Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

As always we have had a busy start to the term. The entire school participated in the school cross country at Petersham Park on Thursday 22 April which was a fun and successful afternoon. The year 12 Geography class enjoyed a five day trip to the Great Barrier Reef and on Thursday 29 April Year 8 History students participated in a ‘Medieval Day’ at which they had the opportunity to participate in a medieval weapons and armour show and to build their own medieval castle. An extremely successful study skills evening for Year 10 and 11 students and parents was held on Monday 3 May run by ‘Elevate’ and once again Year 12 students organised a ‘World’s Greatest Shave’ event on Friday 30 April this year raising over $22 000. Among other activities taking place this term the Fort Street Chess teams, Debating teams and Mock Trial team have all competed in official tournaments this term.

Congratulations to the Mock Trial Team who had a win against Domremy College in Five Dock last week.  Team participants are: Luke Sarginson, Caleb Mayo, Alex Mera, Francesca Murphy, Barisha Tashnin, Daniel Holland, Imogen Hamer, Audrey Truong, Veronica Kwong, Ethan Chan, Violet Rickards.

Fortian Museum

Behind closed curtains our school archivist Iain Wallace has been working on setting up a much larger version of the old ‘Ron Horan Museum’. The new museum is located on the ground level of the Wilkins Building in the original entrance to the school, the administration office and the old principal’s office. The museum is nearing completion and we are hoping to have an official opening for parents and students early next term.

School Facilities Projects

Unfortunately due to the heavy rain recently there has been a slight delay in the completion of the three major works being undertaken at the moment – these include a second outdoor volleyball court, sandstone tiered seating along the oval and a covered outdoor learning space in the Rowe Quad. Each of these projects will be completed soon.

Fort Street was successful in applying for the Metro-School Renewal Program which is a joint funding program between the Department of Education School Infrastructure and the School which will see an upgrade to the last science laboratory and prep rooms that were not completed in the original upgrade of labs a few years ago. This work is due to commence later this year.

The final stages of the library upgrade will also take place later this term which involves a refurbishment of the library entrance area. A new bag storage area will be created along with security cameras and painting in this space.

I would like to thank the P&C and in particular Teresa Matthews and Michael Easton for their work in refurbishing the new bigger and improved school uniform shop.

COVID-19 Update

You are probably aware that there has been an update to COVID-19 advice.

The following precautionary restrictions are in place for the Greater Sydney region (including Wollongong, Central Coast and Blue Mountains) until 12:01am on Monday 10 May 2021:

• Students over the age of 12 and staff must comply with the Public Health (COVID-19 Mandatory Face Coverings) Order 2021 when travelling to and from school and during school excursions by public transport or by chartered or private transport services. This also applies to all public indoor venues such as retail, theatres, hospitals, aged care facilities and for front-of-house hospitality staff (except in a hospitality venue when eating or drinking. Refer to the NSW Government website for more information on wearing face masks.
• Staff and students are not required to wear a face mask while at school. Anyone who wishes to wear their own masks in schools will not be prevented from doing so.
• Wearing a face mask is not mandatory for parents and carers visiting schools.

It is important that schools continue to follow the COVID-19 guidelines. In particular we wish to highlight the following:

• Staff and students should not attend work or school if unwell, even with mild symptoms of COVID-19. Any person with any COVID-19 symptoms should be sent home and should not return until they have received a negative test result and are symptom-free. In circumstances where children have other medical reasons for recurrent symptoms a letter from their GP is sufficient to negate the requirement for a negative test.
• Anyone who is unwell with COVID-19 symptoms are strongly encouraged to get tested and self-isolate until a negative result is received. Location of testing clinics are available via the NSW government website.

SPECIAL REPORT: Celebrating Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day originated from humble beginnings in 1908 as a simple tradition to honour all mothers, living and deceased. However, it did not take long for florists, confectioners and card companies to jump onboard and commercialise the day, much to the disappointment of its founder, Ann Jarvis.

Mother’s Day is a good annual reminder to say thanks to the mums and other special carers who play an important role in our lives, but it is essential we mark the day with love and sincerity. This year is especially important due to the recent pandemic, where mothers played multiple roles over recent months providing care and support to those they love under difficult circumstances. Mothers will often put the needs of others above their own, so it is paramount to remind them to take care of themselves also, especially when it comes to mental health.

Research has shown that women experience some mental health conditions more so than men and at much higher rates. There are many factors that can impact a woman’s wellbeing physically and emotionally. Seeking effective treatment can enable her to engage more readily in everyday activities and fulfil the needs of her children and family.

This Special Report highlights the role mothers play in the developmental growth of her children and the importance of self-care for good mental health. We hope you take time to reflect on the information offered in this Special Report, and as always, we welcome your feedback.

If this Special Report raises any concerns for you, a loved one or the wellbeing of your child, please seek medical or professional help.

Here is the link to your special report https://fortstreet.nsw.schooltv.me/wellbeing_news/celebrating-mothers-day

Year 8 Medieval Day

On Thursday 29 April Year 8 History students took part in a school-based Medieval Day to consolidate their knowledge and understanding of medieval Europe, a popular topic in the Year 8 course.  During the day the students were treated to a medieval show, a Black Death presentation and a Black Death game on the Oval (run by Year 10 Elective students) and a nail-biting castle-building competition which was judged by a panel of experts, including the Principal Ms McMurray, Year 8 Year Adviser Ms Propsting, History Head Teacher Mr Boyle and History teacher Mr Latimer, at the end of the day.

Group 5 (Joylin Zhou, Eva Yuan, Ella Lo, Abigail Ouw, Min Park) were deserving winners in the castle building competition and their well-constructed castle also won the people’s choice award. Well done girls!

Some student reflections on the day included:

I think the activity I enjoyed most was the medieval show. The reason for this was that it gave us the most insight into what life was like in the medieval times, was a very rare and special opportunity to look at medieval objects and weapons up close, and that it was just really cool, fun and engaging. Some things I learned about medieval Europe were:

How medieval war tools worked in detail; how heavy the armour was, what kind of swords they had and the progression of war technology throughout the age.
How powerful the technology they had back then was; The sheer power of the weapons like ballistas and crossbows shocked me, as I thought that weapons from medieval times would be much less powerful
The interesting way medieval names were constructed in Europe and the history of some names; for example, how the prefix ‘Mac’ in a last name means son in Scottish, and the same for ‘O’ in Ireland – Max Hutchinson
We learned about the Scold’s Bridle was a medieval torture device mainly used on women. It was a sort of metal frame that would be placed around the head, it had a sharp piece of metal facing inwards that would go inside the mouth of the wearer. The wearer would be led around and often their teeth would break – Alistair Gray and Jai Sabir

I learned that the armour could take weeks to months to build in some medieval countries and each country had their own special armour, sword and shield – Riley Hendra

The hands-on part made the show much more interesting, being able to experience what medieval knights and soldiers wore was truly an astonishing experience – David Sun

I liked the ‘Black Plague’ game. I liked how this game was interactive and for everyone. It was sunny and there was a lot of walking, but at least it was with friends – Robert Parkes

I enjoyed the castle making because it was the most fun activity and we could be creative with the design of the castle- make it to our own preference – Cailin Woodbury

I really enjoyed the castle building activity as I thought it was fun making the castle and fun with friends. It was kinda stressful when we didn’t have much time left and hadn’t finished the castle. I enjoyed it because we got to work with our friends. I also enjoyed the feedback phase as I think it gave a better understanding of the castle structures and other people’s castles – Ashley Kim

But some groups also experienced some challenges with the castle building activity:

First of all, the glue that was supposed to keep the main structure together did not dry at all, so the castle kept on falling apart, resulting in us giving up the glue and using tape. We were also running out of time when we were building the bumpy things on the exterior structure – Ashley Kim

In the castle building we made the castle too big and it fell apart – Matthew Wong

The History faculty commends Year 8 for their enthusiastic participation and everyone else who helped make Medieval Day such a success.

Mr de Bres

Medieval Day organiser

Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef Ecology Study  took place from Friday 23 April to Tuesday 27 April 2021. HSC Geography students together with 4 Duke of Edinburgh candidates conducted ecological studies and snorkelled on both Fitzroy Island and Hastings Reef. Data from the expeditions was collected and sent to Coral Watch and Eye on the Reef citizen Science studies. Students also visited James Cook University where they heard lectures from marine ecologists and Turtle Rehabilitation Centre on Fitzroy Island.

Rod Carritt

Snorkelling at Little Bay

On the second last day of term one the elective geography classes of Year 9 and 10 went to Little Bay Beach to go snorkelling as part of our study of Oceanography.  Due to large waves at Clovelly, the site for snorkelling had to be changed to Little Bay.  After making our own various ways to the beach we arrived under a rainy sky, which was disappointing, but the beach itself was beautiful.

The first order of business was the compulsory swim test.  We walked down onto the beach, dropped our bags and our shorts and proceeded to show that we were going to be fine in the ocean.  This required us to demonstrate our our swimming ability and tread water water for 5 minutes.  The ocean temperature was a beautiful 22 degrees and a joy to swim in.

The swim test was easy but putting on our wetsuits was the real test.  After 15 minutes of prying, pulling, pinching, standing up, lying down, stretching and helping others, we all had finally managed to squeeze into our wetsuits.  We waddled over to the grass area and were introduced to our instructors who talked to us about snorkelling safety.  While listening to the instructions, the clouds parted and blue began to take over the sky.  The weather was becoming perfect, the ocean sparkled and the the beach sand glimmered.  This was going to be a great day.

Making our way back onto the beach we buddied up, put on our fins and snorkel and excitedly waded in.  We saw many different types of fish, as well as sea urchins.  One group was even lucky enough to spot a fairy penguin!  The rest of the day was full of picnicking, kicking footies, playing frisbee, swimming and enjoying ourselves.

From the joys of snorkelling and spending the day at the beach with friends, we learnt the ocean provides us with many unique activities and therefore needs to be protected.  The excursion was amazing and everyone had a great time.  A huge thank you to Mr Chapman for organising the excursion and being the best dressed as always.  Thank you to the snorkelling instructors from Abyss Scuba Diving, Ms Jenkins and Mr Pagani for supervising, and Fortian Gavin Xu for beingour lifeguard.

World’s Greatest Shave

The 2021 Fort Street Year 12 charity event for the World’s Greatest Shave in fighting against Leukaemia was held in the school hall on Friday 30^th April.

The tally for the amount raised at the start of the day was over $17 000.

Then with the events during lunchtime; which included gold coin donations for the entry fee, sales of popcorn and haircuts, bids for who would actually shave Mr Prasad’s hair (which went to the girls group for their on the spot collection of over $150) and other random donations from our students, teachers and staff … we raised an added $731.

But also during this time the online amount jumped almost another $2000 for heads shaved by:

Mr Morrison (for a third time!), Mr Prasad, Sora Dwyer, Tian Fu, Luke Sarginson, Jonathon Kelly, Karakn Bhasin, Maleeka Prabhakar, Jai Dingess-Dunphy, Cassidy Newman, Ava Corey, Lucie Atkin- Bolton and Elysia Castillo raising the highest amount of an amazing $3000.

The total amount raise came to $19 281.65

Thank you to our “hair stylists” Mr Carritt and Ms Wark for giving up their time and especially for doing such a professional and delicate job of cutting, shaving then trimming to perfection.

Well Done! To our Year 12 Charity Committee led by Nathan Nguyen and Serena Nguyen. Thank you to the many teachers, executive and other staff who came to watch our students, teacher & Deputy Principal “brave the shave”! Your presence helped to make what can be a traumatic situation of losing all your hair bearable as well as knowing it was all for helping people and children and their families experiencing a life threatening illness.

Fantastic effort by our Fort Street Community in supporting and fundraising to “shave the world from blood cancer” your generosity is truly outstanding!

The final amount raised was over $20 000. Which means Mr O’Neill will have his head shaved during out next year meeting!

Update: Mr O’Neill had to get his head shaved as the fundraising for WGS has reached over $22 000!

Craft of Writing

This speech by Ava Corey (Year 12) was written as a practice Craft of Writing task in class:

My most sententious greetings to all the notable cowards, lily-livered boys, cream-faced loons, and poisonous bunch-back’d toads gathered in our great hall today. This may seem a hostile beginning, but fear not, for there is method to my madness. From Plato’s Republic to Shakespeare’s Globe to our modern world of celebrity and cruelty, momentum and mutilation, progress and punishment, historians and common folk alike have borne witness to the pervasive systems of prejudice and oppression put in place to ensure power remains in the hands of those who already hold it. The view from our cloud-capp’d towers can obfuscate our sense of the world below, and it can be all too easy to become complacent with the current machinations of society. But every so often, it becomes glaringly obvious to anyone who cares to look that our society is built on misogynistic, racist, capitalist values perpetuated by “democratic” governments who, pardon my French, don’t give a shit about anyone except their white male friends.

This is what Fort Street has done to me. I came to this school in Year 7 with no real grasp of the world — I didn’t even know what LGBT meant — and I’ve emerged a raging leftist. I’ve had to learn so, so much over the past six years about the ways that people move through a world that is designed to hold them back, and I’m sick of seeing incredible people suffer because of circumstances that are out of their control. Fort Street students are privileged. We can joke all we want about how we’d be pregnant or incarcerated if we went to Mount Druitt, but far too many people ignore the fact that it’s not individual failings we should mock, but the failures of the education system to provide equal access to education for everyone. Whether we like it or not, our school is an icon, symbolic of both the best and worst Sydney has to offer: excellent public education with a side salad of entrenched, largely ignored colonialism and racism.

The reason that I’m being so annoying about this is because I’m scared. I’m scared to leave this little bubble and face the real world in all its ugliness. But I’m clinging to the hope that our cohort, this bumbling group of messy, stupid, wonderful geniuses, can be the ones to make change. Maybe when we look back in years and decades to come, we’ll see that every single student is using their privilege to shape the world for the better. And that change starts with us! It starts with your individual decision to work on your sexism, classism, fatphobia, and any other prejudices that lead you to perpetuate injustice. I dream of a world where we don’t have to worry about impending global disaster, incompetent leaders, being raped and murdered, facing discrimination based on race, size, age, sex, or class, or never breaking out of the cycles of poverty and inequity that so many people are born into.

Fort Street students are goddamn incredible, because not only are we capable of becoming ruthless, powerful, immoral billionaire scum, but we also have the capacity to use our brains, hearts, and guts to fight for a better world. It doesn’t matter who you were when you started at Fort Street, and it doesn’t matter who you’ve been. This chapter of our lives is almost over, and we can begin the next one however we choose. If you take nothing else from this speech, remember this: your anger and frustration are powerful, and we have a platform that will amplify our voices, whatever we choose to say. We have the privilege of a world that is open to and waiting for us, and every single one of us has the power to change it for the better.

In true Fortian fashion, I’d like to conclude with a quote from our favourite Canadian feminist, Margaret Atwood: “A word after a word after a word is power.”

So what are you going to say?

Sydney Writers Festival English Enrichment Excursion

Last week students from the year 9 and 10 English Enrichment classes and 40 other English enthusiasts attended the Secondary Schools Day at the Sydney Writers Festival at the Seymour Centre in Camperdown, and were privileged to learn about the passions, sources of inspiration and trade secrets of four prize-winning Australian YA authors. The presentations were highly entertaining and often moving, ranging over a vast array of social issues as well as writerly practices, and question time demonstrated how closely some of the authors had touched a nerve. Compered by YA fantasy author Jeremy Lachlan, the day was a treat for us all.

Elizabeth Maddox

Garth Nix

Garth Nix was the first author that we heard from. He talked about his own experience becoming an author as well as the imaginative and wonderful journey he goes through when writing his books. His most recent book, The Left Handed Booksellers of London, is about a girl’s quest to find her father in a magical version of London, where the old and new worlds clash. In his talk he emphasised the importance of finishing your stories and including elements of your own life as well as fantastical elements. Overall, his speech was engaging and was full of tips and tricks to improve my writing.

Marley Seebacher

Zana Fraillon

The second speaker, Zana Fraillon, gave us a truly unique and memorable experience at the Sydney Writers Festival. She guided us through a workshop on creating characters and wrangling them into fantastic tales, and offered her writing insights on the way. We had to write down certain words from various categories in order to get our ideas flowing and she gave us tips on creative writing. Once the workshop was nearly completed we all had magical characters into which we breathed life with the help of Zana Fraillon.

Jehanzeb Qureshi

Gary Lonesborough

Gary Lonesborough was the third author who spoke at the Writer’s Festival. He is the author of the book, The Boy In The Mish. This book is a young adult novel about a gay Aboriginal boy living in a rural town who is struggling to accept himself and explore his identity. Gary draws on his own experiences as a gay Indigenous man and also talked about this with the host of the festival. Personally, he taught me more about how to represent real life experiences and about being a gay or Aboriginal writer.

Chloe O’Keefe

Leanne Hall

One of the guest speakers we listened to was Leanne Hall, who has just released her third book The Gaps. She walked up, and instead of talking about techniques she used to write her stories, or how what books she liked in particular, she told us a different type of story. Hall talked about how she used her experience and past as an Asian growing up in Australia to add character and realism to her book; the experiences she had in her life that lead up to her career in writing and why it was important for us to do the same. Several things Hall said were relatable to many Asian Australians, such as the lack of representation, the desire to be white, and other components that came with a childhood growing up around people who didn’t look or act like you.

Amanda Heng

Fortian Writers Club

Fortian Writers Club has resumed for 2021 with some amazing entries! This year, students can compete individually or represent their grade to enrich a variety of writing skills.

Round 1 – Students appropriation writing skills were put to the test when they were asked to change the words to Shakespeare’s “All the World’s A Stage”. The top 5 winning entries showed flare and creativity.

Round 2 – Students illustrations and adaptation writing skills were put to the test when they were asked to choose a poem and visually illustrate it. The top 5 winning entries demonstrated the outstanding visual talent of Fortians across the grade!

Chi Truong

English Teacher and Fortian Writers Club Coordinator 

Round 1 Winner – All the Worlds An IKEA Store

Round 1 Winner – All the Worlds A Chessboard

Round 1 Winner – All the Worlds A Game

Round 1 Winner – All the Worlds A Raincloud

Round 1 Winner – All the Worlds A School

Round 2 Winner – Esther

Round 2 Winner – Lan

Round 2 Winner – Cherry

Round 2 Winner – Aaditya

Round 2 winner – Chloe:

State Library Book Launch

Marcus Wu and Catriona Arcamone attended a special event at the State Library to launch a book of essays by students ‘10 Works in Focus, Paintings from the Collection’. Marcus is standing in front of the painting, ‘Picnic at The Rocks’,1952, by Roland Wakelin, about which he wrote a very beautiful piece.

A little excerpt gives an indication of Marcus’ style: “This painting is almost like a journey. Starting from the family and their picnic, our eyes are drawn to The Rocks…Along this journey, Wakelin employs a palette of contrasting colours – the brightness of the sunlit green is juxtaposed with the muted browns of The Rocks buildings, emphasising the tones of modernism that he would eventually help to pioneer.”

Instrumental Music Program

State Music Camps
We are very excited to announce that State Music Camps are back on for 2021! These camps are like a macro version of the IMP camp; they are a transformative experience for young musicians, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.

State Junior Music Camp (Years 5 to 8) Sunday 11 July to Friday 16 July (Week 1 Term 3)
State Senior Music Camp (Years 8 to 12) Sunday 20 June to Friday 25 June (Week 10 Term 2)

Click HERE to apply online. IMP members feel free to put Mr Manchester as the recommending teacher. Applications close 14 May.

Schools Spectacular
Schools Spectacular returns for 2021! If you are interested in auditioning for any of the following individual categories, please click on the linked category for more details:
Featured Artists or Backing Vocalist (applications close 18 May)
Featured Instrumentalists (applications close 18 May)
Core Choir – (applications close 12 July)

Applications for the orchestra and stage band will open Monday 19 July 2021. More information will be available soon HERE.

Please note that the IMP will be auditioning for our usual 24 places in the Combined Choir. These places are offered out to interested Chamber Choir and Vocal Ensemble members, and awarded based age and IMP attendance. We will not know until after the auditions if our contribution to the Combined Choir will be digital or live. More details to follow in Term 3

Young Women’s Jazz Workshops
Applications are now open for the 2021 Young Women’s Jazz Workshops. Fortians have previously attended these workshops and got a lot out of the experience. I strongly recommended the program for young women in the jazz program at Fort Street, or who may be interested in exploring jazz for the first time. All levels of jazz experience are welcome. 

Click HERE to see the website. Sign up ASAP, by 4 June. Auditions will be held on 19 June. 

Superstars of STEM series

Sydney University Year 12 Information Evening

Sydney University is delighted to invite Year 12 students, parents and carers to their Year 12 Information Evening on Tuesday 18 May.  Students have the opportunity to learn more about university entry, scholarships and study at Sydney.

This event is an ideal opportunity for students to explore their options and ask any questions they might have about taking the next step in their academic journey and joining the Sydney community next year.

They’ll also be able to get a feel for our campus and speak with current students.

Event details

When: Tuesday 18 May
Time: 4-7pm
Where: Camperdown Campus

REGISTER NOW

What will the event involve?

Students will have an opportunity to:

Visit our expo booths to ask questions
Get advice on study interests and degree options
Chat with staff about the ATAR and applying to university
Attend featured talks and tour our facilities.

Sydney University Information Nights

Wednesday webinars
Join us online each Wednesday afternoon to learn more about what the University of Sydney can offer you! Upcoming webinars include;

Which music degree is right for me?
Design computing portfolio pathway
Sydney Law School student panel

Learn more here!

Matilda info night at P&C

P&C Second Hand Uniform Sale

ASMR Schools Quiz

The Australian Society for Medical Research (ASMR) are inviting Years 7-12 students to participate in the ASMR Medical Research Week® 2021 national online quiz.

Details are in the flyer attached, and the quiz closes on the 1^st of July. Students can simply enter the 2021 quiz through the following link: https://asmr.org.au/asmr-mrw/asmr-mrw-schools-quiz/. There are plenty of prizes up for grabs!

ASMR 2021 School Quiz Poster (1)