High Notes - Sydney Boys High School

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 9, April 04 2025

2025-04-04T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

Sleep

Sleep is crucial for teenagers' physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Adolescence is a period of rapid growth and development. Many teenage boys fall short and blame sport for their issues when in fact it is due to mismanagement of time completing schoolwork and excess screen time. This lack of sleep can lead to poor concentration, memory issues, and decreased academic performance. It also affects mood, increasing irritability. Physically, insufficient sleep weakens the immune system, making teens more prone to illnesses.

Beyond these effects, research indicates that chronic sleep deprivation can suppress growth hormone production, which is primarily released during deep sleep and is essential for muscle development, bone growth, and overall physical maturation. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (2011) found that young men who slept only 5 hours per night for one week experienced a 10% to 15% reduction in daytime testosterone levels, which are crucial for growth and physical development. This hormonal disruption can lead to stunted growth and delayed puberty, particularly in teenage boys.

One major contributor to poor sleep in teens is excessive computer and screen use at night. Blue light emitted from screens suppresses melatonin, the hormone responsible for regulating sleep, delaying sleep onset and reducing overall sleep quality. Additionally, engaging in stimulating activities such as gaming or social media use before bed can make it harder to wind down and fall asleep, further exacerbating sleep deprivation.

To improve sleep quality, teens should maintain a consistent sleep schedule, limit screen time before bed, and create a relaxing bedtime routine. Prioritising sleep enhances cognitive function, emotional stability, and overall health, helping teenagers perform better in school and daily activities. By recognising the importance of sleep, teens can develop lifelong habits that promote well-being.
George Barris
Relieving Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 8, March 28 2025

2025-03-28T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Chris Moon, Kobe Shin and Junho Won, who were very active on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination last Friday. They persuaded 200 students to sign “I promise not to” - statements, which they’re making into a colourful display to show that SBHS is a welcoming place that doesn’t tolerate racism. Events such as these spotlight our need for constant vigilance against any forms of racist remarks, social media posts, or playground slurs. The behaviours, left unchallenged, characterise our tolerance of racism. Well done for raising such an amount of awareness of what is right among our school community. Well done to Leon Park (7T) who added another Judo title to his collection – NSW champion for U13/ U66kg!

Weights Room Memberships Closed

Memberships for the Weights Room have now closed. The free trial period ended as of March 26. Thank you to the many boys who value this facility and have joined for 2025. Quite a few Year 7 students took advantage of our great introductory offer to join the Weights Room for their first year for just $190.00. Kurt Rich can now focus on the personal preparation, training and development of all members. From now on, training session times to suit all members can be allocated. Visits, when space is available, are unlimited throughout the year and extend to school holidays when the Weights Room is open but with reduced hours. The development and maintenance of core strength is enhanced through regular Weights Room programs and sprints sessions. Another opportunity to join the Weights Room will be made available in semester two.

Head of the River Results

More than 300 students made the trip to Penrith to watch their representative’s row in the annual Head of the River regatta on Saturday March 22. The water was nearly perfect, enabling fast times, so all crews were able to row PBs on the day, which is always a source of satisfaction for sportsmen. High boated nine crews for the first time since 2004. The first VIII had its best result since 2021 with a 6m19.42s, which was the winner’s time (WT) +9.06% and well inside the long-term average of 6m.26s. The first Year 10 VIII rowed WT+9.21% - the best result since 2017. The second VIII came in at WT+10.85%, our best result since 2018. Our depth was reflected in three 7th places, with the second IV taking out Sydney Grammar in the best row since 2018. The atmosphere was buoyant and the results full of promise for next season. Congratulations to Mr Barris and his team.

Staff Changes

I will be on leave for the last two weeks of this term. Mr George Barris will be the Relieving Principal. Ms Kerryn Ibbott will relieve for Mr Barris as DP. Mr Matthew Hood will be Relieving Head Teacher of Science for Ms Ibbott.

Early Bird Payments Closed

Recently, there was some commentary in the media about the budget summary I wrote in High Notes (HN 25.02.28). It was one part of my annual reporting to the wider community. My position is that I appreciate and support the voluntary nature of contributions to the public system of schools such as ours. Nevertheless, High has more compelling reasons than do most Department schools for being grateful to its community for their financial support. Those reasons touch on those differences which may have attracted them to High in the first instance as a desirable location for their sons' education. These differences I am determined to maintain.

High is different - in the facilities for co-curricular activities it offers; in the breadth of its programs, with 15 school-managed sports; in its membership of the AAGPS; in its six-day operation; in its additional staff, and in the heritage of its alumni, associated since 1892. These differences at High, not only benefit our boys during their time here, but also accompany them into their adult life and careers. In addition, High has the challenging academic ethos which accompanies a prestigious selective school. I am committed to our cause; it is a noble one. I am grateful for the intergenerational generosity that has made the school what it is today.

I am fully aware that economically, times are tough; yet I am confident in the high priority placed by all of our parents on their sons' education. By the end of the early bird period on March 21, 84.18% of parents had given the school their financial support in full or in part. On behalf of our wider school community thanks to you all for your unwavering and generous support for the ethos of our school.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 7, March 21 2025

2025-03-21T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

In last week’s High Talent summary of the School Swimming Carnival results, I omitted to include Joshua Park (10T) who broke the 16s 200 Individual Medley record from 2005 (2:26.00). Apologies to Joshua for the omission. Congratulations to Ben Hunter (7M) who became the NSW Open Skiff champion (Silver Fleet) last weekend at Belmont.

Iftar Celebrations

It was a privilege to be able to observe the evening prayers and share a meal to celebrate Iftar, on Tuesday evening in the Great Hall. The High Islamic Society has been a vibrant group of students for twenty years. The Old Boys sponsor the evening’s food, and the current students serve and clean up. There was a table of 2006 alumni whose own children are approaching high school age. Thank you to the English and History staff who attended, and to Ms Luu for her coordination of the event. We were fortunate to have of a table girls from SGHS attend, along with their Principal, Ms Powell. We hope that the annual event will be a broad High community one, going forward. The tone of the evening was respectful, positive and hopeful for the future.

Winter Sport Commences

This is changeover week from summer to winter sport. It is also the week that Captains of teams have an obligation to write up their team / crew season in review. The Record is a repository of recollections, where all teams have a voice. The historical record of this voice for season 2024-5 needs cooperation from Captains. Reports are due to Ms May by 24.3.25.

Invoices for Summer Activities Co-payments

Families in Year 7, those later for year enrolments, and those activities with term-by-term commitments, have had statements emailed for Term 1 activities. Despite these charges, most activities are also heavily subsidised from school funds, particularly in direct budget grants from school funds (voluntary contributions), provision of MICs allowances, teacher supervision on Saturdays, WHS compliance costs, access to facilities and grounds, first aid costs (co-curricular supervision levy) and parking allocation self-help support. Co-payments are used primarily for the provision of coaching. In basketball alone, a team of over 35 people delivers the program! We to have staff, students, Old Boys, coaches, parents and volunteers working to make your son’s school experiences more enjoyable. It would be appreciated if you could make your co-payments promptly for your son’s summer sport and co-curricular activities. Thank you for your ongoing belief in the value of the scholar-sportsman ethos.

Rowing Assembly 2025

Good luck to all our rowers on Saturday! My speech at the rowing assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guest, Nick Armstrong (SHS-2001) School Captain, rowers of Head of the River crews, parents, students, teachers, welcome to our 2024 rowing assembly. We come together on the traditional day before the big event to honour and congratulate our crews as they prepare for their extreme test at the Head of the River regatta tomorrow.

"Thank you to MIC, Coaching Coordinator and Maintenance Manager, George Barris (SHS-2001) for his passionate, efficient and dedicated management of the sport which is unparalleled at GPS level in its demands of time and organisation in various contexts. Rowing participation is booming at High. Irrespective of the racing results, lots of boys are benefitting physically, socially and emotionally from their participation in the program.

"Thank you to our teaching staff – Con Barris (SHS-1972), Joanna Chan and Terry Fong (SHS-2014) – for their assistance with the program. Well done to our coaches - Steve Comninos (SHS-2013), Gordan Su (SHS-2018), Daniel Xu (SHS-2016), Jack Ralph (SHS-2018), Robert Yuan (SHS-2016), Adrian Wong (SHS-2021), Jack Smiles (SHS-2022), Kevin Chen (SHS-2021), James Appleton (SHS-2019), Patrick Ta, Thomas Britton (SHS-2022), Subhan Mustafa (SHS-2004) and Jack Bowditch.

"Thank you to our long-serving coach Marguerite Pain who always does a great job with the Year 8 quads. Thank you again to the Rowing Committee, particularly the President – Lisa Cuman, the Treasurer – Crystal Yeung and Camp Coordinators – Diana Chan and Renee Levitt.

"Twenty-five years ago, High boated 2 VIIIs, 4 IVs and 2 Junior VIIIs at the Head of the River in 2000. Two of our current staff members, Mr Barris and Mr Paul competed that day. The First VIII placed 7th in a time of 6.16.24 (winner’s time +5.09%) and the 2nd VIII were also seventh in 6.23.15 (winner’s time +5.32%). Since that day at SIRC, the first VIII performance has only been beaten once in 2005 and the second VIII effort twice, in 2005 and 2017. They were memorable performances that illustrated what depth of rowing talent can accomplish at High. Rowing has a proud tradition at High. It is being supported every time a crew gives their all in a race at the Head of The River.

"Rowing is a very demanding sport – mentally, physically, socially and tactically. There are five major requirements to racing well. First, having the requisite endurance, strength and power. Crews need to prepare their bodies specifically for the rowing stroke mechanics and for repetitive endurance. Second, having a consistent and efficient stroke technique. Practice together is the key. Third, developing an intense focus, concentration and mental toughness to stay the course. This mental attribute is built up in groups over time. Fourth, mastering the environmental conditions – wind or heat on the course, as well as waves, currents or tides in the water. In this aspect, experience is the best teacher. Finally, the crew needs to be coordinated – synchronised and efficient to maximise boat speed, and to be mutually supportive to maintain morale. There is a lot to get right to make a boat achieve the maximum run that it can. Rowing can teach values such as fairness, teambuilding, equality, discipline, inclusion, perseverance, testing personal limits and respect.

"I want to congratulate all the boys who have been selected to compete for High. You will become a part of a long tradition, and your story will be written in our record books as it was in 2000. Set your own goals and support the crew goals to inspire group performance. Good luck with the weather and the waves, given our customary poor lane draws. Make your effort one you will be proud of. You owe it to yourself. Your season of training and camaraderie comes down to less than 7 minutes on the water. I wish all crews the best of luck on Saturday and hope that the eight can beat 6 minutes and 22 seconds – a barrier we have not broken through since 2017."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 6, March 14 2025

2025-03-14T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to Franklin Huang (10M) who has been accepted into the John Locke Institute's Oxford Summer School, where he will be taking philosophy and either economics or politics as an elective. Well done indeed, Franklin! Over 1000 students attended our recent school swimming carnival, managed by Jake Rowlands. Age Champions for the meet were: Kevin Yuan (12s) Rubie, Will Meng (13s) Fairland, Joshua Chen (14s) Eedy, Ryan Chai (15s) Saxby, Mark Yan (16s) Fairland, Jiazi Chen (17s) Torrington and Jason Yu (Open) Saxby. School records set – Jiazi Chen – 50m backstroke (30.07), 50m butterfly (27.45) and 50m freestyle (24.67); Kester Jan 15s 50m breaststroke 33.04 (21 years at 33.44); Cassiel Yun (Open) 50m backstroke 33.68; Mark Yan 50m breaststroke 34.29; Jason Yu 50m butterfly 29.53 and Johnathan Zhou 17+200 individual medley 2:39:11. Congratulations, boys! High won the 3rd place playoffs in the GPS Water Polo 16As division with a close game, 5 – 5 (4-3) against St Joseph’s College. In the second division, High was beaten in the final 6-4, by St Joseph’s College. Our Water Polo program is growing in strength, thanks to strong swimming talent, good coaching headed up by Jake Rowlands, and enthusiastic management by Jessica Millar.

Everybody Belongs

Harmony Week, March 17-23, is an annual celebration of our shared humanity and the differences that make us stronger. It brings together Australians from all different backgrounds. We reflect on and discuss our nation’s rich cultural heritage. We emphasise inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. Thursday, March 20 is Harmony Day, celebrated by the wearing of orange coloured apparel. Next Friday March 21 is the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. It highlights the injustice and stigma that racism brings to individuals, community and societies. It focuses on the urgency of combatting racism wherever and whenever it arises in our society. See racismnoway.com.au - more information.

Spelling Tests in Years 7-10

We have too many ‘cusp kids’ – at HSC mark 88 or 89. They don’t quite get Band 6. Why didn’t they get there? Often, it is because their expression, sentence construction, spelling or handwriting or a combination thereof, produced what I call an ‘apprehension of flawed excellence’ in the mind of the examiner – conscious or subconscious – that led to a reduction in an assessed mark by the examiner on one or more questions, even if just by one mark. Teachers have great difficulties in moving students from band 4 to 5 at the HSC in only two years if expression is holding them back. We need to fix this problem in the Junior School. Many faculties have vocabulary lists aligning with topics taught. It is easier to learn to spell words you will be using. The Executive agreed in March of 2023 to commence 10-word spelling tests for every class in Year 7-9 once a cycle, to increase spelling accuracy in context. More sophisticated, confident and accurate writers will deliver more band 6 outcomes at the HSC in more courses from the same base of ability, knowledge and understanding.

P & C Funding of Teacher Laptop Renewal

Back in 2020, we responded to the COVID crisis by putting laptops into the hands of teachers to help them with asynchronous and synchronous lesson delivery for students off site. Those machines are at the end of their useful life. Also, the desktops installed in classrooms for roll marking, Daily Notice displays and Vivi connection, have reached the end of their lives. Desktops will be removed from classrooms progressively. Last year, the P & C saw the value in funding a rapid transition into teacher laptop connectivity to the network in both staffrooms and classrooms. The laptops will all be the same model with identical peripherals, if they are replaced within three years. Last year, the program commenced and the P & C kindly donated $68k. Teacher laptops were distributed to Mathematics (13), Science (14), Industrial Arts (8) and Visual Arts (4) – 39 units in all. Around 95 old staffroom and classroom desktops were decommissioned. This year, the next faculties in line will be English, History and Social Science. This week the P & C passed a motion to grant $78k for the second year of this important project. On behalf of our staff and students we thank the P & C for their strong commitment to this important technology renewal project.

Weights Room 2025

Yearly memberships for the weights room close on Wednesday 26 March 2025. If you want to have unlimited access to a supervised weights program, act now. No further membership opportunities will be offered after that date until semester two. At just $315.00 for a full year of unlimited, supervised sessions, this is great value for money.

State Selective Schools Contribution Expectations

Melbourne High ($3,627), Hornsby Girls ($2,704), James Ruse ($2,521), Fort Street ($2,518), North Sydney Boys ($2,452) and Sydney Boys ($2,430). We operate a six-day school. High represents very good value for money. We appreciate and support the voluntary nature of contributions to public schools.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 5, March 07 2025

2025-03-07T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Congratulations to our first XI cricket team on their convincing win against Bega High School in the CHS Davidson Shield Knockout competition. They defended 5/287 (Nayani - 81) by bowling out Bega for 124, with a notable hat trick by Subramanian. They are now in the CHS semi-finals (excluding sports high schools who are on the other side of the draw). Daniel Iliffe (12R) is the under 20 National Champion in Sabre. He also finished 7th in the Cadet (under 17) Asian Fencing Championships in Sabre. Well done indeed Daniel! Leon Park (7T) won gold in the U13/66kg Division at the Judo NSW International Open at Liverpool. Well done, Leon. Congratulations to our Duke of Edinburgh silver medallists – Ryan Allen and Nestor Chan. Bronze medals were awarded to – Siddarth Menon, Sajan Thiagalingam, Francesco Menichetti, Ryan Park, Anay Gautam, Joshua Kuo, Haroon Syed, Liam Tai, Jieki Miao, Ryan Mather, Charlie Cheshire, Michael Zhou, Stephen Faulder and William Cahyadi. It is great to see such broad participation in an internationally recognised character development program.

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 at least $65k annually to school funds from Canteen profits. If you can help on our committee, please contact Tania Kirkland, P & C President or Alison Dao for more details and a role briefing - sbhs.pandc@gmail.com

NAPLAN TESTS

Students in Years 7 and 9 will have their NAPLAN tests next week. Their real benefit lies in checking on individual learning growth. I urge all students to spend some time doing practice tests and to try their best during these tests to reach their personal bests. Some of the tests allow you to progress to higher level of challenge if you succeed at lower levels – much like a video game. Use all the time available and plan your time allocation. We expect that you will work carefully and methodically. In multiple choice questions, select your answers after weighing up all the options. Watch out for distractors – answers that have elements of truth or parts of the answer to the question but are incomplete. They are there to entice you to pick them because you have not thought through the problem fully. If any time remains when you have finished, check your answers for any careless errors or omissions. Remember that the purpose of the tests is entirely diagnostic. That is, the tests are used to show you and your family how far you have progressed on the national learning continuum since Year 5 or Year 7, or 7 to 9. They are there for you. The tests run from Wednesday March 12, to Monday, March 17 for Years 7 and 9. Stay calm and focused during the busy week ahead – good luck!

Early Bird Rebate - Don’t miss out!

In order to help all areas of the school we offer a substantial rebate to parents who pay their complete invoices on or before Friday, March 21. Having funds early in the year allows us to make sure that orders are made promptly and that the boys get the maximum benefit out of equipment and services deployed for them. Capital contributed to the SHSF Advancement Fund can be invested for future projects such as the replacement for the Fairland Pavilion or applied immediately to projects such as the new Table Tennis Centre, the network switching upgrade, the network distributor room segregation. Please support us as we carry on High’s self-help culture to put our fundraising money to work as soon as possible! We appreciate and support the voluntary nature of contributions to the public system of schools such as ours.

Weights Room 2025

Yearly memberships for the weights room close on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. If you want to have unlimited access to a supervised weights program, act now. No further membership opportunities will be offered after that date until semester two. At just $315.00 for a full year of unlimited supervised sessions, this offer is great value for money.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 6, March 07 2025

2025-03-07T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Everybody Belongs

Spelling Tests in Years 7-10

P & C Funding of Teacher Laptop Renewal

Weights Room 2025

State Selective Schools Contribution Expectations

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 4, February 28 2025

2025-02-28T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Leon Park (7T) won gold in the U13/66kg Division at the Judo ACT Canberra International Open. Well done, Leon! Congratulations to Joshua Sim (8R) who gave up his time for a charity - Kids Giving Back – helping to make 650 meals, breakfast boxes, snack packs and care packs for homeless and needy people. Justin Nguyen (SHS-2024) was awarded a UNSW Co-op Scholarship in Electrical Engineering.

Junior Awards Assembly 2025

My address at the Junior Awards Assembly on 26 February is reprinted below:

"Good morning and welcome to our Awards Assembly for the Junior School, held on Gadigal land, to whose elders past and present I pay my respects. At these assemblies it is pleasing to see so many boys, who embody the ethos of our school, being recognised. We value integrity and dedication. You have shown them in your wide participation in school life. When the Student Awards Scheme is taken up seriously by our students, we also do better academically. High participation rates in the Student Awards Scheme help co-curricular and academic success.

"We want all Year 7 and later-enrolling students to take up the challenge to participate in school life. There are five good reasons you should participate. First, you will develop your social skills more quickly in more contexts and you will build positive relationships with more people. Second, you will learn how to manage your time better because you will be busy. Third, you will be able to explore a wide range of interests. Fourth, you will learn the value of commitment to an activity over time – i.e. dedication. Finally, your self-esteem and self-confidence will be lifted by your involvement with others as you grow a stronger sense of connection with High.

"The Student Awards Scheme at High evolved from a six-level system with an honour board entry for all school trophy winners, when Nathan McDonnell (SHS 2008) earned so many extra Award Scheme points that we set up a 7th level for him. The McDonnell Award then became the honour board level. Shuming Wang (SHS-2013) earned a whole lot more points than the McDonnell Award required, so an 8th level was added, named after the first Principal of High, Joseph Coates. An extra honour board was added for this award in recognition of the wonderful involvement in school life demonstrated by the recipients. Beyond that level, recognition is sought for boys at a state level.

"How the scheme works is if you earn 30 points within a category (there are seven categories) then you are awarded a nomination for that category. If you achieve three nominations, you will receive a Bronze Award. Eight nominations earn a Silver Award and 13 nominations, a Gold Award. It is possible to earn a maximum of two nominations in one category in any one year. This restriction preserves some breadth of participation in the Awards Scheme. The administration of the scheme is electronic, with a running tally of points being kept for every student. For any discrepancies discovered with a student’s individual tally, the student must contact the teacher in charge of the program. The closing date for adjustments to be made to a student’s tally is by Friday Week 9 of Term 4 in the corresponding calendar year. No retrospective points can be allocated once a calendar year concludes.

"Last year students in Years 7 & 8 earned 138 (2023 -153) bronze medallions, 43 (2023 - 54) silver and 7 (2023 -11) gold medallions – 188 (2023 - 217) awards in all.

"I want to thank each student receiving an award today. You showed by your broad participation in school life that you understand our driving purpose here – to enlarge ourselves as people, in our IQs, PQs EQs, CQs - as citizens, caring about other people and collaborating or cooperating with them. The Student Awards Scheme helps to develop character (strong mental and moral qualities). Above all, let’s show respect for one another as individual people. Our goals are collegial as well as individual. We want you to be dedicated students and participants. We hope you will show compassion through school or community service or just helping a friend or asking RUOK. Get involved this year for the first time or stay committed to the Scheme if you are in it. Show integrity. If you do, you will feel a greater sense of belonging to the school; and you will also understand better what we mean when we say, that we have High spirit. "

Senior Awards Assembly 2025

My address at the Senior Awards Assembly on 25 February is reprinted below:

"Good afternoon and welcome to our Student Awards Scheme Assembly held on Gadigal land. I pay my respects to elders past and present and who are custodians of our timeless culture, and to any Aboriginal people here today. To all the Awards recipients, well done and thank you for your dedication and integrity in staying the course. Students who are strongly connected to our school tend to be fully involved in the Student Awards Scheme. U.S research shows that co-curricular engagement while at high school, if undertaken for two years or more, benefits individuals in multiple ways during tertiary study. Also, in a study of first year college students, their scores on a test of optimism were better predictors of their first-year college assessment grades than were their SAT test scores from high school. Work on your optimism through service. Our most successful years academically come when our boys are also the most engaged in school life, when they have the most hope and self-efficacy, so you can understand why I would prefer everybody to be in the Student Awards Scheme. If you qualified for an award in 2024, I really want you to continue in 2025 and earn another one.

"Our Student Awards Scheme evolved from three levels to six and later to eight. Only Nathan McDonnell and Joseph Coates Awards are awarded on Presentation Night and have honour board entries for the recipients. Several boys have been so committed to school life that we have sought and received further recognition for them at state level. Today, students receive school trophies manufactured in-house using our laser cutter. I want to thank Ms Dam and Mr Comben for the time and effort spent in manufacturing and engraving these handsome trophies each year. My thanks go also to Mr Kay and Mr Barris who worked hard alongside our student management system provider Sentral to revamp the Student Awards Scheme to fit inside the architecture of the Sentral program last year. I want to thank them for making the Student Awards Scheme more equitable, accessible and efficient in its operation.

"How the revised scheme works is if you earn 30 points within a category (there are seven categories) then you are awarded a nomination for that category. If you achieve three nominations, you will receive a Bronze Award. Eight nominations earn a Silver Award, 13 nominations, a Gold Award; 18 gets you a Platinum Award; 24 a School Plaque, 30 a School Trophy, 37 a Nathan McDonnell Award and 44 a Joseph Coates Award. It is possible to earn a maximum of two nominations in one category in any one year. This restriction preserves some breadth of participation in the Awards Scheme. The administration of the scheme is electronic, with a running tally of points being kept for every student. For any discrepancies discovered with a student’s individual tally, the student must contact the teacher in charge of the program. The closing date for adjustments to be made to a student’s tally is by Friday Week 9 of Term 4 in the corresponding calendar year. No retrospective points can be allocated once a calendar year concludes.

"We depend upon coaches, MICs and program managers to submit text files of the names of boys who have satisfied requirements for the completion of an activity. Nonetheless, students need to check their files frequently to see if they have been awarded all the points they are entitled to. It is their individual responsibility to advocate for the points they deserve.

"I want to thank Mr Kay and Mr Barris for managing the scheme and Ms Ashton for her ordering, sorting, and checking of hundreds of awards each year. It is a lengthy and complex operation, but I think it describes the co-curricular life of our students accurately. Academics and co-curricular involvement complement each other in character development. That is why we go to so much trouble to record and recognise both aspects of personal enlargement. Learn organisation and self-management by involving yourself in school life. It will help your study.

"Last year for Years 9, 10 and 11, there were 100 bronze medallions, 126 silver, 81 gold and 48 platinum. Also, 9 School Plaques. We are making 364 Awards today. As well, 6 School Trophies, a McDonnell Award and 9 Joseph Coates Awards were presented at Presentation Night.

"To the students receiving an award today, you have shown by your broad participation in school life that you understand our primary purpose here – to grow as people, to enlarge our characters through our involvement with other people. We try to develop our physical, emotional, cultural and cognitive intelligences. Stay involved in the Scheme right until the end. Don’t drop off in Year 11 or 12. Universities appreciate students who can demonstrate broad-based commitment over time to co-curricular endeavours as well as to academic success. It shows integrity. You do what you say you are going to do. It shows dedication – you stick at what you do over time to improve yourself. You grow your self-efficacy. Treat all others with dignity – that shows respect. Treat others as you would be treated – that demonstrates compassion. Congratulations again to everyone acknowledged this morning."

2025 Budget Summary

Balance brought forward was $987,344. Total revenue was $18,995.84. The appropriation from DoE was $13,615,742. Total income from school and community sources was $5,370,009, including school generated revenue ($5,017,190); donations and individual contributions ($223,598); sale of goods and services ($76,328) and investment income ($39,407). Total expenses were $19,920,909, predominantly salaries and wages for staff ($15,297,112) and operating expenses ($4,623,737); including fees for service rendered ($1,373,610), mostly coaching payments, and other operating expenses ($3,250,177) - teaching and learning ($327,709); property maintenance ($387,299); furniture and equipment ($296,045); and computer costs ($240,319). Deficit for the year was $925,069. The carried forward figure of $62,276, does not include the unspent contract for the table tennis Centre ($450k +GST). The building fund capital is to be expended on the proposed Table Tennis Centre.

Overall, expenses as a percentage of revenue were 105%, meaning all our reserves are gone. Why? DoE removed $170,000 from our budget during the year. The wages’ structure was changed – casuals had to be paid a high minimum wage of $30 and a minimum hire of two hours. Salaries were increased for teaching staff and support staff during the year. There was a surprise deduction of $542,000 for December for wages, which we had not estimated. Our wages costs ballooned. We had multiple capital projects in the pipeline that we had to see through. We committed to using our carried forward buffer to preserve all our services to our boys and complete the projects. All the funds we received were spent to benefit your sons. We cannot do it again this year. We will have to increase income and reduce expenditure to break even this year. At High, the very strong reliability of our income flows from parents through donations and contributions. This has allowed us to maintain an extremely high expenditure percentage for 25 years. I am counting on that great support continuing in 2025!

Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 3, February 21 2025

2025-02-21T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

High Talent

Daniel Iliffe (12R) is representing Australia this month at the Asian Junior (U20) and Cadet (U17) Fencing Championships. Good luck, Daniel! A team of students mentored by volunteer Dawud Rahmati competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition last year. In the National Championships, the team (Milan Babin, Oliver Boije, Joshua Campbell, Leon Lu, Ricky Luo, Tuyvan Mai, Hayden Nguyen, Sharvil Pande, Jett Soo-Leui'I, and Andrew Wu) was awarded 2nd place in the Think Award. They also achieved 2nd place in the Inspire Award at the Sydney qualifier. Oliver Boije was selected as a 2024-2025 Dean’s list finalist at the Houston Championship event in April. Congratulations to all involved!

Presentation Night

MP Allegra Spender spoke about the nonlinear progression of her career, with changes of direction, jobs and success. She urged the audience to always forgive themselves for their mistakes and to move forward positively. She recounted her trepidation about switching a good job and stable family life for the whirlwind of politics. She urged graduates to approach employment with a ‘heart and mind’ philosophy. Ultimately, most employment satisfaction is derived from working at what you are passionate about, not just what you are good at.

My speech on Presentation Night is reprinted below:

"Special guest, Ms Allegra Spender MP, Ms Angela Lyris OAM, Director of Educational Leadership, Department of Education, Ms Rachel Powell, Principal SGHS, Mr Christopher Brown (OAM) Chairman of ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd, Professor Ron Trent (President SBHS School Council), Ms Jocelyn Yem (Vice-President SBHS P & C), Mr Jacob Ezrakhovich (OBU President), Life Governors -- Mr Geoff Andrews, Mr Dennis Briggs and Mr Phil Lambert, Mr Paul Almond (past President SHSOBU), Mr Max Kletski (OBU Treasurer and School Council member), Ms Mattise Stringer, OC Sydney High Cadet Unit, Ms Virginia Flint, CEO Sir Roden & Lady Cutler Foundation, guest presenters Mr Nathan McDonnell and Richard Halliday, guests’ partners and relatives, Old Boys, staff, parents and prize winners – thank you all for joining us for this evening of celebration of student achievement.

"For much of 2024, DP Jamie Kay led our initiative to revert to a two-week timetable commencing this year. The decision allowed us to think outside the box in relation to maximisation of teaching time in stage 6. Free time has been carved out for assemblies when Years 11 and 12 are not timetabled on classes and another bookable period set aside for multiple class activities or cohort lectures. Our most significant achievement in technology last year was to begin our three-year teacher laptop replacement program for 75 staff. Teachers now take their Windows 11 laptops to their classes for lesson delivery using Vivi, allowing us to phase out support for the existing desktops in classrooms. John Prorellis, David Isaacs and James Rudd are managing this major roll out. Our thanks to the High P & C for funding c$240,000 for this 3-year project. My thanks go to John Prorellis, Jim Crampton and Daniel Xu for the great planning and execution of an imposing array of major works around the school in 2024. The Junior Library was airconditioned thanks to funding from the SHSFBF and the P & C. Block B had its roof replaced and external guttering installed, thanks to DOE. A Tennis Clubroom was designed by Year 10 students in 2023 and built and furnished from the proceeds of a bequest in 2024. The COLA nets were replaced, extra lighting added, and the roof extended 3.5 metres. The Cleveland St car park had asphalt laid, bollards as protection for the digital sign and electricity sub-station, and cables laid to Gate 2 as a future proofing exercise. Power and water were run down Cutler Drive, its water mains repaired, and a new data distribution switch and cabinet installed. The SHSFBF paid $500k in March last year to DOE to establish a Table Tennis Centre next to the COLA. In 2024 the work of AMU was frozen for most of the year and our project has only recently been re-activated. We hope to see the project well under way this year. The Cooler Classrooms Project was restarted at High late last year and we have had more progress in the last three months than we have seen for the last three years. Our second year of focusing on sentence conscious pedagogy, highlighting paragraphs, was another big investment in literacy workshops, pull-out programs and remedial software such as ATOMI. We again expended significant resources aiming to improve literacy outcomes. Teachers use more common words, such as thinking routines, learning intentions, success criteria, differentiation of units by content, process or product, appositives, kernel sentences and subordinate conjunctions. As a result, our learning discourse is more attuned to literacy improvement and reinforced across faculties to a greater extent than previously. We have developed materials and have strategies in place to complete program modifications for all Years 7-10 by the end of 2025. We are delivering literacy workshops to identify and address the learning needs of students in Years 7 and 9 who require more intensive literacy development assistance. We have subject selection interviews with Year 10 students to improve stage 6 course selection. We re-purposed ATOMI availability for senior PDHPE classes.

"Our overall HSC results for 2024 were the best since 2015 – a tribute to the improvement in literacy overall and in English pedagogy, led by new HT Kyle Caputo, with pleasing upticks in Mathematics, History and Science as well. High was ranked 9th in the League Tables. High boys earned 610 band 6/E4s which was our highest number since 2019. The ATAR average for 2024 was 93.73 calculated for 206 candidates with a standard deviation of 6.85. This year was our highest average ATAR and smallest tail since 2015. The 162 students who enrolled in 2019 earned a mean ATAR of 93.77. The 44 later-enrolling students had an ATAR mean of 93.55. [The 19- year numbers are 3231 @ 93.40 and 698 @ 90.21]. 42 students scored 99 or higher; 75 earned ATARs between 95 and 98.95; 80.2% (166) scored 90 or above – our best result since 2017. In terms of Band 5 & 6 percentages per course, 17 courses were at 100%, 2 at 95 to 99%, 4 at 90 to 94% and 7 below 90%. Our 2024 course means compared to 2023 – 23 increased and 9 decreased. When comparing High with a Statistically Similar School Group of selective schools, 21 courses were above the SSSG mean and 7 below. Our average school course mean was 88.7, compared to the SSSG 86.77 and 78.1 for the state. One sentence version. Year 12 2024 performed very well.

"Individual HSC results in the top 10 in a course – Engineering Studies (Zihin Zhang -2), Mathematics Extension 1 (Brian Nguyen-3, Oscar Lam -7), Geography (Shafayat Hossain – 7) and Chemistry (Leon Shen – 10). Harrison Guo, Alex Huang and Harry Xin had their HSC Design and Technology Projects set aside for possible inclusion in SHAPE. Musical performances nominated for possible selection in ENCORE: Jerry Chen, Andy Huang, Ethan Hybler, Ryan Kirkland, Oscar Kuo and Christopher Lau (Performance), Advaith Ilavajhala (Musicology).

"Our boys won GPS Premierships in First Grade Football (first since 1995) and a Co-premiership in First Grade Volleyball. Since 2003, High first grade Volleyball teams have been GPS premiers or co-premiers each year except in 2017. Second Grade Volleyball were Premiers. Since 2006, High has missed out only twice on securing the GPS second grade premiership – an imposing record for the sport managed by Michael Kay.

"Three students represented at international level. Five individuals and three teams competed successfully at national schools’ level. A selection of significant individual and team achievements for 2024 are outlined for you to peruse at the end of your program. State and national level achievements: fencing, table, tennis, volleyball, chess, rowing, athletics, academic competitions and competitions in programming and coding. Our co-curricular program is thriving.

"In conclusion, I want to indulge in some over-the-horizon musing about artificial intelligence and technology in the workplace in 2030. By the time the Class of 2024 graduates from university, many areas of work will be impacted by agentic AI. It is an artificial intelligence that can make autonomous decisions without human intervention, solving problems both independently and proactively. This paradigm shift in AI is a product of technological breakthroughs in contextual understanding, memory and multi-tasking capability. Agentic AI has the potential to underpin the DIFM (do it for me) economy. Users will have their own bots, which are software applications programmed to do certain tasks on the internet automatically. Customised bots, or AI agents, will help users of financial services to choose products and execute transactions.

"There is great potential for tasks outsourced today to contractors or third parties, to be carried out in-house, using bespoke agentic AI. Start-ups will supply the bots. Last year, a third of all venture capital funding in the USA was granted to AI startups. Telecom, media and financial services, outside of the technology sector itself, are the largest spenders on Gen AI or AI that creates new content, such as text or images, based on patterns in data. Large Language Models are powerful forms of this AI. Economic activity and employment opportunities will open up for agentic AI in financial services, in areas such as – compliance, fraud prevention, personnel onboarding and credit workflows. Welcome to the brave new bot world. It could be where you land your first job. Good luck and stay connected. It was my great pleasure and enduring privilege to serve as your principal."

The ̽��Ƶ Building Fund

The ̽��Ƶ Advancement Fund is a capital fund managed in by the ̽��Ƶ Foundation Ltd on behalf of the school. The object of the Fund is to provide facilities and resources for the use of students at High. Some of these assets are located off-site. The Foundation owns, maintains and operates the Outterside Centre and manages the Fairland Pavilion. It also negotiates and manages Deeds of Licence with third parties for medium and long-term legal arrangements for the High Store, COLA and the Tennis Courts which the Principal cannot do. It delivered finance for one half of the c $14,750,000 major project the Governors Centre, a joint endeavour with SGHS completed in 2021 after 10 years of effort.

Contributions by parents for 2024 were $684,290. Monthly Giving added another $33,745. Our strong culture of intergenerational generosity is the principal reason why High has acquired the assets it enjoys over 141 years and the access it has to facilities at Moore Park, Abbotsford, Malabar, Sydney International Shooting Centre, Rose Bay and Centennial Park. The Foundation funded half of the installation of our new demountable science lab, c $475,000 in 2022, $500k for the Table Tennis Centre and a bequest built a meeting/lunch/physio room for the tennis courts c $235,000. Our current projects are to build an international standard Table Tennis Centre c $600k; air condition the classrooms not covered by Cooler Classrooms $60k; and build a retaining wall, pathway and entrance way at the Outterside Centre c $300k. Please help us to achieve these important goals in 2025 by making your annual contributions to the ̽��Ƶ Advancement Fund as so many of our existing and previous parents have done over many years.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 2, February 14 2025

2025-02-14T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

Summer sports Assembly 2025

"Our other area of interest for this morning’s assembly is summer sport. I extend a warm welcome to our special guest, Water Polo Olympic Silver Medalist, Danijela Jackovich. I want to acknowledge our teams on their efforts in Term 4, 2024 and exhort them to work hard together for the rest of the competition season in Term 1 this year.

"Thank you to our MIC of Cricket, David Smith, for his ongoing dedication to the role. We welcome Billy Barge as first XI coach with Ramin Hossain guiding the 2nd XI. Thank you to the Cricket Committee - Rahul Tewari (President), Arun Sehgal (Vice President), Rajesh Lucknauth (Treasurer) and Amit Patil (Secretary). Parking is coordinated by Lakshmy Joshi and Shweta Doke. Thank you also to the match day helpers who organise the catering – Muhammad Hossain, Biplab Saha, Keith Barks and Zonaid Sharafi.

"In basketball, long-term MIC and Coaching Coordinator Ben Hayman, has assembled a big team. We extend our thanks to staff members - Andrew Wang, Jo Curry and Viv Paul. Old Boy Geoff Gerlach returns as the first-grade coach. Our coaching staff are Aiden Phan, Maroune Rahme, Andre Baruah, Elijah Thomas, Keeto Browne, Adrian Pluis, Ben Nguyen, Edison and Vincent Dorahy, Aaron Waban, Jonathon Roberto, Mian Wang, Zhang, Patrick Lee, Anson Wen, Ary Bhalero, Jerry Lau, Stephen Li, Daniel Bian, Tian Chen, Garry Liu, Ben Udler and Nives Gilbert.

"Thank you to The Basketball Committee, for their support with scoring, timekeeping, the Canteen and after game functions – Shiraz & Rita Zhang, Kelland He, Carol Wang, Lindsay Wu, Michelle Adamson, Colin Wei, Rinaldi and Hui Baruah, Rosaline Perry, Pamela Jolly, Grace Guan, Herbert Lau, Li Huang, Francois Flocard, Al Bhalero, Dawesh Chand and Judy Zhu. Thank you all for your invaluable help.

"In sailing, I want to acknowledge long-serving MIC Matt Cotton for his efforts in building the sailing program. Thank you to Stuart Olsen and Domeniki Damianos, Shane Jennings and the Woollahra SC staff for their assistance supervising the students. Thank you to Hugo Leeming (Head coach), Sam Ezra and Zhitian Mai for their guidance, coaching and development of students’ skills; and to Scots College’s staff for their help in managing Saturday racing. I would like to recognise the work of the Sailing Committee Delia Leung, Florence Li, Rebecca Bui, Dustin Nguyen, Bill Shui and Sarah Lin and all our enthusiastic parent helpers in supporting sailing at High.

"Thank you to Jessica Millar, MIC of Water Polo for her management of the program this year and to Jake Rowlands who coached first grade and David Li second grade. Salvador Alfaro is doing a great job with our 16As. Thank you to Jake Rowlands as MIC Swimming. He was assisted by Ike Matsuoka in coaching our squad.

"Thank you to Kurt Rich for his ongoing role as MIC of tennis. A rebuilt David Deep is again High’s Coaching Coordinator and first grade coach. Irina Vasiliev served again as second grade coach. Thank you to Stepan, Will and Andy who coached our age groups.

"I congratulate all boys selected in GPS teams this season. It is an honour and a privilege to represent your school in such a prestigious competition -a memorable experience and conversation point for life. It is always about self and team improvement through setting and pursuing collaboratively established goals. Good luck and stay strong!’

"PS I want to thank Daniela for her inspiring recount of her quest for excellence in academics and sport. She was invited to attend Stanford and earned her degree while playing water polo. She tried for USA team selection but was cut from the squad. Undaunted, she relocated to Australia, became a citizen, trialled for the Olympic team and was rewarded with a silver medal in Paris. A tale of talent and determination!"

Weights Room for 2025

High’s Weights Room offers exceptional value for money with unlimited visits for members. The room has appropriate equipment for preparing the bodies of teenage boys and crucially, it is constantly supervised. When handling weights, technique is vitally important, and boys need to learn the correct way to lift. Kurt Rich, our Head Strength and Conditioning Coach, is a well-credentialed and experienced trainer. His presence ensures that the boys are training safely and sensibly. So, as well as getting gym facilities, members have a trained supervisor and adviser to help them during their unlimited visits. The Weights Room operates much more effectively if all boys get their training in how to use the various pieces of equipment and in proper lifting technique, as soon as possible. Kurt Rich provides this service at the beginning of each year and can tailor individual programs for members after the introductory sessions. Having a fixed clientele makes his job more productive and leads to a better training experience for members and better strength outcomes for participants. Hence, we decided to close off memberships by the end of March each year. Boys who have not paid by that time can no longer attend the weights room in term one.

Costs for this service are held down to a minimum and reduced by boys taking out a full year’s membership. For 2024, a full year Weights Room membership costs just $315. As an incentive to Year 7 students, an introductory one-year membership is available for a mere $190. Our program is tailored to suit developing young bodies. Boys wishing to have full year membership must register and pay by Friday, March 14, 2025. There will be no extensions of time. In semester 2, half-year memberships will be offered to students for a short period of time at a cost of $175 for terms 3 and 4.

Welcome Night for new Parents

On Tuesday evening a large number of parents attended a welcome function hosted by the Sydney High P & C Association. Guests were entertained by a student music ensemble in the foyer of the Governors Centre. In the theatre, new parents were welcomed by Ms Tania Kirkland (P & C President), she stated the role and objectives of the P & C and outlined the role of the P & C and its representatives in the various governance organisations operating in the school. She asked questions of parents in relation to their expectations of the secondary schooling experience for them and their sons. My address outlined the history and function of the various High Family structures and activities. I urged parents to get involved in following the Saturday fixtures where their sons were competing and to engage with volunteering through our many Committees. I underlined the fact that the sixth day of every school week was funded entirely by parents and Old Boys, and I asked for their financial support to help us maintain our wide range of activities, resources and coaching services. Mr Barris (DP for Years 7,9,11) ran through a lot of orientation information to help parents and students become accustomed to their new environment. Mr Kris Daryanani, a 2024 new parent, shared his experiences, insights and several tips for parents to help them and their sons to quickly acclimatise and get the most out of their High experience. A Q & A session followed, with quite a few parents staying on to ask more questions of Mr Barris and me. Supper provided by the Sailing Committee and served by student sailors in the foyer, rounded off the evening. The atmosphere was very positive and enthusiastic. Thank you to all staff, parents and students who assisted in so many ways to make the evening a success. Next P& C meeting March 10th. I will be discussing HSC results from 2024.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes, Vol 26 No 1, February 07 2025

2025-02-07T00:00:00Z

From the Principal

Welcome or welcome back!

Welcome to all our returning staff and students to what I am confident will be a year of consolidation of our improvement in learning outcomes. I want to welcome our 180 Year 7 students and our 49 new students in Years 8, 9, 10 and 11. I want to assure you of our commitment to foster your rapid and successful integration into the High culture. We have five priority actions. We nurture your academic growth through a wide range of subjects, courses and competitions. We develop you as a whole person through the formal curriculum and a large variety of co-curricular activities. We try to promote in you a sense of belonging to High through encouraging full participation in our six-day programs. We endeavour to develop you as global citizens and future leaders through our community service and school leadership opportunities. We support you in all your activities through our numerous support staff, incorporated associations, committees and governance organisations.

Our focus this year is on essay conscious pedagogy. We want to try and teach sentence building and combining explicitly to enhance the clarity, coherence and quality of our written responses in all years. We have a small set of proven strategies that will be applied across the curriculum to support teachers and students in the collaborative task of improving whole-school literacy through sentence and paragraph building exercises. This year we want to join the pieces together to craft more coherent, insightful and complete essays.

Staff Changes

We welcome also our new staff members for 2025. In Mathematics, Vicki Likourezos is relieving for Angie Ward. Ray Wang is relieving for Robyn Wang and Colleen Nolan is relieving in various positions. In English, Leone Boulle, Scott Robinson and Harry Charlesworth are relieving for various teachers. Sharon Ong is relieving for Sarah Kim in Music. Ying Lou is relieving in LOTE for Rachel Fong.

Properties works maintenance and upgrades.

Teaching spaces: The Junior Library was air conditioned. Blinds were replaced in 12 classrooms and workspaces. Drama room store refurbished. Progressive replacement of staffroom locks. New furniture for Room 402. Mould in the cadet Room was mitigated. Replacement of gym curtain hoist.

Public spaces: Block B roofing replaced, and external guttering installed. Additional security cameras installed. The Print Room was air conditioned to keep the paper dry. Our wayfinding project to improve our public-facing information is now complete with internal direction signage.

ICT : Relocating and building network switching in Drama storeroom.

Grounds: Trees on site pruned and crowned. Asphalting works in Anzac Parade carpark near gate 10 to create parking spaces.

Cutler Drive: Tennis Clubroom completed and fitted out. Water mains repaired and pipes and taps installed. Fire diesel generator and pump housing replaced. Data distribution switch and cabinet installed near tennis office.

COLA: Roof extended 3.5 metres. Netting replaced. Hollowed out palm tree removed near barbecue shack.

Cleveland Street: The LED sign was commissioned and is operating. Asphalt works were completed between gates 1 and 2. Damaged tree removed overlooking gate 2. Future proofed electrical and data capability installed between gates 1 & 2. Boom gate replaced at gate 3. Protection bollards installed around the electrical mains and the LED sign. Excavation works to supply the electrical capacity. needed for air conditioning to classrooms is progressing well.

Thank you to Jim Crampton, Daniel Xu and John Prorellis for their work throughout the year to make all these things happen.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal

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High Notes - Sydney Boys High School

High Notes, Vol 26 No 22, August 01 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

NSW Public Schools Survey

Summer Sport Selections

High Notes, Vol 26 No 21, July 25 2025

From the Principal

Memoriam Andrew Xu

High Talent

Interpreting Year 10 Reports - Semester 1

High Notes, Vol 26 No 20, July 04 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Good Samaritans

Why Exercise is Important for All Students at High

High Notes, Vol 26 No 19, June 27 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Interpreting Year 11 Reports - Semester One

Student Leadership Assembly 2025

High Notes, Vol 26 No 18, June 20 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Interpreting Semester 1 Year 7 Reports

June 30 is EOFY Time

Pride Assembly 2025

High Notes, Vol 26 No 17, June 13 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Annual Tax Time Appeal

Interpreting Year 9 Reports – Semester 1

Student Leave Requests – Reminder

High Notes, Vol 26 No 16, June 06 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Collection of Semester 1 Reports

Funds Held for the Benefit of High Boys

Interpreting Year 8 Reports Semester 1

High Notes, Vol 26 No 15, May 30 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Mabo Day Tuesday June 3 2025

High’s Regular Giving Scheme

Winter Sports Assembly

High Notes, Vol 26 No 14, May 23 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Musical Co-Production

Caught Doing the Right Thing

Erratum:

Public Schools Survey

Sorry Day May 26

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

High Notes, Vol 26 No 13, May 16 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Caught Doing the Right Thing

Recurrent Software Licence Costs

SBHS Parent Operated Canteen

Interpreting Semester 1 Year 12 Reports

High Notes, Vol 26 No 12, May 09 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

UNSW Co-op Applications

Literacy Development in Years 7-9

High Notes, Vol 26 No 11, May 02 2025

From the Principal

Welcome Back to Term 2

NAPLAN Results

Duke of Edinburgh Awards – Update

Help Replace The Fairland Pavilion

High Notes, Vol 26 No 10, April 11 2025

From the Principal

High Talent

Happy Holidays

Anzac Day

High Notes, Vol 26 No 9, April 04 2025

From the Principal

Sleep

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

The ̽��Ƶ Building Fund