This one’s got me angry.
Seems that some feeble-minded halfwits decided to create an anonymous website bagging the teachers at my old school, Hurlstone, and caused a lot of distress and bureaucratic paper-shuffling in the process.
Listen up, you dimbulbs. It’s bad enough that you misspell ‘dispicible’ and ‘theif’, but when you give journalists reason to use the lame term ‘Throwstones‘, you’ve got a lot to answer for.
Rest assured, you’ll have nowhere to hide when you’re found out, my friends.
41 thoughts on “More ‘Hurlstone In The News’”
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BONWAG 
I’m a current hurlstone student and i’d like to applaud you for your comment! So much sensationalism…media will do anything to get/fabricate a story.
i am also a current boarder student at hurlstone, and i must say the media has tried to break the reputation of hurlstone, but it has not succeeded. hurlstone, if anything, has gotten stronger.
Hurlstone, Hurlstone yes we are. For anyone who has ever been a student of Hurlstone you will know nothing can damage the pride of our school.There will always be disgrutled campers at any school but unfortunately in the age of the internet to much trash can get bandied about. Let the police investigate such claims, and then let it rest. Most of all stand proud “for the honour of our great school Hurlstone”
ex student (1989-1993)
ok you have no idea who i am and i was just googling “hurlstone ag” and i just happened to stumble upon your website.
i’m a current student in year 12 at hurlstone and i just thought i’d say hello, and probably alot has happened since you’ve been here. especially since i was born in 1988 and now i’m 17.
so i suppose it’s been a real long time and you must be married with children by now. i have fmaily who were in your grade. or perhaps in 1987. i’m not quite sure. they’re my uncles and aunties.
were you a boarder or a day student?
if you were a boarder perhaps you’d know my uncle. ken turner.
well i’ll leave you for now. perhaps you don’t even look at your site anymore. sorry to bother you.
summer.
ps. please excuse my writing and grammar.
Hey, Summer
Great.Thanks. I’m turning 35 this week – I was trying not to feel too old. At least, until I read your post.
Yes, please say Hi to Uncle Ken for me – we were in the same year. He was a boarder, and I was a ‘daygo’.
Yes, I do look at the site every so often. It’s been busy lately.
P.S.: No, your writing and grammar aren’t excused. Keep up the standard! :-)
Right on. :) I’m a year 9 hurlstonian, a daygo, and despite the recent not-so-great media attention we’ve had, we’re still an awesome bunch of people, acheiving awesome things. Whoever wrote that stuff – It’s just not hurlstone :P
alright, i know its a bit after all of that stuff that happened…and whatever did and didnt happen all i can say is, in the nicest way possible what did you base your assumptions on that we are still a great school….we have some teacher who are basket cases, stress cases offloaded to our easy schooling environment, im not gonna say that everything that was said was right or fair or anything but there were things that wer’nt particularly good, the school was going through a fairly rough stage losing our beloved long serving principal, loved by all to a new principal who, at the time, seemed more interested in punishment than any sort of re-inforcment, i seem to have gone on for a bit, hurlstone is not what is used to be, rugby is almost dead, teachers and P&C are at loggerheads people are annoying, teachers are leaving, more than usual, i dont know the answer, i dont know all the problems, but i do know that i do love hurlstone but i dont know how long the hurlstone that i have spent 5 good years *one to go* with will last,
thanks for listening, just thought id fill you in on some things, hope your having a nice day
I heard about that website- I am a Hurlstone daygo, grade seven. We are, however, a great school no matter what. Certain students are troublemakers, and that’s life, but the rest of us try and make up for it double! :-)
I love hurlstone. best school ever. here’d to the class of ’04 =)
i reckon this site is the best concerning hurlstone! After that incident teachers are blocking all blog creating stuff and checking all websites students make! I would like some privacy, but some idiot had to do that! HAHS rocks so stopp dissin it ppl!!!!!
This is becoming a convention for Hurlstonians! I’m a daygo, Class of 07, the Centenary Year. Practically all the sites on the school computers are blocked now – I’m doing this from home. We can’t even use Hotmail. Talk about paranoid. Love hearing from all you Hurlstonians, ex or no!
Heys. I’m a current student of Hurlstone Ag. and I’d just like to thank you for stickin up for our school. Okays bye.
“Come gather round Hurlstonians and sing with all your heart. It’s here we learn about life’s way and how to play our part. It’s here we learn about the land that gave us all our start. We are glad that we belong to Hurlstone…”
hurrah hurrah for the plough and the harrow and the hoe
hurrah hurrah for the wheat in the waving row
Perhaps it was a disgruntled ex-Hurlstone teacher that set up “Throwstones”, everyone just asumed it was students.
Also, your teachers are not blocking sites its the new system put in place by the Department of Education, eventually it will be in every school.
Hey everyone,
Im a Hurlstonian, a year 7 still =) and this school is really good and everyone is friendly to each other, i dont think that all this has been done by a Hurlstonian student. So what if it’s in Glenfield? it could be someone living in one of the houses beyond the farm? Next time the media wants to ruin a school’s high reputation, they should go get proof before they talk. Because of this, now everything which happens on the computers are monitored, last month hotmail got banned, every website you go to is known and how long you stay on it is also monitored. So… all this because a idiot dicided to post some junk?
P.S Anyone know who i am? probebly not, but i’m Ali. Bye bye
f**k hurlstone crappiest school ever
Currently a Senior Student Of Hurlstone ;
On first enrolling for Hurlstone, before ‘Throwstones’, before ‘Norris’, before everything, we were simply told as newly-made year7 students, that we were to be attending a school, so rich in its traditions and history, and so sought-after by fellow-students across NewSouthWales, that it was THE school with the greatest number of students applying to enrol, back then it was anyway.
For it was following Mr.Clarke’s first years speech, for those who were lucky enough to sit through it at the time, that everyone, parents and students alike, were given the impression that Hurlstone was indeed the ‘Greatest’ school, ever.
And, for the first few years, Hurlstone didnt let us down, nor did it seem like it ever would. However that was under Mr.Kidd’s reign. Never had we seen such a Principal, that was so passionate about his school and its students. It was Mr.Kidd that referred to Hurlstone, not as a school, but always as a family. The Hurlstone Family.
The years that followed, Hurlstone started to slip, we were led by Mr.Norris, who seemed so obsessed about ‘Suspending & Expelling’, every single student that gave him the slightest reason to. Constantly missing school assemblies to take ‘trips’ back to Ireland, and on the rare occasions that he might be around at the time, seemed too uninterested in our school’s proceedings. Before, Mr.Kidd had left, we were promised an indoor sporting hall, of which, never arrived. Instead, we figured we had fell short of the money needed to construct it, that was until Mr.Norris’s house alongside the school, over the following weeks, had Air-Conditioners amongst other things installed.
Since then,
* Mr.Clarke, ‘The Enforcer’, left Hurlstone [dc – edit]
* The P&C Committee Vs. Teachers, which ended in several great teachers leaving. Mr.Cantor, Mr.Lomax , Etc.
* ‘ThrowStones’ – the student run website, defaming teachers here and there.
* Suspensions by the truckloads.
* Eventually, Mr.Norris [dc – edit] had to step down from principal.
Despite everything, I’ve been at Hurlstone long enough to realise that it is indeed a great school, and will always remain one, as far as the students, staff and parents are concerned.
Making way for our new Principal, Mr.Kennedy/Kenny.
In short, I do believe Hurlstone has gotten stronger as family from all this.
” … We’re glad that we belong to Hurlstone … ”
[note from dave – thanks for the comments, b., but I’d prefer not to post the content of anonymous rumours…!]
“B” seems to have developed a biased, uninformed view of recent events at Hurlstone. He/She praises the “Enforcer”?
Mr Norris has not had to step down, he is still the Principal.
He/she does not even know the correct name of the relieving Principal, how is their credibilty with that.
It was not the P&C vs Staff, just a couple of parents with loud voices . In fact the P&C and staff got together and addressed the issues amicably.
The Department of Education has a policy of schools having a Single multi-purpose hall and not spending money on indoor sports centres. Mr Kidd never mentioned his plans at P&C meetings.
Teachers leave schools for many reasons such as overseas travel, promotions, study,
their homes are too far from the school and with young families they want to teach at a school closer to home, head hunted by private schools to mention just a few.
I’m sorry that “B” feels that Mr Norris should not have visited his dying father in Ireland. I’m more sorry, however, that the compassion I have seen displayed in so many Hurlstone students in my many years connection with the school is so sadly lacking in “B”.
Perhaps “B” needs not to look at the past through rose tinted glasses, but, to stand back and look at the improvements that have occurred in the last few years, despite the constant reviews by the department of education that have occurred because the department was not happy with the way things had been allowed to go on under the previous executive.
Finally “B” and any other current or old Hurlstonians who read this, in all my families years of involvement with HAHS I am never let down by your love for your school. I am in awe of the students, whether listening with to your music concerts, viewing your art works, cheering on the side of the rugby field and your endless capacity to do fine work in the community. Your academic results speak for themselves.
Hurlstone is one of the finest schools in Australia and you should all be proud.
Hi all – Dave here. ‘Parent’ – To be fair to ‘B’, I did edit their post regarding ‘The Enforcer’ to remove certain information – the unedited version would not have been construed as ‘praise’. Apologies for the resulting ambiguity.
Well it seems that no post has been made since the arrival of fill-in principal Mr.Kenny, and i thought that as a current student of Hurlstone, it is my duty to update you on the school for which you stand.
Mr.Kenny has brought back passion for the school despite his speeches lacking any intensity (boring yet meaningful). Our school seems to be running smoothly again with the exception of some students blatantly playing ball games in prohibited areas ( the affect of world cup fever i believe)
“the enforcer” how about…the dodgy one, there are THINGS i could TELL YOU about that man…but thats not for me to say, ok so, mr norris came in with a hard job, being under the ever watchful eye of our dear big brother department and attempting to work through the mounts of stuff that came out of the review…BUT he never loved…he never loved the school and he never loved the students, its been hard since mr kidd left because of the lack of the passion and the love that he had in him, mr kenny, a good principal, things are running smoothly, he did what norris could not, which is to not try and be mr kidd…he has much less to do with all the students, dear old norrie-norris tried to be mr kenny and mr kidd all at one time and came across as insincere and out of touch, when he came he tried to make an impression and scare the bee-jeebus out of us all, ie the suspensions, but all he did was alienate the student body, this WASNT how HAHS worked, this man didnt belong, he was begining to regain some fair amount of standing when the ebay table saga hit and he was forced out by some high standards bull####, i have oft been the 1st to jump in line to throw rocks at him, but he did nothing wrong, he just didnt do it to procedure… bad move
it seems ive waffled on a bit, ill leave you to it.
he every1 im a curent student at hurlstone and i only started in 2006 although im in yr 9 this yr! at first i dint no wat to think of hurlstone,but after a week i fell in love with it!!!!!!!! and the students were nice and took me under ther wing and mad friends with me! i wasnt sure wat the education would be lik either! but it alsi turned out to b great!
hurlstone is a awsome school and i dont no y anyone would do this! if this person is an ex or formore student i am very dissapointed! they need to no tthat we lost a great principal over this and all the students hav been through a rough time!
well i betta go! but i hope there are people on my side! cya for now!
With a change of principal you would expect some degree of change within the school. At a strong school such as Hurlstone, with such strong school spirit and great traditions in place, it is understandable that some of this is lost over time. But it’s just a pity that a school as great as ours has been allowed to degrade to such a degree that all these things that make us proud to be Hurlstonians are prone to being lost forever. One thing is clear, though: the school will never return to the proud state it was a mere five years ago, when, to my then little Year 7 eyes, the school appeared very proud, full of passion and very much full of spirit and tradition.
I have nothing against Mr Norris, and I feel that he is a capable principal… but nothing more. I just feel that his methods and his philosophy towards teaching are just too mainstream for such an unusual school as ours. It is clear that he lacks the school pride that Mr Kidd so brilliantly enthused, and while I do not doubt his capabilities as principal, it has to be understood that under his reign the school will undoubtedly lose its pride, lose its identity, and lose its traditions and its pride in its history. Numerous other students hold much more negative points of view.
It will be interesting how the school will change in the years from now. In my first year at the school ‘school pride’ was greatly abundant, and it was greatly infectious. As new, young Year 7 students we all were looking forward to all the great opportunities that were presented at the school. In the years that followed, these opportunities dissappeared; we witnessed how the school lost what made it great. New students who hear stories of the school has such great pride or tradition now come dissappointed, and I don’t blame them. But it’s a shame that the school now is more mainstream and more like any conventional school.
I’ve probably waffled on, but it’s a hard topic to talk about. I know the school pride still exists in some original students that have been here since before the changes, but it is hard to display such spirit ‘under new management’. And that’s the state of the school currently: ‘under new management’. The school spirit will never die, it will still linger on, no matter how much others try to oppress it. It’s just up to the new students to restore some pride within the school.
P.S. To people like ‘tranbo’, if you new students are have such negative views towards the school then why not go out and say it rather than hissing behind proud students’ backs. It is understandable that with only two years of HAHS to attend that you wouldn’t feel a real part of the school, but the least you could do is to respect and acknowledge the school’s integrity and pride.
Having read all of the blogs I am unsure whether the School’s problems are minor issues or the reflection of an underlying erosion of the School’s ethos.
I plan to visit Hurlstone with my wife and child later this year at Country Fair.
I hope with a passion that the School remains what I remember of it having left after Year 12 in 1994.
Well said, David. I arrived at Hurlstone as a Year 7 in2003 – Mr Kidd’s last semester as principal – and since the change in leadership, there seems to have been a general degrading of the school spirit. Our performance in rugby has dropped off; there has been no real continuity in the school executive and staff – all sorts of chopping and changing going on at all levels; an sad increase in lacklustre staffing, especially amongst English and Maths faculties, etc etc.
In regards to your comment, Michael, I reckon the problems are due to a variety of causes, both inside the school and in the NSW education system as a whole. I dare say the school has changed somewhat since 1994.
lol just kidding wanted to see if i could elict a reactions from patriotic hurlstonians its good to see that peoples still have pride for the school i wonder how i can delete my message LOL
in my haste to badmouth hurlstone,especially Ms Hall, i forgot about the positives also of hurlstone like its culture and heritage especially in a centenary year i shoild look at the hundred years with pride not shame. i hope you can all find it in your hearts to forgive me a misguided student eager to make a quick comment without regarding consequences
A follow up what I had written earlier:
Perhaps it’s not the school’s that’s changing but just our own impressions of it. My little cousin started her Hurlstone years this year and she seems to be sharing the same enthusiasm and excitement for the school that I possessed when I first started. I had always thought it was the school that lost its pride and joy, but maybe the magic is lost slowly over time. A sad way to think about it, really.
Just another thing, last week’s centenary assembly was the first time I had heard Mr Norris speak the term “Hurlstone family”, and it didn’t actually seem half-hearted. The school actually seemed proud again, with quite an elaborate centenary ceremony being held. It’s brilliant to see the school regaining its fighting spirit once again, especially after all that turmoil that was the past few years. Hopefully that’s over.
The school still has its problems though, and they do need to be dealt with. I don’t want to elaborate on them as I’d probably appear biased, and I am in my third last week of enrolment, but I’d have to say things are actually starting to look up now.
@ tranbo: Yeah, this probably isn’t the best place to say that sorta stuff.
At the moment i’m not in Hurlstone but i will be starting there for year 11 next year. I don’t care about the negative media attention, Hurlstone still proved to be one of the better schools in NSW. So stuff what the media says cos its all biased crap.
XD
I ran in to an ex Hurlstone girl recently. She was in all the top classes and really smart, like beyond smart. She would have been class of 02 or 03 or 04.
She used to get bullied at school a fair bit because of her weight and no other reason.
She left school because she couldn’t cope.
She’s now a drug addict and in and out of rehab.
That school had a culture of bullying when I was there, I know because I myself experienced it from both students and staff (being told I was dumb, had no imagination, would get no where in life, being told I had mental illnesses BY STAFF etc).
I really hope things are getting fixed now. The highly intelligent are HIGHLY sensitive.
The website was bad, but a positive to come out of it was a shakeup of the school.
A friend of mine when I was there was bullied extensively by a group of guys 2 years his senior, before, after and during school.
I went with him once to the acting deputy principle at the time, to report this as he wanted a witness and moral support.
Nothing whatsoever was done, the offending students were not even spoken to.
These days I hear there are students smoking cigarettes in the playground.
I hope the staff are not scared of the students and visa versa, mutual respect is required.
I’ll be praying for that school, someone needs to, and hushing it all up and pretending its’ going fine isn’t doing anyone any favours.
Tranbo – Ms Hall is my mum so s____ you.
Honestly, I know she’s a crap crap teacher and she’s left and everything – but the whole point of this thread was someone being pissed off at publicly badmouthing teachers. So good work.
P.S: getting back to what everyone else has been talking about – year 12 this year – can’t want to get out of here before our reputation and school spirit has completely burnt out. Hasn’t got long to go, but thankfully neither do I.
I know it was a fantastic place to be in the 90’s and whatnot – my sisters were there 10 years ago, but it’s unfortunately gone to shit. Not pointing any fingers. I tried to love it, I really did.
I like how my ‘s c r e w’ got taken out, and not my ‘pissed’.
That’s such a media thing to say about Hurlstone. Just because we are a good school doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with us. Those smucks. I currently got to this school and no there isn’t anything wrong with it or it’s principals.
Nor shit
wow, after reading all those comments, i’m not sure about myself now.
around 2006, i began thinking that hurlstone was losing it’s spirit (believe me i was crushed) but then i thought, eh, it might have just been how i saw our school back in yr 7 and the novelty is wearing off, but i don’t think so…
So much has changed within our school. Things like the computer system (we can’t even google now) and the swimming carnival! i was shattered when i heard they were splitting the carnival this year. i mean how are the junior students meant to continue the hurlstone spirit when they never actually get to experience it in the first place? all our traditions are going down the drain, and i think its because of the dying relationship between staff and students. i have heard many stories of staff degrading students, but then again it happens in every school. but now staff and students are against one another and hurlstone is no longer a family.
I think Mr Norris is a good principal, you gotta admit he’s good compared to other school’s principals, but i can’t say much because i never experienced hurlstone with Mr. Kidd (by what i gather i came the year after he left)
Even country fair isn’t as fun as it used to be..or maybe that’s just me…
Overall i think our school is just brilliant, and i love it so much, but there are so many junior students who hate turning up and we are losing so many our a proud traditions.
All i can say to all our current students is: PLEASE! make our school proud and enjoy high school while you can.
p.s WEAR YOUR UNIFORM PROPERLY ALRIGHT??
Next year is my last year at Hurlstone and all this “throwstone” stuff happened when i was in year 7 and at the time i had no clue what had actually happened. I remember Mr Frawley leaving and my class(he was my english teacher) tricked our substititute teachers into letting us watch the same movie over and over again for the course of a few months, and in one instance when they hadn’t assigned us a teacher we accidently broke the fan in room 27 while trying to put confetti on it >.<
Anyway, i’d just like to say that Hurlstone Pride is still in the hearts of some of the older students, i wasn’t around when Mr Kidd was principal but i remember him being a guest speaker at some of our assemblies, that man was respected, as soon as he stood up everyone stopped speaking. I think i’m abit off topic but i thought i’d post this..just so that some of you ex-students know that we still love hurlstone.
Hurlstone’s traditions are going down the drain. The deputies have enforced so many different rules and laws, that it is simply too difficult, and risky, to maintain these traditions.
As previous posters have noted, the swimming carnival has been cut to one day. ‘Muck up’ day might as well be called ‘Cross-dressing’ day, seeing as that is all students are allowed to do.
I can see the passion in some students, but in most, the flame is gone. They’ve lost hope in traditions, and sadly for Hurlstone, the deputies don’t care.
It is up to the student body to reignite these traditions. Lobby, protest – do as you must. Our ‘Hurlstonian’ days are numbered and the days where we ‘cheer for the hoopra hoopra’ may just be over – if we don’t take action.
im just in year 7 but i already luv the school, i have no idea wat you guys are saying about mr kidd, but still, i luv the school even if everything is too big and im a little shorty
so
GO HURLSTONE! =]
Must agree with poster above, HAHS had a culture of bullying and brushing all such matters under the proverbial rug.
Having attended as a Daygo in the early 90’s, I had been Dux of my previous school yet was not able to conform to the self importance of the attending students (primarily boarders) and thus encountered an extremely unpleasant daily environment, in what should have been an opportune time to excell academically.
I’m saddened to learn that my experience was not an isolated incident. Whilst children by nature can be cruel, when that cruelty is systematically disregarded, excused and covered up there is an intrinsic cultural issue.
I was never more pleased to walk out of any one place than I was the day I cleared my locker out and left Hurlstone many years prematurely.
Under the watchfull eye of Mr Kidd, the Rugby team may have been doing well, but I can assure you that there were far more serious matters being mishandled.
Re: Comment posted 14 June 2009 11:09pm.
Cry me a river. From your heart breaking rendition it sounds like HAHS was a better place without you.
HAHS has gone down the proverbial gurgler. Tradition and Values that were barely there whilst I attended have been completely eroded.
They have reinstated a principal who admits to selling the schools property on ebay. Are you serious? A student would be expelled immediately for this sort of conduct
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/from-the-principals-desk-furniture-sale-means-ive-been-carpeted/2006/05/25/1148524820524.html)