Homebush Boys High School

Homebush Boys High School
Homebush Boys High School Crest
Location
Sydney , NSW Australia
Information
Type	Secondary Comprehensive, All Male
Motto	Recte et Fortiter "With Courage and Integrity"
Established	1936
Headmaster	Dr. Ian Paterson
Grades	7–12
Enrolment	1200
Mascot	Owl
Website	www.homebushbo-h.schools.nsw.edu.au

Homebush Boys High School, founded in 1936, is a comprehensive, public high school located in Homebush, an Inner Western suburb of Sydney, Australia. Homebush Boys is generally regarded as one of the academically best-performing comprehensive schools, and has, in the past, been ranked above selective schools on the Higher School Certificate results. As is the common practice among single-gender schools, Homebush Boys has a "sister-school" relationship with the near-by Strathfield Girls High School.

The school has an enrolment of some 1200 students, drawn from a variety of ethnicities, including Tamil, Chinese, Korean, Turkish and Lebanese. A large proportion of the student body are recently arrived migrants, who are attracted by the school's academic record. Although most students live in the surrounding communities of Homebush, Lidcombe, Strathfield, Bankstown and Auburn, a fair proportion live outside the area.

Curriculum

File:Homebush Boys High School Map.png

A view of the school and its boundaries.

The school has nine faculties, being English, Mathematics, Science, Social Science, History, Music, Languages, Art, industrial art, and PD/H/PE. Together they offer a large variety of subjects with a range of difficulty levels.

The 2003 Fellowship report noted that students at the school had much higher rates of literacy than the average in the state, and that the proportion of students in the upper achievement bands increased with each year of attendance. It described this as "a remarkable achievement for a school where 85% of the boys come from a non-English-speaking background." [1]

Homebush Boys is a consistent achiever in the HSC outcome, averaging 6-9 students achieving the Premier's Award every year. In 2004, Martin Feng became the first Homebush Boy to score 100 UAI. In the following year, 77 students were awarded the Premier's Award. Conversely, approximately 35% of the students failed to go to univeristy.

School Certificate

The School Certificate curriculum is designed for Years 7 to 10.

Compulsory subjects at Homebush Boys High for Year 7 to 8 to meet the requirements of School Certificate are:

English	Mathematics	Science	Geography	History
Languages	Physical Education	Music	Design and Technology	Visual Arts

For Years 9 to 10, students choose two electives and only have to do the first five subjects above. Electives that are offered in 2006 were as follows:

Aborginal Studies	Chinese	Commerce	Electronics	Food Technology
Graphics Technology	History Extension	Industrial Technology	Information and Software Technology	Photography
Physical Activity and Sports Studies	Visual Arts

Higher School Certificate

For Years 11 to 12, students must choose English plus at least eight other units as part of the Higher School Certificate. All subjects are worth two units unless stated. The following subjects are offered at Homebush Boys High as of 2007:

English Fundamentals [1 Unit]	English as Second Language (ESL)	English Standard	English Extension 1 [1 Unit]	English Extension 2 [1 Unit]
General Mathematics	Mathematics	Mathematics Extension 1 [1 Unit]	Mathematics Extension 2 [1 Unit]	-
Ancient History	Modern History	Biology	Chemistry	Physics
Business Studies	Economics	Legal Studies	Chinese	French
Engineering Studies	Information Processes and Technology	Information and Technology (VET): Certificate II	Photo Video Digital [1 Unit]	Software Design and Development
Hospitality	Industrial Technology Multimedia	Industrial Technology Timber	Music	Visual Arts
Sport Life and Recreation [1 Unit]	Studies of Religion I [1 Unit]

Extra Curricular Activities

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HBHS Students and Main Entrance Building

• Drum Corps - The drum corps participates in the annual Burwood march, the ANZAC march through the streets of Sydney City and the Sandakan service at Burwood.
• Chess Team - The school offers senior, intermediate and junior chess teams which participate every Friday afternoon against other schools in the area.
• Debate Team
• Mock UN
• Public Speaking - The school offers various opportunities for students to hone their public speaking skills. Examples include the Toastmasters challenge that the school participates in annually.
• Tournament of the Minds

Sporting Achievements and Opportunities

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Rugby at HBHS

The school has always been a stronghold of the rugby codes with many former pupils going on to play at senior levels. In 1965 the school won the NSW state rugby union schools knockout championship the Waratah Shield.

In 2006, the cricket team were runners up in the inaugural state-wide Davidson Shield tournament, being narrowly defeated in the final.

The table tennis team in 2006 were the undefeated champions in the state knockout competition, defeating James Ruse Agricultural High School, 4-0, in the finals. They also went on to represent NSW at the Australian Schools Table Tennis Championships in Melbourne. They were undefeated in the open teams category and finished 2nd in the mixed school category.

Notable alumni

Homebush Boys High School alumni have achieved public prominence in various fields of endeavour. These include:

Administration

• John D Coates AO LLB - lawyer and businessman; president of the Australian Olympic Committee, member of the International Olympic Committee
• André Frankovits, former Executive Director, Human Rights Council of Australia
• John Symond - businessman; chief executive "Aussie Home Loans", naming rights sponsor of the Sydney Football Stadium

Arts

• Neil Armfield - theatre, film and opera director
• Paul Furness - prominent Australian jazz musician.
• Clive Lucas OBE - restoration architect

Politics and Law

• Bob Debus - former NSW politician, State Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment.
• Roderick Howie - lawyer and jurist; Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
• Jim Lloyd - politician; Federal minister for Local Government, Territories and Roads (from 2004)

Science and Education

• Richard Collins, Emeritus Professor of Physics, University of Sydney [2]
• Ian Dance Emeritus Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of New South Wales [3]
• Stephen Leeder - medical scientist; professor of public health and community medicine at the University of Sydney, and co-director of the Menzies Centre for Health Policy
• Alan Pettigrew - scientist; from 2006 Vice-Chancellor of The University of New England, formerly (to 2005) Chief Executive Officer of the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
• Danny Stiel AM - gastro-intestinal oncologist; member of AOC Medical Commission and formerly Chief Medical Officer at the 2000 Sydney Olympics

Sport

• Rodney Blake - Rugby union player; playing in the Australia and the Queensland Reds teams.
• Gordon Bray AM - sports commentator, journalist and writer
• Tony Ford - Rugby League player; nominated by Don Clarke as the new "Boot", subsequently first grade fullback with Western Suburbs DRLFC
• Arthur Summons - Rugby League player; former captain Western Suburbs DRLFC and Australian Rugby League teams

Notorious alumni

• Andrew Chan - convicted drug trafficker, a member of the "Bali 9", Chan was at Homebush Boys High School until 1999, Year 10.
• Wade Frankum - perpetrator of the Strathfield Massacre (also attended Newington College).
• Roger Rogerson - controversial former member of the NSW Police, some of whose activities were portrayed in the ABC TV mini-series Blue Murder.

Notable staff

• Dave Anderson Australian Olympic oarsman in 1952 and 1956. Rowed King's Cup 1950, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57; Henley 1952; New Zealand 1951; and was in winning coxed-4s crew at Empire Games, 1954.
• Darrel Chapman - academic, former captain South Sydney DRLFC and member Australian Rugby league teams
• Vincent Durick Maths teacher and numbers man extraordinaire; MLA for Lakemba, 1964-84, Deceased 1996. [4]
• Jack "Pug" Mason - sports master and rugby coach in the 1950 and 1960s - coached Waratah Shield winning side (1965). Father of 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics silver medallist and 1958, 1962 and 1966 Commonwealth Games medallist, high jumper Michelle Mason Brown.
• Peter Philpott NSW and Australian Test cricketer, leg-spin bowler and right-hand batsman

See also

• List of Government schools in New South Wales

External links

• Homebush Boys High School website
• NSW Department of Education and Training: Homebush Boys High School
• Memories of 1956-57 year