Mercurius issue 7 – June 2019 - 11 Jun 2019
Principal’s Report

Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,
On Thursday 30th May the school athletics carnival was held at Sydney Olympic Park. I would like to congratulate all students for leaving their laptops at home and for their participation in the day. Most importantly I would like to thank Mr Uppal for his role in coordinating an extremely successful day, I am sure that all were delighted that the sun shone throughout the day. During the school assembly on Friday May 31st, National Reconciliation Week was celebrated by Fortians.
On Monday June 3rd the entire SRC attended a planning conference. I would like to acknowledge the organisational efforts of the SRC executive and in particular Mr Galvin and Bridget Gard for putting the event together. I look forward to seeing what the leadership team are able to achieve as a result of this time away together.
Over the past two weeks the review of the History Faculty has been well underway with myself and a number of other colleagues observing History lessons and collecting feedback from students and staff members. It has been an absolute delight to participate in so many stimulating lessons and to watch our young students’ eagerness to absorb themselves in rich learning experiences. The feedback from students in all of the History courses has been overwhelmingly positive.
As we speed toward the half year mark I would like to take this opportunity to thank Fortians for the increasing support that they have been showing over the past few weeks in regard to the wearing of school uniform. During these cold months I would encourage all students to invest in the warm jacket and long pants, the uniform shop is open every Wednesday at school.

Congratulations:
Staff Member of the Week Trophy
In the last edition of Mercurius, I forgot to mention the latest recipients of this newly established award so I have a few names to backdate. The first recipient of this award was recognised in Mercurius a few editions of ago – Jenny Xu(Social Science/English teacher).Jenny nominated the next recipient;
Week 3 – Dianne Debreczeni (School Administrative and Support Staff) for her hard work, dedication, friendliness and helpfulness to staff and students. Dianne works in the front office and her role is multi-faceted. Dianne has a huge responsibility in the area of enrolments and updating student and family data, POP receipting and desktop publishing along with many other duties in the front administration office. Dianne nominated for the following week;
Week 4 – Janice Eastment (Science Teacher and Head Teacher Administration) for the huge effort she puts into the schools daily administration and smooth running of the school every single day and for the happy and friendly manner in which she goes about this job. Janice is a dedicated and wonderful classroom teacher and she also supports the school by organising day to day casual relief, variations to routine within each school day, casual staff pays, exam schedules and so much more. Janice provides a great deal of support to teaching staff, office support staff, students and parents. Janice nominated for the following week;
Week 5 – Randev Uppal (Sports Organiser) for the enormous impact that he has had on “Sport at the Fort” over the past two years with the introduction of a new range of Summer and Winter Sport options, increased participation in Knockout competitions and representations in a wide range of activities with training sessions before and after school becoming a feature of extra-curricular activities at the school. He is not only an advocate for student participation in sport but has provided leadership opportunities as well. The school appreciates his professional approach to planning and organising weekly sport, carnivals and knockout events. Randev nominated for the following week;
Week 6 – Petra Fluitsma (Science Teacher) for her helpfulness and willingness to support all extra-curricular activities around the school. Petra’s kindness and generosity also brings much joy to staff members across the school recognising birthdays and other significant events often through elaborate desk decoration and/or gifts. As well as a talent in the classroom Petra has a talent for food carvings which she has shared on many occasions with staff.

Senior Drama Production – ‘Metamorphosis’
This years’ outstanding production was directed by the talented Lennie Neagle-Millar. All performances by music and drama students were exceptional.  Thanks also to the P&C for the delicious meal prepared especially for the evening.

Theatre Sports
Junior team – placed equal 3rd out of 9 teams in the recent semi-finals. For such a young team with no formal coaching they have come a long way.

Ella Easton (Yr 10) – Climbing Success
Ella has recently been offered a place on the Australian Youth Climbing Team as a result of her outstanding efforts recently. Ella achieved an Australian Youth placing of 2ndin Bouldering, 3rdin Lead Climbing, 2ndin Speed Climbing and 2ndOverall in her age group and will be heading off to the 2019 Australian Youth World Championships in Arco, Italy later this year.

National High School Mooting Competition
Aarohi Tanawade (yr 12), Yolana Truscott (Yr 12) and Niamh Elliott-Brennan (Yr 12) travelled to Queensland for their second event at Bond University. They were placed in the top 10 out of 104 team and can proudly call themselves National Finalists.

Debating Challenge v’s Randwick Girls High School
Congratulations to Luca Charlier, Max Collingwood, John Townsend and Meg Raven in their successful debate against Randwick Girls last week.

UTS Girls in STEM Excursion

UTS Girls in STEM Excursion

According to Engineers Australia, women currently make up 13% of the engineering workforce, a statistic that’s been growing slowly for decades. Increasing the participation of women in STEM degrees and professions is high on the agenda for universities, industry and the government. The Federal Government’s Women in STEM Decadal Plan launched in March 2019, has acknowledged that there are a large number of initiatives addressing this challenge.​ In response to this challenge, Ms Wilkins and Mr Semaan from the Technology faculty organised an excursion for all year 8 girls. This one-day event provided an opportunity for female students to participate in a range of hands-on activities plus they get an inside look at life as a female student/professional in the STEM career areas. Held by the UTS Faculties of Engineering & IT, Science, Transdisciplinary Innovation, Arts and Social Sciences.​​

Adam Semaan
Head Teacher – Technology

Year 10 History Debating Challenge

Year 10 History Debating Challenge

On the 24/05/19, Gus, Danielle, Allegra, Charlotte and I headed down to Leichhardt High School for a prepared History debate. We were the opposition, and our topic was “Australia day must change or die”.

Gus as first speaker argued that to change the date of Australia Day would breed complacency and that people who are not aware of this issue will assume that the problem is solved with a date change. He also argued that Australian culture is still intrinsically tied to white nationalism and colonialism and that as a whole Australia should be working to combat this rather than wasting political capital on symbolic outcomes.

Allegra as the second speaker argued that change doesn’t occur if only one side of society supports it. It was not the priority in regard to indigenous affairs and there were other issues that seem more prominent in Aboriginal society today, such as death rates and education standards.

She also argued that every year Australia day kept Indigenous issues at the forefront of politics. The day is historically meaningful and provides a platform for Indigenous rights. The date embraces discussion and increases awareness of the past and present problems that indigenous people face

Danielle as third speaker summed up all our points and rebutted ruthlessly. She made all of our points more concise and come together to form one

It was a tough debate, and after much apprehension, the adjudicator stated that we won. 🙂
So, we will be moving forward for a new debate against St George High School in the near future.

Erica Liu (Year 10)

Pictured are Erica, Allegra and Charlotte.

2019 Premier’s Debating Challenge

The Fort Street Debating Program is pleased to announce the participants for Years 9 to 11 for the 2019 Premier’s Debating Challenge. The students have undergone a semester of coaching and trials and their selection is a testament to the consistent hard work they have applied to the program. Congratulations to the following debaters:

Year 11 – Luca Charlier, Max Collingwood and John Townsend
Year 10 – Meg Raven, Danielle Villafana, Om Sen, Satvik Sharma and Barnaby O’Keefe
Year 9 – Frankie Murphy, Veronika Kwong, Audrey Truong, Violet Rickards, Minha Kang and Barisha Tashnin
The Year 7 and 8 teams will be selected by the end of the term.

The Fort Street Debating Programme would like to thank our Year 12 students for their contributions to the program the last two years. The Premier’s Debating Challenge members for 2018 and 2019 were Ethan Koit, Finnegan Collins and Aidan Elwig Pollock and they consistently represented the school with determination and class. They are some very talented debaters and have added tremendously to the program.

Ella Easton

Ella Easton

This past week  I got the opportunity to compete in the 2019 National Youth Sport Climbing Championships, representing NSW. The competition itself was held over 3 days, from the 24th – 26th of May, with a different type of climbing competition on each day.

The disciplines I competed in were:

Lead –  where the climbs are on walls at least 12 metres tall, and the person who gets the highest wins
Speed – where the fastest person wins and
Boulder – where the climbs are on walls less than 4 metres, and the person to get to the top of the most climbs in the least attempts wins.

The days were long and stressful, but I was extremely happy with my results: 3rd in Lead, 2nd in Boulder and 2nd in Speed.  And Overall!

These results mean I am now eligible to represent Australia in the World Youth Championships in Arco, Italy in August!

Ella Easton

Sporting Achievements

Sporting Achievements

Girls’ Hockey

Fort Streets Opens Girls Hockey team trained under the excellent Patrick Vastani (Y12 – 2009) in preparation for their CHS Knockout match.

They competed against an incredibly talented NBSC Freshwater team last week and did a brilliant job of maintaining their effort and enthusiasm despite the scoreline. Well done to all members of the team and a big thank you to Patrick for his efforts.

Volleyball

Fort Street had an incredibly successful 2019 season in both the Boys and Girls CHS Knockout competitions. Our girls did very well to make it to the 4th round where they came up against one of the competition favourites in Riverside Girls and bowed out of the tournament in a very tough match. Our boys won all their games comprehensively before coming up against a very talented Marsden High School team. Our boys raced to a 2-0 lead but were clawed back by Marsden who found their groove and ultimately won the match 3-2. Both of these teams train regularly and were an absolute pleasure to manage and watch play. Well done to all students involved, I hope you all continue to remain engaged with volleyball beyond your schooling careers.

A big thank you to the P&C for their ongoing support of sport at Fort Street. Pictured below are one of our year 7 sport groups and our 15s/Opens Girls Volleyball teams enjoying the first class equipment that was purchased and installed on the back of a grant from the P&C. Whilst being far superior and safer than previous equipment the new stock has also enabled groups to triple the number of students who can actively participate in volleyball activities at any one time.

Football

Our U15s Girls and Boys Football teams competed in the Bill Turner Trophy and Cup this year but were unsuccessful in qualifying for the second round.

Well done to both teams for their efforts in training and conduct whilst travelling and playing.

 

Jean Hinchcliffe wins an Amy Large Young Volunteer of the Year Award

Jean Hinchcliffe wins an Amy Large Young Volunteer of the Year Award

Congratulations to Jean Hinchliffe who won an Amy Large Young Volunteer of the Year Award at a ceremony at the Ashfield Town Hall on Thursday last week. Jean was nominated for by the Fort Street Environment group with support from Hugh O’Neil.  The nomination highlighted Jean’s role in organising the Sydney Student Climate Strike  – giving students a platform to voice their concern about Climate Change.

The awards acknowledge outstanding contributions to local families, organisations, programs and individuals in need.  Jean’s nomination can be viewed here:

Jean Hinchliffee 2019 Amy Large Young Volunteer of the Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

Intermediate Theatresports

Intermediate Theatresports

Congratulations to the Intermediate Theatresports Team who played very well at the Impro Australia semi final at St Patrick’s Strathfield.  They came equal 3rd out of 9 teams. As only 2 teams proceed to the Grand Final we have now finished our season. The students have really built their skills tremendously throughout the year and will continue to do so in the weekly workshops for the rest of the year.
Ms Schlam

Cross Country

Cross Country

Congratulations to the many students who formed the Fort Street Cross Country Team which competed at the Northern Suburbs Zone Cross Country Carnival at Macquarie University last week. Unfortunately, we lost our long held crown as champion school due to a lower than normal number of students attending and competing on the day. We did however have 32 students place in the top 10 of their respective division, these students will now form part of the Northern Suburbs Zone Cross Country Team and compete at the Sydney North Regional Carnival which is to be held at Gosford Racecourse on Friday, 21 June.

Water Polo @ The Fort 

Water Polo @ The Fort 

Over 50 Fortians attended an awards ceremony and celebratory dinner at the Aperitivo restaurant in Leichhardt. They included year 7 students new to the team as well as long term dedicated members from year 11. The students voted on a range of awards to show their appreciation for each other dedication to the teams for the past 2 years. We would like to thank our hosts for their service and great food.A big thank you to Ms Wilkins and Mr Semaan for organising the event.

Instrumental Music Program

Instrumental Music Program

City of Sydney Eisteddfod

The Eisteddfod started last week with IMP Ensembles’ high standard of performance being recognised with the Jazz Ensemble winning their section, and the Senior Percussion Ensemble being given Highly Commended in their section.
Chamber Choir were placed first in the Youth Vocal Ensemble section, and along with other placed choirs will compete in the John Lamble Australasian Choral Championship, which will be held on Sunday 16 June at 2.30pm in the Packer Theatre at Ascham School, New South Head Rd Edgecliff (opposite Edgecliff station). As with all eisteddfod events, family and friends are encouraged to attend.  Tickets are available here.

 

Return of the IMP Basement
Many thanks to Ms McMurray who has been the driving force in having the basement transformed into a bright, clean space in which to make music and with plenty of new shelving to store instruments. Students should make sure to keep it that way – there is to be no eating in the basement and all rubbish must be taken away.

Support for music at Inner West schools
Logans Pianos in Burwood donates 5% of the purchase price of music supplies to the school account if the purchaser identifies that they are from Fort Street High School.  This meant that the IMP were able to buy a new stand, pedal and adapter for the touring stage piano for just $4.63. Many thanks to Logans for their support of youth music and local schools in the Inner West.

Mid-Year IMP Concert coming up!
Friday 28 June  5:30pm Dinner, 7pm Show
The mid-year concert is the biggest event in the IMP calendar. The IMP cannot function without our wonderful volunteer community and the money they help to raise from the concerts each semester. Sign up to donate your time on the night here  https://signup.com/go/rwffPkG  and look out for a food donation link to be sent shortly.

Study Skills

Study Skills

In week 5, Dr Prue Salter from Enhanced Learning Educational Services (www.enhanced-learning.net) ran a study skills evening with Year 7 parents and students.  The evening helped families assess what changes could be made to help students work towards achieving their personal best in an efficient and effective way. Students examined their home study environment, the way they organise and manage their resources, how to work effectively at home and deal with distractions, how to manage the workload in high school, and the steps to studying in high school: making study notes, learning the notes by testing yourself and doing as much practise as possible.

Parents are encouraged to review the handout from the session with students and discuss the main areas identified where changes need to be made.  Parents can also find extra study skills tips on the following website: http://studyskillstoptipsparents.com/. All secondary students at our school also have access to a great study skills website to help students develop their skills. Go to www.studyskillshandbook.com.au and enter the username: forfortstreetonly and the password: 21results and start improving your results today!

Making the most of high school

Senior Years Set Up

TopStudySkillsHabits

Clarice Kennedy – Fortian 1926-1931

Clarice Kennedy – Fortian 1926-1931

Clarice Kennedy Fortian 1926 to 1931 was one of Australia’s greatest women athletes who never competed in an Olympic Games. She won championship titles including sprint events, 2 Miles Cross Country, and excelled in swimming, diving, hockey, vigoro and basketball (netball).  She made national records in the 100yards, 400m, 440y, 800m, 880y, 80m Hurdles, 90y Hurdles, Shot Putt and Javelin events. She was also a diving and swimming (backstroke) champion and toured the state swimming circuit as a diver. Her best event was the 80m hurdles where she set a world record time of 12.2 in 1930.
Training facilities in the 1930’s were non-existent and Clarice would travel to the sports ground standing on the back steps of the bus holding her six foot javelins outside the bus door. Her trainers were often other athletes she met at the sports ground.
During her athletic career, the only time she was selected for an international team was the 1938 Empire Games in Sydney.
Kennedy was disappointed when there were no women athletes selected in the Australian team for the 1934 Empire Games. She said ‘The men cut out all women’s representation in the 1934 Games. They argued the finances necessary to provided chaperones and extra trainers for the women were too great.’
Despite being highly rated in world rankings and winning four events at the National Games (Olympic trials) and being the 1936 national hurdles and javelin champion, she was not named in the Olympic team for the Berlin Olympic Games. There was only one female selected for the games, Doris Carter, a High Jumper. Her Olympic snub was considered an outrage in Australia. Kennedy said ‘My name was in Hansard – questions were asked in parliament. The Truth newspaper offered to pay expenses for Kitty McKay, Basil Dickinson and myself but they said I couldn’t go. The women’s association said they sent my name and Doris Carter’s to the men’s selectors and the men said they only received Carter’s. I was never bitter, I just didn’t understand it.’

In June 1936, the Australian Olympic Federation presented Kennedy with a wristwatch as a token of her assistance in drawing the design of the diploma which was presented to winners and runners-up at the National Games.
At Fort Street Girls’ High she won the school championship medal every year she attended. She is a Fortian of whom all Fort Street students can be proud, both as a sportswoman and a university scholar. In 1992 Clarice donated her trophies and medals to the school archive. They are a treasure for all who know her story of determination and resilience.
Chris Egan
Archives

Note for the photo: A memorable event on Sydney University Oval Clarice Kennedy wins the first 80-metre hurdle race in Australia in 12 4/5 seconds equalling the 1929 world record

P&C General Meeting Wednesday 12 June

P&C General Meeting Wednesday 12 June

You are invited:
P&C General Meeting 12 June 2019, School Library

6:30pm Creative & Performing Arts: An overview of CAPA at Fort Street High School
Presented by Carolyn Mattick – Head Teacher (CAPA)
7:30 P&C General Meeting
Please see meeting agenda: FSHSP&CMeetingAgenda12June2019

Please come to the P&C meeting to find out about current activities at the school, your input is very welcome.

If you plan on attending the meeting, becoming a member of the P&C or are interested in what the P&C does within the school, then please sign up to our P&C e-mail list at: http://eepurl.com/cXWaEX

You are also invited to join the Fort Street High School P&C Facebook Group at

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fortstreethighschoolpandc/

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evenings

UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evenings

Registrations are now open for our UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evenings. Students have the opportunity to learn about the exciting degrees, career options and scholarships available to them.

UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evening – Law & Arts and Social Sciences
UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evening – Science, Engineering & Medicine
UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evening – Business & Built Environment
UNSW Degrees and Scholarships Info Evening – Art & Design