Principals Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Guardians,

This week is SASS Recognition Week which is an opportunity for us to recognise our School Administrative and Support Staff and their contribution to the success of our school and to all our students’ education. Every day of the school year, whether they work in the office, the library, the school grounds, supporting the wellbeing of students or in the classroom, all school support staff have played an important role in the Fort Street community. These staff are the heart of our community, connecting with and supporting everyone. I would like to acknowledge the work, professionalism, contributions, and dedication of this team to our school community:

Kirrily Druery and Jo Imhof (School Administrative Managers)

Vivien Davies (School Business Manager)

Celia Batista (School Administration Officer – Science)

Diana Choy (School Administration Officer)

Dianne Debreczeni (School Administration Officer)

Chris Egan (School Administration Officer – Library)

Lina El-Deiri (School Administration Officer)

Maria Karanikolas (School Administration Officer)

Kellorin Long (Principal’s Assistant)

Donna Padroth (School Administration Officer – Food Technology)

Fran Triolo (School Administration Officer)

Neil Prothero (General Assistant)

Craig McGeachie (Technology Support Officer)

Natalie Brennan (Student Learning Support Officer)

Edmund Feng (Student Learning Support Officer)

Over the past two weeks the Fort has been ablaze with celebration and activity. As our year 12 students approach the culmination of their time at Fort Street High School, we’ve had the privilege of witnessing their creative brilliance firsthand. On Monday evening of week 7, the Visual Arts and Design and Technology showcases unveiled the astonishing fruits of their labour, leaving us poised I believe for an influx of nominations for Art Express. And on the Wednesday night, the stage was graced by the brilliance of our Year 12 Music and Drama students, who presented their major works with a flourish that left us all captivated. On the Friday night the literary prowess of our Year 12 Extension 2 students took centre stage, as they shared excerpts from their major projects. We are so proud of the major works completed by our year 12 students in Extension English, Extension History, Extension Science, Extension Music, Society and Culture, Visual Arts and Design and Technology.

Amidst the artistic pursuits last week, our astronomy enthusiasts gathered on the school oval on Friday night to gaze upward to observe the blue supermoon through the lens of the school’s astronomy club telescope funded by our generous and supportive P&C. It was also glorious to watch the Year 12 student versus teachers soccer game last Friday which saw victory awarded to the staff team despite the best efforts from our finest Year 12 athletes.

This week Year 9 students have been enjoying three days at Somerset undertaking their Duke of Edinburgh adventurous journey component of the Bronze Award. I am pleased for this year group that they have experienced blue skies and lovely weather. Whilst Year 9 are out and about enjoying themselves Year 11 have knuckled down to their final HSC Preliminary exams. We know our students are well prepared for these exams and hope that they look after themselves with plenty of sleep, food and exercise during this stressful time.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the staff, parents and students who attended the working bee last Sunday. Together we nurtured the school’s environment, preparing the grounds for the upcoming planting of over one hundred trees, constructed a new compost area and sorted out the P&C kitchen.

Congratulations:

Tournament of the Minds – in the 2023 regional finals of Tournament of the Minds both our STEM and Language Literature teams achieved Honours Award.

STEM team – M. Cam, S. Hao, A. Leslie, R. Munoz, Z. Conynyham, G. Cutcher Skeller and K. Wang. Language literature team – C. Yu, W. Short, D. Monteiro, L. Man, A. Liu and D. Gnanasiviam.

I would like to thank Ms Trifunovic for the organisation she puts into running this event as regional organiser. The entire FSHS team was awarded a certificate called ‘Spirit of TOM’ for a positive enthusiastic attitude and multiple students generously assisting the organising committee.

State RoboCup Jnr Competition – many Fortians from the robotics club and maker society participated in the State RoboCup Junior Competition last week which took place at Holy Cross College, Ryde. I would like to give a special mention to the FS Silverbacks Team consisting of H. Phan, J. Nguyen, I. Lee and J. Sumner for achieving the first-place trophy in the Open Soccer tournament. This team amongst others will be heading off to Melbourne in the school holidays with Mr Patane and Ms Bui to try their best at the National RoboCup Competitions.

Upcoming Events:

Thursday 7 September

• Maths Olympiad

Friday 8 September

• Years 7, 8 and 10 Year Meetings Period 2
• Year 12 HSC Performance Music Exams

Saturday 9 September 12pm – Sunday 10 September 12pm

• Gotcha4Life 24hr row event

Monday 11 September

• Year 7 Gala Day at Meadowbank

Wednesday 13 September

• P&C meeting 7pm in School Library – presentation from Mr Chapman HT Social Science at 6.30pm.

Thursday 14 September

• Futsal State Championships

Friday 15 September

• Futsal State Championships
• RUOK Day – bake sale at lunch
• Year 12 meeting Period 2

Australian Geography Competiton

This year’s Australian Geography Competition saw an impressive participation of over 700 high schools across the country. Among these, a notable achievement came from the 56 Fortians enrolled in our Elective Geography classes. Their results were truly outstanding, with 28 students earning high distinctions, placing them in the top 10%. Even more impressive, four of our students achieved within the top 1% nationwide. 

Jasper Kameron

Charlie Dey

Emil Hurley Stone

Nicholas Caus

Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh Camp

Year 9 students completed their Duke of Edinburgh Camp at Somerset this week.

All students responded very well to their changed conditions, although it was a very early morning on the first day due to fire hazard ratings. All students were off ridgelines and exposed tracks before it got too hot.

As you can see in the photos below one of the students’ main tasks was to set up camp with tents etc. They also cooked camp-style nachos together in their groups for dinner.

Weather was beautiful. Sparkling blue skies and very mild temperatures, although it was chilly in the morning.

On day 2 all students were out hiking in warm conditions and arrived at their campsites in the afternoon for a well-earned rest.

That night students cooked their own meals on the Trangia stoves provided by Somerset. This is always a major highlight of the experience.

Overall it was a very positive experience for our students. Here are some reflections from some of the students who took part:

The Duke of Ed camp was a good experience overall as it helped create lifelong memories and help to develop crucial skills such as navigation, cooking, fitness and friendships. While the hiking was tiring, it helped by challenging us both physically and mentally.

Anthony Li

Duke of Ed camp was the pinnacle of my year. We forged our way along a fun and beautiful, albeit endless trail up, down, and through the mountains. We cooked, cleaned, and camped together, and we held strong through hardship. It’s not an experience I’ll ever forget.

Alex Soriano

Camp was difficult but had many fun and rewarding moments. Hiking definitely was a strain but our group was able to work together to navigate our path and push through to the end. I was also able to learn many skills such as setting up tents and using a Trangia stove.

Mai Ngo

The Duke of Ed camp was an extremely fulfilling and engaging experience, yet there were many difficulties to overcome. Some difficulties included the weather contrast (hot and dry in the day with strong UV rays, and frosty and damp during the night), navigating the route on our own and enduring the steep hike itself. Despite these difficulties, the Duke of Ed camp strengthened our groups’ bonds, expanded our resilience, and most of all proved to be an enjoyable and productive camp.

Sara Nguyen

There were a lot of times when I felt extremely out of my element, experiencing things I would have shuddered at the thought of doing like packing all my 3-day essentials into a backpack with finite space, sleeping directly on the grassy ground with only a tent in between, cooking dinner in the small pots in the black of night and going though the long laborious hikes. However, once started it and got through these challenges, these tasks became manageable and even simple as I grew accustomed to the natural surroundings. I found enjoyment in these challenging tasks and created many peaceful moments in the relaxing afternoons sharing snacks and goofing around with my team mates.

Yan Jun Chen

The Duke of Edinburgh camp was an exhausting but overall a great experience filled with many memories and experiences. Hiking through the rocky terrain with a 13+ kilogram bag all day was painful. On the other hand, camping and cooking our own meals with friends was fun.

Nikhil Reddy

Ultimate Frisbee Senior School State Championships

On Monday 28, Fort Street took 3 teams to compete in the annual Ultimate Frisbee Senior School State Championships. We took two teams into the Opens competition and one team in the Girls competition. The tournament is held annually at Meadowbank Park for students from years 10-12. 

The tournament was held in a pool format, with each team playing 3 to 4 other teams before scores would be calculated to determine the semi-final participants. The A & B Opens teams made their way into the semi-finals while the Girl’s team played their best but were unsuccessful.

A notable moment was the game between the Fort Street Open A and B teams, where astonishingly the A team lost. Do not bully them about this. Another moment is the spirit circles conducted by each team post-game, where captains complimented opposing teams and gave their well wishes as shows of sportsmanship. 

Every player put in a valiant effort and was greatly rewarded with a fun and interesting experience. The A team were physically rewarded due to placing 3rd, while the B and Girls team placed 4th and 6th respectively. 

Our players enjoyed the experience, with an A team player; Joshua Tong calling it a “fun and humbling experience”. We would all recommend anyone interested in Frisbee join the weekly Tuesday morning club and sign up next year. 

A special thanks to the event organisers, Edmund Feng and most of all Mr O’Neill, the latter two coaching and supporting us during the games.

Written by

Abigail Ouw and Owen Druery 

Year 10

2023 Market Day – The Year 10 Commerce Stalls

On the 29th of June, the school hosted Market Day, an event run by the Year 10 Commerce classes. We had over 20 different Stalls from 3 different Commerce classes serving a wide variety of cuisines and services, from waffles to crepe cones to lottery tickets to sausage snags.

Market Day day took several months of preparation as all groups each had to plan ingredients, test recipes, collect equipment and simultaneously write our business reports. Although some class time was dedicated for this task, a majority of the work was done in our own time to ensure that a quality product or service was produced for the Fort Street student community. Some of the preparation involved completing Food Safety modules and also budgeting for our commerce stalls. This opportunity of organising, planning and running a Commerce stall was a really eye-opening experience as it exposed us to a few of the key responsibilities and experiences of entrepreneurs. It also showed us, first hand, the difficulty of running your own business and the pressures of competition in the market.

Although we felt prepared for the day as a cohort, we definitely underestimated how hectic it would be. 

The morning before school, as well as the first two periods, flew by so quickly and we felt really excited and nervous, awaiting the customers. As soon as the bell rang, swarms of students approached the stalls, surrounding our tables and eagerly standing in line, waiting to order. However, soon after, the stress of taking multiple orders, calculating change, and prepping ingredients caught up to us, and we were struggling to keep up. This meant not all customers were satisfied, with varying service times and quality of product. Unfortunately, it was a universal experience amongst all stalls, and is something real businesses go through and have to deal with. 

Despite this, we personally really enjoyed the experience of being able to serve people products that we made and enjoyed the novelty of the time pressures. The feeling of relief and pride we experienced after lunch time was over and we packed up the stalls and made the day really memorable for us. It was very intriguing to see how our efforts shone through on the actual day through weeks of market research, advertising and organisation of the operations. We even managed to snag things from other stalls despite all the chaos of setting up the stalls and tidying all the posters around the school!

Overall, Market day was an enjoyable and unique experience that strengthened our collaboration and amateur-entrepreneurship skills. It taught us about the challenges associated with running a business, and made us aware of the obstacles real businesses face everyday. This task was a stressful one that required a lot of planning, effort, and commitment. However, each and every group performed very well, and should be proud of what they accomplished on the day!!! And we all hope that the staff and students enjoyed the experience as well!

Writen by Akshaya, Sammy and Yvonne

Year 10 Commerce

Work Experience at Microsoft

Year 10 students Oliver Casey and Ray Guo recently had the opportunity to do work experience at Microsoft.

Reflection

Overall, we had an amazing time and learnt a lot about the daily processes going on at the Microsoft Experience Centre and at the Microsoft office. We met an array of awesome people and were able to work, learn, and have fun simultaneously. A massive thank you to Microsoft, Michelle Casey, and the team at the Microsoft Experience Centre.

Our Agenda

Microsoft Experience Centre – Day 1

CBD Office – Day 1

North Sydney Office – Day 2

IMP News

Application for 2024 Arts Unit instrumental ensembles are now open

The Arts Unit, which is part of the NSW Department of Education, runs a weekly program of instrumental and vocal ensembles based at Lewisham. Many Fortians have been involved in these ensembles in the past and they are a wonderful opportunity to make music with students from other schools, perform high quality, challenging repertoire, and work with highly experienced conductors and tutors. More information about the instrumental ensembles can be found here: https://artsunit.nsw.edu.au/program/instrumental-ensembles

To apply you can follow this link:

https://artsunit.nsw.edu.au/form/instrumental-ensembles-app-2024

Information about the vocal ensembles can be found here: https://artsunit.nsw.edu.au/program/vocal-ensembles

Applications for the vocal ensembles will open soon.

Chamber Choir in world-record attempt at Elvis show

Last month, the Chamber Choir were engaged to sing backing vocals for the Biggest Elvis Show on Earth. Not only did they get to perform backing vocals with a professional band and Elvis impersonators, to a huge crowd in the Darling Harbour Theatre, they were part of a world-record attempt for the largest group of musicians and singers to ever take part in an Elvis tribute show.

Here is a backstage happy snap of the Chamber Choir, after they came offstage from a successful performance. It is great to see Chamber Choir beginning to return to professional-level gigs, post-pandemic!

Ethan Tsang performs solo at the Sydney Opera House

Also last month, Ethan Tsang of Year 7 represented Fort Street High school, performing as a cello soloist in the Argyle concert of the NSW Festival of Choral Music in the Sydney Opera House. Here is a photo of Ethan performing.

Numerous other Fortians did the school proud, performing in State Wind Band, Festival Orchestra, and the NSW Schools Symphonic Wind Orchestra. Mr Manchester and Mr Ockwell were also involved as conductors in these wonderful concerts! Congratulations to all involved!

Harmoni Sacred Concert coming up on 19 September

This concert at St Philips Church in the city will feature choral music spanning a millennium, performed by the group Harmoni and led by Fort Street’s very own Alex Pringle. The ensemble features many old Fortians and Fortian parents. Follow the link in the poster to book your tickets.

P&C Meeting Wednesday September 13

Our next P&C meeting is next Wednesday September 13 at 7pm.

We are meeting in person in the school library.

At 7pm there will be a presentation from Mr Garth Chapman, Head Teacher Social Science.

Our regular meeting will commence at 745pm. The agenda has been emailed to all families and can also be found on the P&C page of the school website. Some key discussion points to be included are:

SRC updates

Toilet Closures

Purchase or Rowing machines

Uniform Shop updates

Robocup competition funding

2024 Year 7 Welcome and communications

We would love to see you there for a cup of tea and to be a part of the discussion. All parents and carers are welcome.

The P&C holds meetings at 7:30pm on the second Wednesday of each month during school terms. The first meeting of the term is in the school library and the following meetings each term are held via Zoom. These meetings provide an opportunity to learn more about what is happening in the school, how it operates, to ask questions and to meet other parents. The Principal usually gives an informative report on the recent happenings within the school. 

Teaching a learner driver? FREE online workshop

Inner West Council is providing a FREE online workshop via TEAMS for parents of learner drivers.

This online workshop will provide practical advice about:

• Current driving rules and requirements for L and P platers
• How learners benefit from supervised on-road driving
• How you can help make learning to drive a safe and positive experience

Date: Wednesday 13 September 2023

Time: 6pm to 7.30pm

Location: Online via TEAMS

Bookings are essential

Register here https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/teaching-a-learner-driver-free-online-workshop-tickets-707656398337?aff=oddtdtcreator