From the Principals' Desk 

A Message From Mr Page

Dear Students, Staff and Parents, 

I sincerely apologise for my absence to date. Unfortunately I have been suffering an ongoing medical condition (non COVID related) for the past several months and it became progressively worse during holidays resulting in hospitalisation just before school resumed. I have yet to see much improvement, and treatment (and hopefully) recovery is likely to take longer than I had anticipated. 

This is the first time in 44 years that I have missed the start of a school year - and the first Nossal start without me being present which I found quite disconcerting. I am however very confident that the school is in exceptionally safe and capable hands and have no qualms that Ms. Mackin and the leadership team will do an outstanding job in leading the school during my absence. I commend and thank Ms Mackin in particular for seamlessly taking on the Acting Principal role. 

I am grateful for the good will messages I have been receiving and thank you for your expressions of concern and support. I do hope to be able to return to Nossal soon and look forward to meeting the many new members of our community. 

Warm Regards, 

Roger Page

On Campus and On Our Way

It was with considerable excitement that I watched our students and staff gather to start the year this year. Despite what has become a quasi-normal air of uncertainty as we worked out the implications of the COVIDSafe settings for 2022, hearing the buildings fill with the buzz of voices after their long silence continues to be a source of joy and anticipation. 

Before the students arrived, staff had an opportunity to gather together on Friday 28 January for some shared work and some shared laughter. It was a pleasure to welcome a number of new staff this year, and to welcome back some returning staff. I'd like to formally acknowledge the addition of the following staff members to our community:

• Mr Josh Blanchard (Facilities)
• Mr Kane Armistead (Humanities)
• Mr Chris Sacco (Humanities)
• Ms Anna Wen (Humanities)
• Ms Vaishali Kentish (LOTE)
• Ms Sumiyo Kamimura (LOTE)
• Ms Kaori Teramoto (LOTE)
• Ms Sarah Tchantcho (English)
• Ms Fiona Vanstan (HPE)

I have no doubt that they will each make excellent contributions to the life of the school across the next 12 months and into the coming years.

This year, our students were greeted by chalk art created by our Art Club who, with the assistance and encouragement of our 2022 School Captains and Assistant Principal Ms Fiona De Zylva, gave up time on the Sunday before school returned to make our courtyard one which was filled with a sense of welcome and celebration.

The air of happy unity was evident in the rest of the events of our first week back. As was the case last year, we started the year with an Orientation Day for our new Year 9 students, some of whom received their offers to join us only days before classes resumed. After facing genuine concerns last year about whether the entrance examination would run at all, it was both a pleasure and a relief to welcome them to Nossal at last. I would like to take a moment to welcome all of our new families to the school, and to thank our Year 9 parents in particular for their patience as we have worked through a large number of administrative processes in January and February that normally would have been completed during the previous year.

I also extend a hearty welcome to our returning families. As a school community, we have always been grateful for the trust and support which our families offer. We look forward to working with you productively in the coming twelve months.

COVID Updates

A significant amount of information has been shared with our families via email and Compass posts relating to the COVIDSafe settings for this year, so I will not repeat that material here. If you are unsure about any of the measures or processes we have in place, though, please do not hesitate to contact me directly by email (tracey.mackin@nossalhs.vic.edu.au) or mobile (0418 308 384).

One thing which is worth noticing is that the clear intention of all policies in relation to the management of COVID-19 outbreaks this year are aimed at keeping schools open. Part of this approach is an understanding that, as with other infectious diseases with strong vaccination programs in place, it may sometimes happen that individuals will acquire the disease and will need to be absent as a result. 

So far our students and staff have been diligent in obeying the guidelines around testing and isolation, to the great benefit of the school as a whole. I commend them, especially those facing the frustration of isolating when they are not themselves ill. It is through these moments of personal discipline - like the discipline of continuing to wear masks despite the heat, and the discipline of maintaining physical distance where possible - that the good of the whole school is maintained. The lessons which the pandemic have taught us how much we rely on each other for our joint success have been well-learned, and I am grateful to be able to see the benefits of that learning in the behaviour of our community members.

A message from our COVID Champions

You may recall that late last year the school appointed two members of staff to act as COVID Vaccination Champions. Mrs Diane Latham, with her co-champion Mr Jason Bell, continues to fulfil this role, and offers the following observations and advice:

Jason Bell and I would like to reintroduce ourselves as your Nossal COVID Vaccine Champions.

It is more important than ever to ensure that your vaccine regimen is up to date. Currently, 42% of people in the community (18+) have received their 3rd dose of vaccine. 93% have received 2 doses (12+). Teenagers aged 16+ are now eligible for their 3rd dose and we encourage you to do so as soon as possible.

The best way to protect ourselves, and the wider community, is to receive all three doses of a COVID vaccine. Many centres have “walk-up” appointments, so it is easy to do. Also, don’t forget that you do not need to receive the same type of vaccine for your 3rd dose. For example, if you received Pfizer for doses 1&2, it is perfectly okay to take Moderna for dose 3.

If you have any questions about vaccination against COVID, please contact either of us via email (diane.latham@nossalhs.vic.edu.au or jason.bell@nossalhs.vic.edu.au ) or via Teams.

Mental Health and Wellbeing

A message from our Assistant Principal: Wellbeing and Student Agency, Ms Fiona De Zylva:

Whether you are isolating because you are a close contact or you have tested positive recently you may feel disconnected because of limited contact with members of our community or you are working through other challenges. This may have an impact on your mental health and wellbeing. We encourage you to seek support. 

This is a reminder to all that our students can keep in contact with us via Teams. They can make an appointment with our school counsellors via Nossal Staff and Students team - tab on the top titled Counselling appointments.

If students are not at school, our counsellors will be happy to have a chat with them during school hours. We encourage them to reach out - if they are unable to make contact with a counsellor, please let me know.

Ms Fiona De Zylva

The Wellbeing Team has also put together a list of some resources that are available in our community. The collection attached is particularly geared towards the needs of parents, but a similar document has been made available for students via a Teams post. Please take a moment to look through them, and take advantage of them to help maintain your health and the health of your loved ones.

Foundation Assembly

As Roger noted in his message, for the first time this year neither he nor Sir Gustav Nossal, who has been experiencing some mobility issues that prevented him from being with us, were able to be present for the Foundation Assembly this year. It was, in fact, a significantly smaller affair than usual, since the management of risks associated with COVID-19 meant that we were not able to invite our parents to this annual event either. Instead, Dr John Inns (President of the School Council) represented the parent body during this formal start to the year.

Despite this, we were very pleased to formally welcome the Class of 2025 with the traditional distribution of Nossal badges. As usual, each Year 9 student was introduced alongside their Year 12 "buddies - a senior student from their tutorial group who is tasked with introducing them to the school's culture and processes. 

The students in the Class of 2022 ended 2021 by refining their thinking about their place as role models in the school. It was clear in those discussions that many hold the intention of making this a memorable year in which elements of the school's culture which have been difficult to maintain due to the pandemic are reclaimed with enthusiasm and idealism. I commend them for this attitude, and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labour in the success of various whole school initiatives throughout the year. 

Whole School Assembly

While it is true that we did not have the pleasure of Sir Gus's company during the Foundation Assembly, the school was honoured by his presence during our opening assembly broadcast. This online event allowed us to launch the year with a shared event despite our inability to gather the whole school together inside the gymnasium.

Mr Keith Butler, former Assistant Principal at Nossal, visited Sir Gus and set up a small "studio" that allowed him to deliver the year's opening address, and as usual Sir Gus's words were both thoughtful and relevant. I would like to thank Mr Butler for his support of this event, and to warmly congratulate Sir Gus on another excellent presentation to our community. We remain, as always honoured and privileged to be associated with him.

After the online presentations, we also used this event to provide the Year 9 students with a less formal and more enthusiastic welcome to the school. Students moved outside to form a guard of honour which greeted Year 9 students from each house with enthusiastic applause. 

Parents and Friends Association

Last week I was pleased to be able to attend the first meeting of the Nossal Parents and Friends Association which has been held in person for some time. It was a pleasure to meet some of our new Year 9 parents, and be reminded of the commitment and enthusiasm of our existing PFA members. As well as welcoming some new members, the group was able to take the time to reflect on their achievements in 2021. Despite the challenges of not being able to meet and work together, they were able to raise a considerable amount of money in support of the school and, more importantly, maintain the relationships which make involvement in this group so valuable.

The group has already planned various activities for the start of the year, including the resumption of the Uniform Shop's operations on the first Monday of very month, a Valentines Day stall for students and staff this coming Wednesday (9th February), and the provision of a welcome group who will attend the VCE Information Night on Thursday 10 February. All of this, before their Annual General Meeting. That important event will be held on Wednesday 2 March. It will be further publicised closer to the date, but I will take this opportunity to encourage parents both new and established to take advantage of the camaraderie and support this excellent group provides each other and the school.

On the matter of the PFA Uniform Shop, current parents will soon be able to see when the uniform shop will be open by consulting the Triple N layer of the Compass Calendar.

School Council

Also resuming its operations for the year is the School Council. The 2021 School Council will be meeting for the last time on Tuesday 22 February, but I would like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the information later in this newsletter about how to nominate for a position on the NEW council, which will begin its work in March. This body has oversight of the school's governance and is an important forum for discussion and debate across the different stakeholders in our community.

Transport to Nossal

I doubt there are many parents who were not aware of the significant traffic issues which occurred on the first day on which the entire school returned. The combination of the ongoing closure of Clyde Road and the replacement of trains with buses along the Cranbourne/Pakenham line are both contributing to create a challenging situation for our families, despite the support of the Crossing Authority in the form of a shuttle bus service which, after some teething issues, now seems to be operating quite effectively.

Traffic flow into and out of the school now seems to be fairly normal, thanks no doubt to some modifications which our families have made (e.g. dropping their students off at a small distance from the school instead of trying to get right to the door). We obviously don't have a lot of control over this situation, but I am hopefully that once the works have been completed they will have a positive impact on the traffic flow along Clyde Rd (which has been challenging for some time). Like the rest of our community, I look forward to that time!

Onward 2022, Onward the Creative Mind!

One of the questions we often ask at Nossal is how we can make our approach to assessment work better for our students. While the "single number outcome" of the ATAR has some utility in streamlining university entrance processes, it does a very bad job of capturing the breadth and depth of our students skills and capabilities. For some time now, we have been looking into other ways to assess, and we are particularly interested in assessing different aspects of our students' thinking.

In line with this, we and the rest of the Academically Select Entry Network schools are about to embark on a research project with Dr Tim Patston in association with the University of South Australia. Dr Patston is interested in creativity. Specifically, he is interested in how to assess it, and in how different measures of creativity relate to other, more traditional measures of academic achievement. We are very interested in the insights our work with him may provide about how our students engage the creative mind and hopefully to confirm, as we have long suspected, that greater creativity correlates to better outcomes across the board. 

We will soon be providing information about this research project to all parents via email, and seeking their consent for their student/s to participate. We will of course be working to ensure that the research is being carried out ethically and that the rights of our students are protected throughout. I hope that all of our parents will help support us in this attempt to better understand how our students think and work, so that we may further assist them on their learning journey.

Year 9 parents can also expect to receive some information soon about our annual Meet and Greet Evening (Thursday 24th February). This will be an opportunity to meet the tutorial teachers and to hear a bit more about our approach to learning and teaching here at the school.

Finally, may I once again welcome you all. It really has been a pleasure to spend time with members from different groups in our community this week, and I am confident that I will see this pleasure expanded through the re-introduction of a range of activities - like the House Performing Arts Festival - which have been unable to run in recent years. Even within the challenges of extended lockdown, the creativity and thoughtful engagement of our students and staff were very evident. How wonderful to have the chance to experience more of that in person, as we hope to this year.

I wish you all the best for these first few weeks of term.

Yours sincerely,

Tracey Mackin

(Acting Principal)