Principals Report
Dear Fortians, Parents and Guardians,
Welcome back to Term 3, I hope that our Fortians and teaching staff were able to have a good mid-year break in preparation for the second half of the school year. On Friday 21 July a successful NAIDOC Assembly was held for the entire school and workshops were run by the SRC for Years 7 -10. Despite the guest speaker pulling out the day before, Mr Chapman put together a powerful and memorable assembly. I would also like to acknowledge Mr O’Neill and the SRC, in particular, Kalanie P for putting the workshops together and facilitating these. I am proud of what the school achieved on the day and the connections made with our Indigenous heritage.
I am very much looking forward to the school musical production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee which will be performed in the school hall on Thursday August 10 and Friday August 11 from 7pm. Information on how you can secure tickets will emailed out in the next few days. This will be an outstanding performance and is not to be missed.
Year 12 Trial HSC Exams are taking place this week and next week which will cause some disruptions to movement around the school. We appreciate all students respecting this time for Year 12 and keeping quiet around the hall and common room. Good luck to all Year 12, we know that their hard work and dedication to studies will pay off.
Year 8 Elective Choices for 2024/2025 are now due and Year 10 Preliminary and HSC subject choices for 2024/2025 are due in by Monday 31 July. Thank you to everyone for getting these choices in on time. The timetable committee will be working on this throughout the term to meet the most student preferences as possible, unfortunately not all students will receive their first, second and third preferences as not every course being offered may run and classes are also limited by size.
Congratulations:
Alexander H in Year 12 has accepted an offer for the 2024 Tuckwell Scholarship at The Australian National University (ANU). This year over 1200 applications were received for this scholarship. Alexander was one of only 49 invited to interview in Canberra in early July, where they impressed the selection panel and were offered one of 25 Tuckwell Scholarship for next year. This is a tremendous achievement and an amazing opportunity for Alex, congratulations.
At the final assembly for Semester One there were many outstanding student achievements to celebrate.
Debating – FSHS had a great start to the year with many teams progressing beyond their respective opening rounds. Year 11 progressed on to round 2 and unfortunately were eliminated. Year 12 had a successful three rounds and unfortunately were eliminated by a very strong Sydney Girls team. A special mention to Galileo Lima and Johnathon Bonnice for stepping up to support the Year 12 debating team during their assessment task period.
I would like to congratulate the following students from the Stage 6 Teams:
Year 12 Fort Street A Team – Rose K, Sebastian L, Ethan L, Yexuan Y and Dennis Y
Year 11 Fort Street B Team – Galileo L, Johnathon B, Aanya K and Auryn G
Whilst the seniors have wrapped up their year in the Premieres Debating Challenge, In the juniors, Year 7 have begun their Premieres’ Debating Challenge campaign with a strong Round one victory over Sydney Secondary College Balmain. Year 9 saw a very convincing win over Sydney Secondary College Leichhardt. Finally, Year 10 also had a convincing round one victory over Canterbury Girls High School. We wish all the Stage 4 and 5 debating teams the best of luck for the rest of Round 1.
Public Speaking – Divyan G (Year 8), Miranda L (Year 9) and Aanya K (Year 11) represented the school in the Rostrum Voice of Youth public speaking competition. Although she was did not advance to the next round, Aanya’s speech was singled out for praise due to its thought-provoking exploration of the implicit Eurocentrism of New South Wales’ public holiday calendar.
Rose K (Yr 12) competed in the local heat of the prestigious ‘Plain English’ public speaking competition at Granville Boys’ HS during the first week of May, presenting a fascinating speech about the ethical questions raised by the intersection of new technologies and human society.
Music – 20 Fortians represented Fort Street at the Sydney Eisteddfod last term in Chamber Choir. I would like to congratulate; In year 12 – Esther A, Harrison A, Alex H, Asher H, Aria K, Leonard K, Alyssa K, Thomas L and Benjamin S. In Year 11 – Sofie A, Andy B and Henry M. In Year 10 – Emma H, Edmund H, Jasper K, Anika S and Matthew W. In Year 9 – Ivy S and Matthew Y and in Year 8 Lucinda M.
On the second last Friday of Term 2 the Winter mid-year IMP concert was held, this was an absolutely fantastic event. The entire hall was packed to the rafters and the music pieces were quite stunning, particularly interesting and unique. Congratulations to all our IMP participants.
Last term, six individual finalists performed their selected concerto with an orchestra, competing for prizes and opportunities in the prestigious annual NSW Secondary Schools Concerto Competition. The competition is open to secondary school pupils in years 7-12 at schools throughout NSW and the ACT, attracting close to 100 entrants, eager to compete for a coveted position in the Finals Concert. Clara M in Year 9 a celloist was one of these finalists. Clara won the junior section of the KPO concerto competition which is absolutely outstanding.
Sport – On Monday 5th June the CHS 15 Girls and Boys Basketball teams went on a road trip together to the Central Coast, to play their first-round knockout Basketball games. The first game was the Girls team against Henry Kendall High School. As it turned out, our team were too much for the opposition to handle and we beat them convincingly 65-12! The second game of the day was the Boys team playing against Gorokan High School. Thank you to all the players for their commitment and effort.. Well done!
At the recent Regional Cross-Country Championships at Gosford – 35 Fort Street students participated. Calan O, Oscar B, Francis N and Chip H qualified for the State Cross Country Championships in July.
At the Zone CHS Athletics Carnival at Olympic Park last semester Victor F was age champion for the 12 year boys, Leon L broke the 200m 13 years boys record, Venus L broke the 13 years girls long jump record and Calan O broke the 800m & 1500m 17-19 years boys record. 29 Fortians participated in the regional athletics carnival this Monday.
Finally, in cricket Chris S has been selected for the Sydney North team to compete at CHS .
Congratulations to all of these students.
Upcoming Events:
Friday 28 July – Second Hand Uniform sale at lunchtime
Sunday 30 July – School Musical full dress and technical rehearsal
Monday 31 July – Junior School State Frisbee Championships
Thursday 3 and Friday 4 August – Year 8 Volleyball Tournament
Friday 4 August – CHS Knockout Girls Basketball and 15 Girls Basketball Round
Friday 4 August – Year 9 PDM Cockatoo Island Excursion
Monday 7 August – School Musical Preview
Thursday 10 and Friday 11 August – School Musical Performance 7pm – 10pm
Tuesday 15 August – Year 12 Careers Afternoon 1pm – 4pm in the Hall
Wednesday 16 August – Year 12 Drama and Music Showcase