Latest news with #OldBoys
Sydney Morning Herald
6 days ago
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
Selective schools are a NSW educational experiment that needs a revamp
Attempting to change entrenched ideas about education can be Herculean and sometimes thankless task. Consider Newington College's plan to gradually admit girls to the 162-year-old institution and the legal pushback by Old Boys who believe going co-educational is a betrayal of school tradition. Now the Herald 's chief reporter Jordan Baker has shone the spotlight on iniquities posed by NSW's selective public schools as government hangs on to a system that has grown into one potentially damaging children's development by locking them in to excessive tutoring. The madness and sadness of subjecting children to such institutionalised stress was exposed once and for all earlier this month when riot police were called to quell crowds at the 2025 selective schools test conducted in non-conducive mega testing centres around Sydney where the bulk of the state's 17,559 year 6s vied for 4200 places. The resultant omnishambles also forced the cancellation of the exams for some students. The selective school mania is a NSW speciality. Victoria has four, Western Australia has one, but NSW boasts 42 (some fully, some partially). A recent policy change reserves 20 per cent of places for Indigenous and disadvantaged students, and those with a disability, but not all places are filled because the students do not meet the minimum academic threshhold. In the 1980s, NSW had seven selective schools but both Coalition and Labor governments pushed the selective system to win votes and halt the flight of middle-class families to private schools that ironically partly came courtesy of Commonwealth and state governments' funding polices. They failed on both accounts, even as research found children attending academically selective schools gained no advantage and the Gonski Report alerted Australia to huge inequities in education years ago. By taking top-performing students out of comprehensive public schools and turning selective schools into a prize, governments created what parents now perceive as a two-tier system of premium and second-rate public schooling. That said, until recently, the selective public school system had served our state well over the years. But public disquiet had been mounting amid the sometimes-exploitative coaching industry cashing in on parental aspirations. Now even former Coalition education ministers Adrian Piccoli and his successor, Rob Stokes, believe the time has come to rethink the state's selective school system. 'It's a bit like we've created an addiction to create specialist schools, and once we started we never weaned ourselves off,' Stokes said. Politicians must have the courage to dismantle the selective system and provide the kind of quality replacement education that meets the expectations and aspirations of all parents.
ABC News
7 days ago
- General
- ABC News
Supreme Court clears the way for Newington College to accept female students
The Supreme Court has shot down a legal bid to stop a 162-year-old school for male students in Sydney's inner west from accepting females next year onwards. Newington College, an affluent private school with more than 2,000 male students in Stanmore, announced plans to become co-educational in late 2023. But some students, parents and alumni — commonly called 'old boys' — were outraged by the decision, circulating a petition before launching a court action in the Supreme Court of NSW. The case was brought by Student A — who attended the school and had their identity suppressed by the court to protect their privacy — as he was against the Newington College Council and 25 other defendants. Lawyers for Student A claimed the school was formed to teach males, pointing to a trust deed from 1873 that described Newington College as "an efficient college for youth", arguing "the term 'youth' is limited to the advancement of education of boys and young men". Justice Guy Parker dismissed the argument in Wednesday's ruling. "I have concluded that the word 'youth' in the 1873 trust deed was used in a gender-neutral sense, and does not mandate male-only enrolment at the college," he said. The Save Newington College group issued a statement mere minutes after the ruling, expressing their disappointment. "Today's decision, while respected, is at odds with the understanding held by generations of Old Boys, parents, staff, and community members — that Newington was founded, funded and entrusted as a school for boys, consistent with the original deeds," the statement read. "The campaign by Student A to protect Newington's heritage has never been about resisting change. The Newington College Council can now forge ahead with accepting enrolments in the school, where tuition ranges from $26,217 for kindergarten to $45,369 for years 11 and 12. Female students can join the primary school in 2026 and the secondary school from 2028, with the institution to become completely coeducational by 2030.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
'They got blamed': Broncos great makes ugly axing claim as Allan Langer speaks out
Gorden Tallis has let rip at the Broncos having accused them of twisting the narrative around Kevin Walters' axing as former trainer Allan Langer has called out the club over their start. Tallis was extremely critical of how the Broncos handled his former teammates axing at the end of last year. Reports claimed Walters was axed not long after the players undertook a review of their season. Michael Maguire was quickly hired to come in and change the culture at the Broncos to give the side a harder edge in 2025. The move certainly angered the Broncos Old Boys and it was led by Tallis who was fuming at how the club treated a legend. Club favourite Langer also left his role as assistant trainer after his friend Walters was axed, which meant an end of an era for the team. And Maguire has not fared much better since coming in with the Broncos dropping five of their last six games. They currently sit in ninth place with after a number of capitulations piling the pressure on Maguire. And Tallis has let rip at his former club having claimed the players are 'dirty' the narrative was put on them rather than the club owning the decision. 'That was reverse engineered. The club didn't want to make the decision and the players are dirty about that,' Tallis said on Fox Sports' NRL 360. 'The players that I've spoken to are dirty that they got blamed for it. The club should have come out and owned that decision, they shouldn't have put that on the players. That was unfair to put that on the players. There was no meeting, they weren't sitting around, they weren't face to face. And that's the coach's job. 'Wayne Bennett gets asked who does the reviews and Wayne says 'I do it'. He goes and talks to the players and they have a chat and that's how you fix things. That's what men generally do, winners get in groups and talk about it. I don't know what losers do.' Tallis has previously claimed Walters never had the backing needed to succeed. 'I don't think he ever felt like he got the support that he wanted. From day one, he had to go buy his own shirt to do his own press conference. I felt like he was doing it all alone," Tallis said earlier this year on NRL 360. The Broncos legend's damning claim about the playing group comes after Langer broke his silence about the current crop's mentality. This comes after the club dropped out of the eight. Langer is a Broncos and Maroons legend, and won numerous premierships and Origin series with Brisbane and Queensland respectively. His work as a trainer for the Broncos and Maroons is just as iconic as his feats on the field during his playing days. The legend left his role as Broncos trainer with Maguire keen to start afresh with his own staff. In big news, Langer agreed with work with Billy Slater again for the 2025 State of Origin series. And speaking in the Queensland camp, Langer has offered his thoughts on the current situation at the Broncos. And the club legend made some telling comments about the playing group watching it from afar in 2025. 'They are lacking team spirit at the moment,' Langer told The Courier Mail. 'The senior players have to get the group together and work out what is going wrong. 'Because it's hard for the coaching staff or anyone outside the playing doesn't look great watching it, especially the last few weeks.' Former Roosters player Braith Anasta claimed the comments from the club legend were a 'dagger' to the current crop of players. Tallis weighed-in on Langer's comments and claimed it should making the current playing gorup stand up. 'Alf doesn't like confrontation, he doesn't like talking about the club, he's made a point because he loves it so much, so that's really strong from Alfie,' Tallis said.
Otago Daily Times
11-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Excelsior pack paves way for win
Rugby is an 80-minute game and Excelsior's latest Citizens Shield win proved that. They beat Old Boys 47-26 on Saturday after trailing for almost the entire game. The opening 20 minutes was all Old Boys. They came charging out of the gates to score three tries and open a 19-0 lead. An intercept try to Oli Knopp, a regular member of the backline who was playing blindside flanker, started to turn the tide Excelsior's way. A dominant scrum 5m out from the line was the catalyst for their second try but Old Boys hit back through halfback Tini Feke to lead 26-12 at the break. This was when Blues really kicked in to gear. Their scrum earned them numerous penalties, which they kicked to the corner and got into the 22m. Relentless attack eventually resulted in Tevita Vonotabua crashing over. During another trip to the 22m, a scrum penalty was taken quickly by Seva Druma who dotted down, and Josh Phipps drilled the conversion to tie it up. With just over 10 minutes to go, a 50-22 by Tyron Davies gave them an attacking lineout. They were then able to spin it wide and Vonotabua scored again to give Blues their first lead of the game. They were in again less than five minutes later after breakdown turnover unleashed a counterattack. Shifting the ball wide, Druma gassed his defender on the outside and bagged his second. A third to Vonotabua was the cherry on top of an extremely impressive second half. Blues' entire front row fronted up in a big way. Their dominant scrum laid the platform for Vonotabua, Matia Qiolevu and Druma to work their magic out wide. Athletic Marist remain on top of the table after they dispatched Kurow 49-29. It was the perfect way for Epineri Logavatu to celebrate his 50th game for the club. The big lock even got the chance to kick a conversion to mark the occasion. In the final game of the round, Valley ran in 14 tries to rout Maheno 80-26. The green and blacks kept it close in the first half, trailing by just one at the break. Unfortunately for them, the floodgates opened in the second half in a clinical display from Valley.
Otago Daily Times
08-05-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Unexpected results lead to points table shuffle
It has been an intriguing few weeks to be a club rugby spectator in North Otago. Just when you think you know what is happening, another round tips the Citizens Shield on its head. After leading 10-6 at halftime, Athletic Marist piled on a big second half to beat Old Boys 46-18 last week. Forwards Paea Fifita and Epineri Logavatu each dotted down twice in that big victory. That win has pushed them to the top of the table with defending champions Excelsior hot on their heels. Blues also recorded a big 66-23 win over Maheno under the lights last Thursday — the games were split thanks to duck-shooting — and pulled together some really nice tries. Maheno tested them early in that clash and held most of the ball in the opening quarter, but once Blues scored their opener, they were away. Seva Druma picked up a hat-trick. Josh Phipps — including a brilliant 70m intercept try — and Matia Qiolevu each scored twice. Kurow held their own at home against Valley and led 14-12 at halftime. But the Weston men rolled up their sleeves in the second half and ran away with a 34-14 victory. Those results have led to a shuffle on the points table. Athies claim top spot with 16 points, Blues (14) sit second, Valley (13) are third and Old Boys (11) slip to fourth. Kurow (five points) are fifth, while Maheno (three) are sixth and are yet to notch a win despite putting in some mighty efforts so far. But all of that could change again this weekend with some intriguing match-ups. Blues v Old Boys shapes as the game of the round and always produces a fiery encounter. Both teams have shown patches of brilliance, but have occasionally stumbled as well, and will be hunting for those points at Whitestone Contracting No 2. Athies are home to Kurow and the home team will be hoping to make it four on the trot to close out the first round of the competition. But the Red Devils are never a side to back down from a challenge. It will be a battle of the country out in Weston, when Valley host Maheno.
