St James School Community News

PA / School Community News

Parents Association

SPECIAL FRIENDS AND GRANDPARENTS’ DAY

What an eventful few weeks with our special friends and grandparents’ day a couple of Fridays ago. It was great to see all the visitors at our school and a big thanks to all the families that organised food for the day, it was a delicious spread. Thanks to Sal and Steph for the great organisation and every-one else that helped on the day, we couldn't have done it without you.

ST JAMES COLOUR RUN

The weather certainly turned out for our Colour Run last Friday and the kids got coloured up. I forgot to bring that change of clothes this year for entry into the car and that is a must have for next year (and the baby wipes!). Water pistols were needed on the day to keep cool and thanks to all the kids and families that created profiles and raised funds for our wonderful school.

This event wouldn't have been possible with the amazing Kate K and all the other volunteers and thanks so much for helping.

Remember PRIZE ORDERING IS NOW OPEN you can go online and order your prizes for any student who raised over $10. Children are able to order their fundraising prizes until Tuesday 21st November. Please note no extensions can be made after this date so please ensure your orders are in this week!

To do this, Parents will need to log back into their profile pages via

https://myprofilepage.com.au, scroll down to the countdown clock and order prizes to the amount their child has raised to. Students will be able to choose up to 5 prizes max to their amount raised. For example, if Jonny raised $100, he can choose 1 prize from the $100 category or he can choose 5 x $20 prizes. Prizes will then be ordered and sent to school for distribution directly to the students in the next month. Further details in your fundraising booklet if you get stuck.

Again, our most sincere thanks for your support and fundraising efforts. We will share the final raised amount next week when everything has been finalised, along with the class who will win the special lunch and the winner of the electric scooter - all hotly contested items!

CURRICULUM DAY - FRIDAY 24TH NOVEMBER - KEYSBOROUGH BOUNCE

There is a curriculum day next Friday the 24th of November and for any families interested we will all be heading to Bounce again for the super session. We are thinking we might try the bounce in Keysborough for something different as they have more things to do.

Bounce

1 Fiveways Boulevard, Keysborough

10am-12pm Super session

BASKETBALL

Congratulations to the St James girls who made it to regionals and played basketball against the other schools yesterday, it was for a spot in the state finals. The girls played well, and it was a great day, and we wish the team from Malvern who made the final all the best in the state finals.

MUSICAL

Our school musical is on 2 nights on the 7-8th December at the Star of the Sea Theatre. Miss Leisa, who is directing our school musical, has met with representatives from each class level to pass on the costumes for each class performance in Seussical Musical. Thanks to all the volunteer parents who are helping. Every-one should be trying out their costumes now and have costumes finalised for the full dress rehersal on Tuesday 28th November 2023.

Any issues of if you have further questions, please speak to your class costume helper, or contact Miss Leisa on lgiannopoulos@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

CHRISTMAS CAROLS & PARTY - THURSDAY 30TH NOVEMBER

We are excited to share with you the details of our St James Christmas Event. It’s a fun night for all the family. Food is to be ordered through the attached try booking link. Bring cash on the night for the Christmas Stalls, Ice cream Van, Soft drinks, St Vincent De Paul wishing tree and more!!!

The kids will be performing Christmas Carols and there will be a visit from Santa shhhhh…..

https://www.trybooking.com/events/1138854/sessions/4246302/sections/2134220/tickets

DADS DRINKS

The next Dads and special friend’s drinks are on tonight Thursday 16 November at 7.30pm at Brix Bar. The last drinks for the year will be the 14th December at 7.30pm also at the Brix Bar.

FINAL PA MEETING FOR THE THE YEAR AND AGM

The PA final dinner and AGM is coming up in a couple of weeks. The PA would like to invite any parents that have volunteered as part of the PA such as PA class representatives or organised an event to a final dinner on Thursday the 29th of November at 7.30pm at Mr. and Mrs. P on Bay Street upstairs. If you would like to come, please let Connie know on conniesands@bigpond.com.

PRESIDENTS FOR 2024

Virginia and Connie have volunteered their time for the last two (2) years and are retiring at the end of this year as co-presidents of the PA and we are looking for new presidents to take over for 2024. Please let Virginia or Connie know if you are interested and there are plenty of handover notes and a comprehensive google drive with everything saved. We think we might have one person (you know who you are!), if we can please find one or two more to help, that would be amazing!

THANKS, FROM THE PA

We are very grateful for the continued support of all our parents, the school and local community. All our PA members are volunteers who generously give up their own time to organise our school events.

Contributions from our fundraising efforts will be put towards many areas across the school. Some initial ideas that have strong support from the PA group and school community are

1) Fixing the roof at school.

2) A new surface and outdoor furniture or play equipment for the Tilley playground.

3) Improving school security.

4) New school ipads.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly:

conniesands@bigpond.com

virginiapullman@y7mail.com

FUTURE CALENDAR DATES

Don’t miss a thing. Sending a reminder there is a full school calendar featuring everything in the one place. Check out St James Website page news and events / events for more:

Dad’s Catch Up - every 3rd Thursday of the month. Next dad’s drinks are booked at 7.30pm on Thursday 16 November at Hotel Brighton. Last drinks for the year will be the 14th December at the Brix Bar at 7.30pm.
St James Christmas party and Carols - Thursday 30th November
St James musical - 7 & 8 December
Dads, special friends, and kids camp at Anglesea YMCA for 22-24 March 2024
Mother’s Day lunch - 18 May 2024 at Elwood Bathers

PARENTS ASSOCIATION FUNDRAISER CALENDAR 2023

Connie Sands & Virginia Pullman

St James PA Co-Chairs

Second Hand Uniform Shop

Many thanks for your support at our most recent sale!

Please reach out to us if you have any uniform enquiries or suggestions.

Liesl & Ali

School Community News

There are lots of exciting things happening in our community in the next few weeks.

St James - STAY AND PLAY - Transition Playgroup

We have seen great success in our new members of our community joining us for our Stay and Play transition playgroup sessions.

The play sessions offer an opportunity for children to meet and play with other children as well as engage in a number of structured activities including PMP, singing, Craft, library, fine motor skills, stories, games and pre writing.

Mandi Joplin

Community Engagement Leader

Before and After school care

Parent Google Calendar

The google calendar is designed for parents to keep up to date with school events.

Google Calendar

Please ensure that you are checking the Parent Google Calendar on a regular basis as dates are added throughout the year.

School Closure Days 2023

Monday 27 March -Term 2 Planning

Tuesday 13 June -Term 3 Planning

Friday 8 September -Term 4 Planning

Monday 6 November - TIL (Tues 7 November - Melbourne Cup Day)

Friday 24 November- Planning Day

2023 Term Dates

2023 term dates are as follows, but please keep in mind that they may be subject to change as each term staff have a full day dedicated to staff Professional learning and forward planning.

Term 1 31 January (Foundation Students commence Term 1) -06 April Final Day Term 1

Each Wednesday in February Foundation Students are scheduled for individual testing and do not attend school. Full weeks for Foundation commence in March.

Year 1 - Year 6 commence Wednesday 01 February 2022

(Y1-6 Student Testing 30 - 31st January)

Term 2 24 April - 23 June

Term 3 10 July - 14 September

Term 4 02 October - 15 December 1:30pm School Finish

Bell Times

Teacher supervision 8:40am - 9:00am

First Bell 9:00am (Music begins playing at 8:55am)

Fruit Break 10am

Morning Recess 11:00am - 11:30am

Morning Eating Time 11:30 am -11:40 am

Lunch Eating Time 1:40pm - 1:50pm

Afternoon Recess 1:50pm - 2.30pm

Dismissal 3:30pm

Teacher supervision 3:30pm -3:45pm

Lunch Orders

Please note that lunch orders are made in the Star of the Sea Canteen next to St James.

Lunch Orders will NOT be availabe on the below dates due to scheduled school closure days at Star of the Sea:

27th November & 28th November 2023

The last day of lunch orders for 2023 will be the 7th December as this is the last day of school for Star of the Sea.

2023 Lunch Order Menu

NB some items are only served on certain days

St James Primary 2023 (2).pdf

Details on how to set up your Flexischools account for online ordering.

Community Notices

Babysitting

My name is Jade Fisher, I am 20 Years old and I am a past St James and Star Of The Sea girl. I am the oldest of four siblings who which have all being through St James. I have had lots of experience with babysitting over the past 3 Years. I am currently looking for either permanent or casual babysitting opportunities. I am studying a Bachelor of Primary Education and I love spending time with kids. I am more than happy to cook meals, clean, and entertain kids. I’m available both weekdays and weekends.

Contact details Phone number : 0450361103 / Email: jadefisherr1@gmail.com

Clash of the Courts:

Come on down this Sunday 19th November and cheer on our St James Mum's at the inter-school netball CLASH OF THE COURTS tournament!

There will be food and drink for sale, a raffle, and family-friendly entertainment…..all with the goal of raising funds for Team Sports 4 All.

We still need a couple of volunteers (helpers and players) from our St James Community! Please contact Michelle Thomas (0418 121 560) for details. We'd love ot have you!

We are still on the hunt for various event day helpers (scorers, timekeepers, BBQ staff, general event day helpers)…anyone interested can register via the below link and selecting, Support Crew https://www.trybooking.com/CLDFE

Keep up to date via Instagram @clashofthecourts