Principal’s Report

Painting has commenced of all the external existing painted surfaces of the Wilkins building. We are also making progress on the library refurbishment and toilet upgrade under the hall and gym. These projects are due to commence late Term 4 and be completed over the January school holidays.

I would like to personally commend Sai Sakthivel of Year 10 who handed into the school office a wallet he found outside his house which contained a very large sum of money. The police collected the wallet and have since informed the school that the wallet has been returned to its very grateful owner.

Alison Hwang of Year 11 has been categorised as a Finalist in the What Matters’ Competition run by the Whitlam Institute. We are looking forward to the announcement to come of the overall competition winner to be selected by judges from finalists in NSW, the ACT and Tasmania.

Unfortunately our Year 11 Mock Trial team was knocked out last week by Rosebank College but they certainly put up a good fight. Congratulations to Aarohi Tanawade, Aarthi  Muvaa, Gemma Hinton, Reina Lee, Larissa Yang, Katherine Nguyen, Niamh Elliot Brennan, Tasnova Sattar Anika and Yolanda Truscott and a big thankyou to Mr Hugh O’Neill for organising the team.

Year 12 have only 5 weeks remaining of their schooling. They are expected to be at school each day as their teachers cover the last topics of the syllabuses and prepare them for their HSC exams.

Juliette McMurray
Principal

What’s coming up at FSHS

August
27        Raise mentoring
29        Year 10 Elective history Excursion
29-30   HSC Drama
31        Latin Camp

September
1-2       Latin Camp
3          HSC Visual Arts Showcase
3          Raise Mentoring
3          Year 7 English Literacy Test
5-7       CHS Athletics Carnival
5          IMP Jazz Orchestra Excursion
5          Student Multicultural Day
5          School Council meeting
5          Foundation meeting
7          Assembly
10        Raise mentoring
11-12   Year 12 English incursion
12        Year 10 Japanese excursion to the Tanken Centre
12        Open Morning
12        P&C meeting
14-19   Year 11 exams

Year 10 Commerce Market Day

The ‘Commerce Market Day’ is an event which occurs every year and marks a fun day, full of exotic food that you won’t get to purchase on any other day at Fort Street. As the name suggests, the stalls are run annually by the Year 10 Commerce students (with the Business Studies students lending a hand) and is counted as an assessment towards our Commerce grade. It is an important event on the school calendar as it is a great opportunity to raise money for charity while providing a fun day for the students involved, and the school as a whole.

A varied selection of delicious lunches and snacks were available on the day, having been sourced and prepared by the year 10 Commerce and Business Studies students of 2018. The diverse selection of food on offer reflects the multicultural nature of The Fort.  There were both cheap snacks and big lunches, ranging from ramen, bulgogi and dumplings, to the classic sausage sizzle and ice-cream. The support of the students was greatly appreciated by the students who ran the stalls, and thanks to the widespread support of the school body, not a single stall reported a loss.

It was a unique experience to work at one of these stalls, and it supplied our cohort with valuable insight into how to operate a successful business, as well as more universal skills, such as working as a team and under pressure!

The total amount of money raised for the charity we chose, The Rohingya Refugee appeal, was a whopping $2,220, (completely smashing last year’s total, we might add!). Through the hard work of all the students involved, as well as the dedication of the social sciences faculty staff, our wonderful GA Kevin, and countless others too numerous to name, this was a fantastic outcome, and has set the bar high for future Commerce students at The Fort.

Jack Williams and Kian Thornley
Year 10 Commerce

Visual Art students visit Melbourne

At 7:30am Friday the 22nd of June members of both year 11 and year 12 visual arts classes gathered at Sydney airport to disembark on a weekend in Melbourne. The flight was short and before we knew it we were on our way to check in at our hotel in Melbourne. After a short stop in a nearby food court to grab a quick lunch we were travelling on a tram  down to the NGV.

The focus of our excursion was to see MoMA at NGV: 130 Years of Modern and Contemporary Art. Lots of us were excited to see works from masters like Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cezanne or Pablo Picasso. Salvador Dali, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock and Andy Warhol were also included in this exhibition filled with over 200 works arranged in 8 sections.  We also saw works from Marcel Duchamp, helping bring artworks we were studying in class to reality. It was amazing to see so many famous and influential pieces of work in one place, I know a lot of us were surprised by the size of Dali’s Persistence of Memory. After a long day of looking at art we headed back to the hotel and tucked into a feast of Indian food at the restaurant next door.

On the Saturday we returned to the NGV for another day full of art. We looked at the feminist Guerrilla Girls exhibition which provoked questions about women in the art world and society in general and explored the NGV’s permanent collection. We then moved across the road to the Ian Potter Centre at Federation Square, which is dedicated to Australian art. Here we saw Colony: Frontier wars which explored the period of colonisation in Australia as well as The Field Revisited which displayed colour field painting and abstract sculpture in Australia. But for us, the most interesting part of this gallery was Top Arts 2018, which is Victoria’s version of ARTEXPRESS. Looking at works by fellow school students is always interesting and it provided inspiration and encouragement to us, who are either completing or will have to start our major works.

On the last day of the trip we embarked on a street art tour around the streets of Melbourne. Our guide was eccentric, to say the least, but it allowed us to see street art from an insiders perspective. We learnt about the methods street artists use, the meanings behind some works and the popular places for the rich street art community in Melbourne to create.

Overall, the trip was filled with lots of art, lots of food and was very informative and enjoyable to all of us. We would like to thank Ms Thompson and Ms Starr for organising the excursion and for giving up their weekend so we could have this wonderful experience.

Sofia Locke
Year 11 Visual Arts

Jeans for Genes Day

Congratulations to the Fort Street community and to all our students and staff for the terrific contributions and support of the Jeans for Genes day.

Well done Year 9 charity committee for their time and teamwork in the planning and executing of this important charity event.
Outstanding results/ donations include:
*Donations from Fort Festival:   – $183.55
*Donations from Merchandise: – Students – $739.40, Cohen/ Rowe/ Library & SASS staff – $216.25
*Donations from Jeans for Genes day:
Year 7- $120           Year 8 – $101.55     Year 9 – $145.90              Year 10 – $91.45             Year 11 – $163.75

GRAND TOTAL AMOUNT RAISED = $ 1761.85

Excellent work by the Year 9 charity committee: Nathan, William, Michael, Kevin, Maria, Jade, Serena,                Kelly and Ashley.
Special mention to Serena Nguyen (Year 9) for her initiative and leadership in organising the event as well as her effort in raising the highest amount of $421.

Sydney Science Festival

Year 8 attended the Sydney Science Festival at the Australian National Museum this term. They participated in a variety of workshops over the course of the day, ranging from an interactive presentation by the University of Sydney’s Mathematics and Science Ambassador, Adam Spencer about the magic of numbers to a technical tutorial on coding run by Code Club Australia.
The highlight of the day was the Science Expo, where students jumped at the opportunity to engage with scientists from the leading universities and science organisations across NSW about the cutting edge research they are conducting.

Fortians are pictured at the Science Expo exploring the world of nuclear science and technology through ANSTOs virtual reality headsets.

Randev Uppal
Sports Co ordinator

FSHS Annual Science Fair

Science Week was celebrated at Fort Street with our annual Science Fair. Students in years 9 and 10 were chosen to represent their classes in presenting their Student Research Projects in the Hall on Monday 13 August.
13 Individual students in year 10 and 15 teams from year 9 displayed their research on posters for students from across the school to see. 13 scientists (who are parents within the Fort Street community) helped judge the projects. The annual science fair gives students the chance to do what working scientists do to discuss and explain their research. Three projects for each year were rewarded with prizes from UNSW including a trip to the UNSW School of Aviation flight simulator, a tour of Professor Michelle Simmons’ quantum computer laboratories and a session in Professor Veena Veena Sahajwalla’s labs and the experimental E-Waste Micro Factory.​ Special thanks to Gabriel Caus for his work in coordinating this with UNSW.

The year 10 winners were Finn Kirk, Cheylon Devine, and Justin Cheung.
The Year 9 winners were Angelica Wilson, Mary Nguyen, Isabella Evangelista, Manit Anand, Martin Vu, Satvik Sharma, Ella Easton, Richardson Li, and Meg Raven.

Many thanks too to the parents who did a wonderful job judging the projects: Jeroen Vendrig, Mal Wise, Pip O’Brien, Ronnie Taib, Alison Gould, Greg Leamon, Howard Lovatt, Gaby Caus, Suzie Ferrie, Paul Box, John Koralis, Yusuf Muraben, and Lucia Evangelista​.

Brian Webb
HT Science

Sports Update

Fort Streets U14s and U16s girls futsal teams both represented the school at the Football NSW State Championships in Penrith earlier this term. Our teams were invited to the tournament on merit as they were both crowned Regional Champions earlier in the year. Our girls are to be commended for their efforts in preparing for the tournament and displaying a great team ethos and never say die attitude throughout as they came up against representative players and schools with elite football programs.
The girls determination and evolution over the course of the tournament was a joy to watch and it was great to see them all leave with their heads held high and big smiles on their faces. Keep up the great work girls and continue to work hard in training to come back bigger and better next year.

Randev Uppal
Sports Co ordinator

Year 7 CPR training

Year 7 completed a hands only CPR training course as a part of their Year 7 Sports Program. A variety
of healthcare professionals ranging from ER doctors to paramedics delivered an engaging and thought provoking
training program that gave our students hands on experience in providing hands only CPR and using a defribillator.
In small groups our students were taught how to administer CPR and then each group demonstrated their newly acquired skills
through a role play scenario. It was a valuable experience for all who were able to participate and the presenters left
with big smiles on their faces and were awestruck by our students intellect and conduct, well done year 7.

Randev Uppal
Sports Co ordinator

Staff learn Chinese sound system

On the first Professional Learning Day this term, Teng Fei Dong & Jenny Xu, teachers of Chinese background, presented an overview to teaching staff on the Chinese sound system.  Staff had fun attempting to pronounce examples as they would like to say the names of colleagues, parents and students more accurately. Understandably individuals grow tired of correcting staff and they don’t like drawing attention to themselves.  Mr Dong and Ms Xu also talked about general perspectives of Chinese parents towards education.

Administration staff also received a seperate presentation from Heng Fei Dong (pictured).

Mark Backhouse
Head Teacher Languages

Students are welcome at Running Club and Social Soccer

Every Wednesday morning presents an opportunity for all students of all abilities to participate in the
Athlete’s Fort ‘Running Club’ and ‘Social Soccer’ initiatives. Kicking off at 8am on the school oval under
the tutelage of Mr Uppal both groups are centred on fun, fitness and friendship. There is no cost or
commitment required, just turn up with suitable attire and a positive vibe.

Randev Uppal
Sports Co ordinator

Multicultural Day 5 September

All students are welcome at the Multicultural Day on Wednesday 5 September.

Bring a plate of food to share!

Wear traditional dress or mufti!

Bring a gold coin donation for the Year 10 charity – UNHCR Bangladesh Rohingya emergency appeal.

A generous donation from the Loder family

FSHS is very grateful to the Loder family who recently donated $20 000 in memory of Bruce Loder, Fortian 1943.  The donation was made to the Fort Street Foundation Building Fund supporting building projects to improve the facilities and resources that Fort Street can offer its students.

Bruce was Commissioner of Main Roads in NSW from 1981 to 1986, and President of the Australian Road Federation (the forerunner of Roads Australia) for 10 years from 1988.

Bruce was in charge of Main Roads when the ground-breaking Sydney Harbour tunnel contract was drawn up and let, and subsequently became a champion for innovative road funding models, including toll roads and PPPs, to help alleviate Sydney’s congestion problems.

He was afforded Life Membership of the then Australian Road Federation in 1998 and remained an active participant at Roads Australia events until his death in 2016.

Jules Davies
Executive Officer, Fort Street Foundation

Reunions

We recently welcomed back 40 members of the class of 1968 for their 50th reunion.  Allen Blewitt, Captain 1968, reminisced on his time at Fort Street Boys High School in a fantastic speech at assembly which was enjoyed by all.

The 1968 Fortians enjoyed a tour of the school accompanied by student guides from Year 10.

Jules Davies
Executive Officer, Fort Street Foundation

Wedding News

Congratulations to our recently retired Deputy and Relieving Principal, Karen DiStefano who married her long time partner Amanda.

Congratulations also to our archivist Iain Wallace and Craig, and to Michael Galvin and his new wife.  We wish them all good luck.

P&C meeting

Next P&C meeting Wednesday 12 September 2018 in the School Library.  All welcome.

6.30 – 7.30pm School Counselling Service – Mental Health in young people

7:30 – 9:00pm General Meeting

What happens at P&C meetings?
The Principal presents a report
Parents are encouraged to ask general questions about the school
The school seeks parent input into decision making
P&C sub-committees report briefly on any key new activities
Issues relating to our school and community are discussed
Decisions about spending P&C funds are voted on

Why get involved?
“Research from Australia and overseas has found that students achieve better outcomes from their education when schools, families and the community work together to support student learning.” – Page 15, Strengthening Family and Community Engagement in Student Learning Resource. (Commonwealth of Australia, 2011).
Find our more about the school including how it’s run, why certain decisions are made
Get to know staff at the school
Get to know other parents of children at the school
Have a say about things such as projects funded by the P&C, certain policies and procedures within the school
Contribute to your child’s experience in high school

How can I get involved?
Join the P&C and/or attend P&C meetings
Share your ideas, expertise and experiences with the school community
Participate in the school decision making process
Volunteer your time: at the uniform shop; at an event; on a P&C sub-committee or on a school committee

All contributions big & small are warmly welcomed and appreciated!