Melanie Denney
Assistant Principal
Dear Parents/Carers and Students,
I am excited to be writing this from Busan, South Korea, where I am attending the Korea Science Academy of KAIST Science Fair (KSASF) along with Dr David Albrecht and three Year 12 students - Jill Xu, Susan Chen and Jun Xiang. In addition to presenting their project entitled “Comparative Analysis of Accuracy and Latency in Quantum Image Encoding: NEQR vs. FRQI for Grayscale Images”, the JMSS team will have the opportunity to be involved in a range of STEM and cultural experiences during our stay. We are all looking forward to the week.
This is one of a number of recent and upcoming events intended to encourage students to explore different STEM opportunities and pathways, build connections with like-minded students from around the world, meet experts, and challenge themselves to extend their skills and knowledge. Some of these include:
- Year 10 Science Immersion Day
- Year 10 Biomedicine Immersion Day
- International Young Physicists Tournament in Sweden (Georgi Demosthenous and Brendan Kang representing Australia and Mr Gavrilescu judging)
- Year 11 Reef and Rainforest Trip
- The International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (Isabelle Goode, Alison Hurst, Neko McTaggart, Henryk Przychodzen and Michael Tikhanov representing JMSS and Australia supported by Dr Penny Hale)
Semester 1 Assessment Period
Students at all year levels have just completed a busy assessment period. It was great to see so many students taking on feedback over the course of Semester 1 and applying to their exams and SACs. I’d particularly like to acknowledge the efforts of the Year 10 students, of whom many had not experienced a formal assessment period before. A big thank you to Mr Gavrilescu and our VCE team for their efforts in organising the assessment period and ensuring it ran smoothly. From here, it is important that students reflect on the successes and areas for improvement from their results and continue to adjust their study habits as we more into Semester 2. School reports are now available on Compass.
Course Selection for 2026
The start of Term 3 also brings about the start of course selections for students moving into Year 11 and 12 in 2026. It is a good time for families to begin discussions about what makes an appropriate and balanced course that will allow students to achieve their best potential while continuing to enjoy their studies and extracurricular activities. It is also important that families seek course and career advice from those with suitable qualifications and experience such as the JMSS Careers team, VCE team, or a House Leader.
To support the course selection process, it is all current Year 10 and 11 students need to attend the relevant information session (below) with one of their parents/carers. Parents of Year 11 students should have received an email containing more information, and parents of Year 10 students will be receiving more detail shortly. Year 12s and their parents will also receive information shortly about a VTAC information session which will outline the tertiary admissions process.
Year 11 into 12 Information Session: Thursday 24th July, 7 pm arrival, South 1 Lecture Theatre
Year 10 into 11 Information Session: Wednesday 6th August, 7 pm arrival, South 1 Lecture Theatre
Year 12 2025 VTAC Session: Tuesday 12th August. Details TBC.
Whole School Assembly
Our fifth General Assembly for the year was held on Friday, 27 June. It was a pleasure to welcome Professor Bob Wong from Monash University’s School of Biology who encouraged us all to “Explore the Curious in Science” while providing examples from his own areas of passion including behavioural ecology and the impact of pharmaceutical pollution on exposed wildlife. We hope that Prof. Wong will join us again and share more details of his research.
I hope that everyone enjoys a restful break after this long and busy Term 2.
Melanie Denney
Assistant Principal