From the Principals' Desk
Dear Parents,
COVID and Lockdown
I thank you all for your ongoing support and resilience as we contend with the latest lockdown and the subsequent return and extension of remote learning. While no-one wanted this to occur, it is hard to see that there are other viable responses at this stage and the rate of transmission around the state and particularly in NSW is very concerning. Under the Delta variant we are now seeing infections within schools (one very close to here) and it is obvious that once we return to face-to-face classes, there will still need to be (probably strengthened) restrictions around events and activities, masks and distancing, and movement and visitors. It feels particularly deflating when we were enjoying (possibly too much) a comparative return to “almost normal.” The current outbreak is a very stark reminder that we do not have the situation under control and that we all need to be working together to eradicate the infection.
I have great empathy for those who are in challenging situations where their livelihoods and ability to work has been impacted, or who have family or loved ones overseas or even interstate, and our school community will be facing significant individual and disparate challenges as a result. In such a situation it is difficult to know how we may best help so I encourage you all to look out for each other and to seek assistance, advice, or support from us (for yourselves or others); we may be able to help either directly or through referral to or involvement with other agencies or support organisations.
The school will continue to endeavour to deliver the best possible educational and wellbeing support for our students and families, and we are in a better position than many others to do so. As we have previously experienced – full time remote learning requires a different approach with more flexibility, changed expectations, and greater variety of activity and approach. We know that regular screen breaks, exercise and recreation are essential and that this is not “lost” study time; it is the way to refresh and replenish your reserves, so you are able to optimise your time. Quality of study and learning, rather than quantity, is the key to success. Please do not be fooled into thinking that this is causing students to “fall behind” as all students in the state are in the same boat and, as we saw last year, for a variety of self-evident reasons Nossal students are comparatively advantaged in this situation, even if it does not feel like it. There are many things beyond our control, or that we have no answers for at the moment, so my strong advice is to only be concerned with the things you have control over, and to not waste unnecessary time worrying about “what if...” or the things that could go wrong. We have excellent teachers and support staff and they will all do their best to ensure our students continue to be safe, happy, and successful. Our 2020 results (on most objective measures including parent, staff, and student opinion surveys) were very high – better than previous years, and in some cases some of the best in the state. I am confident that we can, and will, come through this well, although it will not be easy and for some people it will be more challenging than for others depending on individual circumstances.
Wellbeing Support
Our wellbeing team do exceptional work behind the scenes supporting our students and families and will be closely monitoring our students and following up if teachers or parents are reporting any issues or concerns. I am pleased to see students using the anonymous “Report a Concern” function on Teams to seek assistance for themselves or their peers, and Ms Mackin is very busy responding to questions on the “MythBusters” channel where students can anonymously seek answers to any questions or concerns they may have. I am pleased because this help seeking behaviour is both proactive and is very useful for us as it alerts us to areas of concern, or to things that we need to address or improve. Naturally you can, and should, also make direct contact with trusted teachers and support staff and this too is welcomed and useful in helping us to better serve our community.
Students can book online counselling appointments with our three student counsellors via the link Ms De Zylva recently posted on the Nossal Staff & Students Team.
The Wellbeing team have also produced some quick guides to support services and agencies from outside the school who we recommend and encourage you to contact if you think they may be able to help. These are attached below for your reference.
Event Changes – Knowns and Unknowns
Central Australian Tour - This tour has been cancelled. We hope to be able to run it next year and will offer places to students who were unable to attend this year regardless of their year level.
Bruthen Primary School Visit and Community Concert - This has been deferred until later in the year. I thank those who put time into the organisation of this new event, and in particular the 2020 School Captain Team and Mr Butler (retired Assistant Principal) who have been working on this for over 18 months now. It was supposed to have been delivered in 2020, but COVID has delayed it considerably.
The Addams Family (2021 School Production) - I commend Mr Woon, Ms Denman and the cast, crew, and support staff for what was an excellent performance on the evening of the lockdown. We were really fortunate that we managed one performance (out of the planned three) and that many parents were able to swap their tickets and attend on Thursday evening. Unfortunately, my wife and I were booked in for Friday, but I had glowing reports from those who were lucky enough to attend the world premiere and closing night all in one show! We hope to be able to arrange further performances or at least post the footage online for people to see.
Methods SAC, English Orals and various other assessments have been moved to a later date or moved online. Ms Warriner and specific subject teachers will keep students informed about these changes as they occur. Some will not be confirmed until the conditions of our return to school have been clarified.
VCAA General Achievement Task (The GAT) –The VCAA has announced that the GAT will be postponed, and will now take place on Thursday 12 August. This delay is to "allow schools time to organise logistics and put COVIDSafe protocols in place, so that students and staff can return onsite to participate safely."
In line with this, it is important to understand that the GAT involves invigilators from outside the Nossal community, which will certainly place greater distancing requirements on this event than would normally be the case. In turn, spreading the students out more means that we will need additional invigilators when the task does go ahead. To accommodate this (as it involves half the school) we will be obliged to hold either a pupil free or a digital delivery day for students not involved in the GAT, so that we can free up enough classrooms to meet the expected density limits.
There will also be a timetable swap that week as a result – on Mon 9/8 we will operate on a Thursday A timetable, and on Thurs 12/8 we will operate on a Monday A timetable. (The students will understand this!)
NEST Assembly – This was planned for Monday 26 July, but has been postponed.
Year 12 Exams and VCE Requirements – The VCAA has recently announced that while it will not be modifying the requirements for Unit 4 or the dates for the end of year examination period at this time, it will be re-activating its Consideration of Educational Disadvantage processes so that students whose outcomes have been significantly affected by the lockdowns this year are not disadvantaged in comparison to their peers.
In this context, it is again important to remember that the ATAR is a ranking against the whole state, and that all students in the state have faced the same interruptions to their learning program so that the playing field remains "level" in this sense.
Edutest Vacancy Testing and Year 9 Entry Testing for 2022. - Both have been moved to later dates. Edutest will be in touch with all applicants directly to inform them of the changes and the new dates.
VCE Premier’s Awards Presentations –This event has been cancelled for this year.
Domain Subject Displays/ Course Advice and Careers Expo – These annual events, designed to aid students in their subject selections for 2022, have been moved online. In addition, a Q&A session for parents was held last Wednesday (21st July) and the video and a pdf of the Q&A stream will soon be available via Compass to parents of Year 9, 10 and 11 students.
Course Counselling Interviews – These will occur online as planned on Wednesday 28 July. We will unfortunately not be able to accommodate the very small number of parents who had requested an on site interview due to circumstances which prevented them from attending their online meeting via Teams with their student, but Ms Katherine Warriner (katherine.warriner@nossalhs.vic.edu.au) will contact these individuals directly to make other arrangements.
Instructions about how to attend these interviews will be distributed via Compass, but the process will essentially mirror the approach taken during our online Parent/Student/Teacher Conferences, where a teacher calls the student into a video meeting on teams and they are encouraged to sit beside their parent/s during the discussion.
School Council Meeting July 27, 2021 – This will be held online, as will the associated sub-committee meetings.
Music Winter Concert – This event has been postponed.
House Performing Arts Festival (HPAF) – At this stage we are assuming that HPAF will go ahead at Robert Blackwood Hall (Monash University, Clayton campus) as planned. Since it is likely that no parent audience will be permitted, we may try to hold the actual performance in the afternoon rather than the evening. Details will be confirmed closer to the event.
Others - Unfortunately, we must be prepared for further changes to our planned program as the situation evolves. We will of course update the community (either through this newsletter or through announcements on Compass and Teams) as things change and more information comes to hand. I will take this opportunity to remind our parents that if they have recently changed their contact details, it is important to contact the school's front office and let us know about this. At this time, we rely heavily on having a correct email address (in particular) to ensure that all parents are kept informed. Similarly, logging on to Compass regularly is a good way to keep track of what's on each student's schedule and provides you with access to the school calendar and other resources.
Nossal Canteen
The Mobile Catering Company, who have been running our school canteen recently, will cease operations at Nossal at the end of next week (or potentially earlier depending on the lockdown). We are currently in the process of re-tendering for another canteen operator but there is likely to be a period of time where we will be unable to provide an onsite canteen service for the school. We will look at providing access to a Food Truck during lunchtime if this is the case. More information to follow.
Scholarship Opportunity for Year 10 Students
Applications are now open for a scholarship supporting Year 10 students facing economic, family, or social challenges that impact their studies or capacity to achieve their tertiary pathway.
The three-year Australian Business and Community Network (ABCN) Accelerate Scholarship program provides students with a dedicated corporate mentor and financial support.
This includes time with the mentor to help set goals and develop valuable workplace skills, and $7000 in financial assistance over a three-year period.
Students can spend the financial assistance on study materials, education costs and transport.
Eligibility requirements
All Year 10 students who are Australian citizens or permanent residents are eligible to apply.
Students must also meet two out of the three categories to be eligible:
- demonstrated commitment and high engagement in academic schoolwork
- demonstrated responsibility and organisation as a leader at school or in extra-curricular activities
- demonstrated commitment and dedication to community service and sports, including those in need and their extended family unit or team.
How to Apply
Interested students should speak to their teacher about the application process and their eligibility.
As part of the application, students must submit a short essay addressing the topic ‘The difference this ABCN scholarship will make to my life and the community around me’, and include the following responses:
- the benefits of having a mentor
- what the student would use the scholarship funds for
- the impact they would have in their community.
The application must be submitted by the principal on behalf of the student.
Applications close Friday 20 August.
Scholarship recipients will be informed in October 2021.
Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund applications
The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund helps eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.
If you have a valid means-tested concession card, such as a Veterans Affairs Gold Card, Centrelink, Health Care Card or Pensioner Concession Card, or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible. There is also a special consideration category for asylum seeker and refugee families.
Payment amounts this year are $225 for eligible secondary school students.
Payments are made direct to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions, and sporting activities for the benefit of your child.
If you applied for CSEF through our school last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year unless there has been a change in your family circumstances.
If you would like to apply for the first time, please contact the school office on 87624600 and ask for an application form.
You can also download the form, and find out more about the program and eligibility, on the
Department of Education and Training’s Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund web page.
Check with the school office if you are unsure, and please return completed forms to the school office as soon as possible.
Plagiarism Warning
I have recently had to deal with several instances of plagiarism and the outcomes of such investigations can have serious ramifications for the students involved. We treat allegations of plagiarism or cheating very seriously across all year levels and apply a formal investigation and consequences process based on VCAA guidelines. Consequences range from warnings through to suspension and loss of marks or exclusion of assessment results (potentially seriously impacting VCE results). The school uses quite sophisticated software that identifies similarities in submitted pieces of work (from within and outside the school) and students are well aware of the school and VCAA rules. Please talk to your children about this – not only is it dishonest and morally wrong, it can have severe consequences for those involved and is never worth the risk.
Parent Opinion Survey
Each year DET seeks anonymous feedback from parents in all government schools in the state. The information that is collected is collated into comprehensive reports that are shared with individual schools and used to compare school performance and to determine areas of improvement. This is incredibly useful data for Nossal, and we genuinely value the opinions and suggestions from our parent community. We also value any critical feedback or improvement suggestions you may have, and the leadership team and staff analyse the opinion data we collect from parents, students, and staff each year to help us formulate our annual plan and to ensure that we are addressing concerns and continually striving it improve.
THIS IS WHERE I NEED YOUR HELP! I know it is inconvenient, and that you get inundated these days by feedback requests from all directions, but it is very important for us and will benefit your (and future) Nossal students. In the past couple of years, rather than nominating a small percentage of parents to complete the survey, I have invited all parents to participate to maximise the return rate. It might surprise and disappoint you (as it does me) that we are lucky to get more than 10% of parents responding. I can only hope that is because people are happy with what we are doing, but I can’t be certain of that, and if it was the case, it would be really useful if we could show that in the survey data.
I will send out the parent survey request shortly. Can I please ask that you take a few minutes to complete and return this year’s survey so we can get a much greater return rate and a more accurate summary of our parent opinions, positive feedback, and any concerns.
Finally...
I hope that you all stay safe and well in these uncertain times. Do not hesitate to contact me directly if you have any questions or concerns. (for yourselves or others)
Regards,
Roger Page
Principal