From the Principals' Desk

Welcome to Nossal News Issue 2

The last few weeks have been busy ones at Nossal with lots of exciting things happening and programs being started while others have been reactivated for 2020.

House Swimming Carnival

In recent years our annual House Swimming Carnival has been impacted by adverse weather, either by extreme heat or torrential rain, this year it was a perfect day that dawned on Thursday 13 March, for this year's swimming sports.

Congratulations to all members of the school community that attended and participated to make it such a wonderful event.  The very high rate of attendance meant that the House areas were full of excited students all cheering on their peers and no doubt that was a contributing factor to large number of personal best times and records broken. Not only were there competitive battles in all the swimming strokes, there was also keen interest and participation in the great "Nossal Splash", an eagerly anticipated event to start the afternoon program.  Competitors earned valuable points for their House by simply swimming, walking, jogging or just getting to the other end of the pool as quickly as possible before going back to the start to repeat the lap as many times as possible in the given time.

Another event that was rated highly on the program was the staff verses student relay race. As the teams dived in, it didn't take too long to realise that the staff had their work cut out to keep up with the students, let alone mount any real challenge. The following day at the morning Staff Briefing, Mr Bird told staff that the tactics had been to lure the students into a sense of false security prior to next year's event when revenge would be achieved.  He also suggested that the staff team should commence their training program now, in order to attain that outcome!

Thank you and congratulations to everyone who contributed to the organisation and operation of the day. Obviously there were a number of people who went about their assigned tasks efficiently, however special thanks to Ms Coffa and the PE staff for their dedicated leadership to the successful sports which saw a win to the mighty Pegasus  House!

A more detailed report on the 2020 House Swimming Carnival is presented on the Sports page of this newsletter.

Outstanding Achievers

Last Monday, we celebrated the outstanding achievements of the graduating class of 2019. The annual assembly was held and approximately 30 students were present to accept recognition for their personal achievements as part of the celebration. 

Mr Page addressed the assembly reminding those present that while 52% of the cohort achieved an ATAR over 90, including nine students who achieved over 99, these same students also participated in a wide range of other programs and opportunities including sport, debating, music and performance, SRC and NEST, to name but a few. The assembly highlighted outstanding ATAR scores, but was also a timely reminder of the school's goal to provide opportunities for students to develop their full ability and graduate as a well rounded person capable of achieving great things for themselves and the community.

The assembly was also notable for Mr Page's entry leading the official party. Sporting a special hair style, Mr Page made good on a statement he made at the start of 2019 when he wished the cohort well and was looking forward to celebrating their results. He went on to add if anyone, in this the school's 10th year achieved Nossal's first perfect ATAR ranking of 99.95, he would dye his hair.  Ruby Bai achieved that goal and so at the assembly, much to the surprised looks on the faces of those present, Mr Page kept his promise. His bright pink hair style was gone in time for the school photo day, however as was reported in the Herald Sun, he did get some quizzical looks when he stopped to buy petrol on his way home that night. 

NHS Student Leadership Training Day

Last week we held the 2020 Nossal High School Student Leadership Training Day, following a similar recent event for a small number of our leaders as part of the Select Entry Network.

The day, held at St. Andrews Church in Berwick was conducted by the four enthusiastic members of the School Captains Team and attended by approximately 60 students from across the four year levels. The program commenced with Mr Page telling the audience how leadership brings personal growth and many other advantages. He highlighted his address with some reflections of his own journey of leadership leading to him being a Principal. The schedule also featured a number of fun activities to introduce students to others they may not have met, as well as a range of workshops covering topics such as public speaking, conducting successful meetings, fundraising, planning events and being able to pitch an idea to others. 

Congratulations and thank you to Shalaaka, Kaaviyan, Shivaani and Habib for their active role in the planning and operation of the day.

Debating

Another exciting program held last week, was the annual Debating Training Day which was partially facilitated by Old Nossalonian, Cree Oliveria-Blacket along with Ms Banaag, Miss Ravi, Dr Schroor and Mr Bird.  This year, a large group of 86 students have registered for Debating at Nossal and the first round of competition for 14 teams is Thursday 5 March. We look forward to hearing of the outcomes. 

School Photos 

Our first of two school photo days was held last Thursday for Tutorial groups and individual portraits which will be used for students on their ID cards.  For those travelling by public transport over the next 12 months, these cards will serve as Student ID cards for PTV.

The second school photo day will be this coming Wednesday when we will be photographing Leadership groups as well as any students who were absent from school last Thursday.

Please check on the General News page of this newsletter for details of how to order your 2020 School Photos from Arthur Reed Photography.

Meet and Greet 

Last Thursday we held the annual 'Meet and Greet' Night for new families to Nossal. The program was extremely well attended with the majority of families of new students represented.

We believe this is a very important event on the calendar as it not only welcomes families into the school community, it provides the opportunity for parents to meet other parents as well as staff.  Nossal values parental input into the development and education of its students and having parents able to contact the school is an important part in ensuring students achieve their personal best.

During the evening, parents were introduced to their respective Head of House who talked about their role in the lives of students and then in turn introduced the Tutorial teachers for each group. In smaller Tute groups, parents were able to learn more about our processes and procedures before heading off to a presentation on the Nossal assessment program.

Thank you to all those who attended and made the night so successful and an added thank you to the staff who gave their time to attend and work with the families of their Tutorial groups.

School Council and PFA

This is a reminder to all parents that nominations are currently open for positions on School Council.  The Council meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month, (during school terms), from 6:00pm. There are four vacancies for parents and two for students and they can be either self nominated or you can be nominated by someone else.

Likewise, the PFA is approaching its Annual General Meeting where its Office Bearers will be chosen for the next 12 months. Unlike the School Council, membership of the PFA is open to everyone and meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month during school terms, in the Jean Russell Centre at the school. The Parents & Friends Association AGM will be held on Wednesday 4 March commencing at 7:00pm.  

Please consider your involvement in either or both of these important bodies that play an important role in the Nossal High School Community.

Keith Butler

Assistant Principal