The Strength of the Shore Community

Dear Students, Parents and Carers

Last weekend Shore was the venue for the Memorial Service for Tom Livingstone, Old Boy of 2021, whose young life was tragically cut short by an accident. The grief of his parents and sisters is naturally immense. I was able to pass on the condolences of the whole Shore Community and to express that partly through a floral arrangement for the family. On such occasions one wonders what can actually be said that is helpful amidst the profound sadness. 

It was notable that 500 people attended the Chapel and its overflow onto the lawn. The concern and love for the family was very visible. To be a member of the Shore Community means something important. There is great empathy, compassion and regard within. 

The Bible reading chosen for the service was very poignant, “… clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” (Colossians 3:12-14). It was clear from the five eulogies, supported by the remarks by teachers, Tutors, Housemaster and coaches found in Tom’s file, that Tom demonstrated all these attributes. He had imbued the message from parents and the School. It was calculated during his time at Shore he had sat in Chapel around 300 times. 

At a time when we are reflecting on our emerging Strategic Plan, as we try to set a course for the future, it is very important to recognise those aspects of Shore which are fundamental to its essence and which should never be discarded. Amongst these are Shore’s commitment to building men of good, indeed we hope great, character and to helping the community of Shore thrive and remain a constant. We see that currently in the considerable numbers of Old Boys who wish to remain involved with their School and who are happy, even eager, to attend reunions, even into their 80s and 90s. This is very precious and absolutely worth maintaining and celebrating.  The African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” is manifested at Shore. The School itself and the continuation of the Shore Community after graduation is the village. 

Tom Livingstone embodied the wonderful virtues expressed in the Colossians passage above. His attributes were commendable, praiseworthy and the sign of a very fine human being. At this time of planning for the future, some voices would like to maintain these Christian values at Shore but without reference to Christian faith and Jesus, to insist on the attributes without the teaching which develops them. They would like to have the Kingdom without the King. My sense of this proposition is that it is not sustainable for very long. The plant will not flourish for long when the roots are cut off. We hope, through conducting our School’s ministry of Christian faith in the same sensitive, invitational and respectful manner as has been done for generations, to assist other fine young men to grow to maturity and be a blessing in the world at large.

Dr J Collier
Headmaster

This Week We Thank the Medical Centre

The dedicated team at Shore’s Medical Centre work tirelessly behind the scenes to provide exceptional care and support to our students.

From patching up grazed knees on the sporting field, to being on call 24/7 for our Boarders, the scope of their work and unwavering service is appreciated by the Shore Community.

We wish to thank Dr John D’Arcy, Sister Raellen Vandenberg, Sister Elizabeth Glynn, and Sister Bronwyn Gravina for their aid to students and staff across our campuses.

Top image credit: Sister Bronwyn Gavina and Sister Raellen Vandenberg

Sign Up for the New Tech Cadets Programme!

Do you consider yourself a tech wiz? Are you someone who enjoys computers and problem solving? Are you looking to add core skills to your resume? If that sounds like you, consider signing up to the student Tech Cadets! We are pleased to announce the Shore Technology Services team will run an exciting new Tech Cadets Programme for students in Years 9-12, commencing in Term 1 Week 7 of this year. This programme aims to develop students’ technical and collaboration skills as well as their problem-solving abilities, in the context of serving the Shore Community. Students in the programme will assist the School’s Technology Services team under the watchful guidance of the Digital Learning team and provide practical advice and general support for their peers. Mr Richard Jones and Mrs Amanda Pfeffer are leading the charge for Tech Cadets and are excited to bring this new programme to life. 

By participating, students will bolster their post-schooling employment options, and also develop essential, lifelong professional skills that will assist them on any career pathway they choose in a world of evolving technology. The Tech Cadets Programme also offers a unique opportunity for students as it complements the service-learning ethic of the School, with attendance being taken and colours being made available.

The Programme is anticipated to run for one to two lunchtimes per week in the Tech Hub. Please note, the Programme has no links to gaming and instead focuses on service skill and knowledge of using technology to improve efficiency. Students that are interested in signing up for Tech Cadets must be willing to commit for at least two terms and should send an email to Mrs Amanda Pfeffer expressing their interest.

Mrs A Pfeffer
Head of Digital Learning

2023 Annual Old Boys’ Cocktail Party

All Old Boys are warmly invited to the 2023 Cocktail Party which is being held on Friday 31 March, on the Old Boys’ Terrace from 6:30pm – 9:00pm.

We look forward to sharing this special evening with you all.

Please RSVP and book at: www.trybooking.com/CFXUA

Mr S Woodhill
President OBU

Upcoming Key Events

• Shore Fellowship Community Dinner – Thursday 9 March
• Shore Parents’ Association Tennis Day – Friday 10 March
• Shore Parents’ Association Year 7 Welcome Barbecue – Saturday 11 March
• Old Boys’ Cocktail Party – Friday 31 March

Annual Armitage Lecture

Shore was pleased to host the Annual Armitage Lecture last week in the BH Travers Library. The Armitage Lecture series was established in 2005 to remember the first Old Boy of the School who entered the ordained Anglican Ministry, Reverend Isaac Armitage.

This year’s lecture saw us welcome Teachers and Heads from other Anglican schools and colleges across the country. The lecture was given by Dr Ruby Holland, an outstanding role model and teacher, who discussed the topic, What We Have Learned About the Nature of Anglican Education Since Archbishop Peter Jensen’s Seminal Armitage Lecture.  It was a true privilege to have you speak at Shore. Thank you, Dr Holland.

Reverend A Benn
School Chaplain

Chaplain’s Chat

Throughout history there have been many examples of people wanting to make their mark on the lives of others. This can come about with very good intentions and can often be seen in the actions of the people involved. The impact of people’s actions can clearly be seen in the good that they do. Such examples like Mother Teresa helping those in the streets of Calcutta or, closer to home the Reverend Bill Crews helping the homeless in Sydney.

On the other hand, we have people that make their mark on people’s lives in a negative sense. The quest for power, the quest for domination, and selfish motives have led many to cause great harm and damage to those around them. In so many examples, it is the people in power who often use this for their own means and ends.

As we turn to the central character of the Bible who is Jesus, we see that He has all authority and power given to Him by none other than God Himself. His resurrection is proof of this.

Jesus Himself says He has a Kingdom but it is not of this world. And yet as King of this Kingdom, Jesus uses His power and authority to serve others and look out for the needs of others. As Philippians 2:8 says “[Jesus] humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death – even death on a Cross.” What wonderful news this is for all of us! Jesus indeed has made His mark on the lives of others as they seek to follow in His footsteps.

Reverend A Benn
School Chaplain

CRU Update

Last Friday, the CRU group met again at lunchtime in the Christian Studies Centre to gather as God’s people and hear God’s Word from Ollie Hurt who led last week’s session. We looked at a passage from Acts 4 which Ryan Gilmour spoke on. Ryan unpacked the story of the healing of a lame man who was over 40 years old which was performed in the name of Jesus Christ. Those opposed to Jesus realised Peter and John had performed a miraculous sign that was undeniable, and didn’t know what to do, so they commanded Jesus’ Disciples not to speak about Jesus anymore. But Peter and John were filled with the Holy Spirit and could not stop sharing the incredible Gospel of Jesus’ resurrection. In this passage, we heard the Holy Spirit at work in Peter and John, and in the people who praised God and came to faith in Him as they saw this miracle.

Ryan helpfully shared that it is all about Jesus and that this was a sign pointing to how salvation is found only through Jesus’ death and resurrection.

He mentioned that because of Jesus’ sacrifice for our forgiveness, we have an eternity to look forward to of incomprehensible peace as described in the prophecy of Isaiah. We then split off into discussion groups to dive deeper into this passage and spend some time praying to our Heavenly Father.

Next week we will continue exploring the book of Acts and would love to see more boys coming along to the Christian Studies Centre to hear the Gospel.

D Becker
10 TY4

Chapel Notices

HSC Tribute: Class of 2022

This year’s HSC tribute, held on Friday 17 February, saw students from Years 9, 12 and ’13’, gather in the Smith Auditorium to celebrate the academic achievements of the Class of 2022. The event featured a celebration of the outstanding academic achievements of last year, whilst also featuring several speeches giving advice to the current Year 12 cohort in their HSC year.

The event opened with a speech from the Headmaster, Dr John Collier, who commended the Class of 2022 on their diligence and hard work in their HSC and their outstanding academic achievements.

Dr Collier presented the Headmaster’s Enterprise award, which is awarded to the boy who makes the largest improvement in order of merit in his HSC year. Well done to Zac Chadwick for winning this award.

He used Zac’s extraordinary improvement as an example to the current Year 12s that hard work, perseverance, and grit are more important than just talent alone in your HSC year.

Following this address, the Deputy Head Academic, Mr Matt Leeds detailed the outstanding achievements of the Class of 2022. Special mention was given to the six state rankings achieved, as well as the ten students who achieved an ATAR of 99 or above.

Mr Leeds also emphasised the depth of the cohort, with a median ATAR of 90.35 (indicating that over half of the 113 students achieved an ATAR in the 90s, and 74 percent achieved an ATAR of 85 or above).

Importantly, the well-rounded achievements of Toby Brandon-Cooper, Jackson Stiel and Jordan Li, who all achieved exceptional ATAR results despite their significant investments in Swimming, Rugby, and Music respectively.

This carried an important message to the current Year 12s: an active engagement in Sports and School life can, and should, accompany the intense academic workload of Year 12.

At each tribute, a few high-achieving boys are asked to speak on their key takeaways from their HSC year, giving advice to the current Year 12s on how to tackle the long and challenging year that lies ahead.

The first speaker, Edward Ellis, highlighted the importance of completing past papers to prepare for exams. He encouraged current Year 12s to attempt past papers under timed conditions and ask their teachers for feedback on their work.

The boys were also lucky enough to hear from Nathan Zhou who achieved not only a perfect ATAR of 99.95, but also state top ten rankings in both Mathematics Extension 2 (2^nd) and Chemistry (8^th).

Interestingly, despite achieving a perfect score, what Nathan really emphasised in his speech was not the need for constant, life-consuming study, but rather striking the balance between work, enjoyment and exercise. Nathan referred to his own experiences in Tenths Basketball and as a frequent gym attendee, as key ways he decompressed during an otherwise stressful HSC year.

Additionally, he encouraged the boys to regulate their technology usage during study sessions, and suggested leaving their phone in a different room, or in his case, attempting to discard laptops entirely, instead favouring pen and paper, which has the added benefit of improving your writing speed.

Will Defina, who also achieved an ATAR in the 99s, spoke of his experiences in the ‘8 O’clock Gang’ (a group of boys who worked in the Library after School until closing time) as a fond memory of his HSC year, and likewise expressed the need for balance in a year that quickly becomes study-dominated. Will discussed that studying in the Library with friends, although marginally less productive, was a great deal more enjoyable than studying alone at home. When considering the HSC as the marathon that it is, as opposed to a sprint, Will explained how enjoying studying, as he did, becomes a necessary part of sustaining high effort throughout the year and avoiding burnout.

Finally, the boys heard from Chuyi Wang from the Class of 2017, who left Shore with a 99.95 ATAR and state rankings in English Advanced and Latin Extension. Chuyi discussed that when he left Shore, he had an intense passion for Literature, and knew he wanted to study this at university. However, after two years of university, Chuyi realised he was no longer in love with English and switched to a Law degree, discussing how a part of him felt he had wasted his first two years of university. What Chuyi stressed was that whilst the ATAR is important, you never really know where life will take you, and your passions may change and develop over time.

Top image credit: Chuyi Wang, Year 12 2017

With the end of Chuyi’s speech, the Class of 2022 left to a standing ovation to celebrate their extraordinary performance. I hope the current Years 9 to 12 students were able to take away as much as I did from the amazing speeches of these impressive boys.

C Ashton
Year 12 Student

Know your Library

The Shore Senior Library is open from 7.20am to 8.00pm on Monday to Thursday and from 7.20am to 5.00pm every Friday. Qualified and friendly staff are on hand to help students find suitable books and resources, as well as teach research skills such as referencing.

The Senior Library’s extensive Fiction collection is organised into 17 different genres, spanning from Historical Fiction to Fantasy and Action. Library staff are always happy to provide book recommendations, whether it is a classic that has stood the test of time or a book that is new to the collection. Some recent acquisitions to check out are:

The Library’s Non-Fiction collection is notable for its specialised sections. In particular, the section called ‘Non-Fiction Stories’ is popular with the boys. It has books of high interest for recreational reading, for example biographies and memoirs. Some recent purchases are:

• So far, So Good by Aaron Fa’aoso
• The Most Fun Thing: Dispatches From a Skateboard Life by Kyle Beachy
• The Age of Uncertainty: How the Greatest Minds in Physics Changed the Way We See the World by Tobias Hürter
• Zelensky: the Unlikely Ukrainian Hero Who Defied Putin and United the World  by Andrew L. Urban and Chris McLeod

The Senior Library has recently added two other specialised sections to the collection. ‘The Wellbeing section’ covers a range of topics of benefit to the boys such as mental health, fitness, diet and nutrition, spirituality, brain puzzles, study habits, anti-bullying and healthy relationships. Some interesting titles within this section are:

• Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover
• Starving the Stress Gremlin by Kate Collins-Donnelly
• 222 Ways to Trick Yourself to Sleep by Kim Jones
• Brain Food by Lisa Mosconi  
• Be You, Only Better: Real Life Self-care for Young Adults (and Everyone Else) by Kristi Hugstad
• Teen Baking Bootcamp by Matthew Merril

‘The Careers section’ is the newest specialised section which contains reading material to help the boys explore future career path options. The collection is currently limited, but some titles which may useful are:

• What makes us tick: Making sense of who we are and the desires that drive us by Hugh Mackay
• Think Again: The power of Knowing What You Don’t Know by Adam Grant
• What I wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig
• What it Takes to Be a Doctor: An Insider’s Guide by Dr Ranjana Srivastava

We hope the boys take advantage of the various resources available in the Senior Library. For further questions, including assistance finding specific reading material, please speak to one of our helpful Library staff during our opening hours. 

Ms E White
Head of Library and Information Services

Holiday Workshops

Holiday Workshops will be offered from Thursday 6 April to Year 12 boys during the upcoming holiday period. These have proven successful in providing boys with structure that complements their individual study programmes.

Each three-hour Holiday Workshop session covers important HSC topics in that subject. A mix of strategies will be used in order to maximise learning, including revision lectures, structured tutorials and discussions. Workshops will generally be limited to a minimum of seven and a maximum of 20 boys. A fee of $70.00 (GST included) will be charged per three-hour workshop, which is excellent value compared to externally run HSC lecture courses. Boys are strongly encouraged to make good use of the workshops and are expected to stay for the entirety of each workshop.

A selection form will be handed to each boy in Year 12 and is to be returned to Ms Ducrou, Executive Assistant to the Deputy Headmaster Academic. Boys can choose to attend as many sessions as they like.

Every attempt will be made to accommodate all boys, but it may be necessary to restrict the number of boys in a particular workshop, depending upon demand. This will be done on a first come first serve basis.

A list of all available workshops will be available through Lampada, from Friday 18 March. Please note, charges will be made to the next fees statement on a no-refund basis.

Boys will not be required to wear School uniform and are not encouraged to drive to School for the workshops. However, if they do drive, they are not permitted to park on School property under any circumstances.

We do hope that each boy will participate in the workshops, which, according to boys in the Classes of 1999 – 2022, contributed well to their success during the HSC examinations.

Mr I M Middleton
Assistant Director of Studies

Term 1 Progress Meetings

Notice to Year 12 Parents

Year 12 Progress Meetings: Monday 20 March 4.00pm to 7.00pm via Zoom

• Further information will be emailed to parents of Year 12 students with meeting details
• All Year 12 boys are expected to be in attendance
• No Co-Curricular activities will take place for students who have Progress Meetings

For further enquiries, please contact Academic Data Manager, Ms Jenni McKinley, at jmckinley@shore.nsw.edu.au.

Ms J McKinley
Academic Data Manager

Wellbeing Speaker Series

Our Wellbeing Speaker Series at Shore is a key component of our holistic school approach to education. We aim to support the boys in their educational journey by cultivating the right kinds of habits and social and emotional competencies. As the boys transition through Senior School, they face more complex social and emotional challenges, such as managing their feelings towards others, developing healthy relationships, and understanding their evolving rights and social responsibilities. Our goal is to equip them with the essential skills they need to navigate these challenges effectively and to function well under stress. We believe that developing social and emotional skills, including courage, confidence, principled decision-making, care for others, and a willingness to take risks, is crucial to the growth of our boys in becoming young men of character and integrity. Our speakers are experts in their field and share their insights to help develop the right habits of mind and to help the boys thrive in their academic, personal, and social lives.

Last Wednesday 22 February, a seminar was delivered by Your Choicez, with guest speaker David Kobler addressing the Year 9 cohort. The seminar focused on several key issues that are relevant and important for our boys to understand as they navigate their teenage years. These important issues were discussed over the course of three sessions, and the information shared will continue to be discussed and thought about by the students in the weeks to come.

The first session focused on the importance of having the courage and strength to ask for help when it is needed. David highlighted that the choices the boys make now can have a big impact on who they become in the future. The current pressures that teenage boys are facing around sex, body image, relationships, and dating were discussed. The Man Box study, conducted by the Jesuit Social Services, was introduced and examines how ideas about masculinity can impact men’s health and wellbeing. David stressed that a healthy version of masculinity is important and defined it as putting other people before yourself. This involves caring for the people around you, and it requires discipline, self-control, and self-denial. It is about living a life in which you know who you are, what matters to you, and who matters to you.

The second session focused on the negative impact of pornography. A discussion was had on how accessibility, affordability, and anonymity make pornography a very real challenge for our young people today. Research on the effects that pornography has on viewers was addressed, including a Sydney University study on pornography’s impact on Year 10 students throughout Australia. David offered tips on how to reduce and minimise exposure to pornography, and the importance of reaching out for help if students are struggling.

The final session focused on the importance of considering the person behind an explicit image. David discussed sexting and image-based abuse, as well as consent and boundaries in both digital and physical contexts. The new affirmative consent laws were outlined in detail. Coercion, catfishing, and sexual harassment examples and definitions were also shared.

As the Acting Deputy Head Pastoral Care, I reviewed the key information from these three discussions with the boys in this week’s Year 9 meeting. I made a point of connecting these topics to a broader understanding of what it means to live well and be a young man of good character. Hopefully, this seminar and subsequent discussions will provide the boys with valuable information and tools to navigate these topics more effectively. It is also hoped that the information shared will encourage them to have ongoing conversations with their peers, teachers, and families about these critical issues. You can find more information about the seminar by listening to the parent webinar that Your Choicez presented last week: Lampada – Your Choicez – Parent Seminar

Our upcoming speaker events focus on the topics of mental health literacy and stress management and will be presented to our Years 10 and 12 students, respectively. Our speakers are selected to help us engage the boys on a number of key wellbeing topics including respectful and healthy relationships, digital wellbeing and cyber safety, mental health literacy and safe celebrations.

Thank you to our guest speakers and to everyone involved.

Mr D Champion
Acting Deputy Head, Pastoral Care

From the Music Department

Concert Group
Recently, Shore’s Concert Group went to the City Recital Hall to listen to Karin Schaupp and Flinders Quartet perform. This was part of a nationwide tour, starting in Sydney. They played a variety of music from a very wide timespan, reaching from 1798, to a special piece commissioned in memory of Jennifer Bates in 2021. Each piece encapsulated a different style of music, making use of various techniques to create distinct sounds.

During one piece, it sounded as though a flute was being played, which was quite surprising. We even received an encore for being such an enthusiastic audience, which was a great way to end the night. Overall, the performance was excellent, and all the performers played masterfully. I highly recommend it to anyone who has an opportunity, despite its highly limited run.

Lachlan Martin (Year 11)

ENCORE Concert
Elective Music students from Years 9 to 12 attended ENCORE, a concert which showcases a cross-section of the best HSC performances and compositions from the previous year. We were entertained by a large variety of performances from instruments including the flute, French horn, marimba, viola, voice, double bass, drums, and guitar.

Each of these performances highlighted supreme musicality, exemplary technical skills, and the ‘Sean factor’ (also known as ‘the wow factor’). The performers delighted us with a myriad of tone colours and showcased a variety of styles, particularly contemporary. Notable performances enjoyed by our entire class included a female vocalist singing in an indie-pop style ‘A Brand New Me’ by Train and a drummer who performed Taylor Hawkins’ Tribute Duet, accompanied by guitar. This performance hit 97 decibels and thrilled the audience.

Year 11 Music 2 Class

Icebreaker 2023
Thank you to the String Quartet, comprised of Alan Li, Ryan Gilmour, Max Kim and Tim Wong, who performed for Shore parents and staff at the annual Icebreaker event last week.

Band and Choir Camps
A reminder that Band Camp is on Tuesday 7 March and Wednesday 8 March. Choir Camp is Tuesday 1 August and Wednesday 2 August. Details will be emailed to parents. For more information, please contact:
Coordinator of Bands: pdorich@shore.nsw.edu.au;
Choir Camp: Director of Choirs: ewels@shore.nsw.edu.au

Upcoming Dates:

Mrs K Barber
Head of Music

2023 Musical – Save the Date!

Week 6 Athletics Trials for Years 8 and 10

A reminder for all boys in Years 8 and 10 that the Athletics Trials will take place on the School Oval at North Sydney Campus next week. Attendance is mandatory and the trials will occur on the following dates:

• Boys in Year 10 will trial on Monday 6 March during Periods 5 and 6.
• Boys in Year 8 will trial on Tuesday 7 March during Periods 5 and 6.

Boys will contest the following events:

• 60m Sprint
• Long Jump
• Shot Put
• 400m
• Push Up Test
• 800m
• Vertical Jump

Boys will need to wear their uniform as per normal and bring their PE uniform to School on the day to complete in the trials which commence after lunch at 1.10pm and conclude by 2.50pm. Normal after-school Sport activities will remain on these days. Please get changed at 1.00pm during lunchtime on your designated day and meet promptly on the School Oval at 1.10pm.  

For further queries, or if you are unable to attend, please contact Reverend Anthony Benn via email: abenn@shore.nsw.edu.au

Reverend A Benn
MIC Athletics

Basketball Report

Game reports this week are in the student section courtesy of Thomas Graetz.

Player of the Week: Miller Boyle continues an impressive top scoring run to help the 13Fs to their first win of the season.

Team of the Week: The 12ths defeat this week sees the fall of one of our two undefeated teams.  Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened.

Mr G Davis
MIC, Basketball

Cricket Report

Round 11 First XI Match Report versus Newington College

Please reference the Cricket Report in the Holtermann Columns for the First XI Match Report.

Round 11 Second XI Match Report versus Newington College

Saturday 25 February played at the War Memorial Playing Fields, A Ground, Northbridge

Shore 0/93 (Oscar Everett 41 (48), William Kowalski 45 (46)) defeated Newington College 10/92 (Jack Mott 3/11 (8.0), Matt Melville 2/11 (10.0), Toby Ogg 3/18 (10.0)

After last week’s heroics, our boys were in a great mental space with much belief and energy to continue taking the game to the opposition. With some rain during the week, we knew the pitch would have some juice in it, so it was a good toss to win and send Newington into bat.

Our openers, Jack Mott (3/11 (8.0)) and Chris Lovell (1/30 (4.0)), took full advantage having them 4/10 with Jack Mott taking two wickets in two balls.

Our spinners, Matt Melville (2/11 (10.0)), Toby Ogg (3/18 (10.0)), Ben Powell (0/12 (4.0)) and Jack Robson (0/7 (3.0)), continue to do an outstanding job applying pressure and breaking partnerships.

Additionally, our fielding has been superb taking all our catches and saving extra runs in the field. Newington were never able to recover bowling them all out for 92 in the 39^th over.

Our goal now was to chase it down inside 25 overs to secure the two extra bonus points. I was a bit concerned after witnessing Scots failure the week before, that it may have some mental demons for our boys, but I was well off the mark.

Oscar Everett (41 (48)) and William Kowalski (45 (46)) batted maturely and intelligently. They took the game on and were rewarded with an unbeaten opening stand of 93 to get us home in the 16^th over. That is now three straight wins.

This is great confidence going into a strong Riverview team who is currently sitting on equal points as us. They beat us the last time we played them, so we will be keen to continue with our winning streak and possibly move into third position.

Mr G S Tesoriero
Second XI Coach

Third XI: The Third XI enjoyed their outing to Marrickville Oval on a bright sunny day with a cooling south easterly breeze and the chance to do some serious plane spotting. Shore won the toss and batted on what looked like a decidedly dodgy deck. The top order did well to keep their wickets largely intact and we were decently placed at 3/53 at drinks.

The openers had seen off the main strike bowlers and Fergus Frater was starting to boss the lesser lights of the Newington attack. But again, the drinks break proved our demise (is there something in the Shore water?) and we collapsed to be all out for 70 after only 24 overs.

It was never going to be enough, even on a green top. Our opening pair bowled a good line and length, but the breakthroughs never came, and Newington cruised to victory in the 14th over.

Mr R J Ward
Third XI Coach

Fourth XI: After last week’s tough loss to Scots, the Fourth XI were chomping at the bit to get back in the winner’s circle and show what they are made of. Winning the toss and choosing to bat appeared to be a masterstroke, with Cal Forster blasting 24 off the second over before his innings came to an untimely end. A rush of runs and wickets saw the game heading for an early finish with Shore 4/48 after five overs. Fortunately, a steady middle order knock of 24 from Dylan Dalgliesh-Quinn got Shore’s innings back on track, before Tom Santow (33*) and Jack McRae (20*) combined for what was comfortably their best innings each of the season to put Shore in a commanding position of 9/149 after the 20 overs.

With particularly short square boundaries, the plan was to keep the ball full and straight when Shore came out into the field. While there were some mixed results in terms of sticking to this game plan, Shore was able to do enough to consistently break any Newington partnerships before they got going. Coupled with two opportunistic runouts which had Shore celebrating and the Newington batsmen berating themselves, we were able to do enough to hold on and restrict Newington to 138 off their 20 overs. A good hard-fought win against a quality opposition, exactly what was needed as preparation for this weekend’s huge fixture against Riverview. Up the Toadies!

Mr N A Trumbull
Fourth XI Coach

16A: The 16As lost the toss and were sent into bat on a very green and soft pitch that was going to be difficult to bat on. After the first ball held in the wicket and left a divot in the pitch, the Shore batsmen knew they had a difficult task ahead of them. The Shore top order struggled to develop any sort of partnership due to a constant flow of wickets. Charlie Mott (17) was one of two batters for Shore to reach double figures and batted with real grit and determination. Shore were bowled out for 68 after 23 overs. The Shore bowlers had to be at their best if they wanted to have any chance to win the game. Unfortunately, as the game went on, the pitch began to dry out making it much easier for the Newington batsmen which saw them pass Shore’s total one down after 14 overs. 

A Robinson
16A Coach

15A: Shore arrived at Newington in the hope of using last week’s momentum to fuel this week’s game. Newington won the toss and chose to bat first on a deck that looked relatively flat and hard. Shore’s bowling innings started well with Daniel Jonker bowling all six of his overs claiming figures of 2/11, while Harry Kowalski remained tight at the other end. At the halfway point, Newington were 2/68 which left the game in the balance. Shore remained patient and while only grabbing four wickets during the whole innings, they kept Newington to 4/140 which was definitely below par. Daniel Harvey continued his great form after last week’s century and scored a well-earned 50. Stian Constable at the other end was looking comfortable as well with the pair running very well between the wickets and hitting the bad ball to the boundary. Shore lost a couple of quick wickets, however the run rate was certainly not an issue. Julian Harrison came to the crease and had great intent and footwork against Newington’s spinners. He led us to victory with ten overs to spare by smashing a six over the fence and into a nearby neighbouring backyard. This win should give Shore a huge amount of confidence and hopefully, Shore can make it three in a row next week against Saint Ignatius’ College Riverview. 

Miss S Horley
15A Coach

15B: The 15Bs had a good start with Lachie Richards and Nick Evans seeing out the openers. Lachie Richards was bowled out for 4, but Nick Evans remained at the crease to form a strong partnership with Charlie Ryan. Nick ended up with 24 runs and Charlie, the top scorer on 41 runs. Harry Lyons batted well for 10, hitting the game’s biggest six over long on. The Shore run-rate slowed a little with the tailenders and, with a man down, Shore posted a total of 115. Newington made a strong start and looked to control the game, but a miraculous run-out by Henry Pritchard changed the momentum of the game. The finish was tight, with Newington needing 18 runs off 18 balls to win. Shore did not let up, but with wickets in hand, Newington was able to score the winning runs.

Mr A N Mason-Jones
15B Coach

15C: On Saturday the 15C set out to play The King’s College for the second time this season, this time at home. Shore won the toss and elected to bat posting a modest total of 121 runs for the loss of five wickets in their allotted 20 overs, led by Tom Munn’s 30 not out, Malachi Warner’s 23 and Bryce Skarott’s 22. Shore’s bowling attack put up a solid performance. Tom Atkin and Ollie Bucktin got off to a great start, with Tom Atkin taking one wicket for just five runs and Ollie Bucktin picking up two wickets for 31 runs. Despite this, Kings’ batsmen fought back and took the score to 61 before the drinks break. However, Shore’s renewed efforts after the break saw them tighten their grip on the game, with Tom Munn making a crucial run out and taking two more wickets for only seven runs. 

A Fisher and A Gill
15C Coaches

14A: Shore arrived at Newington and were sent in to bowl after losing the toss on what looked to be a sticky wicket. The Shore bowlers were accurate from the first ball and ensured no easy runs were scored. A few early chances went begging as the Newington spectators were on the edge of their seats. Thomas Hamilton, James Mathur and Jude Terry came away with a wicket each before drinks to have them 3/39. A crucial partnership from Newington saw the run-rate slowly creep up and they posted 8/128 at the end of their innings. Shore came out firing scoring nine off the first over to make a statement early. Unfortunately, wickets began to fall, and the run-rate soon was out of reach. Lachlan Boys and Cooper Glanville kept the Shore fighting spirit alive through most of the innings. Shore ended up 40 runs shy of Newington’s total as the last wicket was taken in the final over of the day.

Mr J Murphy
14A Coach

14B: Shore batted first on a sticky wicket with short boundaries. Will Howman-Giles batted very well and reached his retirement score quickly. Unfortunately, from that point we struggled to time the ball, posting a score about 30 shy of what was needed. We bowled well but were unable to defend our small total. Newington passed our score with three overs remaining.

Mr M D Webster
14B Coach

14C: The 14Cs were up against Newington at home for this week’s round and were playing on a smaller oval than normal. They were looking forward to scoring plenty of runs and seeing some batting partnerships develop. While this did happen, it was unfortunately Newington who scored plenty of runs and developed some strong batting partnerships. They batted first and totalled a whopping 188 runs from 20 overs, with a century from one of their batsmen. Shore fell into old habits by starting the game well but losing their intensity and allowing Newington to control the game. Our opening batsmen struggled to set up the scoring as wickets fell easily, with a Newington bowler getting a hattrick. But it was the tail that wagged and found some runs, our number nine batsman Liam Burtonclay scoring a career high 23 not out.

Mr C D Burke
14C Coach

13A: Newington won the toss and elected to bowl. With the wicket playing slowly and popping after some midweek rain, Shore was in some early trouble at 2-16 but recovered well to compile an excellent 4-140. Daniel Wyborn carried his bat for 55 not out, very well supported by Jack Courtenay with 46. Tom Capes bowled very well to finish with 3/8 from 5 overs, while Courtenay secured an excellent 2/2. The bowling was economical, with wickets also taken by Sam Kierse, Hugh Campbell and Toby Smith as Shore dismissed Newington for 85.

Mr B N Morris
13A Coach

13B: The under 13Bs took on the undefeated Newington team this weekend. Newington won the toss and decided to bat, which was a challenge that the home side relished. Shore made an impressive start with some great fielding and bowling, especially from Eddie Godfrey and Archie Watson, who both took three wickets. Shore restricted Newington to 55 from their 20 overs. Shore went out to bat hoping to get off to a good start, which is exactly what William Hadfield did by hitting a very impressive 21 runs. Shore reached a total of 56 in the 11th over, continuing the B team’s undefeated streak after their first three games.

Mr S Chapman
13B Coach

13C: It was great day up at Northbridge, with Shore batting first. Tom Nutt and Max Cawood opened, with Nutt scoring a quick fire 27, whilst Cawood scored 33*. Zach France and Charlie McGuiness also batted strongly, and after the 20 overs, Shore had posted a strong total of 4/123. Shore started, well and wickets were taken at regular intervals, with all bowlers pitching in. Newington had very little chance, as the attack proved too dominant. Ultimately Shore had a great day, winning convincingly.

C Smith and A Gill
13C Coaches

13D: In the third match of the season, the 13Ds faced off against Newington, having lost the coin toss. Opting to field first, Newington sent Shore in to bat for the first innings. Shore got off to a great start with some impressive opening play and quickly formed several healthy partnerships. Dash Vonwiller retired after contributing a useful 11 runs, while Lachlan Ward matched his score with 11 runs of his own. In the second innings, Newington came out to bat and immediately began losing wickets to some outstanding bowling by Dash Vonwiller (2/1) and Sid Shoemark (1/1). Sid also pulled off a remarkable runout, which triggered a middle-order collapse for Newington. Despite their best efforts, Newington fell short by 31 runs in the end, three from three!

Mr C R Tyson
13D Coach

13E: An away game at Kings saw the 13Es with a cold and early start to their Saturday. Morale was high as the boys looked to improve upon their loss the week before. Having lost the toss and being sent out to field, the team’s main target was to bowl tightly, and restrict Kings run scoring. Despite a lack of training during the week due to Year 7 Camp, Shore opened extremely strongly, with Joshua Nieland taking two wickets in the opening over, setting the tone for the entire Kings Innings. The other opening bowler Thomas Mann, took three wickets in his spell including two wickets on his last two balls, leaving him on a hattrick for the next game. The wickets didn’t stop coming for the Shore team, with all six bowlers who bowled getting at least one wicket, bowling Kings out for 33.

Belief was high amongst the Shore camp, the possibility of an opening win of the season within their grasp, as the openers went out to bat. However, the Shore team stumbled early, first falling to 3/2 and later 5/11. It was then a match winning partnership between Alexander Merrin 9* and Richard Lowe who both remained not out at the end of the game. They were able to weather the storm throughout King’s strong bowlers and opportunistically waited for the weaker bowlers to bowl bad balls, to either score runs off or add to the sundries list. Shore chased down King’s total with five wickets in hand, ending 5/37, winning their first game of the season. The team improved astronomically after their first game and head into training this week hoping to build on their skills and add another win to their tally this weekend.

T Marshall and N Griffiths
13E Coaches

Player of the Week Nominations:

1. First XI – Hugo Orpin 62
2. Second XI – William Kowalski 45 (46) and Oscar Everett 41 (48)
3. Third XI – Fergus Frater 40
4. Fourth XI – Dylan Dalgliesh-Quinn 24 runs and 2/10
5. 16A – Charlie Mott 17
6. 15A – Daniel Harvey 51
7. 15B – Charlie Ryan 41
8. 15C – Tom Munn (30*, 2/7 and a run out)
9. 14A – Oscar Brown 2/26
10. 14B – Will Howman-Giles 35*
11. 14C – Liam Burtonclay 23*
12. 13A – Daniel Wyborn 55*
13. 13B – Eddie Godfrey – 3/5 superb fielding and bowling
14. 13C – Max Cawood 33*
15. 13D – Owen King 18
16. 13E – Thomas Mann 3/4

Player of the week: Daniel Wyborn – 55* carried his bat for 32 overs

PLC/Kings/Rowing NSW Regatta Round 1

Last weekend saw the Shore Boat Club in action in two Regattas across Sydney. The annual 2023 PLC/Kings/Rowing NSW (RNSW) Regatta was held in Penrith, and the first of the All Schools Regattas in Canada Bay, NSW.

Our Years 8 and 9 Quads raced first, with just about every crew that went to the start line having a last-minute reshuffle due to an illness of some sort. Our Squad recorded two wins, three 2^nd place finishes and a 3^rd place. Well done to this Squad for all their efforts despite the last-minute reshuffle, especially to the Fourth and Fifth combination with their win. The Fifth Quad recorded a winning margin of over one minute in an approximately four-minute race – one of the greatest finishes I can remember in recent times.

Similar to our Year 8 combinations, the Year 9s were forced into some late changes due to illness and injury. This Squad was able to record three wins, one 2^nd place and three 3^rd places from their seven races. It has been great to see our Third and Fourth Quad combinations continue their winning ways this season. Despite regularly having to deal with personnel change, they still found a way to get their bow ball across the line first.

Whilst this Regatta was underway, our Senior and Year 10 crews were drawing up to the start line. The First VIII and Second VIII raced first, both finishing in 4^th place after being in the lead pack at the 1,000m mark. The First VIII narrowly missed out on a podium finish by 0.11 of a second. The Second VIII, unfortunately, had some issue with illness overnight. Fortunately, despite being unwell all night, Ben Roe declared that he was up for racing and showed great resolve through the race to stroke the boat to a great position at the half-way point. The crew had to settle for 4^th place but should take some confidence from the previous two weeks. 

Our IVs Squad raced next and showed that the steady improvement in training has not been a mirage, with some very strong performances coming from this group. This Squad recorded two wins and two 2^nd places from their four starts in the school boy events.

The First IV and Second IV’s two wins were outstanding, with the First IV having to come from half a length down at the 1,000m mark to make a move through the third 500m to claim the win. Very mature racing was on display from James Collier, Jordan Elliott, Rory Hall, Jock Fenwicke and Sam Warburton. 

The Second IV Squad had a great first 250m which saw them establish a half-length lead at the 1,000m mark. The crew consisted of Max Gillian, Preston Scott, Adam Watson, Edward Kenny and Alex Bishop who showed great tenacity to hold on despite a late challenge from The King’s School.

Our Year 10 VIIIs raced in the second half of the Regatta and were able to record one win, two 2^nd places and one 4^th place in a very full and competitive field. The Second VIII showed great class to continue their winning ways.

The crew of Hamish Wade, Caleb Jones, Josh Frape, Will Kellett, James Bestic, Jasper Halstead, Jack Riding, Henry Faddy and Jamie Gandhi coxing have been in great form this year, with their wins coming from very consistent work through the third 500m.

Our last highlight of the day came from our Third IV, who were racing in the Under 19 event later in the day. In what was one of the closest races of the day, our Shore combination of Piers Mendel, Aidan Macfarlane, Jake Hebblewhite, Lewis Kingdom and Charlie Waugh had established a strong lead, coming into the final 500m but came under attack by a very spirited Kings combination. Ultimately, the crew held on by just 0.43 of a second to record a win.  

First VIII Boat Christened ‘Sue Wright’

Last Wednesday, there was a great moment at the Boat Shed where we were able to christen the ‘Sue Wright’ boat. This boat will be used to as our First VIII boat for the next few seasons, and it is very fitting that the name of a person who was a tremendous pillar of support to Dr Wright will have their name on the boat that will support our Rowing boys in their endeavours this year and the years to come. 

Mr G Bates
MIC Rowing

Surf Lifesaving Report

Juniors Year 7 and 8

After 2 busy and successful weekends with carnivals the Year 7 & 8 Nippers were able to work on their board skills.  The surf was fairly gentle which allowed all boys to catch waves and get familiar with the surf craft. 

Following a warmup run and stretch the Nippers competed in a beach sprint event before getting on the boards.  A board race was followed by board training in the clean small waves. 

The following results were recorded: 

Intermediates – Years 9 and 10 

Conditions were perfect which enabled the intermediate coaches to take the opportunity to programme one of the SLS season favourites – a paddle to Butterbox. For those who are not in the know, Butterbox is a shallow water reef on the southern side of Long Reef Headland that picks up the southerly swell effectively. The boys paddled for over a kilometre in total and spent a fun session catching waves and working on their board technique. The Year 10 contingent also continued their IRB Crew training with Mr Ben Neighbour and worked on their rescue technique out in the IRB, plus how to raft and paddle a boat with a non-functioning motor. 

Seniors – Years 11 and 12 

The seniors have been placed into four separate patrol groups who will rotate the duties over the final weeks of the season. This has also enabled the Patrol Competition to begin, whereby the boys run, paddle and swim against each other for the chance to be crowned Patrol Team Champions on the final Saturday of the season. The Year 11 boys continued their IRB crew training out on the water, performing rescues and working as a team to get an IRB without a motor back to shore. 

Six Year 12 boys successfully completed their IRB Crew Assessment after weeks of early morning and late evening training. A huge congratulations to Ollie Hurt, Will Curran, Will Pritchard, Spencer Nelson, Lachlan Walter and Jasper Krawchuk. The boys had to relocate to Warriewood Beach to find surf of over 1.5m to be able to take the assessment and demonstrated outstanding skills and knowledge. Shore School would like to thank Adam Kent of Long Reef Surf Lifesaving Club for his time and dedication in getting the boys through this qualification. 

Mr G Jones 
Acting MIC Surf Life Saving

Surfing Report

The surf was good on Saturday as the Shore Surfers set up at their usual location. There were main options; a left-hand wave breaking back into a channel near the pole, and a strong rip bowl producing a nice right a bit further south.

Duncan Cowan, Ben Jones and Harry Murdoch-Tilmouth stuck to the left, with Ben continuing to show big improvements in his Surfing. Most of the other Surfers headed for the rip-bowl.

Will Hoy and Morgan Elvy quickly worked out the tricky wave; both managing to stay in position to make the most of the waves. With so much water moving through the break, there was a lot of paddling and repositioning needed to catch waves. Lachlan Warner, Noah Kordek, Henry Peters and John Rajaratnam also found some very good sections on the right hander. Nathan Stanmore moved between the right and the left to catch his waves.

Overall, the standard of Surfing was high despite the tricky conditions.

Mr J McClelland
MIC Surfing

Swimming AAGPS 3

On Friday evening, the Shore Swim team joined over 90,000 other Sydney siders to descend on Homebush for an exciting evening. While many of those people were headed next door to Accor Stadium for the Ed Sheeran concert, the Shore Swim team entered the Aquatic Centre for an equally exciting night of AAGPS racing.

The night got off to a great start, with the Seniors placing 3^rd in the Open AAGPS 4x50m Freestyle Relay. This result moved the Shore team into 3^rd place on the progressive point score, with two AAGPS relays remaining for the season.

The Championship events then moved to the 400m Freestyle, with Noah McLaren placing 2^nd and Zac Izzard placing 3^rd in the Junior and Senior events, respectively. Shore placed consistently in the 50m Freestyle Championship events with Billy Jones, Will Bestic and Ethan Ng placing in 3^rd. Archie Lawry continued his impressive form with 2^nd place in the 13s age group.

The 50m Butterfly Championship was up next, with several boys backing up with strong performances. Archie Lawry, Jonty Jagger and Ethan Ng all went on to place 2^nd in their age groups, adding valuable points to Shore’s progressive totals.

Other highlights of the evening include Ethan Cook’s dominance in the Breaststroke with a five second win in the 200m race. Sam Chan, Will Bestic and James Hoskins placed 2^nd in their 200m events and increased their chances of The NSW Combined Independent Schools Sport Council (NSWCIS) selection.

A great highlight of the night was the incredible stamina of Hugo Stewart who, with 10m to go in the 200m Butterfly, managed to put in a huge effort to come from 3^rd place to 2^nd place in what was a massive personal best, and a sign that Hugo’s hard training and worth ethic are paying off.

The night was capped off with the Junior and Intermediate 4x50m Medley Relay teams both placing 2^nd in the Championship events. These races were both very tight with every place making a difference to the total point scores.

The Shore team are preparing well for this week’s AAGPS 4, and we wish them all the best in their events.

24 February – Competition Carnival No.3
Junior Point Score

24 February – Competition Carnival No.3
Intermediate Point Score

24 February – Competition Carnival No.3
Senior Point Score

Event 4: 24 February – Competition Carnival No.4 4 x 50m Freestyle
GPS Open Relay Point Score

Mr J Somerville
MIC Swimming

Tennis Report: Shore versus Newington

On Saturday, the Firsts played Newington during an away game. The boys seemed unbothered by the swirling wind and started strongly with aggressive volleying. After the doubles, Shore led by two matches to one. In singles, Sam Wensley and Oliver Wilcox went on first, and set the tone. Both boys played high quality matches and won in tight straight sets resulting in a Shore lead of 4-1. However, Newington’s team proved to have good depth, and they fought back. Nonetheless, Zac Little dug deep to come back from a set down to clinch a match that lasted nearly three hours. Shore ended up winners in the end 5-4. Newington were coming 2^nd on the AAGPS ladder, so Shore made a statement to the rest of the teams with this win.

After the Seconds tight win last week against Scots, the task of Newington looked to be a breeze. An easy win from Connor Fung and Chris Mathur 6-1 6-0 gave Shore a great highlight for the day, but underestimating your opponents is never a good idea.

Newington was determined to prove themselves to the competition and cleaned up the other two doubles within the next hour. There were six points still to play for after the doubles and plenty of time to bring it back. But the Newington steamroller was in full force, winning three quick singles matches to give them an almost guaranteed win. There was still hope though, each match counted, and the three remaining boys managed to pull in two wins (Connor Fung 6-4 6-2, Matt Hogg 6-4 1-6 6-2), and a draw to Jimmy Nicholas who debuted for the team and managed this with the pressure of both teams watching on. Overall, this round was a grounding experience and will hopefully wake the boys up for a win against Riverview next week.

In the 15s, the team played very well and showed vigor. With 18 wins in total out of 24 matches. The A team especially, with five out of six games being won. Shout out to Oliver Moufarrige for winning 6-0 in his singles game. The 15s Tennis squad is improving at an extraordinary rate each time improving their overall skills.

For the Under 14s, their Saturday match day against Newington was a tough round. Although we were not able to come away with many victories, we all put in a valiant effort playing away from Northbridge. Our star team for this week was again the Ds, pulling away with the most wins and an excellent match played by Archie Court from coming 3-1 down to winning 6-4. Another excellent match was played by our Bs player, Ed Dunnett, who unfortunately lost his singles on an 8-6 tiebreak but put in his best effort all the way, coming so close to a victory. Congratulations to the Under 14s Tennis Squad and good luck for the next round!

The 13s had a number of highlights going up against a strong opposition. Daniel Wallwork as C4 was down 4-5 match point and was able to fight back to 5-5, then won the tiebreak 7-5 and took the match. Two other notable mentions are Tom Hazel and Alan Zhai. Both boys were down 1-4 and 1-5 respectively and ended up losing 4-6, 4-6. They both showed great competitiveness and determination when the chips were down.

Win-Loss in Rubbers (Matches)

Mr J Straney
MIC Tennis

Holtermann Columns

Finessing The System

An Insight Into Manchester City’s Alleged Breaches of Premier League Rule

B. N. Dent

I am sure many of us would find it pretty amusing to see the not only prestigious, but dominant, football club Manchester City be forcefully relegated from the Premier League and placed in England’s second highest football league where they would be a giant among dwarfs. In light of recent charges brought forth by the Premier league against Manchester City, this amusing vision may not be far off from becoming a reality. 

On the 8^th of February, the Premier League accused Manchester City of violating over 100 league rules. Not in this year alone but dating all the way back to the 2009/10 season. Nevertheless, breaking over 100 rules is a feat that even some genuine criminal organisations would struggle to compete with. You would think that some of these allegations dating all the way back to 2009 would have been resolved by now, but due to the nature of the accusations and the lack of transparency displayed by the club, some investigators have said that it has been difficult to definitively prove any wrongdoing. Specifically, the charges relate to a failure to provide accurate financial information, not disclosing contractual payments to managers and players, violating UEFA’s financial fair play regulations during the 2017/18 season, and failing to adequately cooperate with premier league investigators. I can understand not wanting to talk to a bunch of nosy, law-enforcing investigators, but the other three areas seem pretty serious.

Financial manipulation is nothing to be taken lightly in the world of professional sport as it can provide unfair advantages to teams who do not wish to follow the rules. And in a sport that is widely seen as unfair by nature due to the absence of salary caps, this issue is further intensified. On top of this, for fraud to be committed in the world’s most popular domestic league, and the fourth most profitable sporting league in the world, is just absurd. But how does financial manipulation create this unfair playing field? Well, if you are able to reconstruct financial data in a way where expenses are lowered and revenue is raised, you can present yourself as a more profitable organisation. This in turn allows you to have more freedom when it comes to signing new players, scouting out talent, financing transfer fees, and paying higher wages to players which, as we have seen in the case of Ronaldo, can be north of $100 million dollars per year. In contrast, clubs who abide by these rules have less liberty when it comes to investing in their teams, and therefore, the quality of their teams will likely be significantly lower.

So, it is clear to see why the Premier League has taken a stern approach towards this matter. Financial manipulation poses a large threat to the equality of the sport. But how likely is it that these allegations will actually follow through? Well, it is hard to say, as like their financial records, City is trying to keep the scenario as cordoned as possible. Their reasoning for trying to keep this alleged scandal under wraps is due to the negative connotations that it brings to the club, and more importantly its sponsors. The sponsors of the club are some of the UAE’s most significant companies, including Etihad Airways. The damage of these brands is something that the owners are trying to avoid at all costs. 

If Manchester City were to be found guilty of violating these Premier League rules, some of the sanctions (apart from league relegation previously mentioned) that could be imposed include: points deduction, suspension from games, the stripping of titles won in previous years, and recommendations to replay games. However, if they were found guilty, I’m not sure who the footballing community would be more furious with, Manchester City or the Premier League regulators who allowed the organisation to easily cheat the system for over a decade. Time will tell.

The Progressive Mortgage Rate System

A Proposal on a New Household Interest Rate System to Solve the Current Cost of Living Crisis

J. C. Lai

Australia’s surging inflation rates have reached record highs since 1990, which has required steep cash rate hikes by the Reserve Bank to tame inflation back to its targeted range of 2-3%. Unfortunately, these interest rate rises have fuelled Australia’s cost of living crisis, crushing households and mortgage holders on variable mortgage rates. To make matters worse, rises in the official cash rate is regressive as it disproportionately impacts those who are less equipped to take on higher interest repayments more, which damages Australia’s income equality and living standards. This article proposes a solution to this problem through the implementation of a progressive mortgage rate system on homeowners, similar to Australia’s progressive taxation system, to ensure greater parity in Australia’s housing market.

Inflation rates hit 7.8% in the December quarter as a result of excessive corporate profits, post-pandemic demand surges, and supply-side shortages. This has led to a decline in the material living standards of ordinary Australians, with real wages falling 2.7%, which marked the worst result in more than two decades. The Reserve Bank has responded to this in the same manner as other Central Banks around the world through a contractionary monetary policy stance in the form of an increased cash rate. Nine “extreme” consecutive interest rate hikes have seen the OCR rising from its historic low of 0.1% to 3.35% as an attempt to take demand out of the economy and encourage saving. 

This has had aggravating consequences for low to middle income homeowners, compounding onto the already existing cost-of-living crisis due to the drastic fall in real wages. Considering that nearly 70% of Australia’s mortgages consist of variable rates, with many more on short term fixed rates that are soon to roll off onto variable rates, homeowners will be forced to rein in spending to pay off substantial increases in interest repayments at the risk of defaulting on their mortgages.

A financial stability review conducted by the RBA in October, 2022, raised significant concerns towards low-end homeowners. Using the projected OCR of 3.6% in the coming months, the review found that over half of all homeowners (mostly comprised of low to middle income households) would see a reduction in spare cash flow exceeding 20%, and over 15% of all homeowners would see their cash flow going into the negatives, meaning they won’t have enough money to cover their mortgages, let alone other necessary expenses, such as food and energy. Since low to middle income homeowners have a higher average propensity to consume compared to higher income homeowners, they will not possess large saving buffers and are therefore less equipped to take on the higher interest repayments and the decrease in cash flow. Therefore, the recent and impending OCR raises will have regressive impacts towards the economy and worsen income equality, making the need for alternative solutions necessary to prevent a default crisis and drastic decreases in living standards.

The proposed theory is based on the fact that the current household mortgage repayment system is detrimental to lower income households as it is regressive, and therefore the government should implement regulations towards banks to promote a more progressive system by factoring in an individual’s income. This means that household interest rates will be under various brackets similar to the progressive tax system, where rates rise as wages increase.

This system safeguards those who are more in need of disposal cash flow to fund their necessary expenses, whilst demanding more from those who possess large saving buffers and are more readily-prepared to take on larger interest repayments. This reduces the risk of default for financial institutions by tailoring repayments to a borrower’s financial circumstances, whilst ensuring that banks are generating unchanged incomes from mortgage repayments, as the reduction in low-income households are offset by the increase in mortgage repayments by high income earners. 

Furthermore, by only implementing this variable interest rate model to the household sector, it ensures that monetary policy still remains effective across the overall economy, as it still trickles down through the transmission mechanism and into other interest rates across the economy. The obtaining of a household’s income will also not pose a problem, since it is already collected by the ATO for taxation purposes, and therefore the government can implement channels where the information is passed onto banks to determine the appropriate mortgage repayment for a particular household. 

The implementation of a progressive mortgage rate system could represent a step forward in addressing financial inequality within Australia’s economy and ensure that there is adequate cash flow to all households regardless of income level, solving Australia’s current cost of living crisis.

F1 Pre-season and Liveries

Which Team Looks the Best?

J. Mott

With all the teams having now released their liveries for this year and pre-season testing completed the F1 season is almost here. The teams have now had their chance to see the other cars and how they are performing for the year to come.

Pre-season testing

Pre-season testing is not a reliable way to predict the future results for the season to come. Last season’ pre-season results had Hamilton topping the board with Verstappen in sixth place. However, the actual season saw Hamilton finish sixth with Verstappen winning the Championship. This was just one of the many inconsistencies with last year’s preseason to actual results. However, we can still judge the liveries to see which one looks the best for the year to come. 

Ferrari

Ferrari’s livery has a similar livery to last year with minimal changes, this was however, to be expected as Ferrari has had a similar livery ever since 1961, with the traditional red paint. This has become iconic to the Ferrari brand, with their founder, Enzo Ferrari famously saying “Ask a child to draw a car, and certainly he will draw it red” and Ferrari has lived by this in F1.

Red Bull

The Red Bull livery has not changed from last year at all, with only a new sponsor being the addition of the UK sportswear brand Castore name to the side of the car. 

Mercedes

Mercedes has changed from last year’s silver arrow back to the black car from two years ago. This change has not just been for aesthetics though the change was also due to Mercedes attempting to save weight in any way possible, so the car is not covered in black paint as it was in the past, but instead is raw carbon fibre. 

McLaren

With the same colours as the 2022 livery, this year is looking similar to last year’s, however, the colours are in different spots. This is a small change in the grand scheme of things with the cars being very similar to last year. There is again orange for most of the car with there being a stripe of blue on the side plate, along with black paint running lengthwise along the length of the car.

Aston Martin

Aston Martin also has a similar livery to last year, however this year the front wing has more black on it and the green is a darker shade, other than that the livery looks almost identical to last year.

Alpha Romeo

Alpha Romeo has one of the best livery’s this year with the front and back being red with white paint in-between them. This has a dramatic effect that makes the Alpha look like one of the best livery’s of the year.

Haas

Hass also has an amazing livery, with the car being painted almost all black with a white stripe rimmed with red running from the front wing to the driver’s seat. This looks amazing and hopefully will entail the care that Haas has put into the car this year and hopefully will get good results.

Alpha Tauri

Alpha Tauri has stuck with a similar livery to last year, the dark blue car with their logo in white towards the back. This has been their look ever since they renamed the team from Toro Rosso back in 2020. This look is starting to become synonymous with the Alpha Tauri name and, honestly, is not a bad look. 

Williams

Williams has a similar livery to last year; however, the colours have become more dramatic. The blue is darker and now looks amazing. This car will hopefully help restore Williams back to their winning ways, however there is still a long way to go.

Alpine

Alpine is another team that has stuck with a similar livery to last year, with there being light blue for most of the car, with pink on the sides and the rear wing. This car did well last year and hopefully will challenge for the championship this year instead of there being only Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes fighting it out like it has been for the last few years. 

Comparison

With all the liveries in, there are really two stand outs, the Haas and the Alpha Romeo. These two-look amazing in their own right and both will hopefully lead to a good year for the teams. The Ferrari also looks good with the standard colours, however, these two look the best. The Mercedes also would look great back in black, however the unpainted carbon fibre ruins the look and it would look much better in black paint.

Dialectic Reasoning

The Beauty of Conflict

J. A. McCreery

It is difficult to establish truths about society, or morality, or anything these days. 

It is just as hard to look back at history and try to understand how people believed their respective ‘truths’. How could a pagan believe a thousand God’s roamed the Earth, an Aztec that he must sacrifice man at the altar or politicians that women shouldn’t vote? None of these people believed they were wrong, it was normal, accepted – no one believes they are the bad guy. 

What things will our ancestors look back on and find a sour taste in their mouth? Your every act, your very existence, could well be in defiance of the moral codes of those that come after you. So, how can one reconcile, or at least understand, this process. 

Georg W. F. Hegel posits that it is in fact the discourse between intergenerational, or just differing, ideas which gives rise to development in philosophical thought and refinement of prevailing worldviews. The contrast is what creates beauty, and this contrast is perpetual, another idea, another challenge will inevitably face existing thought. 

The fight is outlined as follows; 

The thesis – status quo, the viewpoint that is currently accepted and widely held 

Comes into conflict against

The antithesis – the contrast, the challenger, perhaps a bit extreme, perhaps unacceptable, perhaps eristic; but revolutionary nonetheless

Shifts the thesis to produce

The synthesis – the midpoint between the ideas; the antithesis brings challenge to the thesis, forcing development, change and compromise in an effort to find balance. 

Does this process not govern personal development as well? Pressure makes diamonds (or dust). 

A broad example of this is the Russian shift from Tsarism, to Communism, to democracy. 

The thesis – Tsarism, autocracy, single and sole rule of the House of Romanov. 

Faces disrepute and disrepair as its ways become untimely

*Comes into conflict against

The antithesis – Soviet Rule, power to the people, Communist and Marxist reign

Is inefficient and unpragmatic, failing to produce its goals

*Shifts the thesis to produce

The synthesis – Democracy, federative, law-based systems with a republican government

Two extremes collide to produce a more nuanced, stable final outcome. 

Conceptualize it as a pendulum. It swings back and forth, from left to right, big sweeping movements – one extreme back to another back to the middle – then eventually, slowly, swing after swing, the pendulum will slow and gently settle in the middle. No one can push the pendulum and leave it perfectly in the middle and as such, no philosophy can be perfect in a vacuum, it must be challenged to test its metal; and although the swings may be viscous, given time it will come to rest in the middle. The middle which should represent the final truth. 

Until the pendulum is swung yet again…

Dahl Revised

Changes to Roald Dahl’s Books

P. P. Zhang

ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER EPISODE OF ‘HAS WOKENESS GONE TOO FAR?’. But before we dive into today’s topic, I would like to embrace an instance of positive wokeness. As many of you know, Mardi Gras was last weekend and the event continues to make history: Anthony Albanese shone (not literally) as the first ever sitting prime minister to march for the Mardi Gras Parade, for his 35th consecutive year attending the event. 

In more concerning news, recent criticisms surrounding another famous author came to light. He’s the inventor of snozzberries and snozzwangers, the creative genius responsible for the words lickswishy and scrumdiddlyumptious. Yes, it’s none other than beloved children’s author Roald Dahl, who’s headlined recent news as a result of controversy associated with the language used in his books. His most famous works have all had words changed in order to be more inclusive, such as ‘enormously fat’ in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, ‘old hag’ in Witches, as well as making the Oompa-Loompas gender neutral. The Roald Dahl Story Company, along with Penguin Books, tweaked the classics to ensure that “”Dahl’s wonderful stories and characters continue to be enjoyed by all children today”. Ironically, 40 years ago, the author himself threatened to send his Enormous Crocodile to “gobble [anyone] up” who dared to censor his work. 

As a result of the announced changes, Dahl’s books have soared to the top of bestseller lists as readers stockpile on the classic versions before the revised ones are published. Fortunately, after facing mass backlash from other authors and the general public, Penguin Books has vowed to keep printing and publishing the previous versions, in addition to the reworked ones. However, the debate comes down to whether changing the language of the book would actually have any tangible effect on the flow or message of Dahl’s stories. Whilst this may or may not happen, preserving the original authenticity of creative works is always important. Additionally, censorship, especially in literature, a form which has and should continue to be devoid from conformity to social mores, has always been viewed as a negative. 

The skyrocketing popularity of his original works has provided a surprising benefit in the form of increased profits for publishers and the Roald Dahl Story Company. This introduces another possibility for the reasoning behind the changes: rather than political correctness and inclusivity, publishers aim for a greater engagement to the modern audience, which in turn boosts sales and profits. 

First, the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling’s alleged transphobia, which had knock-on effects. Now, the censorship of Roald Dahl’s works. Both these examples hold heavy implications for future literature, where writers and publishers alike will prioritise the safe and profitable over the potentially controversial.

Basketball Report – Shore vs Newington

Saturday February 25th

T. B. Graetz

The showdown between Shore’s GPS first and seconds and the skilled and composed Newington squads was set to be a formidable encounter from the outset. The venue, Newington’s homecourt, a place renowned for being one of the most difficult courts to play on, demanded a high level of focus and determination from the boys and their respective teams.

Plagued by injuries from the previous week, the Shore firsts faced the challenge of the tough job ahead against the current GPS leaders, Newington’s firsts. The start of the game saw a competitive run from our boys, disrupting Newington’s offensive sets to contribute to some quick points in transition and onto the score board. As the game progressed, Newington’s composure and ability to penetrate the defence overwhelmed our ability to fight back, going down against a tough, hard-working team 93-49. Thomas Graetz led all scorers with 14 points.

For the seconds, the matchup was equally as competitive, fighting against the opposition with purpose, applying pressure on both ends of the court. The boys fought it out until the end, maintaining a relatively short point difference the entire game before eventually succumbing to a 60-49 deficit, with Ben Barry leading all scorers with 15 points.

Both games were fiercely competitive, with challenging conditions making it difficult for either team to establish their footing early on. Nevertheless, both squads fought hard, using their skill and teamwork to overcome the hurdles that lay before them. Such difficult matchups are a true test of a team’s resilience and ability to perform, and it is a testament to the calibre of both Shore and Newington’s GPS squads that they were able to compete at such a high level on this challenging stage. Next week’s matchup will be a GPS classic round, taking on Riverviews forces at their homecourt. With just three weeks left in the season, we want to see as much Blue and White Army support as possible, so if you have the chance to come and watch the boys play, do so. Some highlights of this week’s showdown captured in true fashion by photograph-extraordinaire, George Davis (Year 12).

Tennis Report

S. J. Wensley

On Saturday the 1sts played Newington away. The boys seemed unbothered by the swirling wind and started strongly with aggressive volleying. After the doubles Shore led by 2 matches to 1. In singles, Sam Wensley and Oliver Wilcox went on first, and set the tone for the singles. Both boys played high quality matches and won in tight straight sets, hence Shore led 4-1. However, Newington’s team proved to have good depth, and they fought back. Nonetheless, Zac Little dug deep to come back from a set down to clinch a match that lasted nearly 3 hours. Hence, Shore was able to win 5 matches to 4. Newington were coming second on the GPS ladder, and so Shore made a statement to the rest of the teams with this win. 

The 2nds played Newington at home. They brought a lot of confidence into the match, only having lost two of their last seven matches, including beating Newington convincingly away. This was shown through a dominant display from Connor Fung and Chris Mathur, who won their doubles matches in dominant fashion: 6-1 6-0. However, Shore went down 2-1 after the doubles. Shore attempted to fight back in singles, particularly Matt Hogg who won 6-4 2-6 6-2. This is Matt’s fourth victory in a row – all in three sets – displaying the true Shore fight the team strives for. Jimmy’s Nicholas’ fight is also to be commended. On his debut he was able to stop his opponent from serving out the match, securing half a point for Shore due to running out of time. Unfortunately, the Newington effort got the better of them and they won 5.5 to 3.5.

Starting this year, all Shore home games have been filmed by 1-3-5 analytics. This will provide the Shore boys with insight into the tactical errors they have made, allowing them to play better quality matches. This new investment should improve the quality of the already greatly improving Shore Tennis. 

Corporate Control

The Impact of the Oligopolistic Australian Market Structure on its Economy

W. H. Johnston

Despite sacking a fifth of its workers and accepting over $2 Billion from fiscal stimulus such as JobKeeper during the pandemic, Qantas has announced profits of more than $1.4 Billion. A large amount of this profit can be attributed to the astronomical increase in ticket prices, with an economy seat to London increasing its price by over $1000 since 2019 ($1305 in 2019 – $2431 in 2023). While there has been clear reason to increase the prices in the last 4 years, with reduced flying in the pandemic inducing higher costs per flight, and fuel prices skyrocketing from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the disruptions hardly warrant such a steep and prolonged price hike. 

Qantas CEO, Alan Joyce, claimed that the recorded profits were to be reinvested for the benefit of customers and that there would be eventual “downward pressure” on prices, however, the fares are expected to fall nowhere close to the pre-pandemic levels, despite the downward trend of ticket prices over time. 

Unsurprisingly, there has been substantial public backlash, with Labor senator Tony Sheldon claiming, “There’s nothing to celebrate in Qantas making massive profits by ripping off customers with extortionate airfares during a cost-of-living crisis,” coming at a time where Qantas does not require any more time in the limelight during the ongoing High Court case surrounding the unlawful outsourcing of 1700 jobs during the pandemic.

This corporate exploitation of consumers has become somewhat endemic to the Australian economy, as recent studies suggest that a disproportionate amount of inflation in Australia is being caused by increased corporate profits, rather than wage growth. This is largely due to the lack of competition faced by large Australian corporations, with many sectors dominated by duopolies or oligopolies. Alan Joyce commented in a recent interview that, “There’s plenty of competition. Qantas cannot dictate the airfares of the market,” yet just three airline companies, Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin are responsible for over 90% of domestic air travel, with Qantas occupying ~40% of the market share in July 2022. The same is true for residential broadband companies, with three companies; Telstra, Optus and TPG occupying over 80% the market share, and most notably, the two largest grocery companies, Coles and Woolworths occupy 65% of the market share of a largely independent sector.

The product of this market control by large corporations is the fallacy of competition, as in reality, the companies which dominate the essential industries can manipulate their prices as much as they would like without a large change in demand for their products, and while institutions such as the ACCC are in place to prevent this taking place to the extreme, the large companies operating in oligopolistic industries are still able to push the boundaries to extract as much profit as they can. 

Therefore the record profits acquired by Qantas through perceivably extortionate price hikes and morally questionable release of workers, characterises the possibly damaging control of large domestic corporations over their own workers, the Australian consumers and the Australian economy.

Is Perfect What we Need

Technology, creativity, and the future

E. O. Milne

For some time now, scientists globally from Japan to America have been working on what they seem to think is one of the greatest breakthroughs of our time.

Something so beautiful that it would allow us to create the things we think of when we dream of the future.

And it would all be capable because we would be – better.

The name for this experiment is C.R.I.S.P.R.

It has been going on since 1987, but now in 2023 scientists are almost certain that they have perfected it. C.R.I.S.P.R is a process where embryos are tampered in the lab to create human organisms that lack faults.

Think of it like a Word document: when the document does not sound the way you want it to be, you cut and change the components of the document until it is exactly the way you want it to be. Now, think that instead of words on a page, it is DNA and cells that can be cut out in a lab and new ones can be put in.

It would mean these embryos could be created to have immaculate features and genes, and have some of the strongest immune systems known to humanity. While so many others have been thinking robots were what the future needed to be ‘cleaner’ others have been thinking that maybe what we need to achieve greatness is to improve our own kind.

Imagine it, a world where you can have no imperfections, you can walk down the street and you cannot find a single person who looks as if they are not having the best time of their life.

It sounds like talk of humans as gods, but is it?

Humans, for as long as we have known, have always had faults that have made them who they are for better and for worse. But without any of these faults would we think the same when it comes to the innovation of our creativity?

An example of this is contemporary art. It is known to be quirky and strange, sometimes the meaning of it is not there yet, something that no one else can think of.

But if we were to be as perfect as the experiments look to be, would we still be able to think individually in our own ways, or would everyone in the world be able to have the same bland ideas?

The Louvre would possibly become a place of lost interest and instead the new way of emotional expression would be through the latest products being manufactured to unlock the key to our future.

While ideas from back to the future and such seem fun and all, would it mean that to be able to complete these tasks we would have to give away the attributes that are associated with our kind to receive it?

Would we be willing to give up what we love now to love the unknown?

Do we really want a homogenised society

The Inevitable Indifference of Nature

Time: Earth’s Most Valuable Resource

E. Y. Nam

In the midst of events that tend to happen all around us, people often quote that “time flies so fast”. Of course, you never realise time is truly ‘flying’ until the moment is completely over. Sure, you could count your second, and then count the minutes to go by until the end of school, but once these numbers start getting out of hand, it becomes difficult to place any value onto them. For example, a national park guide once told me the rocks in its cave were a billion years old, and I just nodded, because no one really appreciates a billion. A billion dollars, a billion people, a billion years; we are just unable to comprehend or hold any importance towards something unimaginably large.

But here’s one way to appreciate it. Think about this: It takes 11 days to count to a million. On the other hand, it would take 31 years to count to one billion. You’d be like 47 years old if you started counting now (without bathroom breaks). Personally, I can’t imagine how long that count would be. Whilst I’m counting to one billion, I would have finished school, gone to uni, worked. I’m not able to guess what might happen during the 30 years. One thing I know for sure though is that thirty years would not be meaningless. Because time is a borrowed abstract, you come here to be a part of what was always there, and when you leave it will still be there. It’ll go on without a single appreciation for you. There’s nothing sympathetic or attractive about rocks, they’re nothing. And like rocks, time doesn’t care about you, quite frankly it doesn’t even not care about you, it doesn’t do anything for you, it’s just… there. It just always was, and is, and will be and you and your dirty dishes and everything else you’re concerned with are… just there.

We put meaning onto things that don’t mean anything, it’s a very natural human instinct, and we do it because we cannot stand the indifference of nature. We even put pictures of nature on our calendars as if it had just finished college or something. It is inevitably a very lopsided relationship: we give meaning to nature because life is simply too boring to exist without it.

Rocks don’t mean anything. This day doesn’t mean anything. Nor does everything have to be a metaphor to something else. Animal Farm could’ve really just been about animals. You don’t always have to ‘figure it out’.

Because sometimes, it’s just a beautiful day. And if you can run with that, everything will be okay.

Time flies pretty fast, so make sure to stop and look around every once in a while, otherwise you might miss its majestic indifference. 

ISDA Debating – Round 2 vs St. Catherine’s

J. G. Nicholas – Captain of Debating

Last Friday, Shore hosted St Catherine’s on topics related to ‘Social Issues,’ and in an impressive show of diligence and skill, were victorious in six of the eight debates of the night. 

Spurred on by the re-introduction of post-debate supper, our Year 7’s went to work affirming the topic ‘That there should be a mandatory retirement age for politicians.’ With notable improvements to their speech structure and ordering of arguments, the boys came out on top in an excellent first-ever victory. While they used evidence well, there is still room for improvement in explaining why their ideas matter. Invigorated by their success in the opening debate of the season, our Year 8’s found themselves affirming the same topic as the Year 7’s, but unfortunately were unable to secure the win. Despite putting forward a solid model, whereby politicians must retire at 70 years of age, they needed a more nuanced perspective in responding to St Catherine’s arguments about the representation for the elderly demographic. 

Following a narrow loss in their first debate of the season, the Year 9 team was rearing to start when they read the topic, ‘That we should ban gaming machines e.g., poker machines.’ Affirming the topic, the boys loyally stuck to their arguments, despite a futile St. Catherine’s attempt to strawman the debate into including arcade machines. While all three speakers impressed with their clear, well formulated arguments, Jayden Pan ended all hopes of victory for St. Cath’s with a formidable third speaker speech that typified the strong showing from the boys. Unfortunately, our Year 10s went down affirming ‘That companies should be forced to publicise all employee’s salaries,’ the boys still on the hunt for their first win of the season. 

Despite their continued unwillingness to attend the pivotal Captain’s Slideshow, the Senior B’s handed St. Catherine’s a loss in another clinical victory punctuated by their nuanced arguments and refined manner, affirming ‘That pill testing should be legalised in Australia.’ The boys focusing on the harms of not testing, the burden of proof lay with St Catherine’s to prove the harms testing would cause that would outweigh the status quo of deaths due to poisonous chemicals or overdosing that currently saturate the market. While the B’s could’ve more clearly characterised the nature of drug use at festivals, primarily being casual, younger users, the boys’ clarity of expression and responsiveness in rebuttal led them to decisive victory, the standout speaker being Michael Kwak. The Senior B’s should be proud of their effort last Friday, particularly when considering the absence of young gun Ethan Tan, who was unable to attend the debate for undisclosed reasons. 

Affirming the same topic, the Senior A’s continued to show their experience and poise in a dominant performance that saw Shore prevail once more. Enticed by the thought of the stacked stands of the Playfair that lay before us, Lachie Hunt immediately got to work in the prep room, his consolidation of power reminiscent of Stalin’s brutal rise in the wake of Lenin’s death. Brimming with confidence, and the encyclopaedic topical knowledge of Blake Fite, Aaron Rucinski was calm and collected in his delivery of the model, focused on harm minimisation, and the urgent need to reduce drug overdose and poisoning. Despite continued personal attacks and emotionally charged use of gesture from St. Cath’s, Blake did well to demolish their case at second, laying the groundwork for a smooth victory. Deploying his famed four-and-a-half-minute introduction strategy, Jimmy Nicholas closed out a Senior A’s domination, with useful clarification of the model to combat some of the interesting straw manning laid out by the opposition. While the debate was a high-quality outing, the boys will be focusing on their time management and ordering of ideas coming into this week’s Loretto debate. 

Debating at Shore is well-known for its depth, which was on full display in two wins from both Year 7 and 8’s SSD teams, whose week over week improvement has been remarkable. This week we are at Shore again hosting Loreto Kirribilli. All audience members are welcomed and appreciated. Last week a special thanks went to Edward Godfrey and Callum Vujanovic for Chairing these debates. We really appreciated their time and efforts. Anyone who is keen to chair for the debates on March 24 against Brigidine, please contact Mrs Melville via Teams.

The Trip Home

The Tall Painter, the Music of Language, and the New Day

J. Y. Gao

THERE WAS A CERTAIN IMPERFECT PERPLEXION TO THE GOLD-SPECKLED CLOUDS that made them look as though they were painted by a tall man with long arms straight onto the purple canvas of the dusking day. I was on my way home from school, and the additional commitment of afterschool activities had kept me uncommuted until that very moment. It was a long moment, really. A period of about 15 minutes when the luminosity of the sky reached its most comfortable level. There is a distinction, though, between the comfortability described here and the comfortability more commonly prescribed to the sky’s luminosity. A ‘comfortable’ luminosity to most, perhaps all, evokes the precise lighting of a certain time of day in combination with a certain configuration of cloud coverage where the eyelids can be fully relaxed and do not need to squint. Though the level of luminosity I described as comfortable is, in fact, of a lower intensity, an intensity that makes the viewing of the sky itself a comfortable experience for the eyes. Perhaps what I had found most harmonic about this long moment of skywardly appreciation on my delayed commute home was the discovery of such a scene, and the momentary transition my visual sensors performed.

The bumpy limp down the road towards the train station had always racked me with guilt at the thought of my knees shocked by the wooden heels of my school shoes. Nevertheless, wooden heeled school shoes have been the only shoes I’ve bought since the summer holiday before the commencement of Year 9. It was a worthy trade off. For the price of my knees, I receive in return the hollow echochamber ring of wooden knocks at every heel strike, and the pointy and casual elitism of the pointy-shoe experience. The lack of side-walkers and cars that dusk, promoted my walk to a deafening click. I was sickly uncomfortable with ‘dusking day’, but I was reassured with the memory of ‘dawning day’ – well actually the thought process went round the other way (‘dawning day’ first, then ‘dusking day’). But I don’t think ‘dusking day’ sounds right, hence the uneasiness. And my uneasiness grows with ‘…cars that dusk’, but the meaning is clear, and the syllable fits the rhythm. It so IS about the rhythm. Isn’t it? I like to read out great segments of writing I find in books and articles, and my liking for the practice has grown since I heard the gentle, soothing clarity of Fitisemanu’s read-to-the-class voice. So for me, at least, it IS about the rhythm. 

I’ve found most appreciation for the rhythm of a strong elusive authorial voice in sentences that conclude things with a blissful note. The end of a character description, a plot exposition. The end of a chapter – a novel – a series. There’s always a gem hidden inconspicuously amongst the string of words, a subversion perhaps, an oxymoron, the technique where two opposite nouns like ‘ice’ and ‘fire’ are put together (like the ‘Song of Ice and Fire’ in G.O.T.. It is a bit cringe I understand, the pairing of ‘ice’ and ‘fire’). And so it must be subtle too. Not cliche. But not in all cases, like this one, for example: 

Yes, the newspapers were right: snow was general all over Ireland. It was falling upon the Bog of Allen and, further westwards, falling into the waves. It was falling too upon every part of the churchyard where Michael Furey lay buried. It lay drifted on the crosses and headstones, on the spears of the gate, on the thorns. His soul swooned as he heard the snow falling through the universe and falling, like the descent of their end, upon all the living and the dead.

The ebbs and flows of beautiful sentences can be traced. The last sentence of Joyce’s ‘The Dead’ begins with an anacrusis, and the long note of ‘swoon’ starts the musical bar, the natural the pitch falls down and quickly across ‘as’ and ‘he’, pauses briefly at ‘heard’ and continues its descent across ‘the’ before the bow retakes between ‘snow’ and ‘fall’, playing the same note. The note drags a tail behind ‘falling’ and descends further across ‘through the’, reaching its lowest point in the phrase at ‘universe’ and holding the pitch across ‘and’ and ‘falling’. A breath across the coma, and the rise through ‘like’ and ‘the’ to a mini-peak at ‘descent’ and a quick fall off at ‘end’. Breathe. ‘Upon’ builds to a long and dragged ‘all’ which crashes down to a shortened ‘living’. Finally and emphatically, it whispers ‘and the dead’. 

And although ‘the lack of side-walkers and cars that dusk’ falls short in a comparison of gravitas against the words of Joyce, you see what I mean in terms of rhythm. And so as I walked down the hill that dusk, with my shoes clicking obnoxiously the rest of my delayed commute home (that dusk), I felt a sudden brightening of my surroundings. I was elated for a moment, for I thought I was visited by a messenger from God, or had been caught in the cross-wire of a miracle performance by His Son, but what really rathered my multitudinous school shirt flushed, making the white one pink, was that I exited the tree coverage and was about to step down the newly constructed steps near the intersection of Blue and Miller Street. 

That was when the imperfect perplexion of the gold-speckled clouds caught my attention. The moment of transition. My eyelids tensed quickly as my pupils readjusted to a relaxed state. When my eyelids opened comfortably, I saw, through the opening between trees 50 metres down Miller street, the Sydney CBD shimmering, the twinkling lights fighting glaringly at the enormous orange eye that sat on the horizon to the west. Towers of cloud loomed over the city, and the sky stretched its mighty expanse across the land, right over my head, and up towards Pacific Highway and the North Shore beyond. I saw the tall man too, dabbing the masterpiece of his 12 hour lifespan with a delicate brush, as if any detail could be changed for the better. The purple undercoat soon turned dark, and the echoing low hum of the pointy crescent moon was soon whitewashed across a sleeping city, cleaning it for the fresh new canvas of tomorrow.

4ths Toadies Report

Another Win for the Books

J. A. T. Collier

The nerves were high as the Toadies fronted up for another big game on the weekend against Newington, but the boys were ready to put on a show for the spectators. 

Skipper, Jack Mcrae, made sure the boys were not looking to lose this key matchup this weekend, and so ensured the boys had a solid week of training behind them. This proved to be the difference throughout the match. The fourths elected to bat first with veterans of the team failing to deliver at the crease, despite some big hitting from the early batsmen. However, the hero story comes from the dynamic duo of Jack Mcrae and Tom Santow in what could go down as one of the great Shore innings. As they took the crease, the boys had to dig in – otherwise the team’s chances at winning would be crushed. However, after the first ball that Tom left in his usual fashion, the partnership was born. Tom and Jack played some beautiful shots with a few 6s for the boys and the pair stuck it out to bring the teams total to 149 runs. Tom scored an all time high with 33 runs not out as well as Jack scoring 20 runs with a lovely 6 straight over the batters head. Specific mentions to Cal Forster for hitting 24 runs of 6 balls with some impressive striking. 

Going into the bowl, the fielding had to be on point and the bowling needed to be accurate as Newington were ready to chase down the score. However, from the first ball, Shore was in control of the game with most boys taking a wicket with the skipper leading the charge with a lovely wicket that took out the middle stumps. Jack Horwood on debut proved his worth as he bowled the last over and ensured that the fourths got over the line for yet another win.

The man of the match can be accredited to Jack Mcrae with an outstanding batting and bowling performance, with a special mention going to Tom Santow for his impressive batting partnership with the skipper himself. As the boys approach the end of the season, it is imperative that they continue their tough training and get ready to secure the premiership for the Shore boys. GO SHORE.

Cricket Report

Round 11 1st XI Match Report vs Newington College

L. A. Hunt

Saturday 25th February played at Newington College, Buchanan Oval, Stanmore

Shore 8/195 (Hugo Orpin 62, Will Sutton 33) by 124 runs NC 6/196 (Ben Hocking 3/32, Sam Walton 2/22)

Looking to come back from a disappointing loss last week against Scot’s, the SHORE 1st XI won the toss at Newington and elected to bat on a hard wicket. The innings began steadily with stability from openers Sutton and Segaert, however, the SHORE batsmen struggled against the Newington spinners with Segaert, Bailey, and Hunt all falling cheaply to spin. With the departure of Sutton at 4/68 the team looked to be in trouble, facing a collapse. Thankfully, a clinical innings of 63 from keeper Hugo Orpin, which featured 4 sixes, combined with a strong 29 from his partner Toby Robinson, saw the SHORE team guided into a safer position towards the end of the innings. Some sharp running between the wickets of the two players was what allowed them to maintain a consistently high run rate throughout the overs they were in. The innings was then closed out by Josh Constantian and Ben Hocking scoring 10 each leading SHORE to a formidable total of 8/194. Although, with Newington’s competent batting line-up, the SHORE bowlers would have to perform well in order to put their team over the line.

The bowling innings began exceptionally well for SHORE, as young openers Sam Walton and Tom Fuzes continued to bowl the consistently spectacular lines and lengths that the team has become accustomed to over the year. Some sharp fielding from Alex Segeart at mid-wicket delivered an excellent run-out for the team and suddenly Newington were struggling at 2/22. Although, with strong batters remaining in the shed, they looked to remain persistent and continue to chip away at the total. This was until Ben Hocking was unleashed at first change. Bowling up the hill and into the wind, Ben continued to bowl the accurate stump to stump lines that he has produced all season, claiming 3 quick wickets including the likes of the Newington captain, and leaving Newington floundering at 6/41 at drinks. Well on top, the SHORE side would need to knuckle down and ensure that they did not give the opposition any opportunity at mounting a comeback. However, it was this that they failed to do. The side lacked a sharpness and awareness in the field that existed in the first session of their bowling innings. Catches went down, run outs were squandered, and the Newington 7 and 8 batsmen began to build a partnership that threatened the once dominant position of the team. This persisted and as both batsmen reached half centuries with 10 overs to go, only requiring 4 runs an over to win, the realisation that a game that had been in an unlosable position was about to be lost had struck the SHORE side. From 6/41 Newington managed to chase down the total set for them at 6/197, scoring 156 runs without losing a wicket. With only three games left in the season the SHORE 1st XI must do some soul searching to determine how to maintain the flashes of dominance they show in small sessions for entire games.

The team faces Riverview at Riverview in round 12 next weekend and will look to consistently display the grit and ability to win games that they have shown at times during this season.