From the Principals' Desk 

Beyond the Longest Night

We are now beyond the longest night of the year, and starting the journey towards spring and summer. Term 3 has started smoothly overall, and already boasts several reasons for pride and celebration. 

As I noted in our start-of-term assembly, which as usual celebrated NAIDOC week, Term 3 is the final full term of classroom learning for our Year 12 students. They will be working hard this term to finalise their courses so that they are well-positioned for a strong period of consolidation and revision in Term 4. I wish them well as they and their teachers work together towards a positive end to their secondary school learning journey.

Welcome to Country

One of the highlights of our first day back this term was the involvement in our first assembly of Aunty Rhonda Dye, a Bunurong elder who welcomed us to Bunurong country and shared some of the history of her family with us. Accompanied by our Koorie Education Support Officer, Travis Gardner, she honoured us with her presence. 

A team of well-prepared students rounded out the assembly with their reflections on this year's theme, For Our Elders, and with a combination of history, poetry and ideas.

Performance and Public Speech

As you will see in articles later in the newsletter, the term has begun with a strong emphasis on performance and public speaking. Our School Production, ably coordinated by Ms Sarah Tchantcho with the help of Ms Kat Webster, Mr John Ninis, and a host of other staff, was a high-spirited celebration of how highly valued the performing arts are at Nossal. The event was sold out on both Friday & Saturday nights, and there were a record-breaking number of participants.

Equally impressive have been the recent successes of our public speakers. Over the recent school holidays, Nossal's senior debaters were amongst a very small group of government school representatives at the annual Deakin Law High School Debating Competition and acquitted themselves admirably. 

More recently, of the six state finalists in the Plain English Speaking Awards for 2023, two were Nossal Students. Mr & Mrs Page, Mr John Ninis and I were pleased and proud to be in the audience as Ananya Srihari (Yr 11) and Corbin Afanasyeva (Yr 12) made prepared and improved speeches on the day. In the end, the top two candidates (a Nossal student and a student from another school) were so close that the judges had to ask them to do a second improvised speech to help finalise the decision making. Corbin's second place was clearly a close-run thing!

Learning and AI

In our classrooms, we have also been breaking new ground. As current families will know from my recent explanation to the Compass news feed, Nossal's teachers have been grappling this year with how to ensure that the impact of generative AI tools like ChatGPT is a positive one for our students. I recreate below the notice which I have recently sent out to our current families for those interested in our approach to this online development.

AI Generator Use in Education: Pilot Program

 

As you are no doubt aware, the recent evolution of AI tools to include language based AI generators  (e.g. ChatGPT) has significant implications for many fields, especially education. These tools are extremely good at creating authentic-sounding content in a range of styles, and while they can be powerful aids for individuals who have already mastered their craft, they can also represent a risk for novices who lack the critical skills to assess the accuracy or biases in any content an AI generator may produce. 

 

The number and scope of AI generators is rapidly expanding at present, and there is no question that these tools will be a significant feature in the lives of our students going forward. For this reason, Nossal High School staff have undertaken multiple professional learning sessions this year aimed at understanding how they work, what they are good for and, importantly, where they may represent a risk to our students' learning process. Our students are already using these tools in various ways, and so it is important that we be able to advise and guide them in their use.

 

At the present time, a working group comprising staff from every subject area in the school has been created and during Semester 2 they will be making explicit reference to AI generators in their classrooms. They will be talking to students about best practice in the use of these tools, recognising that (as with earlier technologies like graphical calculators) there will be some tasks that should be tackled manually if learning is to be maximised, and other tasks that can profitably make use of these tools as a labour saving device. 

 

For parents and guardians, there are a few things to be aware of. You may wish to talk to your student/s about whether they are involved in one of the pilot classes, and discuss with them how AI generators work and what they understand about the advice they are receiving. As with many online environments, it can be useful as an adult to sign-up and play with these tools yourself so that you have an understanding of their likely uses and impact, as well as developing a shared vocabulary with our learners (staff and students alike!).

 

It's also important to be aware of the age limits associated with signing up for some AI generators. ChatGPT has recently made changes which mean that it can accept users who are 13 years and over, and this is the primary tool we would be expecting our students to use. Other widely available generators (e.g. Google's Bard) require users to be 18 years and over. 

 

Finally, there is strong advice coming from a range of experts that all users of Generative AI tools need to be very mindful of online security. When crafting questions and requests for these tools, users should avoid sharing any identifiable information relating to themselves or others (e.g. their name, address, school name etc). Generic phrases and descriptions (e.g. "Summarise this information in the style of a middle-aged Australian academic") should be the norm.

 

Generative AI is going to be a part of our students' intellectual and professional landscape from now on. We look forward to working with them to develop an approach to its use which makes the most of its potential without negatively impacting on their ability to think rigorously and deeply as they move through school and into an increasingly complex world.

New Faces in Wellbeing

As some may be aware, Jo Ensor (our Mental Health Practitioner) has recently taken on a new role within the Department of Education. We are pleased to announce that Ms Ashton Chatfield has joined the Wellbeing Team in this role, and has already started working to support our students as they progress through the year. 

Ms Ashton Chatfield

At the same time, the Head of Pegasus House has also recently changed. Taking the place of Ms Sara Villiers in supporting these students is Mrs Julie Ward, an experienced teacher who has until recently been working with our Student Representative Council. The SRC will instead be mentored by Ms Lucy Bonham, who is currently in the midst of helping them to coordinate our first Nossal Week (of which you will hear more in this and later newsletters!).

Course Confirmation and the Careers Expo

The other major event which has taken place this term was the annual Career and Pathways Expo. As usual, our alumni were generous with their time and made a number of well-received presentations to students and parents alike. At the same time representatives of various tertiary institutions and members of our teaching staff were on hand in the gym to provide information about subject choices our students might pursue both next year and beyond. The night was a success thanks to the joint efforts of our Director of VCE & Pathways, Ms Jessica Ball, Ms Clarissa Jacques (our highly knowledgeable careers counsellor) and Ms Fiona Vanstan (our AP: Curriculum & Pedagogy). 

The work of that evening is of course preparation for our annual Course Confirmation process. It provides our students with an opportunity to both inform themselves of the subjects available to them, and to think about how these opportunities might relate to their longer-term goals. As usual, our Years 9 & 10 students will each have individual appointments with our teachers on Wednesday 26 July during which they will confirm their subject preferences for 2024. As usual, we encourage our students to take advantage of their early years with us to try out a range of subjects, so that they can identify what they enjoy and which areas of learning are of greatest interest to them. As future professionals, it will be these considerations that will help them to find a career that is fulfilling and where they can have the most impact. 

The Broader Nossal Community

At the time of publication, Nossal's School Council is due to meet. Following the school review at the start of the year, the council will be considering a draft copy of the next Strategic Plan. This plan will define some of our key areas of focus for the next four years, and will be made available to the community once it has been endorsed.

Also meeting soon is the PFA. As you will note on their page later in the newsletter, their next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday 2 August 2023, commencing at 7pm.

The PFA is currently working hard towards their now annual Badminton Competition, along with their other more established events. See their page in the newsletter for more information.

Indeed, I will leave you to discover and enjoy the many articles and creative works provided by our students in this edition of the newsletter ranging from their involvement in the Casey Fresh Words Competition to their participation in model United Nations competitions and ongoing sporting success. As usual, they are our best ambassadors, and articulately convey their passion and their sense of pride in the work they are doing. It is a pleasure to see their commitment to learning expressed in so many different ways in these pages.

Tracey Mackin

Acting Principal