monket I'm in Garuda doing beginner Japanese as well, tute class 0A4 I think...? and teaching class 1.

    monket I have a feeling elec will be pretty popular so as long as you didn't fill elec as your first choice I don't think you'll get it as an elective

      ~ndha~ I'm not exactly a music person haha, in year 7 at my school the program that I was in forced us all to play an instrument and join band and I think I'm permanently scarred 😅

        Orientation is so soon now!!!!

        Hey guys, a fellow year 10 from nossal. I was just wondering how orientation day went for y’all ?
        (Did they give everyone these little sandwiches with like the tiniest slice of ham lmao)

          justaperson_ Orientation day was pretty good, I really enjoyed it! They gave us donuts, fruit, juice boxes and varied burgers for morning tea and lunch, all of which was delicious (well I was also really hungry, so I’d eat anything at that point). I don’t know what book to choose for English though, any recommendations? I was thinking either Jane Eyre or Frankenstein.

              Randomhuman24 I was thinking Frankenstein, honestly that head of English somewhat turned me off Jane Eyre by how intense she was about it

                  Oh haha yeah Dr Schroor… good luck with her … but anyways I’m glad to hear it was a good day for you all. I think Frankenstein was the most popular in my class and apparently had a pretty simple plot. I would recommend Frankenstein as it’s a very ‘quotable book’ (as in, you’ll need to memorise a lot of quotes for certain assessments and Frankenstein has these rlly good short and versatile quotes). I didn’t choose or read Jane Eyre so I have no idea haha. Btw what houses are u guys in?

                    justaperson_ Ahh okay, I think I’ll go with Frankenstein then. As for assessments at Nossal, what are they like? Are they tests or essays or something else? I’m in Pegasus house by the way

                        Randomhuman24 ohh nice ur in pegasus too (welcome haha). Just curious, what tute are you in (don’t have to answer if you don’t wanna). Uhhh in terms of tests, they are surprisingly really standard and at a pretty decent level. For example, in math you can choose to do a standard or advanced side for the test. English works differently where you get to kinda ‘choose ur assignments’ (you’ll learn more about it later). Then the other subjects are your stock standard test like any other school. We just did our exams and ngl they weren’t that hard compared to what I thought it would be. But ig that’s subjective huh. Anyways good luck 👍

                            Pegasus smh
                            I did Frankenstein, and I personally liked it! (Then again, I am a bit of a book worm). That's probably why Im doing literature, and I might have Dr Schroor! So, here's some unneeded, long-winded, info

                            English (from my experience last year) requires you to do a fair amount of work on your classic text, alongside selected poetry, selected articles, and a text of your own choosing (which will be elaborated on next year). When considering what classic text to choose, take in account that you will writing a few essays on it, and will need to choose between writing a creative, analytical, or comparative response to the text.
                            When weighing the options between Jane Eyre and Frankenstein, consider:
                            .Which do you think will be easier to annotate?
                            .Which genre/plot interests you more?
                            .Which novel has more themes that will be easier for you to write about?
                            .Would you be able to write a creative response, analyse it, or compare it to another piece of media/novel?

                            All in all, year 9 English's purpose is to thrust students into independence and Nossal's "adult-learning environment", to allow for more creativity, flexibility, and preparation for the years ahead. If English is not your best subject, year 9 is just a test to inform teachers on what pathway in year 10 and VCE you should take, and if you will need any additional aid.
                            Have a good holiday everyone!

                              Yolk15 thank you so much! I just wanted to ask a couple of last things about Nossal; what is the workload like? Is there a lot of homework? And in class, is it very fast paced?

                                  Randomhuman24
                                  I mean, "middle" school in general doesn't have too much homework, and high school not really? Most work at home is external research and practise. But with the expectations that Nossal students will do their best, i guess the simple answer is yes, there is a lot of workload and homework (some established by yourself). Home work will definitely ramp up going into VCE (recommendation of 3~ hours a day i think?), but ultimately how much workload you have is up to you. Different classes and teachers have different paces. I will say tho, that assignments and tests may creep up on you, as you have informal announcements the week before. Keeping notes during class about upcoming dates for tests is important! But in Vce, your digital calendar via Compass will show sacs that are upcoming, as tests will be more serious. I hope this answered your questions.

                                    justaperson_
                                    It was great! I really enjoyed it. It amazed me just how nice everyone was. Like I saw people asking others to join in to play or talk with them. It just seemed like a nice environment although everyone is quite competitive. I'm in Garuda and somehow on the first day, everyone knew that Garuda was the worst house. And when the whole year played a game at the end and the scores were being announced, like everyone in Garuda was super happy that we didn't come last (we also ended up winning so go Garuda). The school seems very nice, the teachers I've met seem super fun and like they actually care about teaching. I'm very excited to go here, I was almost sad that the next day I would have to go back to my old school because Nossal just seems so much better and more peaceful, like it doesn't seem like they'll be a lot of drama and fights here. Overall, great day!

                                        8 days later

                                        Hey, I am a year 10 nossal student for 2023 and I’m happy to answer any questions.

                                        For exams there is only one exam at the end of the year which is maths,science,English,humanities, health (the exam was added this year) and the language you are doing.

                                        For Japanese beginner you need to know hiragang,katakana and particles.

                                        Ommahp
                                        That’s nice to hear I was one of the Garuda peer mentors. Unfortunately Garuda lost every major house event this year but hopefully that changes.
                                        I’ll answer some of the questions to the best of my ability:
                                        Regarding workload there is a moderate amount but not too much it depends on how much you focus during class.
                                        There will be times where you have all your topic tests within a 2 week timespan where you may be overwhelmed by revising for all your subjects.
                                        Class is not that fast paced but it depends on which teacher you have some will go through topics quite slowly meaning a lot of the work has to be done at home sometimes teacher will rush through the content and you just don’t understand but on the whole Nossal teachers are decent.
                                        You will have i-week which will be fun and boring at the same time and you will constantly hear adult learning environment.
                                        For year 9 english the majority do Frankenstein including myself.If I’m being honest no one likes any of the books so just choose one.
                                        Nossal tests are not too hard but a big mistake is to underestimate them and not revise for them.
                                        Regarding electives electronics is somewhat popular,food studies is also a popular subject.
                                        I would recommend photography but wouldn’t recommend visual communication design unless you are very passionate about it.
                                        Feel free to ask any more questions.