Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

The mass shooting in Christchurch last Friday is a tragedy that has shocked us all as well as being deeply confronting. It is hard not to be moved by the loss of innocent life. This distressing incident has been broadcast around the world and has been the main focus of the media for the last few days, as it will be in the coming days.  Events like these inevitably impact our community in many ways.  We are proud that our school embraces diversity, tolerance and acceptance of all and we need to emphasis this at times like this. Please inform the school if your child has been affected by this event and we will be able to discuss with you the types of support that is available to assist your child at school.

On Tuesday 5th March, Fort Street High School hosted a Principals Network meeting for approximately 40 high school and primary school principals from the Canterbury and Marrickville networks. Principals participated in productive professional learning and sharing sessions relevant to our everyday practice in schools.

Last week the executive staff from Fort Street attended a Future Focused Immersion Experience at the Australian technology park in Eveleigh to look at ways in which space, furniture and technology can facilitate learning and teaching. Planning is currently underway to create greater flexibility in the library and learning centre once these spaces have been renovated. We are also planning some additional flexible learning spaces that will be accessible for teachers to book classes into for use.

Congratulations to the Fort Street HS Swimming Team who represented the school on Thursday 7th March at the Northern Suburbs Zone Swimming Carnival. A number of students placed as age champions and we even broke a few records!

Girls 16 100 Breast – Corydalis Leung (1:31.91)

Boys 13 100 Back – Alexander Howdin (1:14.54)

Boys 14 100 Back – Kosta Giitsidis (1:17.65)

Boys 15 100 Back – Alexander Thompson (1:10.19)

Boys 13 100 Fly – Alexander Howdin (1:18.42)

Boys 15 100 Fly – Alexander Thompson (1:08.67)

Boys 16 100 Fly – Artem Sydorenko (1:14.83)

Boys 11-18 6×50 Free Relay – C. Truong, A. Howdin, J. Zhou, A. Thompson (2:57.82)

Girls 16 200 Free Relay – C. Leung, V. Truong, C. Graham, E. Grimes (2:15.17)

On Friday 8th March I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast for Sydney International Women’s Day hosted by the UN Women’s National Committee of Australia at the International Convention Centre at Darling Harbour with Mr Galvin and the senior executive of the SRC. The students, Mr Galvin and I were all captivated by the inspirational guest speakers at this event. Back at the Fort, a whole school assembly focused on this year’s theme for International Women’s Day – ‘We are more powerful together’.

On Friday 15th March the Fort participated in the National Day of Action against bullying and violence. All students received a wristband to celebrate the day and various activities were organised by Year Advisers for each of the Year Meetings held on this day.

Year 7 History Excursion

On Friday 8 March Year 7O and 7R went on excursion to the Heaven and Earth exhibition at the AGNSW and The Big Dig archaeological centre with Mr de Bres and Ms Wark.

On the way to the Art Gallery Mr de Bres drew our attention to some places of historical importance in the city including The Archibald Fountain at Hyde Park, St Mary’s Cathedral, Governor Macquarie’s statue at the top of Macquarie Street, Hyde Park Barracks, The Mint, NSW Parliament, Sydney Hospital, the Nurses Fountain at the rear of the Hospital and the Speaker’s Platform in the Domain.

At the ‘Heaven and Earth’ exhibition we walked around learning about the ways and styles of ancient Chinese art. My favourite object was the photo of the Chinese emperor on his throne, surrounded by dragons.
After the exhibition we walked through the Royal Botanic Gardens. We lunched in the gardens below Government House and looked out to Bennelong Point (where the Opera House is situated) and Fort Denison, another significant historical site on the harbour.

After lunch we walked to The Big Dig in The Rocks. There we learned about the families that lived in The Rocks area, as well as the effects of the plague. We also discussed whether or not The Rocks was a slum. We completed a historical timeline activity and studied artefacts which had been found at the site.  I chose two objects to study. These were an old shoe and an old pulley used to flush a toilet.

My favourite part of the excursion was learning about the houses in The Rocks and the people that lived there.
I would like thank Mr de Bres and Ms Wark for taking us on this fun and interesting excursion.

By Leo Sharwood
Year 7

Year 7 Geography Field Trip

Last Friday, the year 7 geographers went by bus to see some fascinating beaches. We walked along Congwong Beach, taking pictures, kicking up sand and learning about significant events occurring on this intriguing beach.

Stepping onto Bare Island (which was anything but), we found out about sea caves and erosion. The absolute best part, however, was finding out about how saltwater erosion and hydraulic weathering make those little holes in rocks which were always a mystery to us.

Our favourite part was strolling along Lady Robinson’s Beach, paddling and cooling down. We saw the effects of groynes, calculated gradients and scrambled to get off the hot sand.

It was fun, interesting and (most importantly) educational. Thank you to the teachers for taking us.

Kalanie Prabhakar & Alice Foster (7I)

Chinese Excursion

On 14 March Year 8 students studying Chinese visited the NSW Art Gallery to view the exhibition Heaven and Earth in Chinese Art – Treasures from the National Palace Museum in Taipei.

World’s Greatest Shave

A huge congratulations to Year 12 for raising $23 603 so far in the World’s Greatest Shave.  Please help them make their target of $25000 by going to the link below and donating.  And thank you to all the brave students who lost their locks!

https://secure.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/registrant/TeamFundraisingPage.aspx?teamID=113492

Inner West Theatresports Cup

Two teams comprising Year 9, 10 and 11 competed in the regional competition at Newington on 12 March against Newington, PLC Sydney and International Grammar School. Our teams called themselves Neck and Back on the night and they performed with great confidence, enthusiasm and skill.  They were a credit to their student coaches Tom Stevens and Luca Ittimani. The event was very well attended and Theatresports continues to grow within the school with our new recruits and has begun the year with a flourish.
Ms Schlam

State Debating Trials

Congratulations to Luca Charlier (Year 11) who reached the callback trials for the NSW State Debating team.  The 2019 debating trials were held at Sydney Girls High School and nearly 50 students from Years 10, 11 and 12 trialled in front of state coaches and other experienced selectors.

Luca was chosen to progress to the the five hour callback trials during the week, which involved two debates and a general knowledge quiz.
Unfortunately Luca did not make it into the squad of the top thirteen debaters.

UAC News

Applications for study in 2020 will open on Wednesday 3 April. Students will be able to apply for undergraduate and international as well as Schools Recommendation Schemes, Educational Access Schemes and Equity Scholarships.
Although not all courses for 2020 will be available, we encourage students to choose one course to complete their application and come back later to review and change their preferences. All semester 1, 2020 courses will be available from August as per usual.
Early bird and SRS applications will close at the end of September and offer rounds and other deadlines will remain the same as previous years. Dates will be available on UAC’s website from 3 April.

UAC PINS
Students will receive their PINs on Wednesday 3 April and will be able to apply straight away. PIN emails will be sent to the email address NESA has on file.
Students must update their email address with NESA, preferably to a personal email address (rather than a school email address), so they can be contacted when ATARs and offers come out in December and January.

CHECK THE COURSE START DATE
When applying check the course start date before adding any courses to your preferences to avoid applying for a semester 2, 2019 course. If your preferred course isn’t listed for first semester 2020,  choose one course to complete your application and come back later to review and change your preferences.

UNI OPEN DAYS
For an up-close experience of university life, attend a uni open day. Dates for 2019 are available now.

Macquarie University Student Information Events

Macquarie University Year 12 information evenings will be held on 1 May and 26 June. Students considering studying at Macquarie University, and their parents, are encouraged to attend.

https://www.mq.edu.au/study/high-school-students/events

myfuture website

The myfuture website is available to all NSW public school students, teachers, parents/carers and the community, at no cost, with a simple sign up using an email. Students are encouraged to access the website through their DoE portal.

myfuture is Australia’s National Online Careers Information Service for career planning, pathway searching and work transitions.  It provides information and support for individual career development and support for career choices. The myfuture website is managed by Education Services Australia (ESA), a ministerial not-for-profit organisation supported by all Australian education ministers.

Instrumental Music Program

Congratulations to the Wind Ensemble, Chamber Choir, Symphony Orchestra, and Jazz Orchestra for their fantastic performances at Speech Day.

Two groups from the IMP performed for the assembly last Friday, on International Women’s Day:

The saxophone quintet, the recipient of this year’s IMP grant, gave a fine performance of the theme from the ‘Beauty and the Beast’.  They were followed by a small group of girls from Chamber Choir, singing one of the Croatian klapa songs that they learnt for last year’s IMP Tour to central Europe, workshopped with a leading Croatian all female klapa group in Zagreb and then sang on Good Morning Croatia last year (in Croatian).

The IMP community is looking forward to its annual camp at the end of next week, which is shaping up to be a memorable event on the IMP calendar. And a reminder to all IMP parents not to miss the end of camp concert at 4.15 pm on Sunday 24th March, preceded by afternoon tea (please bring a contribution). Students are to be picked up after the concert. The camp is at the Crusaders Galston Gorge Conference & Recreation Centre.

From the Archives

From student to ‘the boss’ of Fort Street

We continue our series of looking back at some of our principals from the past. In this edition we’ll look at Bruce Mitchell’s research of Fort Street’s Headmaster during a time of great change.

Alexander James Kilgour (1861-1944), born in Edinburgh he accompanied his parents and sister to Sydney about 1868 and was educated at Fort Street Model School, becoming a pupil-teacher. His first teaching appointment was in 1882 at Brombin Public School on the north coast. Later Kilgour attended evening classes at the University of Sydney (B.A., 1894; LL.B., 1904) and in 1900 achieved the top teaching classification. He was headmaster of Neutral Bay in 1901-03 and of Chatswood in 1904.
Early next year Kilgour was chosen against strong competition to succeed J. W. Turner as headmaster of Fort Street. Although in charge of the primary and both boys’ and girls’ secondary schools, with little time for teaching, he concentrated on the senior boys’ classes preparing for the public examinations. He was ‘fundamentally a Latinist’, and ‘his teaching was excellent, though his standards were inflexible’ — he had ‘no tolerance for slackers and dullards’. Professor A. R. Chisholm described him in his mid-forties: ‘He wore spectacles whose lenses were sliced horizontally along the middle; and, being moderately tall, he looked down over these with a quiet dignified authority that made any resort to corporal punishment inconceivable. His dark hair, like his beard and moustache, was closely cropped; his forehead rather receding and his head rather small for a man with such good brains’. With Peter Board’s reorganization, he became headmaster in 1911 of Fort Street Boys’ High School, and in 1916 supervised its move to a new building on Parramatta Road at Petersham.

Kilgour became a legend in his lifetime for the scholastic excellence of Fort Street and for his dedication to discipline and hard work. He was able to build and hold a staff of outstanding men including Walter Selle, George Mackaness, C. B. Newling and Samuel Lasker. Closely interested in all his pupils, he urged the ablest into law and medicine and for others found places in commerce. Those who testified to his inspiration and influence include Professor John Hunter, H. V. Evatt, Sir Garfield Barwick, Sir Percy Spender and Chisholm.
On retiring from Fort Street in 1926, Kilgour was headmaster of Strathfield Grammar and Preparatory School for Boys for five years. When it amalgamated with Trinity Grammar School he became classics master. He visited Britain in 1936. On his eightieth birthday his portrait by Norman Carter was unveiled at Fort Street. He died in hospital at Newcastle on 26 December 1944.

P&C News

The next P&C meeting will be held on Wednesday 10 April.

A study into digital device usage by students at Fort Street High School was commissioned by the P&C last year. There will be a presentation related to this study at the April meeting.  This was postponed from the March meeting.

Second Hand Uniform Stall
The P&C’s second hand uniform stall runs once per term before school from 7.45-8.45 am in front of the school office. This year’s dates for your diary are:

Term 2: Wednesday 8 May
Term 3: Wednesday 7 August
Term 4: Wednesday 23 October

Parents and students are welcome to come and grab a bargain. Price guide: shirts, skirts, shorts, IMP (music program) and sports uniform items all $5 each, jumpers $20, trousers $10, winter jackets $40. Cash only, please bring your small change, condition of clothes as found, no change rooms, no refunds. The second hand uniform stall relies on uniform donations from the school community. You can do your bit to recycle our uniforms and save landfill. If you have clean washed uniforms to donate, please take them to the school library and they will be placed in the donations bin. All proceeds to your P&C. If you are a parent who would like to volunteer on the stall please contact Sally at mceastonland@gmail.com. Thank you to everyone who has donated and to our volunteers, our front office and library staff for supporting the stall.