A message from the Principal, Jackson Dodd
Thank you for taking the time to engage with this message. If this message creates any questions for you I am more than happy to discuss these with you. Please feel free to email me at jdodd25@eq.edu.au.
AMAZING STUDENTS
Our students continue to rise the occasion and are not just wonderful ambassadors for our school but also for our community. The recent work of students at the Gympie District Show was recognised by both the Show Society and the Mayor, who both took the time to comment to me about how students are creating a positive image of youth in the community.
The ANZAC Day commemorations also prompted the RSL to congratulate us on both the student involvement on the day but also the performance of the JNSHS Concert Band.
Our school leaders have recently been inducted into their positions and they have quickly worked to build a presence – not least of all with the Gympie Chamber of Commerce where our Student Representative Council members are routinely drawn upon to provide a youth perspective.
Add to these situations the ongoing success of students on the sporting field and amidst cultural pursuits ,and we are very proud of our students. Ensuring that remains the focus is achieved by retaining our high expectations of student behaviour. This is outlined below.
EXPECTATIONS
James Nash has a responsibility for the academic and social development of children and young adults. This responsibility has to be met within the bounds of the legislation under which we work. Key legislation includes the Education Act, Disability Discrimination Act and the Human Rights Act.
In order to deliver on these responsibilities, we have a set of expectations that we expect to be upheld. These are broadly packaged as:
1. Be at school and at class on time and prepared for learning. This means:
a. Attend all day every day.
b. Follow the prompts of our bell system to ensure you are at class prior to the commencement of the lesson.
c. Bring all of the right equipment:
i. BYOd device (laptop or tablet) – every student is expected to have a device at school every day.
ii. Relevant stationery.
d. Remove distractions – including ensuring mobile phones are off and away.
e. Dress for the occasion – be in full school uniform.
2. Engage respectfully and safely with others and the environment. This means:
a. Follow teacher directions:
i. You have a right to question the direction at a later time in a respectful fashion.
b. Use respectful language:
i. You would be amazed and horrified to hear what some students tell us is 'normal' at home. Either way our normal is to speak respectfully to each other.
c. Solve conflicts without violence, threats or intimidation:
i. There will be conflict between students! We provide a myriad of avenues for students to seek help in conflicts they can't resolve themselves. This includes:
1. their Head of Student Culture in each year level,
a. Ms Porter – Yr 7
b. Ms Hyde – Yr 8
c. Ms Randall – Yr 9
d. Ms Griffin or Kahler or Fox – Yr 10
e. Ms Laing - Senior
2. access to Stymie if they are concerned about seeing one of the adults at school in person, and;
3. their Care Teacher who can assist in relaying messages to the Head of Student Culture.
In Junior Secondary School we work heavily with our young people to develop their personal and social capability – for most students this is quite minor, but for some less fortunate students this represents significant support.
DAYMAP
DayMap is a software package that the school utilises to support, roll marking, communication, assessment and school operations. The software has 3 portals:
· Staff
· Student and
· Parent
Our rollout plan is as follows:
| TERM | STAFF | STUDENTS | PARENTS |
| Term 1 2021 | Roll Marking and internal communication | | |
| Term 2 2021 | Training associated with use of assessment tools | Access to student portal for communication, timetable and attendance information | |
| Term 3 and Term 4 2021 | Trialling assessment use | Trialling assessment use | Access to portal to see: · Communication · attendance |
In the future when we grow our utilisation of the platform it is possible that parents would have live access to:
· Communicate with school and teachers through the platform or the app.
· Receive interim reports through the platform.
· See student submissions of work, the feedback provided by staff and the result assigned as it occurs.
· Live attendance data for your children.
Can I temper your excitement please – it will take us some time to build the protocols associated with the platform and to ensure that the data we have is accurate. At the moment we are trialling elements of this to do our best to ensure accuracy.
In the interim, please ask your students for a look at the platform as most students should have downloaded and installed it this term.
I would personally like to thank parents for the strong ongoing support of our school. We continually endeavour to the absolute best for each and every child because we understand the importance of living up to our moral purpose:
Empowering learners so that they might lead a life of choice rather than a life of chance.
Regards,
Jackson Dodd
Principal