Dear parents and guardians,

On Wednesday we held our Academic Excellence Assembly where we recognised and celebrated the academic achievements of the Year 12 cohort of 2020.

Academic Colours were also awarded to 19 current Year 12 boys and three Year 11 boys. From the class of 2020, 34 boys were awarded ‘First in Course’ and a further 13 boys were recognised for having their major practical works nominated or selected by NESA as exemplars for exhibition and performance at events across NSW.

Toby Goldschmidt and Kevin Wang both achieved an IB Diploma score of 44, equating to an ATAR of 99.75 and Alistair Shaw scored the perfect 45/45, equating to an ATAR of 99.95. Alistair is our Hardy Medallist for 2020.

Our special guest at this year’s assembly was Mr Saahil Parekh (ON 2015). Saahil was our Senior Prefect in 2015 when the class of 2020 were in Year 7. He also achieved the perfect score of 45/45, an ATAR of 99.95, which placed him as one of the best-performing students in the southern hemisphere that year and saw him receive the 2015 Hardy Medal for Dux of the College. Saahil gave himself every chance at success because of the sincerity of the effort that underpinned all that he did. Saahil spoke to the boys about ‘Success’. His message was genuine and moving and his speech can be viewed here.

Reporting on effort

At Tuesday’s staff meeting we discussed several items including the new Effort Profile that a working party has been developing since the middle of last year. Our Pastoral and Academic Executives have also played a key role in the evolution of the effort rubric that will be used to assess a student’s level of effort at each reporting cycle. I will provide you with the rubric and a more detailed explanation in the coming weeks.

Catch-up classes

We have previously communicated about this with you. I ask again for your support to ensure that your son prioritises his attendance at any catch-up class over external commitments. There will of course be times when an appointment cannot be changed, and we ask that you communicate with us when that is the case. Otherwise, your support in ensuring your boys are prioritising their academic progress is appreciated.

Every week our Assistant Head of Sport, Mr Sam Irwin, provides me with a report on all the sporting fixtures from the previous weekend. This week I would like to share a part of that report with you: Congratulations to our 15B basketballers and their counterparts at King’s, who played a great match on the weekend and could not be separated, even after two extra time periods. A 31–31 draw achieved in the best possible spirit. To the boys in the 15Bs and their parents, I say thank you.

Let’s see more of this fabulous sportsmanship over the coming weekend.