From the Principals' Desk

Dear Parents,

Mid Term 3 and both the weather and HPAF (House Performing Arts Festival) preparations have really ramped up.....

House Performing Arts Festival – Tuesday August 27 – Robert Blackwood Hall, Monash University Clayton

I hope to see all Nossal parents and friends at the 2019 HPAF which will be a hugely entertaining spectacle, involving every student in the school in a student organised extravaganza of music, dance, and drama. This is one of the Nossal highlights each year and never fails to impress and entertain. Unlike most other schools, HPAF requires the participation of the entire student body, and every member of the House is expected to actively contribute to this event. The participation, energy and creativity is remarkable and some wonderful talent will be on display. This year’s theme is “Twisted Fairy Tales” so I am sure the students will have an interesting take on this and usually manage to surprise me with their interpretation and presentation. The added incentive of House Competition adds another layer of intensity to the event as each House vies to do their best and showcase their members. Students manage the whole event, front and back of house, and the 200 voice Year 9 Choral group will perform publicly for the first time, and that is always spectacular. The event though is all about teamwork and co-operation and I commend the student leaders for the excellent work, persistence and dedication they have shown during the past few months as they manage a very diverse group of performers. Please make sure you have booked your spot for this event.

10 Year Anniversary Celebrations

A large number of past and present students and parents have been involved in a preliminary meeting to discuss possible events and activities to celebrate Nossal's 10th Anniversary. It has been wonderful to reconnect with a number of Old Nossalonians who are keen to contribute to the planning and to be involved in the events, and I am gratified to hear of their regard for the school and desire to maintain a connection. At this stage we probably have too many ideas and activities being planned, and will work to refine and develop these concepts into a series of events that I hope will capture and involve the entire Nossal community past and present. We have pencilled in October 25 as an Open Day/Back to Nossal and Family Fun Day with displays, events for students and visitors, music performances and hopefully the unveiling of some artworks, written pieces and perhaps more. This day will culminate in a Family BBQ in the evening. The Alumni are planning to hold a cocktail party at Nossal involving all Nossal graduates from 2013 – 2018, and we intend to organise a formal dinner for the Nossal founders and leaders. Alongside these formal events, the students will be designing some memorabilia, creating written tributes and anecdotes to detail the personal history of the school, organising displays and celebratory activities and preparing a time capsule. Please get involved and help us celebrate this milestone.

Parent Opinion Survey

I was quite disappointed by the response rate to the survey request that had been sent out to all Nossal parents. I hope there was a big last minute rush before it closed last Sunday, but the last report I saw indicated that only 135 parents had responded and I was hoping for more. This information is vital to us, informs our planning, and is one of the key pieces of data that the Education Department use when assessing our performance over time. I sincerely thank the parents who made time to complete the survey – we are very committed to doing the best for your children and this type of survey allows us to gather anonymous feedback about areas of concern, things that need to be addressed or improved, and (hopefully) positive feedback about the things we do well and need to build on or continue. I do encourage any parent who has feedback or any concerns (no matter how small) to contact me or any one of the school leaders at any time so we can address them.

Rotary Raffle

After much nagging and exceptional work from Ms Juliea Slywka we managed to raise $14,100 for the school. My sincere thanks as always to those who participated and assisted by selling or buying the tickets and in particular to the Rotary Club of Emerald for their organisation and to Ferntree Gully Nissan for their generosity in donating the main prizes once again. I have yet to receive a phone call to tell me I’ve won the car, and am hopeful that it will be someone from Nossal who is the ultimate winner this year (it must be our turn). The presentation takes place on 27 August when we will all be at HPAF so Ms Alvarez will represent the school that evening. I was quite disappointed though with the number of students who ‘lost” their raffle books and with those who made no effort to sell even a single ticket as this is our biggest fundraiser and every cent goes directly back to the students. Fortunately, others compensated by going over and above and I am very grateful for their support.

Year 9 City Week

I had the pleasure of attending one day of the 5-day City Week program for Year 9 students last week. This is another significant Nossal tradition where the students spend a full week involved in a self-directed research project while based in central Melbourne. It is an opportunity for the students to work independently on a “big question” of their own design and step outside the confines of the classroom to pursue their research. It is also a wonderful opportunity for them to learn to work collaboratively with their peers and to take significant responsibility for their own learning and independent travel around the city. I was impressed by the complexity of the work that some of the students were undertaking and they will all have to tie the results of their research together into a formal multi-media presentation that will be viewed by the staff and students. Previous presentations have been exceptional, so I look forward to seeing the results this year. After 10 years without incident, 4 of our boys were subjected to an attempted assault and theft right in the middle of Melbourne in the middle of the day, and in full view of the public. Although quite shaken by the experience, they handled the situation very well and the police are investigating and are confident that they will be able to identify the offenders from CCTV footage in the area. My thanks to Ms Loel and Mr Monaco in particular for their organisation of this program.

Tasmanian Association for Gifted and Talented Children Conference

Ms Mackin, Mr Fankhauser, Aleena Bino and Anna Huynh (School Captains) and I have been invited to present a session about Nossal at this conference in Hobart in early September. This follows a number of previous events where Nossal staff and students have been invited to speak about the excellent and innovative work we are doing and we are recognised internationally which is most affirming, but also affords us the opportunity to learn from other countries and jurisdictions and to exchange information and ideas with a diverse range of educators and academics. Where possible we always try to include the voice of our students as this is one of the key planks of the Nossal culture and we seek to model what we preach by empowering our students to attend and present at what are predominately adult conferences.

International Visitors

In a similar vein, Nossal regularly hosts international groups who seek to learn how we operate and what we are doing with high performing students, and in the past month I have had groups of Principals and senior educational officials from Korea, China, Saudi Arabia and the USA visit to tour the school. We will also be hosting a visit from a delegation from Melbourne’s Japanese sister City (Aichi) and the Japanese Consul General in October. I am pleased that Nossal is recognised and respected world-wide, and the Victorian Education system is a world leader in many things, in spite of the negative perceptions often portrayed by the media. For us, these visits are most affirming and provide us with the opportunity to learn from others and make mutually beneficial connections with educators and leaders from around the world. It is a delight to lead the groups around the school and to see it through their eyes – a most rewarding and uplifting experience each time, as we tend to normalise what we do and forget that our environment and culture is quite unique.

Principal Conference – VCE; Mobile Phones

Ms Mackin, Mr Butler and I attended the annual Victoria Association of Secondary School Principal’s Conference last week and there were a number of presentations that challenged our thinking. Alan Finkel (Australia’s Chief Scientist and ex Chancellor of Monash University) had some very interesting and provocative things to say about the use of the ATAR as a selection tool for university, and the way that student subject selections were being driven by this. He was wanting to strongly challenge the way that universities selected students and I am hoping that his proposals may gain some momentum as I believe the VCE and ATAR is long overdue for revision and review.

The Education Minster was challenged on his mobile phone ban proposal and was adamant that it will be introduced in 2020. I strongly disagree with this proposal as I don’t think it will address the issues and a blanket ban will be ineffective and disruptive. While I do have concerns about screen time, online behaviour/safety and the potential for cyberbullying and worse, the ban is unlikely to address any of those issues as they generally occur outside school hours and are not confined to mobile phones. Students and staff at Nossal generally use their phones during the school day effectively and appropriately as part of their study regime, and their use is encouraged and beneficial in most classes. I invited the DET person responsible for developing this policy to visit Nossal last week and she visited several classes, observed our students phone use, and spoke to a number of students and staff. She was most impressed by the seamless integration of the mobile and laptop devices into the school programs and by the appropriate and measured responses of our students to their use as an educational tool. I firmly believe that we are on the right track with this, and that the issues of concern in this space need to be addressed by education and learning, not prohibition.

Place Offers for 2020

The first round offers for Year 9 places for 2020 were sent out last week and I will be interviewing for Principal’s discretionary places next week. There are approximately 10 rounds of offers made until late November, although the bulk of them are filled in the first round; subsequent offers are made for those who do not take up the offer or for changes of preference. If for any reason your child will not be staying at Nossal for 2020, could you please let me know as soon as possible so I can offer the space to one of the anxious students on the waiting list.

Nossal Winter Concert

I had the pleasure of attending the Winter Concert last week and I offer sincere congratulations to Ms Waddington and the Instrumental Music teaching team (and of course the student performers) for an outstanding evening of diverse repertoire and high quality performances. A huge number of students took part and the quality of their work is testament to the excellent work of our music team.

PFA Tastepoint (meat tasting) Event

The PFA are again conducting a fundraiser for the school which requires 60 people to come to Nossal on September 4 at 7:00pm to taste a selection of prepared meat. This is a commercial research program (not a meal) on behalf of the Department of Agriculture – the meat is professionally prepared, and participants are asked to complete survey questions after tasting several small sample pieces. If you are able to attend and assist – please register at www.volunteersignup.org/LRXBE 

The program lasts approximately an hour and the PFA stand to raise $1,000.00 for school projects if they can get a group of 60 participants.  To attend, participants must be 18 years or older and the PFA would love you, family/friends to attend. 

Leave

I will be taking some long service leave from September 9 – 20 (the last two weeks of term 3) and will be travelling overseas. Ms Mackin and Mr Butler will be in charge of the school during my absence and I will return to duty in Term 4.

Roger Page

Principal