Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

Tuesday 12 November was the school’s annual Remembrance Day Assembly, unfortunately a day late due to the hall being in use the day before for the final HSC exam, but perhaps appropriate as it coincided with the height of the enormous fire tragedy confronting the State at the time and served as time for the school to reflect upon this also.

Friday 22 November, was the school’s special assembly to induct the newly elected SRC and House Captains for 2020. It is a great honour for each of the students inducted into the Fort Street SRC and it was particularly special to be able to recognise this achievement at our formal assembly with family members and friends who joined us to support them on this proud occasion.

The Student Representative Council is elected by their fellow students and staff to represent all students in the school. I have great faith in our new student leadership team and have enjoyed working closely in particular with the SRC executive already. I am looking forward to achieving great things together with this outstanding group of young people and know that this student body led by Eleanor and Meg will represent our school with pride and integrity and that each of them will be fine leaders in our community.

Congratulations to the newly elected 2020 SRC:

President – Eleanor McLeod, Vice President – Meg Raven

Secretary – Tom Cannane and Ava Corey

Treasurer – Oscar Iwas, Data Analyst – Martin Vu,

Public Relations – Jennifer Dang,

Committee Liaison – Jordan Mai

Year 8 Representatives – Lucie Atkin Bolton, Jonathon Bonnice, Oliver Gongorra, Grace Han, Brian Jiao, Abraham Joseph, Galileo Lima and Kalanie Prabhakar.

Year 9 Representatives – Sebastian Lenehan Choo, You Wei Chung, Natalie Duong, Billie-Rose Gill, Alyssa Khaw, Cherry Lu, Arlo Thwaites and Dennis Yeo.

Year 10 Representatives – Ray Chen, Minh-Quang Chung, Daniel Holland, Veronica Kwong, Francesca Murphy, Peter Tran, Audrey Truong and Kerine Yu.

​Year 12 Representatives – Rong Chen, Bridget Gard, Anson Lee, Sasha Mendes, Crystal Pham, Jason Phillips, Ameira Sant and Calvin Xu

2020 House Captains and Vice Captains

House Captains – Carmen Wen and Gavin Xu (Barton House), Riki Leamon and Nikita Ukladchikov (Kennedy House), Angel Senthilnathan and Victor Tang (Mawson House) and Michael Smith and Sabine Chin-Lowe (Preston House).

Vice Captains – Chelsea Hoang and Vino Jeevakan (Barton House), Alyssa Koit and Hunter Edson (Kennedy House), Allegra Caleo and Bowen Cheng (Mawson House), Marley Donald and Felix Atkin Bolton (Preston House).

Fort Street Distinguished Service Medals

Each year the school recognises members of the wider school community who have contributed a great deal to the school with the awarding of a special medal. At this assembly it was my great pleasure to award this years recipients.

Ian Daniel – one of the most dynamic and inspirational IMP parents in recent years. His two sons Sebastian and Julian were active members of the IMP, playing cello and horn respectively, and they were both members of the Chamber Choir. Ian served as an IMP Committee member, the IMP Parent Convenor, IMP Camp Coordinator, and even came out of IMP retirement at short notice to coordinate an IMP camp. He oversaw enormous growth and innovation in the IMP, including re-ordering of the roles and responsibilities within the IMP committee to give more parents the opportunity to participate in the program through volunteering. Ian did all of this with unflappable calm and good humour. Ian embodies all of the qualities of an IMP member; professionalism, teamwork, diligence, and most importantly a deep love of music. The IMP cannot thank Ian enough for his service to the school and the program.

Elizabeth Campbell – also an active part of the IMP throughout the schooling of both of her children, who were wind and percussion players, and also sang in the Chamber Choir. Ruari and Ailish between them still hold the record for being members of the greatest number of IMP ensembles at the one time, and this is indicative of the level of commitment the whole family has for the IMP and youth music making. Elizabeth has been a passionate advocate for the IMP in all aspects of her service: the IMP is a subcommittee of the P&C and Elizabeth was for many years, the Liaison between the IMP and P&C. She was responsible for creating stronger ties between the P&C and IMP that continue today.

Elizabeth was also an active member of the P&C throughout her children’s time at the school, including serving as President and Vice President. She was the driving force behind numerous successful Fort Fests, and her knowledge of Department of Education policies and procedures, contributed to an effective P&C with a strong, productive relationship with the school. The school thanks Elizabeth for her years of dedicated service to the IMP and to the school.

Dr Kathy Esson – a member of the FSHS community for over a decade and has dedicated countless hours and her considerable educational expertise to supporting the school as part of the P&C, the IMP and as the longest serving Chair of the School Council. Under Kathy’s leadership the Council offered advice to the principal with the planning and direction of the school in terms of its educational aims and resources, and Kathy fulfilled her role as Chair with commitment, enthusiasm and good humour. Amongst other things, Kathy undertook a lengthy and detailed project to revise the School Council Constitution to better reflect its true aims and actions for the future.  She also provided a mechanism to make Independent selection committees aware of the history and culture of Fort Street when interviewing applicants for senior positions at the School, including that of the principal.

Debating – Regional Finalists

Congratulations to our Year 8 Debaters who won the regional finals against Heathcote last week. These students will now attend the State debating camp:  Matilda Gibian, Archie Handler, Leonard Kelly and Rose Kenyon.

Also best of luck to Danielle Villafana who has been invited to represent the school on the Sydney team for the Arts Unit Junior State Debating Championship to be held at the Women’s College at the University of Sydney in early December.

Schools Spectacular 2020

This year’s theme, STARS highlighted the talents of 5,500 young performers from NSW public schools. Congratulations to Max Tosello a featured dancer in the Contemporary and Jazz Ensembles. Fort Street students in the Orchestra included Cadence Ing and Jamie Kwon playing Cello, Luca Ittimani on Bass Clarinet, Emily Miers and Jasmin Young on the French Horn, Alexandra Kilham on Trombone and Jaden White on Percussion. Caleb Mayo performed tenor in the Core Choir and an enormous congratulations to all the Fort Street students who performed in the Combined Choir.

Hundreds of teachers also work tirelessly behind the scenes of this world-class event. Their work starts early in the year and continues until after the weekend’s performances are over. Our enormous thanks and gratitude go to Liz Propsting, Matt Manchester and Tim Crow from the Fort for nurturing and inspiring not only our students but others also during their Schools Spectacular journey.

Metropolitan Teacher Awards

Congratulations to Kristina Reynolds & Ken Gillespie, Languages teachers, who were recognised for excellence in the classroom & international relations at the Metropolitan Teacher Awards.

Year 8 Debating

Congratulations to the Year 8 debating team – Matilda Gibian, Rose Kenyon, Leonard Kelly and Archie Handler, who won the Regional debating final against Heathcote last week.  These students will now attend the State Debating Camp.

M.A.D Night

M.A.D night is our annual event showcasing the works from students in Music, Art and Drama. The CAPA faculty would like to extend an invitation to everyone in the Fort Street Community to attend this important community event.

M.A.D Night

4 and 5 December 2019

Fort Street School Hall

6pm​

Medieval Day

On the brilliant morning of the 17 October about 60  Year 8 students gathered into R1 to watch a presentation on medieval weaponry and battle tactics. The presentation would last about 2 periods and was the first session of our history incursion, sensibly named Medieval Day

I think the consensus was that this wasn’t going to be a very interesting 2 periods, but we were all pleasantly surprised by the presenter, James Adams’ engaging and humorous presentation. It really helped us absorb the information in a better, more effective way.

While it was a bit disappointing that we didn’t get to try out all the different medieval weapons, James’ humour did compensate for it brilliantly. I for one found his presentation extremely amusing and time flew by. It was amazing how he so easily blended information together with quips and jokes, and there was laughter all around throughout the session.

The presentation really helped to enhance our knowledge of medieval weaponry, life and the world as a whole. I would like to thank the History teachers for their tireless work in organising the day, as well as James Adams’ incredibly amusing, interesting and engaging session that really kicked off the mood for the rest of the day.

Yihan Lin (Year 8)

History Extension Excursion

The Year 11 History Extension class recently attended a full-day student seminar presented by the State Library of NSW and Sydney Living Museums at the State Library. The seminar gave  students the opportunity to develop their research skills and gain valuable advice, resources and inspiration before embarking on their major work.  The seminar included talks and workshops delivered by practising historians, archaeologists and museum and library professionals.

Remembrance Day Ceremony, Rookwood and Auburn, November 11 2019

The armed guard defends a commemorative cenotaph and is known as the Catafalque party, a group of 5 individuals – 4 armed with rifles and a single commander with a sword. Being a heavy weapon, it is a real show of dedication and resilience to hold a rifle at attention for the entirety of ceremonies, some of which may stretch for hours. It was two of these Catafalque parties that I was assigned to represent as a part of 307 Squadron, as a senior Cadet Corporal. The two ceremonies I attended were at Rookwood and Auburn, Rookwood on the 10th and Auburn as the main event, taking place on the 11th and having the exact minute of silence at 1100 hours. Both ceremonies lasted around 1 hour and 30 minutes. The guard is required to stay put for the entire duration, demonstrating discipline by resisting the urge to wave off flies or wipe at a rolling drop of sweat. The most difficult part is possibly maintaining ourselves in a condition so that we do not faint, as high temperatures and the requirement to stand stiffly at attention provides a perfect condition to lose consciousness. It is a good experience to perform in the guard, as it is a way of serving the communities that support our organization and paying full respect to the fallen, as the guard itself is a prestigious ceremonial procedure taken in major commemorative events.

Marshall Fan (Yr 10)

Rowe Scientific Depth Study Awards

Congratulations to Thomas Stevens who won Bronze in the Rowe Scientific Depth Study Awards at the STANSW Young Scientist Awards  for his project The Formation of the Jurassic Coast.

The STANSW Young Scientist Awards are structured into three major categories (i) Working Scientifically (ii) Working Technologically and (iii) Working Mathematically. The major awards in each of these categories are headed up by the respective professional teachers’ body who are collaborating together to promote STEM education in NSW schools.

Mental Health Awareness

After much planning and liaising, I, on behalf of the Year 11 Charity Committee, facilitated Fort Street’s inaugural Mental Health Awareness Day, on the 19th of November, 2019.

The day saw students come dressed in green, as it represents hope, strength and support, and bring in a gold coin for donation. As a result, a spectacular $480 was raised purely from gold coin donations, with the proceeds going to the Black Dog Institute. The aim of the day was to raise awareness about and reduce the stigma surrounding mental health. I am glad that this day allowed the creation of a safe environment in which seeking support was advocated. Hence, I organised for Koray Kuroz, from the Black Dog Institute, to present a talk on mental health during SRE for Years 10 and 11. He talked about his personal experience dealing with his own mental health, framing his advice through his own life story. The insights generated allowed the beginning of a larger, mature conversation surrounding mental health issues to take place.

Firstly, I would like to thank everyone who donated money and dressed in green. I would like to thank Ms Arcamone for her support, as well as Ms Triolo and Ms Sloss for counting the money collected. Kudos to Cheylon Devine (Year 11), Isha Baldeo (Year 11) and Cassidy Newman (Year 8) for helping collect gold coin donations on the day. The day could not have been a success without their help and, above all, Fort Street’s spirit!

The many hours spent organising and emailing was worth it, as the day was ultimately a success as it sparked a deeper discussion, in turn reducing the stigma in seeking help.

Aidan Limnios

School TV – Eco-Anxiety

The media coverage of climate change activist, Greta Thunberg, not only helped raise awareness of this issue, but it has also instilled fear in many young people. Children around the world are feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of the issue. They are getting caught up in a doomsday scenario and collective hysteria that is causing, what is now termed as ‘eco-anxiety’.

Anecdotal reports suggest that children of all ages, even pre-schoolers, are being treated for eco-anxiety by healthcare professionals and psychologists fear that this may lead to a learned helplessness or hopelessness.

As parents and care-givers, it is important to understand how best to diffuse a child’s anxiety relating to impending environmental disasters. Discussing the known facts and instilling hope will give children a clear vision for a positive future. Reassurance about what countries and individuals are doing, and what you can do as a family, will go towards helping curb the effects of eco-anxiety.

In this Special Report, parents and care givers will be provided with strategies on how to approach conversations on environmental issues that are age appropriate. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If you do have any concerns about the wellbeing of your child, please contact the school for further information or seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://fortstreet.nsw.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/eco-anxiety

Sport Update

AFL – NSWAFL 4 Week Program

30 students across Y8-9 have participated in a NSWAFL training program for the last 4 weeks. Our students have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to testing their skills early next year as they compete against schools across the region.

​Ultimate Frisbee Club

Our students continue to train on a weekly basis under the tutelage of Edmund Feng (Australian Schoolboy 2018). These students meet on a Tuesday morning and train from 7:45am-8:30am.

Junior (Y7/8) Futsal Championships

Our boys and girls are training under the watchful eyes of Mr Speranza and Ms Tremblay in preparation for the upcoming junior championships that will be held on Fort Streets new outdoor synthetic 5 a side pitches. Our girls team are also preparing for the Wanderers Cup State Finals after they placed second (losing the final on penalties after competing for the entire day with only 9 players in an 11 a side competition) in the regional championships earlier this year.

Volleyball Club

Every Wednesday at lunchtime students from Y7-12 continue to hone their skills in a fun and inclusive environment.

Table Tennis Club

Every Wednesday and Thursday lunchtime students from Y7-12 and Mr Dong go toe to toe in friendly/competitive games of table tennis. To date no one has managed to come close to beating Mr Dong who sets a very high bar.

Ella Easton – Rock Climbing

2019  has been my best year yet in terms of my climbing career. I have been climbing competitively for around 3 years now, but having only competed in Australian competitions, I wanted to take my game to an international level. Luckily, in May this year, my performance in the Australian Youth Championships allowed me to qualify for the World Youth Championships for all 3 climbing disciplines!

The Championships themselves took place in Arco, Italy, over a two week period in August. In the lead up to this event, I took my training pretty seriously, training 6 times per week for about 2-4 hours each session. This sometimes made it hard to get all my schoolwork done but luckily the school is very accommodating.

Though the competition was somehow even harder than I expected, the experience I gained was really valuable. I learnt how to deal with a huge amount of pressure and still perform as well as possible, and I met insanely strong athletes from all around the world. I even traded my Australian singlet for a Ukranian one!

My competition season ended this past weekend with the Australian National Open (adult) Championships. I came in with low expectations and a lot of anxiety about how I would perform, but I ended up taking home 3 medals, making the Open team for Lead and Speed  and also qualifying for the Oceanic Championships in March, which is an Olympic selection event. This means that the top female with the highest combined ranking after this competition earns a spot at the 2020 Olympic games. Hopefully I have a chance at winning that spot!

Ella Easton

Ultimate Frisbee

On Monday, the 18th of November, a group of excited Fortians stormed the Strathfield train. After playing a few rounds of ‘Chopsticks” we arrived at Granville Station. Admiring the Jacaranda trees, we successfully marked the roll and headed to Granville Park where the Ultimate Frisbee Junior State Championship was going to be held.

At the park, we were greeted by the blinding sun and visible smoke from the bushfires. Fortians were separated into girls and boys teams and were given a short briefing. After discovering the teams we would be versing, and carefully analysing their skills we went our separate ways.

The first game, for the girls, was going to be against Chatswood High School. The team entered the field brimming with positivity. However, after a tough match, we were a little setback. Mr O’Neill cheered us on and the team continued playing- this time against Macquarie High School. This match seemed to go a little smoother and the team was back on track – screaming “CHUCK PLATE!” loudly and certainly displaying signs of improvement. Maia quickly learnt the forehand throw, which allowed the team to nearly score a point. Even though the second match was lost, we had this peculiar feeling- that everything was going well. Before the third match, against Hurlstone High School we received training from one of Year 12s – Kayla. She taught us to create a ‘stack’ which resulted in our first point of the day. We received constant rushes of adrenaline and became very competitive. By the commencement of the final game, against Smith’s Hill, we were desperately wanting to win. Carla impressed everyone by starting the game by throwing a frisbee between her legs- “reverse hammer – shot”. 

With constant support from Kayla and Mr O’Neill, we won- with the score 3:2. We were thrilled and probably made a few people jump because of how loudly we yelled. After, celebrating our victory, we agreed to mix up the teams and play a friendly match. Half of the group tucked in their shirts and we began to play. At the end, the loud horn sounded- indicating that we have to return to the original spot. On the way to the briefing, we filled up our bottles as the sun was scorching and we were probably dehydrated. We congratulated the teams that won and helped ourselves to some delicious fruits. Overall, it was an extremely positive and fun day and the team thanks Mr O’Neill and Kayla for motivating us and making this day possible. We, really appreciate your support!

Anna Ivanova

Instrumental Music Program

IMP Committee for 2020

After last week’s Annual General Meeting, the IMP is pleased to announce the election of the 2020 IMP Parent Committee:

Convenor – Francine Cutler

Co-Convenor – Suzanne Dang

Secretary –  Sally McCausland

Treasurer – Adam Murphy

P&C Liaison – Suzanne Trimmer

Membership Officer – Suzanne Trimmer

Instrument Hire – Mirjana Jovic

Catering Convenor – presently vacant

Tour – Heather Kelley

Librarian – presently vacant.

Mercurius and communications – Lucia Evangelista

Camp Coordinators – Kebinh Tran and Katie Loh

Congratulations to the new Committee and thanks to all who attended the AGM.

IMP Fees for 2020

The IMP fees for 2020 have now been set. IMP Fees in 2020 will rise to:
$548 per student (Yr7-11)

$274 per student (Year 12)

Membership fees will be due by Week5 of Term1, 2020. Please do not pay your IMP fees until the start of 2020. You will be sent a fee notice at the start of Term 1, 2020.

IMP Instrument Hire Fees for 2020

IMP Instrument hire fees for 2020 will be $342 for full price (and $171 for endangered instruments). The IMP Coordinator will inform you of your hire fee at the start of the year. Hire fees are due

IMP Membership for 2020

Current IMP members: to remain an IMP member in 2020, you do not need to do anything. You will be rolled over into the 2020 database at the end of term.

If you do not plan to continue with IMP in 2020, please remember that you are required to inform the IMP Coordinator by email, or you may be charged fees in 2020. The sooner you can let us know, the more help it will be for planning 2020 ensembles.

Matt Manchester

P&C

P&C President’s 2019 Annual Report
2019 has been a very busy year at Fort Street in terms of school improvements thanks to the determination of the new Principal, Juliette McMurray, the activities of the SRC who collected information about student priorities and the staff who also gave their input. The P&C was presented with the results of all this information so that we could choose which projects to fund or assist in funding.

We started this year with an abundance of funds that had been accruing for some time due to the fabulous fundraising conducted in previous years, including Fort Fest, the Uniform Shop and other events and parent contributions along the way. In addition to the new projects such as the Futsal Court, various school improvement projects such as the Library renovation had been earmarked for some time as possible projects where the P&C could assist the school in their funding. Juliette was determined that these projects would occur and that parents who were assisting in fundraising would see their children benefit from their hard work. In August we handed the school a cheque for $162000 which funded the new Futsal Court among other smaller projects. One of the important reasons to be a financial member of the P&C as well as attend the general meetings is so that important decisions such as where this money goes are made by a good representation of the parents of the school.

For me personally this has also been a very busy year with one child starting high school, one child starting at a new school and my Fort Street child completing her final year here.  I have really appreciated the support and efforts of the P&C Executive, Dime Spasovski, Michael Easton, Kadir Sidambaram and especially our Secretary Ethel Talty who has definitely been the hardest working member of the team this year! As we come to the point of establishing a new P&C Executive I would like to acknowledge the parents who are leaving this year but who have been stalwart meeting attenders, organisers of events and undertaken various roles in the P&C. They are Dime Spasovski, Kadir Sidambaram  and Jenny Curtis. They take with them a wealth of experience and will I’m sure be missed.

On a positive note, over my 6 years at Fort Street, I have noticed that there has been increasing participation of parents in the P&C and other school activities. When I became President 2 years ago, there was still a reluctance of parents to take on a role on the executive or a sub-committee. I think that new parents who have joined the school have been turning this around and the feeling now seems to be one where people are bringing a lot of ideas, talents and energy and so I am very confident that the P&C and the school will go from strength to strength. This P&C is excellent at raising funds, a large part due to the the Uniform Shop which continues to be an excellent source of funds that we can then provide to the school. Gladys Ko manages the shop and has a wealth of knowledge and experience that is essential to the smooth running of the uniform shop. This is open every Wednesday as well as Orientation Day and there are a number of parent volunteers who have assisted Gladys throughout the year. Thank you to all who have done so and especially to Gladys for her hard work during the year. Many thanks also to Tracy Chen for so ably supporting Gladys as the Uniform Shop Coordinator and to Sally McCausland for managing the Second hand uniform stall which also turns out a tidy profit which ultimately is provided to the school.

Thanks also to Robyn Elmslie for organising the Entertainment Book which has been another great fundraising source, to Ethel and Bhavani for reinvigorating the P&C dinner for Senior Drama Night and to all the other parents who have volunteered their time and expertise throughout the year.

This year we have continued to focus on increasing our reach to parents and  encouraging involvement of parents in a range of different ways as well as increasing links between the school and the parent community. The focus items which occur before the meeting have primarily been from staff to inform parents about the different faculties and their activities, the school welfare and counselling program, and understanding how to interact with the school according to the issues at hand.

Ethel and I have been administrators of a Facebook page for the P&C which I am sure can be used a lot more in coming years and Ethel has continued to write a monthly P&C newsletter which is distributed to all members and provides information about the activities of the P&C and links to documents, surveys and other information relevant to schools as they come to our attention.

Just finally, I will be forever envious of the amazing high school experience that my daughter Niamh has had at Fort Street, and especially how she has always been valued and appreciated for who and how she is and been given every opportunity to grow and develop into a fantastic young adult. I hope you all and your children have as positive and potentially transformative an experience here as did I and my child. Thank you to the staff, students and parents for building such a great school community.
Amanda Elliott, P&C President

Fort Street Archive App

Fort Street Archives and the Fort Street Foundation were successful in gaining a grant through the 2018/19 Inner West Council Community History and Heritage Grants program. This funding was used to establish a free heritage tour app to communicate the history and heritage of Fort Street as a significant Inner West institution. The new app, found on the Apple App Store and Google Play, creates an easily accessible digital environment to protect, preserve and communicate nationally significant Inner West history and contributing to the national memory.

The Fort Street Tours app has three downloadable tours available. One is for the historical spaces of the current Petersham site. Another one is of the many Honour Boards dating back to 1890. The final one is of the Observatory Hill site – this was achieved due to the work done by one of our volunteers, Sandra Funnel (Class of 1961), and our partners at the National Trust of Australia (NSW).

The official launch will coincide with the 45th anniversary of the ‘Handover of the Keys’ from Fort Street Girls High School to the National Trust of Australia (NSW) in December this year.

Download Fort Street Tours for Apple HERE or for Google Play HERE

Iain Wallace – School Archivist