From the Principal

High Talent
Kushall Vyas (Year 9) won the Regional Final of the Rostrum Voice of Youth Competition. He will contest the state final later in the month. Well done! Congratulations to Nakul Bhagwat, Samuel Khoo, Michael Tickner and Sujay Salagame (Year 11) who won the Friday Evening Debating Competition.

On Line P & C Forum
The introduction of an ON-line P&C Forum is a welcome initiative in our commitment to communicating with parents. ON-line P&C discussions give parents an opportunity to provide feedback to the School and we welcome all of your comments on ways we can improve the learning and co-curricular environments for our students. To access the ON-line P&C discussion you must have your Parent Portal Password that is specific to each Year Group. Passwords are available by emailing the P&C on This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

To access the P&C Forum go to www.sydneyboyshigh.com and login to the School Intranet using your username and password details. Access P&C Discussions using the left hand menu.

ON-line P&C has a series of discussion questions on which we are seeking feedback. In addition, I encourage parents to use ON-line P&C as a way of providing input on any issues which are of concern or suggestions you wish to make. Please take this opportunity to express your views about school matters that affect you or your son.

Reports – Years 12, 9 and 10
All boys in these years should have taken home their reports. Ask them to show you.

Winter Sports Assembly
Special guest, Ewen McKenzie, ex-Wallaby and coach of NSW and now the Queensland Reds, spoke to the assembly about physical preparation and the importance of attitude in sport. He stated a preference in his elite football players for attitude over talent because the right attitude is a very hard thing to create, whereas skills and plays can be trained. He exhorted High boys to follow their sporting dreams and maintain the right attitude and commitment to their various sports. My speech to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guest Ewen McKenzie, players, coaches, staff, parents students – welcome to our Winter Sports assembly for 2010. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land where we gather, the Gadigal people of the Eora nation and pay our respects to them and their elders past and present.

"Since the last time I addressed a winter assembly I am pleased to find that a culture shift is occurring in response to the three training sessions policy. I want to thank our Head Teacher Sport, Mark Pavone, for embedding the policy that I discussed last year. School policy is that three training sessions per week must be completed for selection in A or B GPS teams and are recommended for C teams. We expect members of first and second grade to take responsibility for personal physical preparation by logging for strength and endurance and sprint training sessions. Other teams have lesser requirements at High but not in other GPS schools. We have to respond to the new reality of much more frequent and disciplined sports training, right through our grades. To support the existing logbook system that has been administered and monitored by MICs and Jason Tassell, Mr Pavone has added personal contract letters setting out explicit expectations for boys wanting to participate in GPS competition teams.

"Our winter sports are again very well attended overall in 2010 but I regret that a number of older boys who used to play rugby have dropped out in the senior school. Depth is critical in our rebuilding program. The rugby program in the age groups 13-15 has been given a boost with the appointment of Corey Swan as Junior School Coaching Coordinator. We need that momentum to grow this season so that we can reach our goal of 12 teams in the Junior Program. I urge boys to stick together going forward so that we can field more than four teams in the Senior School in 2011. Thank you also to Geoff Stein for his commitment as MIC and the tireless Geoff Andrews from the Rugby Committee for his work in getting the season off to a good start. Association Football is our most popular winter sport. Thank you again to Richard Gifford for his efficient administration of the sport and for his recruitment of coaches.

"Andrew Bennie is taking first grade again and an experienced new coach, Mehdi Hazrati, is guiding second grade. Thank you for your involvement. Football is lagging behind in physical preparation but more coaches and teams are working on a culture shift. We are building our structure in defence but need more flair in attack. Let’s have more shots on goal in the GPS season boys! I notice that some morning training sessions for junior teams are compromised quite frequently because boys are late to training. If your coach can make the effort to be there so can you!

"Volleyball, our most successful winter sport, continues to be well managed by Michael Kay, Dr Ganderton and Ms Trompetter. The open team continues to win against school competition in NSW. High has built a fine tradition in this sport in the last decade. Thank you to Cathy Meaney and the Sydney High Rifle Club Inc for the development of the target rifle shooting program. We have re established our TAS visit and hope to maintain our GPS high standard with back to back premierships. The sport has grown in popularity and we are developing a sustainable model looking forward.

"Cross country running is a sport that could accommodate more of our senior boys. Thank you to Mr Prorellis, Mr Kesting and his staff for their smooth operation of this sport year on year. With more talent and depth in the senior ranks this year I am hopeful of a better than usual team performance from first grade. Fencing has been given a boost with the new COLA covering the cricket nets giving the sport a permanent home for the first time. A dedicated shed for fencing is being constructed. Acquiring electric registering equipment will also move the participants in the sport to a new level. Thank you to Jenni May for her leadership in developing fencing at High and to Alwyn Wardle, our long serving fencing coach for his loyalty to the program.

"This morning I want to outline an approach to managing sports performance. As Sam Stosur said after reaching the final of the French Open “I just thought about the tennis – making the shots”. Golfers and tennis players even at the highest level frequently pause to replay a shot, stroke or putt. When we do something poorly in sport during a contest, we need to re-program ourselves to get back on track and focus on the task ahead. If we do not have a strategy then we get distracted for some time by engaging in self-recrimination affecting our next skill performance. A more positive approach is to use the ARIA method. First acknowledge the error. After a missed tackle, poor pass or missed shot, pause momentarily to tell yourself that you performed the skill poorly. Next, release the past performance. Let it go. Make a throwing or discarding motion to reinforce physically what you are doing mentally, discarding the mistake. Then, imprint a visual image of the correct action. Close your eyes in a pause in play and replay the tackle, pass or shot mentally as would have liked it to be. Do this twice associating yourself with the image of perfect execution of the skill. Finally, ask your body and non-conscious self to do that next time. ALIA is the companion process for reinforcing good performance. If you do something well, acknowledge it, love yourself for it by some gesture, imprint the well executed action by mentally replaying it, then ask the self to do it again next time. When facing tough challenges, using ARIA and ALIA can help our mental states.

"I am really please at the overall level of participation in winter sport this year. Congratulations to all boys selected in GPS teams this season. I know that you will all try to uphold the tradition of High – you can’t buy spirit. Good luck to all teams in all sports – Have fun! "

Driving Instruction Survey
High students have been offered the opportunity to engage in driving instruction on school days, on a commercial basis. If such a service were introduced, who would take advantage of it? Students are invited to express their interest in being professionally instructed at school by accessing the on line survey set up in the My Ballots section of the Student Portal. Log on and let us know.

Encapsulation works and extra roadway
The very long process of responding to Fabienne Ovadia’s discovery of asbestos chips on site several years ago, has now reached a conclusion. All affected areas have been encapsulated and drainage works and kerbing installed to prevent future erosion uncovering any more. The school funded some necessary extra works as well as the gate 1–gate 2 asphalting. Vehicular and pedestrian movement around the gym area should now be much easier.

Electricity Substation Update
Final approval has been given for the under bore across Cleveland St. The last obstacle has been removed. A final scope of works and budget has yet to be signed off but it is now in the pipeline. Once the underground cable has been laid, the electricity substation can then be installed.

Public education – worth investing in
Before the June 30 deadline, you can help make a difference by donating to Sydney Boys High School Building Fund. The money donated is placed in term deposit in readiness for our next major capital works project – a new Library / Multipurpose Centre. Over the last six years, parents have contributed close to $835,000 (now on term deposit) towards the provision of this new facility. Along the way, other capital maintenance projects have been funded, primarily from the Centenary Building Fund. We appreciate that the project is medium term, but so were the senior library, the tennis courts, the basketball courts and the cricket nets for those parents who believed in High enough to donate towards them without their sons necessarily benefitting from them. This willingness to help High has led to much of our capital development as a school in the last 127 years.

Download a donation form from the website at www.sydneyboyshigh.com/library donations. Join our Monthly Giving Program or make a single contribution. Any amount would be most welcome. If we are to become the school everyone wants us to be, then more of us have to put our money where our dream is.
Dr K A Jaggar

From the McDonald (Senior) Library

The Book Fair has come and gone and much has been achieved we feel from holding such an event. Some books have been donated to the library, many students have had the pleasure of viewing and suggesting titles for the newly established book collection and the profile of the libraries has been raised considerably in the process.

We would like to thank the many fantastic volunteer helpers for all their work and support in making this first Book Fair successful. Thanks also go to teachers for bringing students through the library to see the books on display and to those generous teachers and students (and their parents) who donated books.

So far these people have donated books: Mr Hannon (Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore); Ms Kaye (Manhood for Amateurs by Michael Chabon); Dale Chen Yr 12 (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button & Six Other Stories); Soorag Prakash Yr 11 (Peeps by Scott Westerfeld); Warren Dang Yr 11 (The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss); Jeffrey Ni Yr 9 (Lady Macbeth’s Daughter by Lisa Klein); Leon Zhang Yr 10 (We by John Dickinson); Chris Morrow Yr 11 (I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells); Elbert Ly Yr 9 (Best of the Best Modern Australian Short Stories by Tim Winton); Francis Pham Yr 11 (61 Hours by Lee Child). Their generosity has meant these fantastic new titles will be available to all students for years to come and they will be the first borrowers to read them. So many thanks once again to these generous library benefactors! We are still waiting for a few people to bring in their payment so if you haven’t yet done so can you make sure this happens this week?

The library will also be purchasing many titles suggested by teachers and students and these will be advertised in this article in future issues of High Notes as well as new titles purchased and selected by the librarian.

Other news helpful to HSC students is regarding HSC Seminars to be held by the Marrickville Library Service. Please find attached to this article a flyer with topics being covered and dates they will be held. All seminars are free and if you live in the area these are very useful and relevant to Year 11 or 12 students.
Ms Gordon
Teacher Librarian – McDonald Library

Parent-Teacher Interviews

Year 7 will take place on
Monday 21 June 2010 3.00pm – 6.30pm

Years 10, 11 and 12 will take place on
Thursday 24 June 2010 3.00pm – 7.30pm

Years 8 and 9 will take place on
Wednesday 30 June 2010 3.00pm – 6.30pm

Booking interviews with your son’s teachers
This year we will again use a web based electronic scheduling system for arranging interviews. This should produce better results for all participants, especially more compact time schedules for both parents and teachers. The system works as follows –

• On Tuesday 8 June all parents of boys in Year 7 will be sent by email details of the scheduling system and a unique code to be entered at www.edval.com.au/book.
• On Tuesday 15 June all parents of boys in Years 10, 11 and 12 will be sent by email details of the scheduling system and a unique code to be entered at www.edval.com.au/book.
• On Tuesday 22 June all parents of boys in Years 8 and 9 will be sent by email details of the scheduling system and a unique code to be entered at www.edval.com.au/book.

• This email will be sent to the address currently held by the school. If you have not received this email by the following Wednesday (9, 16 or 23 June) or, if your email address has changed from what had been previously advised to the school, you should notify the school at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it advising of this. Please indicate your son's name and roll class or date of birth so that the information can be forwarded to you.
• On the Edval website you will see your son’s teachers listed and you will be able to select those with whom you require an interview. At the same time you can indicate your availability between 3:00 pm and 6:30 pm (7:30pm for Years 10-12).
• Once the majority of parents have requested interviews, the overall schedule will be generated by the school and your individual schedule should be available for you to download and print from two days before the interviews.
• Boys from all Years will be dismissed from class at the conclusion of Period 5 (2:15 pm) on each day. School Special buses will run to normal schedules and there will be supervision in the Junior Quad of boys waiting for these buses.
• Interviews should not exceed five minutes’ duration. If there is insufficient time, a further appointment may be made for a later date, or contact by telephone arranged.

News From Latin

On Wednesday, 2nd June, Year 12 Latin students attended the Year 12 Latin Study Day. This is an annual event organised by the Classical Languages Teacher association of New South Wales. Each year, a number of guest lecturers present informative talks and workshops on the Latin texts being studied for the Higher School Certificate. The lecturers are invited from a number of leading Universities and Schools. For example, this year, an excellent talk was presented on the Roman author, Cicero, by Dr Paul Roche from Sydney University. All aspects of the course are covered and the students are presented with advice on Unseen Translation technique.

This year, the venue for the Study Day was Shore School, in North Sydney. A number of schools, both State and Private, were represented. A seminar day booklet was provided for each student. Thank you to the Classical Languages Teachers Association for organising this worthwhile event.
D Matsos
Latin teacher

From the Andrews Library

BOOK FAIR
Boys who have donated will find their donation acknowledged on the Book Fair (Library Thing) website and they can also check there for availability for picking up to be first reader. Boys and parents can search by going into Your Books and searching for their book title.

Boys whose donations have arrived at the school will also be informed by DET email so this needs to be checked – (through Portal)

Donations ready to be picked up will be notified also through Reservations on the Portal

Books are now arriving from Borders Online so everything works.

MISSED THE BOOK FAIR AND LIKE TO DONATE ONE BOOK?
Boys can still donate books to the Libraries by purchasing a book when shopping and just bringing it in. We will be very grateful. The following post Book Fair discount from Borders at Bondi may help and students can get books for their home libraries with this offer:

Borders Bondi will be offering a discount of 20% off any full priced books to all students and teachers at our school for four days only – from Thursday June 17th to Sunday June 20th. All that is required is to present their student / teachers identification card.

NEW SENIOR FICTION - Andrews library.
Socialite Evenings, Shobhaa De;
The Brass Verdict, Michael Connelly;
Once There was a War; John Steinbeck;
Free to Trade, Michael Ridpath;
Icebound, Dean Koontz;
The Tiger’s Child, Torey Hayden;
Wall of Brass, Robert Daley;
Salem Street, Anna Jacobs;
The Final Judgement Richard North Patterson;
Wildfire, Susan Geason;
That Camden Summer, LaVyrle Spencer;
Cobra event, Richard Preston;
Remote Control, Andy McNab;
The Shadowy Horses, Susanna Kearsley;
Angela’s Ashes, Frank McCourt;
The Street Lawyer, John Grisham;
Killing Floor, Lee Child;
Three Wishes, Barbara Delinsky;
Homeport, Nora Roberts;
Only Son, Kevin O Brien;
The Partner, John Grisham;
Trading Reality, Michael Ridpath;
All God’s Children, Thomas Eidson;
The Copper Beech, Maeve Binchy;
The Ice, Louis Charbonneau;
Mrs Washington and Horrowitz, Too, Henry Denker;
All Around the Town, Mary Higgins Clarke;
Disclosure, Michael Crichton,
The Fist of God,Frederick Forsyth;
The Hills are Lonely, Joyce Stranger;
Diamond Solitaire, Peter Lovesey;
Axel’s Castle, Edmund Wilson;
Airframe, Michael Crichton;
A Woman’s Place, Barbara Delinsky;
The Unlikely Spy, Daniel Silva;
The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks;
Mackinnon’s Machine, S.K. Wolf;
Circle of Pearls, Rosalind Laker;
Blaze, Robert Somerlott;
Crackdown, Bernard Cornwell;
Birds of Prey, Wilbur Smith;
Pretend You Don’t See Her, Maggy Higgins Clark;
Chromosome 6, Robin Cook;
The Flight of the Osprey, Ewan Clarkson;
The Loop, Nicholas Evans;
The Kremlin Device, Chris Ryan;
Somebody’s Baby, Elaine Kagan;
The Coffin Dancer, Jeffrey Deaver;
Decider, Dick France;
Remember Me, Mary Higgins Clark;
Point of impact, Stephen Hunter;
And the Violins Stopped Playing

NEW SENIOR NON FICTION
Direct Marketing, Mike Power et al;
Guys Write for Guys Read, ed. by Jon Scieszka;
A Place in my Country, Ian Walthew;
The Young Savages, Fred Mustard Stewart;
Three Dog Night, Peter Golsdsworthy;
Numerology Secrets, Sonja Dulcie;
Essays Moral, Political and Literary, David Hume;
Test Your Video Game IQ, Terry Munson;
The State We’re In, Will Hutton;
Galleghan’s Greyhounds, A W Penfold et al;
Transfield, the First Fifty Years, Gianfranco Cresciani,
Opportunities to Improve Social Services, Human Development in the Pacific Islands, The World Bank;
The Weapons Detective, Rod Barton;
India, Life Myth and Art, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad;
Gatherings II, Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art from Queensland, Australia, compiled by Marion Demozay;

NEW JUNIOR NON FICTION
National Geographic Picture Atlas of our Universe, Guiness World Records 2010,
World Wide Waste, Caren Trafford;
Piano Time, Pauline Hall, The World of Music, Nicola Barber et al;
The Illustrated Charles Dickens, adapted by Nigel Flynn et al.

TEACHER REFERENCE
Pathways to Scientific Teaching, Ed by Diane Ebert-May et al
Veronica Crothers
Librarian, Junior Library

SBHS Debating

FED Success!
Debating the topics: That we should legalise music piracy and That the two party political system as failed Australia our Years 11 and 8 teams contested tight grand finals to round off the FED competition for 2010. Unfortunately our Year 8 boys were narrowly defeated by Newington but to their credit our Year 11s were victorious against Grand Final hosts, Knox.

Year 11 - FED Champions
Nakul Bhagwat
Samuel Khoo
Michael Tickner
Sujay Salagame

Newington Social
Friday 18th June is our annual Newington social debate. Fortunately both schools have a large squad and we are able to send many teams to contest debates and refine our skills in the lead up to the GPS competition. Again, the event is to be hosted by Newington and we are looking at sending 18 teams! This is an excellent opportunity to practice debating skills and I strongly encourage junior boys to stick around and watch a senior debate as this is again a way to refine and improve personal speaking skills and matter.

More information can be found at www.sydneyhigh.org.au/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 Notes

Music Tour 2010 to France & Flanders
Music Tour Photos and Videos are now accessible to staff and students on the W Drive, Photo Archive, 2010, Music Tour 2010 (France & Flanders). More photos will be added each week and we ask that any student / parent who came on the Tour to please bring in their photos to the Music Staff to upload for everyone to view.

After a lengthy bus trip, the tour band arrived at the peaceful town of Peronne. Once the bus was unpacked we were struck with awe walking into the massive venue hosting our two performances that day. The concert hall had the full shebang, professional lighting, sound equipment and a great stage, we couldn’t wait to show Peronne what we could do.

After a few touch ups in what little rehearsal time we had, the venue was opened to our first audience of the day, a huge wave of children, parents and teachers taking their seats and waiting for what was to be a brilliant performance from the Tour String Ensemble, Combined Orchestra, Concert Band and Stage Band. Following an uproarious applause and the giving of souvenirs to our cheering audience, High packed up and went to the Great War Museum down the road where we gained a further understanding of the importance of what we were representing on tour.

Our history lesson was then followed by a scrumptious dinner generously provided by the townspeople and with full stomachs and renewed spirits we set up for our second concert that evening for the rest of the town. As usual, High went out with a bang, our best performance so far. We were preceded by the Peronne Military Bagpipe Band but after the performance of the Tour Stage Band, the audience gave a standing ovation, compelling us to play one last number before we signed off on our last informal concert. After receiving enough appreciation from the audience to fill the bus, we packed up and set off back to the hostel with a huge renewed sense of achievement.
Jordan Saito-Patch
Year 11

ENSEMBLE Rehearsal Times for 2010
ALL Music Ensembles have now commenced this term and students are expected to attend 80% of rehearsals to qualify for their award schemes. Please check the timetable below for some time and room changes.

Marching Band
Marching Band rehearsal will commence this Friday at 8:00am on MPW. ALL members of the Senior & Intermediate Concert Bands are expected to attend as we have a marching performance on Tuesday 29 June 2010.

ASX Share Market Game 2010

Another year another dollar! Over 300 hundred students participated in the Game with Yr 10 students filling the top ten places in the SBHS rankings. It was pleasing to see Yr 7 students participating for the first time and holding their own in comparison to the senior students. Well done to everyone who participated in the Game. This Game has been challenging due to the market being impacted by what is happening in Greece, proposed government tax changes, and continued concerns about the Chinese economy. For this Game

• The All Ordinaries (XAO) was down 3.32%
• Only 9.86% of all players finished in profit with an average portfolio value of $48,352
• Only 41 of the companies in the Game made a positive return in their share price The leading students used a variety of strategies; some buy and hold; some buy and sell. Read on to discover what they did…

Thomas Zhang (7th in Australia and 5th in NSW) Strategy:
“The Game goes for a relatively short period of time so I concentrated on more volatile stocks such as mining and energy. I made most of my profits from Arrow Energy - AOE and Lihir Gold - LGL. Once I had made a considerable profit and was near the top of the rankings I felt that it would be best to liquidate my volatile stocks and to invest in more stable companies such as retail or food, Woolworths - WOW being the best example that I put my money into. This proved to be the winning factor as the market tumbled in the last 2 weeks due to the economic problems of Greece and yet my portfolio was still increasing… ”

Abeer Khan, Adrian Chan (12th in Australia and 8th in NSW) Strategy:
We made our buying and selling decisions based on the stock highlights, newsletters, interviews and graphs offered on the ASX site. We found these particularly helpful in deciding what companies to pick. We were also cautious about what was happening in the world such as the cancelled Qantas flights (during the volcano eruptions) that led to a fall in share prices.

Anonymous Yr 11 Economics student (Last in SBHS)
I asked my teacher for advice! “Those that can, do. Those that can’t, teach” I will know better next time.

Share market Game 2 commences early in Term 3.

Winning National Syndicate Total $59,147 (Yr 12)
Lowest Total at SBHS $40,374 (Yr 11)
TP Dolan.
Soc Sc Faculty

From Careers

Combined Careers & Courses University Information Evening 2010

Thursday 17 June 2010 in the Great Hall, 6.30pm.

All Year 12 students are expected to attend this event. Participants include, UNSW, Sydney University, UTS, Macquarie, Western Sydney, ANU, KPMG, St Paul's College & Firstpoint USA

UNSW Scholarship Information Evening

On Thursday July 22 UNSW will host a Scholarships Information Evening. The purpose of the evening is to provide greater detail on the range of scholarships available at UNSW. The evening is aimed at Years 11 and 12 students and their parents.

The evening will consist of a general talk about scholarships at UNSW including the UNSW Co-op Program and Commonwealth Funded Scholarships. The general session will be followed by rotating smaller talk/question breakout sessions; there will also be information booths for one-on-one discussions.

The program can be viewed on the event website www.scholarshipsevening.unsw.edu.au 

The location of the event if the Sir John Clancy Auditorium, UNSW Kensington Campus.

Registration is required as space is limited, and will open from June 2, 2010. Registration can be completed at www.scholarshipsevening.unsw.edu.au.

Rifle Shooting

The GPS Squad for 2010 was announced at the Winter Sports Assembly last Friday and they are in full training at the moment. They will be defending their title as GPS Co-Premiers at Hornsby in July 2010.

The training regime for this winter season for Fullbore is from 8:30am – approx. 5pm each Saturday. The Smallbore training runs from 8:30am – approx. 12 noon.

A team of 8 Fullbore Shooters will be travelling to Wingham for the long weekend to compete in the Wingham Prize Shoot. The bus will leave from the Flat at approx, 3:30pm on Friday 11th June and will return approx. 11am on Monday 14th June 2010. The boys are also defending their title from last year. Good Luck boys!! We are expecting great things!

Shooting is cancelled on Saturday the 12th June due to the trip to Wingham.

GPS QUAD FOR 2010
Michael DO (Capt)
John ACLIS (Vice Capt)
James LEE
Dominic TRAN
Brendan LEO
Dennis KIM
Yujin WU
Albert HUYNH
Peter TRAN
Carl PAN
Wilbert WU
Bill DENG
Adam CEH
Timothy TRAN
Andy XIE
Ryan WOO

Catherine Meaney
Rifle Shooting MIC (Admin)

Volleyball Report

First Grade Report
On the 5th of June, High's First Grade Volleyball Team played the debutants of the season, Riverview, at High. We were greeted with a familiar face in Old Boy Oliver Konakoff, the newly appointed Head Coach of the Riverview team and as such needed to be prepared for anything. However, a destructively dominant performance from High allowed us to close out the game 3 sets to 0.

A strong performance by John from the Universal Position combined with Nelson and Merlin's consistent displays from the Outside Hitter Position, Riverview suffered greatly in their attempts to gain control. High’s strong serving game effectively exploited Riverview's lack of technique in passing.

This game was vital to win for First Grade as it was the last GPS game before CHS Top 16.
Josh Suh

Second Grade Report
On Saturday the 5th of June, second grade volleyball met an outmatched St Ignatius side at our home court. High was determined to continue its perfect run while Ignatius was equally determined to rejuvenate its struggling volleyball program.

The clash began with strong serving from Ennes. Ignatius seemed unable to pass the ball to set up an effective attack. When the ball did find its way to the High end of the court, strong hits and cunning tips from our middles left the Ignatius defenders stunned. High rounded out the first set with a convincing 25-5 margin.

High used the second set to gain some much needed experience with more elaborate plays and attacks. However, unforced errors and strong determination from the Ignatius team led to the set being tied at 24-24. Determined not to drop a set, Pat and Brendan set up some strong plays and rounded out the set 26-24 through sheer force of will.

Devastated by their inability to take the second set, the Ignatius side was demoralised going into the third. Furthermore, a switch to a more conservative, yet effective playing style from High resulted in the third being almost a carbon copy of the first set, High eventually rounding it out 25-10.

The win against a resurgent Riverview squad leaves High unchallenged at the top of the table and feeling confident going into next week.
Shiraz Biscevic

Year 9 Volleyball
Report On Saturday the fifth of June, the Year nine volleyball side prepared for its first match of the season. Coming in with no experience, the team was prepared for a challenging day, especially after the Grammar side turned up looking far more experienced than some of the new players on our team.

Early into the match we were frustrated with our inability to set up consistent spikes, letting Grammar reach an early seven point lead. However, after some consistent serving we were able to pull back and eventually edge out the set. The second saw Grammar lose their earlier form, letting us win in two straight sets. Next came Grammar’s B team, who had great trouble serving and returning, resulting in a complete wipe-out of their side.

These encounters have given our team much needed experience and have identified our main weak points, especially in unforced errors.
Jonathan Clements-Lendrum

Year 8 volleyball Report
On the 5th of June, 8A defeated both of Grammar’s teams in our first match of the season.

Sydney High won the first match against Grammar’s B team in straight sets. We completely dominated Grammar, taking the two sets 21-6 and 21-11. Their team was definitely intimidated as we pulled off some strong 3 pass hits.

Our second match started badly. Grammar’s A team took the first set 21-17 as we faced their best server. Poor communication also initially hindered our efforts. We came back in the second set and took the second set 21-15. This levelled the score for the decider. The final set started well until we found ourselves in a bad position allowing Grammar to take the lead 11-4. However, with lots of determination we managed to bounce back and regain the lead 12-11 and eventually take the match 15-13.

I am very proud of my team as we showed great playing skills and determination to manage a massive comeback.
Jason Garrett

High Society

The Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & C

Julie Connolly
P&C President.
If you would like to have any parent community news or upcoming events included in High Society, please contact Julie Connolly, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ; M: 0418 470 203

Joint P&C Meeting SBHS and SGHS

7.00pm, Wednesday 30th June, Great Hall
The P&C needs about 20 parents to help set up the Great Hall in theatre style on Wednesday 30th June in preparation for our joint P&C meeting with SGHS featuring Dr Michael Carr-Gregg. There is a parent-teacher interview session running up until 6.30pm on that same evening, so we have approximately 20 minutes to pack away tables and set out chairs - we need all hands on deck! Could parents indicate their availability to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it and meet in the School Foyer at 6.20pm on Wednesday 30th June.

In addition, Barbara Taylor is organising supper for the evening and needs parents to help set up the supper area near the Great Hall kitchen from 5.30pm on Wednesday 30th June. Please email Barbara directly This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you can help. Meet at the Great Hall kitchen.

Upcoming Parent Meetings and Events

Thursday 17th June –
University Info Evening for Parents and Students, Great Hall

Monday 21st June, 3.00pm–6.30pm –
Year 7 Parent / Teacher Night, Great Hall

Thursday 24th June, 3.00pm-7.30pm –
Years 10, 11 and 12 Parent / Teacher Night, Great Hall

Wednesday 30th June, 3.00pm-6.30pm -
Years 8 and 9 Parent / Teacher Night, Great Hall

Wednesday 30th June, 7.00pm –
Address by Dr Michael Carr- Gregg at joint SBHS and SGHS P&C Meeting, Great Hall

From the Canteen

It was a wild cold wet week last week which brought the boys in droves to the canteen so we certainly appreciated the help of the following people....

Anne Aylmer, Betty Chan, Ming Lee, Annette Ng, Pauline Chan. Tania Slinko, Vikki Moller, Kate Price,Cindy Tseu, Liz O'Hare, Vikki Angell, Helen Lazarou, Jenny Lian, Katrina Morrow, Debbie Dukes, Heawon Jeong.

A big thank you toTania for especially coming in on Friday to make the Sports Assembly sandwiches, after already coming in for her duty on the Tuesday.

For a large busy canteen as we have at High, we really need 4 volunteer helpers each day ie 20 every week to share the workload. If you are able to come into canteen at all at any time – either on your own or link up with a friend, please do!! Karen and Tracey would love to see you and will give you easy simple jobs to do that will help them out a lot. Give them a call at the canteen on 9360 4027.

Boys – if service is slow occasionally at canteen, it may be for the following reasons....

• Short of staff – when a canteen window is not open for service, that means the canteen is short staffed. Hot food and lunches have priority over drinks etc. Any boy tapping on a shutter will cause longer delays for everyone else as we do not respond to impatience. We appreciate very much the patience and understanding of everyone else last week especially.
• Multiple orders: Buying food for all your friends actually holds everyone else up. It is easier and quicker for staff – and therefore, you – to serve and give change to 1 person. It takes more time to go back and forward to ovens etc for multiple orders especially when food starts to run out and you don’t know what your friends might want. Service will be refused if you are continually or obviously buying food for other people.

Many thanks to the Prefects who help out on canteen – your assistance is important and appreciated.
Thank you
The Canteen Team

SBHS GPS Athletics Training Timetable - 2010

Applications for Years 8 - 12, 2011

Applications for Years 8 - 12, 2011 close on 29 July 2010.

Application forms are are available from the school visit: www.sydneyboyshigh.com and click the link to enrolments.

Phillip Day Memorial Scholarship

For existing or enrolling students in years 7 - 12 who meet the scholarship selection criteria. To apply for a scholarship visit www.sydneyboyshigh.com/scholarship for full details.

Hear Dr Michael Carr-Greg, 30 June 2010

Fantastic Opportunity to Hear One of Australia's Leading Voices on Teenagers

7.00pm, Wednesday 30th June, Great Hall
Dr Michael Carr-Gregg

The Five Greatest Challenges for Parents in 2010

The joint Sydney Boys and Sydney Girls P&C meeting for this year – 7.00pm, Wednesday 30th June, in the Great Hall – will feature Dr Michael Carr-Gregg speaking on The Five Greatest Challenges for Parents in 2010, including aspects of online safety, alcohol, sleep and other key issues. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear one of Australia’s leading voices on adolescents and we urge parents to attend this P&C presentation.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is one of Australia's highest profile psychologists and is described by the Sunday Age, as one of the country's leading authorities on teenage behaviour. He specialises in the areas of parenting adolescents and adolescent mental health. Michael is the Consultant Psychologist to the Victorian Secondary Schools Principals’ Association and is a founding member of the National Coalition Against Bullying. He is an official ambassador for beyondblue and Mindmatters - one of 16 youth suicide prevention programs run by the Federal Government - and has served on the advisory committee for the Federal Government's Boys' Education Lighthouse School Programme.

Educated in Kenya, the UK, Australia and New Zealand, Michael is married with two sons. For seven years he worked as an Associate Professor in the Department of Paediatrics at the University of Melbourne, before going into private practice in the Melbourne suburb of Kew. Michael has worked in private practice as a family therapist, child psychologist and clinical psychologist, as an academic, researcher and spent four years working as a political lobbyist. He wrote his PhD on adolescents with cancer at the University of NSW which resulted in the formation of CanTeen - a support group for teenagers with cancer in 1984. Michael has a high media profile working on national TV on Channel 7's Sunrise and The Morning Show as well as Fairfax Radio 3AW. He is a columnist for Girlfriend and Australian Doctor and has written six books, including the best selling Princess Bitchface Syndrome - how to survive teenage girls for Penguin in 2007 and has just finished another book When to Really Worry which was released in 2010.

Dr Michael Carr-Gregg is an informed, entertaining and inspiring speaker addressing some of the most critical issues for our adolescents today. This is a great opportunity for High parents to hear his insights.

Supper will be served following the presentation.