Principal's Desk 

Corinne Pupillo 

Dear parents, carers and friends of the school community,

As we approach the final weeks of the year, it’s timely that we reflect back on the year and celebrate individual and collective achievements.  Teachers have been focused on writing end of year reports over the past few weeks in preparation for the SSG’s later this term. Measuring growth against students Personalised Learning Goals is one way of establishing the impact of the teaching and learning as well as informing the 2021 learning goals.  

The school has other ways that we measure impact, these may include:  

• Abilities Based Learning Education Support (ABLES) Assessments  

• Annotated work samples  

• Diagnostic Tools  

• Formative assessment rubrics  

• English Online Tool  

• Checklists 

The school has been collecting whole school ABLES data in literacy, numeracy and personal and social capabilities which will inform how we have progressed against whole school targets set earlier in the year.  

In addition to the final Student Support Group Meetings and Students End of Year Reports, the School Improvement Teams are preparing the 2020 Annual Implementation Plan End of Year report which will be provided to School Council for endorsement at the December meeting.  

There are a few other sources of data that we draw on to analyse and assess to see if we’ve met our targets for 2020.  We draw on the results from the school surveys (Student Attitudes to School, Parent Survey and Staff Opinion Survey) to inform our practices and plan for improvements in all aspects of the school.  

Celebrating Success: Annual Student Awards 

We recognise the importance of developing a positive partnership between home and school as a key factor in creating the pre-conditions to building stamina in your child.

Valuing the partnership between home and school and the co-construction of learning goals has been something that I have observed over time and has been so critical.  It’s been a journey where sometimes we support you and other times, you support us. 

Developing successful and resilient children requires a long-term focus and commitment and collaboration from us all.

In strengthening JSA’s transition processes, these events are important markers for our students and enable them to celebrate milestones and individual achievements. Linking individual achievement to the curriculum further strengthens the inclusivity for all students.

Thank you to all the staff who provide the daily wrap around supports to our students and for working with families to build resilient life-long learners. 

The sub school awards for 2020 will be conducted a little differently this year due to COVID, however we will create the event so that it will be very special for all students.  The Sub School Leader and member of the Principal Class Team will present the awards to students in their individual classrooms.

• Middle Sub School:        Thursday, 3rd December 2020
• Secondary Sub School: Thursday, 26th November 2020

2020 PASS Awards: Shortlisted Nominations 

Outstanding Volunteer Category: 

Congratulations to Lisa Sette for being shortlisted for her work in creating authentic engagement between parents/carers and the school which will develop school pride and community connection and to use locally raised funds to install equipment in the new Sensory Modulation Room (better known as the Climbing Gym).

Outstanding Team Category: 

Congratulations to the Student Voice Agency and Leadership School Improvement Team for being shortlisted for their work to empower students and building school pride through implementing a School House System to foster inclusion, student voice, agency and leadership. Also to develop opportunities across the school for students to co-design their learning.

The PASS Awards is an annual event which provides recognition and celebrates the outstanding achievements and excellence of people involved in special education in Victoria. PASS offers its congratulations to you and your team for being shortlisted for your nomination in the 2020 PASS Awards category

The team will attend the 2020 PASS Annual Awards which, this year will be a virtual event held via WebEx on Friday 11th December, 2020

Term 4: Student Support Group Meetings (SSG’s)

Monday 23rd November – Thursday 10th December, 2020. This is the last scheduled opportunity for families to meet to discuss the progress towards individual student goals.  SSG invitations will be sent home Friday 20th November.

End of Year Reports 

End of year reports will be distributed to families on Friday 27th November 2020.

2020 School Finish Dates 

In line with DET guidelines and School Council endorsement, Year 11 and 12 students may finish school on Friday 4th December 2020.   Students that choose to attend school in the last two weeks will still have a program provided to meet their individual needs. 

All other students will finish the 2020 school year on Friday 18th December at 1pm 

2021 Class list 

Students who will be enrolled in the 2021 VCAL class will be provided with their class list and teachers on Friday 27th November 2020, acknowledging that some will not return to school from 4th December 2020. All other students will be provided with their class list and staff on Friday 4th December 2020.

Curriculum Day Monday 2nd November 2020

We really appreciate that families understand the need for staff to increase their knowledge and skills which leads to a more effective wrap around support for our students.   Teachers spend time to focus on Report Writing whilst our Education Support Staff engaged in a number of professional learning activities including;

• Occupational Health and Safety Refresher:  Facilitated by Denise Clarke
• Mandatory DET Training - How to work safely during COVID-19
• Key elements for understanding Behaviour: Facilitated by: Steph Di Salvo and Elizabeth Smith (Teaching and Learning Coaches)

1. Function of Behaviour
2. Antecedent, Behaviour, Consequence (ABC)
3. Developing a possible hypothesis
4. Reflection

• Empowering Student Communication: Facilitated by:  Victoria Rajaratnam (OT) and Lydia Lee (Speech Therapist)

1. Current practices
2. Implementation and generalisation

School Council Meeting 

Our final School Council meeting for 2020 is scheduled for Thursday 3rd of December and will be conducted via Webex. 

Lisa Sette is our Fundraising Co-ordinator and can be contacted via the school office or Lisa.sette@education.vic.gov.au

School Council Sub Committee Representatives

Finance Sub Committee Representative - Sharon Borg 

Building and Grounds Sub Committee Representative – Alisha Minns 

Fundraising Sub Committee Representative – Lisa Sette

School Council Representative on Student Representative Council (SRC) – Alisha Minns

Reminder: Our newsletter is published each fortnight and will provide you with important information about the school and events that may be of interest to you. I encourage you to read the newsletter that will be sent home via your home email, on the school's Facebook Page or on the school's website. 

JSA also has a Facebook Page administered by the leadership team.  Please like and follow our page.

https://www.facebook.com/JacanaSchoolforAutism