Principal's Post

Dear Families,

 Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!   ...   Happy St Patricks Day! 

I will be taking 10 students to St Patrick's Cathedral on Friday to a special mass all catholic schools have been invited to attend, to celebrate Catholic Education Week.

The new pathway has been completed, and we are delighted with the improved flow of foot traffic around the school. Thank you all for your patience while this work was being completed. There are now two very logical, easy and preferred ways for parents to enter and exit the admin foyer:

1.  via the front gate from Centre Rd
2.  via the new path leading from the driveway

On the afternoon of Wednesday 2 April, we will hold the Official opening of our Foster Administration Building, named after our long serving teacher and Deputy Principal Carmel Foster who served our St James community for over 30 years.

We have been holding school tours in preparation for our 2026 Prep enrolments and have had a great turn out at our two tours so far.  Anita, Josh, and I have enjoyed meeting prospective new students and their families. It's always such an exciting time for new families and there was a lot of energy at Thursday's school tour. Our school leaders are doing a wonderful job chaperoning our visitors and answering their questions as they progress through the school tour.

Our upcoming school tour dates are listed below—please feel free to share them with anyone interested in learning more about our wonderful school community.

Monday 24th March - 9:15am - 10am

Tuesday 1st April - 9:15am - 10am

Wednesday 7th May - 9:15am - 10am

Click here to share a link to register for one of these dates.

We currently have 18 enrolment forms handed in so if you are a current family who has a child due to commence Prep next year please ensure you complete an enrolment form here prior to the end of the term so that we save a place for your child. 

CSEF

Any families that hold the following concession cards:

• Centrelink Pensioner Concession
• Health Care Card
• Foster Parent
• Veterans Affairs Pensioner (Gold Card)

 are welcome to apply for the Camp, Sports and Excursion Fund. If you have not done so already, please come into the office or email a copy of your concession card to office@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au so that we can apply on your behalf.

Opening of New Building and Junior Classrooms

We are very excited to formally open our new building and renovated classrooms on Wednesday 2 April. The official opening will commence at 2:30pm, preceded by light refreshments and a building tour at 2pm. Please keep an eye out later this week for an Operoo form to capture your attendance.

Special Food Day - Sushi

It's a Sushi Food Day... with ice-cream!

Wednesday the 2 April will be the next special food day.  

Flyers will be sent home this week in school bags for Prep-Grade 2s and Google Drives for Grade 3-6s.  

Please use CDF Pay to place your orders by midnight 26/3/2024 (sorry late orders cannot be accepted).

This year our P&F Food Day Coordinators are:

- Megan Madonna (Elise 4L and Rowan 1A) ph: 0422 504 775

- Stefanie Festa (Rafael 2C) ph: 0414 860 764

Follow up webinar with Carley McGauran - Managing Big Feelings Webinar

It was great to have parents join the Managing Big Feelings Webinar on 6 March. I hope you found it beneficial. For those of you who were unable to attend, please find links below - it's definitely worth watching. 

Managing Big Feelings - Parent Resources 

• Toolkit (slides, links, videos + resources): bit.ly/MBFtoolkit
• Replay: https://youtu.be/ZLZOB8yHzAg 

Respect Day

On Friday, March 28th, we will emphasise the importance of our Term 1 value 'respect' through activities and prayer, reflecting on its significance in our school community and daily lives. Students are encouraged to wear free dress and bring a gold coin donation for Caritas. For more information, please visit the Student Wellbeing page.

Parent Helper Course

Just a reminder that Louise Matthews and Josh Crowe will be holding a Parent Helper Training Session on this Wednesday 19 March . There will be a morning and an evening session held. Please email louise.matthews@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au OR joshua.crowe@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au if you would like to attend.

CDF Pay

St James Vermont has recently switched from FlexiSchools to CDFpay for special food days and sports top purchases. 

Important: Your existing CDFpay credentials will not work for the new CDFpay mobile app. To create a new CDFpay account, please follow these steps (you can use the same email address if you prefer):

1. Download the CDFpay mobile app from the app store on your device. No app? Register here.
2. Register your child, providing their full name and class, then select St James Primary School Vermont.

Details about upcoming special food days and some tips for new families are included on the P&F page.

Parents and Friends Meeting Last Week

Our first meeting was held last Thursday and while we’ve had a great response to many parents volunteering for the Social functions throughout the year, we are in desperate need of Grade 2 Parents for the Major Social event. 

If you are interested in contributing or helping out, please sign up via the volunteer link or email pandf@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and 5 students began their NAPLAN assessments last week, successfully completing three out of four tests. They will finish with the Maths assessment on Tuesday. We are incredibly proud of their calm and focused approach throughout the process.

Supporting Students with Allergies

To help keep all students safe, please encourage your child to wash their hands after eating before coming to school. Even small traces of allergens can cause serious reactions for students with food allergies. Our staff will also remind students to wash their hands after eating. Together, we can create a safer environment for everyone.

nForma Parent App

The nForma Parent App now allows you to log an absence on the morning the student is away, as well as future absences.  There have been some technical glitches with the app that the developers have fixed.  We hope that the app will now allow things to be easier for you to notify the class teacher, as it goes directly onto their roll in the morning. Please see Nadine's Digital Technologies page for a how to Parent Guide on using the app.

If you need to email in regards to a students absence we ask that you ensure you email the class teacher and cc in attendance25@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

St James Movie Night

This Friday 21 March is School Movie Night and we’ll be “Kung Fu Pandering” !

Bring your blankets and chairs and enjoy a fun filled evening with your family and friends from our school community. We’ll have snacks and drinks available for pre-order via CDF pay, as well as to purchase on the night.

Tickets can be purchased using the TryBooking link: www.trybooking.com/czkqp 

The organising committee are  still need some helpers on the night, so please consider assisting – you don’t need to be a Grade 4 Parent to volunteer - please sign up at our volunteering link https://volunteersignup.org/e9bd7

School Concert Production

Auditions have commenced for the 2025 St James School Concert which will take place at Crossway Baptist Church on Monday 11th & Tuesday 12th August. Our Year Five and Six students have the opportunity to audition for one of the main character roles in addition to their class act.

Farm

It's hard to believe that the school holidays are nearly upon us again, so we are looking for some volunteers to help with looking after our animals whilst we are away. 

If you haven't done farm duty before and would like to give it a go, I can show you what needs to be done before the holidays begin. The kids will love it!

Below are the dates available, if your family is able to help, email me with your preferred dates at  joanne.magnik@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au.

MACSEYE Out of Hours School Care

Please register your children for this service 

Click here to register

If you have any questions you can email MACSEYE

directly at enrolments@macseye.vic.edu.au

Other News Items

• Remember to join the International Earth Hour movement at 8:30pm on Saturday 22nd March by switching off your lights to shine a light on nature and our climate crisis.
• Mya in Yr 4 's artwork has been selected to be displayed in the Catholic Education Week Art Show - Well done Mya!
• Learning Conference Bookings for Thursday 3 and Friday 4 April will be sent out next Monday afternoon at 4pm.
• There are no official classes for students on Friday 5 April due to Learning conferences and Time in Lieu for staff.

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Kind regards,

Dave