Message from the Headmaster

Year 12 Graduates – The World is Their Oyster!

Dear Parents and Carers

Usually, we need to wait some months before we can accurately establish the destinations of the previous Year 12 class. Now, six months after they have completed their HSC examinations, we have a good understanding of their destinations in the next part of their learning journey. Some are to be “freshmen” at major American universities: our joint Dux Michael Kwak at Yale, Callum Vujanovic and Lawson Banks at Princeton, Ari Carboni at Columbia, and Braden Dent and Mackenzie Fox at Berkeley. They really do straddle the USA, some on the East Coast and some on the West.

In Australia, students have been offered wonderful pathways. One of them, Killian Featherstone, has been admitted to the University of Sydney / Science Po dual programme. He will spend two years in France, studying Economy and Society, Political Humanities / Politics and Government, conducting his studies in French, followed by two years at Sydney University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Economics. Entry has been very competitive. Congratulations also to Rory Cope, who was successful in attaining the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Bachelor of Accounting Co-op Scholarship.

Our printout from University Admissions Centre (UAC) indicates that 189 students have been successful in gaining placement from 186 offers (multiple offers in some cases). These figures exclude interstate and international universities, and also exclude the Australian National University (ANU), which makes offers outside of the UAC framework. The figures reveal by far the most popular institution amongst our students is the University of Sydney, where a mini-Shore of nearly 140 students have been offered placement in first year courses. UTS has also made a little under 60 offers to Shore students, overwhelmingly into the Bachelor of Business degree. Small numbers of students have elected Macquarie University and the University of New South Wales, with other destinations dropping off significantly in number.

We are delighted that these pathways have opened to our boys and are very proud of them.

School Council

The governance of the School is immensely important. School Council members choose the Headmaster when the position is vacant, are the custodians of the mission and vision and the strategies to implement those, are responsible for the budget, and for all major policies. The responsibility is real. The work can be daunting. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task” (1 Timothy 3:1). It is a wonderful thing that people, out of their love for Shore, are prepared to take on this demanding and critical work as volunteers. They always have a lot of reading and discussion to undertake, and many, many meetings to attend.

Council have in the last month moved to fill vacancies. I am delighted to be able to welcome three new Councillors: Mr Andrew Campbell is a Shore Old Boy (’87), nominated by the OBU. He is a current parent and professionally is practising as a Barrister. Rev Craig Foster is a Shore Old Boy (’90) with a Bachelor of Economics and Master of Education, and Diploma of Education, who practised as an accountant before ordination. Mr Foster is very familiar with schools, having been a School Chaplain in the past and is currently the Youth and Families Minister at St Thomas’ Anglican Church in North Sydney. Rev Dr Rich Wenden is a Shore Old Boy (’94) with two sons currently at Shore. He is the Senior Minister at Seaforth Anglican Church and is also an accredited Sports Chaplain ministering to Queenscliff Surf Life Saving Club, for whom he also undertakes lifeguard duties. Rev Dr Wenden has academic qualifications in Science and Theology. He is, for the next year and a half, Chair of SPA, and is currently a Vice President of the OBU, which position he will relinquish, partly in the interests of time. Rev Foster and Rev Dr Wenden are nominees of the Anglican Synod. Each has already commenced his role on the Shore Council.

Dr John Collier
Headmaster

Chaplains’ Chat

There is something about new beginnings after a holiday or a break. I am sure many of us had a break from work and school, even if it was for the Easter or  Anzac Day long weekend. These are two significant events in our calendar, and we quite rightly have time to reflect on these events. Both involve remembering. On Anzac Day, we remember those servicemen and women who made the ultimate sacrifice of giving their lives for the freedoms that we enjoy in this country. But we also remember so many of those who served our country during this time, perhaps not on the front line, but in such places as our hospitals. Our School Polished Pennies Service last week remembered one such lady called Bertie Lloyd, who served here in Sydney during World War 2.

At Easter, we also remember. We remember one who also sacrificed. One who gave up everything so that we might have freedom and live. Jesus died on the Cross and rose to life again so that we can be forgiven and know God now and into eternity. It is wonderful to be able to pause and remember significant events in life, and I hope we all had this opportunity over the last few weeks to do such things. In light of this, however, may we live! May we be thankful people and live lives accordingly to what has been done for us.

Rev Anthony Benn
Chaplain

CRU Update

We returned to CRU again this week on Thursday and Friday after a restful break. This Term, we will be exploring the Gospel of Mark – an account of Jesus’s life, death on the cross, and resurrection. We began with a game of “Celebrity Heads” – each Year 7 and 8 was assigned a celebrity that they would have to guess. People around Jesus’ time struggled to guess Jesus’ true identity as the Messiah. A shoutout to Billy for his incredible guesswork, only taking two guesses to discover that he was Taylor Swift! After that, Christian Wong interviewed Will McCowan on some deep questions about what it means to be a Christian and how he came to know Jesus. Mr Kellahan began this week’s talk with a hilarious story about a group of American tourists. They were walking near Balmoral Castle (where the Queen usually lives) and ended up finding a nice, elderly lady who had supposedly never met the Queen herself, but the man walking beside her had met her numerous times. After getting a picture with the man (who apparently knew the Queen quite well), they soon discovered that the lady they were talking to was the Queen herself! Just like the Queen, to those around Jesus, many had different ideas as to who Jesus was. He was a person who went around villages of Galilee preaching and had a devoted group of followers, but he also turned a few pieces of bread into thousands of loaves and walked on water!

Eventually, Jesus asks his disciples the question, “Who do you say I am?”. Peter responds that Jesus is the Christ – the anointed one who is meant to save humanity. The conversation then escalates as Jesus tells the disciples that he must suffer and eventually die on the cross – notice how paradoxical this all is for a supposed “King of the Universe”. You would think that Jesus would raise an almighty army to defeat sin, or magically remove all sin from the world, not die on the cross! Jesus then tells the disciples that if anyone wants to be a Christian, he must “Take up his cross and follow me”. This is an incredible commitment – being a Christian is not a decision that you make on a whim; it is something that you must investigate deeply. At CRU, we hope that we can learn about Jesus and consider whether to make the hard decision to follow him or not. The most important question that will ever be asked of you is, “Who do you say Jesus is?” – he may be a phony, but he may also be the Saviour of the world. Moving forward, we will have CRU on Thursday lunchtimes for Years 7 to 8 and Friday lunchtimes for Years 9 to 12. In addition, there is a weekly Bible study run every lunch for each Year group in addition to an exciting weekend Camp held with Abbotsleigh coming up soon – in particular, it’s a great opportunity to learn about the Bible for new Year 7 boys. You don’t need to be a Christian to come to CRU – all you need is yourself and an interest in looking further into Christianity with a supportive group of friends, a soft drink and a sausage sandwich.

Jayden Pan
11GR3

More to Life: Looking Into Life with Jesus

I suspect that for some of us, if not for most of us, there will be times in life where we think, ‘Is this it?’ ‘Is there anything more to life?’ I have read of Olympic champions who reached the pinnacle of their sport, and once the excitement of a gold medal passed, literally days later, they asked themselves, ‘Is this all there is?’ Perhaps it is that time later in life when we realise that life seems to be moving too quickly, the children are rapidly growing up, and we realise we are closer to the finish than when we started. I had this feeling a few years ago, and while not a mid-life crisis, for a few weeks I was reflecting deeply about what impact on those around me I was making in my life. Sometimes, there are specific moments in life when we think more deeply about life and how we live. For some, this leads to thoughts of the present, the future, and even what happens after we die. Is there a God? If there is, how should I live? How can I get the best out of life? Is life just about the here and the now? If this is you and you are thinking of delving deeper into some of these big questions, then can I invite you to a ‘More to Life’ course that we are offering to any adults in the Shore community. The details are below.

Rev Anthony Benn
Chaplain

Starting 29 May 2025  |  7.30PM until 8.30PM  |  Christian Studies Classrooms

Come and hear what the Bible says about Jesus, what he has done and how he gives us meaning in life. There will be opportunities for discussion and questions, but there is also no expectation or pressure to say anything. Supper will be provided on all four nights.

The course runs from Thursday 29 May, for four consecutive Thursday evenings from 7.30pm until 8.30pm in the Christian Studies classrooms in the Senior School.

Parking – Bishopsgate, please enter via Hunter Cres.

Supper – Provided free of charge. To assist with catering, please RSVP here.

We look forward to seeing you.

Enquiries: chaplainspa@shore.nsw.edu.au

Career Pathways Breakfast Sessions

The Old Boys’ Union series of weekly career pathways sessions has started.

The sessions are being held every Thursday before school for the following professions/industries on the following dates:

• 15 May – Business and Economics
• 22 May – Health and Science
• 29 May – Engineering and IT

The sessions run from 7:30am to 8:20am and are in the Christian Studies Room 21-3-4. An Arts Session is being held on the 29 May with the venue to be confirmed.

A light breakfast will be provided around 7:20am, so please remind the students to be early.

Country Education Foundation Lunch

Country Education Foundation (CEF) will be hosting a lunch on Saturday 17 May in the Emery Room at Northbridge. The lunch will include a NSW Waratahs panel of current players that attended Shore and Joeys. 

CEF was founded in 1993 by Shore Old Boy, Nick Burton Taylor AM (’68) to enable equal access to further education, training and career opportunities for rural and regional youth aged between 16-25 years, through grants, scholarships and resources.

We invite you to support CEF by attending the luncheon or by clicking here to make a tax-deductible donation. All funds raised will go direct to CEF to help young people from across rural and regional Australia take their next step into further education and training.

Tickets for the luncheon can be booked here.

cef.org.au

Lower North Shore Careers Expo on Monday!

Looking forward to seeing you at the big event on Monday, where you can explore courses with Exhibitors and talk to alumni in our Human Library!

Career Expos are incredibly valuable events for students to explore, ignite curiosities and spark conversations; however, some can find it overwhelming. To mitigate this, it is important that students go with a plan:

• Be familiar with who will be at the Expo in both the Exhibitor section and the Human Library.
• Highlight five to six exhibitors to visit and alumni to talk to in the Human Library.
• Draft some questions using the prompts below.
• Collate the information gathered into your Career Plan on OneNote.

The exhibitor section includes over 50 Exhibitors on Courts 2 and 3, which include universities such as the University of Sydney, UNSW, UTS, ANU, Macquarie University, UNE, Newcastle University, CSU, as well as UAC, TAFE, Consulate of Canada, Education USA, Australian Defence, NSW Police, KPMG, PwC, Chartered Accountants, Engineers Australia, Letz Live Gap Years, and American Summer Camps, to name a few. Please see the full exhibitor list and map below.

In Court 1, we have our Human Library, where alumni and professionals have given up their time to share their career stories and answer any questions across a range of areas, including Business, Marketing, Engineering, Accounting, Analytics, Human Resources, Entrepreneurship, Sport Management, Law, Health, Medicine, Design, Architecture, Exercise Science, Cyber Security, Game Design, Construction Management, Property Economics, Gap Years, Applying to US Colleges and more.

Exhibitor questions to consider:

• Do you offer courses in…?
• What are the entry requirements? ATAR? Other?​
• How many face-to-face hours does the course involve?​
• What makes your institution different to others?​
• How much industry placement is available?​
• Where are students employed once they complete the course?​
• Overseas opportunities?​
• What does an Apprenticeship involve?​

Human Library questions to consider:

• What does a typical day look like?​
• What are some of the skills you are learning in your course/role?​
• What is challenging about your course/role?​
• What are you enjoying about your course/role?​
• What surprised you about your course/role?​
• What do you wish you knew before you started your course/role?​

We hope you enjoy the event, and thank you for your support.

Shore Careers Team

Melba Studios 2025 Photos Are Now Available

School photos are now available for download and purchase.

• Individual Portrait: available for instant download.
• House Photo and Composite Year Photo: digital copies can be requested and will be sent via file transfer service WeTransfer within 48 hours. Group photos will no longer be available for preview before digital distribution and/or purchase.
• Printed packages: available to order at various price points.

Please visit this link on Lampada to download or purchase photos.

Regional Boarding Expos

Our Boarding and Admissions teams will be at the 2025 Boarding Schools Expo events taking place across New South Wales and will also hold a regional tour throughout NSW to meet with families and prospective families interested in connecting with the Shore community.

Our staff look forward to meeting new faces and reconnecting with familiar ones as we showcase the opportunities Shore has to offer. Please extend the below dinner invitations to friends and family who may be interested in their son/s joining our Boarding community.

• Dubbo, Saturday 17 May: Book Here
• Wagga Wagga, Saturday 21 June: Book Here
• Scone, Friday 8 August: Book Here
• Armidale, Friday 22 August: Book Here
• Forbes, Friday 29 August: Book Here
• Orange (lunch), Saturday 30 August: Book Here

Shore Parents Prayer Group

All parents are very welcome. 

Term 2
Date: Friday 16 May
Time: 9.00 – 10.15am
Location: Northbridge Campus, soccer/tennis pavilion.

Enquires contact: Kathie Hone kmhone01@gmail.com or Rev Nick Foord nfoord@shore.nsw.edu.au

Term Dates 2025

Music Calendar

All dates and events are subject to change, please confirm with the Music Department.

Dates for Term 2 Progress Meetings

Parents and students in Years 7, 9 and 11 are asked to note the following dates for Term 2 Progress Meetings:

• Year 7 Progress Meetings: Tuesday 13 May (Week 3) between 4pm and 7pm
• Year 9 Progress Meetings: Wednesday 21 May (Week 4) between 4pm and 7pm
• Year 11 Progress Meetings: Tuesday 24 June (Week 9) between 4pm and 7pm

Booking information and meeting details will be emailed to parents two weeks before the meeting date. Progress meetings will be conducted online via Microsoft Teams.

Boys are expected to attend in school uniform.

There are no co-curricular activities on these dates for students attending Progress Meetings.

Ms Emma Campbell
Academic Data Manager

Parent Seminar Series 2025

Interactive Generative AI Lessons for Year 7 Students in Term 2

During Term 2, as part of the Foundations programme, Year 7 students will be taking part in an interactive lecture and a series of lessons focused on generative artificial intelligence (AI). These sessions will cover how generative AI works, its ethical considerations and potential security risks, its capabilities and limitations, and the basics of prompt engineering. Students will also be introduced to the generative AI platforms ChatGPT and Perplexity.

Please note that both ChatGPT and Perplexity have Terms and Conditions that restrict use by individuals under the age of 13. 
Conditions of use for ChatGPT can be found here: Terms of use | OpenAI
Conditions of use for Perplexity can be found here: Terms of Service

The structure of the Year 7 Foundations programme presents a valuable opportunity to deliver these lessons. There is great advantage in learning about emerging technology in a controlled environment such as that schools can provide. Please review the information we have provided and if you have any concerns, please feel free to reach out to Amanda or Lisa to discuss.

This lesson series is scheduled to begin on Tuesday 27 May. Please complete the consent to participate form by Friday 23 May.

Mrs Amanda Pfeffer
Head of Digital Learning

Ms Lisa Gemell
Teacher Librarian

From the Music Department

Band News

Congratulations to all boys in Concert Band and Symphonic Winds on an excellent start to the year. The exciting repertoire currently being prepared will be performed at the Band Concert this Term on 19 June. Concert Band’s programmatic work, The Cave You Fear, will be a highlight, as will Rapture, played by Symphonic Winds. There were 120 boys in the Band programme who attended Band Camp this year, and they have also been rehearsing diligently throughout the Term. Every student has an important role to play in the success of both of these ensembles, yet the following students had an exceptional impact in their ensembles at Band Camp and throughout the Term, demonstrating positive leadership, being good role models and exhibiting excellent musicianship. They are highly commended for their efforts. Well done, gentlemen!

Concert Band

Flute: Thomas Hood
Oboe: Eddy Smith 
Clarinet: Alex Beattie, George Harvey 
Saxophones: Alistair Chan, Caleb Nicholls
Trumpets: Sam Holt, Billy Rogers
French Horn: Charles Griffin
Lower Brass/Electric Bass: James Whitby, Leon Field
Percussion: Paddy Helleman, Toby Koch, Dhrish Shah

Symphonic Winds

Flute: Zac Gilmour
Clarinet: Alex Parker
Alto Saxophone: William Chan
Baritone Saxophone: Rishab Reddy
Trumpet: Harry Bestic, Hamish Parry-Okeden
French Horn: Lawrence Su
Trombone: Sam Lim
Euphonium: JJ Black
Percussion: Ollie Dorney

Leadership

Russell Jiang (Clarinet)
Justin Lee (flute)

Ms Sandy Robertson
(Acting) Band Coordinator Term 1

Thank you to…

A warm welcome to Term 2. There have been several events for Music in the last week of Term 1 and the first week of Term 2. Firstly, thank you to Ms Robertson for her leadership during Term 1 as (Acting) Coordinator of Bands. Thank you to Dr Gilmour, who conducted Concert Band during Term 1 and Mr Payne, who conducted Stage Band. We welcome back Mr Dorich as Coordinator of Bands and Director of Concert Band and Stage Band. All absences for these two ensembles now go to pdorich@shore.nsw.edu.au.

Congratulations to…

…. Harry Bestic, Jaxon Black, Claude Boddam-Whetham, and Will Watson who performed The Last Post and Rouse at the Polished Pennies Services across the School. Thank you to Harry Parry-Okeden, who also played the Bugle Calls at the North Sydney Bears Basketball Anzac Day matches and at Kirribilli RSL service during the holidays. Thank you to Ms Robertson for her mentoring of these students.

…Musicians in the Cadet Band who performed at Anzac Day March. Congratulations to all the students and Ms Robertson for their excellent representation of Shore.

…Year 7 to 10 Chapel Choir, who performed Be Thou My Vision at the Polished Pennies Services, and to the String Quartet, who performed the Hymn Dear Lord and Father of Mankind. Thank you to Mr Massey and Ms Wentzel for preparing the students.

…Bryce Gorman who attended an Irish Music event that was sponsored by Melbourne Comhaltas Victoria. We hope you learned much about your Irish Music.

…Koji Takamura who performed a solo at the 2025 Sydney Suzuki Festival Gala Concert during the holidays, where he played Rondo from Mozart’s Haffner Serenade on violin.

…Chapel Choir for their beautiful singing at the School’s birthday celebration at Open Service last Sunday. Thank you to Mr Massey for his leadership of the choir and to Mr Fox for his wonderful organ playing in accompanying these students. They performed Jesus Strong and Kind and a unique version of Be Thou My Vision.

…William Chan, Ewan de Vries, Alex Glasfurd, Justin Lee, Will Leslie, Sam Lim, Avery O’Neill, Alex Parker, Matthew Parsons and Asher Shepherd for their wonderful performances at the Year 10 Elective concert held last Wednesday. Thank you to Mr Dorich for his organisation of this event and to Ms Day for accompanying the students.

Rock School

On Friday 3 May, Year 8 students began their new Music class topic on Rock Music with an incursion to Rock School. Led by Mr Toby Hall, the band comprised of Ms Rochelle Fuller, Ms Jessica Green, Mr Gerard Masters, and Mr Aaron Flower performed an array of Rock repertoire. From Beatles to AC/DC, Year 8 was given an overview of British, US and Australian Rock. Thank you to the musicians and classroom teachers for providing this wonderful opportunity for Year 8.

Concert Group

On Wednesday 9 April, Ms Robertson, Ms Bai, and I had the pleasure of taking Concert Group to see Opera Australia’s rendition of Hadestown at the Theatre Royal. On Thursday 1 May, Mr Payne, Ms Wentzel, Ms Robertson, and I took Concert Group to see the Sydney Symphony Orchestra perform Tchaikovsky’s Sixth Symphony and Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun. Both evenings were thoroughly enjoyable and demonstrated the array of quality music that we are so fortunate to hear. Our next Concert Group is on Wednesday 4 June, where we will see the SSO perform Mendelssohn.

Upcoming Events and Date changes

Due to venue availability, our Spring Concert, which is usually held in Term 3, will be held this Term on Thursday 12 June and will be renamed Winter Concert. There will be no Band Concert or Instrumental/Choral Concert this Term. Instead, in Term 3, the Band Concert will move to Tuesday 5 August, with the day rehearsal on Thursday 31 July, and Instrumental/Choral Concert will move to Tuesday 16 September (instead of Spring Concert) with a rehearsal on the day of the 16th.

Year 9 Elective Music Soiree

On Wednesday 14 May, at 7pm in the Orchestral Recital Room, Year 9 Elective Music students will be performing Australian repertoire. We hope you are able to join us for an evening of high-quality music.

Scholars’ Recital

On Wednesday 21 May, Shore Music Scholars will be performing a variety of repertoire. The recital will begin at 7pm in the Shore Chapel with our organ scholar and will then continue in the Orchestra Recital Room. Refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the recital. We hope you are able to join us for an evening of high-quality performances of some very challenging repertoire.

Year 11 Elective Music Soiree

On Wednesday 28 May, at 7pm in the Choir Room/Band Room, Year 11 Elective Music students will be performing on their specialist instruments. We hope you are able to join us for an evening of high-quality music.

If you have any enquiries, please contact our administrative assistant – Performing Arts, Ms Nethery, at performingarts@shore.nsw.edu.au

Ms Kim Barber
Head of Music

Term 2 Music Calendar

Student Articles Available in Lampada

In keeping with tradition, printed copies of student articles are handed out at the Senior School gates every Friday. This allows us to honour the Shore Weekly Record’s mission, ‘by the boys, for the boys,’ while making the digital version more concise for parents. A PDF of the student articles is also available each week on Lampada in the publications page.

AFL Report

April Holidays

The day after Term 1 concluded, our Junior A Team played against Scots College (Scots) at Gore Hill Oval. Scots are not in the AFL Competition but are trialling games against other schools in the hope they do enter the competition in the future. Scots Juniors have several club and Swans Academy players and beat our boys 110 – 17. While the scoreboard reflected a one-sided affair, it didn’t reflect the effort and commitment of the Shore boys. They kept fighting to the final siren and pleasingly had some really strong passages of play. Archie P from Year 7 was Best on Ground, coming off the half back line repelling a number of Scots attacks. After the match, the Intermediate A’s and First XVIII had an internal training session.

The first week of the holidays, our First XVIII squad, consisting of ten Year 12s, 13 Year 11s, four Year 10s, and one Year 9 student, flew down to Melbourne for an AFL Tour. Staying in Xavier College’s Boarding House, the boys had a fantastic time building camaraderie and lifelong friendships. They only played one tour match, which was against Melbourne Grammar School Third XVIII. Two years ago, we lost to them 112 -20. This time around, we smashed them 160-40, with Mitch Dettman kicking six goals and Ben Hocking being named Best on Ground. We had a large turn-out of support from travelling families, including Tom Hamilton’s Grandfather, Mr Ian Stewart, who is a three-time Brownlow Medallist. Melbourne Grammar School were extremely impressed by the huge improvement over the past two years and made comments to several of our players about how there would be a spot for them in their First team. During the week, they also did a Tour of the MCG, went up the Skydeck building, trained on Hawthorns old ground, Glenferry Oval, invited to train on Brighton Grammar School’s main oval, then taken down to Brighton Baths, and finished the week being invited by AFL to attend North Melbourne vs Carlton at Marvel Stadium and was taken on a tour through the AFL Review Centre, which is strictly out of bounds area for the public. A highly successful tour, and the boys are looking forward to the season ahead.

AFL April Holidays – 2025

AFL Report

Saturday 3 May 2025

With pre-season commencing for the Senior Squad in January with a two-day camp, followed by Friday after-school at Gore Hill Oval for the first seven weeks of Term 1, the boys were already starting to form a strong bond when the Winter season officially commenced in Week 8. Continuing with the tradition of the first Saturday being “Challenge Day”, unfortunately, the planned event on Northbridge A was cancelled due to extreme wet weather and had to be moved to the R A I Grant Centre. The following week, all teams played a trial match against Barker on Barker’s Main Oval, where we won two of the four games. To finish off the Term, the Junior A team played a trial match against The Scots College (Scots) and went down in a tough contest. During the holidays, the Senior Squad toured to Melbourne and stayed at Xavier College. We trained, toured MCG, visited Skydeck, and attended an AFL match at Marvel Stadium to see Carlton beat North Melbourne. We were invited by AFL to view the AFL Review Centre and played a match against Melbourne Grammar School, where we won convincingly. To cap off the holidays, our Senior Squad, without the Year 12s due to exams, played a trial match against St Aloysius’ College and won that match as well.

The first week back for Term 2 officially marked the commencement of the Independent Schools Cup Competition. There was no better way to kick off the season than to play all our games on Northbridge A. It is a highlight for the AFL community, and it was a great day out. With rain pouring all week leading into Saturday, you would not have known it as the ground looked amazing. To start the day off, we had the Intermediate A’s vs St Augustine’s. Our team is made up of Year 9 students only, and we were playing against Year 10 students, with a few of them in the Swans Academy. Given these circumstances, our boys did very well, and the scoreline does not reflect how competitive they were.

The Second XVIII, mainly comprising Year 10 students, came up against Newington College, who were physically much bigger than us. This may have intimidated some of our guys as they never really got into the game that they are capable of. Newington would be the best team in Opens Division 2, I am confident we will be able to challenge the other teams.

Next, the First XVIII was playing in Round 00, which was not an official competition match, because the CAS schools had to play each other first for their own CAS competition. Therefore, we played a friendly match against Saint Ignatius’ College Riverview’s Seconds team. Riverview was aggressive from the beginning, but we eventually found our way and ran away with it, having to enforce the mercy rule, ending up with 15 men on the field. Well done to Mitch Dettman for kicking seven goals. With this being our only game on home soil, our parents provided and after-match function in the Emery Room for the teams. They put on a great spread that was appreciated by everyone.

The highlight of the day was the First XVIII doing a tunnel for the final match of the day, the Junior A Team. The Junior boys and parents loved it, and I am sure they will never forget it. The First XVIII stayed until half-time to cheer them on. It made for an exciting match, with Shore leading for the majority of the match, then surrendering the lead at three-quarter time. The boys fought hard to get the win, and with a few minutes more, I believe they could have. However, time got the better of them and Cranbrook won in a thrilling match. Well done to Harrison Thomas and Archie Peterson for kicking three (3) goals each. To finish off the day, we provided a BBQ for the boys and families, which was a great way to help strengthen the AFL community.

Thanks again to everyone for such a great day, and good luck for the remainder of the season. Next week, First XVIII have their first-round match against the highly rated Newington side on a Friday night at Sydney University Oval. Before the match, we will be presenting the First XVIII jerseys to the boys. The Second XVIII also has a Friday night game, which I am sure they will thoroughly enjoy.

“Beyond the Bridge”

Mr Geoff Tesoriero
MIC AFL

ISC AFL Round 1 – Saturday 3 May 2025

Cross Country Report

Saturday 5 April 2025

North Sydney, Balls Head

First world problems…

Saddened by the lack of a competitive fixture on the last weekend of March, the Blue St Boys rocked up at School for a training run down to our Balls Head (brashly claiming ownership). What a stunning morning for a run! Frowns soon turned to smiles as the Cross Country fraternity enjoyed a cruisy run together. What’s not to like? It was great to have some Old Boy dads join us. Shout out to Mr Anthony Coleman (’95) and Mr Rory Bestic (’95), and it was awesome to see Mr Lachy Brown (’24) back with us on a Saturday. We are indeed fortunate to have him, Mr Ryan Gilmour (’24)  and Mr Cam Burnett (’23) amongst our weekly Old Boy coaches.

Good running,

Mr Michael Spratt
MIC Cross Country

Cross Country Report

Saturday 3 May 2025

Waverley College and St Aloysius’ College Invitation, Upjohn Park, Rydalmere

The 2025 Season competition got underway with Waverley and St Aloysius’ hosting the GPS and CAS Cross Country fraternity last Saturday at Upjohn Park Rydalmere. The course was in great shape despite the recent rain, and some fine performances were recorded by the boys from Blue Street. Our strength looks to be in the Junior and Intermediate age groups where, if we target them and play our cards right, we are in with a shot at the season ending titles. It would be a stretch to say we are in the hunt in the Opens, though I’m certain as the season unfolds, we can remain in touch with those teams ahead of us currently, hopefully putting some pressure on them come season’s end. It would be great to be on a step of the podium in each division as we were last year again, though it currently looks like a tough ask!

The Juniors led the teams out on course in a fast start at 9am. George Harvey, pragmatically (no surprise he is thinking about his racing as he left training on Thursday with a Dostoevsky tome tucked under his arm; he is in Year 8… anyway, I digress…), decided he was going to ‘get out’ more quickly this year, and it paid dividends as it took sometime before Henry Grieve and Zac Robertson closed the gap on him, passing him, to be 16th and 20th (7th and 11th GPS) at race end with George only one spot adrift in 22nd (12th). Jackson Harris is super keen this year and ran well, and will no doubt improve throughout the season, as he was 38th (21st). He completed our Junior Team on the day, with the boys placing a commendable 2nd in the team’s event. Alex Baxter also ran well to be a tidy 47th (25th) on debut! Though, he does waste a bit of energy smiling to his fans as he passes…  

Our Intermediates soon followed, a little depleted as we had stolen a couple of their teammates for the Opens…  James Warren, Toby Ward and Ben Frantz ran superbly for the first run of the season, all finishing inside the Top Twenty (Top Ten GPS!). Nice! They finished 12th, 13th and 18th (4th, 5th, 6th) respectively! Digby Wood shouldered the burden of carrying the team result, which he did in fine fashion, as he finished a tenacious 41st (22nd), anchoring the Team to a solid 2nd place. I was impressed by Hugo Pope, to whom I had suggested doing some training over the holidays. Truthfully, he said he hadn’t, yet he had a real crack and finished a pleasing 57th (32nd) on debut. I’ve no doubt he can get down into the 20s by season’s end with some training and race smarts.

The Opens looked solid on paper, and several of us thought we would be there this year with our team. However, none of the Shore Cross Country aficionados predicted the depth of the competition. Scots put their hand up as the team to beat with an emphatic win in the Team Event on the day last Saturday and skipped away to a solid lead in the season-long cumulative competition. Ended up 6th, some distance back, but we do believe we can work our way into the top three regularly. Thomas Gray got away to a flyer, yet Captain James Bestic’s diesel engine kicked in over the four laps to eventually close the gap and passed him to lead his team home as he was 20th (15th), so I had thought, I later found out James passed Tom as he was vomiting in the bushes, yuk… Tom hung on well to be only three positions adrift in 23rd (18th). As mentioned, we moved Jonty Jagger and Hugo Stewart up in an effort to bolster our Open Team. The 8km seemed to suit Jonty a tad more as he finished a commendable 33rd (27th). He and Hugo were together for much of the race, though Hugo faded toward the end to finish 58th (43rd). We were also buoyed to see Fraser Pandit back on the horse after a couple of seasons beset with injury niggles. We’ve no doubt he will steadily improve throughout the season as his competitive juices start flowing. A big shout out too to Malachi Warner, who joined us for the first time. He has been running a godly number of kilometres each week as he trains to run from Brisbane to Sydney later in the year. I recently became aware of this, and of course, it was only natural that I pestered him to join us. Looking at some of the stats from his training sessions, he should start working his way toward the pointy end of the race with more race experience. We do love that Archie Watson remains a committed Shore Cross Country athlete. He ended up trotting around the 8km with the Opens lads after missing the start of the Inters as he raced to Rydalmere following his Football game!

So, we finished our first week of competition with a 2nd, 2nd and 6th in the Team’s events. Nothing to be ashamed of, but certainly something to try and improve upon moving forward. Moving forward – I sound like a Rugby League Coach…

Shore Cross Country Machine of the Week: The Cross Country staff were unanimous in suggesting James Warren as our ‘Machine’ following his run in the Intermediates last Saturday! I certainly wasn’t going to argue!

Congrats to the Shore lads and staff who ran in the Half Marathon last Sunday. I’ve heard quite a few good results, none more so than Thomas Gray, who completed the course in under 1hr 22mins! That’s sub 4min/km pace! Nice!

We are off to King’s tomorrow! It will be tough, as always, out West!

Good running,

Mr Michael Spratt
MIC Cross Country

Rugby Report

Saturday 3 May 2025

After a slow start in Term 1 with rain once again playing havoc, the sun was out on Saturday across Northbridge and Knox ovals.

Some notable games around the grounds included the Fourth XV having a good win against Sydney Boys High First XV and all our 13’s, 14’s and 15’s teams defeating Knox. Great start, men. Our 16A’s went down on the bell at the Knox #1 oval, but it was an even game in which we had our chances.

Our GPS Competition teams continue to prepare well for the season. The Third XV and Second XV had narrow wins against Knox – always tough games in preparation for the season ahead. These teams are travelling well and forming strong, cohesive patterns in their play.

The First XV came out of the blocks slowly and allowed three early tries. After an excellent tackle from a re-start, the newly appointed Captain of Rugby, Charlie Francis, ignited the team, and Oscar d’Almeida stole a ball to race away for Shore’s first try. Shore got back into the game and brought the score to 19-19 at half time.

The second half started like the first and saw Knox record first points and then go in again to take the lead to 31-19. Shore, however, fought back and brought the game to 31-26 as both teams began to tire. Shore had the running towards the end of the game, and it looked like our faster, smaller pack would run around the larger Knox pack, but Knox held firm, scoring a last-minute try.

Friday 9 May – Shore vs Barker – Allianz Stadium

Hopefully, everyone has bought tickets for tonight’s big clash. The game starts at 5.20pm, and your tickets will allow you to stay for the Waratahs vs Reds Super Rugby clash – a must-win for the Waratahs (who are being led by Old Boy, Hugh Sinclair). If you are still wanting to buy tickets, please follow these steps:

Click here

Type in SHORE as the password.

Select General Admission tickets in GA1. We will all be based at the southern end of the Stadium behind the goalposts.

Saturday 10 May – Shore vs Barker at Northbridge. Free coffee for Mum’s and Carers!

All other teams play on Saturday 10 May. Always check the Senior School Sporting Fixtures webpage for your games.

And because all good Shore boys love their Mum or other significant female role models and carers, all Mums at Northbridge will receive complimentary coffee. Look out for a coupon and enjoy the treat.

Go Shore!

Mr David Mason-Jones
MIC Rugby