Older Volumes - Sydney Boys High School

High Notes, Vol 26 No 39, December 12 2025

2025-12-12T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Cassiel Yun (11T) on his win in the Mobile Muster competition. His poster design was high class. Well done to all our successful Duke of Edinburgh participants. Gold – Cassiell Yun, Lucas Su. Silver - Adrian Wang, Francesco Menichetti, Haroon Syed, Om Kothari, Jiekai Miao, Lachlan Yuen, ryan chai, Sajan Thiagalingam, Siddarth Menon and William Cahyadi. Bronze – Daniel Kuskopff and Dhuryah Sapra.

Final High Notes for 2025

As next week is the last week of term, this will be the last edition of High Notes, possibly also in this format. We have to consider moving to Sway or its replacement Google software and decide on going all digital as a publication, sometime in 2026. Thank you to Rosa Owen for managing and editing the publication and Brooke Ashton for her proof reading. Thank you to the teachers, students and parents who contributed to making High Notes a weekly, informative and celebratory vehicle for news about student activities and achievement, and about educational issues more generally.

Interpreting Year 10 Reports – Semester 2

All Year 10 boys should now have their reports. Parents are advised to work with their sons in the process of choosing Year 11 courses to be sure they have made the right choices, aligning their abilities, interests, and possible post-secondary plans. It is really important for students to be sure about their selections. Choosing courses for Year 11 study can be assisted by evaluations of Year 10 performances. English and mathematics courses are determined by the school’s pattern of offered courses and by the results of the mathematics selection process for extension 1. For Year 11, 2026 the permitted number will be - as is our custom – seven classes only. Year 10 boys should have done their Career Voyage questionnaire during their Transition Education periods. These results should be discussed in the light of your son’s interests and abilities. Courses can be selected to underscore certain tertiary directions – eg chemistry for medicine, or economics for a commerce degree. Year 10 boys should all have had interviews with a member of staff to discuss their possible pathways and appropriate Year 11 course selections. Year 10 boys should all complete their Life Ready courses next week. It is compulsory in order to complete Preliminary HSC study.

As for the semester 1 report, ranks are varied by several factors. Students who have not performed well in PE will have a slightly reduced ATAR prediction because the calculation is made on 12.3 units (using a pro rata for PE based on time spent). Students who do the online elective receive the average of the other units, so as neither to advantage nor disadvantage them, whereas they may have taken another elective and earned an above average score or a below average score. Students accelerating have a harder task than non-accelerants as they are assessed at stage 6 standard. Consequently, their scaled marks may be lower, reducing their overall score, and hence rank. Students may also lose interest in electives they are not continuing and record weaker results. Electives done for enjoyment are in contrast to the serious efforts that will need to be made in their stage 6 courses. I do not make a judgement on these outcomes. Stage 5 satisfactory completion is all that is required in Year 10. What matters is what happens next, in stage 6. Therefore, students should choose their suite of courses for Year 11 ultra carefully, with insights gained after research and discussion with parents and staff and by acting in their own self-interest. Course selection amendments need to be finalised early in the new year.

Interpreting Year 8 Reports – Semester 2

[Year 8 will get their reports next week]. When coming to the end of Year 8, some boys do not put much effort into subjects they do not intend to continue. This behaviour is regrettable but understandable. Parents should realise that such a lack of interest in one or two subjects can result in big fluctuations in grades awarded by teachers, and in turn, cause large movements in overall ranks. Some boys are better at geography or history and the semesterisation of subjects might not suit them for half the year. Such fluctuations will be reflected in ratings on ‘learning behaviours’ by teachers on reports and by comments from the Principal. From one perspective, parents can appreciate better what sort of learner their son is not. It is better not to persist in a discipline that does not excite you and motivate you to excel. For other students, doing well in the Yearly examination is their objective. They can turn around their cruising first semester with much more self-disciplined effort in the second half of the year.

Elective choice going into Year 9 is very important. Students need to follow their interests in a low-stakes choice environment. Some boys change both electives again in Year 10! We offer a wide range of electives for students to experience different learning contexts, with varying content and required skill sets. By the end of Year 8, the generalist focus for secondary education is completed. That is, compulsory experiences in music, visual arts and technology have now finished. Stage 5 is characterised by learner exploration and enlargement of perspective – more student choice. Students start to prepare for stage 6 selections by trialling subjects. Of course, the core subjects are vitally important, and students need to be held accountable for their satisfactory progress in them. At our school, the expectation is state grade ‘A’ performance in core subjects. Discuss your son’s report from the two perspectives – core and future electives. Talk about their selections with them. Let them follow their interests.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 38, December 05 2025

2025-12-05T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Saharsh Subramanian (8F) representing CIS, was selected into the NSW U15 Combined Team – a rare and impressive achievement! Well done to our Mock Mediation Team on their Grand Final victory! Congratulations to Zihan Chi (9T), Isran Kanwar (10S), (Mekaeel Khan (9M), Oscar Li (9M), Marco Ma (9M), Talha Adnan (10M) and Maxi Ibrahim (9M). Thank you also to their mentor, Hazel Stephens for her guidance.

Changes to U16 access to Social Media

The eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, believes that the Commission aims to help all Australians to have safer, more positive experiences online. She considers that the technology industry needs a ‘virtual seatbelt’ to constrain its activities in relation to young people. This change aims to give young people more time to develop essential skills and maturity before engaging fully on social media. From 10 December 2025, social media age restrictions will come into effect across Australia. Age-restricted social media platforms will have to take reasonable steps to prevent Australians under-16s from creating or keeping accounts. Publicly available content without a login to a particular platform is OK. Cyber bullying tends to be peer to peer and is directly tied to conflict at school. Bullying may transition to excluded services such as messaging and online gaming.

Can Schools use Online content such as Educational Videos on YouTube?
Yes. Students can log in to YouTube using their school email address, and their access operates in Restricted Mode, which is not affected by the new age restrictions and provides a safer, education-focused environment. If the content is publicly available and does not require login to another platform, students will still be able to watch it. Additionally, learning management systems that support educators in sharing course materials, managing assignments and facilitating communication will be excluded from these age restrictions. Students can continue to access resources, submit work and collaborate within these systems as usual.

Do Schools have responsibility for monitoring or reporting Students under 16 who have Social Media Accounts?
No. There is no obligation for educators or any individual to report under-16 accounts on age-restricted social media platforms. The responsibility lies with the social media platforms to identify and deactivate accounts belonging to under-16 users.

Do Schools need to change their Communication methods with students?
This should not change the way schools interact with students, as the department’s social media policy and procedures do not allow staff to connect with or communicate with students on public platforms.

What should be done if a student under 16 experiences a harmful incident on a Social Media platform?
Regardless of age, if a student encounters harmful online experiences, they should be encouraged to seek support immediately. Cyberbullying, like harmful posts or profiles, should be reported to the platform first. If it's very serious and the platform doesn’t help, it can be reported to eSafety. 

Resources and Guidance
The eSafety social media age restrictions hub contains information and resources to help parents and carers, educators, and students understand and prepare as the restrictions take effect on 10 December 2025. eSafety is also hosting a series of webinars for parents and carers, and educators.

Human Rights Day

Human Rights Day, held on Wednesday December 10, 2025, celebrates the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and freedom from discrimination for all people. Sadly, this is not the reality of life for so many people. We need to keep raising our awareness of this international aspiration. In 1948, the United Nations General Assembly held that:

Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.
It is essential, if man is not compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law.

Regrettably, locally, nationally and internationally, humankind has not lived up to its agreed and pledged beliefs and values. Our Kindness Day, organised this week, keeps the dream of equality alive. Well done, boys.

Caught Doing the Right Thing

I was gratified to receive the following email from a commuter: ‘I was on the 120 bus this morning and just wanted to drop you a note to let you know that one of your students offered his seat for me on the bus. I find this rarely happens with school students anymore and just wanted to let you know how impressed I was with how courteous he was. It was a lovely surprise in my morning!’ Keep up the good work on the 120 bus!
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 37, November 28 2025

2025-11-28T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Jerry Du (SHS-2025) whose performance Sonatina for flute and piano was selected for the HSC showcase ENCORE. This is a rare and prestigious achievement for one of our musicians. Maxi Ibrahim’s Sydney East Water Polo team earned a bronze medal in the CHSSA Championships. Well done, Maxi! At the FIRST Tech Challenge Sydney North Qualifier, our robotics team, comprising Milan Babin (10M), Leon Lu (10F) and Hayden Nguyen (10S) received the first place Inspire Award recognising its outstanding engineering practice, innovation, teamwork and community impact. Congratulations, boys! Boris Zhang (SHS-2025) has had his body of work selected for exhibition at ARTEXPRESS. This is a rare honour for our students. Congratulations, Boris!

Interpreting Year 7 Reports - Semester 2

All boys in Year 7 should now have their reports. In Year 7, we do not provide ranks to students. We have an Academic Achievement List for high-performing students and a Student Monitoring Register for students performing below expected standards. We try to let students settle in and find their feet before making too many outcomes’ comparisons. Our benchmark is 10 credits or thirty points. A student’s profile of learning behaviours is important to us. We collate teachers’ ratings. A high proportion of ‘consistently’ (c) ‘or ‘usually’ (u) ratings, indicates a student is adjusting well to the demands of multiple subjects (10 in Year 7).

We ask also, that you check your son’s progress in future-oriented earning skills – problem solving, evaluating, working with others, communicating ideas, creating and innovating (PEWCC). Some of these are reported each year in their own text box on the school reports. Faculties have an opportunity to report at least twice on one or more of the five ‘earning skills’ during the six reporting periods during Years 7-9. These skills will be needed in jobs of the future.

You can understand more deeply about how your son is building his capacity in the discrete dispositions that we have targeted for development as a school. The idea is that you can track your son’s growth over his three years in the Junior School. These PEWCC skills are very contextual. Hypothetically, your son might be really good at ‘working with others in English’ where he is confident and comfortable, but not so effective in mathematics where he is weaker, is reticent, or defers to the strongest mathematician in the work group. Consequently, skill growth might not be a simple progression from 1 in Year 7 to 3, 4 or 5 in Year 10 (depending on the scale in the rubric for each subject). Your son’s progress might be uniform, neither across the subjects, nor across the dispositions.

We are reporting on growth in individual dispositions by comparing where a student was on the scale in Year 7 and then again in Year 9 in the same subject context. A similar comparison may be made between measures reported in Year 8 and then again in Year 10. I look forward to an informed dialogue between parents and teachers on the individual student’s development of these important life skills. Go to our website and then to ‘Sydney High Community’ then to ‘Curriculum/PEWCC Reporting’ for a full list of skill descriptors. Our challenge is to develop effective assessment tasks at all levels, in order to describe more accurately where your son stands in his development of these important life skills.

In semester 2, some students choose not to put much effort into one of the languages which they do not intend to pursue in Year 8. While this is regrettable, it is also understandable. As history and geography are delivered in semesters, a student might be stronger or weaker in either of these subjects in second semester. The consequence can be that overall achievement level, as measured by our points system, might decline or improve sharply. Students have their second opportunity to choose a subject when they decide on their language/s for next year. Will they do one language or two? What are the commitments if they take offline classes? Will their other activities be affected? Please discuss language choices for Year 8 with your sons. They are perfectly free to choose just one language in Year 8 if they wish.

Statement from the Premier

‘I am deeply concerned by reports of an assault on an Indian-Australian man at Westfield Parramatta, including allegations the attack was racially motivated. No one in our state should ever be targeted or intimidated because of their background or identity. Racism has no place in our State, and we will always call it out when we see it. We will continue working with community leaders, local organisations and police to ensure people of all backgrounds feel safe, respected and supported in every part of New South Wales’. Wednesday, 19 November 2025, let us ensure we are inclusive in our school and that each one of us is an upstander when it comes to witnessing racially motivated words or deeds at school, in the playground or on the playing fields, Care enough to confront racism!

International Day of People with Disability

Held on 3 December 2025, International Day of People with Disability aims to promote awareness, understanding and acceptance of people with disability. The day promotes the achievements, rights and diversity of people with disability. This year’s theme, ‘Fostering disability-inclusive societies for advancing social progress’, recognises the important role people with disability play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable world for all.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 36, November 21 2025

2025-11-21T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Maxi Ibrahim (9M) was selected to play in the NSWCHSSA Water Polo Championships. Well done, Maxi! Franklin Huang (10M) qualified for the Metropolitan South and Southwest final of the United Nations Voice speaking competition. He came third and qualified to go to the Nationals! Congratulations to Franklin. At the recent NSW All Schools Volleyball Tournament, both our 7A and 8A teams earned silver medals, defeated in close final matches by Baulkham Hills HS. A great effort, boys! Boris Zhang (SHS-2025) had his body of work set aside for possible inclusion in ARTEXPRESS. Congratulations, Boris! Marley Masya and Vincent Wang (SHS-2025) have had their musical compositions nominated for inclusion in ENCORE, an important HSC Showcase. Congratulations!

Scholarship Applications closing.

There is only one week left for students to apply for the Phillip Day Memorial and Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Scholarships. If you have financial needs due to family or special circumstances; if you are a great all-rounder; or if you have a special talent that needs extra resources to help you develop; or if you are going into Year 11 and you have a strong background in community service, please consider applying. Scholarships are valued at $1500 in school credit per year. Application forms can be downloaded from the school community website: sydneyhigh.school/scholarships

Applications close on Friday, November 28.

Use of Libraries 2022-2024

The experience at successful selective schools is that their general literacy is enhanced considerably over time in line with their students’ involvement with reading. The 3-year Junior Library report from Dr Love was very encouraging. Junior Library loans increased from 2512 in 2022 to 7436 in 2024 (an increase of 196%). Total school loans in 2022 were 5,796 but in 2024 had risen to10,917 (an increase of 88.4%). The E-book experience was up and down with 996 loans in 2022, 1029 in 2023, but only 585 in 2024. Perhaps students prefer to borrow hard copy books. I certainly find them easier to read. Support from students who serve as Library Monitors has also been impressive. In 2022, 45 students worked 332 hours. In 2023, 96 students worked 778 hours. In 2024, 95 students worked 873 hours. Duke of Edinburgh Award students are allowed to book up school service credits by working in the Junior Library. Entries in the Premier’s Reading Challenge have also taken off. In 2022, 27; in 2023, 94; in 2024, 134 and this year, 183. The increase of 577% is due to the purchase of new reading stock by Dr Love which the boys enjoy reading, and to the persistent promotion of reading by teaching staff during the last couple of years.

Clean Up High Month

Last year our student leaders and SRC were concerned about the cleanliness of our site. Too many boys think it is the cleaner’s job to pick up rubbish. In fact, cleaners are supposed to merely empty the rubbish bins provided for students to deposit their rubbish. They also blow way fallen leaves. The problem of playground litter is still with us. I want us to make this an annual SRC event. It is our collective responsibility as a school community to keep our environment clean and safe. The focus for November is ‘cleaning up High’. There are many bins located strategically in high traffic areas to make it easier to do the right thing. Bins are located: leading onto Moore Park West; between the fig trees in the Junior Quad; in the area around the outdoor basketball courts; outside of the gym; on the 100s veranda opposite the tennis court; the bubblers area; and near the entrance to the Junior Quad. More work will be created for the cleaners who have to empty the bins that the boys fill up with their rubbish. Everyone has an obligation to clean up High!

Enrolment Day

Since our decision to hold two days for incoming students, we hope that we have improved the overall student and parent experience when engaging with our staff at High. On Enrolment Day, Tuesday November 25, our purpose is to guide parents to complete paperwork, make appropriate payments and to get back to work or usual activities. On the other hand, Orientation Day, held on Tuesday December 9, is, as its name suggests, a time for students (and parents) to immerse yourself in the courtyard activities, to find out about the physical geography of High and to browse through the various activities on offer.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 35, November 14 2025

2025-11-14T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

James McLoughlin (SHS-2025) had his major work in English Extension 2 nominated for inclusion in the HSC Young Writers showcase publication. I cannot remember a High student being honoured in this HSC category before. Well done James and his teacher / mentor! Congratulations to the boys who completed their Duke of Edinburgh Awards. Silver – Jiekai Miao, Lachlan Yeung and Adrian Wang (Year 11), Om Kothari, Francesco Menichetti (Year 10). Bronze – Daniel Kuskoff and Dhurya Sapra (Year 10).

Interpreting Year 9 Reports – Semester 2

Students in Year 9 should have collected their yearly reports. There are often violent fluctuations in rank order as a few marks can determine the difference between a D and an HD. Many boys have really taken to their electives and have achieved well in semester 2. Parents should be aware that boys who, for any reason, have decided to discontinue an elective after Year 9, may have reduced their effort, with a negative impact on their overall result. Also, those who will not continue core subjects (such as history or geography) may lose motivation and not perform to their potential in those two subjects. Such actions can also result in large movements in the rank order. Encourage your son to maintain a high standard in the core subjects, English, mathematics and science, as these are compulsory in Year 10. An honest effort ought to be applied to all subjects while students are enrolled in them. ‘N’ awards may be issued in Year 9 for history and geography students, as these are stage 5 compressed curriculum courses. Failure to resolve stage 5 warning letters may result in denial of entry into stage 6 courses.

Many boys apply for entry into acceleration courses. The procedure for entry is published on our school community website at /curriculum/subject-acceleration. Head Teachers consider applications and make recommendations to the Principal on the Individual Learning Plans signed off by parents and submitted by students. Accelerants need to be in the top 75 students to qualify for acceleration or philosophy, and in the top 100 for the ‘online learning elective’ (OLE). Be aware that students seeking acceleration have two different rank orders. The rank order for the end of Year 9 is one used for dux calculations and is calculated using marks, not points as for the HD-D-credit-PM-P system (6-5-3-2-1) which is used for the reports. It also comprises Semester 1 and 2 results, not just semester 2. We use z scores to track the contribution of the results of each subject to the overall rank. We expect to see the subject that a student wants to accelerate in close to the strongest that a student is undertaking in Year 9. Students who are denied entry to an acceleration course have a right of appeal if they consider they have met the criteria for entry and they have the strong support of the teacher who is currently teaching them in the subject. We accept around 40 boys into acceleration each year. About 35 each year complete their HSC in their accelerated course. The dropout rate is c.16%. There is a safety net for those who, for whatever reason, do not go on to complete the stage 6 course. Students may be removed from the acceleration intervention if they do not meet the required standard by the end of Year 10 or sometimes, Year 11. Applicants and parents need to understand that acceleration is a differentiated intervention, managed by the Principal, to meet the learning needs of able, high achieving, autonomous and passionate students – it is NOT an elective.

Mr Kay is assigning Year 9 students to their Year 10 electives and to their acceleration and online courses, based upon their submitted preferences in rank order. If students fail to qualify in one elective, they will be assigned their next choice where possible. Parents should peruse the learning behaviours profile on their son’s report. We expect at least ‘usually’ if not ‘consistently’ for these behaviours. We aggregate these learning behaviours to produce a list of those judged by teachers as having too frequent ‘sometimes’ or ‘rarely’ ratings. Year Advisers are made aware of these students at our report meetings. There is a high correlation between the names on the monitoring register for Academic Support Group and those on the problematic learning behaviours list. We also have lists for the individual learning behaviours so we can target support more accurately. We have Study Samurai supplied free to targeted students who need and desire individualised support programs.

Student Leave Requests – Reminder

There is a Department of Education and school policy on Student Leave of Absence – Extended Leave Travel requests. This applies to leave that is five school days or more in duration. Parents are reminded that as a matter of policy, leave may not be processed or approved unless four weeks’ notice has been given. Also, cogent reasons for travelling during school term need to be supplied. The effect of this decision is that all leave requests that involve that last four weeks of term should have been lodged with me for approval by the end of week 6, each term. If you are planning to travel during the school term you need to download, complete and submit the form for my approval by the closing date.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 34, November 07 2025

2025-11-07T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Saharsh Subramanian (8F) and Anish Nittala (8F) who were successful at the CIS U15 cricket trials. They both made the team!

School Counsellor Recognition Day 7 Nov

Thank you to our School Counsellors for the unsung work that they do, principally in confidence, for the wellbeing of our students. This year’s recognition theme is ‘together we grow’. Psychological assistance can provide the conditions for growth, enabling students to move forward with greater confidence.

National Recycling Week 10-16 Nov

This is a week for advocacy for recycling, sustainability and waste management. Students need to be taught skills to explore and investigate the effects of waste pollution on their world. They need opportunities to propose actions they see as needed to maintain and improve the environment. Students should be encouraged to take action towards a more sustainable future. What students can do – support our in-house recycling program. Put your waste in the appropriate coloured receptacle. Use the bins provided in classrooms and in the playground. Play your part in maintaining control over our waste.

Remembrance Day 11/11/25

Next Tuesday we will commemorate Remembrance Day (formerly Armistice Day) in honour of the service of all those who fought in wars in our country’s name. The ending of World War 1, then the costliest war in human history in terms of miliary and civilian lives lost, was seen as a most appropriate date, being the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The horrors of World War I were so severe that the victorious nations, rather naively, labelled it ‘the war to end all wars.’ Sadly, the international inability to resolve its conflicts peacefully and fairly has led to even more horrific global warfare since 1918. We like to celebrate Remembrance Day as an inclusive event. In our multicultural society, many of our citizens have fought in various wars and grieve for those who died in their extended families.

Our contemporary society has not shown any more skill or resolve in reconciling conflicts peacefully. The current truce in Gaza is fragile at best and cannot last without a credible two-state proposal. The Ukrainian War grinds on at horrific cost to both combatants. On Remembrance Day we should take the time to consider the cost and ultimate futility of using warfare as a means of settling disputes among nations. The ubiquitous poppy, growing wild in Flanders Fields, is an historically significant symbol of the loss of human life on those battlefields. We wear poppies to remember the fallen and to be seen to remember them. Schools hold assemblies to take a minute’s silent reflection on the consequences of armed conflicts everywhere.

Scholarships Offered at High

SBHS offers only two scholarships/bursaries – the Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship and the Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Scholarship. All enrolled or enrolling students are eligible to apply for the Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship. It is a one-year credit on the school account for $2,000. The Selection Criteria cover talented boys in an academic area or a co-curricular endeavour. Good all-rounders qualify as do students with special needs – financial or otherwise. There are many boys in the school who would make good candidates for this award. I urge them to take the trouble to download and complete the application form. The Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Inc Scholarship is a two-year award with a credit at the school account for $1,500 for each Year – 11 and 12. Only boys enrolled or enrolling in Year 11 are eligible to apply. The criteria for this scholarship are different. It has an emphasis on a prior record of service to others, to the school and / or the community. Boys with initiative, compassion, a record of school or community service and leadership skills, are invited to apply.

Look for the details on the website:

The Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship - Sydney Boys High School
The Sir Roden and Lady Cutler Foundation Inc Scholarship - Sydney Boys High School

Do not assume that you are not worthy or eligible. Applications close on Friday, 28 November 2025.

Electives Process - Year 9 boys going into Year 10

Students make an initial free choice with their electives. They are also asked to rank their choices so that if they do not get one, they will be considered for the next ranked choice. Many boys have shown interest in robotics, code-based game development and the online learning elective (OLE). Many others have aspired to accelerate in a particular subject. For those attracted to acceleration, a process is in place to apply and have applications assessed.

For robotics and game development, Ms Dam culls applicants based on their demonstrated mathematics proficiency and previous interest in IA subjects. Usually, a D in mathematics is a minimum requirement for entry into robotics or game design. Boys who applied for both will be allowed to do only one of these subjects.

For the OLE, students need to have an interest in autonomous learning, a proficiency in using excel spreadsheets and to have a rank of 100 or better to qualify.

Raw scores submitted by HTs are used to calculate the dux of the Year group, using z-scores.

I cull the accelerant applicants. The criteria are academic in nature. Students apply to Head Teachers who send the forms of recommended applicants to me for assessment. Students have to be above average across their subjects at the Year 9 yearly examinations. They have to have a HD or D in the subject area in which they wish to accelerate. The cut-off rank for accelerants is 75. On rare occasions, highly talented students in just one subject area may be considered if they fall just outside of the cut-off rank.

Year 10 electives are designed for students to branch out and test their interests before settling into stage 6 study. Some of these electives are competitive entry subjects. Students need to choose carefully and follow their interests in a low stake learning environment but may not always get what they want.

Outdoor Education Program

It is a strong expectation of our school that all students attend the outdoor education program in Years 7-9. We see the camps as important socialising and independence-building experiences in the personal enlargement of our students. I urge all boys to attend to learn life lessons and mature as persons by participating in these camps.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 33, October 31 2025

2025-10-31T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our Sydney East Blues winners for 2026 in Volleyball – Jerald Yu and Nelson Lee (SHS-2025). Well done, boys!

Staff changes

Jamie Kay is Relieving Principal at Muirfield High School for six weeks. Joanna Chan is Relieving Deputy Principal for Years 8,10 and 12. Robyn O’Driscoll is relieving Head Teacher Wellbeing. She will return to duty after some leave. Matthew Hood is Relieving Head Teacher Science.

World Teachers Day October 31st

"Our teachers make a significant contribution to the communities they serve, and we are so grateful that our teachers are at the core of our teaching and learning practices and their influence can never be underestimated or ever erased. We thank them for their unwavering dedication, passion and commitment…"
Angela Lyris Director of Educational Leadership, Port Jackson Network.

"On behalf of the parent community, the P&C would like to thank the Principal, Deputy Principals, and teachers for their dedication and tireless work in guiding our children throughout their years at Sydney Boys"
- P&C President Tania Kirkland.

Friday morning lunch for staff-financed by the P&C, ordered by John Prorellis and prepared by Bourke Street Bakery. Thank you for your support for our work. I also thank you all for what you do to nurture our students in their growth from boys to men.

Andrew Xu Memorial Update

Work has been proceeding on establishing a memorial garden seat and table for Andrew Xu. The slab has been laid on The Flat near the basketball courts. New turf has been laid to surround the slab. The outdoor furniture has been procured and once the slab is fully cured, will be dyna bolted into place and a memorial plaque will be installed. Thank you to Jim Crampton and John Prorellis for pushing through this project for the class of 2026 to appreciate before they disperse after the HSC examinations.

AI Integration Leader

High is responding more formally to the challenge that AI poses to the way the teaching and learning environment will be structured into the future. We are creating a new role of AI Integration Leader. The role will involve: ensuring compliance with the Australian framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools; collaborating with the school leadership team to shape the school’s digital learning roadmap; assisting with creating school-wide policies for AI use that are ethical, inclusive, and aligned with curriculum guidelines evaluating emerging AI tools and platforms for suitability, privacy, and safety; supporting teachers to embed AI tools into curriculum design, assessment, and differentiated instruction; facilitating student learning experiences that build AI literacy, digital citizenship, and future-focused skills; modelling exemplary classroom practice using AI-enhanced pedagogy; delivering ongoing training and coaching for staff on AI technologies, including lesson planning support and classroom implementation; curating and sharing best-practice resources, guides, and case studies; leading professional learning communities focused on digital innovation. Mr Jackson has accepted the position which will commence formally in 2026.

Subject Acceleration Applications

As of Friday, next week, we will be assessing applications from Year 9 students interested in subject acceleration in Year 10. The forms must be signed off by a parent and approved by the Head Teacher of the Faculty which conducts the acceleration e.g. Social Science – Mr Loizou – Business Studies and Geography.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 32, October 24 2025

2025-10-24T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

The Australian Intermediate Mathematics Olympiad is a highly challenging mathematics competition, designed to identify and stretch talented students in Years 9 and 10. This year our selected candidates performed very well. From Year 9 – High Distinction (Vladimir Loukine) and Distinctions (Ayush Sarathy and William Tran). From Year 10 – High Distinctions (Jiekai Miao, Lin Le, Geoffrey Li and Tom Ye) and Distinctions (Munjin Chowdhury and Ricky Luo). Very impressive results – congratulations, boys!

Summer Sport Co-payments: Term 4

The rolls for summer sports and activities have now been finalised and co-payments invoices raised. In many activities co-payments are levied for the season – in this case for Term 4 2025 and Term 1, 2026. Other sports have a policy of fixing co-payments on a term-by-term basis. In either case, invoices have been posted. For Years 7-11 this means that the summer invoice will be included on individual Clearance Forms. These forms will need to be cleared prior to boys receiving their reports. The base co-payment for sport for this summer season is $190 for 2025-2026. Higher charges are levied by individual sports, as a result of resolutions passed by the Incorporated Associations or P&C Support Groups / Parent Committees responsible for supporting particular sports These co-payments have been ratified by both the SBHS School Council and the P&C Association. Year 11 boys have been invoiced for Term 4 or their full summer sport, too. It would help the MICs for these sports greatly if families could pay for their sports promptly.

Interpreting Year 11 Reports - Semester 2

Year 11 reports will be handed out and discussed with students from Monday, October 27. Teachers record individual marks for courses, and these are run against an ATAR predictor program. This program has been developed over the last year or so by old boy Saxon Dean as a project under the guidance of our ICT staff. It replaces Mr Dowdell’s predictor program. The only significant change is that the ATAR is calculated against a three-year average (where one is available), as opposed to just the previous year’s results, as was the case for the previous program. All the raw marks are converted into scaled marks per unit. In the iterative scaling process, students’ marks in one course are compared against all the other students who completed the same course and against their performances in their other courses.

The data we use are last three years HSC results for High. The essential comparative assumption is that boys will perform at around the same standard this year as they did on average in the last three years. Means and standard deviations are derived from our HSC results from the previous years and applied to our results in the current year. A scaled score out of 50 is calculated for each course on a one-unit basis. Where candidatures are very small – e g visual arts and LOTE- we use historical results in that course in our school to calculate the mean and standard deviation to be applied to this year’s results. We use all 12 Preliminary Units to calculate our ATAR estimate for several reasons. First, we would like students to receive a realistic appraisal of their progress in state terms as well as relative to their peers at High. Second, we want them to know their relative performance in each of their courses, to inform their subsequent choices. Third, it assists them to drop their weakest two units on the basis of scaled marks rather than raw marks. Next April, the estimate process will be moderated against the 2023-25 HSC results and calculated for the best ten units for each student, including the mandatory two units of English.

At this stage of the year, every Year 11 student faces a choice, some have more choices to make than others. Will I do 12 units, 11, ten or less? For those students who have a guaranteed entrance into Extension 2 mathematics, they can drop courses immediately and still have ten units to present at the HSC. Students who really want to exit a course and have made the rank cut–off for extension 1 mathematics, can keep their Extension English and drop a course. Most accelerants remain doing ten units until their HSC results in the acceleration course are published. Acceleration students have a choice to reduce their load to 8 units if they believe their HSC marks for their completed acceleration course are high enough, but we urge them not to do so until the April Assessment period in Year 12, in order to make certain that they are doing the best thing to maximise their ATAR. Students qualifying and choosing to do four units of English can drop one course. High performing students tend to use acceleration results as insurance and do ten units for the HSC anyway. Others want to be rid of a weak course and explore choosing others – eg picking up one or two-unit studies of religion, or taking an extension unit in history, music or LOTE.

Some love all their courses and want to carry 12 units to the HSC. I have no problem with that choice provided that their tertiary course has a lower entrance requirement than their current ATAR prediction and that they are well organised enough to do well in twelve units. Students I speak to when discussing their reports are thoughtful about their strengths and weaknesses and mindful of their preferred tertiary options. Pragmatism often informs their decisions. At this important time, future tertiary intentions are important considerations. Choices are made to maximise enjoyment; ATAR ranks or both. I hope all Year 11 students choose sagely.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 31, October 17 2025

2025-10-17T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Boris Zhang (SHS-2025) was the 3rd place winner ($50) of the Wollongong Art Gallery Window-Themed Photography Competition in the category for Years 11 and 12, for his photograph: The Hushed Glow. Jiekai Miao (10E) was also a third prize winner ($35) in the same competition in the category for Years 9 and 10, for his photograph: It’s just a burning memory. Well done, boys! Andrew Pye (SHS-2025) has been invited to the Australian Maths Trust State Awards in recognition of his Gold Certificate in the Australian Informatics Olympiad. Well done, Andrew!

Welcome Back to Term 4.

Term 4 is important because of examination results and decisions about future pathways. Year 12 has the high stakes HSC examination and tertiary entrance targets. Year 11 accelerants get a taste of the HSC, and the results may determine their pattern of study for Year 12. Year 10 has the compulsory Life Ready course to complete, stage 6 benchmarks to meet in some courses, as well as a final selection of a pattern of study for stage 6. Year 9’s examination results determine their eligibility for certain subjects for Year 10 (such as acceleration or online learning). Year 8 get to make their first major choice of curriculum – what two electives would I like to do? Year 7 must decide on whether to continue with two languages in Year 8 or just their favourite one. Consequently, the whole school must arc up and focus on maximised performance and informed decision-making. Summer sports get fully underway. Outdoors we need to protect ourselves from the heart. Let’s work hard and have fun!

Staff Changes

Sarah Kim will be relieving for John Prorellis as Head Teacher Administration for the first two weeks of term. Robyn O’Driscoll will be relieving for Joanna Chan as Head Teacher Student Wellbeing until 29.10.25. Richard Kable joins us in LOTE teaching German.

Foundation Day Assembly 2025

My speech to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guest, Neil Green, School Captain 1975, Ms Rachel Powell, Principal Sydney Girls High School, Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Kellerman AC (1942), Mr Bruce Corlett AM (1961), Dr David Sweeting OAM (1977), Mr Jacob Ezrakhovich OBU President (2003), Mr Paul Almond past OBU President (1982), Professor Ron Trent (School Council President), Mr Phil Lambert (Life Governor) and Jill Lambert, Mr Fred Bolling OBU Executive (1967), Class of 1975 attendees, Mr Luc Tran (school captain 2024), Mr Ron Schwarz (senior prefect 1962), Mr Matthew Lam (vice-captain 2023), Mr Alan Wong (senior prefect 2020), Mr Graham Gard OAM (1956), Ms Xenia Palmer, Ms Saaini Sivaseelan and Ms Elsha Lim (SGHS), staff and students, welcome to our 142nd Foundation Day Assembly held on Gadigal land. I pay my respects to Aboriginal elders, past and present, and to any Aboriginal people here today. We are assembled to re-affirm our traditions, to reconnect with our cultural values, to honour leaders and leadership, and to endorse the candidature of the Prefect Interns who will make their own unique contributions to our history. We welcome back our Old Boys who graduated 50 years ago and compare their context and ours. High has the appeal of a long tradition, which gives newcomers comfort and confidence that quality education will be maintained. Returning Old Boys demonstrate the spirit at High that stays within our graduates and motivates them to stay connected.

"On November 11,1975, Gough Whitlam was removed from office by the Governor-General, Sir John Kerr. This was a severe shock to our constitutional government, with lingering ramifications in our political landscape. In May, Gerald Ford formally announced the end of the ‘Vietnam Era’, drawing a line under America’s failed effort to intervene in a civil war. Haldemann, Ehrlichman and Mitchell were convicted for their roles in the Watergate break-in and cover-up which brought about the resignation of Richard Nixon. Colour television broadcasting commenced in Australia, and the Sony Betamax video cassette recorder was launched. There was a hugely increased TV audience and doom sayers predicted the demise of cinemas. Bill Gates and Paul Allen founded Microsoft. We are now experiencing an AI world and quantum computing. Let us hope in 50 years there will be a celebration of today as the beginning of the settlement of the Palestinian Question which has bedevilled Middle East international relations for more than one hundred years.

"In The Record of 1975, the Headmaster, Greg Bradford, observed in his Headmaster’s Report that the ‘close association of (High’s) community generates strong feelings of independence and concern for the school’s place in a rapidly changing learning environment.’ Our strong community involvement and unique culture still define the High experience today. The pace of educational change has accelerated since 1975, requiring complex responses. Also in The Record, school captain Neil Green, observed that it is ‘up to the individual himself whether he joins with his friends and takes part in one of the organised groups within the school’. He asserted that ‘High’s sporting teams appear to enjoy themselves far more than their GPS counterparts, regardless of whether they win or lose’. School spirit is still a core driver of student involvement in school life. The modern context has more variety in offerings but has fiercer competition at the elite level than 50 years ago, because of the gradual professionalisation of sport at all levels.

"On Foundation Day we can take this time to recount our historical foundations in October 1883 and our enduring traditions. The school has changed physically in the last 50 years, yet the core that defines High is the same. We prepare our students for university. We rally support for GPS sport. Our returning Old Boys today include representatives from 1975 from first grade tennis, GPS athletics, the first XV in rugby and the 2nd XI in cricket. They are enduring examples of High Spirit.

"Today, in remembrance of the school’s founding, of its illustrious alumni, and of its student leaders, we celebrate a new cohort of student leaders as they take the Prefect’s Pledge. These Prefect Interns have had to meet performance benchmarks. They have had to show lived experience of leadership. They have had to meet academic standards. They have had to represent their school in two GPS competition sports in each of their final two years. They have had to reach at least platinum level in the Student Awards Scheme and score at least 100 points in Year 11. They need to comply with expected standards – wearing school uniform and modelling good behaviour and punctuality. They compose an online personal statement of why they would like to lead. They have faced an electoral college consisting of their peers in Years 10 and 11, the outgoing 2025 Prefects and the staff. They will have leadership training and be assigned specific roles. These representatives who will be standing before you are ready for the tasks ahead.

"We celebrate our founding as a school to prepare young men for tertiary study. We celebrate our institution that enlarges character through opportunities to pursue excellence. We celebrate a culture of camaraderie that has influenced positive character development in many cohorts of young men. The representatives of this year’s students are being inducted today. They will prove to be worthy bearers of the High tradition of leadership by example, across many areas of school life. I offer my congratulations to them and remind them to preserve the best examples from the past while adding their own initiatives to enhance the leadership culture of the School. One of the measures of effective leadership is the extent to which leaders create emotional commitment to the enterprise. I wish the 2026 Prefects good luck in their roles and trust they will be effective in building that commitment."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 30, September 26 2025

2025-09-26T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Liwen Deng (11E) who won the People’s Choice Award ($150) at the recent Youth Photographic Competition sponsored by Woollahra Council.

Term 4 Ends

Thank you to all our teaching and non-teaching staff for nurturing and supporting our students this term. Thank you to coaches, parents, canteen and events volunteers and P & C Committees for their work, particularly behind the scenes. The term was eventful and productive. It tested our corporate character.

AAGPS Athletics

Congratulations to our winning athletes and school record holders at the GPS carnival. Dylan Dutt – school record 22.05 winning the Open 200m. Also won Open 100m. Ilya Tsoutsman – 1st in 100m hurdles in 14.16 (school record). Liwen Dang, Charlie Cheshire, Jiwan Cha and Sayyan Doke (2nd in 16 years 4 x 400m relay (3.48.52 school record). Jake Hybler -3rd in 15s 400m – school record 53.37. The team had 5 second placers and 13 3rd places. Thank you to all the competitors, staff, coaches for their efforts and to Kurt Rich for his leadership and management of the program.

The Myth about Sport Hurting Academic Success

Participation in sport is good for you; it gives your mind a break and helps your social life. It does not reduce your academic performance. Here’s why. There were 12 scholar-sportsmen awards at High this year for Trial HSC ATAR of 99.5 and competing in two sports in Year 12. There were 22 High Dedication Awards for Trial HSC ATARs of 97 + and participation in two GPS sports for six years.

Year 12 Farewell and Graduation Assembly 2025

The class of 2025 headed off to study vacation this week to prepare for their final HSC examinations. We wish them all well. My speech to them is reprinted below:

"Good afternoon Year 12, staff and parents. Welcome to our Farewell and Graduation Assembly for the Class of 2025. I acknowledge the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation on whose country we meet and pay my respects to elders, past and present. They represent the aspirations and spiritual connections of the traditional custodians to this land and waterways. I extend those respects to any Aboriginal people here today.

"One hundred and seventy-three of you are completing your six-year journey at High, today. When I wrote my Principal’s Message printed in the Year 12 Farewell Booklet, which you will receive today, the defining moment in your shared story had not happened – the tragic loss of your classmate Andrew Xu. Sadly, many students have had to confront and cope with adversity or loss, during their six years at High. Your cohort has demonstrated an impressive level of resilience and collegiality. Ironically, twenty years ago the class of 2005 suffered a similar loss of a very popular member of their year. They have had a special bond because of that experience ever since. In time, so will you, bound together by Andrew’s memory. Adversity must be experienced by everyone in varying degrees of intensity. What happens next is what matters. As Hemingway observed - ‘the world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places.’ Whatever befalls us, we need to learn to lean in on each other to weather life’s vicissitudes and remain hopeful. We learn to grow as people better because we have experienced all facets of life.

"The Farewell Booklet contains a selection of notable results by graduating Year 12 students. To that list we add our Year 12s who have had more recent successes. James Cao was a member of the rifle shooting team which won the All-Schools Championship. Congratulations to our table Tennis Team - Alex Huang, Jasper Wu, Bryan Liu, Timothy Zhou and Thomas Cao – who earned 3rd place in the CHSSA Table Tennis Championships.

"Congratulations to 2nd Grade Volleyball for winning the 2nd Grade Volleyball Premiership (The Trinh Loi Shield) - Branson Chan was in the team coached by Old Boy, Edward Ly. Well done to our Year 12 representatives at state cross country – Tanish Sarathy, Aaron Chu, Matthew Taylor and Micah Jouravlev. Alex Shao was first in the NSW Weightlifting championships in the Junior Division. Dylan Dutt made metric High history at the GPS carnival by winning the open 100m and 200m double – a super impressive effort. (Ken Grover won the double in yards in 1965).

"As usual, my thanks go to our Student Leaders in all areas of school life for their dedication to enhancing our school culture, often without fuss, fanfare or recognition – Prefects, SRC, Community Service, PAWS, Equality, Social Justice, Environment, Captains of Sports Teams and Co-curricular Leaders. A special thank you goes to Jin Shim who led the school admirably this year, particularly in stressful situations. He was ably assisted by Liam and John.

"Wel done to the 32 students whose predicted ATAR was 99 or higher. I want to recognise and honour the 12 scholar-sportsmen who competed in two seasons of GPS Saturday sport in their final year and earned 99.5 ATAR or higher in the Trial HSC. I also recognise the 22 students who had a 97 or higher predicted ATAR and competed in two sports for six years while at High. These students will be presented prizes at Presentation Night next year if they receive no other major award recognising their efforts. Eleven students competed in three sports. Xavier Perry competed in three sports for six years – a notable commitment! Triple firsts were James McLoughlin and Tanish Sarathy. ‘Double firsts’ this year were Edward Barks, Dylan Dutt, Jacob Jim, Matthew Kuskoff, Julian Luchko, Aiden McManus, Jin Shim, David Sun, Matthew Taylor, Brendan Woo and Ruo Bin Zhang. In the ‘One-Two Club’ were John Fang, Jamison Lai, Nelson Lee, Bevan Shen and Andy Zhang. Our Double-Twos were Justin He, Hoger Kow and Jesse Wu. Congratulations to the 64 students who played two sports every year they were at High.

"I want to thank the 121 Year 12 boys who showed pride in their school and represented High in at least two GPS sports in their last year. 78 of these were selected in either first grade or second grade teams. This depth helped us to have solid sporting results over five or six grades. Another 64 played one sport. So, greater than 86% of the cohort showed their dedication to our scholar-sportsman ethos in their last year at school. I applaud our graduating Year group for their dedication, integrity, compassion and resilience. The level of ongoing Year 12 commitment affirms that our students value our ethos of scholarship and participation in school sport. Thank you to all the MICs, coaches and parents who helped in our sporting and co-curricular programs.

"Gentlemen, as you wind up school life and move into study vacation mode, try to maintain your revision and study routines over the next month or so. Routines are critical to eventual examination success. Help each other to stay on track. Share study time. Good luck in the HSC. My best wishes go with you all in your future endeavours. It has been an honour for me to serve you as your principal."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 29, September 19 2025

2025-09-19T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to all our competitors in the Combined High Schools Sports Association Athletics carnival held last week in blustery, wet and difficult conditions. High students had some good state-level results. The 14s 4 x100m relay (James Wong, Shawn Handoko, Ilyusha Tsoutsman, Tom Yang) won a silver medal (48.21). Lachlan Leung won a bronze in the 17+ long jump (6.37m). The Year 12s won gold in the 17+ 4 x 100m relay (Dylan Dutt, Lachlan Leung, James McLoughlin and Brenda Woo). The 16s 4 x 100m won silver (Liwen Dang, Tim Chen, Rohan Chan, Mark Yan). Ilya Tsoutsman won silver in the 14s 100m hurdles.

Athletics, Fencing and Rifle Shooting Assembly 2025

My speech to the Athletics, Fencing and Rifle Shooting Assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guests, Jayden and Luke Schofield (SHS-2016), Staff, parents, coaches, GPS athletics, fencing and rifle shooting representatives and students, good morning and welcome to our inaugural combined assembly for winter and spring sports. I acknowledge this morning the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the land, waterways and culture where we meet, and pay my respects to elders past and present and extend that respect to any First Nations people here today. Our purpose is to honour our teams who will compete in our name on Saturday at the GPS Carnival, as well as to introduce and acknowledge our rifle shooters and fencers, who have completed their winter seasons.

"Thank you to our Athletics and Cross Country, MIC Mr Kurt Rich, who has guided our athletics program so competently for many years. Kurt is assisted on the track by our ubiquitous Head Coach - Neil Song (SHS-2015), Ms Natalie Luu, Ms Lena Park and our Athletics captain, Dylan Dutt. The team has been tested at the recent CHSSA competition and should be in for a good meet on Saturday.

"This morning, we are honouring competitors in three of the pentathlon disciplines – fencing, shooting and running. The other two are swimming and riding. Pentathlon was first contested at the Olympics in 1912. It was Pierre de Coubertin’s idea of a replication of a cavalry officer’s skill set. Apparently, in Paris, a German athlete, who was leading the point score, in a random draw of horses, drew a horse from the pool that wouldn’t jump, and the event cost her the gold medal. It was alleged that her angry coach punched the horse in retribution. Consequently, for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, horse riding will be dropped in favour of an American Ninja Warrior-style obstacle course. The other four disciplines for Los Angeles are freestyle swimming, fencing, laser pistol shooting and cross country running.

"In the sport of Fencing, Dat Huynh has served as MIC for more than ten years and has pioneered multi-weapon school competitions. Fencing is flourishing at High as a result. He is assisted by Lynnea Stewart and Richard Wong on Saturdays. Thank you to our coaches, for Sabre – Head Coach Leo Kershaw Kostic with Daniel Iliffe as captain; for Epee -Head Coach Thomas Elliott, captain Hudson Cai; and for foil, Head Coach Lachlan Blair with captain, Lyndon Chow. Thank you so much to our Fencing Parents’ Committee who make such a difference to the smooth running of the program. In particular, Rebecca Iliffe, Alok Sharma, Emma Pham, Helen He, Richard Ye and Binh Johnsun.

"Your support is vital to our sports program.

"In rifle shooting, long-serving MIC Daniel Comben has been outstanding in his dedication to the sport. He is taking a break next season, and his role will be taken up by Terry Fong, who is Head Coach along with Nathan Wong. Thank you to Michael Evans (SGHS) also for staff supervision. Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers who assist so ably at our GPS camp and GPS Competition Days. Thank you to our Rifle Committee members, Kurt Dean, Alan Trinh, Paridhi Tyagi and Jocelyn Yem, for their dedication to our sport."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 28, September 12 2025

2025-09-12T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to the following students for their performances in the National Classical Greek examination. High Honour Award – Brendan Woo (12E) - Advanced; Dhuryah Sapra (10E) and Sajan Thiagalingam (10T) -Intermediate; and William Tran (9R) – Beginning Attic. Merit Award-Shoummo Kar (9R) – Beginning Attic. Well done to Mr Burrow for preparing the boys so well in their first attempt at this international examination! Congratulations to Maxi Ibrahim (9M) who was selected in the CHS Open Water Polo Team.

Prefect Good Deed

Last Thursday night on the T8 line at Revesby, a young female university student was waiting for her parents to pick her up from the station, when she noticed a man in dishevelled clothing arise from his seat and follow her. She moved anxiously under a streetlight. At this point a ‘tall, wide Asian kid with glasses’ put himself between the man and the frightened young woman and asked her if she was OK. When she shook her head, he made a point of waiting with her until her parents arrived, while keeping an eye on the man hovering around. The young woman was moved to write to me and ask me to say thank you to the upright young man who ‘put his body between me and someone who could have hurt me and made sure I was safe’. Well done!

Interpreting Semester 2 Year 12 Reports

All Year 12 students will be scheduled to meet with me to get their final reports, commencing 15 September. The ATAR estimate for the second semester report is based on the results of the Trial HSC alone. Students can get a more accurate appraisal of how they would perform if the HSC were to be held now. Historically, these ATAR predictions are replicated in the actual HSC with surprising accuracy. Those who performed better at assessment tasks, practical projects or performances than in formal examinations, are disadvantaged by this method of calculation. However, unless the examination marks are earned, they cannot be distributed to those with the best ranks in the course. Unless students take radical steps to address areas of weakness highlighted by their teachers, or until students adopt rigorous study schedules and stick to them for weeks at a time, then the ATAR predictions given to them at the interview, based on the Trial results, will in all probability, closely reflect the actual HSC ATARs they earn. Intensive effort for a month or so can make a very big difference to examination scores. Students are urged to take the short-term pain for the long-term gain. Working in pairs or triads, sharing question-answering techniques or core essay content, or model answers, can help increase the quantum of HSC marks earned, and hence assessed marks will be scaled up to equal the total of earned HSC examination marks. Student-created resources, as well as ATOMI, are available to students to help boost examination marks after the Trial. Once the rank orders are decided, mutual self-help in revision and study benefits everybody, as the rising tide lifts all boats. Talk to your son about his planned study schedule between now and the HSC examinations. Effective study is promoted by regularity, variety, intensity and consistency.

National Child Protection Week

National Child Protection Week (7-13/9) has a theme which asserts that ‘every child in every community needs a fair go. Child abuse and neglect are preventable. Also, it is important for us all to remember that ‘Every conversation matters: shifting conversation to action’. When young people are stressed or anxious about relationships in their lives or are suffering the effects of neglect or abuse, they need to share their story with someone. Too often feelings are repressed, leading to unhealthy wellbeing outcomes. As well as raising awareness, we need to make safer environments for children. This is particularly important in schools, where young people spend so much of their time. They need to feel safe and be prevented from suffering harm. Bullying makes children feel unsafe. We need to call it out then work out a pathway forward for the bully as well as the victim.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 27, September 05 2025

2025-09-05T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Gurushan Thanabalasingam (8S) who won the Menzies Institute Speech Competition in the Years 7/8 category. His prize was $500 and a trip to Melbourne to deliver his speech before historians at an annual conference at the University of Melbourne. Well done indeed, Guru! Well done to Charlie Xue (7T) who finished 4th in the Slopestyle Ski Division 6 at the 2025 Australian Interschools Snowsports championships held at Mt Buller. A great result!

In the recent Youth Photographic Awards, Boris Zhang (12E), was awarded Highly Commended and a $150 prize for his work entitled The Uniform. Congratulations, Boris! In the Short Film section, Jiekai Miao (10E) won Highly Commended and $200 for his group project 5AM. Well done!

At the recent 2025 National Chinese Eisteddfod, High students had success. Group Category: 16-18 age contest (Years 11 + 10) - 1st place. Year 11: Max Gao, Timothy Wang, Roy Zhang, Johnathon Zhou, Aolin Tang, Diming Wu, Nicklas Li, Zhenyu Wang. Year 10: Daniel Zhu, Yuhai Wang, Tom Ye, Terence Wang and Ethan Hu. In the 13-15 age contest (Year 8) - 2nd place. Jonathan Xu, Lucas Zhou, Brishen Xue, Harold Jiang, Kellan Zhang, Will Meng, Joey Zhou, Andy Gao, Evan Ma, Marcus Chen, Futeng Zhou, Isaac Hu, Morgan Yao. In the Individual Category: 1st place: Tony Zhou (8F), Ricky Luo (10R), Nicklas Li (10F); 1st place non-native speaker: Macallister Giles (10F); and 3rd place: Zihan Chi (9T), Morgan Yao (8E). Congratulations to all High participants and thank you so much Willa Zhang for giving up so many of her lunch times to train our boys!

Well done to the 37 volunteers who gave up their Sunday mornings to serve on the SBHS/SGHS water station for the Sydney Marathon. Everyone worked tirelessly from 0600 and impressed the organisers with their service and demeanour during the morning. A special mention goes to Leo Wang (11S) for his sensitive and compassionate management of an elderly runner in distress. An impressive and caring action, Leo!

Parents & Citizens Association Centenary

Last Friday, we celebrated 100 years of the P & C’s service to the students and staff of High. There were >60 guests for a special breakfast. Joanna Chan and the Prefects co-ordinated and presented the food. MC John Prorellis introduced speakers, the cutting of the cake, the group photo by Jenni May and Lynnea Stewart, and the distribution of the celebratory badged coffee mugs to guest as a memento of the achievement. My speech to the gathering is reprinted below:

"Thank you all so much for joining us here in the Great Hall this morning. The purpose of our celebration today is to recognise and honour the century of service to High by members of the Parents & Citizens Association, a vital contributor to our students’ education since June 11, 1925. The original Constitution welcomed ‘all persons interested in the welfare of the School.’ The P & C was designed to support High with leadership, financial help and countless volunteer hours. It explicitly prohibited exercising any control over Teaching Staff or interference with the management of the school. Its objectives were to assist the school with ‘requirements… not provided by the Education Department! And so, the P & C has done so well, for 100 years. Its biggest role is to manage the successful parent-run Canteen, which contributes >$65 pa to school projects. It assists with Sport, Student Welfare and Prizes for students. Since 1985 it has been involved with the SHSOBU in the management of all of the school’s non-Department assets – physical, financial and legal – these days through its Board representation within ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd. It has been a constitutional member of the Sydney Boys High School Council, since 1995.

"Above all the P & C Association, for me, has been about dedicated good people selflessly devoting their time for a worthy cause. Helping public education to thrive is a noble endeavour. The P & C and Old Boys have been there for the long haul and helped to make a good school great. Longevity of service has been the Association’s hallmark. In its first 20 years it had some members like O.W. Earl who served as Treasurer for 14 years. In my time Presidents such as Dennis Briggs, Paul Girdler, Shane Brown, Julie Connolly and Ian Sweeting, provided great support to the school. Ron Trent was P & C President in 2018 and has been on the School Council even longer. Thank you to Tania Kirkland and Andrew Hybler for their recent leadership efforts.

"Much has been accomplished in the last 25 years, building on the achievements of the previous 75. I want to acknowledge the thousands of parents and students who have volunteered their time to help park cars on our site – an activity run by the P & C since the 1980s. In my custodianship, P & C support groups and more recently Incorporated Associations, have been the primary beneficiaries of the large sums of monies raised. The P & C assists the school with cash grants for projects; it provides morning teas and catering services at school functions; it manages the operations of the parent-run canteen; and it provides annual prizes for our boys.

"Thank you to Joanna Chan, staff and Prefects who prepared our breakfast this morning. I congratulate and celebrate all members of the Sydney Boys High School Parents & Citizens Association for 100 years of wonderful support to High. I say thank you also on behalf of the cohorts of gifted boys who were the beneficiaries of your generosity and community spirit."

Wear It Purple

Last Friday we celebrated Wear It Purple Day. This year’s theme ‘bold voices, bright futures’ is designed to empower LGBTQIA+ youth to have big dreams and to pursue them boldly. Since 2010 this special day has celebrated rainbow youth and raised awareness of issues faced by LGBTQIA+ people. At the same time, Wear It Purple Day has a broader appeal as it speaks to the social need for inclusivity for all and acceptance of difference generally. High boys need always to be mindful of respectful relationships with everyone, honouring the uniqueness of our human experience.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 26, August 29 2025

2025-08-29T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Tony Roberts (10E) whose team competed in the RoboCup Junior NSW Open and won first place in the Open Soccer Division, requiring great persistence and the ability to master advanced technologies under stress. His team will now represent NSW in the National Competition in Canberra in October. High has achieved fine results again in the National Latin Examination (an American competition with > 100,000 entries). Gold Medals - Year 9: Theo Su, Abhinav Lahiri, Chase Chan, Bill Han, Aidan Li, William Tran, Yihong Zhu, Leo Chen, Caleb Ma, Andrea Capuano, Shoummo Kar, Alexander Hwang, Aditya Sharma, Mohammed Syed. Year 10: Sajan Thiagalingam, Daniel Zmak, Charles Morgan, Om Kothari, James Carmichael, Felix Tran, Adam Nguyen. Year 11: Hudson Cai, Lachlan Yuen, Kevin Xie. Silver Medals -Year 9: Ryan Zhao, Barry Zhang, Charles Fawcett, Shafayat Khan, Buster Nicholls, Matthew Zhang, Jason Kwok, Troy Daher. Year 10: Lucas Chen, Thomas Qiu. Congratulations to the boys and to their teachers, Dorothy Matsos and Dale Burrow.

Staff changes

I would like to thank the people who stepped up and did such a fine job during my extended leave competing in two major sailing events. George Barris represented the school very well in my absence, while still managing some of his DP functions. Thank you to Kerryn Ibbott for covering George’s position as Deputy for 7, 9 & 11. Well done also to Matthew Hood who relieved as Head Teacher of Science. The three staff members resumed their usual duties on Monday. The depth of leadership experience at High is growing, cementing our policies and practices across the school and promoting better whole school collaboration to work together for the betterment of each and every student.

Enrolment 2026 Update

We received 125 applications for Year 8 with five students placed on a Reserve List. There were 219 applicants for Year 9. Thirty offers were made and five placed on the Reserve List. 57 students applied for Year 10. Five were placed on the Reserve List. For Year 11, there were 61 applications. Seven offers were made and five placed on the Reserve List. I was very pleased with the interest in enrolling in High across greater metropolitan Sydney. Thank you to George Barris who managed the entire process as Relieving Principal. His dedication and efficient management meant the offers could be sent well before the end of August, less than a month since the closing date for applications. Thank you to Maria Glenn for her expert recording and processing of the data and for her liaison with parents of applicants. Thank you to our 20+ Assessors for their prompt attention to the task of assessing and ranking up to 30 applications overnight. Thank you also to our non-staff Selection Committee members - community representative, Xi Chen, and Old Boy representative Paul Almond. We look forward to welcoming these new students to High next year to enhance our scholar-sportsman ethos.

Cadets passing out parade

On Tuesday, our annual passing out parade was held in front of military personnel, returning Old Boy cadets, family and friends, as well as the principals of the two participating schools. The ranking officer, Colonel Cameron, addressed the parade, focusing on four values – courage, respect, teamwork and commitment. He talked about having the moral courage to do the right thing, particularly when no one was watching. He reiterated that respectful relationships must be at the heart of good character. He extolled the importance of teamwork, collaboration and striving towards team goals. He urged cadets to strive to do their best at all times, throughout their life journeys.

The military personnel were very pleased with the standard of the parade and commented on the participation profile of our 140 -strong unit. The mix of ages and strong female representation were seen as auguring well for the future of the unit. Thank you to Lieutenant Matisse Stringer for her leadership of the cadet unit in 2025. A special thanks goes to MIC Natalie Luu for all her coordination of the elements of the program and managing the on-site lesson delivery which is a vital element of the cadet experience. Thank you to Geoff Denyer and Shane Jennings for their assistance during the year and to Rachel Powell for actively supporting cadets at SGHS. I was proud of the efforts of everyone who ensured that the program turned around from languishing to thriving in less than 18 months.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 25, August 22 2025

2025-08-22T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to 2nd Grade Volleyball for winning the 2nd Grade Volleyball Premiership (The Trinh Loi Shield). The team consisted of: Axel Lam (C), Branson Chan, Kevin Bui, Ethan Yu, Isaiah Goh, Ethan Huynh, Anthony Ly, Eugene Cho, Ariz Mahmud, Kevin Lin, Kirby Li and coach Edward Ly.

Goal Setting

We all know setting goals is important, but it is not just about writing them down – it is about making a plan that actually works. Break big goals into smaller steps and focus on one thing at a time. Even hitting a small milestone, like finishing a study session or improving a personal best in training, counts.

But goal setting also means being realistic. Aiming too high without considering your current capacity can leave you feeling frustrated, while setting goals that are too easy won’t push you to improve. The key is to find that balance. Choose targets that challenge you but are still achievable with consistent effort. Review your goals regularly and adjust them as you grow, so they stay relevant and motivating.

Remember that setbacks are part of the process. Not every goal will go smoothly, and sometimes progress feels slower than you would like. The important thing is to learn from challenges, adjust your plan, and keep going. Resilience and grit are what turn short-term struggles into long-term success.

Exercise can assist in your quest to achieve your goals. Being active helps you think clearly, stay focused, and manage your time better.

When you schedule workouts around school, training, or other commitments, you are practising the same skills that help you stick to any goal. Regular activity also reduces stress and keeps your mind sharp, which makes following through on your plans a lot easier.

Sleep and screen time matter just as much. Skipping sleep or staying on your phone too long makes it harder to concentrate and slows progress toward your goals. Turning screens off before bed and sticking to a routine helps you get the rest you need to stay productive and focused.

Finally, tracking what you do and celebrating small wins keeps motivation up.

Use a planner, tick off each step, and reward yourself along the way. Doing a bit each day adds up, and soon you will see real progress on academic and co-curricular goals.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 24, August 15 2025

2025-08-15T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Spirit

This week’s High Talent is replaced by High Spirit after a tough match for the 1st XV against St. Joseph’s College. Despite having half the team out injured, the team tried their best the entire game and managed to keep Joeys scoreless for the first 15 minutes of the game. Thank you to George Mermelas (11F), Albert Dao (11F) and Jason Lee (11E) for coming up from 2nd grade and playing exceptionally well. Special mention also goes to Oscan Chen (12S), Jin Shim (12F), Jinho Moon (12R) and John Hong (12F) for leading the group in the absence of so many in the team.

NAPLAN results 2025

In the 2025 NAPLAN results, Sydney Boys High School outperformed both the Similar Schools Statistically Group (SSSG) and the state average across Year 7 and Year 9 domains. Year 7 students achieved exceptionally high proficiency rates, with 100% exceeding standard in Numeracy and over 90% in all literacy domains. Average scores consistently sat above state and SSSG benchmarks, with particularly strong results in Numeracy (758.6) and Spelling (666.7). Writing remained a relative area for development, though we still maintained a lead over state and SSSG averages.

Year 9 results showed strong performance, achieving the highest average scores in Grammar and Punctuation (731.2) and Numeracy (794.7) compared to SSSG and state. Proficiency rates for Numeracy were exceptional, with 98.6% exceeding standard. Reading and Spelling also remained above SSSG and state levels. While Writing proficiency was slightly lower than in other domains, the average score still exceeded the state and was only slightly below the SSSG. Overall, the data highlights consistent academic strength, particularly in Numeracy, Spelling, and Grammar and Punctuation, alongside opportunities to further elevate Reading and Writing outcomes.

Summer Sport

The summer sport selections were completed in week 3 and 97.5% of the school was successful with their sport choice for the summer season, the highest rate in recent years.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 23, August 08 2025

2025-08-08T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our Philosophy Team who competed at the NSW Philosothon at Newington last week and came second and qualified for Nationals. Jude Ou (11R), Mohamad Rachid (11M), Uday Sharma (9M), Guru Thanabalasingam (8S).

Congratulations to the following boys for completing their Duke of Ed Awards:

Bronze: Wesley Hamilton (10E), Reza Bassam (10E), Vihaan Rajit (11E).

Gold: Daniel Iliffe (12R), Alasdair Yong (12T).

Screen Time

Screens are everywhere—from phones and laptops to gaming consoles and TVs.

Almost everyone uses or has access to a screen during waking hours. Technology brings undeniable benefits, but it can also be harmful when used in excess.

A growing body of evidence links high screen use with reduced academic performance and poorer sleep.

Excessive gaming and online activity often cut into study time and can leave students feeling more agitated, making it harder to concentrate. Too much screen time also affects sleep.

As I discussed in the 4 April High Notes article, young men who slept only five hours per night for one week experienced a 10% to 15% reduction in daytime testosterone levels, hormones that are crucial for growth and physical development. This hormonal disruption can lead to stunted growth and delayed puberty, particularly in teenage boys.

Screen use before bed disrupts melatonin production, resulting in poorer sleep quality—an essential component of healthy brain development in adolescents.

Additionally, long hours spent on screens reduce physical activity levels, which contributes to lower energy throughout the day.

The NSW Government recommends no more than two hours per day of recreational screen time (excluding schoolwork) within a 24-hour period.

One of the best things families can do to increase non-screen time at home is to create tech-free zones. Making bedrooms and mealtimes screen-free promotes better sleep and stronger social connections.

Technology is part of everyone’s world.

How students use it shapes their success, relationships, and mental health.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 22, August 01 2025

2025-08-01T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Alex Deng, who was invited to participate in the Global Future Space Scholars Meet (GFSSM) in Beijing, China.

Congratulations to Tristan Dean who was selected for the 2025 GPS Combined Rifle Shooting Team.

Congratulations to the Fencing Team who had another successful Australian Senior Schools Fencing Championships over the weekend - Saturday 26 - Sunday 27 July 2025. The following are the highlights of the competition:

Senior Boys Epee Individual Event - Tommy Xu (12E) won equal bronze.

Senior Boys Epee Team Event - Our Senior Epee A Team won the gold. Team members comprised of: Hudson Cai (11M), Xavier Perry (12M), Tommy Xu (12E), Daniel Zhu (10R).

Senior Boys Sabre Individual Event - Daniel Iliffe (12R) won the gold, Akith Perera (12E) won equal.

Senior Boys Sabre Team Event - Our Senior Sabre A Team won the gold. Team members comprised of: Daniel Iliffe (12R), Ethan Li (12F), Akith Perera (12E), Oliver Xie (10R).

Senior Boys Foil Individual - Benjamin Dang (11R) won equal bronze.

Senior Boys Foil Team Event - Our Senior Foil A Team won silver. Team members comprised of: Lyndon Chow (11E), Benjamin Dang (11R), Tom Ye (10T), Jeremy Yan (10F).

NSW Public Schools Survey

We are incredibly proud of the strong results reflected in the recent NSW Public Schools student survey, which clearly demonstrate the positive and supportive environment we strive to maintain at our school. Our student motivation rate stands at an impressive 80%, significantly above the state average of 58%. Additionally, 86% of our students report a strong sense of belonging and connectedness—well above the state average of 70%—while 76% feel supported by a caring adult at school, compared to the state average of 63%. Student engagement is also high at 78%, outperforming the state average of 65%. The survey also highlighted an opportunity to build on our efforts in addressing discrimination and preventing bullying. By enhancing education around our school values, we are committed to ensuring that all students feel valued at school. These efforts are essential to maintaining the positive environment that our school is known for and ensuring it extends to every member of our community.

Summer Sport Selections

Summer sport selections will take place during Weeks 7 and 8 of this term. Information on how to select or change sports was shared with students in Week 1. The new rollover system, which automatically re-enrols students in their previous sports, has made it easier for parents to view upcoming schedules and plan ahead for summer activities. Years 7 and 8 were given the option of changing sport without MIC approval, while Years 9-11 had to seek the approval of both MICs before changing sports.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 21, July 25 2025

2025-07-25T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

Memoriam Andrew Xu

"Good morning. Thank you to you all for gathering to remember, honour and celebrate Andrew Xu’s life. His funeral has been held, with numerous friends and family delivering eulogies or placing white roses – the universal symbol of respect, remembrance, innocence, purity and love. Our school community needs to demonstrate its emotional solidarity and respect for Andrew’s family in their inconsolable grief, and to process his passing.

"As cruel Fate would have it, Andrew will remain forever young. His life was taken at a moment of youthful hope and expectation. His story, like that on Keats’s urn, is frozen in time. It is a story of unfulfilled promise, of potential left unrealised, of friendships cut short of hopes dashed. He will always be excited about his 18th birthday, remember fondly the music camp and look forward to the rugby camp. He will always be studying for his Trial HSC and organising his next game of pool. He will continue to plan his post-secondary life. He will expect to cross the road to go home. He is captured now in eternal anticipation.

"Cicero observed that ‘the life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.’ For those who knew and loved Andrew their memories of him will become treasures. These memories might be found in reading the ’group together’ testimonials of his friends or reading the cards with their floral tributes at the collision site or enjoying one of Andrew’s Year 10 movies or just sharing moments from his memorial 18th birthday celebration. We will establish perpetual memorials to Andrew on school grounds. They will connect us tangibly to his memory.

"Life is beautiful, but also fragile. Loss of life is classified as tragic when it meets four preconditions. The harm done is irreparable. There is a shock at the sudden nature and finality of the death – ‘this should not have happened.’ The event has moral weight for us – it violates our sense of what ought to be. A promising life ended. It offends our values – innocence lost, love forgone, a family shattered, friends bereft, criminal negligence by a driver. We appreciate the moral preciousness of what was taken away.

"When confronting tragic events, grief is the price we pay for loving, empathising and caring. Rather than describing grief in traditional stages – denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance – modern researchers are emphasising oscillating processes for managing grief. Sufferers move in and out of coping strategies. We need to accept the loss intellectually and emotionally. We must process the pain caused, rather than ‘get over’ it. We have to adjust to a world without that person in it. Finally, we should try to build an enduring connection with the deceased person while reinvesting in our lives, which must go on.

"So, it needs to be for Andrew’s memory. After some grieving time, we need just to value the worth of his life, so much of it unlived, and try to build our resilience and determination to maximise our own opportunities. We need to hold on to moments or events together and share with him products he created, or photographs he shared. Physical or audio-visual symbols can be powerful reminders of the joy of living and its purposeful pursuit. Preserve and protect memories of Andrew, because you cannot relive them. His life mattered but he did not get to fulfil it. Your lives matter also, live them well as he would have done."

High Talent

Well done to our High Rifle Shooting Teams who earned the trifecta at the All-Schools competition. The champion team consisting of Tristan Dean, Kaiwen Wang, James Cao, Jensen Wang, and Anderson Lee. Tristan Dean placed second overall on individual score. He also achieved first place at the New South Wales Rifle Association King’s Competition in C grade at the end of last term. Congratulations to our table Tennis Team on their 3rd place in the CHSSA Table Tennis Championships. Our team comprised of Alex Huang, Jasper Wu, Bryan Liu, Timothy Zhou and Thomas Cao, all of Year 12. Well done to Eric Yu (SHS-2021) who was awarded second place in the AIPS awards in the Young Photographers Category. He has recently been invited to photograph the Tokyo World Athletics Championships.

Interpreting Year 10 Reports - Semester 1

All boys in Year 10 should have their reports out after consultation with the Relieving Principal or me. Year 10 is an important time to try out electives to help goals identify possible stage 6 courses that students might be interested in studying. Equally, it can confirm which courses students do not enjoy and will not pursue in stage 6. Above all, Electives should be taken for enjoyment of the subject concepts, content and activities.

Parents should be aware that there are changes to the way the rank order is calculated in Year 10. HDs (6 points) and credits (3 points) etc are no longer added together to form the scores on which the rank order is based. We use individual marks supplied by teachers. We calculate ATAR equivalent scores for those marks based on 12.3 units (six subjects). PE is included in the calculations as 30% of two units (a subject) because it has only four periods and is assessed as a practical subject in Year 10. PASS elective scores are calculated in the usual way. Boys good at PE and taking PASS may be advantaged in the ranking. Rank order variations can be large between Years 9 and 10 for these and other reasons. For example, boys take on additional electives which do not have to include history or geography.

Many boys are attempting stage 6 courses as accelerating students, and they are assessed on stage 6 criteria which are more rigorous than those in stage 5. Sometimes, they spend more time than they should on their accelerated course and get their time management out of balance. Some of their other subjects might have weaker results as a consequence. This can lead to a large rank fluctuation and a reduced ATAR estimate. Some stage 5 electives, like commerce, robotics and filmmaking, are infused with stage 6 concepts and content. The Online Elective can only be calculated as the average of the rest of the students’ scores because it is a mastery-based elective. That calculation may lower a student’s rank or advantage him because he would have done worse in any other elective. Science is delivered in a series of modules – e.g. chemistry, biology and physics. Some boys are much more engaged with one science module rather than another.

Regrettably, some boys switch off in modules or subjects they are not planning to pursue in Year 11. These subjects can be electives that they just picked for enjoyment because they had already decided on their Year 11 courses, or ones that they chose but with which they have not become engaged.

When discussing the report with your son, please bear in mind the possible impacts on ranking in the cohort of these changed contexts. Quiz him about his three electives and how he is engaging with them and whether he is enjoying them and if he is thinking about his stage 6 course selections. Look closely at his learning behaviours profile to see how his engagement is perceived by his teachers. Discuss the next steps recommendations by his teachers to develop personal growth goals.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 20, July 04 2025

2025-07-04T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our 8A Volleyball Team who won the NSW Volleyball Schools Cup - Year 8 division, Jay Li (C), Eric Chen, Johnny Ding, Justin Ip, Thomas Nguyen, Ivan Shi, Sean Tippett, Ilyusha Tsoutsman, Cloud Wang, Titus Zheng, Kevin Luu. Coach: Edward Ly, Assistant Coach: Nelson Lee.

Congratulations to our 10A Volleyball Team who won the NSW Schools Cup Year 10 division, Anthony Ly (C), Axel Lam, Ethan Yu, Kevin Bui, Eugene Cho, Aaron Jin, Roger He, Ethan Huynh, Ethan Wang, Lennard Suen, Charlie Morgan. Coach: Oswald Xie.

Congratulations to Cassiel Yun who won the 2025 Harmony Day Poster Competition for the Year 11 category.

Good Samaritans

Thank you to Dio Vickkanov who found $50 at the basketball courts and our GA Daniel Xu who found $20 outside the gym. Both handed the cash in to the main office.

Why Exercise is Important for All Students at High

From my experience working with teenage boys, it is clear that regular physical activity does more than just improve fitness - it gives boys a cognitive edge and promotes positive self-esteem. Exercise positively affects cognitive skills, including memory, attention, and problem-solving abilities, all of which are essential for academic success. Regular physical activity promotes the process of creating new neurons - helping to improve learning and memory, both crucial aspects of academic performance. In this context, incorporating exercise into daily routines can help adolescent boys perform better in school, setting a foundation for both academic and personal growth.

Physical activity not only enhances cognitive skills but also plays a critical role in managing mental health, which is directly tied to academic success. Research highlights the impact of exercise on reducing symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress, which are often experienced by adolescents. Research from the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that “that exercise reduces depression and anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents.

These results suggest that structured exercise programs should be considered as part of comprehensive care approaches” (Systematic Umbrella Review and Meta-Meta-Analysis: Effectiveness of Physical Activity in Improving Depression and Anxiety in Children and Adolescents, Singh, Ben et al, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Online ahead of print). Mental clarity, reduced feelings of stress, and improved self-esteem all contribute to a better attitude toward learning and a stronger academic performance.

Moreover, exercise provides an outlet for energy and promotes better sleep, both of which are vital for academic success in adolescents. This improved sleep routine is particularly helpful during high school years, which are crucial for laying the foundation for future academic and personal success.

Exercise during high school fosters the development of critical life skills, such as discipline, time management, and goal-setting, that go beyond academic achievements and contribute to a balanced life after school. These skills are not only beneficial for athletic performance but also transfer to various areas of life, particularly as adolescents transition into adulthood. Exercise teaches grit, it is about showing up, even on the tough days. That same mindset translates to school and life.

High school students who stay physically active tend to manage their time more effectively, balancing school, co-curriculars, and social lives. The habits they build now help them adapt to the demands of university or the workforce. Exercise is a powerful tool - not just for boosting academic performance, but for building a healthier, more balanced life.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 19, June 27 2025

2025-06-27T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our fencers who have brought home both the Roberta Nutt Shield (individual events) and the AJ Rae Shield (team events) in the NSWFA Intermediate and Senior Fencing Competitions.

Interpreting Year 11 Reports - Semester One

All Year 11 students should have seen me to get their reports by Friday, June 27. Parents should be aware that the information upon which the first semester report marks are based, might be a measure of just one or two skill sets or a limited number of completed topics, or just one task, and thus a proportionately fewer number of marks. Since the number of assessment tasks allowable was reduced, some courses have had no formal assessment tasks. These marks are extrapolated to produce a mark out of 100 or 50 per unit. In some cases, where students have missed the only task set, a blank or N/A might appear against the student’s name for a course on the report. Individual marks for courses supplied by teachers are recorded and run against an ATAR predictor program. All the raw marks are converted into scaled marks per unit. Students missing a mark for a course will be given the score of the average of their other course scores for ATAR calculation purposes. In the iterative scaling process, students’ marks in one course are compared against all the other students who completed the same course and against their performances in their other courses. The data we use are last year’s HSC results for High. We shape current data, in terms of means and standard deviations, against the previous year’s actual HSC data. The essential comparative assumption is that students, as a cohort, will perform at or around the same standard this year, as they did last year. As a rule of thumb, our internal academic ranking spread will be very close to the previous year’s ranks in the HSC. This process can skew results (positively or negatively) if students miss tasks in several courses. Of course, individual courses have better or worse results on any given year, but overall, the predictor yields ATAR ‘guesses’ that are usually reliable to the +/- 1 level. A scaled score out of 50 is calculated for each course on a one-unit basis. English and Mathematics Extension courses are given a scaled mark out of 150. In English, the relative contributions of Advanced and Extension can be distorted if a wide discrepancy exists in performance in each course. Accuracy improves in Year 12 when only 10 units are considered for the ATAR calculation. Any student studying a course outside the school is given the average per unit of their other courses, instead of missing the values altogether. Students good at PE may be negatively affected with PE removed from the overall calculation of performance, unless studied as PDHPE in Year 11.

We use all 12 Preliminary Units to calculate our ATAR estimate (rather than 10 as in the HSC calculations), for two reasons. First, we would like students to receive a realistic appraisal of their progress in state terms as well as relative to their peers at High. Second, we want them to know their relative performance in each of their courses, in terms of scaled marks contributing to their TES score for ATAR calculation. Students can use this data later in the year to make decisions about which courses to add, continue or terminate for their HSC year. Their choices are restricted, given that 12 Preliminary units can only be reduced to ten for the HSC, nine if an extension course is added (as in music extension) after successful acceleration, or eight if an accelerant performed well in two HSC units in a course in Year 11. Big fluctuations in rank order can occur in the transition from stage 5 to stage 6 work. High scoring stage 5 electives might be replaced by more difficult stage 6 courses. Students good at mathematics and science have one extra mathematics unit and up to four extra science units added into their calculated ATAR as compared to their Year 10 report calculation.

Students may find the intellectual challenge and workload of stage 6 a bit of a shock in their first semester of learning. Extension courses are harder to perform well in than 2-unit courses are. In short, the reasons for big fluctuations in rank order are many and varied. The point of the exercise is to determine strengths and weaknesses in various courses and to gauge how strong student interest in them is, as evidenced by their commitment to trying to master them. We want parents to discuss with their sons both the learning behaviours profile and the recommended next steps in order for us to work together to maximise individual and collective stage 6 outcomes.

Student Leadership Assembly 2025

My speech to the assembly held last Thursday is reprinted below:

"Staff, students, parents and Prefects of Sydney Boys High welcome to our official recognition of student leadership efforts in our school and to our investiture assembly for our 2025 School Prefects. I acknowledge this morning the Gadigal people of the Eora nation as the traditional custodians of the land and waterways on which we meet and pay my respects to elders past and present, the keepers of culture and law, and extend that respect to any Aboriginal people here today. Thank you to all the students who have served our school in various teams this year as leaders. SRC, Community Service, Peer Support, Equality, PAWS, Environment, Wellbeing Ambassadors and Media Team – you demonstrated influence and leadership in your service. We all should understand that it takes strength of character and dedication of time for students to put their names forward for roles. They need drive and resilience to perform them well. Congratulations to you all.

"What do school leaders look for when selecting student leaders? The answer, according to Kimi ai, is a basket of twenty attributes, grouped under six dimensions – personal qualities, academic and behavioural performance, community and school involvement, emotional intelligence (self-awareness and self-regulation) and role specific organisational and public speaking skills. Desired personal qualities include integrity, honesty, respect, compassion, responsibility and positivity. The preferred leadership skills are in communication, decision-making, problem-solving, teamwork and initiative taking. Academic and behavioural requirements involve good academic standing, model behaviour, regular attendance and punctuality. For school and community involvement, a track record in participation in school activities and student body representation duties are emphasised. Our selection policy seems to satisfy all these criteria.

"The quality of our Prefect body is determined of the commitment of our school’s leadership towards service. We want our most engaged and able students to be nominated as candidates for the important school role of Prefect Intern. If every eligible voter exercises their franchise responsibly, we will get the best and most diverse team of Prefects possible. Our Prefect traditions are ingrained in our history, but leadership can also inspire this cohort to contribute to activities that will become a new legacy. There have been so many great Prefects at this school that the current group may try to follow in some aspects of their role. The honour of such a long-established and prestigious office invites our new group of leaders to emulate their predecessors’ deeds.

"The Senior Prefect leadership team for 2025 – School Captain, Jin Shim, Vice-Captain, Liam Nottage and Senior Prefect, John Fang, have been active and innovative. Structural ties with SGHSPrefects have been formed. More careers pathways seminars have been organised with the OBU. A Year 11 new students’ program has commenced with one ‘prefect buddy’ for each new student. They established Clean Up High Day and promoted a new Business Society. They negotiated the public transport good behaviour initiative. They inaugurated the High-Stakes SBHS-SGHS Competition in handball (T1) and spelling (T2).

"Our long-serving Prefect MIC, Ms Rigby, has continued as mentor and confidant to cohorts of boys in Prefect positions over many years. She has set high standards and has always held our boys to account. At the same time, she is compassionate, supportive and protective of the students she guides in their important tasks. I want to thank her for her dedication, effectiveness and efficiency.

"To graduate from Internee to School Prefect, qualifying them to receive their perpetual School Prefect badges today, Prefect Interns had to prove that they could meet the requirements for the role. These requirements were demanding. Prefect Interns had to continue to meet a predetermined academic standard. They had to maintain their participation in school life, play two GPS sports and earn a Student Awards Scheme Award in their final year. They had to have exemplary standards in behaviour, school dress and punctuality from the beginning of their Year 10 year. No disciplinary issue requiring a formal caution (intention to suspend) will be tolerated for potential Prefect Interns. They will be disqualified from the ballot.

"The Internship of our Prefects lasts for a full year. From this annual investiture assembly onwards, a new cohort of candidates will have to meet the requirements to be placed on the ballot. They will have to pass the test of democratic election by a constituency of students in Years 10 and 11, teachers and outgoing Prefects. Once elected they will have to perform well until their induction assembly as Prefect Interns and then for the next three school terms until they reach this recognition ceremony.

Sydney Boys High Prefects are popular and positive people – they have proven themselves worthy of the honour shown to them. They have earned their place in High’s history. Well done to all the students who are to receive their badges today. They will then sign in the Prefects Register, a rite of passage at High since 1955. We thank them for their service to the school and their schoolmates."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 18, June 20 2025

2025-06-20T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

As a result of CHS Regional cross-country performances, the following students have qualified to run at CHS state level: U13 – Anton Bolofer; U15 – Nathaniel Ng; U16 – Elijah Lees, Nestor Chan, Charlie Cheshire; U17 – Aayush Kumar, Max Chen, Lucas Zhang; Open – Tanish Sarathy, Aaron Chu, Matthew Taylor, Micah Jouravlev. Congratulations to you all – a credit to you and the cross-country program at High. From the Roberta Nutt Individual fencing competition – Senior boys Foil – Banjamin Dang (silver); Senior Sabre - Daniel Iliffe (gold), Ethan Li and Akith Pereira (bronze eq.); Senior boys Epee -Tommy Xu (silver), Hudson Cai (bronze eq.). NSW Fencing League - U14 Individual Epee – Shawn Handoko (silver) and Jackson Lai (bronze eq.). Congratulations to all our medal winners!

Interpreting Semester 1 Year 7 Reports

All Year 7 boys should have seen me to receive their reports by Friday, June 20. Parents need to know that with scores for grades – HD (6), D (5), Credit (3) PM (2) P (1) or U (0) – boys are expected to score thirty points or 10 credits equivalent, in order to reach the school standard. Proficiency levels for future-oriented earning skills (PEWCC), such as problem solving and evaluating, critical thinking, working with others, communicating your ideas and being creative and innovative, are also reported. Parents will be able to trace the growth of their son in the five reported skills as he progresses through the Junior School. These skills are reported in their own textbox and are distributed among the faculties. For more information on PEWCC skills reporting, go to sydneyhigh.school/curriculum/pewcc-reporting and click on Information About School Reports to peruse the skills continuum for each subject. In addition, multiple learning behaviours are reported on a rubric from ‘rarely’ to ‘sometimes’ to ‘usually’ to ‘consistently’. These behaviours are controllable by students and attention to them can improve outcomes over time. Finally, teachers’ recommendations for next steps towards improvement are included to focus family attention on some actions that might be taken immediately to aid learning improvement.

We understand that boys transitioning into Year 7 face many adjustment challenges. Positions in the grade will not be disclosed to Year 7 students for their first two reports. The top group of boys are acknowledged on the Academic Achievement List. Unless special circumstances preclude it, letters are sent to the parents of the boys in the Academic Support Group (those boys with scores of 27 or less). Boys scoring 27 points or less may be offered a special workshop presented by an outside provider; they may join ‘Diary Club’ to learn how to organise themselves better to complete tasks and submit work punctually; they may just receive an encouraging chat from their Year Adviser; they may be referred to the Counsellor; or they may be referred to an outside agency with their parents on very rare occasions. Some or none of these interventions might be judged appropriate in your son’s case. It is our obligation to let you know of our interventions on behalf of students so that you may accept or decline our help. Unless you contact us, we will assume you are OK with us using our professional judgement on actions to assist your son. We want to help our underachievers using the most effective means possible. Parents are requested to talk over their son’s report with him ahead of booking Parent-Teacher interview time slots. Your son’s Year Adviser can be contacted about options to improve future outcomes.

June 30 is EOFY Time

Starting to think about making a donation? The EOFY is a week away. Act now and join the growing number of Australians giving something back to society to help others. You will feel better after having made a contribution to a worthy cause – facilities for public education. If you have intended to make a tax-deductible donation to our SHSF Advancement Fund [Fairland Rebuilding Project] but haven’t yet done so, I invite you to make that donation before the end of the financial year. I ask for your help to make High an even better place in which our students can learn and grow.

Pride Assembly 2025

The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG and Raymond Roca (SHS-2007) were our special guests at the Pride Assembly Q and A held on Tuesday this week. We welcomed also a delegation of students and their teacher from Fort Street High. Michael spoke about Darwin’s Law of Variation that demonstrates how our diversity makes pur species grow. He emphasised love and kindness, the longevity of loving relationships and the moral duty of gifted people in secular education to stand up for human rights everywhere. Raymond spoke about how travelling widely exposes the weakness of our human tendency to create stereotypes and then to act upon them. He believed his exposure to diversity at High was very beneficial to his personal development.

My speech to the assembly is reprinted below.

"Special Guest, the Honourable Michael Kirby AC CMG, staff and students – welcome to our Pride Month Assembly, held on the land of the Gadigal. I pay my respects to elders past and present as the traditional custodians of our lands and waterways and extend that respect to any Aboriginal people here today.

"We are holding our assembly in June this year as a celebration of Pride month, commemorating the 28 June 1969 raid on the Stonewall Inn by New York Police, which sparked five days of rioting. We honour today those pioneering protestors. It is a depressing déjà vu to witness the current heavy-handed actions of American police raiding neighbourhoods, arresting undocumented citizens and casually shooting a reporter with a rubber bullet. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance – particularly when it comes to protecting constitutional and human rights.

"We need to reflect on the intervening 56 years since 1969 and ask ourselves whether the goals of inclusion and equality of the Pride Movement have been achieved. Awareness, definitely, has been raised, but are we as a society convinced about the righteousness of equality? Are we determined to treat each other fairly and with kindness? At least the right to marry is no longer gendered in our country yet acts of discrimination against LGBQIT citizens still occur with depressing regularity. In recent months, we have imported other societies’ problems and taken sides here. Our citizens are being attacked by extremists, just for identifying with a particular race, nationality or religion. It is time we began to live the ideal of equality, rather than just talk or write about it. Genuine multiculturalism is hard work for any society.

"Locally, we have been involved in promoting inclusion since Nelson Tang (SHS – 2015) organised a basketball match with SGHS in 2013. Our school leaders, ever since 2010 Wear it Purple, have been trying to operationalise the aspiration of inclusivity. Our School Prefect leaders have been focusing on student mental health promotion for several years. Each new cohort of High boys needs to be made aware of our school policy and commitment. Our Equality Committee is the standard bearer for inclusivity in our school and the keeper of the promise of equality in its broadest sense. We need to turn to each other, not on each other.

"The same sex marriage movement is celebrating its silver jubilee in 2026. Same sex civil marriage is now lawful in 29 countries – in Europe and the Americas. However, in Africa and Asia, only South Africa and Taiwan have legalised same sex marriage. There is still a long road to freedom in many countries.

"Locally, nationally and internationally Pride Week remains a movement for everyone’s rights. As we have witnessed in the USA, precious rights are vulnerable to pseudo-legal attack. They need to be guarded, endorsed and promoted as ‘inalienable,’ as envisaged in the US Constitution. That is, human rights are neither transferable, nor removable. At our school, let ‘the pursuit of happiness’ be our ditch to die in. Each one of us deserves this protected pursuit, free of harassment or violent interference. As Clarence Darrow, eminent American lawyer put it, ‘you can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the other man’s freedom’.

"I exhort everyone at High to enact our values of respect and compassion and be sensitive in our utterances and kind in our actions towards one another."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 17, June 13 2025

2025-06-13T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Our Team has qualified for the grand finals of the state TheatreSports Competition. Congratulations to Macallister Giles (10F), Ahyen Haque (10T), Jason Huang (9R), Jasper Jakubauskas (9M) and Mihir Shah (9M). Our thanks go to Nat Jensen, their Coach, and to Anna Barry, their MIC. Leon Park (7T) won an individual gold medal at the 2025 Judo Australia National Championships, 66Kg division. A very impressive accomplishment, Leon! He also won a gold as a member of the successful NSW Judo State Team.

Annual Tax Time Appeal

More and more Australians are thinking about philanthropy, about giving something back to society to help others. Universities and schools are benefitting more than ever before from this growing social conscience. High is a state school providing all the opportunities and activities of an independent school at c.6% of the cost. That’s value for money! We succeed because of the goodwill and financial support of our staff, our parents and our alumni. This year at tax time, please make a donation to a tax deductible SBHS project – preferably to the ̽��Ƶ Advancement Fund – which is raising money to begin construction of a replacement for Fairland Pavilion within five years. This is our priority project this year. Alternatively, a donation to the NSW Education Public School DGR Fund would help us to build our new Table Tennis Centre which is currently at the design and approvals stage.

Interpreting Year 9 Reports – Semester 1

By Friday, June 13, all Year 9 boys should have seen me to get their reports. Parents should be aware that students have fewer compulsory subjects in Year 9: English, mathematics, science, history, geography and PDHPE. They have added two electives to the core group of subjects having completed compulsory music, visual arts and technology. All of the stage 5 requirements for history and geography are completed in Year 9, so there is plenty of content and many skills to learn. This also means that students in history and geography may receive ‘warning letters’ for missing assigned tasks necessary for the completion of stage 5 compulsory subjects. The cut-off points standard for Year 9 is 24 (or 8 subjects at credit).

Parents are cautioned that large fluctuations in points earned and rankings in the cohort can be caused by a few marks more or less at the cut-off scores for HDs, Ds or credits. An influx of 30 new students into the cohort has an immediate impact on rankings, enlarging the rank order swings. Also, all the Ds could be near to the top, just below the cut-off mark for a HD. Sometimes, boys deliberately underperformed last year in subjects they knew they did not have to continue. This would cause a recovery in their rank this year if they tried harder in the subjects they chose this year. Conversely, the additional challenge of stage 5 work or a mistaken elective choice, could impact on a student’s ranking negatively, particularly if he were good at the practical subjects in Year 8.

In Year 9 students are expected to be developing some autonomy. They should be responsible for managing their personal workload and thinking ahead about what commitments they have in the near future. Ask to look at their personal organiser – electronic or paper, to see how well they are managing their time. Their weeks should be planned in advance, not only to ensure that tasks and activities are not omitted, but also to fit in with family, social and leisure activities scheduled for that week. Parents are asked to discuss their son’s learning behaviours profile and the teachers’ next steps recommendations for areas for improvement. We need teachers and families to work together to build boundaries around our boys – both side lines and goal lines – to focus behaviour and inspire maximal personal achievement.

Student Leave Requests – Reminder

There is a Department of Education and school policy on Student Leave of Absence – Extended Leave Travel requests. This applies to leave that is five school days or more in duration. Parents are reminded that as a matter of policy leave may not be processed or approved unless four weeks’ notice has been given. Also, cogent reasons for travelling during school term need to be supplied. No travel should be booked during the assessment or examination blocks affecting your son. The effect of this decision is that all leave requests that involve that last four weeks of term should have been lodged with me for approval by the end of week 6, each term. If you are planning to travel during the school term you need to download, complete and submit the form for my approval by the closing date. NB Week 7 is this week!
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 16, June 06 2025

2025-06-06T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

High football history was made when Liam Nottage was named captain of the combined GPS team which had a clean sweep in five games to capture the CIS title. Aiden McManus and Dylan Dutt also played in the team, with Dylan making the CIS squad. Kudos go to Alexi Barnstone as combined GPS coach and Sam Higgins as Assistant Coach. Well done to the 46 students and their accompanying teachers (Mick Ormsby, Lucas Matto and Jess Christodoulou) for braving the 0630 start in pouring rain to collect $1678.72 on behalf of the Salvation Army Winter Appeal. Community spirit is alive and well at High! Congratulations to Aryan Ghosh (10S) who was adjudged best delegate from over 250 competitors at the Harvard Model United Nations competition. Well done to our team - Year 9 and Year 10 boys who competed over three days last week.

Our boys are showing great support for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme – an internationally recognised quality credential in community service and self-reliance building. The latest group to receive awards are: Year 11 – Oliver Boije (silver); Year 10 bronze awards – Milan Babin, Lucas Chen, Sameer Gupta, Anderson Lee, Tuyvan Mai, Rohan Narushima, Jett Soo-Leui’I, Yassh Vora and Daniel Yi. Congratulations, boys! Well done indeed to Daniel Zmak (10T) who was placed first in NSW in the ASX Game 1.

Collection of Semester 1 Reports

All boys in Years 12 have their reports. Year 8 should have collected their reports by Friday, June 6. Regrettably, there are still some students, Year 8 who have not fulfilled their commitments and completed their online Clearance Forms (if one appears on their student portal) and booked an appointment time to see me to discuss their progress at school. This is an important step in our feedback loop, and I insist on speaking to boys personally. After making timeslots available for a couple of weeks on sheets provided at the Waterhouse Desk, I then call students out of class to talk to me about their progress and receive their reports. Once students have spoken to me, their reports are uploaded onto P drive and available in the Portal. If there are any issues around Clearance Forms, they need to be communicated to me directly at: principal@sbhs.nsw.edu.au.

Funds Held for the Benefit of High Boys

The ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd holds funds for the benefit of the school. The SHS Advancement Fund enables tax-deductible donations to be made for the purposes of school buildings [acquisition, management and maintenance] and student support by way of bursaries. Current funds exceed $400k. The Endowment Fund is designed to hold monies from non-tax-deductible sources – bequests, trusts, gifts and the like.

Accounts for the Foundation show that as of December 31, 2024, there were the following balances within the Endowment Fund: $128,398 for the Ethel Killip Memorial Sub-Fund; $222,784 for Prizes; $147,522 for the Phil Day Memorial Scholarship Fund; $121,886 for the Student Participation Account, $30,819 in the Student Activities Account and $9,241 for the Mitchell Seow Memorial Prize.

In total, SHSF Ltd. manages $661,093 in funds for the school within the Endowment Fund. Artworks owned by or on loan to the school from the Ethel Killip Memorial Art Collection held in trust by SHSF are valued at c. $400,000. The Mitchell Seow Memorial Prize Fund is a specific prize commemorating the sudden death from unknown causes of a much-loved student who had just completed his HSC in 2005. The Student Participation Account supplements the DoE Student Equity Funds with direct financial help to students in necessitous circumstances. The Phil Day Memorial Fund finances an annual scholarship, worth $1,750, in memory of an Old Boy and long serving teacher, Head Teacher and Swimming MIC. The Prizes Fund helps to pay for some of $25,000 worth of prizes awarded each year to students. The Ethel Killip Memorial Fund pays for the replacement, addition and upkeep of honour boards, memorabilia of Old Boys, photographs on walls and the Foundation artworks collection, including Na Ngara. The Student Activities Fund is a fund to help teams with pre-season tours or fixtures and to subsidise commitments for interstate or international travel.

Historically, after a FUM charge, half of the interest earned on these managed funds is donated to the school for uses as determined by the principal, in accordance with the original Fund Deeds. However, due to a sustained period of very low interest rates, interest was retained in the foundation accounts 2014-23, in order to maintain the real capital value of the funds. Given that interest rates have normalised, the payments from the Endowment Fund were reinstated in 2024. A secondary objective is to make these funds self-funding so that the school can rely on a predictable annual contribution to its worthy causes going forward. We are always seeking donations for any of these fund purposes. If you would like to help, contact 9662 9300 or manager@shsfoundation.org.au

Interpreting Year 8 Reports Semester 1

All boys should now have seen me to get their reports. Parents need to know that a few marks up or down near cut-off scores for Distinctions or High Distinctions can make a big difference in their son’s points’ totals. Also, these grades are sometimes calculated from only one or two snapshot assessment tasks, thus providing a narrow view of achievement. When moving from Year 7 into Year 8 students get to make a decision – one language or two? As a consequence, some boys do ten subjects as in Year 7 and others, nine. To calculate the boys’ scores, their best 9 subject outcomes are counted (27 points at credit level). So, boys doing more subjects may have an advantage. Conversely, they may be disadvantaged by having more subjects to master. Language choice can affect ranking outcomes. For example, some boys chose Chinese Advanced. Some chose Latin, other chose Latin and Classical Greek. These are demanding subjects. Getting Distinctions in these subjects is harder – fewer students do them, too. Boys not doing two languages have to have their PE results counted.

Sometimes boys in Year 8 start to think about what electives they might do in Year 9 and what the compulsory subjects there are. These projected future choices might affect their motivation to succeed in some of the compulsory subjects that they are doing currently. Because of the semesterisation of history and geography, students who perform much better in one of these disciplines more than the other can produce big swings in points earned at the half yearly or yearly report. Quite a few boys who have done well in their Yearly Report take their foot off the accelerator and coast through semester one, with effects on their ranking. Often, they get back on track by the time of the Yearly Report again.

In short, there are many reasons for big swings in rank. I think that +/- 20% of the cohort (36+) positions of swing means that something has altered. Their biggest issue usually is distraction, due to gaming, unrestricted device use, social media immersion or other myriad teenage activities. Often, big positive or negative fluctuations are due to changes in learning behaviours: boys listening in class, acting on teacher feedback, being organised and managing their commitments, taking notes, doing homework, accessing past papers and revising before assessment periods. Alternatively, if they stop doing these things, their results may decline. Circumstances in their domestic life may affect their learning concentration or motivation and result in big swings in the rank order also. Despite the shortcomings identified, our stable statistical expectations over more than two decades provide a fairly reliable overall academic profile for students and parents to consider. Also included in the reports are teacher statements about recommended next step/s for students to improve their learning. We hope parents will discuss these suggestions with their sons and encourage them to implement them.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 15, May 30 2025

2025-05-30T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Last Monday, High hosted the local final of the Plain English-Speaking Competition. Franklin Huang (10M) progressed to the Regional Final. Last Tuesday, at Easts Leagues club, the local final of Rostrum, Sharvil Pande (10S) finished third. Well done, lads! Last Wednesday at Knox, who hosted the State Da Vinci Decathlon Final, our Year 9 Team - Chase Chan (9S), Alex Deng (9T), Mekaeel Khan (9M), Vladimir Loukine (9E), Marco Ma (9M), Matthew Ryder (9E), William Tran (9R), Yihong Zhu (9T) – finished in second place. Our Year 11 Team - Aaron Huang (11S), Nathan Nguyen (11S), Hamzah Ahmed (11E), Lachlan Yuen (11S), Michael Zhuo (11S) and Ryan Allen (11E), finished in third place. Congratulations to all our Teams! Well done to Liam Greacan (12E), for winning the U19 Novice Wind section of the Metropolitan Bands competition.

Mabo Day Tuesday June 3 2025

Mabo and others v Queensland (No 2) (1992) was named after Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo, the man who challenged the Australian legal system and fought for recognition of the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional owners of their land. The Mabo case ran for ten years.

Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo was a Torres Strait Islander who believed Australian laws on land ownership were wrong and fought to change them. He was born in 1936 on Mer, which is also known as Murray Island, in the Torres Strait. The Mer Islanders decided they would be the ones to challenge the legal principle of terra nullius in the High Court and that Eddie Mabo would be the one to lead the action.

On 3 June 1992, the High Court of Australia decided that terra nullius should not have been applied to Australia. This decision recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to the land – rights that existed before the British arrived and still exist today. The Australian Parliament passed the Native Title Act in 1993. To have native title recognised under the Native Title Act 1993, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples must prove that they have a continuous connection to the land in question and that they have not done anything to break that connection (such as selling or leasing the land).

Native title can be recognised in different ways. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples may be granted the right to live on the land; access the area for traditional purposes; visit and protect important places and sites; hunt, fish, or gather traditional food or resources on the land; or teach Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander laws and customs on the land. In some cases, native title can include the right to own and occupy an area of land or water to the exclusion of all others. Indigenous land use agreements set out arrangements between native title holders and others regarding who can access and use the land in question. These agreements play an important role in making native title work for all Australians. There are currently 967 registered Indigenous land use agreements in place.

High’s Regular Giving Scheme

For new and existing parents – there is a really painless way to help the school reach its capital development objectives – the Regular Giving Scheme. We have successfully completed building the Governors Centre and the Junior Library Air-conditioning. The COLA has been extended. Extensive internal building works have sequestered our network switches. The Table Tennis Centre will move into design and preliminary construction stage in 2025. It will need more funds to complete. Previous cohorts of parents have helped significantly to build up our assets for the use and enjoyment of the current boys. We need to replace the Fairland Pavilion. We need to build a retaining wall at the Outterside Centre. The Regular Giving Scheme allows you to make a deduction each month from your nominated credit card account. Deductions occur around the 21st of each month. In late June each year, the ̽��Ƶ Foundation can send you a statement for taxation purposes, including the total of your donations for the year. I urge you to do as I do and make a regular financial investment in public education.

If you are interested, please click: www.shsfoundation.org.au/regular-giving

I find that philanthropy in a public cause is bidirectional - it benefits the donor and the recipient. It makes you feel good to help a worthwhile cause.

Winter Sports Assembly

My speech to the winter sports assembly is reprinted below:

"Parents, staff, students, welcome to our first Winter Sports Assembly, honouring football, rugby and cross country. We assemble before the first official matches of the GPS competition – winter season - to introduce some of our winter teams and acknowledge the work of our staff, coaches and committees. Our second assembly next term will complete the process for the other winter sports.

"In our Football program, I would like to thank MIC Sam Higgins who has worked tirelessly to lift High Football from no wins when he took over, to taking out the GPS Premiership last year – a tribute to his perseverance, energy and skill. Thank you to our Football Teaching staff – Jamie Kay, Matthew Hood, Jeremy Ohlback and Richard Gifford. We acknowledge and appreciate our GPS competition coaches - 1st XI coach Alexander Barnstone, who is looking to repeat the 2024 success, along with Bruno Pivato piloting second grade. Thank you to our Old Boy coaches - Dean Rong (2019), Ohm Bhandari (2021), Samir Uddin (2021), Mushfique Ahmed (2021), David Li (2022), Liam Cowan (2024), Praneil Manandhar (2024), Zarif Faisal (2024), Sachit Kashoji (2024), Nitin Raghavan (2024), Gurik Sall (2024), Daniel De Costa (2023), Ramin Hossain (2023), Hikun Nguyen (2023), Ben Pirom (2023) and Vithushan Srimurugakumar. Old Boy coaches are the backbone of our program. We appreciate all the support and time offered by our Parent Committee - Kevin Leung, Cynthia Leung, Amy Sim and Luke Nottage. Thank you to you all. Let us get behind our boys as they defend their title this season.

"I want to applaud Vivian Paul for his efforts as Rugby MIC again this year. If his enthusiasm for the sport were contagious, we would have many more Teams. Thank you to our High staff – George Barris, Hannah Jackson, John James, David Knox, Stuart Olsen, Shane Jennings and Kurt Rich. Thank you also to our coaches: Jack Bowditch, Liam Scolari, Hugo Roach and our Old Boys - Vincent Dorahy (2020), Edison Dorahy (2019), Ethan Cusick (2020), Jordan Wong (2022), Jack Mulder (2023), Thomas Britton (2022), Joseph Britton (2024), Nelson Cheng (2202), Quan Nguyen (2023), Patrick Ta, Joo-Young Kim (2024), Jeremy Lu (2024), Daniel Bian (2024) and Neil Song (2015). We appreciate the work of our High Rugby Association members: Yves Stenning, Diana Chan, Andrew Kuo, Tuan Truong, Kelland He, and Brian Peakall, and our parent helpers organising events: Parking – Peter Zeng: Dinner – Grace Quan.

"Our thanks go to Kurt Rich, MIC cross country for 2025, who has brought a fresh development perspective to the sport with interval sprinting for developing runners. Thank you again to Rebecca Dam for her decades of service in this MIC role from which she is taking a well-earned break. Thank you to John Prorellis for his long-term support for cross country. Thank you also to Lena Park for her assistance in the program. We acknowledge and thank our coaches: Ren-Shyan Balnave (SHS-2018), Max Russell (SHS-2023) and Neil Song (SHS -2015).

"Last season, in the thirtieth anniversary of the 1995 GPS victory, our first XI were successful. Back in 1995, Alex Lamb summed up their 1995 season in ‘The Record’: the Team did not have an easy game in the GPS season and if it were not for the determination and spirit of both the players and our coach Mr Dolan, things may well have turned out differently. We battled injuries and other setbacks to record a “tradesman-like” performance of five wins and two draws in the competition, which was enough to gain us the premiership by the second last round. Our real preparation for the season began back in first term with Mr Dolan’s fitness sessions, followed by a succession of trial matches in which we recorded impressive victories against keen sides such as Moriah and Cranbrook. Although we were eliminated from the CIS Cup in the early rounds, we felt we were ready to produce a consistent performance in the GPS competition’. Combined GPS representatives that year were three in 1st grade; and two in each of 2nd and 3rd grade.

"In cross country, the GPS Championship was held at St Ignatius and High lived up to its earlier promise by winning the 16s Team event with the small total of 14 points, beating its nearest rival by 30 points. This was the first time that any age group from Sydney High had won such an event since the advent of Cross Country as a GPS sport. Placings Under-16 Marc Bennie 1st Andrew Bennie 3rd Sean Garber 4th Justin Lodge 6th.’ In hindsight, this result seems phenomenal.

"It was an exceptional year for rugby in 1995. MIC Steve Storey wrote: Our 1st Grade were unlucky not to win the GPS Competition, coming second, and the 15 Years made the semi-final of the state-wide Buchan Shield Competition. Special tributes must be extended to coaches Tony Hannon (1st Grade) and Steve Codey (15 Years). Mark Stcherbina captained the Australian Schoolboys to Europe and together with fellow tourists, Luke Mann and Jason Jones-Hughes, these boys join an elite group in the tradition of High.

"These snapshots of past exploits highlight the long tradition of achievement by High boys. We extol the virtues of competitive sport because it is educational and healthy, because it increases camaraderie among students, and because it provides Team memories that can last a lifetime."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 14, May 23 2025

2025-05-23T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Daniel Iliffe (12R) for winning the Open National Australian Championships in Sabre and being named ‘Athlete of the Year’ by the NSW Fencing League.

Musical Co-Production

The students from both SGHS and SBHS offer an evening’s entertainment for you and your family. The Addams Family features an original story, and it's every father's nightmare. Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family -- a man her parents have never met. And if that weren't upsetting enough, Wednesday confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Now, Gomez Addams must do something he's never done before -- keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's 'normal' boyfriend and his parents’. Support our combined Schools Musical!

SGHS and SBHS present The Addams Family Musical at The Governors Centre:

Wednesday 28 May 7pm.
Thursday 29 May 7pm.
Saturday 31 May 7pm.
Sunday 1 June 1pm.

Tickets available at: https://sbhs.co/aft

Caught Doing the Right Thing

Members of the public were very impressed by the behaviour of our Year 7 students at the Big Day Out at the NSW Art Gallery. Ms May reported that one person said that we were the best school she’d ever encountered at the gallery and could not believe such a huge number of kids could be so well behaved. Well done, Year 7!

Erratum:

When praising our honest Year 8 boy last week I misspelled his name. It should be Aarosh Hasan of 8R. My apologies, Aarosh!

Public Schools Survey

The Department of Education has commissioned a new survey for public school staff, students and their parents. The New South Wales Public Schools Surveys (NPSS) are designed to gather insights from stakeholders about their experiences at school. The surveys are replacements for Tell Them from Me surveys that have been administered in schools for many years. It was time that they were redesigned and refreshed. They are designed to monitor trends over time and to assess impact. The plan is for the new student surveys to be rolled out in week 6, with staff and parent surveys to be introduced in 2026. The survey takes less than twenty minutes to complete and will be administered in class. If you do not want your son to be involved in the survey, there is an opt out form:

NSW Public Schools Student Survey – Information and opt-out form

Please let the school know by Monday, June 2, if you want your child to opt out of the survey.

Sorry Day May 26

In December 1992, Paul Keating’s Redfern Speech gave political recognition to the genesis of our racial problem being non-aboriginal Australians who “took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life,” essentially as a result of invasion. Non-aboriginal Australians showed their ignorance and prejudice in their treatment of indigenous people. As human beings we failed “to imagine these things being done to us”. By December 1993 a Commonwealth Native Title Tribunal was established under the Native Title Act to confront dispossession and find a way to return to indigenous people land that had always been theirs. A social justice spin-off from this legislation was a public exposure of the policy of assimilation and the forced removal of children from their families. The report of the subsequent judicial inquiry was handed down in 1997. ‘Bringing them home’ accused white society of gross violations of the human rights of indigenous people. The policy amounted to attempted genocide in practice – communities and cultures were the targets. A year after this report was tabled, May 26, 1998, the first National Sorry Day was held. It has been held annually ever since.

National Reconciliation Week May 27 – June 3
Theme: 'Bridging Now to Next'

During this week as Australians, we need to focus on our awareness of our shared histories and achievements alongside Aboriginal people, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The week is bookmarked by the successful referendum of May 27, 1967, in which ATSI people were recognised in the census, and June 3, 1992, when the historic Mabo decision by the High Court overturned the ‘terra nullius’ legal fiction. Native Title has emerged since the decision, recognising ATSI people as the traditional owners and custodian of lands. National Reconciliation Week started in 1993 as a week of Prayer for Reconciliation to commemorate the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. In 1996 the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Reconciliation Week. In 2001 Reconciliation Australia was established to provide national leadership on reconciliation. Bridging Now to Next – the 2025 theme - urges us to look ahead and continue the push forward towards a more united and respectful nation as past lessons guide us.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 13, May 16 2025

2025-05-16T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Well done to some more Year 10 students who earned Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Awards – Otis Candy, Sebastian Finn and Theodore Hui. In the NSWFA AJ Rae Intermediate Team championships last Saturday, our teams won five medals, one of which was gold – Intermediate Epee. Congratulations to all SBHS teams.

Caught Doing the Right Thing

Congratulations to Aaron Hassan (8R) who exhibited the school value of integrity by handing in the $300 he found in the playground last Friday. The money was reunited with a grateful Year 9 boy on Monday. Aaron models how ethical behaviour can enrich a community.

Recurrent Software Licence Costs

Modern schools are embedded with computer hardware, and they require software to maintain and operate them. In order to run a school like ours with complex technology needs, we require annual software licences that are not paid for by DoE. The following (incomplete) list illustrates their ubiquity, complexity and annual subscription cost - Clipboard $22,000, Sentral $20,000, Vivi $14,000, Edval $14,000, Electronic form processing $13,200, Virtual desktop $12,000, Clickview $11,000, Canvas $8,000, School Bytes $7,000, Atomi $6,000, Desktop/mobile device management $5,000, Turnitin $5,000, Student ID- $4,500, Security scanner $3,700, Papercut $3,200, Foldr storage access $3,000, Internet presence $3,000, Veeam Backup $3,000. Hence, we require around $165k on a yearly basis, just to keep our software services to students and staff at the current level. These funds come from our community, mostly from our Technology Support Contribution. We need you all to support our technology support contribution to keep up this very high standard of delivery.

SBHS Parent Operated Canteen

Our school is one of a declining number of schools with a parent-operated canteen. With the help of parent volunteers, our managers Karen and Eirini, deliver high quality, low-cost food options for our boys. They offer seasonal variety and nutritious foods in a certified operating environment. Each year we need parents to give some of their time, once a month for a few hours, to help keep prices low and quality high. Last year some of our Committee members retired once their sons left the school. We are relying on new and existing parents to fill the gaps under the leadership of our Canteen Committee President, Alison Dao. Our High community has always relied on self-help in our canteen, helping to make possible a donation of c $65k annually to school funds from Canteen profits. If you can help out on our Committee, please contact Tania Kirkland, P & C President or Alison for more details and a role briefing. pbhs.pandc@gmail.com

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 does not happen until the Trial HSC in August. A limited number of topics have been completed in the HSC courses so far this year. Usually, only one or two tasks have been completed. Any predictions about overall success in a course must be cautious. 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 in the HSC than their ATAR prediction, derived from their April performances. Inevitably, if nothing changes in the student’s 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’s 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 which are opportunities for re-writes or early submission of drafts of essays to receive very useful feedback, prior to submission of their work. Students should be re-visiting their personal growth goals to see whether they are on track or have fallen behind their own expectations in each course. 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 (15 hours) to work hard. It is equally important to maintain co-curricular activities and to sleep well to allow the brain some downtime to process information.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 12, May 09 2025

2025-05-09T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Maurice Wong (12T), who was invited to Government House in Canberra as a guest of the Governor-General, Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC. One of her many roles is as the Prior of St John Ambulance Australia. Maurice is a trained and serving volunteer first responder and was recognised for his service in volunteering. Volunteers often feel a sense of purpose, personal growth and connection to community that comes from giving back to others. An admirable community service indeed! Well done to Benjamin Hunter (7M) who competed in Open Skiff, Division 6 at the Combined High Schools Regatta at Lake Macquarie during the holidays. He placed 3rd in his Division. He performed very well for his age in open competition. Some good weekend fencing results – Roberta Nutt Intermediate (29 competitors– Epee (William Huang 9F – gold, Daxton Sor 9M bronze eq. Sabre (Rafael Zaslavsky 8S – gold, Uday Sharma 9M bronze eq. Well done boys!

UNSW Co-op Applications

Students should be aware of what happens to UNSW Co-op applications, considering how popular they have been at High. Australia-wide, 1003 applications were submitted from 277 schools but another 1,596 remained in draft form and so were never officially submitted. At High in 2024 there were 31 applications in draft and 30 were properly submitted [Takeaway – that was our best ever conversion rate. Once you begin a project, finish it!] There were 320 interviews held for 280 applicants. Forty scholarships have been offered so far. From High, there were nine interviews, with five short listed and two students received offers - Fynn Hopkins (Data Science and Decisions) as well as Justin Nguyen (Electrical or Telecommunications Engineering). [Takeaway – if you are really interested in a course, research it and put significant effort into your application because nearly every year someone from High is successful].

Literacy Development in Years 7-9

As part of our Strategic Excellence Plan, we intend all students to engage in literacy development. In a nutshell, we want our students to be more skilful, accurate, versatile and purposeful writers. We want them to read more widely, analyse more closely and listen more actively. There is an ongoing whole school emphasis on closer reading, clearer writing. Students need to focus on audience, sentence construction, ideas generation and vocabulary. Examples of text types you should be able to identify when you read, and compose when you write, include – narrative, procedure, report, description, discussion, exposition, recount, poem, text response, analysis and evaluation. We want students to create more concise, legible, coherent and accurate texts.

In addition, students need to read more closely. We want students to do five tings to become better readers. Read actively – engage with the text by asking questions, making predictions and summarising key points as you read. Annotate what you read – Mark important passages, jot down notes or page numbers and highlight key concepts to aid understanding and retention. Build your vocabulary – Look up unfamiliar words in a thesaurus and note their meanings in different contexts to grasp the author’s intention better. Find context clues – Scan the surrounding sentences/ paragraphs/ illustrations to infer the meaning of unfamiliar words or concepts. Read reflectively - Take a break from what you have read to synthesise and summarise the big idea, connect it to your prior knowledge and think critically about the content.

We are asking for parental support to encourage wide reading using the Junior Library resources to assist in building student vocabulary. Dr Love has purchased many books recommended by the students themselves that can be borrowed from the Andrews Library. Help us to make reading an important part of your son’s weekly routine in 2025.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 11, May 02 2025

2025-05-02T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

Welcome Back to Term 2

Term two is always the busiest as examinations, assessments and reports are prepared, marked, published and discussed for all academic years. As from next Monday, our Executive leadership will revert to its usual structure. I want to thank George Barris for his work in the Relieving Principal role and extend those thanks to Kerryn Ibbott who relieved for George as Deputy Principal (7,9,11) and to Matthew Hood who relieved as Head Teacher Science for Kerryn. During the holidays, John Prorellis and his team – Jim Crampton, David Isaacs and Daniel Xu – installed Vivi into the Industrial Arts practical rooms to complete the AV set up for the whole school. Scheduled blinds replacement or repairs were carried out in several rooms. The Cooler Classrooms work was also advanced.

NAPLAN Results

Our planning targets several years ago identified a 29% gap between reading and writing results in Year 9 NAPLAN. In 2024, this gap was reduced to 12%. This is evidence that our focus on Sentence Conscious Pedagogy is having some positive effect.

In our recent NAPLAN results our school mean results for reading, grammar and punctuation, spelling and numeracy were all at the ‘exceeding’ level in Years 7 and 9. Compared to 2024, our 2025-year 7 cohort results were about the same in reading and grammar and punctuation. Improved means were achieved in spelling and numeracy. In reading in Year 9, 2025 there was an improvement in the bottom quartile but a slight drop in the mean. Grammar and punctation, spelling and numeracy had improved means. Our regular spelling test policy seems to be having a beneficial impact over time. Congratulations to all staff and students for producing these encouraging results.

Duke of Edinburgh Awards – Update

Silver Award recipients – Nestor Chan and Rajendra Krishnan (Year 11). Bronze Awards go to Charles Caro, Ryan Chai, Tristan Chee, Adam Flocard, Jack Francis, Kay Minh Nguyen, Alex Ruhfus and Michael Truong (Year 10). Well done indeed, boys!

Help Replace The Fairland Pavilion

Jacob Ezrakhovich (SHS-2003), President of the SHSOBU and Chair of the Pavilion Fundraising Committee, officially launched the fundraising campaign on Tuesday evening. David Greatorex (SHS-1950) and Alex Feldman (SHS-2003) spoke about the Fairland Pavilion and McKay Playing Fields, its history and its relationships with the Greater Sydney Parklands management.

My speech is reprinted below:

"A century ago, at a SHSOBU annual dinner, the Minister for Education, Thomas Mutch, announced the provisional erection of a new school building adjacent to SGHS in Moore Park. The proviso was that the SHSOBU ‘shared the responsibility of equipping the school and providing playing fields.’ £800 was raised on the evening. According to the pre-decimal inflation calculator, that sum would buy >$80k of goods and services in 2024. R.T. McKay lobbied the Department of Agriculture and a permissive occupancy of 19 acres within the Centennial Parklands was signed with the OBU. We have always had great support from our Old Boys.

"The SHSOBU and the NSW Government have had formal legal arrangements between them ever since 1925. Tonight, we are here to ensure that the relationships between the SHSOBU (now represented by the ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd) and the NSW Government (now represented by Greater Sydney Parklands) persists for another 50 years. This can only happen if High is granted priority access to playing fields, through the GSP booking system. This priority will be maintained for a further 45 years, provided that a replacement for Fairland Pavilion has commenced construction by 2029. We are here to begin in earnest to raise the necessary funds to commence the building, and guarantee our access to the fields, where generations of Old Boys have played since 1932.

"One hundred years after that historic Old Boys dinner, High is still a very good school – better in many ways than you might remember it. Our academic results are high, with average ATARs in the range 91 to 93. Recently, we won GPS competitions in Football and Volleyball, with three national schools teams titles in Fencing. We support fifteen sports with administrative structures, finance and leadership. Our chess and debating performances are strong. Our performance music program has very high participation, with more than a dozen ensembles and a showcase marching band. We have student-run co-curricular activities in community service, social justice and environmental responsibility. The Sydney High Cadet Unit continues to thrive. Student Wellbeing is a focus of staff and student cooperation. Our facilities and resources have improved dramatically.

"Returning to the McKay Fields in 1932, Old Boys Charles and Sid Hirst designed and built a dressing shed which opened in 1933. As students were using the change rooms and the McKay fields, the ̽��Ƶ P & C Association began to contribute the labour and finance necessary to maintain the sheds and fields. In 1935 a Sports Ground Committee was established, with three representatives from each of the governance bodies the OBU, the P & C and the School.

"When the ̽��Ƶ Council was established in 1951 to coordinate school activities, the Sports Ground Committee became affiliated with it. The P & C paid for a part time groundsman. Hence, the SHSOBU and the SHS P & C Association shared joint responsibility for assets – Old Boys build, acquire or manage assets, the parents of succeeding student cohorts of student users, maintain them. History calls upon us to work together again.

"In the late 1940s, Sid Hirst again was the architect for the proposed additional storey on top of the dressing sheds. The three school bodies worked to raise £3000 and organised a guarantee of £1500 (a combined total of $285,000 in 2024 equivalent dollars). The completed Fairland Pavilion was opened in November of 1952 and has served our school community ever since. Back then, the school community participated in working bees, one of which erected > 400m of post and rail fencing in one day, in 1957.

"Since the establishment of the ̽��Ƶ Foundation in 1986, it has managed the administration of the Fairland Pavilion, McKay Playing Fields and the relationship between the School and CMPT. ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd is managing fundraising for the replacement pavilion project. Our school community has been committed to McKay and Fairland Pavilion for 92 years. It is at the end of its useful life, and we need to replace it.

"Back in 2000, Bob Outterside and I led a negotiation to obtain a Deed of Licence with the CMPT on a 4x5 year basis, as the previous agreement had expired. The new License was signed off on February 16, 2001. It expired in December 2019, but was deemed to continue until the terms of a new Deed of Licence could be agreed. Things then stalled and the Foundation (and hence the school) were in very real danger of having no priority access at all to the McKay Fields. There was a draft Fairland Pavilion licence prepared in March 2020. After many years of arduous negotiation by Old Boy Alex Feldman and Foundation Secretary John Taylor, inter alia, the current 5-year Deed of Licence was signed off on March 20, 2024. Securing the 45-year Licence is our next objective.

"We all make emotional investments. Mine are mostly in yachting, a sport notoriously hard on the wallet. The return on my investments are psychological and emotional only. The school community needs to make such an investment. We need $4 million dollars to secure 45 years access to McKay Playing Fields. We do not have much time to achieve this goal.

"Future cohorts of High boys are depending on us. Several schools and organisations are ready to make offers to GSP to take over a secure access agreement over the McKay fields. This is a turning point – time and tide do not wait. Help us to secure High’s future."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}

High Notes, Vol 26 No 10, April 11 2025

2025-04-11T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Cassiel Yun, Yr 11 for completing his Gold award in Duke of Edinburgh. A wonderful achievement to achieve this award during Year 11.

Happy Holidays

I hope all staff and students enjoy a restful break with their families. It is important for students to maintain a consistent routine over the holidays—one that includes staying active during the day and getting proper sleep at night. Disrupting this routine can make it more difficult to return to school feeling refreshed and energised. Incorporating daily exercise can also support healthy sleep habits and help keep routines on track.

Anzac Day

"Distinguished guests and students, welcome to our Anzac Day assembly held on the traditional lands of the Gadigal people to whom I pay my respects and to any Aboriginal people present today. We feel it is important to hold a school Anzac Day Assembly, even if it is still two weeks until the commemoration day, as we do not return to school until Wednesday April 30.

"Today, for ANZAC Day, we gather to honour the courage, sacrifice, and dedication of those who have served, and those who are still serving our nation. One such soldier is Lieutenant Colonel Edouard Cousins—a leader, a mentor, and a soldier who has dedicated his life to the service of Australia.

"Born in Sydney in 1983 and educated at Sydney Boys High, Edouard was a classmate of mine and graduated in 2001. Soon after school he embarked on his military journey through the Royal Military College, Duntroon, graduating in 2007. His career has been one of duty and commitment, from leading soldiers in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, to serving in some of the world’s most challenging environments, including Timor Leste, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Middle East.

"Through his deployments, he has mentored and trained soldiers, led missions in war zones, and represented Australia in multinational operations. Whether commanding in combat or shaping strategic decisions at the highest levels, Lieutenant Colonel Cousins has embodied the ANZAC spirit—courage, endurance, and mateship.

"Today, as the Commanding Officer of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, he continues to lead, ensuring that those who serve are prepared to uphold the legacy of those who came before.

"On Anzac Day, we pause to reflect on our military history and pay tribute to those who sacrificed their lives for our country in all wars. We honour the brave individuals who fought for us and never made it home to their loved ones. As a community, we support and care for our veterans who continue to bear the physical and mental scars of service. Thank you to our marching band for representing us in the Anzac March and to our Cadets for their dedicated service at memorials."
George Barris
Relieving Principal

{hnpdf}{/hnpdf}