Andrew Chisholm

Assistant Principal

Dear Parents and Students,

I write this as we finish the third week of online learning at JMSS. It seems that the current arrangements for student learning seem to be going well with staff reporting high levels of engagement in classes and students being well organised completing tasks on time. Hopefully all of your home arrangements are also going well with many of you balancing work and multiple children studying as well. This is the same for our teachers! We are aware that for some this has created difficulties and we have tried to assist with a range of things including IT help, connectivity improvement and the like. If you do have an IT issue please use the e services help desk found at helpdesk@jmss.vic.edu.au. If there is another issue you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to contact us at school.

In many subjects’ assessment has continued as planned albeit using different technologies and being structured differently. In some cases, parents may be asked by their students to witness on a document that a piece of work has been completed by themselves and without undue assistance. In year 12 some students may also be asked to turn up at school in the coming weeks to complete an assessment so that all students sit the assessment under the same conditions. 

As I write this article, changes to VCAA study designs are slowly being uploaded on the VCAA website under each individual subject. All study designs in all subjects have been altered in Unit 4 as well as the weightings of SACs across the year. Teachers will be telling students to keep an eye on the VCAA website so that they can see the changes being implemented. The VCAA website can be found at  https://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au. The study designs of VCE Units 1 and 2 subjects are unchanged.

Reef and Rainforest Trip 2020

With the uncertainty about a range of factors related to the Covid 19 outbreak we have had to cancel the 2020 Reef and Rainforest trip. A letter outlining why we have made this decision will be emailed  to all of this years participants and participants will be entitled to a full refund. Details of how to access this are also in the letter being sent home. Any enquiries can be directed to Wendy Vandenberg at school.

Open Night 2020

This year we will be having a live Youtube stream on Wednesday May 6, instead of the face to face session traditionally held in the Robert Blackwood Hall. The Youtube feed will be a collection of live and pre-recorded material with a live Q and A session at the end. All details are on the JMSS website and feel free to forward this information to anyone you know who might be applying for entry in 2021.

Andrew Chisholm

Assistant Principal