International student news

Recent news

University Open Day 2022

It is an important time for all Year 11 students to prepare for the next stage of their education and explore pathway options for our future. We need to find out which courses we are interested in and what the universities offer.  Northcote High School always provides us opportunities to do this and on May 4th, Ms. Hill and Ms. Fiona from the International Office took us to the Victoria State Library for the Uni Open Day. It was a great opportunity to learn more about our pathway options and the event was so helpful for us to know more about the Australian universities.

When we went into the library, there were representatives from each university across Australia giving the students advice. I had a chance to talk with some universities in Victoria, RMIT University, Swinburne University of Technology and Monash University. They asked me a few questions about the major I am interested in and what job I want to do in the future. After that, they provided very detailed information about their university, including the required ATAR score, and what subject requirements I need to meet in order to be able to apply to the university. They also gave me the information about scholarships available and how to access support for available for tuition fees.  After talking with the representatives, I was given a souvenir from them and I also received a guidebook which allows me to read more about the universities. During the event, there was a mini-game called “Treasure Hunt”, we were given questions of each university and our job was to find out the answers. If we answered the questions correctly, we would be able to choose an item as a reward. Our friend, Anthony luckily received a $100 voucher and a teddy bear from the lucky draw of the event.

On behalf of all the international students at Northcote, I would like to thank Northcote High School for organising a meaningful event. I also thank Ms. Hill and Ms. Fiona for supporting and taking care of us. We appreciate it.

~ Viet Nguyen  Year 11

Celebrating the birthdays of our international students

Our International Student Program staff organized a wonderful birthday celebration for the international students who had a birthday during term one. We were very glad that 3 of the school captains, Noah, Karla and Amelie, joined this celebration with us which increased our sense of belonging to this lovely school, Northcote High.

The International Program staff prepared all the birthday students beautiful gifts, especially acknowledging the students who turned 18. They received a special present and a crown as a symbol for becoming an adult. For the people who didn’t celebrate their birthday during Term 1 you don’t have to be disappointed as we are going to hold this event every term to ensure that no student will be missed, just be prepared and wait for the day coming!

Actually, this was not only a birthday celebration, but also a celebration for all the international students who showed great resilience and determination during the covid pandemic of the past two years, and many of the international students went back to their home countries who have endured remote learning. From my firsthand experience in remote learning, I know this is a really demotivated and tiring way of learning. But congratulations to these students, we struggled to achieve and now, we are here enjoying face to face learning.

We experienced a pizza night which was different with our previous night where we had Vietnamese dishes. We could choose the flavor of our pizza we wanted and tasted the authentic pizza which was really satisfying for us on that night.

For that night, the happiness, perfect pizza, our school captains and the warm vibe inside the restaurant combined to provided us an unforgettable and enjoyable moment for all international students.

On behalf of all international students, we would like to say thank you to Ms. Hill, Ms. Fiona and Ms. Kim for organizing this wonderful night. Also, I would like to say thank you to our school captains, thank you for joining our meal and greeting us. Thank you finally to Northcote High School, it was great to have this opportunity to meet, after the hard times of the last two years.. Lastly, I would like to say happy birthday for those students and congratulations to the students who turned 18. Congratulations on making a huge step in your life journey. We wish you all the best!

~Adam Huang Year 12

2022 International Student Leadership team

The International Student Program (ISP) Leadership Team at Northcote High School has been created to include 5  students, with different strengths, different passions but the same mission, which is to build a very positive learning and social environment, and to represent and bring forward the voice of the international students, . This year our leaders are Kha Huynh; Christian Nguyen; Alan Huynh and Alissa Nguyen from Year 11 and Ivy Vo (Year 12) as our mentor.

Last week, our school organized an annual conference for all the Northcote Highschool Leadership. We were honored to meet Ms Peta Sirec, Ms Katie Archibald and our school Principal – Mr Jones.  It was more than a meeting, it was an opportunity for everyone who is interested in developing their leadership skills.

We had a great chance to meet last year’s School Captains, to make new friends from other year levels, and  hear about their experiences and their project for the community, which was very inspiring. We were divided into groups from Junior to Senior Year and also the House Captains, so that we could share our ideas, our plans to contribute to the school and development of additional facilities in the remainder of 2022.

We were able to share our ideas, our opinions with the aim of improving existing issues that were raised. We were so happy to become a part of the school leadership group and received our badges for the leadership roles.

On Friday 18th February, we had a meeting at the International Student Centre (ISC) in order to present ourselves – the 2022 ISP Leadership Team. Ms Hill introduced us to everyone and we spoke about ourselves and our ideas and aims. We were very grateful that everyone could spend time listening to us, so that both sides can understand more about each other.

The International Students Leadership team will do our best, and put all our willingness and energy into our roles, not only for the ISC but importantly also for our school.

Owing to the fact that COVID-19 is still a worldwide problem, we recommend you protect yourself and the community by wearing masks and sanitizing your hand regularly. Stay hydrated and healthy.

We wish you the best and keep looking forward despite setbacks should they arise. Keep going and we wish you good health and success.

Kha Huynh – Year 11

Lunar New Year Celebration Dinner

To mark the occasion of Lunar New Year, a celebration dinner was organised for our international students from year 10 to year 12. Members of the Senior Years’ Team were also invited along, with the special presence of our School Principal – Mr. Jones. We were honoured to have Mr. Jones join us for the dinner, and enjoyed listening to his stories and experiences, which helped us reflect on many positive things.

Moreover, all international students had a chance to make new friends, and to share their own stories and experiences. It was an opportunity for new students to get to know more about their friends, their teachers, and the school from many different stories. Also, after being apart for a long time due to covid, this dinner was an opportunity for a reunion for all the students and staff, where we could catch up on how everyone is going.

It is exciting to plan for a wonderful year ahead, one in which everyone is hoping for a year of non-covid illnesses, lockdowns and normal life returning to all of us and one where our international students are welcome to join and return to face to face learning at our school.

The taste of all the dishes from the Vietnamese restaurant certainly brightened our night. The restaurant atmosphere was also very nice, the food, the stories and the people, they were all amazing! It was a very enjoyable and memorable night.

Lastly, thank you Ms. Hill, Ms. Fiona and Ms. Kim for organising such a wonderful night and inviting us to the dinner. Thank you for all your caring of us, your support and your commitment to every event with us. No word could describe how grateful we are.

Happy Lunar New Year and we wish all the very best to everyone.

Ivy Vo  Year 12