Principal's Message

Jackson School is a collaborative learning community for all. We aim to develop independence through safety, respect and responsibility. We aspire to offer authentic, quality educational experiences that develop futures, create opportunities and inspire student potential; enabling our students to be valued and contributing members of the wider community. We share and celebrate our successes and achievements.   

The Issue Highlights

• Meet & Greet / Welcome BBQ
• Student Support Group (SSGs) Parent-Teacher Meetings
• Communication & Bus/Pick-up Changes
• School Council Elections
• School Photo Day
• Students of the Week from our PBIS rewards system.
• Showcase of students' learning from across the school in Primary and Secondary
• Health and Wellbeing information to support you and your child.
• Community news including from Jackson OSHC provider TheirCare.
• School Dates -For the most up-to-date calendar dates, always refer to the Xuno Calendar in your Parent Portal.

Dear Families,

Meet & Greet / Welcome BBQ

Thank you to all of the families who were able to attend our Meet & Greet BBQ last Wednesday. It was a hot one! Thank you for battling the heat. It was lovely to have the time to talk more casually with families about their children and holidays. We will continue to hold more events throughout the year to increase connections between our families and our school.

Student Support Group (SSGs) Parent-Teacher Meetings

Thank you to all families who participated in our Parent-Teacher Student Support Group (SSG) Meetings this week. The purpose of the SSGs are to establish a strong home-school relationship, complete your child's Individual Education Plan & Jackson Learner Profile and review progress against your child's “Long Term” goals. The Term 1 SSGs are also an opportunity to discuss your child's Individual Learning Plan Goals for Semester 1. 

Following your SSG your child's teacher will finalise your child's Semester 1 Individual Learning Plan (ILP). These will be emailed to families once they are published and will also be available on Xuno for you to access anytime. We aim to have every child’s parent or carer meet with the classroom teacher to discuss the learning of each child. If you have not yet had an opportunity to make an appointment to meet with your child's teacher, please contact them directly on SeeSaw to make a time. Thank you for your ongoing partnership with us.

Communication & Bus/Pick-up Changes

To develop a strong home-school partnership, Parents/Carers main point of contact for school communication should be your child's classroom teacher. As included in the last issue, this can be through SeeSaw, by phone (leave a message at the school office) or by appointment (SSGs can be booked through the school office). 

From next week, please ensure you have let the office know if there are any daily bus, OSHC or parent pick-up changes by calling the school office directly on: 03 9366 4322 or sending an SMS to: 0447 819 086. 

Parking & Brimbank Council Feedback

We ask all family members entering the car park at this time to keep moving through the drop off and collection zone and not to park in the centre thoroughfare or block the entry gate.  Many families park in the neighboring streets around the school and walk into the school grounds to collect children from the school. We appreciate this and understand this is difficult like at most schools. This supports us in reducing traffic congestion onto Mulhall Drive. We understand many families are having to get to the school very early to collect children to avoid this congestion.

Over the last few years our parent drop-off and pickup of students from school has more than tripled with now up to 152 families collecting their child from school. Like most neighbourhood schools, we do not have adequate parking facilities for all staff, visitors and parents/carers. Our pickup and drop off zone can only allow for up to 18 parked cars. We also have limited car parking for the 136 staff at Jackson School. 

It is a traffic offence for cars to be parked over the public footpath and obstruct oncoming traffic on any public road. We do not have authority to change parking or traffic management systems around our school. Please note, Brimbank Council have fined families for blocking the footpath at the vehicle entry gate.

I have been in contact again with Brimbank Council about congestion and parking issues around the school caused by Ginifer Station commuters and Sunshine Hospital staff/visitors. A Car Parking Management Plan (CPMP) for the Sunshine Hospital and Ginifer station precincts is currently underway. Brimbank Council wish to understand the issues the school and families are experiencing to influence the CPMP. I have an initial meeting next week to share our views as a community. Should you wish to provide any suggestions or feedback regarding parking in the surrounding area please email below:

School Council Elections

Jackson School’s School Council is the voice of the parents on how we run our school. 

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. School Council is the governing body of the school and plays an important role in our community. School Council has four main responsibilities:

1. Governance: establish the broad direction and vision for the school within the community. They oversee school buildings and grounds (facility hire, maintenance and improvements) as well as other contracts including: Out of School Hours Care (OSHC).
2. Strategic Planning: contributes to the finalisation of the School Strategic Plan and development of the Annual Implementation Plan and reports annually (Annual report) to the school community. 
3. Finance: monitors school revenue and expenditure and approves school budgets including for parent voluntary contributions and camps and excursions.
4. Policy & Review: ratifies DE and school-level policy decisions (including child safe standards), participates in the school review pre-review evaluation and review panel.

For more information please see: https://www2.education.vic.gov.au/pal/school-council-overview/overview or download the following fact sheet: 

We are looking for new members to join our school council, in the following categories:

• 5 Parent Members

• 1 Department Employees 

• 2 Co-opted Community Members

• 2 Elected Student Members (our School Captain and Vice-Captain)

Jackson School Council meet each 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6:30 pm. Meetings usually take about one and a half hours. 

All members of the community are welcome to attend our Public Reporting Meeting (AGM) on Tuesday 25th March at 6:30pm onsite at Jackson School. Please RSVP to Jo Garofalo (School Council Secretary). 

If you would like to join our school council as a community member, please complete and lodge a nomination by 9:00am on 7th March 2025 to the school office. The ballot will close at 9:00am on 14th March 2025.

School Photo Day

Just a reminder to all families that Tuesday 25th February is School Photo Day. Photos to be taken will include individual, sibling and class photos.

Families who wish to purchase photos of their child(ren) and/or class groups are asked to return their envelopes or make purchases online though National Photography. Any queries, please contact the school office. 

I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Anthony