From the Principals' Desk

Term 2 is underway

This is our first newsletter for Term 2 and already there have been many calendar events since we returned to school after the Easter break.  I trust that all our students and families used the holidays to stop, reflect, relax and recharge. 

It is a good time to look back on all that has been achieved in the 10 weeks since the start of the year.  Term 1 is always busy with, students settling into new routines, new subjects (and for our Year 9s, a new school), camps and pathways activities and an array of co-curricular programs including Music, Sport and Community Service.  The end of Term 1 also brings the mid-semester reports and the associated Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences.  These are invaluable opportunities for parents to seek clarification, for students to gain additional feedback and for teachers to gather more information about individuals that will help them better guide the students to future success.  Preparing informative student reports is a major task and one that our staff take very seriously.  On behalf of our students and their families, I would like to thank them for the consideration and dedication they gave to this task.  I would also like to thank and acknowledge the many families who attended the Conferences held on the last two days of the term.  Not only does your attendance and active participation in the program better support your child’s learning, it also reinforces the importance that Nossal places on maintaining a strong link between home and school.  I hope that students found advice in their reports, that will help and guide their further development and learning during Term 2.

Nossal Shining in the Community   

Congratulations to Namira Rahman of Year 9 and Amy Chu, Rhiann Thomas, Rakshitha Rao and Jennifer Ding, all of Year 11, who were part of the TEDx program hosted by the City of Casey and held at Bunjil Place on Sunday 28 April.  Promoted as an opportunity to “meet some of our brightest and innovating young people as they share fresh ideas and approaches to existing and future problems which will determine how we will exist and survive in the decades to come”, the program comprised 17 young speakers who spoke to a large audience on a wide range issues they were passionate about.

The TEDx sessions were the second opportunity in the day for audiences to hear from Nossal students as earlier in the day, Deetya Kannan (Year 10) presented a Fireside Session as part of the City of Casey’s Innovation Summit.  

It was also wonderful to hear former student, Pranav Mahajan, speak during the TEDx program.  Pranav, now a student at RMIT, graduated from Nossal at the end of 2018.

https://tedxcasey.com/contributors/ 

Nossal Pauses to Remember    

Our school stopped on Monday 29 April to remember those who have been injured or died as a result of war.  The school’s ANZAC Assembly was attended by students and staff, representatives of the PFA and our special guest Colin Tidbull, representing the Berwick RSL.

Ms Mackin reminded the assembly that while the spirit of ANZAC started over 100 years ago, it is still carried on today by members of the defence forces whether they are involved in armed conflict, peace keeping or community work.  She highlighted a number of characteristics such as loyalty and mateship which are still a strong element of what Australians value.

During the assembly, House Leaders brought wreaths to the front of the gymnasium while students stood for a minute’s silence as a mark of respect.  The wreaths were then taken outside and laid at the head of the school’s “Walk of Fame”.

Our Learning Community

Nossal is a learning community.  In addition to the students actively engaged in their curriculum programs, the staff too continue to learn and develop their knowledge and skills.  Each week, Wednesday afternoons are devoted to two hours of professional learning when teachers and Education Support staff come together to extend their knowledge of topics such as pedagogy, wellbeing, personal development and trends in ICT.  The sessions are very important in not only developing the skills of the individual members of staff but also in building a strong and supportive team that are therefore better able to provide an environment where students can be challenged to achieve their personal best.

On Friday 26 April, staff further broadened their professional learning by taking part in the annual Academically Select Entry Schools’ Network Professional Development day.  In a break with tradition, this year staff attended sessions across the network in their subject domain areas.  Nossal hosted teachers of the Health and Physical Education and English domains, while Languages and Mathematics went to Melbourne High School, Humanities and the Educational Support staff to MacRob and Science and Arts/Technology attended Suzanne Cory HS.  Feedback on the day’s events is still being gathered however early indications were that staff appreciated the opportunity to spend an entire day with colleagues from their Domains in different schools to engage in deep conversation, idea-generating workshops and program development.  Thank you to the team of organisers who at our school were led by Ms Mackin and Ms Shute. 

Community Involvement Leads to Improved Mental Health    

In 2019, the Year 12 students from each of the Houses are going to be involved in a day of community service.  The initiative is designed to reinforce the notion that doing something for the community not only improves our environment, it also allows us to get out of the “daily grind” of our routines and to refresh ourselves through a valuable activity.

The first of these days was run with the Year 12 students from Phoenix House and by the time this newsletter is published, the students from Garuda will have also completed their day.  The Phoenix Team have set the bar high, having worked solidly on ground works at Puffing Billy in Emerald.  Their task list for the day involved digging post holes, levelling the ground, laying sleepers, spreading crushed rock and condensing the gravel into new paths, of which there was a completed total of close to 50 metres.  What a fantastic achievement!  It was a day of great teamwork where students, (and possibly staff!) learnt some new practical skills and discovered muscles they hadn’t used for a while.

Nossal Open For Inspection

Recently we held the annual Information Night for parents of prospective Year 9 students.  The evening was well attended over two sessions and was further evidence that the interest in obtaining a position at Nossal continues to grow.

The night was also further proof of how passionate and proud our students are of their school.  While my role on the night meant that I was unable to attend the entire presentation, what I saw from our team of speakers was pertinent, carefully prepared and well presented.  As always, Ms Loel selected a group of enthusiastic students from a large number of volunteers eager to talk about “their school”.  The students’ pride was clearly evident, and their message well received by the audience.

While those students talked about life at Nossal, I was fortunate to work with another group of equally enthusiastic students who conducted informal tours of the buildings and answered questions about how they enjoyed their time at the school.  Our tour guides reported that all our guests were enthusiastic and pleased they had taken the opportunity to visit the school; some of them were doing it for a second time.

Thank you to our presenters and tour guides for their work on the night.

Leading the Way    

Last week we held an assembly to congratulate and acknowledge our many student leaders at Nossal.  When preparing the program, it was found that there were close to 150 students who have accepted a special role within our school, so many in fact that it made it difficult to manage acknowledge them all. In a break with tradition, all the leaders that had been recorded in our database were instead announced during a visual presentation to the school.

At the assembly I spoke to the students about what is to be a leader using the following definition of leadership as a basis for their reflection.

'Leadership as the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal.'  For me, this leadership definition captures the essentials of being able to inspire others and being prepared to do so. Effective leadership is based upon ideas (whether original or borrowed), but won't happen unless those ideas can be communicated to others in a way that engages them enough to act as the leader wants them to act.

Put even more simply, the leader is the inspiration and director of the action. He or she is the person in the group that possesses the combination of personality and leadership skills that makes others want to follow their direction.

So, I left our 2019 Student leaders with the challenge of being an effective leader among their peers and to assist them in this process asked them to reflect on these questions:

• How will you encourage creativity both in yourself and those you are working with?
• What will you have to do to be a role model for others to look up to?
• How will you demonstrate your passion for the role and maintain it for the year?
• How will you ensure you listen and communicate effectively?
• What will you do to maintain a positive attitude even when faced with difficult and challenging situations?
• How will you encourage others to make contributions, to “buy in”?
• How will you motivate and encourage others around you?
• How will you seek feedback and keep trying new ideas?

Looking Ahead

In the coming weeks there are a number of activities and events that are important in the life of our school.

By the time this newsletter is published, we will have conducted our second emergency response trial, this time a Lockdown.  Like the evacuation trial conducted in Term 1, these activities are very important processes we need to rehearse to ensure everyone at the school knows how to respond should we ever need to implement such a reaction.  Students were supplied with information about what they had to do to maintain their safety.

Final preparations are also being made to the program for the House Athletics Carnival which will be held on Thursday at Casey Fields.  This is a major undertaking, coordinated by the Sports Department and involving the whole school community.  I would like to take this opportunity to remind all students and families that this is an official school event and that all students should be in attendance.  Students who are absent should provide medical certificates. 

Soon all families will be receiving a book of tickets for the Great Community Raffle.  This is our school’s major fundraising activity for the year, with ALL MONEY RAISED FROM THE SALE OF TICKETS going to Nossal.  The Great Community Raffle is an annual event organised with the generous support of the Rotary Club of Emerald who arrange for a major prize to be donated by the Ferntree Gully Motor Group.

In 2019, our goal is to use the money raised to develop some more effective outdoor areas for our students to use.  Our aim, established through conversations with both students and staff, is to develop areas on the campus where students can meet with their friends to study or enjoy some fresh air during their lunch break, which still being sheltered against strong sunlight or windy conditions.  We have begun thinking about what these areas might look like and where they will be located and will soon be calling for input from students to help us refine our designs in ways that best answer their needs and vision for learning.  This is to be our first major focus on grounds development since the opening of the oval.  Help us achieve our goal by purchasing a book of tickets or selling tickets to friends, family and colleagues.  Beyond the obvious benefit to the school, there is also of course the fact that, as Mr Page has noted, “we have been involved in this program for a number of years so surely 2019 will be the year that someone in the Nossal community wins a car!”

Raffle tickets will be distributed in the coming week and as always there will be House points on the line for the most tickets sold as well as rewards for individual ticket sellers.     

Keith Butler

Assistant Principal