Peter Corkill
Principal
Dear Parents and Students,
This week marks the start of semester two for students and teachers at JMSS, after the successful but busy exam period over the last two weeks.
There are some significant recent and current events involving students and staff which I would like to highlight.
Educational Learning Trip to Hong Kong
We welcome back Peter Thompson, Kathryn Grainger, Stephanie Roper and Rowen May from their recent trip to Hong Kong to visit schools and look at some of the ways teacher feedback is improving teacher practice. The trip was subsidised by the Faculty of Education at Monash University, and attended by teachers from two other Victorian Government schools. We look forward to the very positive outcomes this experience for our teachers will bring to JMSS.
FISO Network Teachers Conference
Continuing the teacher learning theme, all staff from our FISO (Framework for Improving Student Outcomes) Literacy Network were involved in either a full or half day of professional development last Tuesday. The teachers met at the 1330 venue in the city of Knox to hear from expert Misty Adoniou and share their own practice in breakout sessions. Nine JMSS staff presented their work to colleagues from the four schools: Koonung SC, Camberwell HS, East Doncaster SC and JMSS.
Students from all four schools introduced sessions, thanked presenters, helped with orientation and registration, and put together an outstanding video of the day – the link is here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1muNDSuXPPAGO8VmLjGr7N4EnFeGEGLhG/view?usp=sharing
The students from JMSS are all from Year 10: Zahra Zubair, Sevda Chalani, Felix Chung and Emily Howells, and they all did a wonderful job.
Our Educational Support Staff met at the various network schools. JMSS hosted the Lab Tech staff from all schools, as well as the Student Wellbeing staff. This was a terrific day for all of our staff, with the opportunity to share ideas and best practice across our four schools.
Science Immersion Day
All Year 10 students were fortunate to be involved in a whole day of science immersion hosted by Monash University’s Science Faculty last Friday. We are most grateful to the following members of the Monash staff for putting the very engaging sessions in their respective areas of expertise together: James Driscoll – JMSS Science Faculty Liaison Officer, Sharon Flecknoe – Biomedicine, Dianne Ruka - School of Physics & Astronomy, Brenton Graystone - School of Chemistry, Mitch O'Mara - School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Nick Deal - School of Biological Sciences, and Ben Jones - School of Mathematical Sciences;
JMSS Teams Depart!
Best wishes to the following teams who will be involved in trips away from JMSS in the last week of term and/or some of the holiday period:
The Reef and Rainforest team of staff and Year 11 students to Far North Queensland. Peter Corkill and five JMSS colleagues are leading the group of around 40 students;
The KMSS team to the Korea Science Fair to be held in Busun, South Korea. Andrew Chisholm and Caitlin Ryan are accompanying the three students;
The International Young Physicists Tournament team representing Australia in Poland, with three of the five students from JMSS: Angad Singh, Praneel Chugh and Amitav Madan. Alex Gavrilescu is accompanying the three students.
Congratulations to all students and staff at JMSS for a wonderful term’s work. Please have a well-earned break over the holiday period, and a welcome break from schoolwork. The feedback on recent assessments will be available for all parents and students soon, and the holiday break gives people a chance to refocus and put some achievable plans in place to improve further in semester two.
School resumes on Monday July 15th and I look forward to seeing everyone refreshed and ready for the busy term three then.
Peter Corkill
Principal