From the Principals' Desk 

House Performing Arts Festival

Another spectacular example of student talent, co-operation and creativity (and dedication and hard work). No where am I more proud to be associated with Nossal than at the performing Arts Festival.

The annual competition was (as usual) hotly contested and highly entertaining and I am constantly amazed at the depth of talent our students (and staff) possess. There were some glitches and some elements that were a little bit less than polished, but considering the short timeline and the large number of students involved the end result was a credit to all. Being pretty much incapacitated with a bad back, I joined the VIP section in the balcony and filled the role of spectator alongside the Mayor, Council presidents and ex-presidents, alumni and alumni parents, and various other special guests, parents and friends of the school. It was wonderful to see so many of the alumni present and actively contributing, (I think we had a full house) and we are pressing them to put on an alumni act in the future. I have to say though that the quality of sound and vision in the balcony is rather less than perfect and the “cheap seats” down below provide a much more impressive spectacle. Nonetheless, the student performances were highly impressive and I’m always pleased not to be judging.

That these pieces were designed, written and performed by students and led by students is a testament to their abilities and an excellent example of why we need to provide a broad range of options and experiences as part of the co-curricular program.

My thanks to all involved – and in particular to the student and staff leaders for their commitment and drive (on top of their usual heavy workloads).

Digital Delivery Day

My thanks to all staff but particularly to Mr Fankhauser and the Digital Delivery team of staff who again facilitated DDD. This is cutting edge curriculum development and the work that staff put into these days is enormous. So too is the benefit for our students – both in the short and longer terms. Increasingly universities are finding that online learning is a significant transitional issue for first year university students so we are ensuring that it is not an issue for Nossal graduates. Our teachers and students learn challenging new skills and approaches each time we run a Digital Delivery Day and the quality of the programs offered is exponentially developing and improving.

National Tree Planting Day

My thanks to Ms Ball and the NEST team (and Jenny Chandler – our gardener) for their excellent work in securing a large donation of plants from Bunnings and planting them around the school last Friday. Ms Ball has also organised a Regional Environmental Summit here at Nossal in September, which will be run by our students for over 100 representatives from other local (and not so local) schools. Great to see student run initiatives like this take place.

Vacancies and Offers for 2017

The second round Year 9 offers went out last week and we have a large waiting list of very keen students looking for entry to Nossal at Years 10 and 11. If for any reason your son or daughter will not be attending Nossal in 2017, could you please let me know as soon as possible so I can offer the place to one on the waiting list and organise subject selections. I am pleased to say that there has again been increased interest and larger numbers looking for placement here. Ms Harrap and I will be conducting Principal’s Discretion interviews for entry into Year 9 in 2017 next week.

School Captains 2017

The current School Captains and the House Leaders have been shortlisting applicants for 2017 School Captains and the quality of application in the first round was very high making it difficult to shortlist. Those who have been shortlisted will make speeches to the school assembly before students vote and final interviews take place.

Lack of Involvement /Participation

I challenged our students and staff at today’s whole school assembly to step up and take more responsibility for maintaining the school culture as the adult and trusting environment that I hope it will always be. I also expressed some concern about what I see as a creeping reluctance for students (and staff) to be involved in activities and programs outside their “normal” classroom responsibilities. I fear that we may be generating an overly intense focus on academic studies to the detriment of some breadth and depth in our co-curricular options. We need to strike the right balance between the two things, and be more flexible in what and how we deliver our programs.

For me this concern manifests itself in increased levels of stress and worry and even in the difficulty we are having filling places for the Bogong Leadership camp for Year 9 students (this is a fantastic leadership opportunity and experience that will have long term impact, and yet it appears that this year for the first time we may have to cancel it due to lack of interest) We had similarly low numbers applying for the Alpine School program and even the Central Australian Tour initially. Most worryingly I hear that Ms Loel is having trouble finding volunteers to fill the role of Peer Mentors.

I know from long experience and feedback from our own graduates that some of the most powerful and long lasting school experiences are those that are part of the co-curricular program. I also know that no-one ever says “I wish I had been less involved at school,” and that increasingly universities, employers and scholarship panels seek evidence of broad experience and involvement in leadership, sports, arts, community service and the like when appointing people to places, positions and awarding scholarships. We are an academic school and we will always focus on high levels of academic and classroom performance, but we also need to balance that with a breadth of options and experiences that I strongly encourage all students to take up. If your focus is narrow – your long term outcomes and performance may be negatively impacted, and it may also impact on your health and wellbeing.

I am most concerned that we appear to be overly pressured by time and “work” and that this is reducing the very things that help build resilience and wellbeing. I have asked the students and teachers to reflect on this – and hope that we can find a better balance.

From 2017 we will introduce a more formal acknowledgement of student’s extra-curricular involvement in the awarding of the Sir Gustav Nossal Medallion which will (like the Duke of Edinburgh Award) come in Gold, Silver and Bronze levels depending on the level of involvement and leadership shown by individual students. I believe this will be a useful addition to student portfolios and may assist with the recognition and status of broader involvement. Ms Desaulniers has been working with the school leadership team and SRC on the development of this exciting new initiative.

Acknowledgements & Coming Events...

• Congratulations and thanks to Mr Cole, Ms Stoppa and Mr Butler, and of course the Senior Strings ensemble for taking part in the Royal South Street Eisteddfod in Ballarat last weekend. The ensemble actually performed at 10.00 pm on Saturday night so it was a very late night for them all.

• Congratulations to the “Future Problem Solving” Team of Aditya Gadgil, Broden Krause, Haydn Radford and Jordan Van Rhyn who have achieved a place in the National Finals in October. This event is to be hosted at Nossal this year – the first time ever that a government school has hosted – we will be looking for a number of students to fill the roles of support and maintenance crews, AV teams as well as ambassadors and guides in the not too distant future.
• Working Bee this Saturday morning (Sept 3) – all welcome – please join us to assist in the school grounds and garden.
• The Japan tour departs on September 8 and I am looking forward to joining them in Kyoto a week later so I can meet with my counterpart at Chosei HS to sign off formally on our sister school agreement.
• This week is Book Week and already there have been some interesting and impressive events and activities around the school – with the main focus on the IRC.

• Please make sure you book a place in the study skills workshop for parents being organised by the PFA for Sept 7 at 7.00 pm. If you wish to know how to best support your children in their studies, this workshop will provide you with some guidance and insight. See the flyer on the Events page at the end of this newsletter. Bookings are now open at  https://www.trybooking.com/MMIR

• Congratulations to Mr Fankhauser and Ms Mackin who are currently interstate presenting at a national IT conference.

Roger Page

Monday August 29, 2017