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High Notes, Vol 27 No 32, October 23 2026

From the Principal

High Talent

The Junior Secondary Speaking Award was established in 1995 as the Legacy Junior Public Speaking Award and renamed in 2024. It consists of two tests. First, a prepared speech of five minutes is delivered on a topic of the competitor鈥檚 choosing. Second, competitors are given five minutes to prepare a 2-minute impromptu speech on the same topic. High has won the state competition only twice 鈥� Alexander Bodman (1996) and Thomas Kaldor (2002). NSW winners have gone on to win the national competition nine times.

At the state final, held in Parliament House, Lucas Tran (7E) won the title. Given the standard of the competition, this win was historical. Our congratulations are extended to him, his coach, Ryan Allen (12E), and to Ms Julie Eggleton, MIC of Public Speaking, who gives of her time so freely for gifted program participation by our students.

Policy on Misogynistic/Sexist Behaviour

The Secretary of the Department of Education, Murat Dizdar, wrote to all principals and staff on Monday, October 19, concerning the increase being experienced in misogynistic attitudes and behaviours directed at female staff and students in schools. Social media influencers propagate and reinforce online content and messaging that seek to normalise disrespect towards women. This behaviour has no place at High.

Acts of violence do not emerge spontaneously. They begin with 鈥渦nchallenged attitudes, sexist language and jokes, disrespect, unwanted attention and the objectification of women and girls鈥�. When schools do not address these behaviours promptly, and treat them seriously, behaviours can 鈥渘ormalise and escalate into more serious forms of violence鈥�. Our school response to such behaviour will be to take a hard-line, 鈥榸ero tolerance鈥� approach when implementing negative consequences. Our response matrix for emerging, repeated and serious incidents was published and propagated earlier in the year.

We are communicating again with our broader school community at all levels, so that every student understands what we expect of them and why we expect it. Bullying, sexualized behaviour and misogyny directed at staff, students or anyone in the community, will not be tolerated. Such behaviour will result in referral to a Deputy Principal, interview and contact with parents via an Intention to Suspend letter. A second occurrence of misogynistic or sexist utterances will result in a suspension from school for up to five days.

Let us all work together to reinforce positive behaviours and be respectful in our utterances at all times.

Multipurpose Sports Centre

The long-awaited Multipurpose Sports Centre construction is finally underway. The security fencing, extending from the corner of the demountable classroom to the trees next to the basketball courts and along the border with SGHS, is a large area, but should be self-contained for materials and equipment storage during the project. Our event parking spots will be reduced by around 50 鈥� even more reason for volunteers to adhere strictly to the parking map to park as many cars as possible on site on big-event days.  The contractor will deliver a building the same size as was intended originally, hence the delay while architectural drawings were amended. The construction will be staged, with no noise until the end of the HSC examinations. The bulk of the work will be done in December and January. The sign off should occur in April. Our long-suffering table tennis competitors will have a home base in Term 2, 2027. In the interim, students are asked to respect the boundaries of the compound and stay away from them.

Upcoming events

• Year 8 should be preparing for their assessment block which commences on Monday, October 26.
• Unusually, we are holding a GPS fixture on Wednesday, October 28. First and seconds basketball will play in the evening, and tennis will be competing during sports time, but with an early start. Students will be expected to catch up on work missed if they are involved in these fixtures.
• Year 9 subject acceleration applications for 2027 Year 10, are due on Friday, October 30. Applicants are advised that Head Teachers of the Faculty delivering the stage 6 course for which they are trying to qualify, must sign off support for their applications. Parental support and approval must also be included on the form. Completed applications have to be delivered to the Principal鈥檚 Assistant, Ms Stephanie Diamantis, by close of business on the Friday.

Dr K A Jaggar
Principal