From the Principal's Desk

Lots of discovery, perhaps a little discomfort, but LOTS of learning!

We are approaching the end of Week 9, and reaccustoming ourselves to on-campus life after a week of immersive learning experiences during our annual Camps and Pathways Week. As you will see in a special "Camps & Pathways" edition of this newsletter (coming soon!), our students had lots of joyful learning experiences, and lots of simply joyful experiences, as they engaged with the world last week. Their engagement was less academic than usual, but their learning was no less rich nor less rigorous for all that. 

Our Year 9 students were inducted into the realities of protecting our national parks in a workshop led by National Parks Victoria while they were away, and our Year 10s grew their understanding of many workplace realities including the challenges of applying for a job and the essential place that workplace training and OH&S hold in every adult's working life. Our Year 11 students also did some learning related to their future pathways but, in recognition of the fact that their focus this year tends to be a more academic one, they were also provided with the opportunity to reflect on how their abilities have grown and developed since they first joined Nossal. This was accomplished by having them attempt an age-adjusted version of the Edutest whose results will allow them to consider - or perhaps reconsider - their areas of strength on the same scale that was used to ensure their entry to the school. 

I would like to thank the entire staff of Nossal High School for their contributions to the success of Camps and Pathways Week. We could not run a program this complex or successful if we were not able to rely confidently on every single member of our staff to participate and contributed. The week was overseen jointly by our Assistant Principals, Ms Fiona de Zylva and Ms Ffion Bowles, with the assistance of a strong team of Leading Teachers, Year Level Coordinators and expert Education Support Staff. Beyond those with specific duties in this space, our Education Support Staff were also very visibly involved both in the organisation and in the execution of the program, attending excursions and camps and assisting teaching staff with any number of activities. In this forum I only have space to acknowledge the main "movers and shakers" but there is hardly a person at Nossal whose contribution was not evident and highly valued last week. 

For now, thanks to the organisers:

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the contributions of some of our past staff (Mr Roger Page, Mr Keith Butler, Mr Stuart Groves, Ms Catherine Loel and Ms Sue Lee-Ack) who made themselves available to support various programs.

A busy life in a busy school

Camps and Pathways Week is obviously a stand-out event every year, but since our last newsletter our students and staff have also been involved in quite a number of significant events and experiences. As regular readers will be aware, in the last edition we were reflecting on the recent NAPLAN practice test. Since then, our Year 9 students have completed the formal NAPLAN tests successfully. They have also undertaken their Morrisby Testing, which is a test designed to help them to understand their own aptitudes and preferences through the lens of how these might translate into a future career.

Our Year 10s have also been having a busy time, with some houses completing workshops on study skills and with all students receiving a presentation from Susan McClean on cybersafety. Our Year 11s also heard from Ms McClean, who as a former police officer working in this area has very clear and practical advice to impart. 

A smaller group of Year 10 and 11 students were also excited to take part in three days of Aquatic Activities including wakeboarding and surfing at Smith's Beach and, as you will see later in the newsletter, our Motorsport Club got the chance to attend and educational day at the Formula 1 competition thanks to the generous involvement of some former Nossal staff members. To round out the fortnight, different groups of students attended the Casey Tech School to celebrate women in STEM careers, and the State Library of Victoria to learn about storytelling from indigenous writers and poets.

Looking forward

As the term comes to an end, we are starting to look forward to some major events in Terms 2 and 3. 

Recently, a group of parents attended an online information night about this year's planned tour of France to visit our sister school, Lycee Felix le Dantec in Lannion. At the same time, we are planning for a visit to Nossal by members of our Japanese sister school, Chosei High School, later in the year. If you are interested in providing accommodation to one of our visiting students during this visit, you will find details here (Japanese Homestay).

For all parents, our Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences will be something to look forward to. These will be held in person (i.e. on campus) in the first week of Term 2, with interviews available on 

• Wednesday 23 April (2:00pm - 8:30pm)
• Thursday 24 April (9:00am - 2:00pm)

Bookings will open closer to the end of Term 1, when reports are released; more detailed information about this event will be circulated to parents via email soon. 

Prior to that, of course, will be the publication of our Term 1 reports. This will occur in the final week of term. I encourage our parents to read the front matter of the reports carefully in order to understand what is being conveyed within them, and to remember that these are designed to start conversations between the students, teachers and parents about how to best ensure that the student's learning continues to progress. In learning, there is always a boundary to what is known, and the next step to take is into what is not known, and our reports are designed to help our students think about the behaviours and learning strategies which they can make use of as they embrace the challenge of stepping over that boundary. I trust that they will continue to see this process as a source of gratification and an opportunity for discovery about themselves and the world around them.

Tracey Mackin

Principal