Dexter Hoyos passed along news of this one (thanks) ... here's what I tracked down in the Sydney Morning Herald:

ENTRY to Sydney's Conservatorium High School has been restricted to half the usual intake of year 7 students, all of whom will have to learn Chinese.

A group of parents is planning a crisis meeting next week to discuss concerns about limited subject choices and growing elitism, resulting in alleged belittling of students in the classroom.

Parents who contacted the Herald complained that their children were given no choice other than to study maths in year 11 next year.

Only 13 children have been selected for entry into year 7 next year, a considerable drop from previous intakes of 20 or more.

The NSW Department of Education's regional director for Sydney, Phil Lambert, confirmed Mandarin would replace Latin as the compulsory language for year 7 at the school.

In a letter to parents, Dr Lambert said next year's smaller intake was "commensurate with studying at the state's premier music school".

In a letter to parents, the principal, Robert Curry, said offering modern history would be a higher priority than offering ancient history because Beethoven and the key of E-flat "means nothing if you don't know about Napoleon Bonaparte and the ideals of the French Revolution".

However, the modern history syllabus for years 11 and 12 students covers 19th- and 20th-century events and does not generally include the Napoleonic wars and the 18th-century French Revolution.

While he recognised Latin was "a wonderful subject", Dr Curry said, the number of times a student of the school sang in Latin could be counted on one hand. It was also crucial for young musicians to learn the language of the country that would be a dominant player in the region. "It is my strongly held belief that the study of Mandarin should replace Latin in years 7 and 8 as the mandatory language."

Dr Lambert was forced to defend Dr Curry's credentials, which include masters' degrees in arts and music, a PhD in medieval studies and a graduate diploma in education, gained in another state.

Parents raised concerns that Dr Curry, who transferred to NSW from Western Australia early this year, was not yet officially registered to teach in NSW.

An Education Department spokeswoman said legislation allowed a full-time teacher to take three years to complete their professional accreditation.

Pieter Oomens, of the school's parents and citizens group, said the school was going through a period of change that would result in it being strengthened.

... yes, I'm sure there's a surfeit of digits for the number of times they'll be singing in Mandarin ...