Peter Corkill
Principal

Dear Students and Parents,

I would like to congratulate all of our students on their efforts in the recent exam period. They conducted themselves well and managed to put their nerves on hold in order to perform at their best. Teachers are now going through these assessment tasks with their students and this is an excellent time for them to reflect on how they performed under time pressure, how they prepared, what aspects of their courses of study they understand well and where the opportunities for improvement lie. We are really proud of all of our students and their efforts, a small sign-post in a long and exciting journey through the senior years of their education.

I hope our Year 10 and 11 students will enjoy themselves at their formal this Friday night at Quat Quatta in Ripponlea. My thanks to Sally Cheah-Johnston and her team of helpers for making this event possible.

I also hope all of the Year 10s enjoy their Work Experience this week. I would like to sincerely thank Kirstine Carter for her work in putting the program together. It is an important opportunity for our Year 10s to experience life in science beyond school and I hope their experiences will enlighten them somewhat to the possibilities.

This Sunday will also see the departure of around 80 Year 11 students and 8 members of staff for the annual JMSS Reef and Rainforest tour to northern Queensland – where science meets sun and surf…and forest and reef! I am sure the trip will be another memorable one, and wish you all a safe and enjoyable time away together. It is the largest trip we take out of Victoria and I am sure the memories will last long - it is a wonderful opportunity in a unique part of Australia. I know the staff at James Cook University always look forward to us coming to Cairns due to the important data on the Reef, in the rainforest and in the Hinterland we collect for them.

We also farewell our team of Angelin Tom, Parker Stroh and Xavier Pellow who are heading off to this year’s International Students Science Fair hosted by the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) in Chicago over the last week of term and the first week of the holidays. They will be accompanied by Ms. Sarah Adolph and myself. I am sure you will all have a brilliant time and wish you every success for the event.

Physics Olympiad

I recently had the great pleasure of being with Boris Deletic and Vlad Mikho, both of Year 12, when they were presented with their Australian Olympiad jackets at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday 18 June.

Both boys have been selected to represent Australia in this year’s Physics Olympiad team. Congratulations to Vlad and Boris on this remarkable achievement, and we wish them all the very best for the competition which takes place in Lisbon, Portugal early in term three.

Breaking New Ground

Sincere congratulations also go to Year 11 students Praneel Chugh, Angad Singh and Aashutosh Sapkota for their outstanding achievement in winning the Victorian sector of the prestigious AIIA (Australian Information Industry Association) awards for their ground-breaking research in creating a Biomedical Movement Impeding Device which could well be used by universities and doctors in medical research and practice.

This is a mighty effort supported by JMSS staff and Monash University researchers, and one these lads should be rightly proud of. Recently SBS TV visited the school to film a story about the boys and their achievement. The story aired on Sunday night (17/6/18) at 6:30pm. The clip can be found here:

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/student-scientists-invent-device-to-help-genetic-research

Wishing parents, students, staff and all members of our school community a safe and restful mid-year break.

Peter Corkill

Principal