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High Notes, Vol 10 No 13, May 08 2009From the Principal
High Talent
The Sydney Boys High School Public Library Fund The ‘Library Fund’ has been very well supported by parents over the years. Suggested contributions started at $50 and were later increased to $75 as services were extended following a private taxation ruling. This ruling allowed the Public Fund to pay for extended opening hours for the library and for the part time services of a School Archivist. Money set aside from the fund was placed in term deposit and later used to purchase major pieces of equipment like colour photo copiers, laptop computers and charging trolley, additional PCs and furniture as well as paying for subscriptions to search engine software and external library membership. The table below illustrates the income and expenditures from the Sydney Boys High School Public Library Fund.
The table indicates solid parental support for the Fund. However, if 1100 families donated, the yearly income would be $82,500. With that level of support we could really ramp up the range of library services we provide. In 2009, we will commit all of our reserves to equipping the new Senior Library and expanding the High Junior Library. The Senior Library will be successful to the extent that we can resource it. The school needs to bear the cost of a second Teacher Librarian and, in the medium term, the cost of another Library Assistant. The High Senior Library is providing research and study services for up to 100 students per period and before school from 0800. It really operates as an extension to the school day for those boys seeking to maximise their learning time at school. The High Junior Library has expanded its PC capacity to 30 and has power and network capacity to service Year 9 boys when they are issued with their laptops later in the year. I have been greatly encouraged by the enthusiasm shown by students and staff towards making this two-library project work. In one term we have made rapid progress and I look forward to increasing the range and depth of services in both libraries during the remainder of 2009. The Sydney Boys High School P & C Executive has discussed the Junior and Senior Libraries plan and determined that it should recommend to the May General Meeting that the suggested donation to the Sydney Boys High School Public Library Fund should be raised to $125 for 2010. If passed, I will gladly take the proposal to the Finance Committee for inclusion in the budget for 2010. Again, I urge parents who have not yet supported the Library Fund to do so in the interests of their sons.
University of Sydney Practicum Students
Julie Nguyen - Brian Webb – Science
I hope your time with us will be enjoyable and instructive. Public Speaking
Public Speaking Report Circus Auditions
Term 2 Circus Auditions The school circus troupe is a new initiative and is one of many new exciting Performing Arts Co-curricular activities being offered by the school. In Term 1, 14 students from the circus troupe performed an acrobatic fiesta to the delighted crowd at the Drama Showcase. Students who take part in the circus programme are eligible for one Award Scheme Point. The circus will train every Wednesday from 4:15pm – 5:15pm in the Drama Studio (Room 204) under the supervision of Jennie Rohr. Participants will undertake a variety of activities including, acrobatics, adagio, balancing, choreography, clowning, fitness and flexibility training, performance skills, stage combat and much more. Students will develop skills that will be used for devising performances for the school and wider community. Drama EnsembleOn Monday 4 May many students participated in an intense audition for a place in the 2009 Sydney Boys High School Drama Ensemble. Everyone displayed great enthusiasm and much talent. The following students have been successful in their audition and will start rehearsals on Wednesday 13 May.
Year 7 – Daniel Fang, Jonathan Freiberg, Andrew Liu Congratulations! For further information about the circus troupe or drama ensemble please contact Jennie Rohr. Teenager Communication
FREE SEMINAR “HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR TEENAGER AND GET YOUR TEENAGER TO COMMUNICATE
WITH YOU” This seminar is suitable for parents, grandparents and anyone who has responsibility for the wellbeing of young people.
WHEN: Monday 25th May, 10.15am – 1pm Managing HSC Stress
A Free Managing HSC Stress Program This is a four week program for students who are currently
completing Year 11 and Year 12. The program aims to assist students to better manage the stress
of the HSC and teaches a broad range of skills that can be helpful in any stressful situation. It
can also be useful for students who are struggling with anxiety, low self-esteem or low mood. The
next program will be run in Term 2, 2009 starting on Tuesday 26 May at the Royal North Shore
Hospital, St. Leonards. Sessions will run from 4pm-5.30pm. For bookings in this program please
call 9514 4077. All services are confidential. SBHS Building Fund
2009 Fundraising campaign. Multi-Purpose Centre The Centre will serve musicians, public speakers, debaters, drama students or any boy sitting for examinations. Help us to raise the facilities and profile of the Arts at High. All materials and instruction supplied. Easy work in your own time, for one or two weeks in May! If you haven’t found a way to volunteer in the school yet, this is a great opportunity to assist in a very tangible way toward the building of High's new performance facilities.
For more details, please contact Steve Saunders, Student Health Precautions
ATTENTION PARENTS AND GUARDIANS Although this is a major concern for everyone, we have some students at our school whose health could be more seriously affected than others by contact with any of these diseases.
We are keen to provide a safe, healthy environment for our boys From The Canteen
For the cooler months our menu will vary slightly. We will suspend fruit salad from the menu over
winter but offer instead whole fruit such as apples, mandarins and oranges. To warm you up in the
mornings hot chocolate ($1.00) will be available during breakfast for terms 2 and 3. Making a
return to the hot food menu will be our homemade chicken sweet corn soup ($2.50). And try our new
addition to the menu - baked potato with taco sauce and tasty cheese ($4.50). As always, remember
that ordering your lunch will ensure you do not miss out on your favourites. Lunch orders can be
made each morning before school from 8.30am - 9.00am. School Student Transport Scheme
School Student Code of Conduct
Students are reminded to
During 2009, authorised officers will be deployed to inspect Code of Conduct compliance on school bus services in the Eastern Region. Students who are found to have breached their obligations may lose their travel entitlement and possibly incur an infringement. ARTeFACTSAt Depot II Gallery at 2 Danks Street Waterloo Ms Claire Reemst’s recent paintings are on display until 6 pm Saturday 9 May. Her evocative and sensual paintings of dreamlike gardens (pictured in the PDF version of the High Notes) are stunning and sit alongside a series of works inspired by Beckett by Brandt Lewis. I highly recommend visiting the show to everyone. Last term Ms Wei Ting Lee [from COFA] joined the Art Staff for 12 weeks to complete her final practicum. Wei has settled in quickly and has been involved with a number of junior classes and is now in the final 5 weeks of the prac.
Talent Development Program
Art Excursion
YAYOI KUSAMA: MIRRORED YEARS
I WALK THE LINE: NEW AUSTRALIAN DRAWING
Sydney Boys High Students get highly commended at the Moran Prize SBHS Debating
Eastside GRAND FINAL, Friday 8th May
Years 7, 8 & 9: 'That the government should do more to stop illegal boat people' For some it pays to remember that adjudication is always an art not a science. However all Grand Finals are adjudicated by panel decision which assists in overall consistency and thoroughness of decisions. I look forward to some excellent debates. It is with great pleasure that I wish nothing but glorious luck and victory to our teams continuing through to the Grand Final this week from Years 9, 11 and 12!
Year 12
Year 11
Year 9 Debates will be held at Grammar and will once again be based on current affairs. FED Round 4, SBHS v Trinity, Friday 8th May Tonight our home debates start up with the FED competition Round 4 against Trinity. This is the second last round for the FED Comp and hence crunch time with the semi finals only a few weeks away. The topic area is Health. Teams have been announced by email blast. If you have not received an email or have any other questions please do not hesitate to email me on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it We are also at home again for FED next Friday 15th May.
Parents Info Session- An Overview of Adjudication and Selections Processes
Dana Quick More information can be found at www.sydneyhigh.org/debating and will be emailed to you on a weekly basis. Please CHECK YOUR EMAIL regularly and ensure we have current contact details for both students and parents. PARENTS: If you are not receiving weekly emails about debating please email us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and ask to be added to the parent group for your child’s year. Music Notices
Marching Band All members of the Marching Band are required to be at school for a rehearsal (MPW) from 11am to 1pm prior to the performance. Students need to bring their own lunch that day and will depart from school to the SCG at 1:30pm. The performance will be at approximately 2:15pm to 3pm and students will return to school to collect their cases and belongings after the performance.
ANZAC Day - Photos
20th/21st Century Concert Single: $12.00 / Family: $28.00
Music Camp All students in the Performance Music Program are expected to attend (including Year 7 students who began learning an instrument this year). If you are unable to attend, please see the Music Staff. Please collect notes from outside the Music Staffroom and make payments to the front office by Friday the 15th of May 2009.
Music Supporters Group (MSG) Meeting
Cabaret Night – Please Note Change of Date
Piano For Sale HighTide: SBHS Sailing
2009 Events: Friday 1st, 2nd and 3rd May 2009 NSW Secondary Schools Teams Racing (Report to follow next edition)
Belmont Regatta 2009
Participation of the boys at the 5 day Regatta was made possible by parents of our sailors who
organised the entire excursion including supervision, transportation of the boats and equipment
to Belmont as well as accommodation, food and transport for the boys involved. On behalf of the
staff and SBHS Sailing Committee, I would like to say a big thank-you to those parents for making
the trip possible. The following report of the Regatta was put together by Mr Graham
Moody, a sailing teacher at SBHS whose expertise in Sailing was greatly appreciated. Again I
would like to say thank you to Graham on behalf of the Sailing Committee for your time,
commitment and energy during the school holiday period. Belmont Regatta 2009 Report and Results Tuesday Invitational Race 5-8.5 knots of wind from the east swinging 30 degrees to north and south All Pacer crews had good starts, the long start lines and staggered start line for different divisions helped keep a large fleet under control. Ennes Mehmedbasic and Conner Robinson sailed well in the conditions and came 19th out of 41 boats, midway between the flying eleven boats a couple of flying ants and a spiral, only six or seven minutes behind the flying elevens with spinnakers. The other crews came in 34th (Adam Richards and Daniel Fang) and 35th (Adam Ceh and Marcus James) within a minute of each other and still only five minutes behind Ennes and Connor. Phil Kurts in his foiled moth did not compete in this race, choosing to practise his skills instead. This race does not count in the regatta results. Race 1 Wednesday 6 – 9 knots due westerly shifting to the North West Although these conditions of light winds tend to favour the smaller boats with spinnakers, the Pacer crews sailed as well as these conditions allowed them. Ennes and Connor (60) managed to compete strongly against the flying elevens. Race 2 Thursday South west / SE 5-8 knots Very light and fluky conditions to begin and thankfully the wind held for most of the race. Race 3 Friday SW /SE 8-12 knots Better conditions and wind for our boats especially the heavier crews. Race 4 Saturday SW 4-11 knots Very close racing between Ennes Mehmedbasic and Adam Ceh throughout both legs of the race until the bottom mark second leg when Adam Ceh had mechanical problems with his rudder. Adam Richards with the stronger wind conditions and a good start sailed well to his best regatta result. Considering the handicap of the Pacers and the fact that the flying elevens made up 5 out of the top 10 boats in the whole regatta, all crews acquitted themselves well.
'Phillida Fish'
'Roll Over'
'Just Desserts'
'NA 1'
SHS Athletics
Invitational 2 May 2009 S Codey, C Chow, M Smith, C Meaney, P Prabaharan, F Ovadia, C Siu, C Lui, J O’Sullivan, Mr Mah, G Booth, T Gunaratne, L Yang, R Burnham, J Prabaharan, J Burnham, A Noronha, S Higgins, S Creer and R Ayre Thomas Nguyen, Thomas Wilson, Clive Chen, Ritam Mitra , Matt Ling , Sean Kim, Neil Street, Ritam Mitre, Johan Santoso, Hareshan Karunakaran, Jeremy Ireland, Harrison Lane, Justin Chow, Kerrod McPherson, Leonard Teng, Sam Burnham , Daniel Lo, David Nam, Denis Stojanovic, Jarrod Chen, Chris Evans, Max Mikha, Jack Wachsmann, Alex Belokopytov, Lawrence Png, Alden Kwok and Nelson Ridges Even though the holidays had finished, Sydney High’s intense athletics regime did not, once again proving that practice makes perfect. Kicking off the day with the opens 3000m, Harrison Lane ran an 11 second PB finishing 3rd with 9m19s in a tightly contested race. The opens 1500m saw Jeremy Ireland post another strong time with 4m24s and another 3rd place. Only one place in our U17s saw Max Kite throw a solid 13.92m in the shot put salvaging a 1st place. The U16 years were clearly the high point of the day, snatching four 1st and two 3rd places. A typically strong performance from Chris Morrow with a crazy 1.9m in the high jump saw another 1st place for him, adding to his 3rd place in the long jump. Brian Kelly saw even more improvement posting a PB of 5.9m in the long jump to take out 1st place, going along with another outstanding time of 11.83s for a second win in the 100m. Kelly also ran a 3rd in the 200m – a great day for him. To top off the U16s Sam Lane once again finished strongly with 4m29s, winning his 1500m against a disappointing lack of competitors. In the U15 years, the 1500m saw two places, a 2nd from Pasan Pannila and a 3rd place from Adam Booth showing dominance this year in the event. Michael Phung also leapt to 3rd place in the long jump. In the U14 years, new hero Ivor Metcalf proved fanatical in the high jump, claiming 1st with 1.73m. Along with this he snatched a 2nd in the 90m hurdles and a 3rd in the long jump. Max Jones also ran to 3rd place in the U14s 400m. Our only relay win of the day was claimed by the U13s team running an incredible 52.89s. Former long distance runner turned sprinter Anton Brokman took out the 90m hurdles with a great time of 15.20s, along with a 2nd place in the 400m and a 3rd in the 200m. H Lam ran a strong 3rd in the 100m, B Cheng posted a 3rd in the long jump and J Lui came 3rd in his high jump. A very successful day to say the least, and with only one invitational left, all competitors must be sure to put in all they’ve got to improve even more for the final in under two weeks. All parents and supporter are invited to attend the Athletics Assembly on the 15th May in the Great Hall at 11.30am.
Remember to come out and support the school and High Athletics on the 16th of May at Homebush
Athletics Centre - Bay 7 FencingThe 2009 Fencing season for Sydney Boys High began with a promising start with good results in the first tournament, the Individual Championships. Shaun Pak, Shaun Fletcher and William Yeung all recorded two wins, whilst the other U15 fencers each had a win. The junior fencers gained valuable experience in a highly competitive tournament, invaluable for the main event The Schools League. This week the senior fencers will compete in the same tournament. P&C: High Society
The Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & C Our next P & C meeting is Wednesday 20th May, commencing at 7.30pm in the new Senior Library (please note location. The Senior Library is located top floor of the McDonald wing, next to the art rooms). At the start of the meeting, Dr Jaggar will present an analysis of the HSC results for the Class of 2008. Your attendance is encouraged to hear this important and interesting information. On the agenda, following Dr Jaggar’s address:
Summary of Minutes from March P&C Meeting
Upcoming Parent Meetings & Events (details in High Notes)
If you would like to have any parent community news or upcoming events included in High Society, please contact Julie Connolly, P&C President, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; 0418 470 203 Letters Re Absence/Lateness/ Early LeaveWhen your son returns to school from being absent he is required to provide a letter of explanation signed by a parent or guardian. If your son is going to be late for school a note is also required. If your son has an early leave note he is required to have his note signed by either Mr Beringer, Mr Dowdell or Mr Prorellis before 8:55 am and handed in to the Main Office immediately after. Each letter should be signed by a parent or guardian with the name, date and roll class of your son printed clearly. Your son needs to pick up a leave pass from the Main Office before he leaves the school.
Leave Lost Property
Message to all parents |