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High Notes, Vol 27 No 1, February 06 2026

From the Principal

Welcome or welcome back!

Welcome to all our returning staff and students to another year of excellent achievement and persistent endeavour in all areas of school life. I want to welcome our 180 Year 7 students and our 38 new students in Years 9 and 11. I want to assure you of our commitment to foster your rapid and successful integration into the High culture.

Our focus this year is on completing the School Excellence Plan and planning for the future. We want to try and implement our modified teaching programs to influence better reading, clearer writing. We still need more clarity, coherence and quality in our written responses in all years. We want to join the literacy skills together to craft more coherent, insightful and complete essays. We want to read questions more closely and answer exam questions more appropriately. We have a small set of proven strategies that will be applied in small group tuition in Year 7. We want to revive PEWCC skills teaching and testing to develop selected dispositions in our students. We need to prepare for and be successful in the process of external validation. We need to raise awareness of the School Excellence in Wellbeing and Inclusion policy.

Staff Changes

We welcome also our new staff members for 2026. Samantha McFayden has been appointed permanently in English. In Science, Tennille Molino and Jose Burgos-Macedo are relieving. Liy Gavan has joined the PDHPE staff in in a Temporary position.

Properties - works maintenance and upgrades.

Teaching spaces:  The Cooler Classrooms project has been completed and signed off. A really big job was the internal and external painting of B-block (The Killip Wing).

Public spaces: Block B roofing replaced and external guttering installed. New furniture wired up for desktop use was installed in the Junior Library but, regrettably, the new carpeting won’t be completed until the April holidays. The Great Hall steps and piano stage surrounds were painted – a much-needed lift! The Music stairwell in A block was also painted. The Boardroom and kitchenette were painted. On your behalf I thank the DET AMU (Assets Management Unit) for this very large investment of funding for our school.

ICT: Relocating and building network switching in Makerspace was finished off.

Grounds: The internal areas of the bear Pit were brightened up by painting. The Andrew Xu Memorial picnic table, benches, slab and landscaping were complete at a cost >$10k.

Thank you to Jim Crampton, Daniel Xu the ICT guys and John Prorellis for their work, mostly behind the scenes, to make all our improvements possible.

First Day Assembly for Year 7 - extract

"We welcome all our new students and expect you will grow as people and add value to the High culture during the time you spend with us. I urge all students not to waste time waiting and watching. You need to grasp every opportunity. Get organised and be prepared to work really hard. Set yourself academic growth goals and strive to achieve them. Focus on your own academic growth. You will need perseverance, resilience and conscientiousness. Many people are ready to help you. We have a school-wide BYOD policy. Look after the security of your device. Our IT Centre is where you can go for help. Adhere strictly to our mobile phone policy. Distraction is our greatest enemy. Master the possibilities of the CANVAS platform. Don’t forget that you should write by hand every day in your own words. You need to have legible, fluent handwriting to reach your examination potential. You need to build your written vocabulary to be able to recall it under the stress of examinations. Wide reading helps build your written vocabulary rapidly. You have time to do that in the Junior School. You need to grow your capacity to deconstruct questions and answer them in your own words and not in the regurgitated responses of others. Our focus on sentence conscious pedagogy, paragraphs and essay-writing is designed to help you do that.

"Our teachers will be endeavouring to work closely with you to find out more about your learning styles and individual needs. We will be trying to improve your learning. We will be fussy about focus, in order to get more out of each lesson. We will need you to pay attention in class, take notes and participate positively in activities. We need you to discipline yourself to stay on task. Relate respectfully to everyone at all times. We will expect excellence from you, not just adequate work. Care about compliance – do all the work that is set for you at the required standard and submit it on time. Our shared values – respect, compassion, integrity, dedication - permeate our pedagogy. We are dedicated trustees of our reputation and success at High. Together, if we work hard and help each other, we can maintain and enhance our excellent outcomes.

"I expect that you will all adopt our all-rounder culture and take advantage of activities at High.  We want you to work hard, train hard and play hard. We will also expect you to give some of your time and effort back into school and community service. The Student Awards Scheme identifies the main ones available. Sport is a very important part of life at High. Our traditional involvement in GPS and CHS competitions makes us unique.  Sport training is offered at High on at least two afternoons. Membership of our weights room is excellent value for money. My strong expectation is that you will play competition sports on Saturdays. Participating in GPS competition is an integral component of our ethos. We focus on team sports for educational reasons – group cooperation, team building, goal setting, collaboration, time management, grit development, managing loss, developing resilience and inspiring intrinsic motivation – these are most necessary attributes in modern work contexts.

"For each boy we want to build positive emotions about High, grow engagement with High programs, establish respectful relationships with everyone, find meaning in all we do and a feel a sense of accomplishment for your sustained effort. At school, in class, or at sport, show your teachers, peers, all staff members and volunteers, the respect they deserve. Ask them for help. Be responsible for your own learning. The pursuit of excellence is a lifelong discipline. Let’s pursue our goals hard. A balanced life requires time for fun and reflection. Find time to take time-outs. I wish you all a happy and productive experience at High."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal