Nossal High School
Nossal High School, also referred to as Nossal or NHS, is a government-funded mixed-sex academically selective secondary day school, located in the Melbourne suburb of Berwick, Victoria, Australia. The school was established in 2010 and enrolls students in Year 9 to Year 12.
The school's curriculum follows American educator Howard Gardener's concept of the Five Minds of the Future which includes, for example, the absence of school bells, as students are expected to know when and where to be. Students have access to many extra-curricular programs, such as inter-school sport, debating, music, clubs/societies and various national and international competitions and creative-based events such as the Model United Nations Assembly and the Australian Computational and Linguistics Olympiad.
As Nossal High School is part of the Select-Entry Network of Victorian selective schools, prospective students must sit a 3-hour-long uniform entrance examination, testing their knowledge and reasoning in literacy and numeracy, with the 2017 exam attracting about 3,300 applicants; accepting only around 208 students into their Year 9 cohort.
Nossal High School was ranked third out of all state secondary schools in Victoria based on Victorian Certificate of Education results in 2018.
History
Beginnings
Prior to the school's opening in 2010, the only selective schools in Victoria were the MacRobertson Girls' High School and Melbourne High School, both catering for single-sex education, as well as the arts-focused Victorian College of the Arts Secondary School.The Victorian Government's decision to create a new selective school was based on a number of factors, such as to expand the ability for more gifted students to have a selective school education, as MacRobertson and Melbourne High were located in or around the Melbourne city centre, placing a significant transport and logistical problem for prospective students who lived in the outer suburbs, and the notion that elite education had to be linked with gender segregation was beginning to be seen as more and more archaic in the twenty-first century.
Thus, during the 2006 Victorian election, the Liberal Party and Labor Party both pledged to build new selective schools, despite the fact that Education Minister Lynne Kosky had previously argued against building more selective schools in the early 2000s.
The Labor Party was re-elected, and in April 2008, the government of Victoria announced that a new selective school would be established in the south-east suburb of Berwick. At the same time, similar announcements were made to establish a selective school in Werribee and a science-specialist school in the Monash University Clayton campus ; Berwick was prioritised, however, partially since the City of Casey, which it forms part of, was announced as Melbourne's fastest-growing municipality.
Senior Department bureaucrats were tasked with making local connections and setting up plans for the eventual opening of the provisionally-named Berwick Selective Entry High School. Construction works began in the Berwick campus of Monash University in 2009, at the site of the former Casey Airfields, and the inaugural principal, Roger Page, was appointed the same year.
Nossal High School was finally opened in 2010, the first-ever joint Select-Entry Network entrance examination held only six months prior. Due to incomplete school facilities, Nossal students initially undertook study in the adjacent Monash University campus; the Jean Russell Centre, a professional development and function/meeting room in the school was opened in Term 3 in 2010. The school's first-ever cohort of Year 9s were admitted in 2010, each year level eventually being added on a yearly-basis; the school reached full capacity in 2013, the year when the first-ever Year 12 cohort graduated from the school. In this year, inaugural Assistant Principal, Toni Meath, left the school to become Principal of Mac.Rob.
Later development
In January 2021, Nossal High School's science teacher Lisa Marie Mandeltort drowned at Venus Bay after saving two people from drowning in a rip.At the end of 2022, it was announced that inaugural principal Roger Page would step down and that Tracey Mackin would serve as interim Acting Principal until Page officially retired.
Grounds, buildings & facilities
Nossal High School has a single campus in Berwick, which comprises three buildings - these are the Main Building, the Sports and Performing Arts Building, and the Fitness Centre.The Main Building is a double-storey building that was built between 2009 and 2010. It was the first building on the campus to be built. The ground floor contains the school's canteen, library, wellbeing offices and IT support rooms, as well as some 2D and 3D modelling studios, and the common rooms for the Garuda and Griffin houses. The upper floor contains the science, technology and physics rooms, a few study spaces, and the common rooms for the Pegasus and Phoenix houses. The upper floor is also home to the Jean Russell Centre, which hosts development talks.
The Sports and Performing Arts Building is a single-storey building that was finished in 2011. It contains the Meath Auditorium which was named after Nossal's first Assistant Principal, Toni Meath. It also contains a Gym, some changing rooms, a small kitchen and some music rooms.
The Fitness Centre is located behind the Sports and Performing Arts Building. It contains the Multipurpose Area, which is used as a teaching space, but is also used by students who wish to play table tennis at lunchtime. It also contains the Weights Room, which has special equipment, such as dumbbells and exercise bikes. Use of the Weights Room is only open to students who complete a special induction program before signing a User Agreement.
In addition to these buildings, the school's campus also includes four basketball courts, an oval and a rectangular soccer field, as well as a small vegetable garden behind the Main Building.
Logo & motto
Logo
The logo of Nossal High School depicts two books that cross together to form a butterfly, with a third, smaller book forming the butterfly's antennae. The logo is made of three colours: ecru, rust and yellow.The books represent academic study, while the butterfly symbolises emerging from a chrysalis into the future. The butterfly is also a reference to the fact that the school was built on grounds that were formerly part of Casey Airfield.
Motto
The school's motto is "Embrace the Challenge". According to Nossal High School, this statement was presented to the school's first students at the first Foundation Assembly in 2010.The motto became the title of the school song, which was first performed at Melbourne Town Hall on 29 November 2022 as part of Speech Night.
Co-curricular activities
Clubs and societies
Clubs and societies at Nossal High School are required to be affiliated with the Nossal Societies Union in order to be recognised by the school and eligible for funding. The NSU's formation in 2017 consolidated the roles of the SRC and the clubs/societies themselves. The NSU is led by two Presidents.Each club/society is led by one or more students; a 'Supporting Teacher' chosen by each club/society aids it in its operation and liaises with certain persons and/or organisations when it would be more appropriate for a teacher to do so. Some NSU affiliates provide for additional positions within the organisational structure.
Instrumental program
Nossal High School has various musical ensembles for students, as well as an in-school musical tutoring program. All ensembles have weekly rehearsals at set times, throughout the year. If students are undergoing in-school musical tutoring, they are required to join a relevant musical ensemble. These ensembles can perform at various school events, such as assemblies and the annual Speech Night, as well as out-of-school events, such as the . The Wind Symphony is Nossal's main performing ensemble.| Name | By Audition/Open to all students |
| Big Band | By audition |
| Choir | Open to all students |
| Flute Ensemble | Open to all students |
| Guitar Ensemble | Open to all students |
| Jazz Combo | By audition |
| Percussion Ensemble | Open to all students |
| Saxophone Ensemble | Open to all students |
| String Orchestra | Open to all students |
| String Quartet | By selection |
| Wind Symphony | Open to all students |