Principals Report

Welcome back to Term 2. A lot of work has been done around the school over the holidays and it is wonderful to see so many projects finally coming to completion. The gym has been resurfaced and looks amazing, scaffolding on the Parramatta roadside of the Wilkins building has finally come down and the paving in the Fountain Quad has been replaced. We have new rodent and bird proof bin enclosures around the school and a new digital noticeboard to keep students and staff up to date with the latest activities going on around the school. Additional outdoor seating has also been provided around the new outdoor gym equipment in the valley and in the canteen area.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Elizabeth Kenyon from the P&C for her application on behalf of FSHS to the Cooling the Schools tree planting program. Last week I received confirmation that we have been approved to participate in this program. The program is being delivered in Sydney as part of the NSW Governments Greening our City initiative to plant one million trees across Greater Sydney. Through this initiative the school will be provided with up to 200 plants for tree canopy cover and native habitat with the aim of reducing urban heat, supporting native pollinators, and creating a greener, healthier place for our students to learn and explore.

It has been a particularly busy start to the term with many excursions and incursions taking place over the past two weeks. Teachers returned to a professional learning day at school on Monday 24 April with a shared focus with all other NSW Department of Education schools on Aboriginal Education. Staff spent time on this day embedding themes, concepts and skills, where relevant, into programs being developed for the 7-12 Curriculum Reform, to begin implementation in 2024.

Students returned on Wednesday 26 April to an ANZAC Day assembly. I would like to thank Mr Boyle and Mr Galvin for putting together this assembly and to Benjamin Nguyen (Yr 10) for the thoughtful and respectful ANZAC address he delivered and to Peter Sandbach (Yr 12) for playing the bugle at this occasion. At this assembly the Wind Ensemble beautifully performed two movements from Art in the Park, by Robert Sheldon.

This term 23 year 10 students have commenced a science mentoring project which takes place for one hour each Thursday morning with primary school students from Ashfield PS, Summer Hill PS and Wilkins PS. This program was formerly called WAFTUS and has been rebranded CSSI – Combined School Science Immersion program. The program will end in a presentation from each primary school group at Fort Street HS in the last week of this term. Each showcase will be evaluated, and feedback provided by a group of UTS experts coming from a range of scientific disciplines.

The whole school Cross Country event was a huge success this year held at HJ Mahoney Memorial Park in Marrickville. I would like to thank Ms Ezekiel HT PDHPE/Sport and the entire PDHPE team for putting this day together.

The Year 12 Geography class arrived home safely from their trip to Cairns with Mr Latimer and Ms Nolan on Saturday 29 April. Students and staff have reported that the trip was enormously fun and educational.

On Monday 1 May, all year 9 students attended either a History or a Geography excursion to the War memorial and State Library or to Barangaroo. Year 7 and 8 students participated in wellbeing seminars focusing on healthy relationships and sexuality delivered by experienced presenters from Elephant Ed. On the following day these students also attended a wellbeing incursion on cyber safety delivered by the School Police Youth Liaison Officer for our area. The PYLO also delivered a session to Year 11 and 12 students on drugs and alcohol.

This week at school Year 7 students have also received free vaccines by NSW Health for diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (dTpa) and human papillomavirus (HPV).

Staff Changes for Term 2

We have come back to many staff changes this term – some permanent, some temporary:

In PDHPE Mr Shane Fischer has left Public Education after 13 years of teaching PDHPE at the Fort. Ms Maddie Cove has been replacing Mr Fischer since the beginning of the year and will continue to do so.

Social Science – at the end of term we farewelled Mr Peter Van de Hoek (Legal Studies, Geography and Commerce teacher) as he retired from his teaching career, the staff and students wish Mr Van de Hoek all the best in his future. On Monday 8 May, Mr Bambul Shakibaei will take up his permanent appointment at Fort Street, Mr Shakibaei is an experienced Economics and Legal Studies teacher who previously taught at Rose Bay Secondary College.

The Social Science faculty also lost Mr Paul Pagani temporarily as he takes up a secondment to the role of Subject Matter Expert, Senior Secondary HSIE with the NSW Educational Standards Authority (NESA). Mr Pagani has been replaced until the end of the year by Mr David Sherwin an experienced Economics teacher from Hunters Hill HS.

In CAPA we farewelled Ms Rhianna Blake who was successful in achieving a promotion to Head Teacher Creative Arts at Newtown High School of Performing Arts. Ms Blake’s teaching load has been taken up by Ms Hyun Cho who is a trained Visual Arts teacher and had been relieving for us in the Technology faculty. Taking over from Ms Cho I would like to welcome Ms Julie Meissner who has joined us until the end of term when we can hopefully appoint a new permanent technology teacher.

At the end of this week, we will also say farewell to Ms Adele Walker who was successful in achieving a promotion to Head Teacher Teaching and Learning at North Sydney Boys. Ms Walker has been teaching French since the end of 2021 at the Fort. Ms Walker will be replaced temporarily by Mr Mark Wade and Mr Arkady De Jong. We congratulate Ms Walker and wish her well in her new position.

Upcoming Events:

Monday 8 May: Year 10/11 Study Skills evening for students and parents

Monday 8 May: Theatre Sports Competition at Ashfield Boys HS (evening)

Tuesday 9 May: Year 9 and 10 Wellbeing Incursion – PYLO Law and Responsibilities

Tuesday 9 May: Year 11 Design & Technology Excursion to the Powerhouse

Wednesday 10 May: P&C Meeting in the school library – presentation from HT History Mr Boyle commences at 7pm

Thursday 11 May: Year 8 History Incursion

Thursday 11 May: Year 9 – 12 German Classes to German Film festival

Friday 12 May: Whole School Assembly with guest speaker The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG.

Fort Street Cross Country Carnival 2023

The annual FSHS Cross Country Carnival was held at HJ Mahoney Park in Marrickville last week. The whole school took part in what was another very successful carnival!

The weather on the day was beautiful and the course was a treat for runners, as it winded around the picturesque parklands surrounding the Cooks River. Participation in the event was excellent, with 321 students running the course (possibly a school record) and scores of students participating in Novelty House Events. There was a very positive and happy atmosphere at the park, with students spread out on picnics rugs cheering their Housemates on.

The ’House Spirit’ award for the carnival went to Mawson, for their unity as a House and their bright colours and signs. Stay tuned for the announcement of the overall House Placings at the next school assembly.

The top 10 students at each age group will go on to represent Fort Street at the Zone Cross Country on Monday 22^nd May. The following students performed particularly well and were the Age Group Champions on the day:

12 Boys – Francis Neild

12 Girls – Xixi He

13 Boys – Mark Donlon

13 Girls – Nozomi Giorgini

14 Boys – Akira Howard

14 Girls – Liusaidh Wilmot

15 Boys – Joseph McGee

15 Girls – Nina Gibian

16 Boys – Andrew Koit

16 Girls – Vlada Vasiliev

17 Boys – Calan O’Dwyer

17 Girls – Esther Alex

18 Boys – Oscar Buck

18 Girls – Jiani Wei

Thank you to the House Captains who helped organise the Novelty House Events and to the staff for all pitching in and contributing. Special thank you to Ms Ezekiel for organising such a great event and for always promoting physical activity and well-being at Fort Street!

Female Football Festival

During the school holidays the following students participated in the Sydney FC Female Football festival in Kiama – Nina Gibian, Grace Zarb, Avni Aneej, Joyce Chen, Ashley Huang, Eliza Cai, Beatrice Shimada, Eva Yuan, Yan Jun Chen.

The team played 7 games across 2 days. The weather conditions were not ideal, but all of the girls played with excellent spirit and managed to win 2 games which, was an outstanding effort considering the level of some of the other teams. Well done to all of the girls!

Ms Ezekiel

Visual Arts – ArtExpress 2023 and Chloe Zheng 2nd in John Villiers Outback Art Prize

Visual Arts at Fort Street had a very successful cohort of students in 2022. With a large class of 21 students, there were 5 ArtExpress nominations: Ye Joo Sin, Ronan Kohlhoff, Benji Yanamoto-Symonds, Marcus Wu and Alex Mera. Out of these 5 students, Alex Mera was chosen for ArtExpress at The Armory Gallery with her time-based artwork Panopticon and Marcus Wu for his designed object artwork Dissociation at the Art Gallery of NSW. It has been so wonderful to see their work represented at major galleries with such a large audience.  Congratulations to these students, and all of the very successful 2022 Visual Arts class!

On March 15, Year 11 went to see ArtExpress at the Art Gallery of NSW for a class excursion and were amazed by the quality of artwork created by NSW students. It was also a wonderful chance to visit the new Sydney Modern building featuring a range of artists including the updated Yiribana gallery, The Tank and the exhibition Dream Home. We will get back to the gallery later in the year to see the exhibitions of works by two of the world’s greatest artists – Louise Bourgeois and Vasily Kandinsky.

Chloe Zheng in Year 11 has been placed 2nd on John Villiers Outback Art Prize 2023 and has been placed above established artists claiming the $1000 prize. You can view her work titled “Out from the clouds” and vote for her work in the people’s choice award here:

https://matildacentre.interactivink.com.au/vote

Chloe’s success continues as she is also a finalist in the Little Darlings Youth Portrait Prize 2023 at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra and will be shown until 21 May. As a keen and talented art student, Chloe will no doubt be successful in more art competitions in the future.

Rhianna Blake

CAPA Faculty

SRC News

Hi Fort Street,

We have commenced another spectacular term, filled with a range of events for our school and community! We were welcomed back into a stunning campus with completed pavement in the Fountain Quad, and finished sandstone works in the Wilkins Building. We have been provided with modern facilities including new bin covers, and the Digital Noticeboard which will be used to share important news with the student body.

The Future Leaders Conference with the theme of “Reclaim Our Future” is a major leadership event that the SRC is holding at our school on May 26th T2W5. Senior students and Leadership Bodies from Fort Street and other high schools in the wider community will be invited to partake in this remarkable event that aims to inspire youth with a positive future and to empower young leaders to take action to build a better tomorrow.

The guest speakers at this event have many experiences to share, discussions to lead, and questions to answer. We thank the following invaluable individuals for taking the time to be with us at Fort Street for our first in-person Future Leaders Conference.

Keynote Speakers: The Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, Zoë Robinson, and Eddie Synot

The Panel – facilitated by Dr Sunil Badami: Hawanatu Bangura, Diana Zhang, Jack Jacobs, and Marian Casey.

Spirit Week in Week 8 will be a packed week full of costumes and fun! The SRC are currently planning for a jersey day, a sporting competition and multicultural celebrations. Students are encouraged to take part in celebrations by holding food and craft stalls, present dancing talents and showcase their artworks!

With the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup, the SRC are holding a new tipping competition to begin later in Term 2 to celebrate this exciting event. Harness your competitive spirit and tipping potential to win a Rebel Sports gift card!

Keep looking out for updates on the SRC Instagram, announcements over the loudspeakers, posters around the school and on the new digital noticeboard!

The SRC always invites your suggestions and feedback for events, and we encourage everyone to contact us with any student concerns! You can contact us via the SRC email, srcfshs@gmail.com, Instagram: @fshssrc, or approach any of your friendly SRC members. 

Have a lovely Term 2!

Savannah Pradhan

SRC Vice-President

Year 11

IMP News

State Music Camp Applications Close 12 May

Applications are now open for the 2023 NSW State Music Camp. These incredible camps are a bit like the recent IMP Camp, but for a whole week, with an even bigger cohort, and involving students from all around the state. Traditionally Fort Street has had a strong team of students involved in these camps, and the feedback from the camps is always incredibly positive. 

Senior Camp is in Week 10 of Term 2. Junior Camp is in Week 1 or Term 3. I would strongly encourage students playing at approximately AMEB Grade 3 level or above to consider putting in an application. I am happy to be the nominating teacher for any IMP student who applies. Applications close Friday 12 May, so don’t miss out!

For more information and the application form, please click this link: https://artsunit.nsw.edu.au/program/state-junior-and-senior-…

IMP Ensembles featured in ‘Class Act’, on FineMusic FM

On Saturday 29 April, at 5pm, recordings from Fort Street’s recording archive featured on ‘Class Act’, a radio program produced by FineMusic FM. Listen in to hear the 2017 Senior Percussion Ensemble performance of ‘Spiralling Light’ by Nathan Daughtrey, and the 2021 recording of our new commission ‘Three Pieces for Symphonic Winds’ by Luke Byrne, performed by the 2021 Wind Ensemble. 

 Greater Western Sydney Public School String Ensemble Applications

IMP string players (especially those living in Greater Wester Sydney), applications are open for the Greater Western Sydney Public School String Ensemble. This will involve a number of workshop rehearsals in Penrith, and culminating in a performance in the Sydney Opera House on Monday 11 September 2023. 

For more information and the application form, please click the link below: 

https://artsunit.nsw.edu.au/local-arts-programs/metropolitan-north/pulse-strings-workshop-program-and-concert

Chookas, Clara Moloney!

IMP Cellist, Clara Moloney (Year 9) has progressed to the finals of the NSW Secondary Schools’ Concerto Competition. This prestigious event was established by the Ku-ring-gai Philharmonic Orchestra in 1984 and has become an exciting part of the musical journey for thousands of students across NSW for nearly 40 years. The standard of these young performers is breathtaking and speaks not only of technical excellence but also of passion and hard work. Former finalists have gone on to glittering careers in the music industry (eg the principal Trombone of the Berlin Philharmonic, Jono Ramsay, formerly of Baulkham Hills High School and the NSW Arts Unit). 

The IMP are incredibly proud of Clara, and wish her the best in the upcoming performance with the KPO. The event will take place on Sunday 25 June at 3.00pm at the Concourse, Chatswood. IMP members are encouraged to get out and support Clara. Tickets are available at this address: https://www.theconcourse.com.au/event/kpo-concerto-competition/

P&C Meeting next Wednesday May 10

Parents and carers are invited to join the next P&C meeting on Wednesday May 10th.

The All For Youth Campaign

The Year 10 Design and Technology Class is working on an awareness campaign dedicated to spreading word on social media about a chosen cause for a group project. We have chosen an issue that is very relevant and a forefront issue in our current society- youth poverty. More than a million young Australians are affected by child poverty, and we have decided to dedicate our cause to raising awareness for these people.

According to Unicef, children are twice as likely to live in poverty than adults. This demographic spans from infants to young adults (between the ages 0 to 20) who are both disproportionately affected and more vulnerable to the impacts of youth poverty. This demographic represents a third of the population but makes up for more than half of the population living on less than $2 a day. Of the 5 million children in Australia, 1.2 million live in poverty. Events that have recently increased youth poverty in Australia include the rising economic crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation and an increase in unemployment. In today’s society, it is getting harder and harder to get by, this places young adults with less work and management experience at risk of falling into poverty.

There is a genuine need to raise awareness on this issue due to how vulnerable youth are as a demographic and the importance these initial development stages have on the rest of their lives. This need is furthered by the fact that one in six children in Australia live in poverty meaning that these individuals live from such a young age with limited or no access to necessities such as education, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water. They often grow up malnourished and die at a younger age due to limited access to healthcare and a lack of education results with a reduced chance of employment, increasing generational poverty.

To take active or passive action visit the Instagram page we (Akshaya, Jonathan, Han, and Ella) have created to spread awareness of youth poverty. At @allfor_youth, we made posts to educate and encourage our viewers to take action with recent statistics, news, events, actions and ways you can also help raise awareness. For more information you can also visit our website at https://sites.google.com/view/all-for-youth.

By Akshaya and Ella 

All For Youth Campaign

Resolving Conflict Around Homework

Some of the most common schoolwork arguments at home lead to statements like this:

• “Stop playing computer games and do your homework.”
• “Why haven’t you started your homework yet?”
• “What do you mean you have no schoolwork to do?”

If these are common refrains in your household there are some simple steps that can be taken to deal with this.

Step 1: Family meeting. Both students and parents get a chance to explain what is bugging them.

Step 2: Agree on how much time will be allocated to schoolwork per day or per week. Minimum would be around 1 hour per day.

Step 3: Agree that during this time homework will be the first priority, then assessments and any remaining time should be spent on independent learning (e.g. reviewing difficult work, making summaries).

Step 4: Allocate set times for schoolwork and write these out and put them on the fridge e.g. Monday 4-5pm, 6-6.30pm.

Step 5: Agree that in these blocks of time, there will be no personal technology use (preferably phones switched off and put out of sight).

Step 6: Decide on rewards and consequences if the agreement is not honoured.

There are many units in www.studyskillshandbook.com.au that can help you specifically with these areas. For example

DEALING WITH CONFLICT – strategies for conflict resolution

TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS – find out the recommended amount of time to spend on schoolwork, learn more about independent learning and print weekly planners

DEALING WITH DISTRACTIONS – strategies for managing technology addictions

Young Creatives Awards 2023

The search is on for talented young creatives to enter the 2023 Young Creatives Awards.

If you are aged 12 to 24 and live, work or study in the Inner West you are invited to submit your work in the following categories:

• Writing
• Visual art
• Film (new for 2023)

There are three age groups for each category (ages 12-15, 16-18 and 19-24).

Prizes
Total prize pool is over $7500 for winners and runners up. The cash prize for the winner of each age group is $500 and the runner up wins $250.
Artwork in public exhibition at Chrissie Cotter Gallery and Leichhardt Library.
Film screening night at Marrickville Pavilion.
Written works printed in anthology catalogue.
Content producer roles for Young Creatives Take Over festival program in 2024.

How to enter 
Use an item in the Inner West Libraries collection for inspiration or as reference.

– Submit a piece of writing (1000 words), either a short story, poetry, review, fan fiction or a piece of prose. Upload work to innerwest.smartygrants.com.au/youngwriter2023

Or

-Submit a photo of an artwork either a drawing, painting, photography, collage, sculpture or still digital piece. Upload work to innerwest.smartygrants.com.au/youngartist2023
Or

-Submit a film (up to 7 minutes) either animation, music video, narrative short film or moving digital drawing. Upload work to innerwest.smartygrants.com.au/youngfilmmaker2023

Submissions open until 31 July.

For more information visit the Inner West Council website

University of Canberra Holiday courses