Principal's Message

The Issue Highlights

• Whole School Transition Day
• Year 6 Graduation & Achievement Assembly
• Year 12 Graduation Ceremony
• Concert in the Courtyard
• Semester 2 Reports
• School Building Improvements have Begun!
• Today is the last day for students. The first day for students in 2023 is Tuesday 31st January 2023.
• Goodbye Jan Brown after 50 years of service including 43 years at Jackson School. 
• Goodbye Sean, Manisha, Ashley, Paul, Seemab, Anne who are moving to new roles. Good luck Faith as your start your maternity leave.
• Thank you. Have a restful break! Merry Christmas!
• Students of the Week from our PBIS rewards system.
• Showcase of students' learning from across the school in Primary and Secondary.
• Allied Health and Wellbeing information to support you and your child.
• Community news including from Jackson OSHC provider TheirCare.
• School Dates -For the most up-to-date calendar dates, always refer to the Xuno Calendar in your Parent Portal.

Dear Families,

Whole School Transition Day

On Tuesday 6th December our students took part in their Whole-School Transition Day where they got to meet their new teacher and education support staff for 2022. This was a great success and gave us a taster of what classes will be like next year. A lot of preparation and staff input is given creating our classes, however there have been some minor changes to class placements based upon staff feedback from the Transition Day. Current Prep-Year 8 will bring home a photo social story of their 2023 class teacher and education support staff. We are still recruiting for some positions. 

Year 6 Graduation & Achievement Assembly

Today students came together in the courtyard for our Annual Achievement Assembly where we celebrate our success and achievements aligned to our school values of: Learning, Independence, Safety, Respect and Responsibility. Congratulations to all of our award winners.

This is also where we celebrate our students who are graduating from our Primary School and moving into Year 7 next year. Students were also able to have a celebration lunch together this afternoon. 

Watch our Achievement Assembly / Year 6 Graduation in the video player above. You can also view other events videos and live streams from 2022 by clicking on our new publication Jackson School Live, including the Concert in the Courtyard and Year 12 Graduation Ceremony. 

Year 12 Graduation Ceremony

On Wednesday 7th December we celebrated our Year 12 students' successes and achievements at their Graduation Ceremony.  You can watch the live stream on the video above or via our YouTube Jackson School Live link. This was an extra special graduation for me as there are many students who graduated who were in my last class when I was teaching at Jackson. I’m so proud of all you have achieved throughout your time with us at Jackson School as they now enter into the World of Work. 

96% of our Year 12 students have been placed in further education, training, post-school pathways or employment. This reflects our strong focus on work education and employability skills across the school. 

This was our last cohort to graduate with the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) as next year we will transition to the Victorian Certificate of Education (VPC: Victorian Pathways Certificate) with the state-wide Senior Secondary Reforms. VCAL Foundation is a senior secondary certificate of education recognised within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) accredited though through VCAA. This also include VET and Work Experience programs.

Our other students graduating completed the ASDAN program. ASDAN offers a range of internationally approved qualifications based around the development of personal, social, work-related and independent living skills. This has also included supported work experience programs in the community.

Congratulations to all our additional award winners. I wish all of our Year 12 graduating students all the very best for the future.

Concert in the Courtyard

Thank you for much for all of the families who were able to attend our 2022 Concert in the Courtyard this week. We hope you enjoyed your evening with us. We were so proud of our students for performing so well on the night. This was our first Concert in the Courtyard since 2019. Due to staffing challenges, our teacher teams were given the task to choreograph and rehearse their performances this year. You all did an amazing job! We also tried a new format where our students led sing-a-long carols in true Carols by Candlelight style. Thank you for joining in with us. I would also like to congratulate our hosts for the evening, our School Captain and Vice-Captain - Thalia Mandile and Arvin Loyal. You are stars! Lastly, I would like to thank Helena and the team of staff who made the night possible. The high number of families and guests who attended the night shows us that we have all been craving to get back together as a community, particularly following the last couple of years. 

Semester 2 Reports to Parents/Carers

Last week you will have received your child's end of semester reports by email which outlines your child's achievement and progress against their learning goals based upon the Victorian Curriculum (P-10) or VCAL/ASDAN in Years 11 & 12. These are based upon robust end-of-term assessments and teacher's professional judgement. There is a section for you to provide any comments or feedback to the classroom teacher on your child's report should you wish. 

This semester, 97% of students made good progress or above in their ILP goals across all learning areas. This is an amazing achievement. Well done to our students and staff for all their hard work.  Our Literacy and Numeracy assessment results also show we are above like special schools.

School Council agreed last year that for our reports we will no longer print and post student’s reports for parents/carers and instead encourage families to access them online via Xuno instead. Parents and carers are able to request a hard copy of their child’s report if they would like one through their current or next year's teacher. If you have not received an email from us please make sure your email address is correct with our school office or download your child's report on Xuno.

All of your child's ILPs and Reports are also available on Xuno. Parents and carers will have an opportunity to discuss your child's progress from Semester 2 and their proposed learning goals for Semester 1 2022 at your Student Support Group (SSG) parent-teacher interviews in Term 1.

Our School Building Upgrade has Begun!

Rendine Modularity have begun our school upgrade this week. Staff have been moving furniture and resources from learning areas affected during construction. A temporary library has been set-up in the Year 5-8 Hub. We have been donating any unwanted books to students and families. The Prep playground, library, food tech/café, performing arts, end of Year 9/10 corridor, rear of the hall and rear of the school site will be out of bounds during construction.

Last week we have met with Lend Lease who are completing the capital works program at Sunshine Hospital. Western Health have given us permission to use the parcel of land at the rear of our site during construction. This will be used for contractor parking, material and staging works. This will reduce disruption for our students and parking for our staff and families. 

After two years of planning and designing our school building upgrade with the Victorian School Building Authority, it is exciting to see work begin onsite. Our new Prep classrooms and Allied Health Therapy Hub will be delivered onsite in modular pieces in early February. Our new ten classroom Years 5-8 building will be delivered onsite in Term 2. The project is due to be completed around Term 4 2023. 

For more information, please visit: https://www.schoolbuildings.vic.gov.au/jackson-school 

Thank you

Today is the last day of the school year for students and staff. On Monday staff will meet for a Curriculum Day to work together to share information about your children to ensure that our students transition into 2023 successfully. School Council have agreed on our Curriculum Days for 2023. In Term 1 the 27th January and 30st January will be Curriculum Days to prepare for the start of the year. The first day for students in 2023 is Tuesday 31st January.

As another busy year draws to a close, I want to take this opportunity once again to thank you all of our community for your incredible support this year with your child's education. Without the shared commitment from our families and hard work from our students this would not be possible - Thank you!

In 2022, we have learned to live with COVID-19 despite the rising cases across our community. Many schools and industries have faced staffing challenges. I am very pleased that at Jackson we have been able to continue to provide your child with an education throughout the year despite these issues.

I want to particularly acknowledge the extraordinary efforts of the leadership team, teachers and education support staff in dealing with many last minute changes. This has been a monumental team effort and shows the resilience, flexibility and dedication of our staff.

We say goodbye to the following staff: Jan Brown who now concludes her career having worked for the Department of Education and Training for 50 Years, including 43 Years at Jackson! Sean is leaving his role as our Learning Specialist (Secondary) as he moves to a mainstream school in Lara. Manisha, Ashley and Seemab are also pursuing their careers within mainstream schools. Paul LaB is travelling overseas to the UK for work. Faith will finish at the start of the term as she starts her maternity leave. Anne A is exploring private speech pathology clinical work in 2023. On behalf of the community, I would like to thank all of you for your contribution to our students during your time working with us. 

I hope you all have a well-deserved break and I look forward to seeing you all in 2023. 

Have a safe and well-deserved holiday. Merry Christmas!

Anthony