Whole School Assembly

We, as school captains, had the privilege to host the Whole School Assembly yesterday. Even after hours of planning and rehearsing, it went even better than imagined! I think yesterday was the first time where the weather was actually on our sides, the sky was clear and sunny and not the cold, wet disappointment that we have gotten used to!

We started the Assembly with a Welcome to Country from Wurundjeri Elder Colin Hunter the 4th. This included a smoking ceremony, with student leaders and guests walking through the smoke to cleanse their mind and bodies. We were lucky enough to have Mohamed Semra, the co-founder of Endeavour Youth Australia, to come and speak on his experience through school, and particularly facing discrimination as a young person. Semra was a nominee for Young Australian of the Year 2023 for his strides in humanity, particularly human rights advocacy. Hearing his story gave us motivation and perspective that we didn't know we could have; we should strive to be comfortable being exactly ourselves and stand up to those who put us down for that. His journey from working through a stutter to being a successful entrepreneur from the age of 20 gave us confidence that we, as young people, have a voice that deserves to be listened to, that deserves fairness.

Principal Mr. Jones had delivered his address, covering many of the exciting events that the school has committed to organizing for all of its students. Further, we heard about what's the come for Northcote, particularly with our new building, The Hub, which should hopefully open later this year. Along with that, Mr. Jones had congratulated all the student captains this year on their achievements thus far, planting his confidence in their goals and aspirations. Assistant Principal Ms. Lange had spoken further on student leadership at Northcote High, and the strong connection across cohorts we have each year. One of the school captain alumni, Minnie O'Sullivan, had come to speak on her experiences from school captain to now studying at university. Importantly, Minnie had carried out the yearly ceremony of the passing the school blazer from one years' captains to the next, along with a formal welcome by Ms. Lange as the 2024 school captains.

Following the ceremony, we each spoke on our intentions and goals for this year. There is so much more that we are hoping to do, and having the students of Northcote High in that loop is important to us. As we said, we hope that we can offer something to each year level, pulling from our own experiences to the ones that each will go through this year. There's plenty to look forward to: the Year 9/10 social, school trips, camps, and taking the next steps in discovering our future career paths.

We extended our own welcome to all the other accomplished student leaders this year, shining the spotlight on the future school captains of Northcote. We also gave a warm welcome to the new year 7 cohort and international students, who are both joining the Northcote community this year.

To finish, we were honoured to have year 10 captain, Brenna S, speak on behalf of Middle School and detail the exciting adventures they have had so far. Year 9 students are beginning to embark on their city school investigation, an immersive and independent experience where you lead with your own curiosity, hands-on, in the streets of the Melbourne CBD. Year 10 students were locking in work experience placements, a superb opportunity to discover interests and skillsets that will guide us to follow the better path.

It's truly the biggest privilege we could receive from the Northcote community; to lead the school and strive to leave our mark and improve the school for years to come. We as the four school captains were incredibly excited for this moment and are thankful to the staff and students that brought us to where we are.

Please don't feel afraid to speak to us in-person, we want you to be heard. The same goes for all of your other captains at Northcote!

To 2024!

Your School Captains, Yaz, Thea, Quan, and Alex.

A special thanks to:

Ms Sirec, Ms Scott, Ms Brogan, Ms Frost, Mr McLeod, John Scott and his team for their work and efforts behind the scenes.
Our wonderful speakers of Minnie O'Sullivan, Mohamed Semra, Colin Hunter the 4th, Ms Lange, Mr Jones
And of course, everyone for coming