From the Principal

A wonderful year

As I sit to write my contribution to the final newsletter of the year, I am somewhat surprised at where the year has gone. The saying ‘time flies when you’re having fun’ is certainly true here at Northcote High School. So many wonderful things have been achieved throughout the year - personal and collective successes, experiences and opportunities, and unparalleled learning.

Stellar Senior Results

We are so very proud of our hard-working and dedicated students and their achievements.

The numbers have been crunching, and I am happy to report outstanding results, with significant improvements on previous years.

Each year on this day, as an educator I feel somewhat ambivalent. There is much to celebrate about VCE Results Day: it is, after all, the culmination of hard work and collaboration. These results also signify the opening of new beginnings and possibilities for new journeys. So too, this day can also be about supporting young people and families to reimagine the pathway that may take them to their dream. We will, of course, do both.

My ambivalence, however, lies in the fact that these numbers do not reflect the full story or the progress of each child. They are an important part of the story, but only individual students, their parents, and staff who have taught them throughout the years, including this one, know the important details that give each result meaning. While we discuss numbers and we rightfully celebrate the highest scores, we are also celebrating the personal best of each child, and nothing should devalue that.

Please find the snapshot of the results below, including a highlight in bold if the results are an improvement on 2018.

40% of our students achieved ATARs in the top 20% of Australia, which is an outstanding achievement, and more than in 2018.

Study Scores:

We have 3 perfect study scores in:

1. Extended Investigation
2. Visual Communication
3. English as Another Language (EAL)

There are 114 study scores over 40, which is an improvement on the 86 in 2018 and is 8.3% of all study scores (up from 6.6% in 2018). Our mean study score is 30.3 (same as 2018).

VCAL Results

100% Satisfactory Completion.

Many students in this program have found pathways into employment or other training, and we are awaiting news of all of these students.

Results: thank yous

There are many people who contribute to the achievement of such results – all of us in big and small ways, not just this year, but throughout the years.

• I particularly want to thank the students for their efforts. The VCE and VCAL are endeavours that reward hard work, consistency, and seeking and responding to feedback. Without a willingness and motivation to persist and be resilient, our students would not reap these rewards on our behalf.  
• Thank you to the families, and in particular parents and carers for providing the support, the boundaries, the guidance, and the right amount of soft and unquestioning love and tough love, along the way.
• The Senior Team play a large part in encouraging, organising, supporting and guiding the students and staff so that students can achieve their best. This year, led by Allira Scott, Carolyn Richards and Beth Wright, they have done a stellar job of shepherding the students along the way, with the support of Jane Lange, David Norman and Sarah Williams. They are a newly formed team, who have bonded well and been positive and supportive of students, staff and each other. With Carolyn as the only team member continuing from 2018, their work has been phenomenally good.
• Our sincere thanks go to Karen Burgess for her expert guidance, and support and her dogged determination to get all students on a pathway of choice. Karen has picked things up so quickly since joining us in late May. She has made connections with students and families and worked collaboratively with the senior school team to ensure the best outcome for students.
• I would also like to pay tribute to Katie Archibald and her leadership of the sub-schools, and Jocelyn Hill for her experienced advice to the Senior School and her leadership of the International Students’ Program.
• Lixia Wang and Jennifer Bi and Jessica Wang for their pseudo parenting, and expertise dedicated to the International Students’ ongoing success.
• Inevitably the pressures of the VCE (and sometimes life more broadly) present challenges to the health and wellbeing of some. Our Student Services Team, led by Katie Archibald and Leanne Petroff and including Cath Lester, Gen DuBois and Kat Brissett have supported so many to do their absolute best in the face of tough times and get to the end in the best shape possible.
• Martin Ramsay, who is always enthusiastic and supportive of students pursuing more diversity in their program through VET studies.
• Thank you to Rohan Bevan, and the other fabulous VCAL teachers, for supporting these students to achieve success.

As further analysis is completed, we will release more fine-grained data, however, we must be conscious of the fact that data is owned by the student, VCAA and VTAC and therefore there are many sensitivities around privacy and public release of data.

Thank you one and all for the many contributions that each staff member has made towards the successful outcomes of our students. It is not only the teachers of Year 12s, although they do take a deal of credit, it is all teachers and all staff throughout each child’s schooling who have contributed to this. The relationships staff form, their capacity to know each child, and to find the right degree of challenge and support, is what makes the difference. That is complex work. It is intense, but it is oh so rewarding. Education does make a difference. Our profession and work contributes to society in meaningful and vital ways. Well done to us all – a tremendous effort!!

Welcome 2020 Year 7s

This week we formally met and started the transition for our 2020 Year 7s, with Orientation Day on Tuesday. Just as farewelling our Year 12s and celebrating their success is significant and poignant, so too is welcoming our Year 6s. At times like this we stop and ponder, what it is to be a Grade 6 student coming to high school for the first time, and we consider carefully what we want for them now, on Orientation Day, and over the course of the next six years. We also consider the ambivalence of parents, who are so proud to have guided their children to this point, but more than a little apprehensive about the onset of adolescence and growing independence. Our staff compiled a day of activities, supported by our peer support leaders, to ensure that students left feeling reassured, increasingly confident and prepared for 30 January next year.

Highlights of the last two weeks

There have been a myriad of quality experiences and achievements in the two weeks since the last newsletter. Many are featured further in this newsletter. Thank you to all staff and students who made these quality experiences happen:

• Course Confirmation
• Great Victorian Bike Ride
• French Exchange
• Ancient Worlds Tour
• Vocal Concert
• Festival of Thinking + Art Show
• National Volleyball Championship
• Victorian Young Leaders to China
• Australian Association for the Teaching of English Conference - 5 NHS teachers presented workshops

Mobile Phone Ban 2020

We trust that both students and parents are abreast of the schools plans for implementation of the government mobile phone ban in 2020. The link to information and the policy can be found here:

Website               https://www.nhs.vic.edu.au/about-us/policies/

myNHS                 https://schoolbox.nhs.vic.edu.au/homepage/9065

Essentially, the vital information is this:

1. Students will be allocated a lockable locker on day one
2. They must bring a school combination lock to lock their locker on day one. If they do not, we will issue one and it will be charged to the family account.
3. If phones are brought to school, they should be turned off and locked in lockers prior to Period 1 and remain there until after Period 5. Phones are not to be accessed at recess and lunch.
4. Any student found to be using their phone during the day will have it secured in locked storage at the front office. Parental involvement will be required for repeat occurrences.

Holiday Wishes

As the school year finishes, I sincerely thank and congratulate our students for their hard work and commitment to school this year. Inherently learning is difficult. It means putting yourself in an uncomfortable position and struggling to find a way forward. Every day our students are put in this position, lesson after lesson. The overwhelmingly positive approach and forward trajectory of our students is truly commendable.

I also thank and congratulate our dedicated staff. Our staff collaborate daily to provide a consistent and positive environment for our students. Relationships, knowing their students and targeting the challenge at the right level for their students is a complex and demanding role. The work of teachers is increasingly complex, as we too learn more and more about learning. Not only do our staff do this on a daily basis in class with their students, but they also provide opportunities for enrichment and extension beyond the classroom. The list of experiences and opportunities I have listed in this newsletter alone, are a small slice of the varied and quality activities that add to the overall educational experience of our students. Northcote is a busy and vibrant school community, with something on offer in an area of passion for everyone.

Thank you also to our families and broader community and the dedicated School Council and working parties, including the Friends of Northcote.

I wish everyone a restful holiday season, and a happy and joyful celebration, of whatever festivities are part of your lives. Until 2020 stay safe.

I look forward to seeing staff back on 28 January, the Year 7, 11 and 12s on 30 January and the Year 8, 9 and 10s on Friday 31 January.