Andrew Chisholm
Assistant Principal
Dear Parents and Students
Welcome to Term 3, I write this after an inspiring general assembly that had Professor Hugh Williams ex Vice President of Google and inventor a number of IT devices whilst working at Microsoft, address staff and students on applications of computer science and encouraging students to find solutions to issues that they see in the community
This term will be a hectic and energized 10 week period. The term is characterized by many opportunities and events that I will cover in this article. A major theme relevant to all students at JMSS across this term is future career pathways as we run numerous opportunities for both parents and students to discuss subject selection, vocational directions as well as options as to how to improve academic performance at school. Further details about the events listed in the table below will be provided prior to the event by newsletter, compass and email.
The following table summarises many of these opportunities over the next 4 weeks of the term.
A reminder that all students completing a VCE Year 12 subject this year have compulsory October tests in the second week of the Term 3 Holidays.
| Week | Dates | Events | Purpose |
| 3 | 29/7 to 1/8 | Course Counselling for current Year 11 students | Choose courses for 2019
|
| 4 | 5/8 to 6/8 | Course counselling for current year 10 students | Each student in Year 10 and 11 will be allocated an interview time to discuss subject selections for year 11 in 2019 |
| 5 | 13/8 to 17/8 | VTAC information night for Year 12 parents on Tuesday 13th August at 7pm | For current year 12 parents to find out more about tertiary admission procedures, scholarships and access schemes for students going to University in 2019 |
| 6 |
20/8 | Parent Teacher Student Conferences midday to 8.00pm | Opportunity to get feedback on your child's progress in Term 3 |
Reef and Rainforest 2020
The annual trip to far North Queensland to study aspects of the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest was once again highly successful. Students participated in a range of activities at James Cook University as well as collecting data in the field to assist contemporary research in Tropical Rainforest regeneration and coral health. The many opportunities to observe amazing wildlife, was appreciated by all. Thanks to Mr Corkill and Mrs Vandenberg for coordinating this years trip.
Planning is well underway for the 2020 trip. The trip is open to current year 10 students and will be held at the same time as this year which is the last week of term 2 and the first week of the term 2 holidays. Exact dates and a new itinerary will shortly be available as will the final costings.
KSASF 2019
I was very fortunate to attend the Korean Science academy Fair in Busan Korea over the first week of the holidays.
Cally Ferguson, Matthew Yau and Jasmine Junawan represented JMSS and presented projects that were highly regarded by the judges. Jasmine presented a project related to conditions influencing Stem Cell growth whilst Cally and Matt presented research around skin cancer identification via machine learning.
The program allowed students to use the latest technologies in a newly opened high tech maker space as well as touring KAIST, one of the worlds top 30 universities that specializes in science and technology as well as seeing some of the latest developments in artificial intelligence and IOT.
Andrew Chisholm
Assistant Principal