10th Birthday Celebration

During the Open Day celebration a timeline of the development of the school was presented to the gathering. Some parents requested that we share this with the whole community. So parts of the presentation and the narrative will be shared in the news letter.

This weeks theme is acknowledging the past.

It’s very exciting celebrating Jacana School for Autism’s 10th Birthday, however the school site had a history before we became Jacana School for Autism.

Jacana Primary School opened on this site in 1960  in the main administration building. The school grew and an additional smaller wing was built.  Over time, Primary school numbers declined and Western Autistic School took over the smaller wing and operated  an annex from 1992 to 2005.

Northern School for Autism then took over the site and the existing students in 2006. Northern expanded into additional vacant rooms at Jacana Primary School until the diminished numbers of students led to the closing of the Primary school in January 2010.

Northern School campuses were growing larger and on 1st January 2013 the Jacana Campus demerged from Northern and became Jacana School for Autism. 

JSA acknowledges the previous educators and students who occupied this site.

This photo is the first staff of Northern School for Autism with Philip Henkel as the foundation Principal  and Corinne as the Jacana Campus Principal.

You may also recognise some current staff – Michelle McMaster and Julie Dojcsak

The last Northern School for Autism - Jacana Campus photo (2012) shows the staff size had grown from about 30 in 2006 to approximately 70 staff.

There are a few staff members who are still on site today.

This aerial photo of the school in 2012  shows the asphalt administration and parents carpark with a narrow one way pathway from Landy road, which was chaos at drop-off and pick up times for students.

Adjacent to that is the asphalt playgrounds and with climbing equipment at the other end. The staff carpark was dusty gravel that was muddy and puddled badly during the winter. The Emu Parade end of the school has some grass playing area that was also very muddy after a bit of rain.

Some parents and students may remember on one particularly wet day for our muddy fun run.