Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

Congratulations on completing fifteen days of learning from home and thank you for supporting your child/ren and the school thus far and into the next few weeks. The return of students to on-site activities will continue to be based on the latest NSW Health advice.

It is a lonely school without students and staff. I have posted some photos below of some of the great new spaces that have been completed in the school but at this stage remain very much underutilised.

The SRC has been regularly posting on Instagram to engage with students and to provide ways to make the lockdown a little better. All the content is posted on the Instagram page: @srcfshs, there are currently around 600 followers, but the SRC would love to have the entire school following their page so that they connect more with other students. The page is public, so it is easily accessible for students, all you need is an Instagram account.

If you have any feedback, or would like support, please don’t hesitate to email: fortstreet-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au. We have very few staff on site each day so while you can phone, email is the most efficient way to reach teachers and other staff because the email will be forwarded onto the relevant person.

Year 12 and HSC Students

All year 12 and students who are sitting for HSC exams in 2021 will be required to attend school from 16 August to sit trial HSC exams. Of course, staff and students will be reminded not to attend school and to get a COVID-19 test if they have any symptoms or have been instructed to do so by NSW Health. If students cannot attend a trial exam they will need to contact the school before the exam commences that day and submit the misadventure paperwork.

The school will have detailed plans in place to minimise contact between individuals and exam cohorts. We will also be following strict environmental hygiene and infection control procedures. Whenever on site staff, students and visitors will be required to adhere to the strictest of COVID-safe practices including physical distancing, hand hygiene and wearing a mask. Detailed exam procedures will be sent to all HSC students closer to 16 August.

From 16 August, HSC students will also be permitted to attend school to participate in performance rehearsals and to complete work on practical tasks where specialist equipment is required. Only students who are required for the performance should attend, and only in their own performance groups.

The Qudos Bank Arena at Sydney Olympic Park has been confirmed as the mass vaccination centre for HSC students over the age of 16 from the 8 LGAs of Fairfield, Liverpool, Canterbury/Bankstown, Cumberland, Blacktown, Georges River, Parramatta and Campbelltown. This venue will have the capacity next week to vaccinate all students who live and study in those LGAs.

The Department of Education is still working with NSW Health to assess whether they can widen the eligible cohort for vaccination. Further details about how these vaccinations can be booked has not yet been provided and I will communicate this as soon as I receive it. Students can leave those LGAs to attend the vaccination centre.

SRC Report

Dear friends,

After a period of lengthy COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in 2020, we are once again faced with another forced retreat due to the Delta Variant. Students and staff are currently learning/working from home, with the hope that our Year 12 students will soon be allowed back on campus to prepare for their Higher School Certificate examinations.

Being at home all day certainly generates some level of stress, boredom and anxiety. I know that this is at least true for me. The SRC has been looking at strategies to keep our school community connected during this time of involuntary separation. This update will report on recent achievements and future plans for the SRC.

Fort Street High School Inaugural Prefect Afternoon Tea (PAT)
On Tuesday 1 June, the SRC Executive Team hosted the inaugural PAT at the Fort. Prefect leaders from various high schools across Sydney (of which included local, mainstream, selective and non-government schools) participated in an afternoon of leadership focused discussions and fun social activities. After attending PATs hosted by other schools for several years, it was very exciting and honourable to host our very own. The other schools were very impressed with the bearing and leadership of the Fort Street students, and many noted how aesthetic and modern the School Library is. We hope Fort Street continues to host more PATs in the future.

NAIDOC Assembly
Term 2 ended on Friday 25 June with the annual NAIDOC Day School Assembly to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. SRC members Daniel Holland (Year 11) and Emma Howes (Year 8) chaired the assembly and presented very insightful and topical speeches.

School Wellbeing Social Media Campaigns
The SRC has been working hard to produce fun, informative and motivational content for our Instagram account (@srcfshs). Year 11 Executive members are currently presenting “A Day In The Life – Lockdown Edition” using the Instagram Stories function. The primary aim is to maintain student connection by sharing the routines, tips and lives of the Year 11 members currently engaging in the home learning environment. Meanwhile, the Year 10 members are busy creating Instagram Posts and Stories containing music/book/film recommendations, exercise routines, cooking recipes and much more, to help students find ways to take a break and relax. I encourage all staff, parents, carers and students to follow our Instagram account to view past and upcoming content.

SRC Leadership Conference (Future Leaders Week)
Unfortunately, due to COVID-19 restrictions the planned inaugural SRC Leadership Conference scheduled for Tuesday 17 August 2021 has been cancelled.

However, the Principal has granted approval for the event to occur in an online format in the week 23-27 August 2021 (Week 7 Term 3).

The event, now known as Fort Street Future Leaders Week, still aims to provide leadership and motivation training to students, with a view to promote and foster leadership initiatives in our school and beyond. The online event will involve Year 11 SRC Executive members conducting individual interviews with various special guests including, The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG (Fortian 1955, former Justice of the High Court of Australia), Hon Tanya Plibersek MP (former Deputy Leader of the Labor Party), Chris Gambian (CEO Nature Conservation Council NSW), Natalie Lang (Branch Secretary of the Australian Services Union NSW and ACT), and Erin O leary (young activist and co-founder of Youth Against Sexual Violence).

All students will have the opportunity to submit questions to our guest speakers. The interviews will be recorded and posted online during the Fort Street Future Leaders Week. Stay tuned for further updates very soon!

SRC Elections
Elections for new SRC Members and Executives (current Year 10 only) usually occur towards the end of Term 3. However, due to the uncertainty caused by the current pandemic, the election and procedures will be announced via DET emails when known. Being a SRC member since Year 7, I highly encourage all Fortians to consider nominating themselves to the role. The SRC provides an opportunity to develop and learn leadership skills including project management, public speaking, as well as involvement in various charity and community fundraising events. SRC membership is also a very enjoyable and rewarding experience

Tips to maintain wellbeing during home learning
I wanted to share with you some reminders to stay healthy and alert during this period of lockdown:
● Remember to exercise and stay active.
● Look after your eyes! Take frequent breaks (Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 metres away for at least 20 seconds), work in well lit areas, ensure screens are at least an arms length away and directly in front of you.
● Stay connected with friends and family.
● The school is always available and open to assist with any issue.
● The SRC is also here to support you! Tips on how to maintain wellbeing can be found on our Instagram page.

ATTN Year 10 Cohort
Watch out for the call for expressions of interest to be part of the Fortian Magazine Team soon. Roles on offer include Chief Student Editor, Editors and Chief Layout Artist. This is a great opportunity to showcase your leadership, chronicle the events of 2021 for future generations to look back on and to be part of a great team led by The Chief Editor, Mr Mark Backhouse.

Do you have any feedback and ideas on any school related issues? We would love to hear from you! Please contact your friendly SRC via email (srcfshs@gmail.com), Instagram or simply let one of our members know.

Hope you all stay safe and well during this very difficult time. All the best!

Peter Tran
SRC Vice-President
Year11 

Free parent and carer mental health sessions

Headspace National is running a number of free parent and carer mental health sessions to support young people impacted by COVID-19. View the sessions and register on the Headspace website.

Elevate Workshop

Elevate Education Workshop for Year 11 and 12 Parents and Caregivers
Each year we invite Year 11 parents and caregivers and also Year 12 Parents and Caregivers to come to an Elevate Education workshop. Year 11 students have already participated in one session this year with Elevate educators on Study Sensei.
We are hosting this seminar via zoom this term and Year 11 and 12 parents, caregivers and students have been invited to join on Wednesday 4 August 2021 at 6pm.

The workshop will cover the following areas:
• Time Management: How parents can help their child manage their time effectively, so they can maintain a balanced routine, not leave tasks to the last minute, and avoid distractions.
• Study Support: What kind of work is most valuable in helping to achieve higher marks? Presenters will discuss what good study looks like so parents can help their children work smarter.
• Motivation: Sometimes, the most difficult part of studying in high school is simply being motivated enough to do the work. This seminar will help parents understand the key drivers behind student motivation, and how to leverage these to help their child reach their potential.
• Free E-Book for Parent Support: Parents are provided with access to the Elevate Parent E-book to follow up and extend on the best ways to support their child through high school.

I will also continue to advertise the Elevate Education webinars held this term which are free for Parents and caregivers to access.

Penelope Starr
Head Teacher Wellbeing

Chess Success

We have had a very successful year in the NSW Secondary Schools Chess Competiton, with a team winning in each division. Hopefully later this year they will have a chance to play in finals. Please join me in congratulating these students.

The teams that came first are:

Senior Grade, Division SE2
FSHS A
Juha Narimatsu
Ilha Jung
Barnaby O’Keefe
Andrew Sun
Lucas Caus
Namsemi Limbu

Intermediate Grade, Division IE4
Dennis Yeo
Lucas Liu
Yexuan Yang
Oliver Shek
Steven Limnios
Darren Tang

Junior Grade, Division JE5
Angus Badham
Cooper Techamuanvivit
Chinmay Dixit
Ian Jeney Mark

These students made time on their Friday afternoons to attend the tournament at our school and across Sydney. A big thank you to Mr Fischer as well for all his hard work in making this happen.

Donna Page
Teacher Librarian

Year 8 Art

Year 8 Visual Arts students create Pop Art investigating Products and Packaging

Year 7 Visual Arts

So this is what happens when a teacher tells a class to stop writing in an online assessment task.  Everyone’s first response is to spontaneously raise their hands and wave them in the air.  Good work 7VA5!

Year 10 Commerce Stall

The Year 10 students collaborated to plan and run the Commerce Stalls in Term 2. The activity facilitated students to plan, design, market and organise a pop-up stall to sell products in order to make a profit. The students created a number of delicious and exciting dishes to offer to the students and staff including dumplings, rice cakes, sausage sizzle, tantan noodles, takoyaki and Japanese panckaes. The students managed inventory, conducted break even analysis and SWOT analysis of their stalls.

The event was a fun incursion and raised money for the Year 10 Charity Committee. Student reflection included appreciation for how hard small business owners work to ensure products and services are provided to the market and gratitude to parents and carers who are entrepreneurs.

ASX Share Trading Competition

The Social Science faculty is facilitating the ASX share trading competition for students in Term 3. Students play in syndicates of up to 4 people and receive a virtual $50,000 they can invest over a 10 week period, in over 200 companies listed on the ASX. The prices students buy and sell at are the same prices as they would get in the live market so this is as close to real life share trading as you can get. This is a great way to learn about the risks of share trading and gain financial literacy. The game helps to develop student interest and knowledge in the sharemarket, economic trends, financial literacy and researching companies. The game is open to all students. You can try out your hand at investing and pit your skills against current Commerce, Business Studies and Economics students.

For more information check your student email for the registration form link

UAC Guides for Year 10 and Year 12

Year 12

UAC are holding online events for Year 12 to help navigate your path to higher education.  More information can be found here:

https://www.uac.edu.au/schools/uac-digital

Year 10

UAC and Sydney University both produce helpful guides to help Year 10 students as they consider their University education.  The links to these booklets are:

http://www.uac.edu.au/future-applicants/year-10-students

https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/study/guides/usyd-year-10-guide.pdf

UNSW Science Week Events

UNSW x National Science Week is a hotbed of ideas and innovation bringing together internationally acclaimed leaders in science, medicine, technology and engineering. In 2021, learn why space weather is our chief adversary in the quest to set foot on Mars, how lab-grown meat might save the planet, why a zero carbon future is now well within our grasp, and much more.

Take a look at the UNSW events here

Amnesty and Environment Committees take action

On Tuesday 27 July, the Amnesty and Environment Committees met for a Zoom meeting to take action against Adani’s harmful coal mine project in Queensland. We were joined by three staff members who participated in the discussion and took part in some message-writing to those with the power to make a change.

We sent emails to the Queensland Environmental Minister, Meaghan Scanlon in support of the Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners of the sacred Doongmabulla Springs, whose lands and waters are being threatened by the mine. Our messages requested that the Minister meet with the Traditional Owners and arrange a Stop Work order until the springs are protected.

We also messaged company directors of the State Bank of India (SBI) and Japanese bank MUFG to ask that they not insure the Carmichael Adani coalmine. Heavy rainfall due to climate change has led to deadly flooding and landslides in Mumbai, which has had detrimental effects on the city. We offered condolences to the SBI executives, and one of our messages received an appreciative reply.

If you are interested in getting involved in future meetings, please join the Amnesty Google Classroom: code kgb2odq or Environment Group GC: code woynyyf

The Amnesty Executive

FSHS Olympics

In the spirit of the Olympics we had the first of many sporting challenges this week

CHALLENGE 1….WHO CAN HOLD A PLANK FOR THE LONGEST?

And the winners were:

1st Place – Thomas Yang 5.22 minutes

2nd Place – Keagan Castley 4.58 minutes

3rd Place – Ms Tidon 2.44 minutes

CONGRATULATIONS!

Look out for Challenge #2 coming soon!

Vale Terry Glebe

Terry Glebe, who had a long association with Fort Street HS, died on Friday 9th July 2021 at the age of 85.

Among many other duties he was Head Teacher of the History department (1980-1999) and hosted the Fort Street High sister school exchanges with Eifuku, including excursions to Japan (1986-1999).

He was on the Fortians Union committee until 1998 and was made Honorary Fortian for services to the Fortian Union. He was the Fort Street Speech Day co-ordinator (1984-1999).

Terry was an active member of the Archives Team and was awarded the NSW Premier’s Volunteer Award as a volunteer Archives Officer from 1984.

He enjoyed a long and dedicated career at Fort Street and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

Chris Egan
Archives

Ron Horan Museum opening postponed

Unfortunately with COVID restrictions on us again the official opening of the Ron Horan Museum has been postponed.  We are disappointed not to be able to see Fortians and friends at this event, but look forward to welcoming everyone back when conditions allow.

Teachers’ pets

But there’s been a lot of sleeping on the job…