news Archives - ƬƵ Primary & Secondary Education in the Anglican Tradition Wed, 07 Sep 2022 23:12:33 +0000 en-AU hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2020/11/cropped-logo-identity-blue-mountains-grammar-school-sydney-32x32.png news Archives - ƬƵ 32 32 The story behind the John Fuller Library /history/the-story-behind-the-john-fuller-library/ /history/the-story-behind-the-john-fuller-library/#respond Wed, 24 Aug 2022 02:08:00 +0000 /?p=3296 Did you know the John Fuller Library was named after a former teacher? Mr Fuller was a colourful character and is remembered fondly by many for his loud voice and outgoing personality.

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By Marlene Plummer, School Archivist
11 August 2022

We thought Book Week was an appropriate time to discover the story behind the naming of the John Fuller Library at Wentworth Falls Junior School.

The library was named after John “Johnnie” Fuller, a former Junior School Teacher. Johnnie Fuller commenced as a Junior School teacher in 1967. Amongst his many roles he became Head of the Junior School from 1974 to 1985 when it was situated in Lake Street (now Kindle Hill School)  He loved and encouraged the reading of books, and showed a particular interest in children who had learning difficulties and took remedial classes after school. He taught art and craft throughout the Junior School and took an active role in all school sports.

John was the resident master from 1967-73 in the boarding house, Blue Horizons, (now the Silvermere Guest House) and Boarding Housemaster in 1978.

This colourful character is remembered fondly by many for his loud voice and vigorous personality. He had a great sense of humour, an attitude of fair play and interesting attire.

When asked, a past student used three words to describe Johnnie “passionate, eccentric and fun”

After his retirement, John continued to have an active interest in ƬƵ by organising Golf Days, in conjunction with our alumni reunions. The Junior School Library was refurbished in 2016 and John visited and approved the new changes.

John Fuller Teacher at ƬƵ

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]]> /history/the-story-behind-the-john-fuller-library/feed/ 0 The story behind the daffodils /history/the-daffodils-at-blue-mountains-grammar-school/ /history/the-daffodils-at-blue-mountains-grammar-school/#respond Thu, 11 Aug 2022 00:53:22 +0000 /?p=3221 Did you know that daffodils have been grown on the grounds of ƬƵ since 1885?

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By Marlene Plummer, School Archivist
11 August 2022

In 1888 Mr Robert Matcham Pitt was given his father’s 42 acres (16.9 hectares) of land in Wentworth Falls and on the highest point he built Coorah for his family.  The land was described as the raggiest, sandiest and meanest looking land as you would want to see.

Pitt planned to build a wonderful garden. He had the soil analysed by experts and discovered it was 90% sand and silica. He fertilised it with 1200 tons of cow and sheep manure and set about creating a garden that contained a large range of exotic and native species.

Robert Pitt had an avid interest in bulbs and in 1885 there was half an acre of hyacinths, half an acre of lilies, 10,000 crowns of lily of the valley and 250,000 glorious daffodils.   He imported daffodils from England, Ireland and Japan and is responsible for introducing them to the Blue Mountains and being the first person to plant them in Australia five years before Alistair Clarke, an award-winning horticulturist in Victoria.  Pitt hybridised and experimented with daffodils and named two after his children Clive Pitt and Doris Pitt.  Until 1905 Pitt grew daffodils commercially but after that time, they were donated to charity.

Daffodls
Left to right: Paul Vardy, John Laroux, Terry Williams, Phillip Robson, and Gregory Harris

In May 1951 ƬƵ amalgamated with the MacLaurin School on the 2.4 hectares of Pitt’s original 16.9 hectares and Coorah was the only building. With access to the daffodils, the boys learnt how to pick daffodils and thus began years of profit from selling these beautiful blooms. The boarders were woken early to pick so they could be bunched and sent on the train to markets. The mothers had a system of bunching them for the boys to sell on the Highway – 40 for 3/- (shillings) = (30 cents).

Daffodils at ƬƵ

In spring, until the middle of the 1980s, the hill below Coorah was covered with daffodil blooms. Many were lifted and planted in other parts of the school but many perished due to over-mowing.  The school has held daffodil drives and on one occasion hundreds of daffodils were planted to line the main driveway and the paths to the Junior School.

You can still see daffodils lining the borders of Matcham Avenue and around the school. Best time to see them in full bloom is in early to mid-August.

daffodils

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]]> /history/the-daffodils-at-blue-mountains-grammar-school/feed/ 0 ƬƵ Students represent Australia at the F1 in Schools World Finals /news/bill-klein-and-charlie-burgess-represent-australia-at-f1-in-schools/ /news/bill-klein-and-charlie-burgess-represent-australia-at-f1-in-schools/#respond Sun, 03 Jul 2022 23:49:38 +0000 /?p=2974 Morbi consequat, neque tincidunt auctor mattis, libero augue molestie nulla, at dapibus urna libero nec dolor. Aliquam venenatis magna eu libero finibus malesuada.

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From Wentworth Falls to the World Finals

ƬƵ (ƬƵ) students, Charlie Burgess and Bill Klein, will represent Australia in the 2022 World Finals of F1 in Schools STEM Challenge in July. The competition attracts more than 17,000 schools globally and is billed as the world’s most competitive STEM competition.

The ƬƵ Year 11 students have been involved in the F1 in Schools program for three years as part of the school’s Design and Technology coursework and Co-Curricular program.  Competing as Team PerPetrol, the ƬƵ team were victorious in the National Finals in 2021, taking first place in the competition’s “Development Class”. The rules of the competition require the team to partner with another school to compete in the 2022 F1 in Schools World Finals, which led to the Team AQUEOUS collaboration with National runners-up, Aeolus Racing, from Newington College.

Team AQUEOUS will compete against more than 50 schools in the world’s foremost student competition for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. The competition requires students to design and make a miniature F1 car capable of 0-80 km/h in under 1 second with each student taking on a specific engineering and manufacturing roles using real-world technology.

Klein is the Manufacturing Engineer who manages the construction of the final race car using 3D printing, CNC milling and Computer-Aided Manufacturing. Burgess is the Testing Engineer, performing physical tests on prototypes, as well as utilising virtual testing through Computational Fluid Dynamics and Finite Element Analysis. Rounding out ƬƵ cohort of Team AQUEOUS is ƬƵ alumnus, Nick Hayes who has taken on the role of Team AQUEOUS Brand Manager. Hayes represented ƬƵ at the F1 in Schools 2019 World Finals and is now studying Mechanical Engineering at UNSW.

“We are so proud of our students who have shown tremendous resilience and determination in the face of Covid-19 to produce such outstanding results in the state, regional and national finals over the last three years,” said Mr Brendan O’Keeffe, Design and Technology teacher at ƬƵ.

“Participating in the F1 in Schools has been an incredibly rewarding experience,” said Klein. “Our aim has always been to not just succeed in the F1 in Schools, but also to help each other develop skills that enhance both our career opportunities, and us as people. We’ve had so much fun working together in Team Aqueous and are very

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