Principal’s Report
Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,
Welcome back to the beginning of another exciting year at Fort Street High School. A big welcome to our new families and a special welcome to our Year 7 students. We also welcome new staff. Mr McMahon – Head Teacher English, Mr Wright – English, Ms Nolan – Social Science, Ms Ezekiel – Sports Coordinator, Ms Truong – English and Mr Geha – Mathematics.
I would like to express an enormous thank you to the P&C and to all the families who contributed to the staff end of year thank you lunch and dinner, this was greatly appreciated by the staff and there was even money to spare to cater for staff lunch on the first day back to school this year.
Our School Development Days at the beginning of the term involved staff participating in a range of training including code of conduct, child protection, understanding personalised learning and support, understanding autism, CPR, emergency care and anaphylaxis. Staff also participated in whole school and faculty planning.
Clubs and Committees 2021
Fort Street High School has a wide range of programs that support student learning and enhance social and personal development. These programs operate as part of the extended before and after school timetable and are designed to complement the curriculum by enriching the core learning experiences for students. All activities undertaken are listed on student reports. There are also a range of extra-curricular sport opportunities before and after school as well as during lunch breaks, these will be posted in the next edition of Mercurius.
Amnesty Committee – this group is for students who want to challenge injustice wherever it happens, and stand for equality, freedom and justice. The amnesty committee meets at lunchtime in K17 every Wednesday. For more information contact Ms Maddox in the Cohen Staffroom.
Art Studio – this program offers two sessions and focuses on a variety of art mediums.
Art Studio 1 is for more confident artists and is held in K21 on Monday afternoons form 3.30pm to 4.30pm. This session is open to students from 7-10 and costs $30 per student.
Art Studio 2 is for beginner artists and is held in K22 on Wednesday afternoons from 3.30-4.30pm. There is no cost for Art Studio 2 and it is open to students in 7-10.
For more information please contact Ms Mattick in the Rowe Staffroom.
Astronomy Club – this group meets regularly on the school oval at night to appreciate the beauty of the universe. If you are interested in learning how to work with a telescope or how to build one, this club is for you. So far this group has observed the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn with students and parents and introduced themselves to astrophotography. For more information please contact Carlo Famularo (Club President) and Mani Shayestehfar (active Year 12 member) or see Mr Prasad for access to the Google Classroom code.
ASX Schools Sharemarket Game – The ASX competition runs twice a year and is a valuable way to learn about the risks and rewards of sharemarket investing. Students are allocated $50 000 of notional money to purchase shares listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. They monitor and trade the shares through a two-month period. Students can win monetary prizes for themselves and their school. For more information contact Mr Chapman in the Rowe Staffroom.
Board Games Club – this group meets in the school library, more information regarding when and who to contact will be posted in the next edition of Mercurius.
Calligraphy Club – this group meets once a fortnight in the seminar room in the library. For more information see Ms Arcamone in the Learning Centre.
Chess Club – the school competes in the NSW Junior Chess League Secondary Schools Competition. The competition rounds are held on Friday afternoons during Term Two and involve travel to various schools in the district. For more information please contact Mr Fischer (Rowe Staffroom) and/or Ms Page (Teacher Librarian).
Debating and Public Speaking – in this program students work in small tutorial groups of 8-10 people, every Monday afternoon from 3:30 – 5:00pm. These tutorials are led by world-class debating coaches recruited from Sydney’s premier universities. Many of these coaches have reached success at prestigious international tournaments. Every student in the program learns the key components of debating, and will have the opportunity to participate in formal and informal competitive debates within Fort Street. All students in the program are also eligible to try out for a FSHS representative team, which will compete in the Premier’s Debating Challenge against the best school in NSW. The cost of the program is approximately $450 for the year. For more information see Ms Vardakis or Mr McMahon in the Cohen Staffroom.
Drama Club – is open to Year 7 and 8 students and will challenge these students to think imaginatively about how they can create new worlds, characters and mood without relying on overly complex setting, props or costumes. The students work with short scripts and script excerpts and learn to bring those scripts to life by transforming themselves and their space into the characters and worlds of the play. Drama Club meets every Wednesday morning at 7.45am in R1, there is no cost for this club.
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award – this award is open to students 14 years of age or older. At Fort Street, Year 9 students have the opportunity to complete the Bronze Award. To qualify for an award, students must satisfy Community Service, Skills, Physical recreation and Adventurous Journey requirements. Students can progress through the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards, which require increasing levels of commitment and achievement. Students are expected to organise their own community service, skill/hobby, physical recreation activities (cannot include school sport) and expeditions. For more information see
Environment Committee – this committee is for students with a passion for the environment and leadership to work cooperatively on projects to lower the school’s ecological footprint and to improve general environmental outcomes.
For more information contact Ms Xu in the Rowe staffroom or the committee president Mary Koutalianos and vice-president Ernest Deng.
Instrumental Music Program – the IMP caters for a range of musical abilities and styles and at present includes over a third of all students from Years 7-12. The 14 ensembles in the program present over 80 performances each year (performances have been severely disrupted by COVID). A variety of ensembles exist within the program from Symphony Orchestras, Wind Ensembles, Jazz Ensembles and Choirs. The IMP is well established and is run by a sub-committee of the P&C. Itinerant music tutors provide expert tuition and the Bands, Orchestras and Choral ensemble are conducted by visiting music directors. For more information please contact the program Co-ordinator Mr Manchester (fortstreetimp@gmail.com)
Maker Society – this committee provides a space to inspire students to start their own technology based projects. Activities include beginner workshops for various technology platforms, show-and-tell, weekly open maker space access, long-term team-based challenges, as well as opportunities to enter inter-school competitions such as RoboCup Junior, the F1 in Schools technology Challenge and the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge. This club meets every Thursday afternoon from 3:15 to 4:40pm. It costs $55 to join this society and students can get more information including a permission note from Mr Patane or any of the other Technology teachers in the Rowe staffroom.
Philosophy Club – this is an additional course offered to all students and is held before school one morning a week of the school term for approximately one hour. Although the course follows a structured program of lessons, the content is delivered through a student-centred, enquiry-based approach which values participation and discussion. For further information see Ms Salisbury (Careers Adviser – office located in the library).
Premier’s Reading Challenge – every student in Years 7-9 is eligible to participate in the challenge. Students need to read 20 books from the beginning of September to the end of August the following year. Students who have completed four Challenges receive a Gold Certificate; students who complete every challenge from Year 3 to Year 9 receive a medal. All Year 7 and 8 classes spend at least one period in the library exploring the variety of reading material. For more information contact Ms Page (Teacher librarian).
Robotics Club – this is a student led club where teams learn about robots and how to build them using a range of technologies. The teams compete against each other at school and then progress to the Robocup Junior competition. The club meets every Thursday afternoon from 3:15 to 4:30pm. It costs $55 to join this club and students can get more information including a permission note from any of the Technology teachers in the Rowe staffroom or they can talk to the following Year 12 students Manit, Xavier, Carlo and Yash, or email fshsrobotics@gmail.com.
Science Challenges
– Interested Year 10 students can participate in the Science Challenge where they act as mentors to students from local primary schools in conducting research projects and investigations (WAFTUS).
– During National Science Week selected Year 9 and 10 students will display research projects in the Fort Street Science Fair. These projects will be evaluated and judged by a panel of scientists from the community.
STIVE – for over 20 years, Fort Street has supported a student led and mentored, voluntary Christian program called STIVE – abbreviated from “students alive”. The group meets every Friday lunchtime in K13 and offers Christian focused learning and fellowship for all Fortians who wish to attend. It is a Department of Education policy that all students who wish to attend voluntary student activities of a religious nature need to have parent permission. Further information and permission notes can be collected from Mr Fischer in the Rowe Staffroom.
Student2Student reading program – FSHS has been involved in the Smith Families’ student2student reading program for many years. Students can volunteer to be a reading buddy for a younger student in another school who has been assessed as being up to two years behind in their reading development and wanting additional support to improve their learning. The Fort Street buddy listens to an allocated younger student read over the telephone two to three times a week for at least 20 minutes. The student then records each phone call and reports on the progress. For more information contact Ms Maddox in the Cohen staffroom.
Theatresports – is a program offered to drama students in Years 8 – 12. The students focus on developing improvisation skills which help create problem solving and spontaneity. They learn a variety of Theatresports games, and to compete against each other in a supportive environment. Students also have the opportunity to be selected for representative teams that compete in external Theatresports competitions. Theatresports meets On Tuesday afternoons in R1 from 3.30pm – 4.30pm. There is a cost per student but this depends on how many students overall participate.
Tournament of the Minds – every year FSHS enters teams in this national educational program challenging the world to develop problem solving skills. TOM offers teams of students the opportunity7 to solve authentic, open-ended challenges that foster creative, divergent thinking whilst developing collaborative enterprise, excellence and teamwork. Challenges are set in the Arts, Literature, Social Sciences and STEM. Senior students have the opportunity to mentor to junior students, acting as team coordinators and providing advice and feedback. (Is there a cost? When and where do they meet?) For more information please contact Mr Chapman in the Rowe staffroom.
Student Daily Notices
Daily notices are emailed to students at their DoE email address. It is the responsibility of Fortians to read their school emails each weekday.
Absence from school or early leave from school
If your child is absent from school please send a written note explaining the absence to school with your child when they return. This note should be given to the administration office. Parents can also respond to the SMS message sent to acknowledge the absence.
If your child needs to leave school earlier than the usual finishing time on any particular day, please send a written note dated and signed explaining exactly what time your child should be dismissed and the details of the arrangements – for example, are they being picked up from school or making their own way to their appointment.
School Improvement Project Updates
Progress continues to be made on big projects around the school, in the next edition of Mercurius photos will be posted of the newly opened lecture theatre, flexible learning space and phase 2 of the Hall upgrade.
