Principal's News

Community Consultation

At the beginning of the school year I mentioned that three words are important as we move forward to guide us in our desire to be the best for our school children, parents and staff. 

Gratitude - for our past story and mindful of the investment in the past many have made to St James as well as gratitude with the recent developments.

Re growth - the requirement to build upon what we have achieved, improve, seek and respond to challenges.

Re contextualization - to ensure that our Christan story is relevant and meaningful for today.

The opportunity to have Tony Dalton, an experienced educator consultant for three consultations last week provided that opportunity for our parents to contribute to ‘Learning at St James’.  A disposition of listening does affirm and challenge our approach to teaching and learning, current and future directions.

Can I thank those who attended for their contribution across the three sessions.  We will be meeting with Tony again tomorrow to reflect upon your contributions and plan for 2019 and beyond.  The stimulus provided will assist in our desire to be prepared to continue to invest, expand and provide growth for our collective responsibility in being the best that we can be.

Our preparation for 2020  continues as we consider the complexities and layers of educating all our children.

As a Catholic school we are committed to on-going growth and improvement at St James and we have a broad umbrella we use to organize our efforts to achieve this. 

Our preparation for 2020  continues as we consider the complexities and layers of educating all our children.

This umbrella includes the following:

Catholic Identity - ensuring that our Catholic identity is promoted in all

we do.

Curriculum - ensuring that our curriculum meets the immediate and long term needs of all children in our school.

Pastoral Care - ensuring that all members of our school community are cared for with consideration and compassion.

Leadership - building effective and shared leadership in all aspects of life at St James - amongst our staff, amongst our children and across the

community

Finance, Facilities and Resources - building on the great things that have been achieved recently, in redeveloping the school site.

The past eighteen months has been a period of physical change and we now have a school that will continue to develop.

Stacey

Miss Nelson or now Mrs Clingan departs our school tomorrow.  Stacey has been teaching at St James since 2015 and in that time has been a wonderful professional educator.  If your child has been fortunate to have been taught by Stacey you will no doubt understand that Stacey’s beautiful and kind nature, her preparation, teaching and assessment has been tremendous.  Most of all she has a deep love for all children.  

She is about to commit her sound attributes of nurture and care to her own child in the coming weeks and future.  A great teacher, person and future Mum.  

Thank you Stacey.  It is time to rest and prepare for the new little one about to enter this world. You will be missed by all and you have left a lasting legacy at St James.

It will be difficult to walk away tomorrow however your spirit remains with us.

Best wishes from all at St James.

Reminder

Tomorrow we have an Assembly at 2.45pm in the upstairs Tilley space.  This is the final Assembly for Mrs Clingan before she leaves to rest up for the birth of her child.  Her husband Tas will also be present. This week we had a staff Baby Shower and I believe the parents have something special planned tomorrow as well.  Please come along and see also items from Year 5 and 6.

The next Assembly will be held on Friday 6th December.

Foundation, Year 2 and Year 4 will be sharing this week

Also a reminder that there is a school closure day Friday 29 November, for 2020 planning. If you require afterschool care, please book with OSHClub in advance 

Library

We are closer to having the the Library space back.  Ann is currently reorganising the books and we are awaiting the building of shelving to complement the Teacher resource space.

News

Congratulations to the Year 5 girls Raphaela, Bella, Stella and Indi who conducted the bake sale yesterday to raise funds for the Diabetes Association.  Great initiative girls and well done on not only the sale but also preparing at home with the help of Mum and Dad.

How good were they!

The Year 5 children in previous weeks have been involved in the Superspeak program.  This is the third year that we have been fortunate to have Louise with Superspeak who incidentally made a request to have St James again in 2019.  

In the final session last Thursday our students were amazing in their presentations.  Many parents commented on the confidence and skills in their oral presentation. The ability to speak with clarity, control, emphasis, tone and an emphasis on capturing the audience was exceptional.  A number of parents made comment that they wished that they had such an opportunity in their education. This skill will be very important for our students in the future as they will most probably need to be capable in navigating the world in a considered and  respectful manner. Many thanks to Mr McMahon and Miss Contin for organising such an effective addition to the curriculum.

Year 4 camp

Last week the Year 4 students enjoyed the Maldon camp for three days and two nights and covered many  kilometres of bike riding without too many mishaps, yabbying, and understanding bike riding rules around the beautiful country district of Maldon.  It was a joy to have the students over that time. Special thanks to Ann Nicola and Mrs Jess Conway for leading the camp and being away from their own family for that time as well as Mrs Nelson who organized the camp in the previous months.  On departing, one lovely comment made by the staff at Maldon, was that our Year 4s were the best group that they have had in a long time!

Good news.

Mrs Conway

We are grateful to Mrs Conway for not only her camp time but also for teaching the Year 2 class in Ms Whiffen’s Long Service Leave time away, and also for her teaching of the Year 4 students for the remainder of the school year.

School Promotion

The architects Baldasso Cortese will be visiting St James on Tuesday 4th December with their official photographers to take photos of the new development.  This is part of their submission for an architectural award in 2020.  Children will not be identified in the photos by name, however If you do not wish your child to be part of the photography, please c=

Brendan