Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

We are looking forward to the upcoming Parent Teacher interviews. Year 7&10 will be held on Thursday 23 June and  Year 8 & 9 will be held on Wednesday 29 June. These interviews will be a chance to discuss the Semester 1 reports which will be available to students and parents through the Sentral Parent Portal prior to the Parent Teacher interviews.

The SRC are also planning a very exciting School Spirit Week in Week 10 with lots of fun activities planned. The students will be able to enjoy food stalls, mufti days, games and so much more.

Good luck to all of our competitors taking part in the Zone Athletics Carnival on Tuesday and the Regional Cross Country on Thursday. We know you will do Fort Street proud.

The IMP mid year concert is also coming up next Friday and is a wonderful evening where students can showcase their talents and parents can enjoy a meal and meeting other parents. It’s an event not to be missed on Friday June 24.

Vinnies CEO Sleepout

Every night, thousands of Australians experience homelessness. But it doesn’t have to be that way. This year I’m taking part in the Vinnies CEO Sleepout to raise money for the St Vincent de Paul Society to support Australians in need. For one night, I’ll be sleeping outside as part of an eye-opening experience to raise awareness and bring home the realities of homelessness. Later this year Fortians in year 8 will be participating in a connected curriculum two day and overnight experience on the school oval, I thought it important to be a role model to them for this inaugural program.

I would like to send my gratitude to the staff and families who have contributed so far to my fundraising effort. My goal was to reach $5000 in the next three weeks. At this stage we have raised $7,926 which will go towards 25 individual Vinnies’s support programs, 66 beds and 264 meals.

To help break the devastating cycle of homelessness, I need your support. Donating 50 dollars can make a huge difference to people who need it most.

Excitingly, Dollar Match Day is BACK AGAIN TOMORROW, and it’s the last chance you have to DOUBLE your donations!

Thanks to the Dick and Pip Smith Foundation, all donations up to $2,500 will be doubled (up to the matching cap of $50,000).

If you would like to help out and can afford to do so please visit my webpage:

https://www.ceosleepout.org.au/s/13458/53667/e

Upcoming events in Term 2:

• Years 7 and 10 Parent Teacher Night via Zoom Thursday June 23
• Years 8 and 9 Parent Teacher Night via Zoom Wednesday June 29
• IMP Mid-Year Concert  – Friday June 24
• Last day of term 2 – Friday July 1
• First day of term 3 – Tuesday July 19

Year 11 Camp

Year 11 Camp

Wednesday to Friday Week 7, Term 2

Despite initial doubts that the camp would be cancelled (as it had at the start of the year), the morning of June the 8th came around, and there we all stood in the freezing cold, waiting for the buses to arrive. This was to be the first winter camp for twenty whole years, and it would not disappoint.

We joined the buses with great excitement. 45 minutes later, we arrived at our new home for the next three days, put down our suitcases, and gathered in the bunker.

The Class of 2023 was no less extravagant than the instructors at the centre had seen before, coming prepared with multiple kettles (coupled with too many instant noodles), milkshake makers (along with 5 litres of long life milk) and hairdressing utensils (this was Mr Guy), among other things.

We were then introduced to the dining hall: our hub of social interchange during our time at camp. Many lives had already been lost to the brutal game of assassin, and the rush for complimentary water bottles would claim a few more careless souls.

After lunch, we broke off into our day groups and began our activities. Over the 3 days, we had 8 activities:

• Archery tag, which involved shooting each other with foam-tipped arrows across a tennis court while donning Squid-Game style masks;

• Initiatives, which saw us attempting a variety of hands-on problems in teams;
• Puzzle room, an escape-room type activity riddled with perplexing problems to be solved together;
• Dark Water, most enigmatically named, which was essentially canoeing and kayaking;

• Chariots, where we desperately tried to construct billy-carts with planks whose pre-drilled holes refused to align;

• Damper-making, where we learned to build a campfire and enjoyed the warmth by the lake

• Life Ready activities, preparing us for life beyond high school.

Questions surrounding the true nature of the ‘Dark Water’ activity were resolved when the first participants returned, shivering from the cold with wet shoes and sore arms. After this initial round of activities, we enjoyed an hour and a half of free time to kick back and relax.

As night fell, Year 11 trooped to the dining room for dinner. Afterwards, our instructors started off our trivia night. To our surprise, it wasn’t just about drugs and alcohol (as it had been originally labelled): it was a battle of the wits over topics like Harry Potter, film, and finally, 2 rounds of a ‘name the song’ quiz that turned into a whole grade sing-a-long. Following the victory of team ‘Matty B Raps’ at trivia night, everyone returned to their cabins, and all the luxuries hidden within suitcases came out, most students indulging in mini-feasts to celebrate.

We woke up into a piercingly cold morning, with some brave souls venturing outside to admire the views of the lake at sunrise. After breakfast, an exciting day’s activities lay in wait.

After dinner we all convened at the gym, where the SRC ran a night of activities, starting with a grade-wide round of musical chairs (which got quite competitive), then a tense match of cat-and-mouse, an entertaining and intellectually challenging game of ‘limbs’, and finally, a game of ‘marriage, proposal or divorce’ which fitted in well with the pattern of team development activities.

The final morning saw a flurry of activity as cabins were furiously packed up and cleaned. The buses back to school were considerably quieter than on our journey there, with most people asleep and others too tired to talk. The long weekend provided welcome rest to the weary, and sufficient time to catch up on work and assessments for the stressed.

Thank you to Mr Guy, Mr Morrison, Ms Starr, Ms Maddox, Mr Prasad, Ms Kaur, Ms Thompson and Mr Boyle sacrificing their time for us: we hope you may have derived some entertainment watching us flounder about!

Despite the relentless complaints of the cold, this camp was a great success and brought us all closer together as a grade.

Aslesha and Sebastian (Year 11)

P.S. Check out some awesome vlogs below!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QaxwL7yJtvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtqXsmUabjI

SRC Report

This term, the SRC has been busy planning, executing and attending various events.

Fort Street Prefect Afternoon Tea

Tuesday Week 7, Term 2

Prefect Afternoon Teas (PATs) are an opportunity for student school leaders to share ideas, network and socialise. The Year 11 SRC executive team has continued receiving invitations from other schools to their PATs. So far, we’ve attended PATs hosted by North Sydney Girls’ High School, Girraween High School, Penrith High School and Burwood Girls High School.

The Fort Street SRC hosted our PAT on Tuesday 7 June in the school hall. We were extremely excited to welcome such a large group of school leaders and would like to thank Ms McMurray and Mr Morrison for their assistance in organising the event. Through leadership and team-building exercises, we were able to foster inter-school spirit and connect with a unique set of people! The event was great fun, and though tiring, a wonderful segway into Year 11 camp.

Y11 Camp

Wednesday to Friday Week 7, Term 2

In addition to the camp-long grade-wide assassin game, on the second day of camp, the SRC organised evening entertainment. Year 11 participated in a series of games, including musical chairs; cat and mouse; and propose, marry, divorce. Thank you Year 11 for your engagement and spirit! It was much appreciated and we hope that you found the evening activities enjoyable. For anyone interested in learning more about the camp endeavours, I’d like to direct you to the Year 11 Camp article in this Mercurius Issue.

School Spirit Week

Week 10, Term 2

In Week 10 this term, the SRC will be hosting a School Spirit Week, which includes 4 days of events and activities in collaboration with the House Captains. Any profits made by the SRC from this event will fund the Future Leaders Week event in Term 3, an interschool leadership event held by the SRC.

Throughout the week, the House Captains will be hosting Mario Kart, Netball and Chess competitions, open to all students for participation and spectation.

The SRC aspect of the School Spirit Week events are as follows:

Monday – Stalls

Wednesday – Crazy Sock Day & Cube-Off Day 1

Thursday – Character Mufti Day & Cube-Off Day 2

Friday – Movie Lunch & Reflection Walk and Gunawirra Fundraiser

For more details about the event and how to get involved, please refer to the SRC School Spirit Week article in this Mercurius Issue.

As always, the SRC is keen to hear from the Fort Street community. For any comments, feedback or inquiries, please contact the SRC via email (srcfshs@gmail.com), Instagram (@fshssrc), or simply speak to an SRC member.

Chantelle Hoang

SRC Vice-President

Year 11

School Spirit Week – Week 10

During Week 10, the SRC is hosting a School Spirit Week which includes 4 days of events and activities in collaboration with the House Captains. Any profits made from Spirit Week will go towards the Future Leaders Week event in term 3, an interschool leadership event held by the SRC.

The School Spirit Week Schedule is as follows (also see attached):

MONDAY – STALLS DAY

The SRC will be hosting a BBQ. Anyone interested in hosting a stall should SIGN UP HERE (committees and staff included!). A once-off $30 allotment fee will be incurred in order to host a stall and all profits can be used at the stall owner’s discretion. However, if the profits are going to a charity/non-profit organisation, no fee will be incurred. Please pay $30 in cash to the office by Friday 24 June. Stalls can vary from food to games to music!

TUESDAY – N/A

WEDNESDAY – CRAZY SOCK DAY & CUBE-OFF DAY 1

Come to school in colourful, patterned or funky socks! The speedcubing competition will be held in the Lecture Theatre during lunchtime. If you would like to participate please SIGN UP HERE.

THURSDAY – CHARACTER MUFTI DAY, CUBE-OFF DAY 2

Come to school dressed as your favourite character from a movie, film or book. Group costumes are endorsed! The cube-off will continue for round 2 in the Flexible Learning Space during lunchtime (please see attachment for round info).

FRIDAY – MOVIE LUNCH, REFLECTION WALK & GUNAWIRRA FUNDRAISER

The SRC will be showing a movie during the extended lunchtime in the hall, come along with your friends and enjoy some snacks.

Mr Manuell is organising a reflection walk around the Bay Run to learn about the traditional owners of the land. Come to school in red, yellow and black accessories and bring a gold coin donation to fundraise for Gunawirra. For more information on Gunawirra, visit https://gunawirra.org.au/

The House Captains will be hosting Mario Kart, Netball and Chess competitions throughout the week. The schedule is attached below, listen out for more information from them!

ANZAC Memorial student reflection

On Monday, the 23rd of May, the Company of Mandatory History students of the year 9 Battalion planned to arrive at the ANZAC war memorial in Hyde Park at 0900 hours. Due to the heavy rain the previous night, the ground was saturated with water, and the land was muddy, like the trenches on the Western Front. Our excursion was already off to a less than ideal start, and our departure delayed. Instead, our morning began by watching two documentaries, one about Gallipoli and the Anzac Cove landing and the other about the Western Front battles, which were almost suicide missions.

Then it was off to the ANZAC War Memorial in Hyde Park. The main objectives of the excursion were to study the role of women in WW1 and how Australians commemorated the Anzacs.

I think many of us spent the whole visit just revelling in the beauty of the memorial’s architecture. The outside was just as crisp as the inside, and it was warm too.

The first activity or performance that we participated in was a performance of four different war experiences. The performance featured actual accounts from letters and diary entries of three nurses and a matron: Clementina Marshall, Muriel Wakeford, Alice Cashin and Evelyn Wright. Through this performance, we learned about the hardships faced by nurses during WW1, how they had to pay for their transport, work incredibly long hours and endure the worst nurse to patient ratios. Yet, despite all the hardships, these nurses still managed to see the bright side of things and made admirable decisions. Staff Nurse Mary Marr’s autograph book is a prime example of how nurses eased the emotional burden of the war on the soldiers. The autograph book contains heartfelt poetry and musings of soldiers after Gallipoli.

We reflected on whether we’d risk the whole sinking ship’s population for one nurse’s life, break censorship laws and tell the media back home about the brutality of war.

Following that, we had a tour of three different parts of the memorial, the Hall of Memory and the Hall of Silence, the Hall of Service and the Museum attached to the memorial that contains items from WW1. Some exciting things we learnt were that each star in the Hall of Memory was bought by a person when the old part of the Museum was built and that the statue of the naked young man, dead on the shield, represents soldiers that died on both sides of the war. Later, at the Hall of Service, there were earth samples from all the suburbs of New South Wales that sent men, and at the centre, the memorial displayed a hundred samples of earth from significant battles. These samples are important because the government thought to bring only two soldiers’ bodies back to Australia, leaving many parents and family members with nowhere to pay their respects.

Remember the autograph book? Near the end of our excursion, we were all given sources, one which was a soldier’s entry in the autograph book, and the other was a document of all the physical injuries of the soldier. We then wrote a letter home to the family of that soldier. Writing the letter and the reflecting on the questions about what we’d do if we were nurses during WW1 assisted us in understanding the substantial emotional role that nurses played and allowed us to be in their shoes and assess what that was like for them so close yet so far away from the action.

To sum up, our excursion was insightful and fun despite the wet weather.

Akshaya Rameshbabu (Year 9)

Sprichst du Deutsch? 日本語？还是中文？Français?

On Wednesday 8th June, the Year 10 languages classes had a chance to learn about them all! In groups of a few students from each class we competed for canteen vouchers and eternal glory!

We listened to recordings sent in by parents, guessing the language, and pop songs in different languages – including Kpop, the Beatles in German and Anime theme songs. We were also asked questions about linguistics and other languages (like the letter after omicron in the Greek alphabet), questions about the Olympics, and other cultural questions that had everyone puzzled! We played Kahoots and true-or-false, with tricky questions like who the current Chancellor of Germany is (Olaf Scholz, not Angela Merkel!). 

Possibly the best part was the morning tea each language class teacher had prepared: noodles and white rabbit candy at the Chinese table; pocky at the Japanese table and gummy bears and wafers at the German table.

Thank you to our judges: Year 12 languages students Queen Alex, King Declan and King Elliott. We enjoyed flattering you in different languages for extra points, or telling you the funniest word…

Thank you to Madame Walker, Frau Reynolds, Mr Gillespie and Mr Dong, for all your hard work in making it such a fun experience! 

By Kalanie Prabhakar (Year 10 German)

German Film Festival Excursions

Years 10, 11 and 12 – The Wall Between Us

On Thursday the second of June 2022 (CE), the year 10,11, and 12 German classes gathered under the Cohen undercroft, so that we could make our way to the German Film Festival being held at Palace Cinema on Norton Street. Chaperoned by Ms Reynolds and Ms Salisbury, who graciously gave up their day to supervise us, we entered the cinema to watch Zwischen uns die Mauer, or in English, The Wall Between Us. The film revolves around the love between Anna, a West-German citizen, and Philipp, an East-Berliner, during the Gorbachev era of the Cold War. Between 1986 and 1989, Anna and Philipp dare to have a relationship separated by the geo-political ambitions of superpowers, until the climax of the film, where the Berlin Wall is toppled. Overall, the film was entertaining for a one-time viewing, but general consensus is that it was no masterpiece. After the viewing, we made our way back to school with a nice, relaxing stroll along traffic packed Parramatta Road. In the end, it was an enjoyable day, which allowed for the improvement of our understanding of the German language and provided us with an insight into German culture and history.

By Declan Dann

Years 8 and 9 – Mission Ulja Funk

On 3^rd June, we and the rest of Year 8 and 9 German went on an excursion to see the movie ‘Mission Ulja Funk’. We had a blast and learnt a lot about German culture and the countries surrounding it as we watched the extremely likeable cast travel across Germany, Poland and Belarus.

The movie was a comedy adventure about a girl named Ulja, who wants to see the asteroid she discovered land on earth. Ulja travels across Eastern Europe with her friend Henk, and they get into a lot of fun misadventures along the way. We brought lots of food and snacks to the cinema and had a blast relaxing with friends and watching a really fun movie on a Friday. Overall, it was a great experience. Thank you, Frau Reynolds and Herr Morrison, for this awesome excursion.

By Levi Darcy-Smith and Lucas Xie

HSC German Speaking Day at the Goethe Institut

On Friday 27 May, the Year 12 German class travelled to the Goethe Institut in Woollahra for the HSC German Speaking Day, which was designed to help us prepare for our speaking examinations and develop other useful skills. We met at Edgecliff station in the morning, before walking to the Goethe Institut where we met other HSC German students from eight schools across NSW. We got our name tags, snagged the table tennis table for a quick round before other schools arrived, and then our hosts introduced themselves before sending us off in groups for the day’s classes.

We cycled through three rotations, each one led by a different teacher. German Extension students had the opportunity to perform a short play based on characters from the novel we’re studying and draw topics out of a hat and speak about them in German for one minute. Continuers students played games to improve their German grammar and speaking skills, including a game similar to ‘Yes, and’ in which they had to expand on what the previous person said.

After the three rotations, we enjoyed a lunch of authentic German pretzels, followed by 45 minutes of ‘speed dating’. We walked around the room to music, and when the music stopped, we had a conversation in German with a random student. This was my personal highlight of the day — it was surprisingly fun, given how anxious I was beforehand, and it helped me practise my impromptu speaking skills.

Then, to continue the German theme, after saying goodbye to everyone we caught the train to Kings Cross and had some delectable coffee and strudel at Una’s Cafe, where we almost embarrassed ourselves by ordering in German to the non-German-speaking waiter. It was a really relaxing way to finish our learning-packed day.

A big thank you to the people at the Goethe Institut and the teachers for organising the day, and of course to Frau Reynolds for coming along with us and putting up with our questionable use of German idioms.

By Jack Lohning

Making the right moves – Chess Club in Term 2

The Fort Street Chess Club is back in full action this term. Fortians from Year 7 to 12 gather in the library each fortnight on a Friday afternoon from 3.15pm-5.30pm, to play home games against chess teams from a range of high schools.

The Fortians who represent us in the Junior Teams include:

From year 7 we have Adhvay Moudgalya, Toby Nguyen, Joshua Lumbene, Vivaan Varma, Achyuth Arunraj,Gabriel Cutcher Skellern, Alibert Wilson, Leo Edwards, Edmond Gao, Luca Bartolo and Henry Fitzpatrick.

From year 8 we have Nikhil Reddy, Alexander Soriano, Alfred Zhou, Maxaviar Lum, William Ly, Chinmay Dixit, Ian Jeney-Mark, Aaditya Venkatraman, Yu Wu, Harvey Huang, Felix Peng and Anthony Li.

The Fortians who represent us in the Intermediate Team include:

From Year 10 we have Auslee Pamintuan, Raymond Lie, Ishan Chowdhury and Michael Feng.

The Fortians who represent us in the Senior Teams include:

From Year 12 we have Ethan Nguyen, Stephanie Banh, Jonathan Faltas, Peter Tran, Daniel Chen, Anthony Lee and Kelvin Tran.

Our latest home game which took place in week 6, saw our Junior Teams played against Sydney Boys, Canterbury Boys, Trinity Grammar and St Patricks Strathfield. Our Senior Teams played against Sydney Grammar and Newington.

In our previous home game in week 4, our Junior Teams played against Meridan and Sydney Girls whilst our Intermediate team played against Tempe. Our Senior Teams played against Trinity Grammar and Sydney Grammar.

Although we weren’t victorious in all the games, we had fun playing and made a lot of new friends along the way.

We also learnt the most important lesson of them all: It’s not important whether you win or lose, but how you play the game!

Ms. Page, Mr. Fischer, Ms. Truong

Fort Street Chess Club Coordinators

7T Social Science

7T have recently been learning about different types of maps throughout our unit of study on landscapes and landforms. As a part of this unit, we were given the task of designing a two-dimensional topographic map prior to building our own 3D topographic maps out of cardboard.

7T student Ben says, “This activity allowed us to visualise what landforms on topographic maps look like”. Another student, Jacob, says “This activity really helped me realise how the 2D format of topographic maps translates to 3D features on the ground.”

Overall 7T has had a blast of a time doing this activity and have learnt a lot about topographic maps and the varying types of landscapes and landforms.

Written by Adam, Jacob and Ben 7T

Year 8 Debaters have the final say of the day

Round 1 of the Year 7/8 PDC for 2022

On Tuesday the 31st of May 2022, Fort Street’s Year 7 Debate Team had their first debate against Fort Street’s Year 8 Debate Team for their first round of the Premier’s Debating Challenge. Most of the members of Fort Street’s Year 8 Debate Team had competed in this competition last year.

The topic was “that students should always pick their group members for group work”. The choice of the topic was even debated by the two opposing team but we managed to reach a middle group with a healthy game of rock, scissors, paper between Jason Lim in the Year 7 team and Henry Huang in the Year 8 team thus resulting in year 7 arguing for the affirmative side and year 8 arguing for the negative.

This was Year 7s first taste of high school level debating and they planned and debated admirably, giving it their best shot, even though some were not use to the fast pace and challenges of presenting impromptu arguments and rebuttals. In the Year 7 Team we had Divyan Gnanasivam as first speaker, Ollie Panagakis as second speaker, Jason Lim as third speaker and Tom Mitchell as team advisor. In the Year 8 Team we had Chinmay Dixit as first speaker, Aaditya Venkatraman as second speaker, Henry Huang as third speaker and Aiden Lee as team advisor.

Since this was a live debate, we also managed to recruit an audience from the Year 7 and 8 Debate reserve team.

From Year 7 we had Oliver Wilson, Lucinda Man and Oliver Williams who also served as Debate Chair-Person.

From Year 8 we had Miranda Leighton and Aaron Ji who also served as Time Keeper.

Even though Year 8 were declared the winner, both teams will progress to the second round of the Premiers Debating Challenge against Sydney Boys at the end of term 2! We also had a lot of fun and took a cool photo at Fort Street’s secret Harry Potter stairs!

Ms. Truong

Debating and Public Speaking Coordinator for Fort Street

Fortians welcome back the return of face-to-face Debating Workshops in term 2

At the end of term 2, 2021, the pandemic hit and forced our entire school to move learning, online. After nearly 100 days of online learning, all classes resumed face-to-face learning in November 2021. One extra-curricular program however that continued online and did not return was Fort Street’s very popular Debating Workshops. After one year, the workshops finally returned to face-to-face at the Fort with a huge uptake of students from Year 7 to 10.

To accommodate for this increase, we also introduced a new group of debate coaches, many of whom were from Year 12 Fort Street students from 2021 and 2020. From the class of 2021 we have Meg Raven, Luca Butterworth, Danielle Villafana and Alejo Pintos-Lopez and from the class of 2020 we have Luca Charlier. We also have a new Head Debate Coach Gemma Taraneh Hedayati from the University of Sydney along with other highly experienced coaches including Alex Garman, Sam Trotter, Felicity Macourt and Mehnaaz Hossain.

Every Monday afternoon from 3.30pm to 5.00pm, students reported to their designated classroom to gain hands on debating experience. In these workshops, they learnt the craft of composing persuasive arguments and rebuttals that effectively responded to their oppositions case. They also had a go at debating against each other, on topics that reflected contentious issues in our Modern Australian society in 2022.

Earlier this term, all Year 7 to 10 students participated in challenging debate auditions where the coaches picked four winners to form each of Fort Street’s Year 7, 8 and 9/10 Premier’s Debating Challenge Teams. Another four students were chosen for each team to be reserves in case the main speaker was unavailable. As a result, the following students were chosen for the teams:

In the Year 7 PDC team, our main debaters are: Ollie Panagakis, Divyan Gnanasivam, Tom Mitchell and Jason Lim. In the reserve team we have: Joanna Park, Gabriel Cutcher Skellern, Oliver Wilson, Oliver Williams and Lucinda Man.

In the Year 8 PDC team, our main debaters are: Aidan Sen, Henry Huang, Aaditya Venkatraman and Aiden Lee. In the reserved team we have: Chinmay Dixit, Bhavnish Jain, Miranda Leighton, Aaron Ji and Lee Sheen Pong.

In the Year 9/10 PDC team, our main debaters are: Johnathan Bonnice, Chloe O’Keefe, Min Park and Gina Hong. In the reserved team we have: Eleanor Alonso Love, Galileo Lima, Ella Lo and Joyce Zhu.

In total we have eighty two Fortians from Year 7-12 involved in debating in 2022. Students are having an absolute amazing time with these face-to-face Debate Workshop in the last five weeks of Term 2 2022 and are just grateful that life can return, almost as we know it before the pandemic.

Ms. Truong

Debating and Public Speaking Coordinator for Fort Street

NSW Netball Gala Day

On Thursday 9 June, students across Year 8-10 went to Willoughby Bicentennial Reserve to attend the NSW Netball Gala Day. Students played many games throughout the day against across a range of schools from the Norther Suburbs zone area in both the Year 7/8 Division and Year 9/10 Division. Our students showed brilliant sportsmanship despite the tough competition and were always encouraging and cheering one another on. A big shout out to the Year 7/8 Junior Boys team who came 2^nd in their division and will be attending the regional competition at Olympic Park in August.

Thank you to Ms Ezekiel, Ms Wark, Mr Patane, Brianna Dann and Kalanie Prabhakar for assisting on the day!

Athletics Carnival House points and more photos

Further to our last article we can now announce the House Points from the Athletics Carnival. Congratulations Mawson!

1st – MAWSON: 1,198 Points

2nd – PRESTON: 961 Points

3rd – JOSHI: 698 Points

4th – SHEIKH: 647 Points

5th – KIRBY: 642 Points

We’ve also received a few more great photos from the day. These have also been added to the gallery on the school website here

Astronomy Nights

The science faculty has been holding Astronomy nights with year 9 and 10 students on the school oval. Here are some photos from last Thursdays event.

!!! World’s Greatest Raffle Online Ticket Sales Now Open!!!

The Year 12 Charity Committee are pleased to announce that online raffle tickets are now for sale in support of the World’s Greatest Shave! The raffle will be held until June 27th, and includes amazing prizes such as passes to Taronga Zoo, Canterbury Olympic Ice Rink, Raging Waters, AnyTime Fitness, Sydney Swans, and many more, with a total prize value of $2,400!!

Tickets are $5 for 1, $10 for 3, and $15 for 5 and $20 for 7. 

Tickets are available here: https://rafflelink.com.au/fshs-wgs-2022 

Make sure to grab some for a chance to win some amazing prizes!! Also keep an eye out for more information on our Instagram page, @charityfshs22 or donate directly at the link below: http://my.leukaemiafoundation.org.au/fortstreet22. 

Remember, all funds raised go directly to blood cancer treatment and research at the Leukaemia Foundation to help thousands of Australians yearly. Thanks for your support,

Year 12 Charity Committee

SPECIAL REPORT: Building Resilience Post Pandemic

Unfortunately, the mental health of young people has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. As many families settle back into pre-COVID routines, there seems to be a pervasive sense of optimism about what lies ahead.

Unfortunately children and teens are not immune to what is now being termed the “psychological pandemic”. Young people are at risk of not achieving the primary demands of developmental tasks such as procuring independence, identity formation, as well as obtaining and maintaining peer relationships. What kids need most in the current environment is support, understanding, empathy and encouragement from caring adults. They live up or down to the expectations we set for them.

If there is a panacea to the adversity caused by the pandemic, then it is the building of resilience. Resilience is the capacity to face, overcome, be strengthened and transformed by adversity. Never before, have parents needed the skills, the knowledge and the strategies to build resilience in their children as much as they do now. There are 7 integral and interrelated components that make up being resilient that can help young people thrive and develop healthy coping strategies.

This Special Report explores the “7 C’s of Resilience” and includes suggested strategies on how adult carers can best facilitate them. We hope you take a moment to reflect on the information offered, and as always, we welcome your feedback. If this 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/special-report-building-resilience-post-pandemic

Free Girls in Business Camp – Years 10,11 and 12

The University of NSW is offering the Girls in Business Camp. It is designed for female students in years 10, 11 or 12 in 2022 who want to explore their future in business. The program is a collaboration between UNSW Business School and our industry partners to equip young women with the skills, desire and ambition to study and work in the disciplines of risk and actuarial, technology and information systems, banking and finance, and economics.

This opportunity gives students the chance to network with other like-minded high school students from across New South Wales. Participants will gain an in-depth understanding of these fields and learn from inspiring female role models, while also exploring what life as a UNSW Business School student could be like.

For more information visit Girls in Business Camp

Or contact Seda Cokcetin at seda@unsw.edu.au for more information.

Inner West Council HSC support days

Inner West Libraries are running a range of HSC workshops. If it is not convenient for students to attend workshops in the local area, I would strongly suggest checking your local libraries’ websites as many public libraries will be running similar workshops for HSC students at this time.

Scan the code or visit https://www.innerwest.nsw.gov.au/explore/libraries/library-programs-and-events/youth-programs for more information and to book.

• Community and Family Studies all day intensive
• Advanced and Std English- The Craft of Essay Writing and Revisiting Human Experience
• Modern History – 2 hour intensive
• Business Studies- 2 hour intensive
• Legal Studies- 2 hour intensive
• Advanced and Standard Maths- half day revision session before mock exams
• Visual Art Exam workshop- half day exam prep

All run by with experienced lectures and HSC markers.

Donna Page

Librarian