Principal's News Flash 

Corinne Pupillo

Awards & Ceremonies

It's a wonderful time of the year where we recognise  student’s learning success through classroom celebrations

• Secondary Classrooms - 19, 20, 22, 23, 24  Monday 21 November  
• Secondary Classrooms - 25, 26 & 27 Tuesday 6 December 
• Middle Years Classrooms - Tuesday 6 December 

2023 Hume Education Scholarship 

In 1999 Hume City Council established an Education Scholarship Program to celebrate the importance of education and lifelong learning, encouraging Grade 6 students to continue pursuing academic excellence and good citizenship as they transition into secondary education. Students are nominated by their primary school leadership team and $1,000 is then provided to the student’s nominated secondary school to support with expenses such as fees, books, excursions and school uniforms.

Congratulations to Huzifa Abdi on being this year's recipient. 

2022 Hume Whittlesea LLEN Vocational Education Awards 

Karen Glare, Tricia French and myself attended the 2022 Hume Whittlesea LLEN awards held at RMIT on Wednesday night and we were so proud of our students and how they are celebrated with their peers in other schools across Hume and Whittlesea. It's a real honour for our students to be recognised for excelling in vocational education in our local schools. The HWLLEN Vocational Education Awards are proudly supported by Hume City Council, the City of Whittlesea, and the Hume and Whittlesea Youth Commitments, and celebrate student achievements in VCAL, VET and SBAT. 

These Awards aim to promote the importance and relevance of vocational education and training pathways and celebrate the students’ engagement and achievements within their chosen fields. The awards are based on the student’s results, attitudes and achievements, which are nominated by their schools and are endorsed through recommendations from employers, teachers and work placement coordinators.

Congratulations to the following 2022 HWLLEN Vocational Education Award recipients for our school.  Well done to you all. 

Prep Orientation Program

Starting school can be a little overwhelming for some children however, our team provided lots of opportunities for our new preps to explore and investigate their new surroundings. 

Our new prep enrolments will be participating in the orientation program on Wednesday 30th November and 7th November. Thank you to Natalie Conboy and the team of helpers for making our student's orientation days really engaging and supportive. 

YEAR 12 Graduation 

The graduation ceremony for the students finishing their Year 12 will be held on Friday, 2nd December at The Meadows Function Centre. 

YEAR 6 Graduation 

The graduation ceremony for the Year 6 students moving into secondary years of schooling will be held on Friday, 9th December in the Community Learning Hub.  

Reminder: Santa’s visit 

Christmas is approaching and we have arranged for Santa to visit on Thursday 8th December. 

2022 School Finish Dates 

In line with DET guidelines and School Council endorsement, Year 11 and 12 students may finish school on Friday 2nd December 2022. Students that choose to attend school in the last two weeks will still have a program provided to meet their individual needs, including transitioning to their 2023 classroom. All other students will finish the 2022 school year on Tuesday 20th December at 1 pm.  

2023 Class list 

The 2023 Class List will be provided on Friday 3rd December 2022.

Pupil Free Days 

Curriculum Day -  Monday 12th December 

Staffing Updates 

We welcomed back Occupational Therapist Tiffany Wasnig this week and she has re-joined our therapy team.  Our other occupational therapist, Tara Martin will be returning part-time in 2023 and we are pleased to see our therapy team growing in size again. 

At the end of each year, there is often some staffing movement and given we are approaching the end of the year, it's time to communicate staff movements and wish these staff well in their new adventures. 

We will be saying farewell to the following staff as they commence a new journey at other schools. 

• Natalie Conboy is moving to Elevation College (Natalie has already commenced the handover to our Assistant Principal,  Eva Primarolo)
• Michael Tindale is working closer to home
• Will Wren is moving to Merriang SDS
• Loren Cendlewski will be working at Niddrie Autistic School for 12 months 
• Shannon Thompson is moving to an Inclusion Outreach Role 
• Lachlan Berryman is moving to Wayi School 
• Kerryn Dimario - taking 12 months leave 
• Deb Griggs - taking 12 months leave 

The school will continue to recruit staff over the school break as we also have classroom teaching positions to fill.  Many schools are reporting challenges with recruitment and we will continue to do our best to fill these vacancies ahead of the new school year., which includes recruiting internationally. 

SCHOOL COUNCIL

School Council Meeting 

The next meeting of the School Council will occur Thursday, 8th December at 5.30 pm.

School Council Sub-Committee Representatives

• Finance Sub Committee Representative - Mark Mansfield 
• Building and Grounds Sub Committee Representative – Denise Clarke
• Fundraising Sub Committee Representative – Lisa Sette
• School Council Representative on Student Representative Council (SRC)  

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.

REMINDERS

Unwell Students 

Each morning when students are getting ready for school, I ask that you be mindful of how your child is presenting.  If they/he/she is feeling/looking/acting unusual or is complaining of being unwell please take them to the doctor. Minimising the cross-infection will assist in reducing the risk of spreading bugs and viruses.

All student absences can be made through the dedicated student absence notification number. Text the student's name, room number and reason for absence.

Make sure you have the student absence notification number saved in your contacts: 

Aerial View - Jacana School for Autism

This aerial photography has captured our school from above to complement our school's Virtual School Tour. Please take a look and see how wonderful the facilities look from above.  

Sun Smart 

Dear parents/carers JSA is a SunSmart community. You can help our students to be SunSmart at school by:

1. Dressing them in clothing that covers as much skin as possible.
2. Apply a generous amount of SPF30 (or higher) broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen at the start of the day before drop-off.
3. Packing their sun-protective hat each day.