Principal's Post
Dear Families,
The Fete was a wonderful success - thank you so much to all of you who volunteered, managed stalls, baked goods, bought raffle tickets & ride wristbands, provided lollies and chocolate, set up, packed up and helped in many other ways. A special mention to Jen Harvey & Kristan Height, our school representatives on the Fete Committee, who put hours of time effort and expertise into ensuring yet another successful Fete. The parish really appreciates your support and I personally am so proud to be part of such a wonderful and engaged community.
The weather was kind to us and some highlights included: Mrs Ericksen's ensembles (ukulele, Auslan and Choir performances), the many rides, the delicious hamburgers and snags, the colouring competition winners, the Toy Stall raffle winner and many wonderfully painted faces.
I am very grateful for the wonderful community we have here at St James. While we all know that families "reap what they sow" in the sense that your children benefit socially, emotionally and academically from your involvement, it is still appreciated and not taken for granted.
I am aware that term four included; Bunnings BBQ, Twilight Sports and the Fete (raffle tickets, ride tickets, lolly bags, chocolate blocks, pre set up, stall volunteers, pack up, handing out $$$ to kids to spend at the fete etc) commitments by families. So I say THANK YOU to all families who have put in the time and funds to our community over the past month. The fete usually returns approx $2000 - $3000 to the P & F via the raffle and further funds to the school via fete day profits. Actual figures will be published when they become available.
Swimming Program
All students from Prep to Year Four will be participating in our annual Swimming Program for two weeks starting today and ending on Friday 28 November. Students will transported by bus to daily swimming lessons at Knox Leisureworks.
You are invited - St James Advent Open Morning & Parent Thank you Morning Tea
To celebrate the commencement of Advent as a St James community, we invite you to an OPEN MORNING for our parents (grandparents are welcome too) on MONDAY 1 DECEMBER from 8.50am - 9:45am
Following our Advent Prayer Service and Assembly, visitors can move to your child's classroom to join in an advent activity with them.
From 9:45am - 10:30am, we invite you all to a special Thank you Morning Tea in the community centre to show our appreciation for everyone who has volunteered their time in multiple ways throughout the year.
If you are able to attend, please complete this FORM by Wednesday 26 November.
Staffing for 2026
We congratulate Jess Moffat who is pregnant and expecting her second child in March next year. Jess will return for the first week or two of 2026 before commencing maternity leave.
We will welcome back Kayleigh Darsas from maternity leave to our teaching team next year. Kayleigh will work two days a week in a class teaching role.
Louise Matthews, our Literacy Leader for the past few years has decided to retire from this role and to be available for CRT work next year. While we will miss Louise in this leadership capacity, we will still see Louise in a variety of classes when the need arises next year.
Katie Schroder has been appointed to the role of Literacy Leader for 2026. Katie will be in the classroom teaching students three days a week and performing her Literacy Leadership role for the other two days each week.
Finally, after more than 20 years as a staff member and more than 30 years as a community member, Jo Matarazzo is retiring from education. Jo has done a marvellous job as our Library Technician, ensuring that our library is always well stocked and that our students interests in reading are always met.
We wish all of these staff members all the best as they embark on a new adventure in 2026.
School Advisory Council
Our final meeting for the year is on Tuesday 25 November 6.15 - 8.30pm. With not many parents moving off the SAC for 2026 at this stage we may not need to recruit any new members. We will, however definitely be asking for new members for the 2027 school year.
Book Club 2026
Bronwyn, our wonderful Book Club Coordinator will be stepping down at the end of Term 4 as her son is in Grade 6. We are so grateful to Bronwyn for all her hard work coordinating all of this for a few years. We really appreciate you. And we are delighted to announce that Angela Clark has agreed to be our book coordinator going forward. Thank you Angela.
Out of Hours School Care -
Please register your children here if you require this service.
Please note - you must walk your children to the door of Before School Care and sign them in.
If you have any questions you can email MACSEYE
directly at enrolments@macseye.vic.edu.au
School Closure Dates Term Four
Friday 5th December - 2026 Staff Planning day (MACSEYE day care available)
Movember
The St James lads (Mr Crowe, Mr Egan, Mr Flintoff, Mr Mutimer, Mr Sweatman and Mr Young) are powering through Movember with mo-mentum!
Not only are our mos growing at a decent pace (some may even say bold, bushy and borderline majestic) but we’ve also absolutely smashed our original 60km fitness target. In fact, we’ve upped the challenge to 140km because why not go the extra moustache-mile for men’s health?
If you’d like to support our mo-gnificent efforts, please click the link below:https://movember.com/t/st-james-manly-mo-men?mc=1
Thanks to the incredible generosity of our community, we have now raised a fantastic $680. Every dollar goes towards life-changing men’s health initiatives, including mental health support, suicide prevention and cancer research.
We’re grateful for your support as it really helps us keep a stiff upper lip!
Have a great week ahead!
Dave