General News
Anaphylaxis Management at Nossal
On Wednesday August 9 students were shown the following Vodcast to inform them of how Anaphylaxis is managed at Nossal High School.
If you would like to view the Vodcast yourself please click on this link: https://mix.office.com/watch/xu9kal981ypz
Jane Petty
Daily Organiser/Operations
Unexplained Absences
Currently we have a large number of unexplained/unapproved student absences across all year levels. We need to ensure this information is accurate and complete as part of the VCE accountability and the Education Department attendance requirements.
Please ensure you are accessing Compass School Manager on a regular basis to monitor and approve student absences. View the attached visual Compass School Manager instructions -
Alternatively, on the day your child is going to be away, even if it is only for part of the day, you can phone the school absence hotline on (03) 8762 4625 or email absence@nossalhs.vic.edu.au.
Tutorial teachers will be contacting parents/guardians of students with outstanding unexplained absences.
If you require any further support with Compass and student absences, please contact Audrey Alvarez on 8762 4636.
Thank you for your assistance.
Audrey Alvarez
Attendance Officer
Congratulations Jennifer!
Jennifer Nguyen Y11
Winner of the Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award 2017
Ekphrasis: a literary description of or commentary on a visual work of art - Merriam-Webster
Ekphrastic poetry: An ekphrastic poem is a vivid description of a scene or, more commonly, a work of art. Through the imaginative act of narrating and reflecting on the “action” of a painting or sculpture, the poet may amplify and expand its meaning - Poetry Foundation
Every year, the Nilumbik Council celebrates the art and culture of the wide Australian community by hosting the Ekphrasis Nillumbik Poetry Prize. Six artworks around the council area were selected and entrants were encouraged to respond in a poem of less than 12 lines describing their thoughts on a specific artwork. Every Australian citizen can enter this prize from the youth to local to open categories.
This year I was extremely fortunate to be the Youth winner of the Nillumbik Ekphrasis Poetry Award 2017. I wrote about a statue of a man leaning on a crutch, which spoke to me about regret and melancholy. The judge described my ending lines of 'somewhere indefinite' as having 'spunk' and congratulated my achievement despite the fact that I am not from the area, but had the very deep connection with the artwork.
Judge's report:
The Youth Prize winner responds to the sculpture, Alan Marshall, in a descriptive poem which examines the detail of the piece with curiosity and imagination: 'Down the road, the finger curled and the puckered mouth'.
Jennifer N - Year 11
Nossal Donates Books To Fiji Schools
Nossal High School has once again taken a leading role in helping cyclone devastated schools in Fiji by donating over 300 academic books. These books have been sent to the Director of Library Services of Fiji to be distributed to needy schools throughout Fiji.
The books were surplus to the school’s needs and the school felt that they could be better utilised by schools in Fiji which suffered heavy damage during the recent cyclones and lacked teaching resources.
The Director of Library Services of Fiji, Ms Merewalesi Vueti has thanked the school for always having Fiji at heart and the kind thoughts for their schools, which are vulnerable to a lack of books and learning resources.
This is not the first time that Nossal has helped cyclone devastated Fiji schools. Last year Nossal sent 200 books to Tavua College in north west Fiji which suffered massive damage during cyclone Winston.
Nossal High School was able to send these books through the generosity of Campion Books, which agreed to pay the freight costs on both occasions. The school is very appreciative of Campion Book’s support.
The photo below shows the school Principal Mr Roger Page and the students packing the books to be sent to Fiji schools.
Kamla Reddy
Director of Information Resource Centre
Debating news
As the main part of the debating season comes to a close for 2017, it would be remiss not to acknowledge the wonderful efforts made across the year levels in debating so far this year.
All of the interschool DAV teams have put in a huge amount of effort, and we are very excited to announce that both Year 9 and 10 saw a team winning the Berwick division, and making it to the first round of finals debating. It is particularly impressive that our Year 9s, many of whom had little experience in debating, could achieve such an honour and also that our Year 10 team has now achieved a place in the finals two years in a row. This is certainly a testament to the wonderful support and mentorship that occurs across year levels in debating at Nossal.
We have also celebrated the much anticipated annual Staff vs Student debate. This year the subject for contention was "that it is harder to be a student than a teacher at Nossal" with the students taking the negative stance. After a wonderful (and wonderfully entertaining) debate about the various pressures faced by students and teachers alike, the student team of Aditya Gadgil, Abhishek Kumar and myself were able to clinch the win. Ultimately the nature of the topic meant that the teachers’ contributions to the school were rightly recognised, meaning that they too got a bit of a win...though of course the trophy tells a different story. We thank Ms Chapple, Ms D'Mello and Mr McQuaid for being excellent sports and of course the talented Subi Ramesh for her superior adjudicating.
The next event from debating will be the inter-house competition, with crucial points up for grabs. I strongly encourage all students to support their Houses by coming along as spectators, as the calibre of Nossal debaters is truly something to be proud of.
Cree Oliveira-Blacket