High Notes, Vol 16 No 20, June 26 2015
High Talent
Congratulations to our impressive open basketball team who won
the CHS Knockout Competition last Thursday remaining undefeated in the championship. The team
was: Nathan Sutton (captain), Brendan Fattore, Noah Fowler, Jack Hutchison, Tim Jeffery, Max
Menzel, Ethan Merrick, Bailey Musulin, Luke Schroeder and Anthony Wu. This was an excellent
result for a very effective and highly focused team culture. Congratulations, boys! Sam
Musgrave was selected in the Combined states Rugby team – a very impressive achievements
for Sam. Manson Luk (Year 10) qualified for the National Taekwondo Australian Opens
Championship – great job Manson. Our table tennis team won the CHS Knockout Championship,
disposing of James Ruse in the semi-final and Murray High School in the final. The team was:
Edward Belokopytov (Year 11), Lenny Han (Year 9), Roy Lin & Alex Yeung (Year 7). Edward and
Alex are also representing NSW at the Pacific School Games in Table Tennis. Alex will be a
reserve for the U18 team as a Year 7 student! Great effort, boys! Congratulations also to Kieran
Guan (7R) who won all four events in the 12-14 years Division of the Endurance Plate in short
track ice racing. Kieran will represent NSW at the Duke Trophy competition in Queensland in
July. Well done to our boys in the recent Latin Reading competition. In Year 10 ‘Highly
Commended’ awards went to Sanishka Balasooriya, Joshua Ng and Roy Yi for their reading of
Ovid. In Year 11 Elias Hall was awarded ‘Highly Commended’ for his reading of a
passage from Lucan.
End of Term 2
It has been a very busy, satisfying and challenging term.
Staff members have had added responsibilities and compliance demands but have risen to the
occasion with their customary High spirit. The impact from the plethora of
‘frameworks’ and templates has increased workloads across the board. Unique
challenges have involved quite a few staff in out-of-hours additional work. Successes in various
competitions have resulted in more staff, more often out of the school accompanying students to
competition venues of various kinds. Interschool visits to Armidale and Melbourne High School
have also added time burdens to staff. I want to thank everyone involved for the confident,
seamless and efficient manner in which these co-curricular activities were planned, organised and
executed. It is a privilege for me to be your Principal. Have a well-earned rest.
Guys and Dolls Co-production
Thank you to all the staff, cast and crew from
SBHS and SGHS who worked so well together to produce the enjoyable and impressive school
production of Guys and Dolls. Courtney Powell was tireless in her efforts to
deliver the choreography and support the cast members. In particular, I congratulate Andrew
McNaughton, Noah Fowler and Jaspar McCahon-Boersma on their performances in leading roles. If
speaking in public is rated as one of the most daunting challenges we face, then singing in
public must be a huge ask. Thank you all for an uplifting evening’s entertainment.
Old Boys Union Initiative
The SBHS Executive has approved the proposal by
the Old Boys Union to run a ‘pilot mentoring scheme’ for current students of High who
are members of the OBU. The OBU has an existing program whereby Old Boys in tertiary education
connect with OBU mentors, including: QCs, surgeons, partners in law firms, entrepreneurs,
partners of accounting firms, University professors and many other influential people. Feedback
suggested that this program could be extended into the high school setting as a supplement to
existing careers advice offered by the School and Mr Cipolla, the Careers Adviser.
Prefect Induction Assembly
This week we held a delayed assembly to induct
our School Prefects for 2015. Prefect Interns have had to meet standards in academic performance,
participation in school life, canteen duty, representational duties, attendance and school
uniform wearing. Not everyone completed the induction period successfully. Those boys who
received their perpetual School Prefect badges, have satisfied the criteria for being a High
Prefect and have signed their names in the Prefects Book. I congratulate each of the 32 students
who have reached this significant milestone in their school lives.
Valé MIC Prefects Clay Kesting
After ten years of dedicated service
in the role of MIC Prefects, Mr Kesting is retiring from the role. He brought much wisdom,
experience, an avuncular style and mellifluous vocals to the demanding job of mentoring up to 36
of our most committed High all-rounders. He was instrumental in reforming the standards required
of Prefects many years ago and has raised the status of the office by his calm, firm and
industrious leadership. I acknowledge and thank him for his contribution to the student
leadership program of our school.
New MIC Prefects – Ms Rigby
I have signalled the importance placed
upon this role by moving it into the Executive domain. Ms Rigby, HT of History, has been
appointed to the role with a brief to take a fresh look at all qualifying standards, roles,
accountability and voting procedures, concerning the high profile position of School Prefect. I
look forward to working with her, the Executive and the student body to enhance the quality of
the Prefect System as it operates at High.
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal
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