IRC News
Book Week Celebrations 2023
Our school celebrated a full week of exciting activities during Book Week (August 21 to 25, 2023), all revolving around books and authors. The theme of this year’s Book Week was “Read, Grow, Inspire.” The IRC and English staff organized a range of activities and competitions such as What staff and students are reading, Music and Bollywood performances, Interhouse Quiz, Interhouse Spelling Bee and Creative Writing competitions. CBCA Book Guess Competition, Henna Designing and guess the number of jellybeans in the jar competition.
Amidst all the competitions, we welcomed three well-known Australian authors as Writers-in-Residence throughout the week. Michael Pryor, spoke to all Year 9 students on the background of his ideas for creative writing and conducted workshops for selected students while Alice Pung spoke to our Year 10 students on her experiences of growing up as a migrant in Melbourne and Janine Coombs, an Indigenous writer, shared her experiences and spoke about her background being an Indigenous Australian with the Year 11 students.
The week-long extravaganza, full of fun and learning ended with a book character and multicultural dress up parade with a gold coin donation, which was donated to both the Cancer Council and the Heart Foundation. The highlight of the day was an outstanding performance by our visiting Japanese sister school exchange students, who showed their dancing talent to our students, which was very much appreciated by the Nossal Community.
Overall, it was a great success. Staff and students actively participated in events with lots of excitement and enthusiasm this year. Many thanks to our Library Leaders for assisting the IRC staff in the preparation of displays for the Book Week Celebrations.
Kalpana Lal
Library Coordinator
Students' Reflections
On August 21, the Year Nines were privileged to have the opportunity to attend an author lecture from renowned Melbourne-based fantasy writer, Michael Pryor. Throughout the lecture, Michael Pryor successfully captured the attention of the Year Nine students and outlined his novels and passion regarding the literary genre, fantasy. Furthermore, through the assistance of his PowerPoint, Michael Pryor guided the audience through his predetermined steps for successfully writing about fantastical storylines and relatable characters. Thus, his approach to young adult fantasy novels includes reading, research, worldbuilding and a reality bridge, which directly influences the outcomes and success rate of a novel. Michael Pryor explained the significance of reading with a conscious mind, researching all aspects of a novel, creativity regarding world building and the conjuring maps, and the importance of having plausible plots and dynamics throughout a novel. Personally, I particularly enjoyed listening to Michael Pryor’s views and opinions regarding visual imagery such as maps in fantasy novels, as I feel that such a visual element is often overlooked. This presentation was able to expand my knowledge regarding the technical aspects of writing and altered my views in relation to the process of writing.
Ananya Ananda - Year 9
On Monday 21 August, the ninth-grade students had the privilege of attending a lecture by the esteemed Melbourne-based fantasy writer, Michael Pryor. Mr. Pryor adeptly held the attention of the students, sharing his fervor for fantasy literature and his own works in the genre. With the aid of a PowerPoint presentation and a surprising magic book, he guided the audience through the essential steps for crafting compelling stories set in fantastical worlds with relatable characters. His approach to young adult fantasy encompasses reading, thorough research, meticulous world-building, and the creation of a "reality bridge," all pivotal in shaping a novel's outcome and success. He underscored the importance of engaged reading, comprehensive research, and imaginative world-building, including the crafting of intricate maps, as well as the necessity of coherent plots and character dynamics.
What particularly resonated with me was Mr Pryor's insightful discussion about his own experiences, which added a personal touch to the lecture. His views on visual elements like maps in fantasy novels were equally captivating, as they are often overlooked yet integral. This presentation not only broadened my understanding of the technical aspects of writing but also significantly altered my perspective on the entire writing process.
Riaz Maan - Year 9
During Book Week, the Year 10 cohort were lucky enough to sit in a lecture given by Alice Pung, an award-winning author who grew up in and continues to live in Melbourne. We were privileged to learn about identity and belonging and how we can use our daily experiences to enrich our writings. Pung shared her stories of facing racism and discussed the term auto racism and pointed out that no one is born racist, rather our environment and experiences make us so. The insightful message taught us to be true to ourselves and to write authentically, without the fear of seeming “dumb.” Pung also told us other stories of her past and the way in which she used them to shape her stories and characters, emphasising on the point that whether it is a sentence or an action, inspiration can come from anywhere. In this one hour, we were able to learn about skills that would last us a lifetime.
Book Week was an incredible time which allowed us to learn and grow as writers. We learnt about the importance of our identity and how we can use it to cultivate our writing. It was truly an amazing opportunity to be able to listen and learn from Alice Pung.
Mehardeep Kaur - Year 10
On August 24, the Year 11s had the honour of listening to a presentation by Indigenous author Janine Coombs. During this presentation, Janine shared bits of her life story as well as an insight to what it feels like living as an Indigenous person. At the very end, she held a Q&A session, where students got to ask any questions they had, this experience has enhanced our understanding of the situation of Indigenous people in our current society and provided important context for many of us, which will help us when writing about Indigenous ideologies, themes and issues in our writing. A highlight of the lecture was Ms Coombs sharing the story of her father growing up, it provided not only a concise timeline with many interesting stories, but also allowed for a comparison of the situation faced by Indigenous people through two generations.
Overall, this was a great lecture that was enjoyable. We hope Ms Coombs can return to speak to others as well.
Peter Ge - Year 11
The Year 11s had the fascinating opportunity to attend a lecture on the Voice to Parliament referendum by Janine Coombs. Using this lecture as a learning opportunity, the students got to experience the racism that Ms Coombs and her family experienced. Being a First Nations person, Ms Coombs reiterated her story and presented how the Voice to Parliament is a chance for the Government to take action in a positive way for the custodians of the land, not only this, but she also highlighted how other nations have actually taken steps towards supporting their indigenous demographics and how Australia has lagged far behind. The lecture enabled students to learn that Ms Coombs’ father, a distinguished Olympian, had to participate in the Paralympics with a note saying that he was to represent Australia but was not a citizen because at the time, the now-obviously racist section 127 that prohibited First nations peoples from being counted as citizens and in the national census.
Aside from the learning, the Year 11s also had the opportunity to ask questions to further learn about the referendum. In this, they were told about the system of double majority provision. That is, in order to change the constitution, the proposed referendum must be voted in favour by the majority of the nation, and in the majority of the states (4 out of 6), the population must have voted in favour. Such a referendum happened in 1967, which gave Indigenous peoples the right to officially exist and be counted as citizens. The lecture presented many clear, coherent arguments as to why those eligible should vote “YES” in the upcoming referendum on October 14.
Anish Thakur - Year 11