Melanie Denney
Assistant Principal
Dear JMSS Community,
The end of the school year is typically filled with a mix of anticipation and celebration. In the last couple of weeks we have celebrated the hard work and dedication of all of our wonderful students and everyone who has supported them (family, friends, teachers, education support staff) throughout the year.
Some highlights over the past few weeks have included Presentation Night where we acknowledged excellence in academic endeavour, achievement, leadership and citizenship, and Graduation where we celebrated the culmination of 13 years of school for our Year 12 students. I was also lucky enough to attend the University of Melbourne Extension Program Graduation where a number of our students received their certificates for successful completion of university level subjects. And, of course, there was the release of VCE results which gave many of our Year 11s the first pieces towards their VCE results, and opened the door to the next exciting chapter for our Year 12s. We can’t wait to see what you do next!
Among all of this, we still have students excelling in a range of pursuits. Year 10 students, Illina Soliman and Ferlyn Tjioe were recognised by Distance Education with awards for highly consistent commitment to learning across the school year in Arabic and Indonesian, respectively.
Rapha Kemplar (Year 11) and Connor Russo (Year 12) represented Victoria at the UN Youth Evatt National Finals held in the Parliament of NSW. Not only did they proudly represent the school, but they were also crowned the winners of the event.
Jonathan Firth (Year 11) represented the state of Victoria at the Australian Athletics All Schools Championships. He placed 5th in the U17 100m final and ran a personal best to finish 6th in the 200m event. He was also part of the U18 Victorian team that won a gold medal in the 4x100 m relay.
Offers for Tertiary Courses
A reminder that early offers for tertiary courses come out next week. Courses from all Victorian Universities will be offered to students who don’t require extra information to be submitted by students or involve an interview. These courses may not be offered until mid-January 2026. This includes Medicine, folio-based courses etc.
Ms Carter, our careers manager, and Ms Veldsman in careers will be available for consultation on December 23rd, and appointments can be booked online. Please look out for the recent communications from the Careers team for detailed instructions on how to book an online Google Meet appointment on 23rd December.
Preparing for 2026
Students started work towards their 2026 courses during the orientation period. To help consolidate their learning and prepare them for the start of next year, they will have a small amount of holiday homework to work on over the coming weeks. They will be expected to have completed all tasks and be ready to submit their work in the first week back.
The holidays also present an ideal opportunity for students to get organised for the coming year by ensuring that all equipment and books from the booklist (shared on Compass) are arranged, and by working out what strategies they will use to document their school work and revision.
Although there will be some work to do, it is important that students also use some of their break to rest and do the things that they enjoy so that they are revitalised and ready to go at the start of 2026.
Happy Holidays
On a personal note, I’d like to thank everyone in the JMSS community who has supported me in my first year as an Assistant Principal. It has been a steep but rewarding learning curve! I wish all JMSS students, staff and families an enjoyable summer break.
Melanie Denney
Assistant Principal