Principal’s Report

On Sunday 9th December I had the absolute pleasure of attending my first FSHS Instrumental Music Program, end of year concert. Whilst I have been impressed by every Fort Street event I have attended since arriving at the school, this particular event was sensational, from the wonderful atmosphere created in the Lower Kilgour as families and friends gathered together feasting on a glorious lunch with live music playing in the background to the professional performances by the various ensembles, choirs, orchestra’s and percussions bands. Not only are we fortunate to have so many wonderfully talented students at Fort Street but our Tutors and Conductors under the direction of Matthew Manchester are what make this program such a success. I would also like to thank the IMP Committee and all of the IMP parents who so generously donated their time, food, drinks and prizes for this event, I certainly enjoyed the day immensely.

Earlier this term Mark Scott, Secretary of the Department of Education put out a request asking schools both Primary and Secondary to complete an EOI to share a 6 minute presentation to be broadcast to all teaching staff, highlighting strategies and initiatives that ensure students thrive within their specific school. The theme of the presentation afternoon was ‘every student is known, valued and cared for in our schools’. The Department was overwhelmed with applications and I am proud to report that Fort Street was one of only eight schools chosen to showcase an effective strategy developed and used by the staff at the school. On Wednesday 5th December, Hugh O’Neil delivered Fort Street’s unique wellbeing initiative and in typical Fort Street style was a truly captivating speaker.

With only one and a half weeks of the school term left Fort Street is still a hive of activity.

Coming Up:

·      Monday 10th – Wednesday 12th December – Year 10 Camp

·      Monday 10th – Thursday 13th December – Year 11 Assessment Period (Yr 12 – 2019)

·      Tuesday 11th December – Yr 9 connected curricular P1 – P4

·      Wednesday 12th December – P&C meeting in the School Library at 7.30pm

·      Thursday 13th December – Yr 9 Connected Curricular presentations in Hall P5 and P6

·      Thursday 13th December – SRC Christmas Dance in School Hall 6pm – 9pm

·      Friday 14th December – Yrs 8, 9 and 10 Recognition Assembly, School Hall, 11.30am

·      Friday 14th December – SRC Talent Quest, School Hall, P5 and P6

·      Monday 17th December – Year 8 excursion to the city

·      Monday 17th December – Year 12 Geography Excursion

·      Tuesday 18th December – school cricket tournament ‘Fraser Cup’, oval P5 and P6

·      Wednesday 19th December – last day for all students

Congratulations:

·      Luca Charlier (Year 10) – participated last week in the NSW State Debating Camp. His team won the tournament and he was named speaker of the tournament. This is an honourable achievement.

·      Year 7 Debating Team – Rose Kenyon, Matilda Gibon, Dennis Yeo and Leonard Kelly made it to the State Debating Finals at the University of Sydney last week against Manly Selective High School and unfortunately were narrowly defeated.

State Debating Success

Congratulations to Year 10 student Luca whose Sydney region team took out first place to win the Neil Gunther Shield at the Junior State Debating Championships.

Luca also won the Lily Gunther trophy for the best debater in the championship.

Science Fair winners enjoy amazing prizes

On the 29th of November, the winners of the annual Fort Street Science Fair were given the privilege to go to the Quantum Computer Laboratory as well as the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research and Technology (SMaRT) Laboratory at the University of New South Wales. All this was thanks to the work of Gabriel Caus. We were given a tour of the technologies utilised in order to make the computers. We were also lucky enough to meet Professor of Quantum Physics at UNSW and Australian of the Year 2018, Michelle Simmons, who was generous enough to provide us with a presentation about quantum computing and the future of it. We were then guided by Anirban around the SMaRT centre who informed us about e-waste and how electronics can be recycled. We also programmed a robotic arm to carry a phone and drop it into an allocated destination. In addition to this, we were able to destroy an old phone in one of the machines that charged over 6kV. We were also fortunate enough to meet Veena Sahajwalla, the director of SMaRT centre, who also told about electronic waste.

On the 5th of December, the group of 12 went on an excursion to the University of New South Wales Flying Operations Unit in Bankstown. We were greeted by Brian Horton who gave us a presentation about aviation and the types of careers that are related to it. We were then split into groups and were given a guide around the place. We were able to see the flat panel trainers which are accurate simulations of a 737 but on touch screen displays and no simulated view. This was utilised to get the pilots familiar with the buttons. We then got to see a plane simulation in action in which a student was flying. It was quite enjoyable and we also were lucky enough to see the actual plane that was being simulated and sit in it. We then had the lunch that we were provided with thanks to the Flying Operations Staff. The best part by far was the 737 actual simulation with the real buttons and the simulated screen. This was thanks to Steve Weatherstone who was able to get the simulator working again and assisted us all throughout our flights. It was extremely immersive and some of us were even able to fly under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and successfully land the plane.

None of this would have been possible without Mr Caus who organised these spectacular prizes for us and gave us all these wonderful opportunities that we would have otherwise never have gotten. Another special thanks to Mr Webb for coming along with us to supervise.

Manit Anand, Year 9

Burwood Rotary Club Speech Craft Night

On 3 December Veronica Kwong and Daniel Holland of Year 8 represented Fort Street High School at the Burwood Rotary Club Speech Craft Night. The evening featured 21 speakers from a wide variety of public and private schools. Daniel says “it was a pretty good learning experience and it was a good chance to interact with people from other schools and get some constructive feedback about public speaking.” He further thought “it was an interesting exercise to just write the speech to the given prompt and criteria.  But then it was also good to have creativity. To be allowed to write what you want and it was not a hard-set list of criteria. So you could bend the prompt to however you wanted to give your speech.”

Both students presented beautifully written and wonderfully creative speeches. Veronica’s speech was thought provoking and the judges said that she had a good command of the audience, excellent voice projection and a ‘dead pan sense of humour’. Daniel was mentioned as one of the most engaging speakers of the night and complimented on his charisma in captivating the audience with his speech. Both students were supported by their wonderful family members well into the late evening. We thank both students and their families (young siblings included) for giving up their time and showcasing the talents of our school so well.

Jenny Xu
Year 8 Advisor

Inner West Council HSC Information Evening

The New HSC Syllabus explained and how to ace it!

Wednesday 20th February 6.00pm -7.30pm
St Peters/Sydenham Library
39 Unwins Bridge Rd, Sydenham NSW 2044

This workshop will be delivered by CEO of Art of Smart Education, Rowan Kunz. With the New HSC Syllabus starting for the HSC 2019, Year 12 students will be the first students to sit this new syllabus for their HSC. To help students understand the changes and succeed in their HSC, this free 1.5 hour library workshop will answer the following questions;

1 What are the main changes for English, Maths, Sciences and Humanities?
2 What will all the changes mean for you?
3 How can you best navigate these changes to maximise your options?
4 How can you best prepare for your HSC assessments and exams?
5 What resources do you need to navigate the new HSC syllabus effectively?

Parents and teachers would also find this seminar of interest.

Bookings open for this event 7 January 2018 and reminders will be sent to all attendees.
www.innerwestlibraries.eventbrite.com.au

Thinking of studying medicine?

This is the time of year when all the university Medicine interviews are taking place. Entry to medical courses require ATAR, UMAT (now becoming the UCAT) and success in a challenging interview process. Feedback from these interviews is always very valuable for the following cohort of aspiring Medicine students, and tips from the 2018 Fortians for students considering Medicine can be accessed here

Ms Salisbury always runs practice interviews with individual students after the HSC exams in preparation for the real interviews, and is available to discuss UCAT and the interview process with students and parents throughout the year.

University Information Days Saturday 15 December

All the Sydney universities are running Open Days on Saturday Dec 15th for HSC graduates. ATARs are released on Friday 14th and the UAC preferences are locked in on Sunday 16th, so students who have last-minute questions or who are still unsure of preferences are encouraged to visit the campus, attend info sessions and chat to the course advisers on that day. Go to the university websites to register for sessions or for one-on-one interviews, or simply turn up on that Saturday.

School Council Report

The School Council has met twice since the last report – on 7 November and 5 December. An Extraordinary General Meeting was also held on 5 December to consider amendments to the Council constitution. The School Council comprises representatives of the School Executive, teachers, parents, students and the broader school community.

In November, Council discussed the school’s finances, focusing on funds available to undertake refurbishment projects around the school. Funding comes from the Department, the school, the Fort St Foundation and the P&C, with parents and alumni as contributors through the Foundation’s Building Fund and the P&C. A number of projects have been completed, including external art works, landscaping and seating, and painting and recarpeting. Other projects planned over the next year include upgrading the library, the toilets and bathrooms under the gym, the food tech facilities and the school hall, and creating a robotics classroom.

The Principal reported on progress in filling school vacancies, the HSC currently underway, SRC elections, the Year 9 Duke of Edinburgh program, and the review of Confucius classrooms. Students advised that a number of students will take part in the climate change protest at the end of the month.

In December, updates on the Tell Them From Me (TTFM) survey and the 2019 school budget were received. A more detailed breakdown from the TTFM survey will be provided to the Council’s February 2019 meeting. The Principal’s report included information on the Remembrance Day and SRC Induction Assembly, and student involvement in debating and the Schools Spectacular. A large number of Fort St students were involved in the climate change protest.

The Extraordinary General Meeting held on 5 December considered a range of changes to bring the School Council constitution up-to-date with current Departmental policies and emphases. The constitution was previously updated in 2008. Teachers, students, parents, Fortians and community members attended the meeting. Following a brief presentation outlining the changes, the meeting voted to accept the amendments in full. A copy of the revised constitution will be on the school website shortly.

At all Council meetings, members are advised of some of the many successes of Fort St students. Council also receives reports from the School Principal, P&C, students, the Fortians Union and the Fort Street Foundation.

The next School Council meeting will take place in February 2019.

Dr Kathy Esson – Chair

Instrumental Music Program

Return & Annual Servicing of Hire Instruments

If you hire an instrument and are planning to purchase your own, please return your instrument to Mr Manchester by the end of this week. This will allow us to plan for the new intake of Year 7 students. Please remember that all hire instruments need to be serviced annually. Please see the IMP Membership Handbook for a list of repairers.

2019 IMP Calendar

Please check the IMP Google Calendar for 2019 performance dates. The majority of performance dates for next year are already on the calendar. Please make sure the relevant dates are in your diary, to avoid clashes with your other activities. The link to the calendar is https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=fortstreetimp@gmail.com&ctz=Australia/Sydney&pli=1​

This link is also available form the IMP Webpage.

Ensemble Progression

A reminder that many of you will be progressing to new ensembles at the start of 2019. Please make sure you have planned your diaries accordingly. Information about progression, ensemble membership, and rehearsal timetables can be found in the IMP Membership Handbook.

Please note:

* Current Training Band members in Yr7 will join Concert Band in 2019. Older Training Band members have the option to join Wind Orchestra.

* Current Year 8 Concert Band members will join Wind Orchestra in 2019.

* Current Year 9 Philharmonic Orchestra Members will join Symphony Orchestra in 2019.

* There will be an audition round for auditioned ensembles in June/July 2019.

If you have any questions, please chat to Mr Manchester, or your ensemble conductor.

2018 Composition Competition

Congratulations to Ivy Johnston, who is the winner of the 2018 IMP Composition Competition. This year’s entrants were asked to set the text from a movement from the Requiem Mass for the Chamber Choir. All entrants were part of an extensive workshop process, where they heard their piece sung by the Chamber Choir, discussed potential problems with the singers, and received feedback from Alex Pringle & Matt Manchester. Ivy composed a truly outstanding setting of the Kyrie, in near perfect sixteenth-century polyphony. We hope to post a link to a recording of Ivy’s piece in a future Mercurius.

From the Archives – THE MUSIC TRADITION BEGINS

It’s not often we get an insight of the past like this. Here is recollection of the memories of a 1950s Fortian of one of his favourite teachers. There was also a presentation to our principal, Juliette McMurray, of the digitized music from an old record produced of the boys’ choir singing.

“Until the 1950’s, as a selective, boys’ high school, Fort St was not a school in which Music was generally seen as a significant or particularly popular subject or interest area. Far more popular were cricket, rugby, the school Army Cadets Unit, and traditional subjects such as Mathematics, English and foreign languages.

Then there arrived on the staff a dynamic young Music teacher named David Tunley, who was destined to raise the profile and standard of Music within the school, with an impact enduring far beyond his own service on the staff, to the point where successive Music teachers at Fort St have maintained and enhanced his dedication, through to the present day.

The introduction of the school choir in 1953 evoked widespread scepticism with only 35 attending but the next year saw an influx of senior boys to strengthen the tenors and basses as well as the formation of the First Year Choir. Presentations were common at Play Nights, Musicales, the Town Hall and the recording of the choir on 78rpm in AWA studios. By 1956 programs were being recorded on ABC radio relayed through Radio Australia. The school Principal, Mr Shaw, personally designed a “magnificent microgroove gramophone” (that’s a stereo and turntable) and a donation of classical records from EMI meant the Music Department was established. Within 4 years the choir had grown to 200 – over a third of the school.

I don’t think we had any informed idea of just how young and inexperienced David was when he first arrived. In later years, when I began my own teaching career at Sydney Boys High, trying to teach French & German to adolescents whose interests mainly lay elsewhere, I realised that David Tunley was that rare and precious phenomenon…a truly gifted and inspirational teacher. It came as no surprise that David’s career reached the highest levels, as Professor of Music at the University of Western Australia.

It seems fitting, with a sense of serendipity, that, almost as an aside, I mentioned at an informal ‘Old Fortians’ catch up, that I still had my precious copy of the 78 rpm record we had made all those years ago. Nor should we be surprised that the ever logical Bill Thomas seized on this as an opportunity to make a CD from this ancient piece of vinyl, and present it to the school, and, significantly, to David Tunley himself. It then followed as surely as the night, the day, that Robie Porter (aka Rob E.G.) used his skills to transmogrify the venerable record into a CD, for all those who wish to hear it.

As someone who spent over 40 years in Education, listening to my copy of this CD transports me so evocatively back to those magic days at Fort St, where a young teacher, through the dynamism of his own personality, aroused in me a love of music which has never left me. Thank you, David Tunley.”

Written by Graham Sims (Fortian 1954-58)

Locker Clean Out – Friday 14 December

All students who have hired lockers will be re-issued new lockers in a new location at the start of Term 1 2019. Please remove everything from your locker by Friday 14th December 2018, and take your padlock with you.

Thank you.