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Sydney Boys High School

 

Principal's Letter to Families of Year 12

 

The main purpose of this letter is to wish your son and you all the best for the coming HSC.

Before I get to that, however, let me explain the cancellation of the Year 12 farewell assembly.

It is important that you understand the reasons for its cancellation.

The first thing to understand is that the assembly is not one of those dignified, formal occasions that we al1 enjoy as part of the school's tradition. My experience at the school encompasses 8 such assemblies, only 3 of which have not included unsatisfactory elements. In my time as Deputy Principal and Principal I have seen Year 12 boys turn up drunk and/or out of school uniform. I have seen disruptive behaviour during the assembly. I have heard teachers made the butt of cheap shot comments, to the point where they have later come to my office irate and demanding to know what I was going to do about it. I might mention here that a teacher in a NSW school has in fact sued for defamation for comments made during such an assembly. I have heard self-indulgent 'speeches' delivered by self-appointed 'humourists'. Not even the speeches by year representatives have been guaranteed an uninterrupted hearing. These things have happened, notwithstanding concerted efforts by staff to check content and to exercise editorial control.

This year you were all sent a letter explaining the school's position on so-called 'muck up' activities. You got it in plenty of time to allow discussion with your son and to counsel him against getting involved. As I said then, it might seem like harmless fun to an outside observer. In fact, such activities are fraught with danger. 'Muck up day' is the worst day in the life of any school administrator. The idea that they are harmless occasions for a bit of good fun is naive in the extreme. The idea that they are a 'right' for boys who are entitled to a bit of farewell fun is nonsense.

The first incident this year involved transferring a set of goal posts from Centennial Park to the school grounds, in fact the grounds of SGHS. Amusing fun, perhaps? Ingenuity worthy of a selective school, perhaps? Not really. If anyone suffers injury from one of these so-called pranks eg by attempting to climb the posts, it is the school that the lawyers aim for. The Department has more money than the individuals involved. As far as I know the goal posts are still at the school. Has anyone volunteered to put them back? Not as far as I knew. The school does not have a vehicle suitable to transport goal posts. What do we do? Hire one? Ask for the loan of one? The real question is: Why does the school even have to consider how to get them back to McKay? Q: Who moved them? A: members of Year 12. Year 12 walk off and the school is left with the problem of taking the goal posts back.

Another incident involved entering the courtyard outside school hours and inflicting minor vandalism on items of school property. A wheelbarrow and valuable implements were missing. Only after dire warnings were issued were these things returned.

A third matter involved vandalism to a bench seat near the canteen. These seats were bought at great expense a few years ago for the convenience of senior boys. Up till now they have survived unscathed. They were installed by volunteer labor to save the school money. Only after dire warnings was the scat returned. No one has offered to reinstall it. The school will have to pay for replacement bolts and will have to divert the energies of the General Assistant to do so. Why? Because members of Year 12 chose to act in a certain way.

Certain members of Year 12 chose to purchase a 3' shark from an aquarium and to put it in the school trailer near the canteen, with a minimal cover of water. The shark was taken to the beach, admirably by students of Year 12, and released. Teachers and students alike were revolted by this cruel act. More work for the administration. A less than pretty sight for members of the school.

The writing was on the wall when these events occurred. The wise heads among Year 12 should have seen it.

Following these events the Deputy Principal and I visited every Year 12 English classroom. I laid down the law in emphatic terms about those incidents and about so-called 'muck up' activities. I made it clear that the first thing to go would be the assembly, the second the luncheon. I also said that anyone who did something really silly would be doing the HSC at another venue. Anyone who abuses the school is surely not entitled to the comfort of familiar surroundings for the exam.

No one should have doubted that I meant business when the DP and I visited classrooms. A significant proportion of Year 12 was present in English classes when we visited. I explained in detail about the dangers of egg throwing and water filled balloons, giving examples from my experience. The message was both blunt and clear.

The Deputy Principal and Sportsmaster were asked about borrowing a barbecue to use in Centennial Park. The request was denied. The boys were directed not to go to McKay. They chose to ignore this direction.

During Tuesday night and Wednesday morning quite a few of them were in Centennial Park, drinking and skylarking. The Deputy Principal visited the park and spoke to park rangers. Bottles etc had been strewn about which some boys later helped to clean up. Rangers reported that a utility had been driven around the park in an unacceptable manner with people in the back.

This kind of behaviour can set back our relationship with the Trust considerably. I know this aspect of the school well as it is my job, along with the Sportsmaster, to maintain good relations with the Trust. The diplomatic damage from an escapade such as this can be very great indeed. It is far from funny. It all shows up in Trust incident records and can be used against the school. The school has recently contributed $4000 to McKay to get it right for the summer season. It is not the time for it to be the venue for a drinking session. It is, I understand, an offence in itself to consume alcohol in Centennial Park. It is hardly a statement of affection for the school to use McKay as the venue for a drinking session.

On Wednesday morning boys from SBHS and girls from SGHS were egged at Central Station. Some had to have changes of clothing at school. Boys from this school were said to be responsible.

The Principal of SGHS reported to me that a girl from SGHS was struck near the eye by an egg thrown by one of our boys. The girl reported to the Principal in considerable distress. She was given first aid by SGHS staff. We were a couple of centimetres away from a potentially serious injury. Another girl had a large bruise on her leg caused by a water-filled balloon.

A group of perhaps 20 threw water on junior students at the Girls School and, according to the Principal, caused them considerable distress. It was only because we set up a perimeter and kept the boys off school premises that more such incidents did not occur. The boys had both eggs and water filled balloons on them. They planned to use them. Some boys did chance the perimeter and ran through the Girls School throwing objects. One group that attempted to enter SGHS were directed not to by a senior woman member of staff. One of our group, according to a written statement by her, said 'very loudly' : Who the f*** cares?

The DP estimates that nearly half of Year 12 was involved, to a greater or lesser degree, in doing unacceptable things or being accessories to unacceptable things. That is a large proportion of Year 12. These were boys who had had written and verbal warnings.

I would estimate that 20 hours of executive time were expended on Wednesday on things related to the so-called 'muck up' attempts. I personally put in 3 hours 'on the beat', as did the DP. Executive staff of the Girls School also put in time, I would estimate 15 hours, primarily to keep our fellows out. There may be some who consider that perimeter patrol is what executive in schools actually do on 'muck up day'. Perhaps that is their job on that day. I don't happen to share that view. At this time of year we have many, many other things to do.

The bogus daily sheet that was issued contained items that one would have preferred to be omitted. Cheap shots at staff members are not on, as I have said to every Year 12 since 1992.1 particularly resent the reference to a past casual relief teacher whose name has been recently in the press. That reference by members of Year 12 was highly distasteful. The matter remains sub judice and such comment is also most unwise. The sheet had been distributed by the time we found out about its existence. I have been told that 'only two boys' had anything to do with its production. Ok, but add those two to the group who did the goal posts, the group who vandalised the bench seat, the group who dumped the shark, the group who removed the garden implements, the group who threw eggs at Central, the group who went to Centennial Park, the group who ran through SGHS, the group who threw water filled balloons across Cleveland Street, the group who insulted the senior member of SGHS staff, the group who threw eggs at junior tennis players... and the large group that spent much of the day near Moore Park Golf Club who would have gone on with it had they been allowed onto the premises.

The offers of assistance came too little, too late. There was an offer, at about 10.30 on Thursday, to help identify wrongdoers. There was no offer of assistance to take the goal posts back or to repair the bench seat. The bill for this year's 'muck-up day', with 2 nights of a security guard included, will be somewhere between one and two lots of voluntary contributions. SGHS also had security on, primarily to keep our boys out. We do not have to meet that bill.

Whichever one of you owns the boy who struck the girl in the face with the egg can feel very lucky that it did not impact on her eye. The boy can feel relieved that he is not facing a charge. So can the boys who threw eggs at Central. Had the schools not established a perimeter and maintained it, it is highly likely that several of your sons could have found themselves in trouble had they injured anyone with eggs or water filled balloons.

I do understand the argument about penalizing the good etc. I feel for them. I feel for the people, staff included, who had worked towards organising the assembly. I am also very disappointed at having to contemplate action such as cancellation. We have tried everything in past years, to no avail except in 1995. This year I took the additional step of putting out a very detailed letter many weeks in advance. Following the early incidents the DP and I visited the classrooms and issued an emphatic warning : about vandalism, about eggs, about water filled balloons, about dangerous and reckless behaviour. The boys had been warned to an extent unprecedented. The possible consequences were clearly spelled out. A fair proportion of them took the odds that the school's warnings were tokenistic and they were wrong.

We will attempt to give a ceremonial handclap today in different form. It is by far the most important part of the assembly, some would say the only important part.

And so to the HSC. Your son should be studying hard from now until the conclusion of his papers. I would suggest one night out per week, no more. And confine phone calls to a particular time of day, say 8-8.20pm as a suggestion. 20 minutes should be enough. Phone calls are potentially a big time waster.

There is enormous stress on a conscientious candidate for the USC. If you see the slightest sign of untoward stress in your son, something that really concerns you, please ring the Counsellor or me without delay. If your son in any way behaves oddly eg walking the house during the night, sleeping much more than is necessary, opting out altogether, contact one of us without delay. We have had 2 such cases in my time here and we know how to deal with them. We will drop everything to deal with the matter.

I wish your son well in the HSC. It is a big challenge and I am confident that he is up to it. I expect the Class of 98 to do well and to go on to tertiary studies with enthusiasm.

Having a boy pass out of secondary education is a milestone for you.

Yours sincerely

 

RJ Stratford

Principal

25 September 98


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