General News

An Introduction: Tracey Mackin, AP Curriculum & Pedagogy

As is usually the case, the first weeks at Nossal have been a blur of activity, information and joy. This year, I have the pleasure of watching our Year 10, 11 and 12 students rediscover the pleasure of working with their peers and establish new working relationships with their teachers, and our Year 9 students begin to immerse themselves in all things "Nossal," from a different point of view. Having been a member of Nossal's community since 2012, and having acted as its Director of Curriculum and Pedagogy since 2013, I am deeply conscious of the honour of being entrusted with the role of Assistant Principal this year.

The role of Assistant Principal carries with it its own opportunities to understand and engage with the school; the scope of the role is already allowing me to interact with a much wider cross-section of our community, and giving me insight into the passion and dedication which can be found at every level. It also carries with it the responsibility of maintaining and developing the vision and values which are at the heart of Nossal's success; its focus on adult learning, and its determination to provide a training ground for the sort of respectful, ethical and informed adults which our society needs in these sometimes challenging times. With this in mind, you will find my name appearing in this forum from time to time on short "reminder articles" about why we approach teaching and learning in the way that we do.

My experience at Nossal has already been fairly broad; I have taught our students in both the English and Science domains, and have instructed our small but passionate groups of VCE Extended Investigation groups, as well as being a part of our wellbeing team in the roles of Tutorial Teacher and Nossal Time teacher. I hope that this will give me a sound understanding both of our students' goals and of the challenges they face as they pursue their own learning pathways during their time with us. I also hope that this will make me a useful resource for our parents and guardians, should they be unsure about the classroom approaches their students are involved with. I look forward to meeting many new members of our community during my tenure in this position, and I invite you to take advantage of our interactions to let me know your thoughts on the learning and teaching that is being pursued by our students and staff. Finally, I would like to wish you all the best throughout what promises to be a busy but fulfilling year.

2019 SECONDARY SCHOOL VACCINATIONS – important information

The Secondary School Vaccine Program offers free vaccines to Year 7 and 10 students. These vaccines provide protection against:

• Diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough) – one dose for year 7 students
• Human Papillomavirus (HPV) – two doses for year 7 students
• Meningococcal A, C, W and Y – one dose for year 10 students

Vaccine consent cards will be distributed to Year 10 students shortly. The scheduled date for the Meningococcal Vaccine to take place at Nossal High School is Friday 26 July. Please read it carefully, complete and sign the card (regardless of whether you consent or not) and return it to the school.

The City of Casey Council immunisation service may contact you about the Secondary School Vaccine Program. Schools are authorised to provide basic parent/guardian contact details to local councils for this purpose. Please contact the school immunisation co-ordinator below by 28 February 2019 if you do not want your contact details given to the City of Casey immunisation service.

To learn more about the Secondary School Vaccine Program, the vaccines, the diseases they protect against, or how you can prepare your child for vaccination, go to betterhealth.vic.gov.au.

Additionally, the Commonwealth government is funding vaccinations for all children under 20 years of age who missed any scheduled vaccines, including a catch up program for Meningococcal ACWY vaccine for adolescents aged 15-19 years of age who have not already received the vaccine in school. If students have missed vaccines, either in childhood or adolescence, and require catch-up vaccines, they should speak with their immunisation provider. (ie. local council or GP).

Audrey Alvarez

Immunisation Co-ordinator

Audrey.alvarez@nossalhs.vic.edu.au

EVERY DAY COUNTS

We all want a great education for our children and the building blocks of a great education begin with our children attending school every day.

Daily school attendance is important for young people to succeed in education and to ensure they don’t fall behind both socially and developmentally.

Research shows that it is important for habits to be developed at an early age and regular attendance will provide our children with better health outcomes, employment opportunities and higher incomes throughout their lives.  Regular attendance at school will enable students to develop skills and attitudes such as punctuality, organisation and discipline when they enter the work force.

Going to school every day is the single most important part of your child’s education.

If for any reason your child must miss school, inform the school as early as possible by contacting the Absence Hotline on 8762 4625 or email absence@nossalhs.vic.edu.au.  For long term absences it is also suggested that you speak with your child’s teachers and find out what work your child needs to complete to keep up.

Remember,

EVERY DAY COUNTS – ATTEND TODAY, ACHIEVE FOR A LIFETIME

Audrey Alvarez

Wellbeing Support Officer

G’Day USA

Most 16 and 17-year old students imagine their summer holidays to be with the family or even with their friends, a car or train ride away from home. Ours were a little different, 8 students from Nossal, Ms Mandeltort, along with many others from around Australia gathered for the experience of a lifetime 12,766 km away from home. Our journey to Los Angeles was tiring and despite the excitement we could all feel in our stomachs; the entire group was fast asleep a few hours into the flight. After landing in LAX, EWT (Educational World Travel) had not planned anytime for students to sleep, instead after a 17-hour journey they took us to a beach. Our eyes were struggling to stay open however the breathtaking sights we saw outside that bus window will always stay with us. Los Angeles was a truly magical experience, Disneyland on New Year’s Eve, Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Studios and Knotts Berry Farm were only a few of the highlights. Our bus journey to the beach seemed to take longer than our flight to San Francisco. Here we cruised around the bay, took a limousine night tour of the city and ate at some of the finest restaurants on the famous Pier 39, we were then transferred to Sacramento, the capital city of California and proceeded to our personal favourite section of the trip.

The moments leading to meeting each of our host families were frightening, as it was necessary that we made a good first impression on our new American parents and siblings. Walking into the gym of Franklin High School and seeing posters with our names printed boldly on them and the wide smiles on the American’s faces when they saw us enter quickly changed the weird feeling in our stomach from nervous to excited. The next week was hectic, despite them being highly fascinated by our accents and the way we pronounce the letter, “h”, the families were much like any of our own and we instantly felt at home in our new environments. We not only ate some of America’s most well-known fast food during this time, including chipotle, chick-fil-a and In n Out Burger, A few of us had the opportunity to watch an NBA game at Sacramento‘s new Golden 1 Centre, not something many people my age would be able to say they’ve done. Our single day at school was enlightening, experiencing the differences in education between our two countries and forming bonds we plan to keep forever, the journey home was a sad and long one. We are already planning to go and visit our new friends again and recommend the G’day USA tour for anyone interested in travelling and are extremely lucky to have had such an experience during our teenage years.

Wendy Si and Hiral Sethi

Slow down for our for student's safety

In the short space of time since the start of the school year, I have been alarmed to have received a number of calls about risks to our students' safety in our community.

The first has come from both parents and staff who have observed a number of cars being driven too fast along Sir Gustav Nossal Boulevard (the main driveway to the school), in car parks and on the gravel rounds within the university campus.  

The 20kph speed limit is clearly displayed along the driveway to Nossal and should be observed at all times.  In some sections of the roadway, motorists are advised that a 10kph speed limit applies where pedestrians and cars cross shared spaces. The Education Department requires every school to have a Traffic Management Plan  and at Nossal this includes motorists observing all speed restrictions and road markings. The speed limits and speed humps are in there to protect pedestrians and they should be observed by all road users.  Where there is no speed limit indicated, cars should be driven at walking pace only.

In addition, the school's Traffic Management Plan also includes traffic flow through car parks.  Again, these plans are in place to ensure the safety of our students, staff and visitors.  All road users are asked to look at the map found below, (click the image to enlarge) and observe the traffic flow indicated.

Please slow down when entering the university campus at Clyde Road or from the side gate off Intrepid Street/Enterprise Avenue.  The safety of all pedestrians on our site, depends on it.

Meet Your Education Support Staff

We would like to introduce our community to our ES staff, without whom we could not run Nossal. We will have 2 or 3 of them introduce themselves to you thoughout the year. Some of the faces you see will be familiar, others work behind the scenes. 

Sheren Hawking - Reception

Hi I am Sheren, I have worked at Nossal for 5 years and very much enjoy working with students. You will see me at Reception.

I take most of the phone calls and I look after counter inquiries. I help with finance, receipting money for excursions, I can assist you with logins for Compass, I enter new enrolments and follow up on required information.

I assist in Sick Bay with students who are unwell, also also with keeping medical supplies up to date.

Other duties include, bus bookings for excursions, providing statistical reports for various people, ordering milk supplies, stationery supplies, set up the Jean Russell Centre and assisting with bookings, putting orders on ReQord, entering new creditors and processing Creditor orders, lost property, locker numbers and supervising our Duty Students.

Deepti Arora - Accounts Receivable

Hello Everyone, I am the Accounts Receivable and Students' Accounts Officer here at the school. I receipt all the monies received for Camps/Excursions or any events and the parent-funded contributions.

I started working at Nossal High School in 2016 and before that, I was working in a bank.

I can be contacted regarding any student account/payment enquiries and look forward to assisting you all. 

Please email at finance@nossalhs.vic.edu.au

Did you know?

Did you know our newsletter can now be translated into a number of different languages?  This is a relatively new feature of the software program we use and can be turned on or off using the language selector in the lower left corner of each page.