Melanie Denney

Assistant Principal

Dear Parents/Carers and Students,

It is an honour to be writing my first piece for the newsletter as Acting Assistant Principal (Curriculum) and I look forward to continuing the great work of Andrew Chisholm and supporting him in his new role as Principal. I would also like to thank Kathryn Grainger who has taken on the role of Acting Head of Science.

It has been an exciting and busy start to the school year with Year 10 orientation, personal development day, swimming carnival, our first general assembly, maths immersion day and Year 12 camp. Throughout these activities students have already been showing some of the characteristics that will help them take on the 2025 school year with confidence. We have seen fantastic participation, collaboration and students willing to try new things that may be a little out of their comfort zones. I encourage students to take these attributes and apply them to their academic studies as well.

Students should now be aware of what is required of them to be successful in each of their subjects and should double-check that they have access to all booklisted items and class resources. Timetables should be accessible to both students and parents/carers via Compass, and assessments and other learning tasks along with feedback should be starting to appear on Canvas. In the next couple of weeks, we will be sending more information about how parents can get the most out of Canvas in order to support their children.

Students should be well on the way to establishing consistent study routines for the year. They may wish to experiment with different approaches to consolidating their learning beyond reading and rewriting class notes to find the strategies that are most effective for them. A distraction-free space to work will also help students to maximise their study time.

To ensure our VCE students are aware of some of the specific expectations and rules that come with the last years of high school, we will be holding VCE information sessions for our Year 11 and 12 students during Week 7. We will also be hosting a VCE Parent Forum for parents with students in Year 12 in that same week on Thursday 13th March, 6 pm. Parents will be able to learn important facts about the VCE, tips on supporting their students through Year 12, and hear from former JMSS students in an alumni panel. More information will be sent to Year 12 parents soon.

In addition to our new students, we extend a warm welcome to several new staff who have joined us at JMSS:

Simon Zhou  (English)

Harsh Preeti  (Preeti) (English)

Kacey Tran (Mathematics)

Parth Sharma (Mathematics, Physics)

Vinodini Madugalle (Chemistry, Science)

Harry Coulson (Guitar tutor)

Congratulations to all of the JMSS community on a fantastic start to 2025.

Melanie Denney

Assistant Principal