Principal's Message

The Issue Highlights

• Today we celebrated our termly Achievement Assembly. Congratulations to all of our award winners!
• Our end of semester assessments indicate that 96% of our students achieved good, very good or excellent progress in their ILP Goals across all learning areas. 
• Winter Fete Special: Thank you to everyone who was able to attend our Winter Fete last Friday. Up to 100 families attended and we raised just over $3000!
• From 11.59pm Friday 24 June 2022, there are new COVID-19 settings including: changes to vaccine mandates in mainstream schools, transport of students to school by positive cases and masks.
• New Child Safe Standards begin on 1st July 2022. To view our updated child safe standards policy and guidelines, visit: https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/pNpVrpM
• You should have received your child's end of semester report by email. All of your child's ILPs and Reports are also available on Xuno. 
• On Sunday, Jan Brown and Bev Fegan attended a celebration with The Hon. James Merlino to honour their years (45-50 years) of service working for DET. 
• Well done to our Year 9/10 classes for successfully launching and running Hungry Jackson Cafe this term. 
• This week our Prep students celebrated their first 100 days of school. 
• Student of the Week from our PBIS rewards system.
• Showcase of students' learning from across the school in Primary and Secondary.
• Allied Health and Wellbeing information to support you and your child.
• Community news including from Jackson OSHC provider TheirCare.
• Extra parenting support services and resources.

Dear Families,

Who can believe it is the end of Semester 1 already? It has been an unusual year so far with increased student and staff absences as we learn to live with COVID-19. This has been a different challenge to those we faced together in 2020 and 2021. Despite these hurdles we have overcome, I am pleased that students are now settled in classes and achieving huge successes and achievements in their learning. Today we celebrated our termly Achievement Assembly. Congratulations to all of our award winners! Our end of semester assessments indicate that 96% of our students achieve good, very good or excellent progress in their ILP Goals across all learning areas. This wouldn't be possible without the effort and attitude of our students, the commitment and dedication from our staff and the support and partnership with our families and wider community. Thank you!

Winter Fete

It was so lovely to welcome back onsite so many parents, carers, family and friends at our Winter Fete last Friday. This was the first Winter Fete we have had since 2019 seeing up to 100 families attend. I think the great attendance showed how much we have missed school events that bring us closer together for the benefit of our students. Due to your support we raised over $3000! Thank you for your contribution. School Council will decide how the money will be allocated at our next meeting. Our students displayed many of our employability skills in preparing for and running their stalls. Thank you to Helena McAloon (Leading Teacher) for your coordination of our Winter Fete and thank you to all the staff who made it such a wonderful day. 

Thank you to Rod Tobin and Wynstan Blinds for your generous donation of a $500 voucher for our raffle. The winner of this prize was Brydee A. 

COVID-19 Update

You may have heard that, following advice from the Acting Chief Health Officer, the Victorian Government recently announced changes to the pandemic orders.

There will no longer be a mandated vaccination requirement for staff working in mainstream schools. There are no changes to the requirements for staff working in specialist schools, given the higher percentage of vulnerable students in our specialist schools. This means that all staff must continue to have three-doses of a COVID-19 vaccine.

As part of these changes, from 11.59pm Friday 24 June 2022, parents and carers who have COVID-19 can transport their children via private vehicle to their primary or secondary school when alternative assistance is not available. This means that parents and carers will be able to leave COVID self-isolation to take their children to school and school holiday programs via a private vehicle. 

The parent or carer must travel directly to and from the school only. They must remain in the vehicle at all times, unless it is reasonably necessary to leave the vehicle to walk the child to and from the entrance of the school safely. They must wear a face mask at all times. Staff supervision at the staff and end of the day will continue in Term 3. Please notify the office before you arrive if you require for your child to be brought to your vehicle.

Family members are asked to continue reporting positive COVID-19 cases to both the Department of Health and our own testing portal. You must also let the school know if your child is a close contact. Students who are close contacts and want to attend must still take 5 RATs over 7 days and wear a face mask whilst indoors if they are aged 8 years or over. Students should continue to stay home if they are unwell, even if they test negative on a RAT.

Families must continue to notify the Department of Health and the school if their child returns a positive RAT result.

After doing the tests at home each morning, if it is positive, you will need to:

1. let the school know on the via the Jackson COVID Hotline 03 9366 4322; Option 4 and/or dedicated email address covid@jacksons.vic.edu.au. There is a message bank on the phone for when the phone is unmanned by our rostered COVID Officer. Families are able to message the mobile number and/or email address 24 hours a day. Please note we will only be able to respond to messages and calls within office hours.
2. keep your child at home for 7 days 
3. contact the Department of Health via the COVID-19 Positive Rapid Antigen Test Self-Reporting Form or call centre on 1800 675 398.

As reported in the media in line with a statement from the AHPPC, masks will no longer be required in airports for those heading away over the holidays. However, masks remain mandatory on all forms of public transport including: trains, trams, buses and flights. 

Year 9/10 Hungry Jackson Cafe 

I would like to make a special mention to our Year 9/10 classes who have planned, launched and run our school "Hungry Jackson Cafe" on Wednesdays this term. As part of our World of Work program, students work in a rotation of project teams each term (Production, Service, Marketing, Finance) to run their business. This is in addition to our school-based barista work experience/training program. You have all done an outstanding job and we look forward to seeing what is on the menu in Term 3. We are also working with our School Council to explore options to offer lunch orders/tuck shop to students, at the request of our Jackson Student Leadership Team (JSLT). I will keep you posted on this development. 

New Child Safe Standards

New Child Safe Standards begin on 1st July 2022.  We have built on existing child safety strategies, policies and practices to strengthen their culture of child safety and protect children from abuse and harm. 

The Jackson School Child Safety and Wellbeing Policy demonstrates our school’s commitment to creating and maintaining a child safe and child-friendly organisation, where children and young people are safe and feel safe. This policy provides an overview of our school’s approach to implementing Ministerial Order 1359 (PDF, 363KB) which sets out how the Victorian Child Safe Standards apply in school environments. It informs our school community of everyone’s obligations to act safely and appropriately towards children and guides our processes and practices for the safety and wellbeing of students across all areas of our work.

The new Child Safe Standards are:

1. Culturally safe environments
2. Child safety and wellbeing is embedded in leadership, governance and culture
3. Child and student empowerment
4. Family engagement
5. Diversity and Equity
6. Suitable staff and volunteers
7. Complaints processes
8. Child safety knowledge, skills, and awareness
9. Child safety in physical and online environments
10. Review of child safety practices
11. Implementation of child safe practices

To view our Jackson School Policy Advisory Library with child safe standards policy and guidelines, please visit: https://newsletters.naavi.com/i/pNpVrpM or visit our website.

• Child Safety & Wellbeing Policy
• Child Safety Responding and Reporting Obligations Policy and Procedures
• Code of Conduct
• Risk Register

For more information please visit: https://www.vic.gov.au/new-child-safe-standards-schools 

Alex Baynes our School Social Worker / Child Safety Officer continues to work with the families and student support groups. Please don't hesitate to reach out to Alex, Robyn, myself or any member of staff if you are concerned about a child's safety. For emergency assistance where a child is in danger always call 000.

Jan Brown 50 Years & Bev Fegan 45 Years of Service

On Sunday, Jan and Bev attended a celebration with the Deputy Premier and Minister of Education, The Hon. James Merlino to honour their years of service working for the Department of Education and Training (DET). Jan Brown has now completed 50 years of service and has worked at Jackson School since 1980. Bev Fegan, who was the Principal of Jackson School between 2012-2014, also celebrated 45 years of service. Congratulations to you both on these significant miles!

End of Semester Reports

You should have received your child's end of semester report by email which outlines your child's achievement and progress against their learning goals based upon the Victorian Curriculum (P-10) or VCAL/ASDAN in Years 11 & 12. These are based upon robust end of term assessments and teacher's professional judgement. There is a section for you to provide any comments or feedback to the classroom teacher on your child's report should you wish. 

School Council agreed this year that for our Semester 2 reports we won't print and post student’s reports for parents/carers and encourage families to access them online via Xuno instead. Parents and carers are able to request a hard copy of their child’s report if they would like one through their current class teacher. This is more cost effective, sustainable for the environment and avoid postal delays last year. If you have not received an email from us please make sure your email address is correct with our school office or download your child's report on Xuno.

All of your child's ILPs and Reports are also available on Xuno.  Parents and carers will have an opportunity to discuss your child's progress from Semester 1 and their proposed learning goals for Semester 2 2022 at your Student Support Group (SSG) parent-teacher interviews in Term 3.

I hope you all have a restful holiday.

Anthony