{"id":28870,"date":"2025-08-12T14:47:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T04:47:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/?post_type=article&p=28870"},"modified":"2025-08-14T13:31:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T03:31:03","slug":"message-from-the-headmaster-39","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/article\/message-from-the-headmaster-39\/","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Headmaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u2018Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. 
Rather, in humility value others above yourselves<\/em>\u2019<\/em><\/p>Philippians 2:3 NIV<\/em><\/strong><\/cite><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is Excellence?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Dear Parents and Carers,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, The<\/em> Daily Telegraph <\/em>published a list of the best 100 private schools in Australia. They determined that Shore was in the rather extraordinary position of 14th. They identified Shore as the second best boys\u2019 school in NSW and the sixth best in the country. The criteria were NAPLAN and ATAR results; student\/teacher ratios; school fees, overall funding and socio-economic advantage; school facilities, breadth of subjects offered; and range of co-curricular activities, including sport. What exactly was their methodology and how rigorous was this? We simply don\u2019t know. There is no granularity in the ranking, which is yet another media league table. At least it is preferable to the constant excoriation and scarifying such schools normally suffer through various media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should we make of this? In one sense it is a compliment. However, there is no place for hubris or any form of arrogance. The Apostle Paul\u2019s maxim: \u201cDo nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves<\/em>\u201d (Philippians 2:3) is a key value at Shore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if we accept the label of excellence, that is no justification for resting on our laurels. Schools which are not constantly endeavouring to improve further, risk becoming becalmed. Moreover, Shore seeks excellence in multiple areas, including those which are not readily expressed in data. Amongst these are the critical character attributes and virtues which are part of becoming an excellent adult man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some recent indicators of excellence are certainly robust. Oliver Roxburgh<\/strong> of Year 12 has won a gold medal in the International Geography Olympiad. Dylan Mathew<\/strong> has achieved a silver medal, and Ben Bauer <\/strong>and Dylan Phelps<\/strong> have both achieved bronze in the same competition. Henry Pritchard<\/strong> of Year 11 has won a gold medal in the Australian Geography Olympiad. Austin Xu<\/strong> of Year 11 has won a High Distinction in the Australian Economics Olympiad, and to consolidate such results, as pointed out last week, Jayden Pan<\/strong> of Year 11 has won gold at the International Mathematics Olympiad. Year 7 students, Zachary Robertson<\/strong>, Edward Perham<\/strong> and Charlie Cameron<\/strong> have been labelled as Future Entrepreneurs of the Year for their submission \u201cFuntrade\u201d (KidsMBA), an online e-commerce trading platform. This is international recognition. The boys are amongst 12 international finalists, the first Australians ever to reach the final. Their work was submitted last year as a Year 6 entry. Also from the Prep School, Year 5 students, Dash Sippe<\/strong> and Ezra Do<\/strong>, have been shortlisted from 6,500 entries in the Whitlam Institute\u2019s What Matters? Writing Competition<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Surf Life Saving, Sam Davis<\/strong> of Year 11 has been selected to represent Australia as a member of the Australian Youth Life Saving team to compete in the International Surf Rescue Challenge in New Zealand. George Kennedy<\/strong>, Hamilton Ward<\/strong>, Russell Yuan<\/strong>, Alex Woolfe<\/strong>, Jett Semmens <\/strong>and Cooper Semmens<\/strong> have been selected in various U15 and U17 State teams in Water Polo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Congratulations to all of these students and to the staff who have assisted them in these worthy endeavours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regards<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr John Collier<\/strong>
Headmaster<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is Excellence? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","article_category":[31],"article_tag":[],"class_list":["post-28870","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","article_category-message-from-the-headmaster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/28870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"article_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_category?post=28870"},{"taxonomy":"article_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thebuzz.net.au\/shore-weekly-record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_tag?post=28870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}