From the Principals' Desk

Careers and Pathways Expo

My thanks to Ms Clarissa Jacques, Ms Emma Geyer, and Ms Fiona Vanstan in particular for their excellent organisation of our annual careers expo. It is always wonderful to catch up with the large numbers of alumni students who are keen to return to Nossal and share their experiences with University and post Nossal study, and their advice on how to survive and succeed through VCE. We are very fortunate to have such connected ex-students who are willing to assist the school and current Nossal students. I encourage all Nossal students to take advantage of their genuine offers of support and assistance and to communicate with them should you have any questions that they may be able to assist you with.

My thanks too, to the teaching staff for their role in facilitating and presenting on Thursday evening, and as always to the PFA for their excellent support and involvement.

Again, this year, most of the key universities were in attendance and there was a huge contingent from Monash – many of whom were ex-students representing their University Faculties. We are able to gain such strong support from the universities as they are keen to ensure that they attract Nossal students, and there are increasing numbers of Nossal Alumni in most of the large Australian universities.

I hope all Nossal families were able to take full advantage of the presentations, the university stalls or the information panels and Nossal Domain displays on the evening.

Nossal Celebration 2019

Seeing the alumni in attendance at the expo reminds me that we have a significant celebration to plan for in 2019. Nossal High School will be 10 years old next year. We have achieved much in that relatively short period of time and will soon start to plan for some suitable celebrations to mark our 10-year anniversary.

School Self Evaluation and Review

As I have previously mentioned, the school will be undertaking a comprehensive review of our performance during the past four years under our current Strategic Plan, and while we have achieved very positive results across most performance measures – there are always areas where we can improve or do or learn more. The self evaluation process will assist us to determine which areas we need to focus on for the next Strategic Plan and we will shortly be embarking on a comprehensive review of our data, performance, and achievements, and interviewing staff students, parents and alumni to determine our areas of success and areas for improvement. This process fits in under the “Framework for Improving Student Outcomes” (FISO) under the “Education State” Targets for Victorian Government Schools.

The following slides detail the process and the targets....

You will note that one of the central components of the new review process is the focus on increasing student voice and agency, and this is a new and welcome imperative, and one that I think we have done some good work in, but there is much scope to do more – particularly within the delivery of curriculum and the provision of authentic student choice, feedback and input into their learning.

I think the Education State targets describe one of the more coherent and holistic frameworks we have ever had in my time in education and it mirrors the priorities and targets that we had identified as being of importance in our previous Strategic Plan.

40 Years of Service Award

Congratulations to Mr Butler – who was honoured recently at the Recognition of Service Ceremony at the National Gallery where he received an award for his 40 Years of service to Victorian education. We are fortunate to have someone with his long experience and expertise here at Nossal. These awards are presented annually and this year about 30 teachers received 50 Year service awards, and one received an award for 55 years of service – a truly remarkable achievement. It speaks volumes for the dedication and commitment of these staff – teaching is a demanding job, but is also exceptionally rewarding and it is a joy to be able to spend your days working with bright young people and helping them to learn and grow.

Rotary Raffle

I have been a little disappointed with the number of raffle books that have been returned unsold – and we still have quite a few tickets remaining. We have to have all ticket sales finalised by the end of this week so please make sure that all tickets and money are returned to the office and if you are able to sell a few last-minute tickets – please do so. Every ticket we return unsold is a wasted opportunity to raise funds for Nossal – or another local charity. Plus, I am sure it is our turn to win the car this year and it would be a shame to miss out on that!

South East Feast

After much discussion and analysis of the event both Nossal and the Rotary Club have reluctantly decided not to proceed with this initiative in 2019. While we were very happy with what was achieved and had excellent support from within Nossal and the Berwick Rotary Club, the event did not raise the expected revenue and ran at a considerable loss. While we anticipated this may be the case for the first event, we were hopeful of at least breaking even and building from there in subsequent years. Even with refinement and modification we believe such an event is too risky a proposition as it is dependent on bringing in large numbers of people from outside the school community, and is always at the mercy of the weather on the day.

We will explore other options for a significant fundraiser for the school. I thank all involved for their excellent work and persistence – particularly Jack Kraan and the large team of Rotarians who so strongly supported this event (and continue to support the school in many other ways)

Japanese Relationships

I was honoured to be invited to the Japanese Consul General’s Residence for function last week, and flattered to have the work of Nossal formally noted in the welcome speech by the Consul General, as while this was not an education specific event, myself and another Principal were invited to acknowledge the contribution our schools were making to the teaching of Japanese language and the promotion of partnerships between Australia and Japan. I was pleased to be able to inform Mr Matsunaga that (coincidently) we were welcoming a Japanese exchange student to Nossal this week for a 5 week visit and home stay with one of the Nossal families. Yuna Uekusa has re-joined Nossal from Chosei High School after spending several weeks here last year as part of the formal Sister School exchange program. She enjoyed her time here so much that she has made private arrangements to return this year. She will be taking some Year 10 and 11 classes and assisting with Japanese classes – please make her feel welcome.

Melbourne Tram Application

I thank Grace Archer for the excellent work she did late last term, putting in an application for a historic Melbourne Tram for Nossal High School. The government invited schools and community groups to apply to be given a tram to be sited and used as they saw fit, which we thought was a wonderful opportunity to secure an iconic Melbourne artefact that we could use as a meeting room and gathering space. Alas, in spite of Grace’s hard work in putting the submission together, the Education Department have now advised that, while the tram would be provided and delivered for free, they would require well over $60,000 worth of refurbishment work to make them compliant with building and health regulations before they could be brought onto a school site, so it is unlikely that we will be in a position (along with most other schools) to take up the offer.

Debating

My thanks and congratulations to all Nossal debaters, and in particular Ms Ravi, Ms Haryani, and Ms Banaag for their leadership and support. Unfortunately, I was unable to get to many of the debates this year, but I have been hearing excellent reports about the quality and sportsmanship of our debating teams. I managed to get to the final round of local debates at St Margaret’s last week and was fortunate enough to see our Year 12 team and one of our Year 9 teams in action.

One of the enduring and most impressive features of the Nossal debating teams is the strong support that they provide for each other with the senior students mentoring and coaching the younger teams, and attending their debates to encourage and support them. I was pleased to hear that two of our teams have made it through to the finals which is a very impressive achievement as it is highly competitive  – congratulations to our Year 11 Team and to Year 9 Team 2. They will be participating in the finals in late August in Melbourne. We will announce more details when the venues and times are confirmed.

Farewell to the Alpine School Team

Last week we farewelled Samy Sharma, Audrey Chau, Anna Ajnoha, Kelly Tran, Richard Lee, Tyler Langevin and John Shin of Year 9 – they will be spending the rest of this term at the Gnurad-Gundidj Campus of the Alpine School in the Western District. It will be a wonderful, but very challenging experience for them. They will be away from their family and friends, as well as TV, phones and computers for the next 8 weeks while they undertake an intensive leadership and outdoor education program. We wish them well and look forward to seeing what leadership project they will implement at Nossal upon their return.

Duke of Edinburgh Award

I apologise for the confusion with the Duke of Ed program this year. We have had some personnel changes and have had problems gaining access to information through the governing body. Ms Vanstan has been working on this and we are now close to resolving some of the confusion. If you are an active participant in this program, could you please email Mr Page or Ms Vanstan so we can check to ensure that we have your details registered with both the  school and the Duke of Ed organisation.

Memorial Pavers

Year 12 students and members of the PFA, Alumni, Staff and School Council may wish to purchase a paver with their name on it for inclusion in the commemorative garden. We are about to place our order for 2018 – please complete an application form and return it to the school soon as possible.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Grace Archer (our School Captain) who has just achieved a “Queen’s Scout Award.”

This award requires hundreds of hours of effort, persistence and determination including training courses, service to others, and outdoor adventures like major expeditions. This is the top scouting award and only a small percentage reach this level – they are the top achievers among Scouting’s 47 million members globally. Very impressive work Grace.

PFA Fundraiser

The PFA are arranging a Meat Tasting event at Nossal on August 22 at 7.00 pm. There is no cost to attend, but you must be over 18, a regular meat eater (lamb) and be prepared to taste and comment on 6 different pieces of lamb that will be cooked for you. The lamb company will then donate money to the PFA. We require exactly 60 attendees on the evening, so if you might be interested please keep an eye out for the booking details which will be sent out shortly.

Roger Page

Principal