Principals Report

Principals Report

There has been a great variety of activities happening at the Fort in the past few weeks.

The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG visited Fort Street for a whole school assembly on Friday 12 May. Michael Kirby is chair of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights violations in North Korea; former Justice of the High Court of Australia, President of the International Commission of Jurists and Fortian class of 1955. He was generous with his time and spoke to the students about the great progress we have made in acceptance and tolerance of LGBTQI minorities, how grateful he remains to the Public Education he received growing up and then focused his talk on the sessions he has attended recently for the UN Human Rights Council on the 10th Anniversary of the report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea.  Michael spoke about what has happened in response to that report and his thoughts on whether nuclear safety can be secured without defence of, and for, human rights of all Koreans? Michael allowed plenty of time for questions from the audience and it was wonderful to see so many Fortians with inciteful questions interacting with Mr Kirby. In fact it was difficult for Michael to get away to his next appointment as he had many curious students lining up with questions for him as he departed. Fort Street genuinely appreciates the time Michael gives to Fort Street and look forward to his keynote address at this weeks SRC Future Leaders Conference.

The SRC will be hosting their Future Leaders Conference this Friday and close to 300 students visiting our school. The SRC have done an amazing job at organising this event, including organising the impressive line up of guest speakers – The Hon Michael Kirby, Zoe Robinson, Brydie Zorz,  Dr Sunil Badami, Heather Pym, Diana Zhang and Marian Casey.

Our drama students have been busy, with a group of 7 drama students representing the school at the Shakespeare Carnival – Lila Bachfisher, Edain Davies Barnier, Owen Druery, Keith Huang, Dexter Stewart and Callum White. The group were highly commended for their performances. The Theatresports team competed in the ImproAustralia inter-school competition and have made it through to the semi-final which will be held at Enmore Theatre on June 18. Congratulations Teresa Lay, Gina Hong, Min Park, Edain Davies Barnier and Keith Huang.

We also had over 100 Fort St students take part in In Concert on Monday at Sydney Town Hall. Students performed as part of the combined secondary choir, the NSW Public Schools Symphony Orchestra, the NSW Public Schools Singers and the NSW Public Schools Symphonic Wind Ensemble.

In Sport, Fort Street was well represented at the Zone Cross Country this week with 83 students taking part at Macquarie Park on Monday. Hopefully their legs had some time to recover in time for the whole school Athletics Carnival that was held today out at Sydney Olympic Park.

The Year 12 Charity Committee ran a great World’s Greatest Shave event last Friday and managed to raise $13,759. Well done to all of the organisers and the brave staff and students who volunteered to be shaved, waxed or get their hair coloured. There are some great photos in the full article in this issue of Mercurius and on the school website.

The P&C are looking for a new President and Secretary for this year and we would love to welcome some new parent volunteers to join this great group of parents. Take a look at their article for more information and for how to get in touch.

Upcoming Events:

May 25 – Year 10 and 11 Model United Nations

May 26 – SRC Leadership Conference

May 26 – CHS Knockout Basketball

May 27 – June 3 – Reconciliation Week

June 1 – Year 7 and 8 Wanderers School Cup (soccer)

June 8 – 9 – Year 10 Duke of Edinburgh Silver Hike