MERCURIUST h e N e w s M a g a z i n e o f F o r t S t r e e t H i g h S c h o o l

Issue 1, March 2017

The school year for 2017 commenced busier than ever. Each year we seem to fit in more and more activities to support student interests and initiatives. Developing learners and leaders in their own learning is about kindling a fire and passion, not merely filling a vessel with information. It is about much more than being first in a race or a test, it is about immersion in all aspects of learning, easy and hard. It is about being active and pushing, and challenging oneself to always exceed one’s personal best. Parents and staff need to be models of such practice in order to support and assist Fortians in taking the risks needed to ensure growth whether it be academic, social, emotional or spiritual, and to take the initiative be prepared to get up from failure. To learn and go onto new successes.I am pleased that as a school we continue to support students to take the initiative, to learn how to prepare and to execute initiatives in a constructive and positive manner. For those of you unable to attend Speech Day I want to share some of my words with you:At the Fort we live in a very special climate and culture which I believe reflects the best of what the world can be. We are fortunate to live and work in a safe and accepting community where we can have unashamedly high expectations of ourselves and our students. Each of you, staff, parents and students are responsible for the maintenance of that sense of acceptance no matter culture religious persuasion or sexuality which makes the school such a special place. You make it possible for each of us to come to work in a climate which not merely accepts but actually celebrates and acknowledges diversity. With kindling the fire and passion for learning as our core business we need to continue with the strategies to ensure that we continue to enable staff and students to take risks, be strategic, tenacious in endeavours. To improve and move each of our personal bests to new heights.

Significantly, our challenge in the context of world events is to ensure we live and embed the Fort Street values in every action, every day.Staff, parents and Fortians, we all need to reflect the exit profile - be ambitious to maximise our academic, cultural, & emotional potential, social and ethical conscience and develop and use our talents and passions to make positive and significant differences in the troubled world in which we find ourselves. We all need to be balanced and well rounded individuals who understand the diversity around us and respect each other no matter our differences.We need to revel in the loose coupling that is the FortAt our best we are:Risk-taking, creative and innovative entrepreneurs,Resilient and adaptable to changeAccepting of imperfections and prepared to solve problems togetherEffective and respectful communicatorsAn extraordinarily effective team Communication The manner in which we communicate when there are issues which cause us concern tells me as a principal much about the health of the school. It is sometimes difficult to think about others as humans when we are upset or annoyed. In the past few weeks I have received concerns from parents and I value those who did so in a respectful manner. That respect is returned one hundredfold.

Dear Parents, Carers and Fortians

Congratulations to our CHS Rowing Team

For t St reet High School , Parramat ta Road, Petersham 2049T: 02 8585 1600 E: for ts t reet -h.school@det .nsw.edu.au W:www.for ts t reet .nsw.edu.au

If you have concerns about your child please phone the school in the first instance and ask to speak with the Deputy Principal responsible for your child’s year. The Deputy Principal will refer your matter onto the appropriate person. Ms Cameron is responsible for Years 7, 9 and 11 and Mr Morrison is responsible for Years 8, 10 and 12.Queries regarding payments should be made in the first instance to Ms Levy, the School Administration Manager. Student Daily NoticesIn 2017 all daily notices are emailed to students at their DoE email address. It is the responsibility of Fortians to read the daily notices each day. Extended Leave from SchoolI remind you that leave from school during term time for family holidays and visiting family overseas is not an acceptable reason for taking leave from school. Such trips should be undertaken during school holidays. All requests during term should be made in writing to me with detailed supporting documentation before purchasing tickets. Leave which is not approved is noted on student records and reports as unjustified leave.

Co-Curricular Activities 2017The school offers a wealth of activities for students in addition to lessons, a timetable of co-curricular activities correct at 27 February 2017 can be viewed here or on the website. Most of the activities have a cost attached. The costs cover materials used, transport and at times external staff and tutor payments.

StaffingWe welcome Ms Maddox to the English staff replacing Ms Macdonald who retired in 2016 after a period of leave.Mr Patane who is in a temporary teacher position in TAS in 2017. The position was advertised in late 2016 but not filled.Ms Harris who is replacing Mrs Cotton in 2017. Mrs Cotton is on maternity leave. We congratulate her on the safe arrival of her son James on 31 December 2016.Mr Galvin who is replacing Mr Asher who was successful in gaining a permanent teaching position at Sydney GHS on the last day of 2016Mr Sheldrick who is replacing Mr Hoekstra until the position is permanently filled later this term.Congratulations to:All Speech Day award recipients, musicians, speakers and staff organisers on a wonderful celebration of our achievements. Special thanks to Ms Mattick and her team and to guest speaker Tom Cooney (Fortian 2007).Eilish Salmon (2016) Regional Blue Award (swimming)Denise Chan (2016) UNSW Co-Op Scholarship (Engineering)William Thackway (2016) UNSW Co-Op ScholarshipDaniel Wark, Winston Sun and Richard Trang who initiated and organised a team to enter the NSW CHS TriathlonJohn Bivell, Alex Migdalias, Richard Quach, Daniel Wark, Aaron Winata, Andrew Li, William Ma, Bradley Deng, Jason Huang and Genevieve Bivell who won a raft of medals at the CHS rowing regatta.IMP Wind Ensemble and Scarsdale High School NY for their concert at Sydney Town Hall on 22 February.

Roslynne MoxhamDirector PSNSW Inner City Strategy / Principal FSHS

Happy Birthday Ms Cameron

Important Dates

March8-10 Year 7 Orientation Camp8 P&C Meeting8 International Women’s Day9-10 Year 10 Peer Support Leaders at Year 7 Orientation Camp9 Selective High School Test13 IMP Parents’ Meeting15 Year 11 Parent Teacher Evening17 Regional Swimming Carnival20 Year 12 Assessments begin23 UNSW Year 12 Medicine Information Evening29 Open Morning30 IMP Camp30 Duke of Edinburgh Award Gold Trek

April1-2 IMP Camp1-6 Duke of Edinburgh Award Gold Trek2-4 CHS Swimming5 HSC Geography Excursion5 School Council meeting6 Cross Country Carnival7 Last day of term 124 Staff Development Day25 Anzac Day Public Holiday26 Term 2 resumes for all students27 ANZAC Assembly

Zero Robotics Finals 2016

The Zero Robotics competition was a successful initiative in 2016 which has proved to be so popular that it will be run again in 2017. Our Fort Street students created their international alliance; Team Wormhole, in combination with an American and Italian team and were successful finalists, ranked 7th out of 14 alliances, to have their code executed and run on the International Space Station.

The finals commenced at about 1:00 am Sydney time and were broadcast live at the University of Sydney on Saturday, January 28. Maggie Dillon was in attendance representing Fort Street, but despite winning the first heat we were unfortunately knocked out in the second round of eliminations. Still, congratulations are due to all the members of the team for reaching a very prestigious level of the competition. Members for 2016 were; Oscar Cowdery-Lack, Oliver Locke, Peter Kim, Angela Zheng, Lilian Wang, Alexander Pham, John Liu, Jerry Xiong, James Wu, Boyuan Liang, Georgio Hawi and Maggie Dillon, ably supported by Mr Pike (TAS) and Mr Prassad (Science).

Simon PikeTAS Faculty

Biology Field Trip Report

On Monday the 20th of February, Year 11 Biology students were given the opportunity to explore the lush biome of Sydney Olympic Park. Specifically, we explored the Badu Mangroves and we got to find out exactly how cool mangroves are. We assembled at Concord West Station to mark the beginning of our first preliminary assessment task. To deepen our understanding of the Preliminary Biology Module “A local ecosystem”, we were guided through the Badu Mangroves (and surrounding areas) and conducted multiple scientific investigations to broaden our knowledge of how organisms can adapt to their surrounding environment. Throughout the field trip, we employed various methods to better understand the roles of biotic and abiotic factors, and how they influence the overall state of the ecosystems they are found in. For example, we analysed the impact of tidal inundation on the height of pneumatophores (root system of mangroves). This investigation required us to use 25cm X 25cm quadrats and a metre ruler to support our hypothesis that the pneumatophores were taller when situated closer to the creek, due to their need to stay above water when the tide comes in. Another experiment that we did was to measure the pH of the soil and the water to see if it was naturally sour. Fortunately we found that the soil and water were both in average ranges, which meant that the mangroves were able to survive yet another day.Overall, the field trip was a rewarding experience and we were able to successfully test features of the ecosystem to see whether the environment was ideal for the mangrove, fulfilling the thrilling first chapter of our preliminary module. This experience allowed us to submerge ourselves in the beauty of nature’s mangroves, providing us with opportunities to identify the competitive, symbiotic and trophic interactions between organisms in the mangrove environment. Claudia Nguyen and Richard Zhang(Year 11 Biology)

Fortians In Focus

Marlowe Fitzpatrick (Fortian 2015)

Marlowe is spending six months in Paris studying at the Sorbonne. He is doing third year medieval and renaissance literature - in French.

He is taking organ lessons with Johann Vexo at Notre-Dame de Paris and has been asked to audition for clarinet one in the Sorbonne orchestra.

Marlowe says he owes a lot to Fort Street, but particularly to the staff who indulged his dream of playing the town hall organ for Speech Day and started him on this path. He’ll resume his Arts Law degree at Sydney University in the second half of this year.

James Leeder (Fortian 2011)

James Leeder recently won the World University Debating Championships in the Netherlands beating teams from universities such as Oxford and Yale. James representated Sydney University along with one other student.

James completed a combined Arts and Science degree at Sydney University, and has just commenced a postgraduate degree in Medicine at Sydney University.

He is pictured here on his first day of clinical practice at Westmead Hospital.

Zhongwei and Zhongyi Wang (Fortians 2011)

Dear Ms Moxham

It was great to see you at Speech Day. I apologise for not being able to stay behind to talk after the ceremony. The organisation that I had been volunteering at was holding a farewell lunch for me, and because they are located out in the western suburbs, I had to leave early.

Zhongyi and I have both completed our university studies. Zhongyi has just finished an exchange at the National University of Singapore. He will be graduating from the University of Sydney with First Class Honours. I will be graduating from UNSW with First Class Honours and the University Medal in Law.

We will soon be starting our new jobs at Herbert Smith Freehills, a commercial law firm. I am starting on Monday. Zhongyi is currently working at Freehills’ Singapore office. He is starting at the Sydney office on 13 March.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank Fort Street for what it has helped us achieve. We really owe our successes to the skills that we have learnt at the Fort and the sense of diligence that the school has instilled in us. It is a true privilege to have been students of this great school.

We wish the school all the best for the years ahead.

Kind regards

Zhongwei

Fort Street tops the State in French Continuers in the 2016 HSC!

Dominic Dwyer topped the State in French Continuers in 2016.Dominic also did remarkably well in the HSC French Extension course. Head Teacher Languages Mr Backhouse was delighted to teach Dominic and the other Year 12 French students in his first year at Fort Street High School. He reports that Dominic was already impressively talented in the language and of a highly critical mind. He only needed guidance in the syllabus topics and examination technique. Dominic has expressed an ambition to become a career diplomat and was quickly approached by Sydney University to undertake a BA in Languages on full scholarship. During the summer break he has been reading “Candide ou L’Optimisme” by Voltaire (French philosophy and literature of the Enlightenment).Dominic’s tips for successful foreign language learning in his words are:A) Immerse yourself in the language. Talk to yourself in French all the time even if you feel crazy! Look up any words or expressions that you don’t know (Linguee is a great resource for any European language). Watch French TV shows too! B) Use your teacher! Pester them with practice writing tasks to mark. C) Read, read, read. Reading French news online or simple books (try Harry Potter) with a dictionary beside you is the best way to sponge up the language. D) Be savvy in exams. To succeed you have to know and avoid your weak spots while flaunting your talents. Unless you are sure that a sentence is grammatically correct, don’t use it! Don’t experiment in exams, stick to tried and tested structures and tenses. You should even get a few high-level expressions that you always try to weave in. For example, you don’t need to learn the whole subjunctive, but if you try to throw in “pour que je puisse” or “il faut que tu fasses” in a writing task you’ll make the marker think you’re a subjunctive master!

2017 Confucius Classroom Volunteer Teacher

Name: Ms Zoe Tian

Hometown: Zhenjiang City, Jiangsu Province

University: Nanjing University

Course: Master of Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages

Interests: Swimming, Travel, Reading & Writing

Skills: Calligraphy, Tai chi

Career aim: Chinese teacher

First impressions of Sydney: People are kind and courteous. The views are beautiful! Despite the heat, I love the blue sky and ocean as well as the fresh air.

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.

Speech Day Address - Guest Speaker Tom Cooney (Fortian 2007)Good Morning Ms Moxham and fellow Fortians. Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.My name is Tom Cooney, and I graduated from Fort Street nearly 10 years ago. After high school, I completed a degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of New South Wales with a Co-op Scholarship. Under this program, you work for the sponsors, so I interned at four different companies during my degree. This was very useful, helping me to quickly work out whether this degree was a good idea or not. I did an exchange to the University of California Santa Cruz, and very much enjoyed different clubs and societies on campus.My final year thesis at University was a prototype radar module for a satellite design. On a post uni trip in Europe, I received an email from one of the directors of the project about an opportunity to apply for an internship at a NASA research facility in the US. I was in a very run down hostel at the time, so I leapt up, ran downstairs, convinced a very drunk young Italian man that he had finished using Facebook on the single hostel computer, and quickly pulled an application together. The result was a very exciting 10 weeks at NASA Ames Research Centre near San Francisco, where I worked on a helicopter probe concept for a Venus exploration mission. It was an eye opening experience into the breadth and depth of the US space program, where we visited Jet Propulsion Laboratories (the people who landed the Curiosity rover on Mars) and SpaceX, a successful private space company. I lived and worked alongside 7 US students, and 4 other internationals. Though there was not much sleep to be had, I had a blast, learnt a huge amount, and I’m still in touch with many of the people I met there.Currently, I work at Cochlear as a senior electrical design engineer. Cochlear implants improve and restore the hearing of more than 250 000 adults, children, and babies around the world. They convert the sound captured by a speech processor, similar to a hearing aid, into digital data that is transmitted wirelessly to the implant, which then produces pulses of current that stimulate a persons inner ear, resulting in the perception of sound. I work on new electrical circuit and component designs that enable future implants to provide better sound quality and make hearing easier for our recipients. I’m very proud and fortunate to work somewhere that tries to make life better for people.Rewinding back to Year 12, I recall the anxiety of what the next step should be. Which university? Which course? What career will that lead to? Is university even right for me? Why so many rhetorical questions? I was not even considering engineering as a possible path out of the Fort, I was thinking more along the lines of commerce. My dad was an electrical engineer, and I couldn’t possibly imagine doing something as boring as that. Life has a funny way of working out, and to my surprise and relief I found that I really enjoyed the coursework, and was excited by the possibilities the degree would open up.Some of you will be lucky enough to stumble upon a course or career that you really like straight out of school, others will change quite a few times. When I look around at my year, I’m dazzled by the diversity of skills, passions, and careers, as well as the many different ways people ended up where they are now. And we’re not done yet, there will be many more changes to come. Try and make the most informed decision you can coming out of high school, but rest assured, no matter what happens, so long as you are alive to opportunities along the way, you’ll have a great time. No matter what you do, I think the most important thing is for you to commit to it and give it your all, as you never know who is watching, and whether they might be able to help you in realising your dreams.One thing that really stood out for me at the Fort was the extra curricular activities available to extend your skills and experience, all run or supported by enthusiastic and dedicated teachers. From tournament of the minds to debating and public speaking, from organising the 40 hour famine to SRC and travelling to Germany on a school trip, Fort Street offered so many opportunities to enrich and extend. I missed out on the incomparable IMP, though with my musical inability, my family and the neighbours were relieved I didn’t take up the trumpet.These are not simply resume builders, but formative experiences that help you connect with others and learn more about your abilities and limitations, and start to develop your social conscience. I can’t emphasise enough the importance of taking any and all opportunities that interest and extend you at high school and beyond. We are lucky to have access to these opportunities, it is only appropriate that we make the most of them. I know not everyone has the good fortune to meet people they really click with at high school, but I think Fort Street gives you a better chance than most. There are not going to be many environments in your life where you are surrounded by as many switched on and like minded individuals, so make the most of it while you can, and try to keep many of them in your life as you spread your wings and go out into the world. My year is currently planning our 10 year reunion, though many of us have a reunion every weekend.I’m very impressed by the achievements of all the prizewinners here today. Enjoy these achievements. You should be extremely proud of your hard work and dedication, and how well it reflects on you and Fort Street. For those who are not on the prize list today, I’d like to reflect on the very important fact that not everyone can be the best at everything, nor can everyone achieve a 99.95 ATAR. Being number one is not a prerequisite to being offered and taking opportunities, being able to do what you really want to do, or finding happiness in life. Try not to get caught up in competition or comparison.To the class of 2016, good luck, and remember, there are no wrong choices when it comes to your next steps. To everyone else, enjoy the rest of your time at the Fort, get involved, and try your best. As we’re constantly reminded by our school motto, our futures are up to us. Make the most of it, and have fun!

Welcome back to 2017Welcome back to 2017! The school year is already flying by and I hope your child has settled in well to the new school year and is taking full advantage of all the great programs offered at Fort Street.Many members of the school community are uncertain about the role of the P&C in the school and if P&C meetings are the appropriate forum to raise their questions, ideas and concerns about their individual child and/or the school. As the focus item the P&C is hosting before our next meeting (see below for date and time) is an open forum for parents to share their questions and ideas with the P&C I thought it would be useful to talk about the role of the P&C and the lines of communication open to parents within the school.The following excerpts from the P&C Federation’s quick member guides cover both the role of the P&C and the type of issues that can be brought to a P&C meeting and/or raised with your P&C representatives. The P&C Federation has a catalogue of information guides covering all aspects of running a local P&C available online at www.pandc.org.au/faqs/P&C Federation Quick Member Info: P&C Associations in NSW government schools“Why does a school community need a P&C Association?A P&C Association enables parents and citizens to meet to determine the needs and aspirations of the school community. What does a P&C Association do? The objects of a P&C Association are to; promote the interests of the school by bringing parents, citizens, pupils and teaching staff into close co-operation; assist in providing equipment required by the school; report to the Minister the material requirements of the school; assist the teaching staff in establishment of school policy and management in all facets of school activity.”P&C Federation Quick Member Guide: Lines of Communication“Is it really a P&C Association matter?Where an issue is raised regarding individual children or families this is not a P&C Association matter and the people involved or affected need to make an approach to the Principal directly. P&C Association meetings are not suitable forums for discussing individual students, specific teaching practices/classroom incidents or specific families. If you find your P&C Association discussing personal matters ask the President to move on to the next item of business.”

As these excerpts clearly articulate the P&C is not the forum for raising issues about individual students. In these instances, the school has a clear line of communication which begins with the classroom teacher. In my personal experience, I have always found my sons’ teachers to be very approachable and happy to communicate with me via email, telephone and/or in face-to-face meetings. The school office is happy to forward emails to teachers or if you phone the office the friendly office staff will transfer you to the relevant staff room. Please be mindful that teachers have a very busy schedule and therefore you may have to leave a message.

If for whatever reason you are not satisfied with the outcome after communicating with the classroom teacher please contact the Head Teacher of that Department. Each year group also has a designated year advisor who travels with your child from year 7 to year 12, thus ensuring continuity of care. The school also has two counsellors who are available to discuss any concerns you may have with your child’s wellbeing both inside and outside of school.

Your child’s year group would also have been allocated to one of the school’s Deputy Principals Ms Di Stefano or Mr Morrison. If after exhausting all other channels of communication you are still concerned about your child’s progress or wellbeing both Ms Di Stefanio and Mr Morrison are there to help work with you to resolve any issues. Ms Moxham as the Principal has ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the school and is always happy to hear from parents.

As a parent, I am always mindful that the teachers and staff at Fort Street High School are dedicated and hardworking, and always have the best interests and wellbeing being of our children at the top of their agenda. When bringing your concerns to them we have a responsibility to bring both an open and collaborative mindset to the conversation.

Fort Street High School

Parents & Citizens AssociationABN 59 424 414 672

E: fortstreethighschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

You are invited: P&C Parent Open Forum6:30-7:30pm, 8 March 2017, School Library

The P&C would like to hear from you so please come along to our next Focus Item on the 8 March. We are inviting parents to bring their questions and feedback for both the P&C and school. Please be mindful of what is and isn’t an appropriate topic to discuss at P&C meeting as per the information above.In preparation for this forum I thought I would also share with you the following excerpts from two Departmental memorandums on the role of P&C meetings and the relationship between the school and the P&C.

Memorandum to: Principals, School Education Directors, Regional Directors 14 February 2007“The key focus of the P&C is to provide a forum in which parents can articulate their needs and aspirations for their children and contribute to a developing partnership with the school.Meetings of the P&C provide an important opportunity for the principal and members of the parent community to work together. P&C meetings allow all parents to come together as members and contribute in an open and inclusive forum where ideas and concerns can be raised and discussed.”Memorandum to: School Principals, School Education Directors, Regional Directors, State Office Directors 30 August 2009“Public education draws its strength from partnerships based on mutual respect, shared goals and trust. One of those most fundamental partnerships is between parents and their child’s teacher. Student learning improves when parents and staff work together in the best interests of the child. The organised voice of parents – the school’s Parents and Citizens’ Association, universally known as “the P&C” – can provide a supportive platform for developing partnerships in the school community In turn, schools will be most effective in meeting their goals when the partnership between parents and staff is open, publicly valued and based on a clear understanding of respective roles and responsibilities, the main aspects of which are outlined in legislation, department policy and the P&C Handbook. NSW public school principals have a fine record of leadership in this area. P&C meetings are an excellent opportunity for school staff and members of the parent community to work together. These meetings provide an open and inclusive forum where members meet to share ideas and concerns, build shared understanding of key issues, jointly agree on goals, and collaborate on a range of projects.”

We welcome Molly as the 2017 P&C Treasurer and Shruti as the new Fundraising Coordinator. Both parents were officially voted into their roles at the last P&C meeting. Thank you to Molly & Shruti for stepping up. Molly said she had been looking at ways to contribute to the school for a while and was excited to see the position advertised in the last Mercurius. If you are like Molly and wonder how you can contribute please contact us at the above email address, we would be happy to hear from you.We are still looking for help with the following key roles:• Assistant Treasurer• Communication SecretaryFurther information on the roles and the time commitments involved can be obtained by emailing us at the above address.If you don’t think you can take on such an important role but would still like to contribute the P&C are still looking for people to join the following committees:• Fundraising• Grant Writing• Communication• Parental EngagementNot only does the whole school benefit from parental involvement but your own child will directly benefit too. It is a great way as well to role model to your children how to contribute to the community and help be a part of a team working towards the same goals.The more parents/carers are able to contribute time to the P&C, however large or small, the greater the school benefits and the more we can achieve.

Help neededKey Roles

&P&C Sub-Committees

Dates to remember

The Department’s new Healthy Canteen Strategy was released on Tuesday 28 February. The new strategy replaces the current ‘traffic light’ system that assigned green, orange and red categories to food depending on their nutritional value to the health star rating method. Under this new strategy all food sold in school canteens must have a health star rating of 3.5 stars or higher. The new strategy also focuses on freshly made food using fresh ingredients rather than prepacked items.

To find out more about this important strategy please visit the following site:

healthyschoolcanteens.nsw.gov.au

All parents are invited to attend this special meeting to find out more about the Department’s Nutrition in Schools Policy and the new NSW Healthy School Canteen Strategy. We will also be discussing the level of P&C involvement and support for the canteen going forward and how this policy could influences P&C fundraisers. We are interested in finding out what parents want, so come along and have your say.

If you would like more information please contact Mel our representative on the school canteen committee at the below email address.

Uniform Shop Volunteers needed

Day: Wednesday (during school term)Time: from 10.00am to 2.00pm (as much or as little as you can)Email: fshs2013@gmail.com

If you can spare an hour or two of your time please email the P&C at the above address with your: name, availability, contact number, your child’s name and school year.

All offers of help warmly welcomed.

Special P&C MeetingMonday 3 April 2017

7.30pm School LibraryFort Street P&C have scheduled a special meeting to discuss the Department’s Healthy Canteen Strategy, the school canteen and P&C fundraisers on Monday 3 April at 7:30pm in the school library.

Open Parent Forum6.30pm to 7.30pm

P & C meeting for 20177.30pm to 9.30pm

Wednesday 8 March 2017School Library

P&C Meetings

We encourage all parents and carers to attend the P&C meetings so they can join and enjoy full participation rights in the activities of the P&C. P&C meetings are held every 2nd Wednesday of each month (during school term) at 7:30pm in the school library.

Please keep an eye out for meeting announcements as the P&C is always open to new ideas and welcomes anybody who wishes to share their time and expertise to help make the Fort even better.

Agenda items you would like raised at meetings should be sent to the P&C Secretary, Amanda at least one week before the meeting.

Who can join the P&C?

The following individuals are eligible to be members of the school’s P&C Association.

• parents and guardians of pupils attending the school• all citizens within the school community• members of the school staff• the Principal is an ex-officio member

Individuals must pay an annual $1 membership fee to become a member of the P&C. All financial members have the right to move motions and vote at subsequent P&C meetings.

A membership form can be found on the P&C page of the School’s website.

Contact us at: fortstreethighschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

The P&C Federation is a strong supporter of the Gonski funding model and has recently signed a joint statement from The NSW Public Education Alliance calling for a fair, just and prosperous nation for all our children.

But Gonski is currently threatened so please sign the petition.

SIGN THE PETITION AT

igiveagonski.com.au

Media Release: Celebrating P&C DayToday marks P&C Day, a time to celebrate the contributions of P&C Associations to school communities across the state. The contributions of P&Cs are often unacknowledged but considerable, raising over $54 million a year.

The NSW P&C Federation Board thank all P&C Volunteers who give so much of their time and energy towards their local schools. As well as fundraising, P&C’s are the opportunity for parents to advocate for their school as a combined community voice.

Advocacy for public schools is becoming increasingly important especially at a time when the funding for our school system is under attack. The gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ is getting wider each year and we need the Federal government to support our children and our schools through Needs Based Funding!

“The value of volunteer work P&C members put in to support public school communities is immense, with many exhausted parents working 90 hour weeks to complete their volunteer and regular work activities”. If we received the Gonski Funding, it would allow parents to dial it back to manageable hours.

P&Cs will celebrate the day and their partnerships with their schools - in many ways, including morning teas, suppers, special assemblies and fundraiser events. Thank you to the schools who are celebrating their parent and community workforce.

P&Cs will also take advantage of the day to initiate membership drives by raising awareness of the positive services P&Cs bring to their school communities.

“We hope P&C’s across the state feel well-earned pride in what they do.”

Sydney, NSW, 01 March 2017

Media Contact: President Susie Boyd susie.boyd@pandc.org.au

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