gerlach (SHS-2014) returns as the first-grade coach. Thank you again to Sam Higgins (for his work with second grade and in developing ‘future firsts’ players. We extend our thanks to staff members: Richard Wong, Andrew Wang, Jo Curry, Viv Paul, Mia Zheng, and Hazel Stephens. I want to thank also all the Lead Coaches and The Basketball Committee, for their support with scoring, timekeeping, the Canteen and after game functions. Thank you to the Baruah family – Utpal, Hui and Alhad. Also, Kelland He, Carol Wang, Anthony Lau, Grace Guan, Rosaline Perry, Herbert Lau, Michelle Adamson and Fiona Li. Thank you all for your invaluable help.

"In sailing, I want to acknowledge MIC Matt Cotton for his efforts in developing the sailing program. Thank you to Stuart Olsen and Domeniki Damianos for their assistance supervising the students. Thank you to Hugo Leeming (Head coach), Sam Ezra and Zhitian Mai for their guidance, coaching and development of students’ skills; and to Scots College’s staff for their help in managing Saturday racing. I would like to recognise the work of the Sailing Committee - Mona Gosh (President), Neil Ghosh, Florence Li & Ally Xu (parking), Delia Leung (Welcome Night), & all our enthusiastic parent helpers in supporting sailing at High.

"Thank you to Jessica Millar, MIC of Water Polo for her management of the program this year and to Old Boy Jake Rowlands (SHS-2017) who stepped in while Jessica was on leave and is also coaching the swimmers. Thank you to Peter Loizou for his enduring commitment to High as MIC of Swimming.  We welcome Jake Rowlands as he takes over from Peter for this year as MIC Swimming.

"Thank you to Kurt Rich for his ongoing role as MIC of tennis. Evergreen David Deep is again High’s Coaching Coordinator and first grade coach. We welcome back Irina Vasiliev as second grade coach. Our program is in a rebuilding phase with a young and inexperienced team steadily becoming more competitive team. Thank you, David, and Irina, and to parent helper Lawrence Chen for his assistance’.

"I congratulate all boys selected in GPS teams this season.  It is an honour and a privilege to represent your school in such a prestigious competition. You will always remember the experience. It is always about self and team improvement through setting and pursuing collaboratively established goals. Enjoy the experience!"

Early Bird Discounts 

For much of what we do as a six-day school, particularly on Saturdays, High is a self-help, self-funded organisation. In order to help maintain all of our many activities we offer a substantial discount to parents who pay all their invoices in full before Friday, March 16. It is not only a great demonstration by them of their commitment to the ethos of the school but also, it’s an encouragement for others to follow their lead and it helps to create a critical mass of financial support for our programs. The rest comes from the support of parents and the efforts made by School Family volunteers, helping in fund raising. Having substantial funds early in the year allows us to make sure that capital works are completed in the holidays, orders are made promptly and that the boys get the maximum benefit out of equipment and services deployed for them this year.  Quality services, extra staff and high standards come at a high price. A very large number of parents see the package as value for money and contribute in full.

The early bird discount is available for students who were invoiced in 2024 and doesn’t apply to new students who were invoiced in October 2023 and subsequently came to Orientation Day in November and had the opportunity to pay all invoices on that day and obtain the discount. New Year 7-11 boys who were not made offers before Orientation Day and hence could not attend, are eligible for the discount. Returning students in Years 8-12 have the chance to make a saving by paying in full by Friday, March 16.

Last year, 72.95% of families saw the benefit of supporting the school in all of its activities early in the year and thereby earned the early bird discount. Together they saved $221,260. I thank them sincerely for their support. We achieved our target and reset our 2024 target to attract 73% of parents this year. Let’s carry on High’s self-help culture to make sure we achieve our goals for your sons in 2024 and beyond!   Education at High is real value for money!

Paragraph Conscious Pedagogy: Recounts

Recounts are retellings of past events. They are usually written as a series of events in the order in which they happen. Structure.
Orientation The first stage tells us about ‘who, what, where and when’, to help the reader place the events in time and place.
Series of events. The second stage is the retelling of the events in sequence. What are the language features of a recount? Illustrative words are used to construct a description of the world in which the events are taking place. Typically, the past tense is used to relate the events. These events are linked together using time reference words, e.g., the next day, once, afterwards.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal