From the Principals' Desk

Pegasus soars!

Among all of the many activities that have taken place over the past few weeks and before those in the remaining weeks of Term 3, undoubtedly one of the biggest, most anticipated and joyous was the House Performing Arts Festival, otherwise known as HPAF. And in 2019, it was Pegasus House that was judged to be the best overall performance on the night due to their planning, preparation, communication between House leaders, props and costumes.

The evening started with a grand performance by the Year 9 cohort who performed Colors of the Wind under the baton of our Director of Music, Nancy Waddington and accompanied on the keyboard by one of our talented Science staff, Kerwyn Alley. We then welcomed the MC's for the program, (our House Music Captains) who introduced the theme of this year's HPAF as 'Twisted Fairytales'. The audience were entertained by versions of  the well known stories of Jack and the Beanstalk, Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and The Ugly Duckling.  To add to the challenge, each House had to include a Whole House performance, an instrumental performance, dance and small group vocal within their allotted 30 minute dramatic/musical presentation. Houses were responsible for their own lighting and AV requirements as well as scripting and choreography with points being allocated to all aspects. 

Regardless of the outcome of the night, all students who participated were 'winners' because each accepted the challenge to join in their House's performance in this major, whole school event.  We would like to thank our guest judges who included Alumni members Broden Krause, Nethmini Kotalawala, Kimiko Rathbone and Tammi Teo as well as Genelle Lentini and Nick McCusker.  

Congratulations to all who made the program so memorable, one which was described by a special guest who has attended all the previous HPAF programs as... "the best ever!"  Programs like this take an enormous amount of work and coordination and in 2019 the House Leaders have excelled in their dedication and determination to ensure their House could be proud of their performance. Thank you to the House Leaders. 

Likewise, a big thank you goes to Nancy Waddington and Juliea Slywka who have both worked with the students from the start of the HPAF  schedule back in early Term 2.  They have listened to, supported and encouraged the students in all their endeavours as have the Heads of House.

Each year, HPAF is a major highlight on the Nossal calendar and for those who attended either as a participant or a member of the audience it is easy to see why this is the case. The 2019 House performances have set a new benchmark which will again be challenged in 2020. 

A big year for Languages

2019 has been a big year for the Language Domain with the second visiting international delegation staying with families within the Nossal community.  Earlier in the year we hosted a group of French students and their teachers, and currently 20 students and two teachers from our Japanese Sister School Chosei High School, are attending programs and activities including special classes in PE (where they will try their "hand" at AFL football ) and Foods Technology.  On Friday, the group travelled to Healesville where they were able to get up close and personal with some Australian wildlife.

The visits by these international groups is a fantastic opportunity for our students to not only build international friendships, it is also a wonderful opportunity for them to advance their developing language skills.  We are grateful to the host families who provide accommodation for our guests but also pleased that they too are able to see the significant benefit that their participation in the program gives to their own sons and daughters.

Berthe Mouchette Competition

The Berthe Mouchette Competition is an opportunity for students to practice the French language by participating in a competition conducted annually by the Alliance Française.

There are two categories in the competition, an oral presentation and a written component and VCE Nossal students enter both. They are:

Years 11-12; general conversation and recital of a French poem or presentation of a theme or an image, approximately 10 minutes.

a written test paper - based on Victorian Secondary School Standards

This year over 1840 students participated in the oral element and more than 1160 in the written examination and due to commitment of our students supported by French teachers Mrs Sly, Mrs Wakeman and Mr Delaney, Nossal High School students have again achieved outstanding results.  Of the 24 students from our school who participated, three have advanced to be finalists in the state-wide competition.  Congratulations to Joel Whitcher, Leo Crnogorcevic and Jade Roman.  The finals will be held at the Alliance Francaise in St.Kilda next weekend. Joel will be entering both the oral and written examinations for Year 11 students while Leo and Jade will be participating in the Year 12 Oral Finals.  We wish all three young people "Bonne Chance!"

Busy days at Nossal

The past few weeks at Nossal have been busy ones. 

As reported, we celebrated Science Week with a series of special events and lunchtime activities for students and staff, then our Year 9s took part in their successful City Week, and more recently we have celebrated Book Week with a range of events and activities organised by the IRC staff.  As always, the week featured guest presentations from authors who encouraged and empowered our Year 9 and 10 students in both their passion for reading and writing. The week also included other fun events such as a Spelling Bee and House Quiz Competition before culminating in a free dress day where students came depicting a favourite book character or in multi-cultural dress. Congratulations to the members of the English Domain who embraced the theme and attended as characters from Alice in Wonderland.

In addition to these curriculum based programs, our students have been active too through a range of activities geared to give to the community.  Last Friday a dedicated team of students took up the challenge to Write a Book in a Day, complete with illustrations. This is now the third time Nossal students have taken part in the program which sees them commence their work at 8:00am and finish the project for submission by the 8:00pm deadline.  Congratulations to all participated and who were supported by Ms Reddy, Ms Lee-Ack and Ms Ward. 

Other students have identified a range of smaller community programs they wish to support and over the remainder of the term, there will be various events and activities being held to raise money for these worthy causes.

PFA TastePoint cancelled

It is disappointing to report that the PFA's promoted TastePoint fundraising event has been cancelled.  The event which was to be held on Wednesday would have raised $1,000 to be spent on equipment and materials for the students of the school.

The program requires just 60 people over the age of 18 to give approximately one hour of their time, but at the deadline for numbers last Friday, less than half the places had been filled.

The PFA is a dedicated group of parents and friends of the school who work hard to raise the school's profile in the community and in the process also raise additional funds for the benefit of all who attend Nossal.  The group's next big fund raising event will be the Annual Bunnings Sausage Sizzle to be held at Bunnings Fountain Gate on Sunday 22 September.  Come along and after you have done your DIY shopping, stop by and purchase a sausage cooked by our parents and friends volunteers. 

Advance notice;  the PFA's Annual Second Hand Book and Uniform Sale will be held in the gym on Saturday 7 December.  Mark the date in your diary now.

10th Birthday

We have previously announced on a number of occasions, that 2019 is Nossal's 10th year.  A group of parents, students, staff and alumni have now met a few times to work on plans for what we might do to celebrate the milestone.

One thing that has been decided is a logo to recognise the occasion. Designed by Kaaviyan Pathmasiri of Year 11, the logo features our bright and easily identifiable butterfly logo as well as a maroon ribbon  highlighting the event.  Kaaviyan's crisp design was chosen from a number of designs submitted by students in various year levels.

Safe travels

In the last edition of the newsletter, Mr Page announced he would be taking some leave in the last two weeks of this term.  

We wish Roger and Margaret a safe, wonderful time overseas and hope they thoroughly enjoy this well-earned rest. 

STOP PRESS!

Last Friday, we received news a number of our students had successfully entered the Australian Society for Medical Research 2019 National Secondary School's Quiz.

Congratulations to: 

• Sahana Rudresh (Year 9): Victorian State Runner-Up Prize Winner for Grade 9-10, also awarded a $25 gift card
• Phoebe Ng (Year 11): Victorian State Runner-Up Prize Winner for Grade 11-12, also awarded a $25 gift card
• Jazlyn Yap (Year 9): Victorian State 1st Prize Winner for Grade 9-10, also awarded a $50 gift card
• Harry Nguyen (Year 11): Victorian State 1st Prize Winner for Grade 11-12, also awarded a $50 gift card.

More details next edition.

Keith Butler

Assistant Principal