From the Principal

High Talent
In the National Latin Examinations our boys did very well. Students receiving Gold Medals and a “Summa cum Laude” Certificate were: (Year 9) Oliver Tseu-Tjoa, Vishnu Avudainayagam, Benjamin Nguyen, Leonard Mah, Madison Wu; (Year 10) Christopher Chen, Anes Karahasan, William Wu; (Year 11) James Chen, Kin Pan, Dominic Mah; and (Year 12) Timothy Collier, Timothy Chin (plus Scholarship offers ). Congratulations to you all! Well done to William Wu who finished 5th in the Australian Informatics Olymiad Selection examination. Star of the AAGPS Athletics carnival was Ivor Metcalf who was first in: open long jump (6.88m), U17 110m hurdles, 14.3 – a new record; and open high jump 1.91m. Scott Renzenbrink, athletics captain, led from the front, winning the open 200m (22.8) and running a great second leg for his team’s 4 x 100m relay second position by 0.05 seconds to Newington. Third places were gained by Kevin Huo (U13 high jump), Anton Brokman (U17 800 metres) and Dominic Mah (U17 110m hurdles –division.) The senior team finished 5th in the point score. Congratulations to all our athletes.

Athletics Assembly
At the Athletics Assembly, our guest speaker, James Middleton, described the context of SGS winning the senior point score in 1979 for the first time in 25 years. As team captain, he recalled how SGS were not considered likely to succeed at the carnival, how tense the remaining few events were and how wonderful the feeling of accomplishment was on that special day in 1979. He stressed the desirability of a balanced life with sport and co-curricular activities as important for healthy development. Mr Middleton studied medicine and represented Australia at the Commonwealth Games in the decathlon. My speech to the assembly is reprinted below:

"Special guest James Middleton, staff, coaches, parents, Old Boys and GPS competitors, welcome to our athletics assembly for 2012. This assembly is special for three particular reasons. It is the start of a return to our former pre-winter athletics organisation, allowing winter teams more pre-season warm up time but compressing athletics into four carnivals before the GPS carnival tomorrow. Importantly, our school is contesting the Intermediate Division for the first time. I hope that we will have competitors in every event pushing for a top four finish in the points score. This assembly, sadly, marks the end of Robert Devlin’s management of athletics at High as MIC. Robert has held the position since 2004 (I think) and his input into the sport has made a big difference over the years. He has shown highly developed administrative and interpersonal skills in building the profile of athletics at High and in assembling a strong and effective team around him, to improve the breadth and depth of coaching in track and field events. He followed up on boys to get them to training and exhorted them to represent their school. His enthusiasm, persistence and advocacy of the sport were infectious. Creating a stronger overall athletic base of speed, agility and endurance in our boys is a primary goal of our program. If those attributes improve then we build capacity for other sports. Robert understood the goal, believed in it and worked tirelessly to implement it. I thank him on behalf of the High community for his decade’s work and wish him well in his new role.

"I am not sure if our boys always appreciate just how much time and effort go into supporting their enjoyment and promoting their success but many people have made the athletics program, at school and at ES Marks, the quality organisation that it is. I am grateful for their dedication and skill. Thank you - Steve Codey, George Barris, Lachlan Youll, Terry Lancaster, Katrina Morrow, David Morrow, Davina Strauss, Joshua Tassell, Jason Tassell, Peter Wickes, Austin Guo, Matt Wong, Gabriel. Garayalde, Bill Wang and Wayne Baldock.

"When we think about a big athletics meet, the ultimate is the Olympic Games.

"Ralph Doubell won a gold medal at the Mexico Olympics in the challenging 800 metres event. At an assembly at his old school, Melbourne High, nearly 30 years later, he recalled how, in the semi-final, he psyched out the Kenyan favourite, Wilson Kiprugut, by moving level with him with 60 metres to run. He looked across at the Kenyan and indicated that the pace felt like a training run as if to ask: can’t you run any faster? Doubell described this moment as “the start of the psychological battle”. He moved ahead to win the semi-final narrowly. Doubell’s tactics in the final were similar, stay nearby Kiprugut who liked to lead. At the 300m mark, Doubell moved to second. He really wanted to attack but disciplined himself. “I just kept telling myself to wait, wait, wait…until you’re coming off the straight.” With 150 metres to go, Doubell kicked and raced neck and neck with his rival for nearly 80 metres…” and then I broke contact. That magic moment when the race was decided, physical and psychological contact was broken…There was an eerie silence. The moment was mine. It was the ultimate high.” An Australian male has not won a middle distance Olympic gold medal since that day.

"Like Doubell, High boys in GPS competition are always underdogs and not expected to do well. This contextual knowledge can give you strength to achieve beyond other people’s expectations of you and even beyond your expectations of yourself, resulting in a PB… which is all we can ask of you. What you need to take from this wonderful Australian sporting achievement is the inspiration to rise to a big occasion. Ralph Doubell rose...big time. He had self-belief. He also had self-knowledge about what he could do. Best of all he had the self-discipline to stick to his race plan and break the favourite in a sustained kick from the top of the finishing bend. Self-belief, self-knowledge and self-discipline, plus a great deal of physical talent, combined to make Doubell triumphant. I trust that quite a few of our representatives in the High Athletics team will feel the power of their moment, the ultimate high of victory, after their events at the GPS carnival tomorrow.

"Importantly, we are competing as a team. Every competitor who takes one more place because he pushed himself to his limit puts our score one point closer to the school above us. The importance of individual performances to team success cannot be overstated. Show them that we want it the most. Satisfaction comes from knowing deep down that there was nothing more you had left to give. Use your self-belief, self-knowledge and self-discipline to be the best that you can be on the day.

"I congratulate all the boys who have made the commitment to train and have been selected to represent High at the GPS carnival. I trust many High supporters will come to see you perform and cheer you on. Good luck on Saturday!"
Dr K A Jaggar

Year 7 Spelling Competition - OzSpell

OzSpell is a new national spelling competition to be held annually sponsored by Macquarie Dictionary. It is now open to all 10-14 year-old students Australia wide. The English faculty is organising a school competition for Year 7. Heats will be held during class time and the top five students from each class will compete in the School’s Grand Final on Tuesday 12 June in the Great Hall. The winner will then go on to represent Sydney Boys High at the District Finals. The National Grand Final will be held at The Seymour Centre, in August 2012, where a national champion will be determined. The National Grand Final will be recorded and broadcast on Australian network television. The winner will receive five thousand dollars cash, a huge trophy and another $5000.00 for the school! To find out more please contact Ms Rohr or visit www.ozspell.com.au.

Senior Drama Production – ‘7 Ages’

After the stellar success of last year’s glee-esque production ‘Sharp Love’, SBHS have come together with SGHS again this year to produce a completely different family-friendly pastiche production, ‘7 Ages’. Loosely based around Shakespeare’s famous monologue in the pastoral comedy ‘As You Like It’, our production focuses on the seven ages of man and the seven deadly sins.

Having been part of last year’s production as well, I can tell you that you shall be enthralled by an emotional journey of a different sort this time. ‘Sharp Love’ was largely a comic production and although it did have its fair share of emotional moments, it cannot compare with some of the eerie and chilling scenes from ‘7 Ages’. This year’s production explores the journey that everyone takes in life and the ups and downs that we all overcome. It has again proved to be a very wholesome learning experience with the students brainstorming ideas, translating them to script and finally stage.

Slated to be performed on Wednesday 6 and Thursday 7 June at Campbell Hall, SGHS, it is a highly anticipated production with another captivating show guaranteed. The tickets are expected to sell like hot cakes, so watch this space for when bookings open, if you don’t want to miss out!
Lokesh Sharma
Year 10

Music Notes

Annual Music Camp

The Annual Music Camp will be held at The Tops Conference Centre, Stanwell Tops this year from Monday-Wednesday (28th - 30th May 2012). We invite ALL students in the Music Performance Program to attend the 3-day camp. Music Staff and instrumental tutors will rehearse new repertoire that will be performed at the Camp Concert upon return to school Wednesday afternoon. Please make payments of $280 to the front office ASAP if you have not already done so, as numbers need to be finalised for transport and accommodation.

Outstanding Student Achievements

Congratulations to Ennes Mehmedbasic (Year 12) who qualified for the finals in the Kuringai Philharmonic Orchestra Concerto Competition last Saturday. Please come along and support Ennes performing on Saturday the 30th of June at 7:30pm in the Gillian Moore Centre for Performing Arts, Pymble Ladies’ College against 5 other finalists.

Congratulations also to Jaan Pallandi (Year 11) who has progressed to the second round of auditions for the Australian Chamber Orchestra Academy and will be performing in front of the musicians of the ACO on the 31st of May at the ACO Studios, Opera Quays.

We wish them both all the best in their music pursuits, well done boys, we are all very proud of you!

Music Performance Program

Students in the Music Performance Program, ALL Music Ensembles are now up and running, please ensure that you are attending the appropriate Ensembles as 80% attendance to rehearsals is required for award scheme points.

The 2012 ensemble rehearsal timetable is provided below:

SBHS Debating

MIC Report

I had the pleasure of watching our Year 7 team debate SGHS on Friday evening. I was so proud to see the boys debate so well on what, for them, was a very difficult end of the topic. The topic was “That children under 14 should not be allowed out after 11pm.” The Girls school were affirmative and set the model as being no children allowed out after 11pm on their own. Of course this is a very difficult topic to argue against and despite out Year 7s coming up with very good points and some good rebuttals they lost. I would like to congratulate the Year 7 boys who have debated in Eastside and to say that getting to the semi-finals with so many different boys having the opportunity to debate is quite an achievement. So, very well done! Of course the congratulations also go out to Year 9 who got to the Semis but also lost against SGHS and to Year 11 and 12 who are through to the Grand Final. Good Luck to you boys.
Rachel Powell
MIC Debating

Debating Prefect Report

Eastside semi-finals began last week, with four High teams (Years 7, 9, 11 and 12) qualifying. Whilst both our junior teams unfortunately lost, our senior teams put in a strong display with the topic "the media should not interview whistle blowers until their claims have been proven true" and managed to progress to the finals. Please come and show your support for High at the finals held at Scots today, with the senior debates starting at 7:30. In FED against Barker, the topic area of international relations brought up some very difficult topics (including issues such as Syria, Afghanistan and the Taliban) for all teams but our Years 8, 11 and 12 teams did very well to win. Good luck to all teams in the knockout stages of FED and Eastside.
Christopher Chiam
Debating Prefect

Competitions

This Week:
Eastside: Year 11 and 12 GRAND FINAL at Scots.

Next Week:
Meriden Social Debate – During Coaching

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

From the Andrews Junior Library

NEW RESOURCES OUT THIS WEEK – Finished exams see “new book” and popular books” stands
New fiction and non-fiction books are now streaming out of the Library workroom. All new resources are listed in the new books section of the Portal. They are also on the windows in the Library corridor. The following new resources went into the Library stands this week:

BIG LIBRARY DONATION FROM TEACHER. ALL DONATIONS VERY WELCOME.
Huge thanks to Ms Brenda Kilmore – Maths for her full shelf donation. At $25 a book this donation would be worth up to $660. This is incredible assistance to the Library and the boys. We thank her on their behalf. If parents are cleaning out their bookshelves annually we would ask them to think of donating books younger than 10 years old to our Libraries. In the past donations have doubled the resources going into our collection. As we now have 2 Libraries to fill with resources this assistance from our parents and friends is really welcome.

LIBRARY OVERDUES / RENEWING BOOKS / 1 MONTH LOAN PERIOD
In order to update our overdue books system the Libraries have a permanent slot on the Student Portal telling boys what books they have out and when they are due back. In the same area boys can just click to renew books they have not finished. This enables boys to have books out for a second month. Overdue books mean no further loans and a daily DET email reminding boys to return the books. However the Library will take further action if all of this information to students is ignored and if the books are not back when requested. Overdue books need to come back now please so all students have access to all available resources.

NEW BOOKS BLOG
William Ho our Library Prefect is continually pasting up Student Blogs on new library resources. These will make their way onto a Book Blog on the Portal or Website very soon and are already on the Library corridor windows for short term display. Congratulations to the Blog authors on the quality of their responses.

From the Canteen

Karen’s lovely homemade chicken and corn soup is available again for winter and our delicious steak sandwiches and beef burgers are halal.

Once again thank you for being a canteen volunteer. ALL canteen profits are returned back to the school to help fund projects and facilities which benefit all our sons.


Thank you to our volunteers last week.
Monday 30/4 Nina Ilina Liu, Vicki Moller
Tuesday 1/5 Todd May, Pauline Chan, Annette Ng
Wednesday 2/5 Jianxiu Wang , Penny Chan, Anne Xiao, Cindy Tseu, Sandra Vuong
Thursday 3/5 Mi Young Kim, Mi Hyang Park, Sachiyo James
Friday 4/5 Connie Tai, Minying Li, Nada Andrews

Die Deutsche Frage

No, Mr Boros, Enid Blyton did not drive off into the sunset in an Audi A1. The connection is more remote: during the German Film Festival which was sponsored by Audi one of the films shown for children (students of German, too) was “Fünf Freunde” (“ The Famous Five”). Kabir Agrawal (Yr 8) had the correct answer and scored the chocolate bar (no consolation prize for R Boros).

This week’s question: Feuer, Wasser, Erde, Luft – wer ordnete die Elemente?
Frau St Leon

Sydney High School Cadet Unit

PROMOTIONS
The following promotions within SHSCU are advised with effect 8th May 2012.

Promoted To CORPORAL
LCPL Nelson Tang
LCPL Matthew Zhang
CDT Damian Duong
CDT Matthew Zhang

Promoted to SERGEANT
CPL Dominic Tran

Congratulations to all those moving up into new positions of responsibility

CADET SERGEANT VINCENT YE

CDTSGT Vincent Ye has been recommended for promotion to Cadet Under Officer (CUO). The rank of CUO is the highest rank a cadet may attain and promotion to CUO is made by the Brigade Commander on the recommendation of the cadet’s Battalion Commander.

We congratulate Vincent on his recommendation and look forward to the official announcement of his promotion.

The path to Cadet Under Officer requires successful completion of the Junior Leaders (Corporal) Course, the Senior Leaders (Sergeant) Course and the CUO Course, as well as attendance at camps and minimum times in the various “lead up” ranks.

OFFICER COMMANDING (OC)
No announcement has been made as yet regarding a replacement OC following MAJ Knowles posting to HQ AAC.

High Family

The Bulletin Board for Sydney Boys High P & C

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

P&C General Meeting Wednesday 16 May

A reminder for all parents that the next P&C General Meeting will be held in the staff common room at 7:30pm on Wednesday 16 May.

We will be discussing a number of important issues related to the school’s building funds and co-curricular supporter groups. Parent involvement and feedback is central to good decision making and your attendance and participation at these meetings is strongly encouraged.

Please email This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it with any suggested agenda items.

Saturday Sports

This weekend sees the start of the GPS Rugby season at McKay Oval with trial games against St Pius X College. Parking is straightforward in Centennial Park during winter and High Rugby supporters will, as always, be cooking up a storm at the Fairland Pavilion. The presence of parents supporting our High teams in the sporting arena adds atmosphere and creates a positive environment for the boys involved. Please consider attending a number of your son’s Saturday sports during winter.

Upcoming Parking Events

Friday 11 May 7:40pm – Waratahs v Bulls (Rifle Shooting Supporters Group)
Saturday 19 May 4:40pm – Roosters v Bulldogs (Sailing Supporters Group)

Upcoming Meetings & Events

P & C General Meeting: Staff Common Room – 7:30pm, Wednesday 16 May.

Happy Mothers’ Day for Sunday
Ian Sweeting

School Students Transport Scheme (SSTS)

School Student Code of Conduct – Students travelling on buses must:-

• Dip school bus pass or pay the fare when joining the bus. This is particularly important as the data collected from the on bus fare collection system may be used for service planning purposes
• Use school specials when provided
• Vacate seats for adults when requested
• Follow the driver’s instructions about safety on the bus
• Respect the needs and comfort of other passengers
• Behave appropriately at all times (e.g. no offensive language, no throwing things)
• Protect bus property (e.g. no vandalism)

Students are reminded to:-

• Only use the school bus pass for its intended purpose i.e. for travel between home and school (does not include travel to and from sporting activities)
• Maintain possession of the school bus pass at all times.

During 2012, 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.

From the Office

Letters Re Absence/Lateness/ Early Leave

When 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. Alternatively you may contact the school by phone on 9361 6910 and dial “4” for the absentee line.

If your son has an early leave note he is required to have his note signed by either Mr Barris, 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

If you require leave for your son please, apply in writing and address your application to the Principal, Dr Jaggar, stating the reason and length of time of the leave. Your son must then present this application to Dr Jaggar for permission for the leave. Please remember to apply before the leave and not after.

The Principal must approve all leave applications.

First Aid and Medical Issues

Notice to All Parents
It is the responsibility of parents to notify the Front Office First Aid Staff if your son has a medical condition which requires medication. All medication such as Epipen’s need to be clearly marked with your son’s name and have a current expiry date.

Your cooperation is appreciated.

Cash Register Window

Please ensure that all students have the correct money when making cash payments at the register. Remember payments can be made before school, recess and lunchtime. Thank you for your cooperation.

SHS Zone Cross Country Carnival

Congratulations to the top 10 runners in each age group, at this year’s school Cross Country carnival. These finalists are now representing the school at the coming Zone Carnival on Thursday, 24th of May, 2012.

Students are to pick up a permission note from Ms Dam or Mr Kesting in the IA Staffroom and return by Friday 18th.

In the Swim

CONGRATULATIONS LEONARD MA
9th in the State in All Schools 50 m Freestyle Thanks also to Leonard’s parents who transported him to Homebush quite early and looked after him as he went out on his own to represent the CIS Schools in this event.

FABULOUS EFFORT 30 BOYS - LEARN TO SWIM PROGRAM – YEAR 7
The PE Department carried on a Learn to Swim tradition (begun and taught by the late Terry Ryan) in 2012. 30 boys were selected from the whole Year to be given swimming lessons for 2 terms from trained swimming instructors at the University of NSW heated pool. Of these roughly 12 boys could not swim at all. Several boys were very fearful of getting into the water. After these lessons all of the boys could swim with their faces in for at least 12 and a half metres and many could swim for 50 metres again with faces in. All the boys learned to dive. All of the boys should be very proud of the progress they made. Thanks to the wise parents who agreed to pay for the lessons which were conducted during Sport allocated time.

Boys not mentioned in the following list have made good progress but could not be regarded as capable of saving themselves if they fell into deep water and need further instruction to ensure their safety. Could their parents please note a few more lessons would be a good idea?

Congratulations to the following boys who achieved these skill levels:

Afsar Sadin 25 m swim face in, back float 5 seconds, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres, 25m backstroke.
Dean Chen 25 m swim face in, 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board.
Jason Feng 25 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres, 25m backstroke
Jonathan Gao 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board.
Hayden Hua 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board.
Jeron Lek 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board.
Quang Vinh Nguyen 25 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres, 25m backstroke
Dibendu Roy 25 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres
John Tian 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board.
Phillippe Tung 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board
Anthony Xiao 25 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres, 25m backstroke
Feng Jun Yio 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board
Ruilin Zhang 50 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres
Cuthbert Zhong 50 m swim face in, 25m backstroke, back torpedo w board
Jack Zhou 25 m swim face in, back float 5 seconds, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres
Raynond Zhu 25 m swim face in, Back Kick 12 1/2 metres, 25m backstroke

Sydney Boys High Football Committee

The first meeting of the 2012 season will take place on Monday May 14 at 5.30pm in the Staff Common Room. All parents of football players are encouraged to attend. Football has the highest participation rate of any sport played at High. Our MIC Matt Mulroney has worked hard in the pre-season and we have new developments in coaching and playing venues to announce but we need as many parent volunteers as possible.

Please come and help make this a memorable and exciting season!

SBHS Ski Trip 2012

In the second week of the school holidays a team will represent the school at the Interschool Snowsports (Sydney Division) Championships held in Perisher. If there are any keen skiers or snowboarders who are interested in spending 5 days on the slopes and competing in the events please see Mr Fuller in the Maths staffroom for more details.
A Fuller

Sports Donations

GPS sports competition is very demanding on people and resources. At High we have ongoing needs for facilities development, equipment and development through expert coaching. If you would like to help through a tax deductible donation for a particular sport, the appropriate form can be posted to you by calling 9361 6910. Alternatively, you can go to our website www.sydneyboyshigh.com click on Sport /Sports Donations to download either Development Donation Form or Equipment and Facility Donation Form.

From PDHPE

The following tables indicate the students who have achieved perfect scores in their practical assessments during Term 1, as well as those students who made a significant improvement in their performance. Congratulations to all these students. This information will be posted in Room 901.
G Stein
HT PDHPE