Sydney Boys High School

High Notes, Vol 15 No 30, September 19 2014

From the Principal

Last day of Term 3
As we wind up term 3 I want to thank all the Teaching Staff, School Administrative Staff, contracted coaches and sports staff, grounds staff, transport staff and cleaners for all the work they have done this term to support the students in their learning and pursuit of excellence in many endeavours. There have been many achievements in academic competitions, sports, debating, music, drama, chess and community service. None of these could have been possible without someone on staff or a volunteer assisting the boys involved. I want to also thank the boys, and particularly Year 12, for their efforts in the wider curriculum. There have been some impressive displays of camaraderie and school spirit this term, from the peer learning program, to the $14k OASIS collection, to the wonderful crowd at Weigall. It is certainly an inspiring and humbling atmosphere in which to be a school leader. Thank you one and all. 

New Deputy Principal Appointed
I am pleased to announce the appointment of Ms Rachel Powell to High as Deputy Principal effective immediately. Ms Powell has served as Head Teacher of History and MIC of debating at High since 2010. She holds degrees from Oxford and Manchester and previously worked at senior executive level in an English high school.  She replaces Mr Con Barris in the Deputy Principal – Junior School role.

Joint Project Update
At the Project Control Group meeting this week, we were introduced to Alex Kibble, a Principal from Tanner Kibble Denton Architects of Surry Hills, who are the successful tenderers for Head Design of the Governors Centre. Mr Kibble will be the Project Manager for the design of the building. In another positive move, Napier & Blakely were appointed by the Project Manager, GHD to commence work on the site. We are moving forward and with your continued financial support, the project will stay on track for a completion date within three years.

Year 12 Farewell Assembly
The Class of 2014 was given a rousing send-off at the Assembly on Tuesday afternoon. Representatives from Years 9, 10 and 11 spoke to Year 12 and their parents about their very positive experiences with the cohort. Year 12 Adviser, Mr Gifford, praised their achievements and attitude. Their former Year Adviser, Mr Devlin, returned to wish the boys farewell. My speech to Year 12 is reprinted below:

"Good afternoon Year 12, parents and staff. Welcome to our Farewell Assembly. It is with great pleasure that the staff and I can host your visit to the school today to bear witness to your sons’ graduation from high school. The Class of 2014 has been one that should be proud of its undoubted achievements in a range of co-curricular activities.  I have outlined the most significant of these in my ‘Principal’s Message’ in your programs. Recently, our open basketball team also won the NSW Schools Championship and High took out the Kippax Cup for best boys school in athletics. Our boys compete really well in team events because they support and care for each other. I want to thank the leadership team of Shawn Noronha, Ned Anson and Howard Gu for their efforts in generating a heightened ‘esprit de corps’ at the major GPS events this year. It was really noticeable at the athletics carnival that High was a school to be reckoned with. The character of a school is to be found in the depth of its student engagement with school activities. To perform well in GPS sports we need a larger proportion of our Year 12 boys engaged in first or second grade. We were sharply below our benchmark of 30 boys, with only nineteen Year 12 boys in first or second grade in two seasons of sport this year. Congratulations to those dedicated boys who represented the school at high levels in 2014. ‘Triple Firsts’ were: Eugene Lee, Steve Comninos and Ned Anson. Eugene actually represented in four sports for six years – a remarkable effort. Our ‘Double Firsts’ representatives were: Mitchell Flynn, Ray Fang, Shawn Noronha, Yu Peng Man, Jesse Cooper, Steven Chung, Yiu Tao Wong, Nathan Sutton, Andrew Dao, Ray Fang, Tushaar Garg and Kenneth Liu. In the ‘One-Two Club’ were: Joshua Leo, Michael Hamilton, Alan Qi and Terry Fong. I want to thank the 73 boys who showed pride in their school and represented High in two GPS sports in their final year at school.

"I allude in my Message to Thich Nhat Hanh and his teachings about seeking inner harmony. We all need to make the attempt to understand and come to terms with our individual strengths and weaknesses. As you say goodbye to each other as a cohort of young men about to venture out into the world I want you to pause and reflect upon the paradox of schooling at High where we have strong traditions expressed in changing contexts. Some of our traditions, such as strong participation in sports, are celebrated on our walls. However, our learning is moving away from tangibles such as books and is now defined by electronic sites, emails and social media. Other traditions, such as inclusiveness and tolerance and bonding together to take up the challenges before us, are expressed in our ceremonies and rituals. These too have changed, as have society’s expectations and standards of discourse and behaviour.

"Nevertheless, our motto expresses two values for which we stand: truth and virtue, or manly duty. If we are guided by these principles we should seek truth in all that we do; honour truth everywhere we find it; and above all, speak truth to ourselves and others. To be a man you need to behave ethically, to act decently towards others, to pursue honourable goals, to act with self-discipline, but most importantly, to have the courage to take responsibility for your own actions. It takes time and experience to develop into manhood.

"There are rites of passage, including leaving school. At school you get opportunities to practise becoming men. Gradually, and with greater experience, you make better choices and act more responsibly more often. “He who never made a mistake, never made a discovery”. You have had to learn about yourself from the mistakes that you have made. Peer acceptance and compliance with reasonable rules do not always have to be viewed as mutually exclusive. Try to do what’s right, not what is merely popular. Truth and courage are universally applicable.

"Robert Louis Stevenson asks us not to “judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant”. We need to be mindful of the future and not all consumed by the moment at hand. I wish you all the best in your HSC preparations and in the examinations that follow and hope you gain access to your chosen courses."
Dr K A Jaggar

Wanted: Rowing Catering Coordinator

Job Opportunity

SYDNEY BOYS HIGH SCHOOL
CATERING COORDINATOR ROWING CAMPS

Start: Immediate, or as soon as possible
Location: Outterside Centre Rowing Sheds, Abbotsford
Salary: $30/hr

Fantastic opportunity for an organised and enthusiastic person to take on the responsibility of making sure our elite rowing athletes are well fed. Of course there will be standard menus and volunteer parents helping out with the cooking.

Approximate hours: 4 hrs/evening (4pm - 8pm) for 2-3 evenings/week during the rowing season (see detail below) -­-

September  school  holiday  camps –

• September 23, 24, 25, and September 29 and October 1

Term 4 2014 –

• Monday and Thursday each week from October 9 to December 18
• Friday each week from October 17 to December 5

January school holiday camps –

• 19 January to 22 January

Term 1 2015 –

• Monday and Thursday each week from January 29 to March 6

Responsibilities of the role include:

• Ordering meat, fruit and vegetables, dairy and dry store items weekly
• Sorting produce in fridge and storeroom
• Leading the preparation of the evening meal for rowers in camp, with the assistance of parent volunteers
• Leading the boys with clearing up duties in the kitchen

Applications and enquiries can be directed to Julie Blomberg, MIC Rowing, at: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .'; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text95658 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //--> This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Chess News

The Annual GPS chess competition was held last Saturday in the Great Hall. The competing teams were Sydney Boys High School, Sydney Grammar School, Newington, St. Ignatius, The King’s School and Scots College.

Our team (Michael Cui, Ray Cheng, Leonard Mah, Manil Abeysekera, Johnson Lin, Andrew Wu, James Snow, Raymond Li and Peter Boylan) played exceptionally well, hoping to win back the cup after Grammar’s win in 2013. Our team came runner up, 0.5 of a point behind Grammar so victory is in our sights for the games next year.

On Sunday 14th. September some of our players competed in the NSWJCL Secondary Schools one day tournament.

Our open team (Raymond Li, Johnson Lin, Manil Abeysekera ) came 6th. Out of 19 teams.

Our Junior A team (Peter Boylan, Sean Zhang, Wesley Yu) came 3rd out of 25 teams.

Congratulations also to or Junior B team (Louis Shapiro, Lenard Jia and Gorden Zhuang) who came 11th.

From the Canteen

Did you know that all canteen profits are returned to the school P&C to be spent on important projects that benefit all of our sons.  This month we have been able to forward to the P&C our second donation for the year in the sum of $45,000.00, making a total of $80,000.00  for 2014.  We could not achieve this wonderful result without the capable running of the canteen by our Managers Karen and Tracey and most importantly our parent volunteers.

Thanks to the volunteers last week:

MON: Tina Chang, Madura Perera,
TUES : Farrah Chew, Penny Chan,
WED: Lesa Katsilis,  Jim O’Sullivan,
THUR: Tina Chen,
FRI: Sam Guo, Soogie Sim,

We very much appreciate all our canteen volunteers giving their time to help out at High.  Hope you all have a safe and enjoyable break.
Sharon Hughes

Debating Report

We were very lucky this year to have the Debating Dinner sponsored by a number of local business and this week I would like to acknowledge my thanks to them.
Rachel Powell
Debating MIC

Gold ($300) –

• Golden Pide Restaurant  Cleveland Street Surry Hills
• MCMY Australia Pty Ltd

Bronze ($100) –

• Clockwork Design Pty Ltd

Vouchers/Prizes:

• St James Ethics Centre
• Woolworths Randwick
• Grok Learning
• Chicken George, Randwick

From Languages

Goethe and the Bavarian Bier Café

The above is a rather unlikely combination as the famous German Renaissance Man was more inclined to fermented grape juice than a pale ale – but it was the destination of the excursion of Year 9 and 10 German students on Tuesday, September 9. We started at the Goethe Institut in Woollahra which had a poster exhibition for the “Schülertage 2014”. “Deutsche Landschaften und Städte” (landscapes and cities) was the title and the students had to have an app on their various electronic devices which would let them scan the “bar code “on each poster. This opened a whole lot of information about cities like München, Dresden, Hamburg and landscapes like die Alpen und die Nordsee as well as quizzes and word and picture puzzles based on the topic. In groups of three the boys moved around the rooms and tested their - and my - knowledge of various parts of Germany. Gummibärchen and biscuits were some sustenance on their “journey”. A big “Dankeschön” to the staff of the Goethe Institut for their efforts!

The travel continued – on foot – to the entertainment Quarter and the Bavarian Bier Café. Here we had several tables on the verandah and the boys ordered their German meals – only the waitresses did not speak German! The food was excellent and Wim even got his apple juice in a Stein!  A short walk back to school ended an enjoyable day of German experiences!
Frau St Leon

SHS Rowing Committee

INFORMATION MORNING for PARENTS

Saturday 11 October 2014
High Rowing Sheds, Abbotsford

• Junior Rowing Parents 8.00 – 9.00am
• Year 10 Eights Parents 9.30 – 10.30am
• Senior Rowing Parents 11am – 12pm

Parents … this is a very important meeting to attend so you are informed on what is happening during the rowing season.

MORNING TEA AND COFFEE PROVIDED

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE

• The season calendar with important dates and camps identified
• The weekly rowing schedule
• Outline of what’s expected of the boys and how parents can contribute
• Study/tuition sessions at camps
• Outline of camp duties for Y10 Eights and senior parents
• Who’s who? Meet the MIC, Coaches, Old Boys and Committee

SBHS Cricket

Cricket – 2014 Term 3 Week 9

MIC of Cricket Report
The football boots have been thrown to the back and the cricket bags have been dusted off. That’s right; it’s now officially the summer season. Last week saw our first hit out for the 2014-15 Cricket season and I feel very confident in saying I believe we will surprise some schools with our performances this season. So far the boys have already done some pre-season training, but our main focus has been on fielding. We have brought in a specialist fielding coach Mark Atkinson to boost the level of our skills. I would like to welcome SBHS Old Boys Andrew Walters and Hugo Richards as our 1st XI and 2nd XI coaches. Over the holiday break our 1st and 2nd XI have fixtures against St Aloysius, Otago High School, Grammar and Shore.

I would like to formally welcome everyone to the season and I hope we all have a fun, enjoyable and successful time playing the true gentleman’s game.

To all parents and players, don’t forget to go through the points below:

• Please make sure that all the boys wear SBHS logo hats and tops.
• They are not to wear thongs to and from their fixtures.
• Make sure they drink plenty of water and carry a drink bottle with them to training and fixtures.
• Please notify their coaches if they are unable to attend training or their fixture.

Geoff Tesoriero
MIC Cricket

SBHS Football

MIC of Football Report
I would like to thank all the parents, staff, coaches and students for attending the end of season football dinner.  It was a very enjoyable and successful night. I would also like to thank Anne Wall for your enormous contribution in making sure the night ran smoothly and everyone was well fed. We also raffled off the sporting prizes. 3rd place which was a football book and a soccer ball went to Sam Hughes; 2nd place which was a sports bag full of football gear went to Isaac Haddo and 1st place which was a football signed by the Socceroos World Cup team worth $1100 was won by the Vatoundoust’s youngest sister Tatiana.

A final thank you to everyone involved in the Football season. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I hope to see you all back next season for what I am sure will be even more successful.
Geoff Tesoriero
MIC Football

Table Tennis

NSW Secondary Schoolboys Shield Winners 2014

On Friday the 5th of September 2014, ten students participated in the Secondary Schoolboys Shield. Two players per team played four singles and one doubles match against teams from across the state. By the end of the day Vincent Bui Year 10 and Lingyu Wong Year 8 had won the repechage final and Edward Belokopytov and Lenny Han had won the final against East Hills High. Well done to all the boys who participated in the event.
Mr AD Cipolla
MIC Table Tennis

From the Junior Library

HAVE A GREAT READ OVER THE HOLIDAYS
The books above are only part of the 83 books our Junior Library Monitors found for you on the shelves and put out for you to borrow on the newspaper table and the new books stand.  Here is the link with the 83 books on it:

https://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?view=VeronicaCrothers&collection=332129&shelf=list&sort=authorunflip&collection=332129

If you do not get time to look in our library use this list as a recommendation for reading from your local library

THANKS LIBRARY MONITORS
Our library monitors this term have once again done some wonderfully useful work which benefits all of our library users.  One of the fantastic projects they were involved with this term was to look up every fiction book on Wikipedia to find out the nationality of the authors.  (We were mainly looking for Australian authors for the Year 9 assignment on Australian authors) Our most trusted monitors then put Australian author as a tag term or subject added entry into our Library database for each book.  This was a large task I would not have had time to take on and they accomplished this in roughly one month.

THANKS MY STAFF
As we are migrating our OASIS system to Oliver in October some cleaning up of our database has taken place.  Thanks to my staff and volunteer Katharine who cleaned up locations when they were busy with other things.
Mrs Crothers

Year 8 Camp

Year 8 Camp was an exhilarating trip to Active Education’s Mangrove Mountain venue, held just two weeks before the end of Term 3.  As this was one of the only excursions we had had this year, everyone was quite excited.  There were many activities offered by Active Education.  There were two main parts of this year’s camp.  For the outdoor experience we hiked, abseiled, set up tents, cooked our meals and slept in tents – many of which we had not done before.  Our second night we slept in cabins and during the day had fun doing the flying fox, challenge ropes and canoeing.  All these activities were fascinating, especially those involving heights.   In between all of the activities, we had lots of opportunity to socialise with others, whether in the hot heat of the hike or in a freezing tent.  Year 8 students definitely became closer with each other – and had loads of fun in the process.  Everyone was surprised how fun this camp was and how quickly the time passed.  I am sure we would all happily do it again and again.
Jack Jiang, 8S