Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

As always, the end of the year is a busy time for students and staff as all school reports are finalised, timetables are prepared for the following year and end of year events and festivities take place. Last week saw the conclusion of the Year 9 connected curriculum which again was a huge success. With the easing of restrictions our Silver Duke of Edinburgh hikes finally went ahead and Year 9 will also be completing their Adventurous Journey as part of their Bronze Award this week.

Library Foyer Upgrade
Thanks to P&C Vice President Elizabeth Kenyon the school will receive $23 000 toward the refurbishment of the Library Foyer. Elizabeth was successful in her grant application to the Community Building Partnership 2020 on behalf of the P&C.
A recent renovation of the library has made the space more popular than ever, but the entrance to the library remains dated, dark and cluttered, with school bags stored on the floor. The foyer refurbishment project will brighten and refresh the whole space and supply sufficient storage lockers for all library visitors. The school library is used intensively by students attending Fort Street High School and is also used as a meeting place for staff, parents, school alumni and the local community.
The intention is to install cameras in this area, new bag racks and fresh paint including a mural to brighten up the area. The entire project will cost close to $40 000.

Congratulations
Ryan Ho – Year 11 participated in this year’s online NSW Schools Constitutional Convention on Monday 2 November, he has recently been selected to participate in the 2021 National Schools Constitutional Convention. Normally this event is held in Canberra, but in 2021, due to COVID-19, the event will be held at NSW Parliament House for NSW students with online links to the students in other states who have also been selected to participate at a national level.

Year 7, 2021
It was delightful to be able to host Year 6 on site for their orientation to High School on Tuesday 1 December. After a quick drop off and exit from parents the Year 6 students were led by a wonderful team of Year 9 Peer Support Leaders to the Hall for the formal part of the morning, this was followed by a tour of the school and some activities with their peer support leaders.

Recognition Assemblies
It has been an absolute pleasure to recognise our high achievers at formal year assemblies held over the past fortnight for Years 8 and 9. During these assemblies our newly elected SRC executive were also inducted, hopefully we will be able to hold another assembly to which parents can be invited early next year. The last recognition will be held for Year 7 this Friday.

Raise Mentoring

On Monday 23 November, eleven students from Years 8 and 9 were recognised at the Raise Mentoring graduation attended by Ms Jenny Leong MP, Raise Mentors and the Raise Director.

Welcome – Youth Worker
I would like to welcome Teddy Ollis to the Fort. Teddy is a Youth Worker and previously worked at Marsden High School. Teddy will be assisting the school counselling and wellbeing team 2 days a week in 2021. Teddy has only been with us for 2 weeks now but has already been busy trying to meet as many students as possible as she settles into the school.

2020 Young Scientist Award

Congratulations to Riki Leamon (Fortian 2020) who received a 2020 Young Scientist Award from the NSW Scientist Teachers Association for her Year 12 depth study:
“The Effects of Land Clearing and Fragmentation in Eastern Australia”
Riki carried out an investigation into the impacts of land clearing and how this has led to the degradation of native habitats and ecosystems.
Additionally, Riki conducted an analysis of how this topic is portrayed in the media.  Riki received $200 in prize money.

Your Health Link Photographic Competition

The ‘Your Health Link Photographic Competition’ is open to students from every primary and high school across Australia and will launch on 1 December 2020 with the theme:

‘We’re all in this together – keeping safe and healthy during the pandemic’

This year’s theme provides an opportunity for students to learn about health guidelines during the pandemic via the competition website – wearing masks, washing hands, social distancing, staying home when feeling ill and how these guidelines prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The Competition aims to enable students to artistically express their knowledge and weave the principles of keeping safe and healthy during a pandemic into everyday life.

The Competition closes 24 January 2021 with winners announced in March 2021.

For more information please go to: Your Health Link Photo Competition

First Lego League Regional Competition

Our UNSW EMU Robotics team participated in the First Lego League Regional Competition, held on the 17th of November at Unity Grammar School. I am pleased to advise that we won the Breakthrough Award and the Robot Performance Award and our team has advanced into Nationals.

The Robot Game is where we test our robot and code to undergo missions on the field. For this section, we came first and we won the Robot Performance Award.

The Project is where we come up with a solution to an existing issue that impacts society. In our case, we decided to tackle the rising rates of obesity and create the Work-A-Gotchi app. We referred to a physiotherapist and also surveyed students to find out what the app needed. This is an app that includes a digital buddy in animal form, a music player, a chat to connect with other users and the opportunity to level up with your Work-A-Gotchi.

Our app model is a work in progress, and we hope to improve it for Nationals.

Our team was also tested on our Core Values, which was good, and Robot Design which we also need to improve on.

Savannah Pradhan

Year 7 and 8 Music Performances

Year 7

SRC Induction

Congratulations to Year 8 students Johnathan, Brian, Gordon, Oliver, Kalanie, Lucie, Grace and Savannah who were inducted into the SRC on 27 November.

Duke of Edinburgh Award Leadership Team 2021

Fort St High School welcomes the new Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DoE) Leadership Team for 2021: Esther Alex, Elina Bai, Edward Chen, Natalie Duong, Eryk Francis, Leonard Kelly, Elisabeth Koh, Aslesha Nepal, Brendan Posener, Frederick Sastradjaja, Jisu Song, Michelle Tieu, Celina Trang, Bella Walker and Dennis Yeo.

On Wednesday 2 December, a leadership course was delivered to the 2021 DoE Leadership Team by four members of the 2020 team – Jade Do, Hannah Liao, Jessica Trang and Peter Tran from Year 10. The primary purpose of the course was to equip the new leadership team with knowledge in interpersonal skills, leadership attributes, team building and motivation.

The 2021 DoE Leadership Team will partake in various mentoring and training activities including; the annual Parent Information Evening, weekly Bronze Award Participant Mentoring, Preparation and Training sessions for Adventurous Journeys and others. These training activities seek to promote maximum interest and participation, to ensure a successful outcome for all DoE Award program participants. Additionally, the skills and experiences obtained will undoubtedly benefit the team members, put them in good stead for future leadership roles and improve their employment prospects.

The outgoing 2020 DoE Leadership Team wishes to thank Ms Caroline Jerrems and Ms Tori Jenkyn for their tremendous support and guidance throughout this difficult year. Specifically, the team wishes Ms Jerrems all the best with her employment at Cammeraygal High School next year. During her 14 year tenure at the Fort, her dedication and commitment to the DoE Program as Award Leader has resulted in numerous students successfully completing their Award. Further, Ms Jerrems’ enthusiasm and mentoring skills have led to many Fortians becoming leaders in different areas.

Peter Tran, Year 10
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Leader

DofE Silver Practice expedition in the Royal National Park

We began our day off early in the morning, meeting at Central station. We then caught a train to Cronulla, from where we began our adventures. We walked to a ferry wharf, intrigued to see primary students departing a ferry like students here depart the train, with one of them even tying up the knots to park a ferry. After overhearing our students shout “Imagine catching a ferry to school?”, the students and teachers looked extremely surprised and found us quite weird. Excited to begin our journey we boarded the ferry and arrived at Bundeena where we were given a short briefing by the supervising teachers, and were then dismissed by groups as we embarked on our practice journey expedition.

The soccer boys set themselves a challenge to overtake every group. Which they ended up successfully completing. Every single group saw them sprinting across beaches or squeezing past them on the narrow tracks. Other groups took it slow to enjoy the scenic walk, and for snacks and water breaks. About halfway through the day, everyone arrived at Wattamolla to rest and have lunch. An hour had passed by and students began wondering why we weren’t being dismissed yet, and to everyone’s dismay, yet no surprise, Ms Xu announced that the cricket boys had not yet arrived. Everyone laughed until we realised the seriousness of the situation, all smiles were wiped off of our faces when Ms Xu added that we would have to walk back 9 kilometres back to Bundeena to find them. While coming up with endless insults and elaborate ways to have revenge on the cricket boys, everyone began picking up their rucksacks and walking back to Bundeena. About 15 minutes in, the group at the front found them and were greeted with Jack saying, “Hey! What took you guys so long?” Everyone just stood there in disbelief, wondering What? Why? How? Why? After attacking them for a bit everyone packed up and began walking to our final destination, some people still seething with anger.

Ascending and descending hills the group ended up at the beach. We then had a long bus ride to camp, descending down probably the steepest part of the day just to get to the campsite, and set up our tents and cooked dinner. It was unfortunate that we were unable to start a campfire, yet somehow students managed to improvise and find other ways to have fun. Some went to bed early, some spent some time together as a group bonding over secrets, some even played cards with Mr Prasad until Ms Xu came in and told us off for not being in bed yet.

The next morning we woke up to find that it had rained overnight, but thankfully none of the tents had been flooded. After packing up and having breakfast we began the last part of our practice expedition. That day, many groups were determined to finish their hike quickly so that they were able to be dismissed as soon as possible, one group even rushing so that a member would be able to go home in time for a Year 10 formal. Even though many of us rushed through, we still took time to appreciate the steep hill and beauty of the rainforest.

On behalf of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh participants, we would like to thank Ms Jerrems, Ms Xu, Mr Dong and Mr Prasad, who accompanied us on our journey and made it as fun and rewarding as possible.

A special thanks from all Duke of Edinburgh award participants, to Ms Jerrems, for organising everything for the Duke of Edinburgh Award Program. Without her, Duke of Ed would not be possible, and the success rate and participation would be nothing compared to what it is today. Her move to Cammeraygal High School is unfortunate for Fort Street’s Duke of Edinburgh program. We are extremely appreciative of all of her hard work and dedication to the program, but we wish her all the best.

Jade Do
Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Leader

Instrumental Music Program

2020 End of Year Concert

We are unable to hold our End of Year IMP Concert, due to COVID-19 restrictions and therefore we will be recording a concert which will be available free for the school community to stream from 13 December.

Schools Spectacular 2020 Remixed

Congratulations to IMP Year 12s Alana Hodzic, Luca Ittimani, Emily Miers, Jaden White and Jasmin Young, who featured in a special Year 12 farewell item in the Schools Spectacular 2020 Remixed, which aired on Channel 7 last weekend

IMP Fundraiser – 2019 End of Year Concert DVD now on sale!

The IMP End of Year Concert last year was professionally filmed and recorded. I’m very pleased to say that the final product is now available for you to buy. It looks and sounds fantastic, and I’m so proud of the kids and their conductors for such inspiring music-making!

This DVD will make a great gift for family and friends, and you can relive the joy of attending a seriously impressive live concert. For those of you who are new to the IMP and have not yet attended an IMP Concert, I urge you to grab a DVD and take a look.

On a serious note, with the cancellation of our live concert events this year due to COVID-19, our fundraising income is down by over $20,000 for the year. In addition to selling the DVDs we have also included the option to make a donation to the IMP. We will be using Sticky Tickets to securely process all the transactions for this fundraising drive.

While we will still be streaming our 2020 End of Year Concert (without an audience), we will not be charging for tickets to access the stream. So, this DVD and donation drive will be our only fundraiser for 2020. Please consider purchasing more than one DVD, and/or donating the amount you would normally spend at an IMP concert. You will be helping enable the IMP to deliver all of its usual incredible musical opportunities in 2021 and beyond.

Please order your DVDs before Friday 5pm each week, and they will be available to collect from the school office from the following Monday morning. Please click the link to our Sticky Tickets event page to buy:
https://www.stickytickets.com.au/65D50

Thanks for your continued support of the IMP in this incredibly challenging year!

With very musical best wishes,

Matthew Manchester
IMP Coordinator
Director of Bands