Principals Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

A great social evening was enjoyed by our Year 7 students and parents on Friday 10 February as they got to meet and greet each other in the school hall over a pizza and soft drink. I would like to thank the P&C and all the Year 8 parent volunteers and in particular Caroline Aow and Kirrily Druery for their work and organisation to make the evening such a success for our newest parents and students.

Our school photos have all been taken and we look forward to seeing the final result when these are printed and distributed to students later this term.

Speech Day was a huge success and finished perfectly on time. It was wonderful to see so many parents at Sydney Town Hall and to be joined by past Fortians who currently work in the city and decided to pop in for a visit during their morning tea or lunch break when they saw all the Fort Street uniforms congregating outside Town Hall. Our guest speaker Professor Nalini Joshi AO Fortian 1977 was inspiring and fascinating to listen to and Daniel Holland School Dux of 2022 gave an extraordinary valedictorian speech, we will be keeping a close eye on his future. I would, like to thank Ms Mattick who coordinates the entire event and the speech day committee which comprises of Kellorin Long, Dianne Debreczeni, Lina El Deiri and other office staff, Mr Scudds, Mr Manchester and our Music teachers Mr Ockwell and Ms Propsting for their hard work leading up to and on the day.

More photos from Speech Day will be added to our school website next week.

A study skills workshop was held in the school hall on February 22 for Year 7 and 8 students and parents. I hope that those who attended were able to gain some valuable tips and insight from Dr Prue Salter who has been delivering these workshops to our school for many years now.

An information evening was also held for Year 9 parents on February 23 to inform parents about the Duke of Edinburgh program and to hear about the Year 9 Camp to Somerset which will take place in Term 3 fulfilling the awards Adventurous Journey requirements. Students in Year 9 should have registered with the Duke of Edinburgh scheme by now so that they can start to log hours for their voluntary service, physical recreation and/or skills components.

Next week is Year 12 parent teacher night from 3.30pm until 7:00pm on zoom – interview bookings on Sentral opened on Monday. Year 11 parents will have their teacher interviews on site in the school hall on Monday 20 March and bookings for these should open on Monday next week.

NAPLAN is on again for year 7 and year 9, students should be receiving an email including the timetable of tests by the end of this week. These tests will be held between Wednesday 15 March and Friday 24 March. Students will be shown this Friday how to gain access at home to the practice NAPLAN exams.

As I am writing this report Year 7 students are streaming in from the buses after their safe arrival back from camp, I am told that they have all had a wonderful time. I am enormously grateful to the staff members who accompanied year 7 over the past three days and two nights – Ms Lawson, Ms Nolan, Ms Wark, Ms Thompson, Mr McMahon, Mr Pagani and Ms Dooley.

Upcoming Events

Friday 3 March – International Women’s Day Assembly, Year 8 Drama Incursion, CHS Open Girls Netball

Tuesday 7 March – Clean Up Australia Day environment committee event

Wednesday 8 March – Year 9 Wellbeing Seminar: Alcohol Education

Monday 13 March – Year 10 Geography/History Excursion

Tuesday 14 March – IMP International Tour information evening school hall 7.30pm

Wednesday 15 March – Friday 24 March – NAPLAN Year 7 and 9

Monday 27 March – Thursday 6 April Year 12 Assessment Period

Friday 7 April – Public Holiday

Fort Street Swimming Carnival 2023

The annual FSHS Swimming Carnival was held at Ashfield Swimming Pool on Thursday 2^nd February. With beautiful weather, students dressed-up in their House colours and plenty of enthusiasm, all the ingredients were present for a great day.

The students should be commended on their excellent behaviour, participation and spirit throughout the day. It was far and away the best Swimming Carnival in recent memory, with many, many positive things happening. The biggest highlight came towards the end of the carnival, during the relay races. Each Houses put their best teams in the pool and supporters from each House lined the pool deck to cheer them on.

House showing the most ‘House Spirit’ on the day:

Sheikh (100 points towards their total for the carnival)

Carnival Placing:

1st: Kirby – 1,473 (300 House Points towards the Kennedy Cup)

2nd: Mawson – 1,327 (240 House Points towards the Kennedy Cup)

3rd: Joshi – 1,102 (180 House Points towards the Kennedy Cup)

4th : Sheikh – 1,075 (120 House Points towards the Kennedy Cup)

5th: Preston – 803 (60 House Points towards the Kennedy Cup)

Age Group Champions:

12 Girls: XiXi He (Kirby)

13 Girls: Aoibhe Carty (Mawson)

14 Girls: Isabel Wang (Preston)

15 Girls: Joyce Chen (Joshi)

16 Girls: Daniela Guzina (Sheikh)

17+ Girls: Ella Murphy (Mawson)

12 Boys: Antony Walczak (Joshi)

13 Boys: Elliott Steel (Sheikh)

14 Boys: Terence Kang (Sheikh)

15 Boys: Ray Guo (Joshi)

16 Boys: Erick Zhang (Sheikh)

17+ Boys: Kosta Giitsidis (Joshi)

The students who finished either first or second overall in each event, will go on to represent the school at the Zone Swimming Carnival on March 1st (more information will be provided to these students).

Thank you to Marcus Aspinall from Year 11, who documented the event with the school camera and took some great shots! Thank you as well to all the staff for their assistance with making the carnival such a success. A big thank you and well done to Ms Ezekiel for her efforts organising and running a great event!

NAPLAN 2023

On Monday 6 March Year 7 and 9 students will be doing familiarisation practice to prepare for their upcoming NAPLAN Tests. Students will use school computers with the NAPLAN lockdown browser installed and will need to bring earbuds or headphones. Students will have one period to familiarise themselves with the site and types of questions.

Students can gain further familiarity with the different item types and tools in the NAPLAN test from home by accessing www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/public-demonstration-site

Year 7 and 9 students will sit for the annual NAPLAN tests in weeks 8 and 9, commencing on Wednesday 15 March. There will be no NAPLAN tasks scheduled for Friday 17 March, due to IMP camp. Students will complete the tests online on the school computers and will need to bring headphones or earbuds with them on the day. Please note that wireless headphones/ear buds (e.g. air pods) are not suitable.

The NAPLAN schedule has been emailed to families.

Students will attend normal classes every day and should bring the necessary books and equipment with them for those lessons. Don’t forget to bring a earbuds or headphones for the task. Students will only miss the class on during the scheduled times for each test.

Students who miss a test on Wednesday – Tuesday through illness or other absence will have the opportunity to complete a catch up task on their return to school during week 9.

Further information about NAPLAN can be found on the NAPLAN website.

Happy International Mother Language Day!

Does parenting a teenager leave you doubting your influence on your child’s identity and values? Take heart from recent research at the University of Cambridge which suggests there is at least one aspect in which you, the parent, are more influential than teachers or even peers: your child’s perception of themselves as a multilingual person. 

Parents who value their own multilingual capabilities, whether as a native speaker of a language or only knowing a few words and expressions, are more likely to have children who consider themselves to be multilingual.

 More good news: Identifying as multilingual has a positive impact on academic achievement across the curriculum. In fact, further University of Cambridge research showed that students who define themselves as multilingual achieve higher grades not only in languages, but also in non-language subjects such as maths, geography and science. This effect is true for all students who consider themselves to be multilingual, regardless of whether they are fluent speakers or beginning learners.

So, whether multiple languages are used in your home or your child wants to show off the few words they learnt in their Chinese, German, Japanese or French lessons at Fort St, encourage them to value their linguistic capabilities! You may well be helping your child to develop a multilingual identity and improve their overall academic performance.

With this good news for parents, the languages staff at Fort St wish all parents and carers of our wonderful, polyglot Fort St students a Happy International Mother Language Day!

You can read more about the University of Cambridge’s research here:

Want more students to learn languages? Win over the parents, research suggests

Link between multilingualism and better GSCE grades

International Mother Language Day, first declared by UNESCO in 1999, is observed on 21 February to celebrate and promote multilingualism. You can read more about the day’s goals in 2023 here: https://www.un.org/en/observances/mother-language-day

All things Drama

Fort Street’s Drama groups are under way for the year and already there is some great creativity being produced in our co-curricular groups. Our theatresports group is working with their coach Kate every Tuesday from 3pm – 4pm to develop their skills in improvisation and playbuilding and we will start to now look at putting our Senior, Intermediate and Junior teams together, ready for competition. The Drama Club is meeting every Wednesday morning at 7:45a.m to work on building performance skills. The year 7’s and 8’s in the groups are engaging in a variety of activities to build the confidence and skills to engage an audience and having fun along the way! Our year 9’s and 10’s are embarking on an exciting challenge, preparing short scenes that they will present in the Shakespeare Festival held by Theatre Company Sport for Jove. They will refine their skills and compete against other schools in this exciting competition.

I would once again like to invite all students in years 7 and 8 to come along and join Drama club or Theatresports. We have a great group of students who are building skills and confidence in a supportive and friendly environment so we would welcome anyone who would like to come and join us. All you need to do is come and see Ms. Mattick in the Rowe staffroom to get a permission note.

Finally, the musical team is working hard to shape Fort Streets FIRST EVER MUSICAL! We will be performing The 25^th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee. We are still looking for dances for the show!! If you are a dancer in years 8 – 11 WE NEED YOU! There is no signing or acting required – you will be part of a small dance troupe that will perform in some of the larger numbers. If you are interested, please come and see Ms. Mattick in the Rowe staffroom.

The musical is ridiculous and highly entertaining, and it is shaping up to be a great show! Please add the show dates to your diary and plan to come along for a great night of entertainment.

Fort Street Musical

The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

14^th and 15^th June 2023 – 7pm

Fort Street School Hall.

The Homework Centre is back in 2023!

The Homework Centre is on every Monday and Wednesday afternoon from 3.15 – 4.10 pm in the library. Supervised by Ms. Carter on Mondays and Ms. Ryan on Wednesdays, the Homework Centre is intended to be a quiet and productive space for all students from Years 7-12 who either want to focus independently on their schoolwork, or who would like some guidance with study and organisation. Year 11 and 12 Peer Tutors will be available at times throughout the year to support Homework Centre attendees with their homework and assignments. Student Support Officer Rose Dooley will also be in attendance on both Mondays and Wednesdays.

Students who attend the Homework Centre can expect a welcoming and quiet environment where they can work diligently on classwork, homework and assignments with the support of school staff. Students may attend on a walk-in basis.

If you have any questions about Homework Centre, please ask Ms. Ryan, Ms. Tan or Ms. Vasiliadis in the Learning Centre.

2023 School Vaccination Program

School vaccination program 

Keeping your child up to date with routine vaccinations helps to protect them from serious preventable diseases such as meningococcal, whooping cough, tetanus, and cancers that are caused by HPV (human papillomavirus).

As part of the NSW School vaccination program, students in Year 7 are offered free vaccines for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV). In Year 10, students are offered the meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

Vaccinations at Fort Street High School will be held on the following dates this year. Further information and requests for consent will be sent out to families closer to the date.

Wednesday May 3 – Year 7

Wednesday June 21 – Year 10

Wednesday November 15 – catch ups for any students who missed the other dates

Parental consent is required for your child to receive routine vaccinations at school. If your child is in Year 7 or Year 10 this year, you can now provide this consent online. You will receive an email from us with details on this year’s school vaccination clinic and information on how to provide consent for your child’s vaccinations.

From February 2023, children in year 7 will now only need one dose of HPV vaccination. This change has been endorsed by the Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (ATAGI) based on evidence showing that one dose provides the same level of protection against HPV as two doses.

If you have already consented to your child receiving two doses of HPV vaccine, they will only receive one dose.

If your child previously missed their second dose of HPV vaccine, they are now considered fully vaccinated and do not require a second dose.

A small number of students who are immunocompromised are still recommended to receive a three-dose course of HPV vaccine. If your child is immunocompromised, it is important to discuss their immunisation needs with their GP.

If your child misses a school vaccination clinic, you can speak to a GP or pharmacist about catching up on vaccination.

For more information on school vaccination visit: health.nsw.gov.au/schoolvaccination or If you have any questions, please contact your local Public Health Unit on 1300 066 055.

Council will be enforcing School Zones

With the return of students to school , please be reminded about the importance of promoting road safety to minimise risk for our children.

Illegal parking around schools puts children’s lives at risk. Council’s Parking Officer’s will be enforcing school zones to keep our children safe.

Attached are the school zone offences and penalties as shared by the Inner West Council.