Jeremy Mackinnon
Acting Principal
Dear members of the JMSS community,
It gives me great pleasure to write to you as Acting Principal, whilst Peter Corkill takes a well-deserved break. Currently, Andrew Chisholm (Assistant Principal - Curriculum) is also on leave. Many of you would be aware this has led to the opportunity of four of our experienced staff members to step into Acting Assistant Principal roles - Chris Mann and Caitlin Ryan (Wellbeing, Achievement and Empowerment) and Melanie Denney and Luke Bohni (Curriculum). I can proudly say that these members of staff have done a truly remarkable job in these acting positions and you will get to read about some of their portfolio of responsibilities later in this newsletter. Just to keep the community informed, Andrew Chisholm will return at the start of Week 7 this term and Peter Corkill will return at the start of Week 9.
Term 3 started with a bang with Harmony Day occurring on the second day of term. It was a fantastic occasion, which you’ll read about further in this newsletter. However, I wanted to acknowledge the leadership shown by a small group of students - Leonie Chin, Emily Loh, Nicole Lee and Cailtin Carpenter. These four incredible students went above and beyond to make this event come to fruition. Their planning and preparation were combined with empathy, understanding and flexibility to work with members of staff and the student body to create a memorable event highlighting the core values of JMSS - inclusivity and the celebration of diversity. What a fantastic display of leadership.
The term has not slowed down since Harmony Day. We have had significant events and activities during the first five weeks. Opportunities such as Olympiads to stretch our students and Music nights to showcase teamwork and allow students to pursue passions. It really is fantastic to see these events, and others, come back on our calendar after so much cancelled due to COVID. In addition to these events, all of our current Year 10 and 11 students have also recently undergone their 2023 subject selection and our Year 12s have all started their pathways counselling. All of this is on top of our core business - our teaching and learning program.
I write this to allow the community to feel the quiet hum of JMSS moving into a new gear.
Although, I also wish to point out that both staff and students are, typically, running at full capacity at the moment. The rhetoric at the beginning of the year was that we, as a society, were expected to ‘bounce back’ from the reoccurring lockdowns of the previous two years. I believe this expectation has potentially made it harder for people post lockdown. Rolling COVID isolation and the fact that people are particularly vulnerable to sickness have had a toll. So many of the JMSS teaching and learning community have been playing catch-up throughout the year and this constant state of ‘being behind the eight ball’ can get draining.
I believe it’s important to write this, not to cause concern, but to draw awareness to the situation. I also hope that others, like myself, will see the great opportunity and challenge before us. I do believe we need to consider what we choose to take on. We have a community of high achievers, staff and students alike, which is fantastic. However, a typical trait of a high achiever is saying ‘yes’ to everything. We need to become more selective about what we say yes to. We need to give ourselves time, and show ourselves kindness, to re-establish a new rhythm to life in a post-lockdown world. But this is focusing purely on ‘what’ we do. I believe the challenge is to start focusing on the ‘how’ we do things. Never before has empathy been so important. And never before can an act of kindness and generosity be so welcomed.
So, my call to arms is not to rebuild what was, as was the early rhetoric, as rebuilding implies using what we had to begin with and to use it again. I suggest we reframe our thinking to, simply, be intentional; about what we can take on with our current capacity and about how we enact empathy, kindness, gratitude and generosity.
Warm regards,
Jeremy Mackinnon
Acting Principal