TWO of Australia’s best young chess players have been told by Sydney Grammar to find another school next year after taking unauthorised leave to compete in the World Youth Chess Championships in Brazil.
Kevin Willathgamuwa, 8, and his brother Rowan, 9, have also been excluded from Grammar’s chess team competing in the Australian Schools Teams Championships at Knox Grammar this weekend, despite missing only one day of the long competition. The boys were away from school for 10 days. In Brazil, Kevin placed 10th out of 90 boys in the under 8s, and Rowan won half his matches. The Australian grand master, Ian Rogers, who was at the competition, said Kevin was clearly the best player of his age in Australia.
”It’s incredible someone should be punished for missing two weeks of year 2 for representing Australia,” Mr Rogers said. ”It was very important for him to go to the world youth championships. It’s not just the tournament but it’s important for him to see what other kids have achieved at the same age.”
The school had strongly communicated its position to the boys’ father, Ignatius Willathgamuwa, before the family left for Brazil.
”As has been made clear to you, the boys will have to leave the school at the end of the current school year if you proceed to take them on your proposed trip,” wrote the principal of Grammar’s St Ives prep school, Rowena Lee. ”We would be sorry to see them leave and hope that you will accept our decision.”
Grammar is one of several private schools in Sydney to enforce strict attendance rules.
Last year the boys were denied permission to compete in the world titles in Greece. But they were given permission to go there for a family reunion. The family then remained in the country for the competition.
Dr Willathgamuwa said the family were very disappointed. Other children at the world championships had been celebrated at their school assembly and told they were role models.
”We are very frustrated at this. It is like the boys are being punished for their excellence,” he said. ”If taking them to the world championships is going to make them leave the school, then we have no regrets because a school with this approach to their development can be quite detrimental for them in the future.”
The boys participate in a range of extracurricular activities, including music and soccer. Their academic results had been ”brilliant”, Dr Willathgamuwa said.
The family returned from Brazil on Tuesday so the boys could play this weekend. They had competed more than 15 times before missing the last round but Mrs Lee’s letter said they had been left out as ”a matter of fairness to the other boys” who replaced them while they were in Brazil.
Mrs Lee did not respond to calls from the Herald.
Source: http://www.smh.com.au
This is mind-boggling. Thanks Susan.
Any school should make allowances for competitions of this type. On the other hand, is it possible to have this event during off-school months, or is it impossible to coordinate this for schools around the world?
Did this happen in Australia or Afghanistan?!!!
The title is misleading. They weren’t thrown out for playing in the tournament – they were thrown out for unauthorized absence.
these kids have bright future, they are exposed to such a situation at this age is a wonderful lesson!
It reminds me my student life, first year of dentistry and dean of my dental school discouraged me to play chess! it reduced my efficiency 5 years of my bachelors! it is just emotional moment in your life where you have to put full stop to certain activity coz you are in another hard rock set-up where people can’t see that your multi-talented..may be some other reason! but in my opinion, a person should be judged unique way that he/she can live his/her life with full potential!
My son attended this school and I can’t speak more highly of it. It is academically selective so has a very accelerated curriculum. The whole point of attending this school is to get work at a faster pace but when students are constantly absent and thus slow the class down, it’s not fair on the other students who are always there. These bright kids get antsy and may inadvertently complain at home causing parents to get angry. Go to another school where there they can cater for this. This school can’t because they have obligations to the other students and the Board of Studies.
Respect ? If the school did the wrong thing, are you still ask your kid to show respect ? Yday, the primary school my girl attend (a famous private school in North Shore) has just announced its DUX this year, a DUX with fair academic result but speaks fluent foul language to her peers (and her high profile “Dr. parents” involve a lot of charity events). Should I still ask my girl to respect this decision ? Absolutely NOT. I think Mr. Willathgamuwa is doing the right thing. No reason to regret. Sydney Grammar is not the only choice.
Just another all-too-typical elite private school that values SAT scores above the development of the kids.
It all comes down to haves and have nots. Let’s face it Mr Dad has the dough to go long overseas trips with the boys to play international competition every year! Good luck to him.
He also has the money required to send the boys in expensive private schools! Again good luck to him!
It means that he will find his way to another school which will not be so strict in terms of absences from classes etc.
On the other hand I know dads in the other side of town who don’t have the money to enter their kids in the local tournament let alone interstate of overseas.
As I said it’s a matter of haves and have nots! What’s the solution? Maybe Ms Polgar can tell us. She lived under a system which provided for the talented but had other restrictions and oppressive measures for its citizens.
In other words, poor kids put up and shut up, or be the best and then the system will help you. As an old Aussie politician once said: “Life wasn’t meant to be easy”! he was bloody right!
Some of the comments here are as mind-boggling as the original action. You people need to get over the self-importance of two weeks at a so-called “elite” school – it’s grade two and three for goodness sake.
My son goes to this school. It’s an excellent school.
They have very strict rules on attendance, and every parent knows this.
The school has a lot of talented boys who take part in various activities outside of school. Over the years, a number of families have had to choose between the school and their sons activity. Some have stayed and some have moved to another school. This family certainly isn’t the first to face this dilemma.
The school is right to take this action. The rules apply to everyone.
my son goes to this school too. if the its policy is right, i support it. if not, we should say no. the competitions like this is very normal and i can’t see any reason to upset them. my daughter attend another private school in upper north shore. yes, the school just gave the “dux” to a bad girl speaks foul language. so what ? face it or leave it ? yr choice.
The Willathgamuwas are in for a shock if they think that a replacement school for Sydney Grammar will be easy to find – certainly not in Sydney!
No other school has chess club every morning of the week plus several lunchtimes full of boys who love playing chess and are never made to feel geeky or weird but applauded! Yes, they’re in for a shock…
Sydney Grammar is academically selective from pre-school and offers a genuinely accelerated curriculum with a second to none psychological framework for sensitive and gifted boys.
When my son was in Year 2 (Kevin’s year), he was doing Primary school work which others do in Year 5! They pretty much finish standard Primary school work in Year 4 (Rowan’s year).
Yes, a month off school (they had time off for other comps too) will cause significant problems for the school as it endeavours to maintain its accelerated curriculum with the cooperation of its students’ families in regards to attendance.
This school is burgeoning with talented children in every arena imaginable. The school believes in equity so how does one define greater entitlement over another’s eligibility for leave, one talent over another?
This school is often accused for elitism when in fact it’s more concerned with equity than anything else, just as this decision demonstrates. I’m sure the school will be relieved that this publicity as it demonstrates to all of its students’ families that they don’t play favourites, so please don’t come asking for leave claiming your child’s right to leave is greater than another’s…
If they were white Australians but not Aussie Indians, this definitely not an issue (to school and to you guys).
It is a lesson that not all people appreciate the ability of individuals to stand out on their own and somehow expect cookie cutter children to become cookie cutter adults. They may be better off with their individuality intact.
What kind of traitorous school is this?
These boys were representing the country in sport at the highest level!
It looks like the school allows leave for “family reunion” (that sounds like weasel words for an expensive holiday) but not for representing the country on a global stage.
A top school that strives for and values excellence would have lionized and celebrated these boys, instead they get expelled??!!?
What kind of message is this school sending out?
Your son is welcome when he is mediocre and not good at anything except having wealthy conformist parents. We will do our bureaucratic best to ensure that your son looks good despite his mediocrity. A spotless attendance record at our expensive school would be sufficient to bamboozle anyone into thinking your son is actually very bright and talented. His extracurricular record would also be fluffed up through attendance of low level kiddie sport. For good measure, we would expel any boy who excels lest he proves your son is actually mediocre at best.
I’m astounded that the principal could deny these boys permission to represent Australia at WYCC2011 in Brazil. This is a prep feeder school for a senior school that proudly declares, “Chess has a long and proud history at Grammar. In recent years the School has been Australian Schools’ Champions three times, and runners-up three times since the inaugural tournament in 1998.” What do they have against boys who excel and have talent?
I hope Kevin & Rowan Willathgamuwa get into a school that better nurtures and values boys that excel. Hopefully they would have less school trouble when representing Australia in WYCC2012 Maribor, Slovenia.
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