MERCURIUS the News Magazine of Fort Street High School
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MERCURIUS The News Magazine of Fort Street High School Issue 4, May 2018 Dear Parents, Carers and Fortians It is with much anticipation and excitement that we welcome Juliette McMurray as the new Principal of Fort Street High School commencing at the beginning of term 3. Juliette is currently the Deputy Principal of Rose Bay Secondary College and has also been the relieving principal. Juliette has been to a Fort Street staff meeting for initial introductions and over the next few weeks she is looking forward to attending the next School Council and P&C meetings to meet our community. I know we all congratulate and welcome her to The Fort. We have started this term with two major unforseen staff changes. Last week we farewelled Mr Begg who was successful in gaining a classroom teacher job at Balgowlah Boys High School. We will all miss Mr Begg immensely as not only is he an excellent educator, he was heavily involved in programs outside of the classroom including the Duke of Edinburgh Program, student to student volunteering and the Great Barrier Reef excursion to name a few. This move will change Mr Begg’s daily commute from a two hour round trip to 10 minutes which will enable him to enjoy more personal time with his family. We all wish him well and thank him for his dedication to student learning over his time here. Mr Bayas has had to take some leave at short notice but we have been lucky to have Mr Niven return to us to take his classes. We finished last term with our inaugural cross country carnival at Petersham Park. With the support of many staff, Mr Uppal organised an amazing day of physical activity for the whole school. Previously only competitors were involved but everyone agreed that it was such an enjoyable day that it should continue in this format. Some excited staff have thrown out a running challenge to the students. Over the holidays the Department of Education has replaced the roof on the Wilkins building. This Building is heritage listed and the roof is now tiled with chocolate brown terracotta tiles in keeping with the original construction. Although this caused some disruptions, the contractors are to be congratulated for completing the project in one week less than planned and we are pleased to have a shiny new roof on our gorgeous building. We have also Fort Street High School, Parramatta Road, Petersham 2049 T: 02 8585 1600 E: [email protected] W:www.fortstreet.nsw.edu.au had the tin ceiling repaired in the Wilkins stairwell so this area can now be used after a long hiatus. We have commissioned a street artist to paint some murals in some areas of the school that need a little lifting. He submitted designs to a committee of students and staff and is now in the process of undercoating and painting with the help of students. We are all watching intently as the giant cicada in the Kilgour quad takes shape. As always there have been many activities, events and achievements happening over the past month which are detailed within this newsletter and on our Instagram and Facebook pages. I must make mention, however, of our successful European IMP tour. Following their progress on Instagram over the holidays made me so proud of everything that is Fort Street. Our students are without doubt extraordinary, but they can not do what they do without the dedication and hard work of our staff who go above and beyond to give them the opportunities to fly so high. I received an email from a member of the public which says it all. “We returned from Europe on the weekend, on the same flights (Vienna and Dubai) as your staff and students who had been on a music tour. We would like to highly commend the students on their behaviour and attitudes. No matter how tired they must have been they were wonderful ambassadors for, not only your school, but Australia. With students like these the future of Australia is in good hands.” Karen Di Stefano Relieving Principal Public Speaking John Bivell was successful in representing the school at the Local Final of The NSW Plain English Speaking Award at SCEGGS Darlinghurst on Monday 14th May. He competed against SCEGGS Darlinghurst, Sydney Boys, Randwick Boys, Ascham, Kincoppal and Kambala. He will now proceed to the Regional Final of the competition. Congratulations to John and good luck with the next round. Ms Schlam Public Speaking Coordinator Fort Street High School Exit Profile The school exit profile articulates the vision for student achievement. Successful Fortians will have: • maximised their academic potential • developed individual skills and talents across a variety of areas • developed learning strategies to equip them to be independent, self-motivated and life-long learners • developed emotional resilience, self-reliance, interpersonal skills, the capacity to connect to others and leadership potential • recognised their responsibilities to the wider community • developed a strong sense of social justice as well as a commitment to fairness and equity. LIBRARY NEWS The building component of the Library alterations include: • The learning Centre being moved into the COL. Bars removed from windows, an alteration to the door to the balcony and railings changed to meet current standards. • Careers Room and waiting area moved to the Library. This with the above Learning Centre move creates a school services area in the current entry area of the Library. • Library desk and work space – altered to accommodate the new Careers hub. Includes a new Librarian staff desk that allows for clear line of site through the whole Library • Security Screen outside the Learning Centre – Re-purposing the display cabinet in the Library to also be a barrier between the Learning Centre and Careers spaces. The remainder of the wall separating the Learning Centre and Careers Hub from the Library will be glass brick • Toilets upgrade to current standards • Seminar room and senior study/seminar room as per the plan. These provide bookable spaces for students/ teachers. • IT Room (presently a study space next to the COMMs/Server Room) to meet standards for a bookable room • COMMs/Server room - opening window hutch to create an IT service counter for student enquiries. • Charging station/standing student desk area. Along a section of one wall allowing. • External bag area - new shelving. • There will be new carpet, furniture that will be portable to create spaces as needed and new shelving/which may be integrated into the furniture. CHS Volleyball On Friday 11 May 2018 Fort Street’s senior boys volleyball team took on arch rivals, Ryde Secondary College, in a match to determine who would be crowned Northern Sydney Region CHS Boys Volleyball champions. The stakes were high. Not only would the winner progress to the state finals, to play against the 15 best school teams in NSW, but Fort Street was seeking redemption from the previous year where they had lost to Ryde. Our team comprised of 10 Year 12 students, veterans from last year’s CHS campaign. Not merely fitter, taller and stronger than last year, they had become wiser in their game strategy and more confident in their abilities. They were also joined by one Year 11 student, Caleb Vukovic, to bring youthful exuberance and innocence, having not bared witness to the bitter pain of last year’s defeat. Fort Street started with confidence, having not dropped a set in their previous 3 lead up matches.They also started with an amazing amount of energy, both on and off the field, with the boys playing with great positivity and volumous cheer. And when Fort Street won the first 8 points and then the first set, sweet redemption seemed a chance. But Ryde were not to be under-estimated, having a well drilled team full of lanky bodies. And once the juggernaut got going and our energy waned, our boys found it hard to complete the job. Ryde won in 4 sets. Despite their evident disappointment in losing, I was extremely proud of the way the team played and represented Fort Street. They were very athletic, extremely skillful, smart, dedicated, supportive, team oriented and maintained their sense of good fun. They should be proud of the way they developed as a team, showing much more grit and strategic thought in the way they played, and learnt how to get the best out of each member of the team. So a big congratulations must go to the team for their hard work and fine achievements. ellW done to Winston Sun, Zach Somy, Ke Jia Li, Daniel Guo, Matthew Lam, Edward Kwag, Daniel Wark, Nathan Cao, Kevin Xuan and Damien Feng. Hugh O’Neill Welcome back... Wesley Lai and Finn Bryson, both Student Ambassadors for USyd, who came back to the Fort to talk to Year 12 about life at USyd as part of our series of Thursday lunchtime presentations about the universities, cadetships, scholarships, and life after the HSC. Earth and Environmental Science Excursion to Regional NSW. The Earth and Environmental Science excursion was a great success. The students were really impressed with how much they learned and how much regional NSW has to offer. We left FSHS at 7am on Wednesday 16 May, stopping briefly at The Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains. After arriving at Mandurama we had session about sustainable agriculture and alternative farming methods, and the geological history of the region. We then visited the Canowindra Age of Fishes Museum - a great museum - before staying at Newhaven Park House outside Bathurst. The following morning we visited the Australian Fossil and Mineral Museum in Bathurst, another great museum with the only full T-Rex skeleton in Australia.