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High Notes, Vol 27 No 14, May 22 2026

From the Principal

High Talent

Well done to Arjan Walia (7E) who demonstrated his community spirit by volunteering his time during Term 1 and school holidays to assist the Kids Giving Back organization. Their work is important in helping people in necessitous circumstances with food or care packages. At the NSW Fencing Roberta Nutt Shield, Ethan Li (12F) won silver in the U19 Men’s Sabre. In U19 Men’s foil (36 competitors) Tom Ye (12E) won a bronze medal eq. Congratulations to our fencers!

Valé Nikhil Autar (SHS-2011)

This week Nikhil lost his 15-year battle with leukaemia. He was unable to sit his HSC examinations in 2011 due to the onset of this debilitating disease. He struggled manfully to live a fulfilling life, being active and original in his social wellbeing efforts. He visited High on several occasions over the years to inspire us about investing in hope, social advancement and compassion for others. He loved basketball. He was adjudged Young Australian of the Year for his community work. Despite family tragedy, he achieved his life-long goal to qualify as a doctor. He valued life intensely and lived it to the full. Our condolences are extended to his family at this very sad time.

Financial Support for School Capital and Operational Projects

I am pleased to note that despite our voluntary contributions being capped at the 2025 level, 79% of these items have been paid. I encourage all parents who can help to make these contributions to ensure our school thrives. In respect of our tax-deductible items, the response to the Sydney High Advancement Fund request has been very strong at 77%. Our co-curricular supervision and technology levies have been paid by 84% of families – an encouraging level of support. However, our tax-deductible Library Fund (Student Research and Resources) is not faring as well, with a 55% response. We have a facility to purchase textbooks and accession them into the library stock and then loan them to students on an annual basis. These loans could be soft as well as hard copy. More support before June 30 tax time would help us purchase more new texts, which are so important as we implement new syllabuses across the school in 2026 and 2027.

Governors Centre Operating Committee Meeting

At last week’s meeting of the Operating Committee of the Governors Centre, it was agreed that we should spend up to $100k to have a landscape gardener refresh the Cleveland St. garden area. It has overgrown and been hard to maintain for some time. The work will improve the public facing view of our Governors Centre. As the facility has been in use for more than five years, we need to provide for a lifecycle (sinking) fund to repair or replace equipment, especially AV. Four significant term deposits, managed by Governors Centre Ltd, are in place to meet future financial obligations to maintain the building. The Governors Centre is in heavy demand by community hirers, due to its location, flexible use possibilities and competitive hiring fee. Thank you to Lisa Jennings, who manages all the bookings and to Michael Silva for his services to our clients as the Venue Services Coordinator for hirers.

Winter Sports Assembly 2026

My address to the assembly is reprinted below.

"Good morning to parents, staff, guests and students. Welcome our special guest, Judo dual Olympian, Nathan Katz (2016 and 2020) as we celebrate students selected in our GPS teams for Football, Rugby and Cross Country, at our first Winter Sports Assembly. We congregate before the first official matches of the GPS competition each winter season, to honour our elite sportsmen and also to thank all those people who give their time to support them.

"This winter our Football program is being guided by our new MIC, Jake Rowlands (SHS-2017). We wish him the best of luck for the season. I should acknowledge the great work of Sam Higgins who brought our program back from 0 wins in 8 open teams, 8 years ago, to winning a premiership in 2024. Thank you to our coaches Peter Denyer (first grade), Bruno Pivato (second grade) and Liam Cowan (3rd grade). Thank you to our staff coaches, Matthew Hood (16As and Bs) and Richard Gifford (13As). Jake will be assisted on Saturdays by staff members Shane Jennings, Jeremy Ohlback, Lauren O’Sullivan and Joyce Wang. Thank you to them and to our committed Football Committee, particularly Gilbert Parazza (President), Nicki Dadic (Vice President), Nikos Paipetis (Secretary) and Rajesh Lucknauth (Treasurer).

"Thank you to Edison Dorahy (SHS-2019) who has taken over from Viv Paul as MIC of Rugby. We thank Viv for his service and passion for rugby. Staff supervising rugby this season are Viv Paul, Matt Cotton and Matthew Bowman. Jack Bowditch has signed up for another season as first XV coach, assisted this year by Ethan Cusick (2020) and Saxon Gerstl (2023). Nelson Cheng (SHS-2022) is our medic and trainer. Guiding the 16s are Tom Britton (SHS-2022) and Oscar Greville (SHS-20023). Kridaya Singh (SHS-2024) and Jeremy Lu (SHS-2024) have the 15s group. On 14s are Joe Britton (SHS-2024) and Quan Nguyen (SHS-2023). Our 13s beginners are mentored by Jin Shim and Naeer Nibras (SHS-2025). Thank you to our team of Old Boy coaches and to our parents serving on the Rugby Committee (Andrew Kuo, Peter and Louise Zeng, Kelland He and Yves Stenning. We are looking forward to a season of fun and camaraderie in the traditional sport in winter at High.

"Thank you again to Kurt Rich, our cross-country MIC. He is managing our large contingent of runners with the help of staff members Lena Park and Lilly Gavin. Our coaches this year are Ren-Shyan Balnave (SHS-2018), veteran Neil Song (SHS-2015), Tanish Sarathy and Aaron Chu (SHS-2025). We have seen consistent mid-table results in the cross-country program for some seasons, thanks to good coaching and dedication by our participants.

"Today, my message is about the power of self-belief in sport. Most of my experience at High has been observing individuals or teams being intimidated by their GPS opponents, making a difficult contest even harder for them. Performing at your best is hard at any time without carrying the additional burden of disrespect from opponents. I have seen many teams underperform in the pressure cooker environment of GPS sport. Just as confidence and self-belief are eroded by sledging, mistakes and misfortune, so are the chances of success in sporting contests. Of late, some teams have built an admirable collective self-confidence which becomes contagious to its members – examples are our 2024 football premiership win, the recent CHS knockout victory in cricket and the improved performances of the rowers at the Head of the River. Our 15A cricket team has won 28 consecutive matches in GPS competition. As flowers bloom in the desert after rain, so repeated success reaches a tipping point at which self-belief carries teams to even very unlikely successes. It’s about building and maintaining high expectations and confidence that you can perform the basic skills repeatedly. Above all, we are there to compete until the end.

"As we approach this winter season, we need to emphasize the skills we have and what we do competently as teams. Doing the basics right every time is a good place to start to build self-confidence and team cohesion. At training this winter, we are trying to increase the intensity of the work we do. We want to emphasize skills training in our 4 x 15 minutes model – warm up, skill 1, skill 2, game simulation. If everyone trains hard and the drills and equipment are ready in advance, one hour ought to be enough for teenage bodies to exercise. Our Head Teacher Sport, Ms Jackson, has oversight of this new training approach, across our winter sports. If boys are disciplined and committed, skill development will happen, with accompanying gains in self-belief. Strength of mind and positivity go a long way in sport. Most of all, sport should be fun, even if you are up against more skilled opponents.

"Congratulations to all boys selected in the representative teams for the 2026 season."
Dr K A Jaggar
Principal