From the Principals' Desk

Nossal is 10!

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2019.

This is an important year for Nossal as it marks our 10th anniversary following our opening in January 2010. We are planning to arrange some suitable celebratory events to mark this milestone later in the year and will convene an organising committee later this term to begin the planning. There has been much interest from past staff and students, and we hope to structure a series of events that will enable them to reconnect with us and their peers, and to strengthen the links they still have with the school and the current students.

I have been sorting through my office and archiving the planning documents and other such information from late 2008 when Nossal was conceived, and when I first started work on the planning for the new school. It is difficult to know what to retain, but it was interesting to revisit the architectural plans and be reminded of the battles we fought to gain adequate funding to create the spaces and designs we really wanted, and then the compromises that had to be made to comply with regulation and limited funds. I am very pleased and proud of what we achieved, and school has stood up well (and been well looked after by the 10 cohorts of students who have inhabited it) although we have had to make a number of modifications and improvements to areas that did not work as well as we had imagined (sadly some due to my lack of foresight), and there are still areas of the school that I view with a sense of disappointment as the initial plans were not able to be realised or had to be curtailed to fit the budget. I was pretty keen to have some fun stuff around the school, but the Health and Safety regulations would not allow slides or firemen poles between the floor levels, but we did win the battle to have boiling and chilled water units for the students, and it was hard to believe that hot water was not allowed to be connected to student toilets in 2010. We had to push for some of the things we now take for granted, but which were not supposed to be according to the official guidelines. I still look at our gym and lecture theatre with some mixed feelings as in our initial planning both were much larger (run off and spectator area, mezzanine weight and viewing room in the gym, and more seating, wings, staging and change rooms in the lecture theatre).

Unfortunately the other area where the budget had to be cut was outside – so it took a number of years for us to complete the oval (without the planned pavilions and change rooms) and I have some fantastic grounds development plans that I hope we are able to implement at some stage in the future, including Japanese gardens, reflection ponds, wetlands, outdoor amphitheatre and performance space, and outdoor study areas and classroom spaces. This might require our alumni to become rich and make significant donations to the school, and I do (tongue in cheek) encourage the departing Year 12 students to do just that. Am still waiting as they are as yet a little too young to have made their first million dollars!

Strategic Planning Process

The leadership team have been leading the staff, students and School Council through a comprehensive and critical review of the school progress and performance over the past four years and have been evaluating how well we met the targets in our 2015 four-year plan. Later this month we will be going through the formal review process with an outside reviewer appointed by the Education Department.

This is part of a regular cycle undertaken by all government schools in order to challenge and improve our work and performance, and while I am pleased to say that Nossal has generally excellent results across nearly all performance measures, there are always things that we could and should be doing better, or more creatively, and we have set some very worthy, ambitious and challenging goals. I thank the staff, students and parents for their contributions to date, and we are still collecting feedback and data to better inform our review and to help us set the most appropriate targets for our next four-year strategic plan. Parents and alumni can greatly assist me with this by filling in the brief online survey that was posted last week. http://bit.ly/parentsurvey_feb2019

New Staff 

We welcome a number of new staff members to Nossal this year and had two late departures that I was not expecting. Mr Chris Bramich (Laboratory Technician) has taken up a position at Monash University (in the Biomedical Lab where he will be working with many ex-Nossal students) and Ms Tatiana Vega (Voice and Choir instructor) has taken up a full-time position at another school (we are currently seeking a replacement for her). I wish them both well and thank them for their excellent contribution to the school.

We welcome..

• Mr Jaron Gould – Maths
• Mr Michael Bird – English & PE
• Ms Julie Ward – English
• Ms Emma Winton – English/Humanities
• Ms Emma Dusting – Humanities
• Ms Anita Coffa – Health and PE
• Dr Jin Chung – Lab Tech
• Ms Nisha Kaushal – Office Admin
• Mr Alban Xavier – French Language Assistant (Alban has joined us from France for a 12-month appointment where he will be working with us and the John Monash Science School)

Foundation Assembly

It was wonderful to see many parents at the annual Foundation Assembly where the new students are introduced to Sir Gustav Nossal and presented with their badges, accompanied by Year 12 mentors from their tutorial group who assist with their induction into the school, and the culture and expected behaviours of a “Nossalonian.” Year 9 have now just completed their “iWeek” program and I have heard very positive reports about their participation and engagement. iWeek is an important initiative for us and we believe that it much better prepares the students for what lies ahead of them at Nossal and greatly assists them to get the most out of their time with us. I thank Ms Loel, Ms Banaag and their team for their excellent work in this program. I look forward to meeting the parents of our new students again at the annual "Meet and Greet" event and warmly invite you all to attend so we form strong positive bonds between you and the teachers, tutorial and House Leaders. We also have some very important information for you which is part of the parent induction program and will help you to better understand the way the school operates and assist you to help us ensure that your child gains the maximum benefit from their time with us.

VCE Results 2018

While I always stress that final VCE results are only one part of the success measures that we should be using to judge our performance and effectiveness as a school, and that they should never define, limit, nor impede or discourage any student, they are indicative of the dedication, hard work and commitment of the students, their families and teachers over many years. At an academically selective school, high ATARs are sought and expected, and while it must always be noted that they are very important for a relatively short period of time when the students are seeking university entry (as that is the purpose of the ATAR – it is a comparative ranking – not a score) we do celebrate our students successes and acknowledge the level of commitment and application required to achieve high rankings. We will be holding an assembly to do just this shortly, where we will be inviting some of the highest performing students from the previous year to publicly laud them and to hear some words of advice from them.

We were very pleased with our 2018 results and I congratulate all students on their successes.

The Class of 2018...

• 52% achieved an ATAR over 90
• Median ATAR was 90.5
• 15 students achieved ATARs over 99
• 26% of study scores were over 40
• Mean study score was 35.3
• 8 students achieved perfect study scores of 50 (3 of them in Year 11!)
• Dux (Qiao Wen Tee) – ATAR of 99.9

University offers came out last week and all bar one student (who is playing basketball in the USA) have received an offer (most for their first of second preferences). It is pleasing to see the breadth of courses and universities that our students are applying for and being accepted into, and there are now growing cells of Nossalonians interstate and a few overseas, although the majority still choose Monash or Melbourne courses.

In addition to their core role as teachers or education support staff, the following staff members also assume additional important areas of responsibility that enhance our programs and better support the educational experiences of our students....

Nossal Leadership 2019

Update on ex Staff

Three Nossal Assistant Principals have moved into the Principal roles at other schools after making wonderful contributions to Nossal.

Ms Sue Harrap enters her second year as Principal at Northcote HS and is doing excellent work there.

I congratulate Mr Wayne Haworth (Foundation Nossal staff member) who has recently returned to the area as the newly appointed Principal of Hampton Park Secondary College after several years as Principal at Mount Alexander College.

I also congratulate Dr Toni Meath (Nossal Foundation AP) who has taken up the role of Principal at Melbourne Girls Grammar after several year as Principal at Macrob.

New Canteen

We welcome Mr Praveen Kaushal who has taken over the lease of the school canteen. He is currently refurbishing the premises and setting up so has been offering a reduced menu, but once fully operational the canteen will provide extended services and hours (before school and Wednesday lunchtimes) and a wider more diverse menu, and some additional services and training opportunities for our students.

School Council Elections

We will be calling for nominations for parent, student and staff representatives on school Council shortly, and I encourage people to consider taking on this key leadership responsibility for the school.

Parents and Friends Association (PFA) 

The PFA are a delightful group of current and ex- parents who meet together once a month and do wonderful work in supporting the school and linking with parents. The held their first meeting for 2019 last week and it was great to see a number of new Year 9 parents in attendance. They are a very happy and supportive group and would love to have other parents join with them – they meet in the Jean Russell Centre at the school on the first Wednesday each month at 7.00 pm. Please join us.

Casey Philharmonic Orchestra

This group of local classical musicians rehearse each Thursday evening in the Nossal Fitness Centre and are seeking new members to join with them. They have performed some interesting and challenging repertoire and it could be a good opportunity for some proficient Nossal students to be mentored and experience performing with an orchestra.

The Casey Philharmonic are looking for additional percussion, strings and brass for 2019. Below are details for our first two concerts:

March 30

Fantasia

Conductor - Joseph Lallo

Rehearsals start on Thursday the 7th of Feb in Berwick

The Carnival of the Animals – Camille Saint-Saëns, (excerpts) Pomp and Circumstance – Edward Elgar Night on Bald Mountain – Modest Mussorgsky Dance of the Hours - Amilcare Ponchielli Symphony no. 6, Movt. 1, Beethoven The Firebird, Stravinsky, (excerpts)

June 22,

One Small Step... One Giant Leap

Music that changed the course of history.

Conductor - Joseph Lallo

Rehearsals start on Thursday the 2nd of May in Berwick

Shostakovich Festive overture

Holst, The Planets

Haydn, The création overture

Wagner, Sigfried Idyll

Ravel, Boléro

email: caseyphilharmonic@gmail.com

Congratulations to....

• Lily Lunder of Year 10 who has been shortlisted in the prestigious Tropfest Junior Film Festival for her film “Reboot.” This follows her ACMI award winning film last year. This is something she does in her own time using family members as actors and she is obviously highly skilled in this field.
• Vincent Cao of Year 9 who has earned the Australian Scout Medallion – this is the highest award in his age level in scouting and only a small percentage reach this level. (of 47 million members globally!)
• Ryan Venpin of Year 12 who continues to compete at exceptional levels in Badminton, and who has been selected for the Australian Junior Badminton Team and will compete in the Oceania International Championships next week. We wish him well.
• Kaaviyan Pathmasiri of Year 11 who received the City of Casey 2019 Australia Day Study Tour Award and is one of only ten awardees who will undertake local and national tours of parliament to learn more about our governing structures.
• Diyana Wijayawansha of Year 11 who has been accepted into the both the prestigious Kwong Le Dow Young Scholars Program at the University of Melbourne, and the equally prestigious Monash University Scholars Program.
• Sandra Joseph, Han Ngo, Hasna Kazi and Ramkishore Ramkumar of Year 11 have also been accepted into the Monash University Scholars Program. (it is highly unusual for 5 students from one school to achieve entry to this high achiever’s program)
• Nethmi Mohottige of Year 11 who has achieved a Bronze Award in the Duke of Edinburgh International Program.
• Riley Thai of Year 10, Thavanaesa Ramakrishnan of Year 11, Annabel Keecha-Milsom of Year 11, Devan Fedhi of Year 10 who late last year achieved excellence awards for their work in languages at the Victorian School of Languages.

Roger Page

Principal