Mercurius issue 11 – November 2018 - 12 Nov 2018
Principal’s Message

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents, Carers and Fortians,

I would like to congratulate the Fortians who have been selected to represent their colleagues on the SRC for the remainder of 2018 and into 2019. In particular I would like to acknowledge our new SRC President Ameira Sant and Vice President, Bridget Gard. I have already been meeting on a regular basis with the new SRC executive who are enthusiastic and have many great ideas for delivering substantial projects to the student body next year.

We have come to the end of the HSC Exam period. I would like to congratulate all of our Year 12 Fortians for the manner in which they have conducted themselves during this stressful time and we wish them all a well-deserved break and look forward to celebrating their achievements with them when the results are released at the end of term.

The school will hold a Remembrance Day Assembly on Monday 12th November which will also combine as an SRC Induction presentation. FSHS Service medals were to be presented to Bill Lioutas (retired General Assistant) and Ros Moxham however both recipients are unable to make the assembly and have passed on their sincerest apologies. A service medal will however be presented to former parent Anne Wale for her service and contribution to the school community.

Congratulations:
Cristina Koprinski and Sam Ngyuen – Yr 10: selected to attend the Big Ideas Forum at Australia’s Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO). I look forward to hearing about the four days that they spent at ANSTO.

Stephen Simon and You Wei Chung – Yr 7: their mock company “New Horizons Inc” achieved 2nd place in the ASX Schools Sharemarket Game which is an extraordinary achievement considering this competition is usually undertaken by students in Years 9 and 10.

Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh

Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh

In the first week of this term Year 9 traveled to Camp Somerset to undertake a four day hike as part of the bronze level Duke of Edinburgh Award.

For a full report please read Duke of Ed report for Mecurius.Fortian

 

   

 

 

 

Australian Securities Exchange Competition

Congratulations to Stephen Simons and You Wei Chung of year 7 who came second in NSW in the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) Competition this semester, beating thousands of other students who were much older than them.

104 students from Years 7-12 at Fort St High School participated in the ASX Competition this semester as an extra-curricular activity, and all year 9 Commerce students also competed as a mandatory part of their coursework. Participation in the competition is a valuable way to learn about the risks and rewards of sharemarket investing.

Students were allocated $50,000 of pretend money to purchase shares listed on the Australian Securities Exchange. Successful students analysed the factors that would impact on the share price of different companies, then purchased a portfolio of shares they felt would rise in value. They monitored the shares throughout the competition and sold them when they no longer felt they would be profitable.

This semester, the ASX was not an easy market to trade in due to a lot of volatility and uncertainty.

·        The All Ordinaries (XAO) was down -7.58% over the course of the game.

·        The best performing sector was telecommunications up 1.45%. This was the only sector in the positive.

·        The worst performing sector was health care down -12.93% closely followed by financials down -11.19%.

·        The top stock was VOC – Vocus Communication up 46.78% followed by TPM – TPG Telecom up 35.9%.

·        The worst performing stock was TRS – The Reject Shop down -57.07% followed by SDA – Speedcast Limited down -40.03%.

·        15 out of 120 Fort St syndicates ended in profit – beating the state average of only 6% of syndicates being in profit. The state average portfolio value at the end of the game was $47,436.

Stephen and You Wei were active traders in the competition, buying and selling a lot of shares. At the end of the competition they had holdings in Bank of Queensland Ltd, Brambles Ltd, Saracen Mineral Holdings Ltd and Santos Ltd. The two mining stocks are traditional risky choices of game winners, but the other two are more unusual.

Carlo Famularo of year 9 came second in the school and 5th in NSW. Z Oscar Zirn of year 9 came third in the school and 21st in NSW.

All students at Fort St High School are welcome to enter the competition when it runs again next year.

Ms Jerrems​

Touch Football Referee Accreditation

Touch Football Referee Accreditation

A group of 16 students across Years 8-11 were involved in a touch football referee accreditation course run by the NSW Touch Football Association at school in week 3. The students passed the theoretical component of the course with flying colours and will be awarded a Level One certificate upon completing the practical component in week 4 where they will be required to officiate at a primary school gala day at Timbrell Park. This is a fantastic opportunity for students to gain a formal accreditation which will enable them to seek employment as a touch football referee at a local and rep level. Well done to these students for getting involved.

Randev Uppal
Sports Coordinator

Children’s Week Parliament

Children’s Week Parliament

On the 22nd of October, I was honoured with the experience of speaking at NSW Parliament House as part of Children’s Week Parliament. Beforehand, we were given one of six broad topics, Connect, Opportunity, Respect, Safe, Voice, Wellbeing, as the basis of a quick one-minute speech. I was allocated Wellbeing and chose to use this opportunity to talk about gender equality. The day saw a representative of each electorate in NSW, 93 students from 7-10, talk about issues that they were passionate about, and help influence policy for young people, with people from country NSW catching a plane to Sydney. The day also included a Q&A session with politicians, tours of the upper and lower houses, as well as fancy parliament food for recess and lunch. The day concluded with each group saying their speeches in the Lower House. Topics included domestic violence, LGBTIQ rights, Indigenous rights, climate change, sports, mental health, social media, technology, housing market, scouts, inclusion, and education.

This is the speech I gave in Parliament House.

***

“Boys will be boys”

A well-rehearsed saying used to reinforce gender stereotypes, leading to the dismissal and oversimplification of sexist and demeaning behaviour. Allowing and tolerating sexist remarks, unwanted advances, disregard for consent, physical and psychological abuse, normalises these odious actions.

Films like the Ghost Busters and Oceans 8 all-female reboots, Wonder Woman, Hidden Figures, and Tomb Raider empower women. Yet, Australian women still have to work an extra 56 days a year in order to earn the same pay as men.

“Smile more” “Man up” “Boys don’t cry” “You throw like a girl”

“Toxic masculinity” perpetuates the view that men must exert their dominance, be tough, and bottle up their emotions. We must educate men – being respectful is not incompatible with being a man. It is crucial for the wellbeing of both men and women that we reimagine masculinity.

Gender equality. Empowerment of women. Education of men.

***

It was a great opportunity for children all around NSW to voice their opinions and bring light to topics that are important. Each speech conveyed a strong, emotive message, in a bid for our politicians to listen to the youth of Australia. This day was an amazing experience, and I would like to thank the school for nominating me, as it was a great honour to represent Fort Street at NSW Parliament House.

Aidan Limnios, Year 10

7 Bridges Walk

7 Bridges Walk

Walking 27 kilometres sounds like a lot of work, but it’s nothing compared to the amount of effort put in by everyone in our school to raise money for the 7 Bridges Walk.  Throughout the year, the Year 8 Charity committee has been raising money for the Cancer Council via a number of initiatives. This included a food stall at Fort Fest, a sausage sizzle and a raffle. Walkers for the 7 Bridges Walk also worked hard on setting up online pages, seeking business sponsorships outside of school, and promoting 7 Bridges Walk on social media. All in the hopes that people would donate to this admirable cause. Of course there was no way this could have been achieved by us alone. We would like to thank our Year Advisers Ms Schubert and Ms Xu for motivating us this whole time. In particular, Sunil our SRC representative, thanks for providing us with the necessary knowledge about the at times daunting art of fundraising. Your ideas were valuable and you have made such a huge impact on who we are as a committee. Thank you!

While we may not be the year that raised the most money, we undoubtedly tried as much as we could to make sure we positively impacted our community and the Cancer Council. As of 7 November 2018 we have raised $8,567.80 on our 7 Bridges Walk page. As well as $570 during our Term 4 sausage sizzle. Thanks parents, teachers, peers and our school community for all your support. In particular the parents and family members who came along on the walk and put so much effort into raising funds to help us reach our target. Also a big thanks to all the year 9 and year 11 students who also joined us on our walk and donated so generously.

If you would like to support us please donate to https://sevenbridgeswalk2018.everydayhero.com/au/team-fort-street-high-school or buy a raffle ticket from a year 8 Charity Committee member for a chance to win over $300 worth of prizes.

Year 8 Charity Committee

 

Photo: Frankie, Veronica, Peter and Daniel representing year 8 charity committee with Sunil our fundraising mentor and SRC representative.

UMAT replaced – everything you need to know

UMAT replaced – everything you need to know

For students hoping to enter courses in medicine, dentistry and other clinical science courses, the UMAT (Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admissions Test)  has long been a thorn in their side.

But the UMAT is no longer…

… because the UMAT has been replaced by the UCAT (University Clinical Aptitude Test) – and this is relevant for all students sitting the test in 2019 and beyond.

Whilst the basic premise of the UCAT is the same as the UMAT (to provide tertiary institutions informations about applicants), the two tests are not the same.

So what is the UCAT?

The UCAT is widely used overseas, serving a similar purpose to the UMAT up until 2018.  Despite this there are some major differences.  For one, the UCAT is computer based and, unlike the UMAT, there is no specific date when you must sit the UCAT.  Instead you simply need to sit the test within a period of multiple weeks.

Those who have sat the UMAT before would be familiar with the horrible wait between test day and results day.  This is no more.  You will receive your UCAT results on the day – definitely a plus of a computerised test.  But those results aren’t in the same format as UMAT results, because the structure of UCAT is different.

You can get an idea of what the UCAT looks like here, covering sections in Verbal Reasoning, Decision Making, Quantitive Reasoning, Abstract Reasoning and Situational Judgement.

What Should I Do Now?

The first thing you should do?  Try not to panic. At this point in time there are many unknowns. There are many things that will become clearer with time, from test structure, to expectations, to advice and resources for those wishing to site the UCAT in 2019 and beyond.

Fort Street’s Career Advisor Kylie Salisbury will be presenting information sessions about UCAT at Year 11 and Year 10 year meetings, and is available for one-to-one interviews about the new format and how to prepare for the UCAT.

You will doubtless see groups and organisations try to position themselves as UCAT leaders.  Those that have previously offered UMAT services may even try to masquerade their previous UMAT products as applicable to the UCAT, but again you should be mindful that he UMAT and UCAT are entirely independent.  Be vigilant, and do not get sucked into those trying to sell to unsure students!

Archives – Fort Street’s Headmasters

Archives – Fort Street’s Headmasters

We continue our series where we look back at some of our principals from the past. In this edition we’ll look at R. Philps’ research of Fort Street’s 14th Headmaster.
John William Turner (1849-1913) impressed Frederick Bridges in 1870 and returned to Sydney as head of a George Street school which was soon and renamed Blackfriars Public School. Here his career blossomed. In 1889 he became head of Fort Street Model School and master of method at the Fort Street Training School. His role was extended in 1893 when the two institutions were amalgamated under the one head. He supervised the introduction of secondary education to the school, was commanding officer of the cadet corps and found time to produce an operetta or cantata each year. A strict disciplinarian, he was affectionately known by his pupils as ‘The Boss’. He was remembered by a former pupil as ‘stockily built’ and ‘square headed’, with ‘a clear, steady, direct gaze’.
In 1902 Turner and Sir George Knibbs were appointed by the See government to investigate overseas developments in primary, secondary, technical and other branches of education. Visiting seventeen countries, they published a three-volume report on their return in 1903; of the 231 recommendations it contained, Turner’s were the more financially practicable. Although their work contributed to subsequent reforms, Peter Board’s more succinct analysis had greater impact.
Appointed assistant under-secretary to Board in the Department of Public Instruction on 8 February 1905, Turner succeeded Knibbs as superintendent of technical education in 1906. Turner fought to obtain appropriate facilities, encouraged staff involvement in decision-making and fostered technical education in country regions.

Iain Wallace
Archivist

Instrumental Music Program News

Instrumental Music Program News

End of Year Concert at 2 pm on Sunday 9th December
The End of Year Concert is coming up (already!) and the catering team will soon be looking for parents to be involved in preparing the lunch to be served beforehand. Please keep a lookout for an email with details of how you can contribute to this important fundraiser for the IMP.

Performances
IMP Ensembles recently represented Fort Street at school fetes in the Inner West. Concert Band played at the Summer Hill Public School Fair, while Jazz Ensemble were at Taverners Hill Public School. Both ensembles received many very positive comments.

IMP Grant
The IMP is offering one grant for the establishment of a student led IMP ensemble in 2019. This will consist of the equivalent of a professional educator or expert to help the project one lunchtime each fortnight for one year. Successful applicants will also be given, as appropriate, some administrative assistance (rooming etc), performance opportunities, the opportunity to work in this group as an Ensemble B at IMP Camp, and advice on where to go next after the grant period has ended.
Contact Mr Manchester for details on criteria and the application process. Applications are due Monday 3 December.

In 2018 the IMP provided grants to support the formation of two ensembles, a horn ensemble and a jazz fusion ensemble. Both groups reported back to the IMP Annual General Meeting that the process had helped the confidence and musical development of  individual members, and they had enjoyed the freedom and responsibility of working as an ensemble.

Composition Competition
The competition to compose a new choral work is underway and all compositions have now been workshopped by Chamber Choir. Winner announced soon! The winning entry will win its composer $100, and will be performed at the IMP End of Year Concert on Sunday 9th December.

Accommodation needed
A Year 10 student from Wollongong is playing bassoon in the orchestra for Schools Spectacular, and needs a billet for  show week (19 – 25 November). If you can help, please email Matt Manchester matthew.manchester@det.nsw.edu.au