Dear Parents, Students and Friends of John Monash Science School,

We have now completed three weeks of the ‘new normal’, all lessons online each day for all teachers and students. What used to be thought of as normal schooling, only a few weeks ago, is now something of a distant memory. Nonetheless I am amazed at the ease of the transition for most, the proactive response to this way of working by our students and the excellent way in which all of our staff have responded to this challenge. A small ‘skeleton’ staff continued to work daily onsite at school, and virtually (pardon the pun!) all of them are on rosters.

Internet Connectivity and Reliability at Home

I would like to reiterate that any students having internet problems at home should log the issue with JMSS eServices. The staff are there to support you, and there is provision for people to get assistance from the school, including financial support to rectify the problem. It is made available by the Department of Education and Training so please get in touch if you need to.

A Huge Thanks For Attending Our ANZAC Assembly

Friday’s ANZAC commemoration ceremony, as part of a whole school assembly, was attended virtually by over 700 people. Those of you who experienced some ‘flakiness’ in reception will probably understand why now. It was an amazing response and I really hope all of our staff and students enjoyed the experience. I would like to thank our captains Jackson McAloon, Charlotte Gilley and Zac Elimelich for coming in to the school to host the event, to our IT ‘gurus’ Brenton de Moel and Peter Palankay for making it work, and to Assistant Principal Andrew Chisholm for pulling it all together.

We hope to present the next assembly on May 15th in a similar format.

Update On The Big Questions

Firstly the big one:

1. When will the restrictions ease and we can all come back onsite?

In Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews has made it clear several times that Victorian schools will remain teaching all classes online for the whole of term two. In a way, for certainties’ sake, I still hope this is true. Any attempt at some sort of hybrid model sounds chaotic to me. Some people have suggested that maybe Year 12s can resume at school. If so, what about the many Year 11s doing a Unit 3, 4 study? We can postulate all we like, but for now, in Victoria, I think peace of mind is best found by understanding we will have around two more months of working this way. By then, I think we will have enough evidence to make an informed decision about the right way to go.

I understand May 11 is a key date. At that time Victoria will be in a position to make significant decisions based on the best available medical information at that time. You will be aware of the pressure being exerted on all state governments from Canberra about a quick return to normal schooling. Up until now Victoria has held firm. Whilst I can certainly ‘trow my two bob’s worth in’, I do not have a crystal ball. What we all have to hope and trust in is that any decision will be based on sound medical advice. The last thing we want is a full return to school, followed by a spike in contractions of Covid19. So we wait.

Now the other big one.

2. What about SACs and exams?

VCAA are releasing information over the next few days to schools across the state. I am happy to report the following:

There have been NO changes made to the Unit 3 VCE study designs. This is primarily due to the fact that the lockdown occurred once half of these courses had been covered, so it would be unfair to change the goalposts now;

All Unit 4 study designs have been revised to some extent, and some content has been removed from each. Therefore, this content will not form any part of the examination assessment for the relevant study at the end of the year. All of the new versions will be uploaded to the VCAA website over the coming days. No doubt teachers and students will be interested in the changes that have been made.;

JMSS is working on ways in which large cohort SACs might be able to run in term two. Once we have made decisions around this, we will communicate the plans to students and parents. If any SACs do run onsite at JMSS, strict social distancing MUST apply. We will also be working on ways to ensure that the efficacy of every SAC taken under examination conditions is maintained. We hope to have more information in the coming week or two.

Pride and Sincere Thanks To You All

I would like to express my deep gratitude and admiration for all of our staff for their work this term. They have all risen to the challenge in remarkable fashion over recent weeks. At a time when they would have been rightly worried about their own families they have doubled their pace, boosted each other’s confidence and have done simply outstanding work in teaching online so far in Term 2. I am so proud of them all, and in some awe of the capacity and spirit of the formidable team they have become. The feedback from students and teachers on the online delivery has been really positive to date. Some of the national narrative around schooling online seems to have missed a major point: TEACHERS ARE STILL TEACHING AND STUDENTS ARE STILL LEARNING. LOTS!

I am also exceptionally proud of all of our students. Of course we know this is not ideal, but the spirit with which you are all engaging in lessons, completing set work, solving any connection problems quickly and attending lessons is simply outstanding. However, a great start doesn’t guarantee a great finish, so we must all stay the distance. Keep up the good work, encourage and help one another which is a real trademark of life at JMSS. We must all keep this going for as long as it takes.

I am also receiving excellent feedback from the students involved in the Alumni tutoring program. Again my huge thanks to all of those former students who are giving up their time on a weekly basis for our current students. It is simply an amazing opportunity for all of those students studying one or more Unit 3, 4 subjects.

Finally, I will keep the Compass updates coming. This seems to be the best way to communicate with everyone and has become a ‘One Stop Shop’ to get information out there. There will be another update this weekend.

A simple message to everyone: Stay The Course. And we will be with you all, every inch (or is that millimetre now?) of the way!

Finally, a VERY HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all our mum’s on Sunday the 10th of May. I hope you all get spoilt – you certainly deserve to be!!

Peter Corkill

Principal

John Monash Science School

Issue 3 · 01 May 2020

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