From the Principals' Desk

Half-way through Term 2!

We have entered Week 5, and are around half-way through our second term for 2021. As with so many landmarks throughout the year, this one seems to have come up quickly. Perhaps that is because we are so busy living the Nossal life that we don't notice time passing while we are doing it!

House Athletics

On Friday 7 May the school once again made its way to Casey Fields to celebrate the annual House Athletics competition. A more detailed report on this excellent event will appear in a later newsletter, but for now let me congratulate both staff and students for their contributions to the day. The PE staff were, as always, to the fore under the organisational leadership of Ms Anita Coffa(the school's Sport Carnivals Coordinator), and they ably supported our student house leaders who were very visible in their encouragement of all of our students to get involved on the day. 

Once the points were tallied, the final standings looked liked this:

1st place: Griffin!

2nd place: Pegasus

3rd place: Phoenix

4th place: Garuda

Congratulations to Griffin House, and to all of our competitors on the day. 

NAPLAN: Year 9

Week 4 also saw the return of another annual event: the annual NAPLAN testing period for our Year 9 students. For Nossal, this test doesn't tell us much about our own teaching and learning program since our students have been with us quite a short time. Instead, the results are mainly an  endorsement of the effective work which our students have done in previous years, under the tutelage of the dedicated teachers at their previous schools. While it is impossible to make firm predictions about individual outcomes, I expect the results of this testing period to be a useful reminder for our students of how strongly they typically perform against state norms. 

I would also like to congratulate our Year 9 cohort on the mature and careful approach they took to the NAPLAN testing period overall. They were, in general, punctual and well-prepared for each test, and took the process seriously. This process, apart from any possible use which it might be possible to make of the results in order to guide future learning, is an opportunity for our students to begin to accustom themselves to the routine associated the sort of examination conditions which will be required of them when they move into their final units of study in a few years.

Autumn Concert

In the midst of the NAPLAN testing period, our music students from Years 9 to 12 had the opportunity to take part in the first public performance held at the school since before the 2020 lockdowns. The evening included a diverse array of instrumental ensembles, and the students (ably guided by their talented instrumental music teachers) raised the spirits of an appreciative audience with their equally diverse program. From the Percussion Ensemble's version of Michael Jackson's Beat it to a careful rendering of Pachelbel's famous Canon in D Major by a small group of our string students, the night had something to delight every listener. Congratulations to Mrs Budd, our Director of Music, and her team.

Morrisby Interviews

Our Year 9s have had a particularly busy time in recent days. In addition to their other commitments, each Year 9 student had a short online interview with a careers counsellor to discuss the results of the Morrisby Test which they undertook earlier in the year. The aim of this test, and the interviews, is to launch the discussion about possible future pathways with each student. Every student's pathway is likely to change as their aspirations and skill sets develop, so it's important to remember that nothing is set in stone. Despite this, it can be useful for our students to think about what they enjoy and what they are good at during Term 2 since we will be asking them to select their Year 10 subjects quite early in Term 3.

As part of this timeline, all Year 9 students will be involved in dedicated lessons devoted to pathways planning. The school will also be offering an information session for the parents of our Year 9 students on Tuesday 15 June in which the processes followed by the school during the course selection and confirmation process is well understood by all.

Curriculum Day: Monday 17 May

As our families are already aware, another recent event at the school was our Curriculum Day on 17 May. These opportunities for all staff to work together are essential to embedding and maintaining the collective efficacy which we rely on to ensure that all students' needs are being answered.

This term, we made use of the day to learn about and reflect on the wellbeing needs of our cohort. The impact of 2020's events, and particularly of the extended lockdown period, are being felt in all schools, and Nossal is not immune. The staff heard from Dr Jennifer Krafchek, a researcher with expertise in the way high achieving students may respond to stressors in their environment, and spent some time in other activities led by our Wellbeing Team. It was, as usual, a pleasure to see our staff (both teaching and education support) fully engaged with these learning opportunities in support of our students.

PFA Survey

Our PFA is very interested in hearing from you!  Later in this newsletter you will find a bulletin from them which includes a link to a short survey. The organisation will use the results of this survey to help them to plan future events and set some short and long-term goals for the future.

Digital Delivery Day: Wednesday 26 May

On Wednesday 26 May the school will re-launch its successful Digital Delivery Day program with a four period program of synchronous learning for all students. The experience of online learning during lockdown was a challenging one for both students and teachers alike, and it is easy to forget both the excitement that can accompany a voluntary engagement with online learning technologies and the skill development which this type of teaching and learning can foster which are unavailable in a traditional classroom.

While Nossal has never advocated for a fully online learning experience, and recognises the vital importance of our students spending lots of time with their peers and their teachers, we also have a long tradition of ensuring that when online learning is necessary, both our staff and students are skilled in its requirements. Many of our recent graduates are now reaping the benefit of this as they engage with a significant amount of their learning at university in online environments, and we consider it both a duty and an opportunity to persist with the integration of this mode of learning. 

Having said that, a Digital Delivery event is NOT remote learning in the context of a lockdown. On the contrary, it is a controlled activity where staff have plenty of time to work with their students before the event to ensure that their experience on the day is both smooth and engaging. We have seen some genuinely delightful learning activities undertaken on these days in the past, and I look forward to this once again being a feature of our next event in a few weeks.

Tracey Mackin

Assistant Principal