Principal's News 

Isn't it great to be back to school.  

After a Christmas and New Year break that had its challenges with community health and anxiety, it is pleasing to be back as a cohesive school community.  Our strength as a community in recent years has been a source of comfort and consistency.  Together we have a great deal to celebrate.  

Our gratitude and celebration of Catholic education goes back many, many decades.  Our history is rich with the same joy and love for education that is still present today.

Just yesterday I received a letter from David O’Meara a retired man, from Lismore NSW with information regarding his grandmother Margaret Coleman (McDonald) who attended St James in 1910 until she was fourteen years of age. It was a detailed account of her time at St James and her experience with the Presentation sisters.  Education and school settings have changed greatly in the past 100 years but what is still evident is the energy and goodwill that is created by children, parents and teachers. This aligns with our vision to be ‘a faith filled community that aspires to equip young people with the knowledge, skills and optimism to enrich the world and live meaningful lives.’ 

How did we commence this week in 2022?

At the commencement of any school year it is always a time of freshness, excitement and anticipation of the return of everyone to the new school year.  All the children look clean, fresh, bright eyed and bouncing with energy.  We saw that this week, especially with our new Foundation children starting their educational career. We send our good wishes, love and support to Miss Bridie Slater and her young children as they start many beautiful days at St James. 

Can I also thank all parents for making the choice to be part of our lovely St James community.  We welcome all of our new families to our school family whether you are a Foundation family or a new family in another class level.

I would like to commend the staff for their beginning of school year organization, in particular the classroom teachers, who have created welcoming and engaging learning environments for the students.  

What makes our school unique is our community of people and our dedication to excellence and focus on wellbeing.

We will continue to work collaboratively to plan and ensure that the learning opportunities are designed at the point of need.  The first two weeks of the school year is our ‘getting to ready to learn’ period, which allows us to set up for individual and class success.  Our commitment as teachers is to walk with our children with their learning and faith journey and to reimagine a world that is responsive in a context that is true to our Christian faith and respectful of other faiths and traditions.

2022 Staff 

2022 Leadership Team

New Learning Support Officers

Last Thursday and Friday we completed the application/ interview process for two Learning Support Officer positions.  We have selected who we believe will be two great additions to St James to join our LSO team Kate Buzza and Lachie Doquille.

We welcome Bec Taylor and Tracey McCord who will commence with us on Monday 7th February.

Parent Association Urgent call 

For many years the Parent Association has been a lifeline to the school.  We require  Executive positions to be filled to ensure that the school continues to prosper.  Late last year the following was presented in one of the final newsletters.  Please have another read and if you can be of assistance please make contact with me through Ange or Imelda. 

‘At this point in time we have not had anyone put their hand up for the executive roles. In order for the many events (e.g. welcome disco, easter raffle, Mothers' Day lunch, Parent social function) to go ahead, we need volunteers to take up the reigns. I encourage both Mums and Dads to consider how they can support the school by fulfilling these executive roles. We would love to see more Dads involved with these roles if possible. Parents are welcome to join forces and share the roles, something which has worked tremendously well these past two years.’

‘If we do not have volunteers for these roles then events cannot go ahead. We want nothing more than for 2022 to bring back some normality to school life and to inject some of the joy that these added events bring to our community.’

STJPA 2022 Procedure Manual

FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

Please see attached information re Camps, Sports & Excursions Fund (CSEF)

COVID Safety 

In previous communication in the past week you would have received information regarding St James COVID safety.  Please keep this information handy and if you are not sure of our procedures please contact me.

Parent Teacher Interviews (Meet the Teacher)

Next Thursday 10th February, school will finish at 1:00pm in readiness for Meet the Teacher online interviews.  Please refer to the Deputy Principal's News page.

Finally in closing, let’s enjoy the year together, be strong and supportive together with whatever we confront.

Faith in our future

Brendan