Sydney Boys High School (Info for potential parents)

I am writing this blog because I don't know what information is really out there for parents to consider high school options for their kids. While it doesn't have the halo like other selective or private schools, my take is Sydney Boys is one of the best kept secrets out there. 

Our son went to SBHS from Yr 7 through to Yr 12. He graduated 2 years ago.

If you are considering selective high school for your kid(s), do consider SBHS as one of the options.

First, allow me to rant. For some reason, the system is "biased" against the selective schools. Some parents say because they are academically selective the system is not fair to all so the government should "diminish" the selective schools. To which I would say, any kids in NSW can choose to sit for the selective school exam if they want to, what is so unfair about this ? BUT they would say those kids who make it, they go to coaching colleges so the system is not fair. To which I would say, the primary schools in NSW can't teach and why should  the system penalize kids who want to spend more time to study and learn. And one more criticism of selective school is they are dominated by Asians. Crikey. This makes me angry. Our kids are ABC. What right do people have to penalize another Australian ? 

Turning back to SBHS. It is different from most selective school because the school's philosophy/aim is to "nurture" sportsmen/scholars. It is compulsory to play sports (even in Year 12). Some parents don't like it. BUT my view is it is important to strike a balance between study and sport. When the kids are young, if they don't play sports on weekend, what do you think they will do on Saturday mornings ? Playing on PC or phone or study. Place your bet. Sport is a good way to de-stress in Yr12 as well.

Academically, it is clearly not as strong as say James Ruse of NSB. My view is SBHS is more than OK academically. Again, another rant. The Department of Education is hiding information about each school. This high achiever rank is frankly misleading. A band 6 in an easy subject is "bull". The benchmark of the academic standing of a school in my mind is % of kids with ATAR over 99. Rumour has it that half of the kids at James Ruse are over 99. In the case of SBHS, the % is between 15-20%, which is more than respectable. If you don't believe me, benchmark this statistics vs. most private schools out there. Now here is another point or personal opinion. It is not a particularly clever idea to send kids to a school where half the school gets over 99%. Such a strong/tough academic environment is not conducive to building self confidence when kids are young.

A friend went to SBHS. He once said to me if you make it through SBHS you know you are tough enough to take on the world after battling the cohort for 6 years. Kind of like the Shaolin temple really. In my mind, this is the biggest plus of SBHS. The cohort has roughly similar family background. Parents who care about the academic standard of their kids. There were no rich kids (or spoilt kids) that I heard of when our son was in High. So most families at High work hard and aspire better things for their kids. Our son and his friends share similar aspirations in life.

Like other schools, there are good and bad teachers. That said, our son had some very good teachers that he looked up to during his time at High. In Yr12, his teachers would mark up additional essays he wrote and offered feedback beyond normal school work. The school enforces its standards /discipline (like uniform tidiness, being on time, behavior on public transport etc etc). The principal  (Dr Jagger) personally interviews every student after the report card is issued. Dr Jagger was often seen at Saturday sport as well.

In senior year, many kids go to coaching. Let's be honest. Life is competitive. Remember HSC scaling is about average of the school vs. other school to even out the internal marks + difficulties of subjects and quality of each subject cohort.

SBHS is a classic/traditional high school with strong value. It has a good cohort of kids with families that care and share similar value. It is a good school to consider.