Fort Street Public School

Fort Street Public School (abbreviated as FSPS) is a government co-educational primary school located in Millers Point, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established in 1849, it is one of the oldest government schools in Australia, and is operated by the New South Wales Department of Education. History Fort Street Public School descends from Fort Street Model School, established in 1849 and the first government model school in the colony of New South Wales. The school is one of the oldest public schools in Australia. The history of public education in Australia began when the Governor of New South Wales Charles FitzRoy established a Board of National Education on 8 January 1848 to implement a national system of education throughout the colony. The board decided to create two model schools, one for boys and one for girls. The site of Fort Street Model School was chosen as the old Military Hospital at Fort Phillip, on Sydney's Observatory Hill. This school was not only intended to educate boys and girls, but also to serve as a model for other schools in the colony. The school's name is derived from the name of a street which ran into the grounds of the hospital and became part of the playground during its reconstruction. From the 1850s the Model School offered both primary and secondary education, and was associated with Fort Street Training School, which trained all public school teachers in the colony. The school became Fort Street Superior Public School in 1881.