From the Principals' Desk 

A joyful tapestry!

When I opened the year, I talked about the joy of learning, and I am excited to see that in our final newsletter for Term 1 that joy is very evident. This term, our students have been involved in learning opportunities of many different types, and each one has added a new coloured thread to the tapestry of knowledge and understanding which our students are weaving for themselves as they progress through 2023.

As you will see later in the newsletter, some of that learning has been experiential. Students have taken part in a vast array of activities - both inside Camps & Pathways Week and in the form of school excursions and incursions - which have encouraged them to move beyond the necessarily limited viewpoint provided by study designs and textbooks. They have been challenged to think beyond their own experiences - as when our Year 10 and 11 students volunteered with local groups to support those who may be vulnerable or struggling, or when our Year 9 students heard from representatives of the Pat Cronin Foundation about the dangers of social violence.

Some of our students have chosen to challenge themselves, applying for and then participating in a range of additional programs. Ishaan Makkar spent his Camps & Pathways Week taking part in the National Schools Constitutional Convention, for example, while Keira Williams was a successful applicant to the "Consul General For The Day" competition with the British Consul General's office in Melbourne. Meanwhile, 18 Year 9 students volunteered to take part in the three day Victorian Young Leaders Global Forum where they collaborated with their international peers to investigate and propose solutions to challenges facing the global community.

In the world of extra-curricular activities, a large number of our students joined forces with their peers in the other Select Entry Schools to take part recently in the Relay for Life held recently in Hawthorne. The Nossal team raised more than $1800 in support of the Cancer Council and took advantage of the day to build and strengthen relationships with their select entry peers from across Melbourne. A special vote of thanks goes to Ms Fiona de Zylva for her contributions to the organisation of this event, and to the members of our PFA who attended on the day to support our students. In particular, I'd like to acknowledge our PFA President Mr Shankar Ramadas, and committee PFA member Mrs Cheryl Jurianz, who didn't just attend but actually ran the course with the students!

Finally, parents and guardians in our community took part in their own learning opportunity this term when they gathered on Wednesday 29 March to participate in a forum on student wellbeing run by representatives from Shakti Mental Health and a number of Nossal alumni who now work in that field. It was a pleasure to hear the lively discussion which took place towards the end of the event, in particular. Our students are always most successful when we all work together to help them thrive, and though the obvious commitment of our parents to the wellbeing of their students was not surprising, it was as always invigorating to be an active part in that collaboration. 

NB: This presentation was organised by our PFA, supported by Ms Fiona de Zylva and members of the wellbeing team, and is the first of a number of planned parent information sessions for this and coming years. Later in this bulletin you will find the contact details for our PFA. If there is a topic you would like to hear more about in a parent information session, please let them know!

Looking Back

In addition to the many activities on and around the campus this term, Term 1 also provided opportunities to reflect on and celebrate some of the successes of 2022 (and the last few years!). 

Our Year 9 students took part in their final NAPLAN tests this term. While for many of our students the information from these tests are seldom nuanced enough for them to make use of them to inform their future learning, they are nevertheless an opportunity to celebrate the impressive levels of both skills and knowledge which their work in their previous schools allowed them to reach. I congratulate them on their conduct throughout the tests, and offer my thanks to their past teachers for their support of their results.

Four members of our sporting community were recognised at this year's recent ceremony to announce the 2022 Victorian School Sports Awards. Congratulations to

• Harikat Bajwa who received a Sporting Blue Award for Cricket
• Christopher Go who received a Sporting Blue Award for Badminton
• Mr Kane Armistead who received an award for Outstanding Teacher Contribution, and
• Ms Michelle Desaulniers, who received an award for Outstanding Community Contribution.

It was amazing to see Nossal so well-represented at these prestigious awards.

In less glamourous surroundings, we have also been looking back at the school's operation and performance over the last four years as we complete our current school review and craft our goals and targets for the next Strategic Plan. That document is not yet ready to share with you, but I would like to thank the staff, students and parents who contributed to the various days of the review, as well as acknowledging the time and support provided by our Challenge Partners (Ms Jo Wastle, Principal of Glen Waverley High School and Mr Tony Mordini, Principal of Melbourne High School), our reviewer Mr Barry Soraghan and our School Education Improvement Leader, Ms Michaela Cole. 

The process of reflection and review is a vital part of our lives as adult learners committed to ongoing growth, and this is true no less for the school than it is for the individuals who learn and work inside it. The review was in many ways a very affirming process, providing us with opportunities to celebrate what is working well even as we identified areas for future work. It will not surprise longer term members of our community to hear that this work will focus very much in the areas of 

• strengthening the agency of our students inside the classroom, and
• further developing our wellbeing systems, 

In addition, we will commit ourselves to ensuring that we have structures in place to provide the school with some confidence that as years pass and disruptions come and go, the core elements of what makes Nossal an exciting and positive place to work and learn will be maintained and enhanced.

Looking Forward

The recent weeks have also provided us with some other opportunities to look forward with optimism. Our new School Council met for the first time on March 21 and also took part in their Annual General Meeting and Child Safety Training. They are, it is clear, looking forward to many lively discussions about the school's ongoing operation this year.

As I type, various families are on campus taking part in Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences. These meetings represent an opportunity to put our reports to their proper use in encouraging discussion between students and teachers, students and parents, and parents and teachers. Prior to this term's meetings, our students undertook a reflective activity in which they considered the data and advice in their reports and used this information to formulate their goals for the coming weeks and months. As always, I encourage our students and their families to see this (and all assessment tasks!) as a source of insight and direction for future learning - a diagnosis, rather than an autopsy. 

Joy is easy to see when you're rested and well!

Finally, I would like to thank all members of our community for their dedicated work so far this year, and encourage them to re-dedicate themselves over the coming weeks to rest and rejuvenation. We are ending Term 1 with our first serious batch of winter colds, reminding us all of the importance of maintaining our physical as well as our mental health as the year progresses. Next term, you will hear me reminding our students (and our staff!) of the importance of staying at home when sick so as to hasten their own recovery and avoid infecting their peers, and encouraging our senior students to resume mask-wearing so as to maintain their health during throughout their final year! All of those strategies will work best if they are layered on top of genuine rest over the holidays. 

I look forward to hearing what joyful things everyone has done when we return on Monday 24 April.

Tracey Mackin

Principal