Community Notices

Buildings and Grounds - Maintaining Space for Recreation on Campus

Dear NHS community,

You may be aware that one of the school’s two-classroom portables (located at the south western corner of the school) is currently located on Darebin Council’s land. We were granted a temporary permit in 2017 to place the portable in that location. Darebin Council would like the school to remove the portable, but we need the classroom spaces. There is no available open space within the school grounds to move the portable without losing the space for highly popular table tennis tables.

The Department of Education and Training has been negotiating with Darebin Council to allow us to keep the portable where it currently sits until we are able to progress with our Buildings and Grounds Master Plan (funding and timing for which is not yet known).

In light of upcoming Darebin Council elections, we wrote to candidates in the Darebin South wards, asking them to support NHS in its bid to extend the permit for the portable. Our view is that the potential damage to Merri Park and to our few mature trees that is likely to arise as a result of craning the portable from its current location, together with the loss of the (very little) remaining open space in our school’s grounds, does not justify the relative inconvenience to Council of leaving the portable where it is for the medium term.

We were very pleased to receive positive responses from all South ward candidates and from several candidates from neighbouring wards, each of whom was supportive of advocating for NHS in relation to the extension of permit.

The issue of lack of space and aging facilities at school is of concern to NHS School Council. Council has established a Buildings and Grounds sub-committee to consider priorities for and staging of our Buildings and Grounds Master Plan, and to advocate and lobby for funding for the development of next stages. We will share news of further activity in this space in future newsletters.

NHS Buildings and Grounds sub-committee

Year 12 and school leavers one-to-one careers sessions with Mas

IT Traineeship program for school leavers

The Ai Group is coordinating the IT Traineeship Program on behalf of The Victorian Department of Education. The IT Traineeship Program’s objective is to give candidates an opportunity to begin their IT career through a paid traineeship that involves hands-on work experience and training towards a nationally accredited VET IT qualification. This is a great initiative for potential high school graduates who posses a passion for IT.

The project runs until 30th June 2021 and includes Ai Group:

Working with employers to identify traineeship opportunities;
Assisting school leavers with job seeking skills to make candidates show their true potential.
Arranging customised, formal training of the trainees that meets the needs of employers (Cert 3 or 4 in IT); and
Supporting the employers with supervisor training and trainees with access to a dedicated mentor.

Who are we looking for:

Candidates genuinely interested in technology
Have a strong desire to learn and build a career in IT
Someone looking to gain an IT qualification but not interested in full-time study
Based in Victoria

For more information check out https://www.aigroupapprentices.com.au/ict/