From the Principals' Desk

Year 12 Final Days

Our last newsletter before Year 12 students complete their final classes, and final few weeks of their secondary education! Times does really seem to fly at this time of the year and the Year 12 students will be facing the next month with eager anticipation, some trepidation, some nervousness, and for some a degree of discomfort as the realisation that 13 years of schooling is rapidly coming to an end. I hope too that they are all facing the final weeks with some degree of confidence and determination to do their best. I know they will be successful (from past experience; from the testing and value add data we have collected; and because our students, their families and the Nossal staff are all highly committed and very good at what they do) and I look forward to celebrating their success later in December when the final results are made public. As always though – I exhort all members of the Nossal community to remember that “your best is good enough” and all anyone can do is their best (regardless of how that may compare with others) Education is a journey, not a destination, and Year 12 is a part of that journey, and is relatively important now, and for the next few months, but does not define what you can or will become in the future. I wish all Year 12 students every success – and remind them to take every advantage of the many support services offered by the school and their teachers to help them manage the pressures of the exam period and to maximise their performance. Not everyone will be Dux, but I do hope that every student achieves their personal best and in the end, is satisfied with what they have achieved. Even if the final result was not what they had hoped for there are many opportunities and alternatives available, and new pathways and opportunities will always present themselves. I am constantly reassured when I speak to Nossal Alumni about their university trajectory since departing secondary school and many of them have made major positive shifts in their courses and programs either as a result of finding something that better suits them, or as a result of higher or lower levels of performance, both of which have led to other doors opening for them.

The final Year 12 assembly (run by the Year 12 students) will be on October 22 and the traditional Year 12 celebration day will take place on Tuesday Oct 23 before Swot Vac begins. The first VCAA Exam (English) takes place on October 31. I thank the Year 12 group for their leadership of the school and for the contribution they have made during the short four years we have enjoyed their company...as I said at the assembly last week – I will miss nearly all of them!

As the school program changes to accommodate the final VCE exams – I ask that all students be particularly mindful of the spaces and study requirements for the exam period and ask that Year 11 students in particular ensure that they are following the attendance and study guidelines exactly as has been spelled out to them by the VCE Leadership team.

Casey Tech School

The Casey Tech is now open for business and will held the official opening on Tuesday October 16 and a group of our students were  part of the official ceremony. The new facility is on the grounds of Chisholm and will host all local secondary students to run through challenging real-world problem-solving activities in a state of the art high tech. facility with specialist teachers and local industry. It is a very impressive building and the programs they are planning are very exciting and will take our students further than we are able to. I have been privileged to have been part of the planning committee and think Nossal students have much to gain from this initiative, and we are in the box seat in terms of our location. See www.caseytechschool.vic.edu.au for more information.

A different take on my “Standard Whinges” re Litter and Train Safety

Metro Trains have been pressuring us to hold an assembly so they can address the school about safety issues around Berwick station. We have been reluctant to do so as we don’t really have the time to do it and I believe we have said it all ad infinitum and that our students know exactly what they should and shouldn’t do. The Metro Rail authorities will be conducting a blitz on people who cross the rail line against the warning signals and pedestrian boom gates and will have uniformed and plain clothes officers issuing fines to those who transgress. They wanted to use the assembly to warn our students of this, so please consider this the warning and if any Nossal students are foolish enough to break the law, they should expect a significant consequence (and a fine of up to $480 is an infinitely preferable consequence to what may occur should they choose to cross the train tracks at the wrong time).

Jason collected an enormous amount of rubbish from our main carpark and gardens last week – much of it MacDonald’s garbage which I hope was not dumped by our students and parents, although if it is visitors and people out of hours it will be harder to target. However, too many of our students operate in what I term the MacDonald’s culture here at Nossal where they finish their food and get up and walk off leaving their rubbish for someone else to clean up. Perhaps I might appeal to the environmental conscience of our students, most of who take a great interest in preserving our environment I believe. When I tidy classrooms and corridors after school, I am appalled by the number of discarded water bottles and plastic lunch containers left lying around each day – most of which are never claimed and end up in landfill. It seems some of our students are treating all their containers as single use and this has to be incredibly bad for the environment and costly for parents. I am quite perturbed too by the amount of commercial bottled water our students consume. When we have some of the best tap water in the world, and at Nossal all students have access to numerous taps (some chilled and filtered) throughout the school I question the need to purchase water that comes from who knows where, and is sold in plastic containers that are discarded after use. We had Dan Flynn CEO and instigator of the “Thank You” Water initiative present a keynote address at our Speech Night a few years ago, and he had a really powerful message about the environment and he impact of bottled water, and I feel we are not living up to his example at all. Please look him up and see what he has done – it is very impressive... https://thankyou.co/about

Principal for a Day

I was pleased host Judith Graley MLA for Narre Warren as part of the Principal for a Day Program recently. This program gives schools and prominent members of the community an opportunity to forge a relationship and increase their understanding about the challenges and the wonderful things that occur in our local schools every day. As an ex-teacher, local government representative, member of state parliament since 2006, and the current Parliamentary Secretary for Education Judith has a great understanding of schools and local issues, and she (along with Phil Steel from Monash University) is the reason that Nossal is located in Berwick. She has been a very strong supporter and friend of the school since before we opened, and has always been willing to listen and assist us where she can. Judith is retiring from politics at the November election so I was pleased to be able to publicly thank her for her support for Nossal HS in particular and for her advocacy for, and interest in, state education over a long period of time. Judith spent the morning touring the school, speaking at assemblies and a staff morning tea and meeting with our student leaders. She shared some interesting insights into state government with the leadership team and we have given her some strong messages to convey to the current state leaders and education minister, particularly around the funding inequities and resourcing needs of government schools, ours in particular.

Parent Teacher Student Conferences

We are in the process of reviewing our Parent Teacher processes in the light of the numbers in attendance late last term. Under our current format we run the Parent Teacher Student Conferences across Thursday afternoon and evening and through most of the day on Friday which gives us a range of contact times for parents. The Thursday afternoon, evening and first thing on Friday were quite busy, but the bulk of the day on Friday was very quiet with minimal numbers of parents in attendance. We will seek more feedback and information before we make any changes, but for the Term 3 Parent Teacher Student Conferences there appears to be significantly less demand than for interviews in Term 1, and there might be a more efficient structure we can apply in the future.

Staffing and Teacher Interview Panels

We have been advertising and interviewing for new teachers for 2019, due to some staff departures and expiring contracts. Nossal is one of the few schools that I am aware of that includes student representatives in this process and we generally have two students sit on each interview panel. After some brief training in the principles of Merit and Equity, our students help us undertake part of the selection process, interview the applicants and make recommendations about rankings and final selections. Applicants generally undertake a three-part process consisting of a comprehensive written application, interview with a panel of 4 or 5 (including two students) and referee and background checks. At Nossal we are usually in the fortunate position of receiving very good fields of excellent applicants, although this can be variable at times. I am always impressed by the number of students (from Years 9 – 12) who volunteer to sit on these panels (some of which take 5 or 6 hours of interviewing) and by their enthusiasm to select well, their astute observations and recommendations, and their understanding of, and adherence to the merit and equity guidelines and regulations. It also gives me some insight into the capacity of the applicants to interact with and form relationships with students, which I believe is one of the most important parts of the teacher role.

Year 9 2019 Information Night

Two packed sessions were conducted in the first week of the term for the families of the successful 2019 Nossal applicants, and under Ms Loel and Ms Banaag’s guidance the evening (as has now become tradition) was authored and run almost solely by a group of Year 9 student volunteers. With minimal direction, the students put together an informative and entertaining program showcasing individual students and filling the audience in about what to expect at Nossal and how and why we do what we do. For me this is always an uplifting and engaging event, made all the more effective because it is student run. After several years of this program evolving we are now starting to (accurately) predict some future school captains based on what we see from these Year 9 presenters. As always, our students are our best ambassadors and I sincerely thank all those involved in the information Night last week for their very impressive work.

Leaving Nossal?

If for any reason, your child will not be returning to Nossal in 2019 (other than Year 12 graduates of course) please let us know as soon as possible so the place can be offered to one of the many on the waiting list. For planning and subject selection processes we need to know as soon as possible please.

My Thanks and Congratulations to....

• Mr Delaney and Ms Desaulniers and our Japanese tour group who returned from their Japanese tour and homestay during the school holidays after having an amazing time, developing new friendships, language skills and a much greater cultural understanding. We renewed our relationship with our sister school, Chosei High School in Mobara, and all the reports I have heard about the trip were highly positive.

• Our SRC who have been announced as the winners of the Secondary School Award as the best SRC in the  VicSRC Student Voice Awards program for 2018.   Congratulations!

• Ryan Venpin for his continued high levels of performance in badminton; at the ILT Australasian U17 Championships 2018 in New Zealand (Singles Runner Up, Mixed Doubles Winner and Boys Doubles semi-finalist), 2018 Australian Under 19 Championships in Hobart (Boys Doubles Runner Up and Mixed Doubles Semi-Finalist) and at the Australian Junior International 2018 in Perth. His father has just informed me that Badminton Australia have selected him to represent Australia at the upcoming World Junior Badminton Championships in Canada from 2nd November to 18th November 2018.

• Ryan Wijaya who spoke at the Eastern Region Joint Interfaith Network Symposium at the Mulgrave Community Centre.  There were about 200 people in attendance from all the eastern region interfaith network for this symposium. Ryan gave a very powerful speech on “Together with faith we can all live in peace and harmony,” and later on in the evening he took the stage with the other presenters to participate in a forum and responded to the questions from the floor so eloquently and confidently.

• Sankalpa Rao who was last week presented with a prestigious “Swannie Award” by the DAV (Debating Association of Victoria) as she had been judged to be one of the top performing debaters in our region this year.

• Sophia Liao who has received the inaugural Principal’s Scholarship to Melbourne University.
• Our 5 Alpine School graduates who returned to Nossal for Term 4 after having spent nearly all of term three at the Gnurad Gundidj campus in the Western District, and who have an interesting leadership project to implement at Nossal as a result.

• Our newly elected School Captains for 2019 who have already started to fill some of the duties while the 2018 Captains prepare for their final exams.... Captains – Aleena Bino and Alvin Santosh, and Vice Captains – Anna Huynh and Leo Crnogorcevcic.

Important Coming Events

• Year 12 Celebrations, SWOT VAC and VCAA Exams – from 22/10
• Art Tech Gala 24/10
• Year 9 Leadership Program 24/10– 26/10
• Cup Eve Digital Delivery Day 5/11
• NHS Exams commence 16/11
• Valedictory Dinner 22/11
• Speech Night 27/11

Roger Page

Principal