Andrew Chisholm
Principal
Dear Parents and Students,
Welcome to the first JMSS newsletter of 2026. For those who are new members of the JMSS community, these newsletters come out approximately monthly and showcase the activities, events and achievements that have characterized life at JMSS over the preceding weeks.
It has been pleasing to report that the start of the school year has been characterised by highly enthusiastic and engaged students with our new students adjusting well to life at JMSS. There was an excellent turnout to “Meet the Mentor” afternoon, and we do encourage parents to use their student’s mentor as the first point of call if they do have any queries that need answering.
Staff Changes
It has been great to welcome back Mr. Doug Berecic after a year away and new staff Ms. Fera Luciawati, who teaches Chemistry and Ms. Shelley Porter, who teaches Physical Education. Ms. Porter is also the Director of Sport Manager in 2026.
Parent representatives for School Council
Thank you to the parents who nominated for the vacancies on the 2026 JMSS school council.
Top Music
Each year the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment authority recognise students who performed outstandingly in subjects that have a performance or folio aspect to their Year 12 studies.
Daniel Feng of Year 12, who completed Year 12 Music Performance in Year 11 has been chosen to perform at Top Music at the Melbourne Recital Centre in March. Daniel, who plays the violin, will perform “Dance of the Clowns” by Chloe Charady.
Congratulations Daniel!
Olympiad Summer Schools
The top students in Olympiad Competitions across Australia are invited to summer schools at the Australian National University in Canberra in January to compete for a place in Australian teams that will compete overseas during the year. Five JMSS students were selected to attend summer schools. Congratulations to Michael Tikhanov, Isabelle Goode, Henryk Przychodzen, Rishan Deb and Neko McTaggart. Hopefully, another JMSS student will get to represent Australia in an Olympiad competition this year.
Year 12 2025 Tertiary Admission
It was pleasing to note that every Year 12 2025 student received a tertiary offer for 2026. 75% of students received their first or second round choice and two thirds of this cohort we hopefully will see regularly as they will be studying on the other side of the Pop-Up Village at Monash University. 95% percent of students are moving directly into a STEM based coursed with the most popular course for students being engineering, followed by science and biomedicine.
Swimming Sports
A beautiful sunny day greeted our students as they descended onto the Oakleigh Pool for the annual swimming sports. There was excellent participation and some highly talented swimmers putting in excellent performances on the day. Again, Flannery House were deserved winners of the swimming sports and I would like to thank Ms Porter as the new head of Sport and Mr Whyte for making the day such a success.
Building Improvements
Over the break we were able to improve a number of areas within the school using money donated by parents into the JMSS building fund. The canteen has been upgraded with new equipment and storage capacity that will allow for an increase the types and quantities of food able to be prepared and also enable an expanded menu to be offered to students. The entire ground floor has also been repainted, and more work is scheduled for the Term 1 holidays.
Year 12 Camp
Our Year 12 Camp was held once again at the Lord Somers camp at Somers, with more than 220 students following a 3-day program that combined some VCE information, guest speakers, water-based activities and opportunities for students to formally and informally get to know their teachers and peers and build their support teams for 2026. Again, the camp was a great success, and I do need to acknowledge the work of the office staff and Mal Anderson who organised the event and to the staff who volunteered to supervise our students on the camp. Some of our highly skilled canoeists are shown below.
Maths Immersion Day
Our first Immersion event for the year was held last Friday with our Year 10 and 11 students completing some Maths problem solving exercises designed to promote a range of important mathematical thinking and modelling skills. Thanks to Mr Aldermay and Dr Albrecht for their organization of this highly successful event.
Industrial Action
The FairWork Commission has approved the teaching unions application to hold industrial action due to a stalemate in negotiating the new enterprise bargaining agreement. The date set for this action is Tuesday 24th March. More details of how this action impacts JMSS will be communicated when more details are known.
Kind Regards,
Andrew Chisholm
Principal