Camps & Pathways Week

Year 12 Lord Somers Camp

In the midst of our SACs and VCE classes, Lord Somers Camp ’23 was a welcome, albeit temporary rest from the busy first term of Year 12. 

Even though the March morning temperatures were… mildly dubious at the beachside, to say the least, they didn’t dampen the determination of the Year 12 cohort to participate in the various water-related activities. Ranging from a relaxing session of stand-up paddle boarding, to surfing, to raft-building, and to the most collaborative and not-anxiety-inducing activity ever (kayaking), we experienced it all: solidarity, sacrifice and sabotage. On the more dry side of activities, we got to print-design our own T-shirts and wear it collectively as an activity group! I guess you could say it really stimulated our creative Nossalonian minds (in other words, people were drawing CAS calculators and graphs of parabolas; I sincerely hope they got the restful break they needed in the end). 

I think I speak for a majority of the cohort when I say that Nossal's Got Talent was one of the biggest highlights of Somers '23. Of course, with a huge improvement in the quality and confidence of the performances compared to when we were tiny little Year 9s at our first NGT (held during a 9 Time period, if I recall correctly, because our Year 9 camp had been sadly cancelled due to covid). It’s almost bittersweet, reflecting back on those memories and seeing how far we have come as a cohort. So much so that seeing everyone being so eager to get up on stage and celebrate together was nothing less than awe-inspiring. 

To quote Eric L, our student judge for Nossal's Got Talent, “I wished we could encapsulate this moment in a photograph”. And I think it’s so true, because there were so many moments in year 12 camp that are going to remain fond memories for years to come that cannot be conveyed through the many, many photos and recordings taken throughout. So, I want to thank my fellow Class of ’23, and the teachers that came along with us, for making this happen, and for creating such a positive environment in which we could form these precious memories together. 

by Lois Pal

Year 9 Roses Gap Camp

For Camps and Pathways week, the Year 9s at Nossal High School attended the Roses Gap Recreation Camp. Located within the heritage-listed Grampians National Park, the students spent four days and three nights, traversing and adventuring through the natural beauty of the site, alongside engaging in enthralling activities with their peers.

During our stay at camp, there were numerous activities that kept the students greatly active and involved during the four days they spent at Roses Gap. Some of the considerably varied physical activities that the students partook in, incorporated rock climbing, giant swing, canoeing, raft building, crate stack, archery, abseiling, bush walking, vertical playpen, flying fox, pamper pole, low ropes, and hut building.  

As voted by the students themselves, the undoubted favourites were rock climbing, giant swing, canoeing and pamper pole as these activities were both exhilarating and thrilling, pushing everyone a step out of their comfort zone to try a skill they probably have not accomplished before. The students were also tremendously supportive, encouraging and motivating to one another not only during difficulties and when they felt nervous but generally throughout the entire duration of camp, making this one of the most positive experiences of camp.

Additionally, besides the physical activities offered during camp, there were many other activities that simply added to the overall remarkable experience of camp. One key highlight included Assassin: A mere game of “tag” but instead of being just ruled out of the game once found, your target is given to a new person, and it continues until there is only one person left in the game. With intriguing rules including not being able to “kill” when there is another person in sight, this game kept everyone exceptionally cautious and vigilant at all times. In the end, however, this was one of the longest and most enjoyable games many of us have played as a cohort. 

The camp also consisted of multiple night-time activities involving movie night, general trivia and even Nossal’s Got Talent, which exquisitely displayed the talents of Year 9 students as well as even teachers! Overall, camp was unquestionably one of the highlights of 2023 for all of the students in Year 9. Not only did camp aid us to get out of our comfort zone and try multiple activities and learn new pivotal skills for life, but it was crucial for making those lifelong friendships and helping us settle into the Nossal culture. The memories we made during this one week will be forever remembered and cherished.

Pahal Dandiya and Sahasra Tadavarthi

Year 10 & 11 Pathways Week

Pathways Week aims to provide learning opportunities for Nossal students to engage in the world of work through VET or volunteering options. It supports our Year 10 students to think about and prepare for Work Experience placements which take place later in the year. It also aims to encourage our Year 11 students to identify their skills and strengths and actively apply for a job that they would enjoy that uses these skills and strengths. Students prepare a current CV/Cover letter which enables them to experience the process of applying and interviewing for a job – with Mock Interviews taking place during the first week of Term 2. 

This year we sought a range of new volunteering options, after COVID impacted the functioning of a number of organisations. One of the volunteering options that we secured was Backpack4vickids.org.au,  a charity located in Cranbourne West. B4VK provides support and materials for children who may need to be cared for outside their family unit for either short or long periods of time. There are currently 11,000 children in out-of-home care in Victoria, with this number expected to rise to 26,000 by 2026. Our students learnt about the necessity of charities in providing essential services to disadvantaged individuals within our communities and prepared care packages which will be received by 600 children. 

Please consider these local charities if you are able to assist in any way:

• Bk2Basics
• The Food Truck

Read some student accounts of their VET and volunteering experiences below:

The benefits of undertaking VET Courses:

During Camps and Pathways Week several Year 10s were fortunate enough to participate in accredited vocational education and training (VET) courses. I was lucky enough to complete the 'Australian Barista School' course. My love and enthusiasm for coffee played a big part in my decision to enrol in this program. Over the duration of 4 hours, an accredited Barista taught us how to use a coffee machine from scratch. With no experience, I was able to attain various skills including, how to froth milk, make espresso, make all of the coffees that you would find in a café and clean and maintain the coffee machine. The encouraging and entertaining atmosphere throughout the training made it very pleasant and cultivating! 

by Guneet Kaur

On Thursday 23 March, I attended the VET course “Silver Service”. Within this VET course, we learnt about the basics of waitering and hospitality in a restaurant environment, underlining the overall standards that should be met when serving customers and taking orders. We underwent multiple practical tasks, which included setting up tables, approaching customers, taking orders, and serving meals or dishes. After completing this course, my opinion on this VET is that it is quite specialised and fits only certain job types, however it is still a great VET course to consider in the future if it fits one’s criteria. Such a course would benefit students who would like to explore working in restaurants and food establishments which require top-tier service, which I am intending to do myself. Overall, this course was mostly centered around the idea of hospitality and how one may offer their services, however it was a comprehensive course on waitering, nonetheless. 

by Lue Cas Law 

On Thursday 23 March, I got the opportunity to participate in a Food Safety Handling course run by Complete Hospitality Training. We started by running through the legislation regarding food handling and discussing the legal requirements a restaurant needs to meet in order to safely stay open. As a part of this, we also learned the consequences of not following these rules, which was particularly interesting. In the middle of the class, we completed a handwashing activity which was very interesting. The teacher came around and gave us some Glitterbug lotion, which we rubbed into our hands. She then came around with a blue light, and we were able to see the dirt and bacteria that was on our hands prior to washing. After this, we were sent to go thoroughly wash our hands using the technique outlined by the WHO in their handwashing poster. Once we returned from the sinks, the teacher came around and shined the blue light onto our hands again to see how well we washed our hands. This was a very valuable learning experience for a lot of us, as we were able to see the spots we had missed on our hands that might allow us to spread bacteria unknowingly when we work with food. We then looked at illnesses that can be caused by improper handling of food, as well as viewing various real-life cases of these illnesses impacting people. Following on from this, we learned about the various ways these illnesses are caused, and what we can do to prevent them. We then learned information like the temperature danger zone and the 2-hour/4-hour rule as well as the statistics that support this information, which I found very interesting. Overall, this experience was very valuable, and we learnt a lot of important information. This course will assist us in our daily lives as well as in our careers, and I am very grateful to have been given the opportunity to attend this course.

by Brynn Mills

On Tuesday 21 March 2023, groups of students undertook the CPR and First Aid Course training with Hero Headquarters.

Within CPR, the sanitary use of first aid mannequins ranging from babies, children, and adults, were used for us to practice the resuscitation procedure: DRS (Danger, Response, Send for Help) ABCD (Airway, Breathing, CPR, Defibrillator); The full course taught us students how to recognize and respond to any first aid situation, as well as preventing them.

A shocking statistic was revealed in how little Australians know and/or refreshed their mastery of CPR and First Aid. However, for us, we all left the session empowered with the skills and knowledge to save any individual’s life.

I would recommend participating in any First Aid course to individuals not simply for their resume – but also to receive thorough training on how to become a person with the ability to save another individual’s life.

by Winston Wijaya

Volunteering

On Thursday 23 March, the Year 10 cohort ventured into volunteering and VET courses to provide students with the opportunity of gaining new skills before entering the workforces. One such activity was knitting trauma teddies for the Red Cross Organisation. Knitting was a brand-new skill for many of us, and it’s with no surprise to say that many students (including myself) were amateurs in the task.  We were taught with immense patience by Ms Lal and our volunteers. A lot of us persisted throughout the day even though it resulted in a small rectangular piece of wool- but we’d still count that as progress! Shout out to Nadini, who was closest anyone was to making a teddy, we were all awe-struck by your work! Overall, it was a great skill-building activity and many of us improved throughout the day, and for many people, it was their first time even volunteering, which I’m sure we’d like to take on as we progress. I would like to thank Ms Lal, and Ms Vanstan for helping smoothly run the event and the volunteers Kate (a parent) and May (a local) who took time out of their daily lives and came around to help us!

by Sanjana Shankar

A group of Year 10 students visited Puffing Billy in Emerald on March 23 to volunteer. Nobody knew what this experience had to offer, which was a unique and fascinating experience. Working with the group to safeguard the area around the renowned steam railway in the Dandenong Ranges was a privilege. While many would assume that we assisted in operating the train, the work we performed in cleaning the area was actually more crucial. Many trees and loose bark were obstructing the view of the train and posing a risk to young children. We had to remove branches and smaller trees that were dangerous or unnecessary. Interacting with those who maintain this region allowed us to see how challenging it is to work here. We met some lovely Emerald locals at the local market after work when we were looking for lunch. Overall, this experience provided more chances in various industries than we hadn't thought of as well as a greater understanding of the outside world.

by Jashn Walia

Message from the Puffing Billy Volunteer team: They were very impressed with your preparedness to have a go at anything they needed assistance with and overall work ethic. They also commented on how excellent your manners were and mentioned you were one of the best school groups they've had. Well done on a great day out representing Nossal in the community.

Beach patrol is a unique experience that made me feel really grateful about the natural beauty of our home country. It was comforting knowing that we were making an immediate difference for our community and impacting the health of our planet. As well as contributing to the environment we spoke to our peers and got the chance to converse with some locals. The atmosphere was calm allowing us to enjoy a peaceful day of engaging in meaningful work. Although our community significantly manages keeping our beaches clean, we were able to collect a relative amount of rubbish in hope to help keep our planet and country cleaner.

by Avneet Pabla

On March 21, a group of 20 Year 11 students volunteered at the Bk2Basics organization, who strive to make a difference in the lives of disadvantaged individuals. Working as a team, we sorted food donations from local supermarkets into different categories and assisted people who were walking in and out of the store with selecting their goods. Many of us helped shelve different items and we even got to help organize the op-shop that was a part of the organisation. It was a wonderful experience to give back to the community and many of us were encouraged to return with family and friends soon. We all met new and interesting people and it was a nice feeling to help someone in need.  

by Nesha Bentharage

Nossal students who chose to volunteer for the Food Truck, spent the day preparing hot meals for the homeless in the community. In 2012 the Cranbourne United Church established this volunteering initiative, in which they turned a retired fire truck into a small kitchen. Free hot meals, fruit, vegetables and non-perishable goods are distributed every Monday, Wednesday and Saturday from this truck to help the disadvantaged in the Cranbourne area. In order to help with these distributions, a team of Nossal students independently cooked nine trays of meatball spaghetti and four trays of vegetarian lasagna. These meals were sent to the Cranbourne Food Truck to assist with their vital mission of building a strong, caring and socially inclusive community.

by Zohar Schwartzbord