Journalism Extend Class – News Articles

The Fitzroy Community

I moved to Fitzroy High School at the beginning of 2024 to start year nine, and I couldn’t be happier that I chose this school. From the very first day, I felt welcomed by both the students and teachers. The sense of community here is incredible; everyone is supportive, friendly, and just generally positive – it’s a place where you feel like you belong.

One of the things I love most about this school is the diversity and how the teachers want you to learn more about the surroundings and history of the area. People from all different backgrounds are friends, and they come together to make the school a vibrant place. It’s been amazing to learn from others and build friendships I know will last.

Year Nine Connect was always so much fun, and it reflected perfectly on learning outside of the classroom. Wherever we went, whether it was Yarra Youth or Headspace, we learnt so much about the community and environment around us. FHS really makes us grow personally and academically, encouraging us to engage in the world around us in so many ways.

Another thing that I appreciate is the duration of the work experience; instead of one week, it’s two weeks, which gives us time to really get used to working life and working as a team.

Overall, being part of the Fitzroy High School community has been an incredible experience. It’s a place where I feel supported, inspired, and excited to learn every day.

Kaya E-A

Fitzroy High School

At Fitzroy High School, we have a good relationship with our students. We value your child’s education and listen to what our students and parents say. We take time to decide the best way to help your child in school at Fitzroy High. Your child can talk to us about what is going on, whether it be bullying or teasing, and we will find the best way to help and prevent that from happening again. If there are special things that your child needs to help learn, we can offer those things in the form of literacy support sessions. For instance, we will also let their teacher know how students need support, whether it be with reading, writing, or participating in class with outside activities and excursions. With our help, we promise that your child is in good hands. This can be confirmed by going to our website. If you look at our website, you will see some of the activities kids do at Fitzroy High School. From year 7 to year 8, the students practice for inter-school sports on Thursdays, where they will compete against other schools in basketball, tennis, soccer, badminton, cricket, and netball. In addition, in years 9 and 10, the students will participate in elective subjects where they can choose cooking, music, drama, or even journalism. So come along and we will take you on a tour of the school if your child is interested, we would love to see you there.

Sebastian D-P

Athletic Performance at Fitzroy High School

Fitzroy High School is well known for artistic and academic studies. However, an often overlooked area is the sporting community.

There have been many notable athletic events throughout the school’s history. One beloved tradition that has generated an incredible collection of moments is the annual Year 10 vs. teachers basketball game. The atmosphere of this game tends to be electric. Students pack onto the side-lines to see their friends try to defeat the teachers.

Another example of the sports community is the soccer games played on the hard courts. Students crowd around the gate to the pitch, awaiting its opening. These intense games have been going on for ages. Many students can’t even remember a time when they were not happening every recess and lunch.

Some have also participated in interschool sports events, especially in the younger year levels. However, interschool sports participation tends to be the least involved part of the school’s sporting community.

So far, there have not been many noticeable pushes to encourage participation in inter-school sports.

There are options for ways the school could increase participation.

• An increase in advertising for interschool sports.
• Mandatory participation.
• Try to incentivise participation with rewards.

It isn’t known whether or not the school will pursue any of these options.

Perry F-W

The Year 10 Excursion to the Yarra Bend Golf Course

A week or so ago, on a Friday afternoon, year 10 went on an excursion spanning over lunch and session four, to the Yarra Bend Public Golf Course in Fairfield. We first walked to Rushall Station, just a seven-minute walk from the school, where, after waiting a little bit for a train, we boarded and got off at Victoria Park Station in Abbotsford, another seven-minute journey. We then caught a bus to a stop just above the Studley Park boat house, where we walked for another ten minutes, and we arrived at our destination.

The golf course had several facilities, including a mini-golf adventure and a driving range overlooking a large open patch of grass, where I mistook the hundreds of yellow golf balls in the grass for yellow flowers. We each got a thorough opportunity to play both types of golf and relax at their lounge, equipped with air conditioning and water mist. You could tell by the number of other visitors that the venue was significantly popular. They also had golf carts, food, drinks, and confectionery items to purchase.

Overall, it was a rewarding and laid-back experience, especially after a long school week. Even though it was hot that day and it was an outdoor event, I like to think everyone else in attendance enjoyed it as well.

Bryn D

 Year Nine Connect excursion

Fitzroy High School’s Year Nine Connect excursion offered students a unique opportunity to explore and engage with various educational and cultural experiences outside the classroom. During the excursion, students participated in hands-on activities, visited local landmarks, and were involved in team-building exercises, all designed to enhance their learning and personal growth. We visited the graffiti/spray painting, and I participated in drawing my initials. Others did a wide range of other stuff that was provided.

The trip encouraged students to step out of their comfort zones, build connections with peers, and develop new skills while experiencing the rich culture of Fitzroy and the educational offerings of the local community.

Overall, from my experience on the extended excursion, it was very nice seeing other businesses from the community and kids learning about the organisations that support us in the community, etc. Being on an excursion is fun because I just think it is.

The total number of places we have visited in this term is five excursions to different places. Our transport was by train and tram, as in the 86/11 trams and just the metro train that runs between the places we were visiting 😉 😉 .

That’s one highlight to end the term 😉

Ana N

What’s The Deal With Attendances?!

To begin with, Fitzroy High School staff have dealt with many challenges, like assignments, disagreements, bathrooms, unhelpful choices and many more. An issue that seemed to increase over the past few weeks of the start of term 1 is attendance.

To give context, staff this year have become more strict with student attendance, especially with the year 10s, due to last year’s attendance. Last year, staff noticed an increase in lateness and unexplained absence from students of all year levels.

Firstly, lateness is the biggest issue with student attendance because students miss their class time, might miss important information, and it will be reflected in their attendance record, and they might fall behind on work.

Secondly, unexplained absences are another issue because the school doesn’t know the students’ whereabouts, and the teachers have to record the unexplained absences in the students’ attendance records.

Additionally, when students enter year 9 and want to do early VCE or VET, attendance is important. If teachers see a student’s bad attendance, it’s likely they would be turned down. It doesn’t matter if students do the work and hand it in on time. This year, teachers have become more strict with year 10 attendance because year 10 is preparation for VCE, VET and VM (whichever route they take). Year 10s need to have good attendance in order to get into the VCE, VET or VM class they want. Year 11 and 12 teachers expect them to get at least 90% of attendance. If not, they would be put ‘At Risk’, which means a meeting with the student’s parents about their attendance. This may sound scary, but hope isn’t lost.

What teachers have done to solve this issue is having parent meetings, doing-catch up and giving warnings to students. Last year, year 9 teachers embraced this temporary system where students in year 9 had three latenesses or unexplained absences. They had to stay for lunch for a few minutes. This is no longer running but it seemed to help attendance. Another solution that teachers are trying is a change of the timetable. Instead of a double session in the morning from 9:00 – 11:30, there is a single session from 9:00 – 10:15 followed by a recess from 10:15 – 12:00, and a double session in the middle of the day from 12:00 – 1:15. The reason for this change is because teachers want students to eat early if they haven’t had breakfast. Secondly, teachers notice that students arrive late in the morning or do not show up. So, having a single session followed by recess would help students not miss class time. Those are the main solutions the teachers are doing to decrease bad attendance.

In conclusion, attendance is important to Fitzroy High School, every school around Australia and every school worldwide. Additionally, suggestions for better attendance could include making a schedule or changing old habits to helpful habits. People do struggle with attendance, and it takes time to get better, but it’s never too late to fix it!

Jacinta D-C

Pegasus: The reason behind the Fitzroy High School mascot

The Pegasus has always been deeply symbolic, dating back thousands of years to Ancient Greece. The first recorded mention of a Pegasus was in Homer’s Iliad in the eighth century BCE. Pegasus was initially described as majestic and strong but over time, many stories characterised it as mysterious and loyal.

He is heavily associated with reaching personal aspirations because he was known to be capable of accomplishing anything. Due to his eventual affiliation with the muses (the goddesses of all arts and knowledge), he came to be connected to art and seen as a symbol of creativity. This correlates with Fitzroy High School and Wurun Senior Campus because of the schools’ comprehensive art programs.

Since Pegasus was born from the blood of Medusa and the foam of the sea, he is linked with transformation and new beginnings. The constellation of Pegasus in the northern hemisphere is very significant, as many travellers use it to navigate, so it is also an emblem of exploration.

It is common to see the Pegasus represented in white, which conveys purity, though in the Fitzroy High mascot the colours are red and gold. The colour red is known to represent love, passion, activity and energy, while gold is known to represent success, joy, and optimism.

In closing, the Pegasus serves as a fitting mascot for FHS due to its dedication to fostering art abilities and helping reach goals for each one of its students.

Vera S

Why Government Schools Should Receive More Funding.

In my honest opinion, government schools across Victoria could benefit majorly from additional funding from the Department of Education which would enable many students and teachers dreams for the school to become a reality and strive further beyond.

According to the Department of Education’s official website, government schools receive much lower funding budgets compared to private schools in Victoria. Government schools could do with so much more with extra funding, every school is full of bright students and staff with amazing ideas, and Fitzroy High School is zero exception. There are many features and projects that the very creative and ambitious students and staff of Fitzroy High School want to complete, such as turning the gym into a proper club, more resources for Extend classes, and so on and so forth. But unfortunately, unless we petition now, there’s a chance it will never come to fruition.

Honest student “Bryn D” of 10Y wanted to chime in:
“I think that if the school received more funding, that would be pretty awesome!”

According to the AEU, public schools will expect a decrease of 14 billion in budgeting in the next decade, as of 2018-2019, this would devastate public schools across Australia.

This is why I think that it would be a very important idea to petition the Department of Education to increase government schools funding so we can live to see this school and many schools like Fitzroy High School reach its full potential, as it is filled to the brim with amazing innovators and creativity.

Liam C

FHS Cabaret

Every few years FHS organises a major school production which has been either a musical, a solid play or a cabaret. This year Fitzroy High School will be holding a cabaret which has been put together by Oliver P’s year 9 & 10 elective class! The venue that will be hosting is the Brunswick Ballroom on the 13th-14th of August. The theme for this year’s cabaret is ‘Ye-olde’ which will be adapted into some of the acts.

If you don’t know what it is, a cabaret is an arrangement of theatrical entertainment that originated in France in the 1880s. It can include dance, music, recitation and a combination of things.

The cabaret will explore and showcase the amazing work that the students in this community have created and brought together. This year’s school production consists of music performances, drama examples, comedy shows and much more exciting pieces, including some of the acts made by the students of the elective class who are running the whole thing. It is a show open to any student in the Fitzroy High community and is an incredible opportunity for those who want to get out of their comfort zone and shine on a stage.

Fitzroy High School has a history of successful school productions, including performances by brave students who have presented solo acts and phenomenal group productions.

Family members and other fellow students who aren’t in the production of this cabaret can come and watch. There will be further updates in regards to the school’s cabaret. Hope to see you then!

Tianna L