Peter Corkill
Principal
Dear fellow members of the JMSS community,
We are now close to the end of what has been a somewhat challenging term, and staff and students will be looking forward to a well-earned break. Last week we installed the 14th edition of the John Monash Science School Council. It is certainly amazing for those pioneers among us who were a part of each of those editions, including the first which was established later in 2009 prior to the beginning of the school early in the following year. On Thursday afternoon of last week, I met with representatives of the Class of 2012, the first cohort to graduate from our school, who are currently planning their 10-year reunion later this year. In the blink of an eye we are now in our 13th year of operation. Where on earth has all that time gone?
Managing Covid in 2022
Despite the challenges, the term has gone very well. You would have all seen the last Covid Update requesting a return of mask-wearing at JMSS for students and staff, as well as the prioritising of social distancing during breaks.
Luckily the weather has been relatively settled enough to make that request easy to comply with. It was inevitable that within a community of our size, given the huge geographical catchment from which our students are drawn, that we would see an uptick in Covid infections at the school. Whilst this has impacted a number students and staff to date, either as primary close contacts or actual cases, the ‘outbreak’ has proven to be manageable in its size. Once again the work of our Covid Team, Tanya Hempshall, Erin Veldsman and Erin Hayley, under the guidance of Assistant Principal Jeremy Mackinnon, has been remarkable in the circumstances, and I would like to sincerely thank them for all their hard work.
Our New School Council
Congratulations to Nargis Mozafari (Year 10) and Siddharth Deshmukh of Year 11 who have been elected by the student body to represent them on our School Council this year. The election was well organised by House Leaders and we received a great response from the student community. Nargis and Siddharth have done really well to gain the approval and confidence of their student colleagues and I am sure they will do a great job as conduits between the Student body, Student Parliament and the School Council.
The recent parent elections have added four new representatives to the School Council. Mr. Trevor Nathan, father of Ruby in Year 12, and Mr. James Wright, father of Will in Year 12, were both returned. New members are Mrs. Mary Harrison, mother of Zoe in Year 11 and Mrs. Natalie Isborn, mother of Jesper in Year 10. Some of our new parents have agreed to join our Finance Subcommittee, and our Policies and Programs subcommittee.
The school will again be represented by myself as Executive Officer, Andrew Chisholm and Jeremy Mackinnon as Assistant Principals and Corey Goodes as Business Manager, who begins with us at the beginning of Term Two.
Challenges Ahead – Trips Involving Interstate and Overseas Travel
We still face some challenges in the months ahead. One of these is the Reef and Rainforest Trip which we are hoping to be able to run after two successive years of disappointment due to Covid. We have a meeting with senior regional staff this week to see if there is any point in applying, as so many interstate trips involving other schools have already been refused.
International travel for schools is also not possible for schools in 2022. This will be the second year in a row that JMSS has been unable to attend the International Students Science Fair. We did manage to get to the 2020 event which was in Thailand, as we were fortunate the event was in January. Since then it has been impossible, with the 2021 event carried out successfully online from Beijing.
This year’s event is hosted by Lewiston Porter High School in Buffalo, New York State, in the USA. We are hoping that the school will be running an online version for the three Australian schools who are all unable to travel. I intend to further the discussions with them to see what can be managed.
Challenges Ahead - Traffic Situation Around JMSS
I would just like to reiterate the major points I sent to parents via a recent Compass update. In order to reduce traffic congestion around the school I have asked parents to adhere to the following.
- Please do not drop your sons or daughters off in or near the Monash Child-Care carpark in the morning, or wait in that carpark after school to pick them up. This is obviously for safety reasons, as the Childcare Centre serves children under 5 years old, and the carpark is reserved for the staff who work in the centre, and the parents who drop off and collect their children at either end of the day. Monash Security have informed me that as of Monday 4th April, any JMSS parents who continue to use that carpark for the drop off or pick up of JMSS students will be fined by Monash Security;
- The after-school Pick-Up has become a congested nightmare around the school. I suggest two alternatives:
- Arrange to meet your son or daughter elsewhere in the campus, or in the surrounds outside the campus, after school;
- Allow your students to use public transport to get home. I understand the anxiety around this during the pandemic, but sooner or later we need to start trusting the systems that have served us so well for many years.
Please help us to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all members of our community by taking heed of these requests, discussing them at home, and coming up with another plan if you wish to continue to drop off your students in the morning or collect them in the afternoon. I look forward to your co-operation in these important matters.
Peter Corkill
Principal