Principal's Post

Dear Families,

ANZAC DAY commemoration services were held last week. Some of our school leaders participated in the Dawn Service at Halliday Park and the whole school gathered in the quadrangle for a lovely commemoration ceremony. Both of these occasions were respectful, reverent and important in our students understanding and appreciation of the importance of the day.

The reverend who spoke at Halliday Park gave a good analogy and link between the ANZACs and other armed forces personnel giving their life for our future, Jesus giving his life for us on Good Friday and the fictional story of Star Wars where Obi-Wan Kenobi gave his life to save Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and others. Sometimes a fictional story can be a good analogy for students without detracting from the importance of ANZAC Day.

I attended the Collingwood V Essendon footy match and was very impressed by the respect displayed by the crowd during the ceremony. And I was happy to take a draw given the nail-biting and exhilarating finish. 

Time in Lieu day last Friday

As you are aware, in the recent EBA,  the education union struck a deal with the state government that instead of providing teachers with a wage increase, they would provide Time in Lieu (TIL) for attending any extra curricular events or extra meetings. As the Principal of the school, I am required to provide this to all staff. I do this through a combination of closing the school and employing Casual Relief Teachers (CRTs). The other strategy to help minimise the impact of TIL is to not hold as many extra curricular events.  

Unfortunately, none of the situations described here have a positive impact on student learning or community engagement. So ... at St James, we have decided to maintain many of our extra curricular activities (some schools have simply cancelled many of these) and structure the days we require CRTs around the availability of regular CRTs who are familiar with our school and students. We also negotiate with Camp Australia to run a full day program on our closure days if possible, to support families who require care for their children.

Mulch Movers

Thank you so much for all your mulch moving help. This was an important step in preparation for our new build and we really appreciate all your time and hard work.

We had a few helpers commence the process on Tuesday afternoon and a group of parents completed the work on Thursday morning. Mulch appreciated :)

ABOUT REAL LIFE - YEARS 3-6 FAMILIES - Tuesday 7th May

Our Family Sessions are on TOMORROW NIGHT. 

Year 3-4 Session 6.30-7.30pm

Year 5-6 Session 7.40-8.40pm

Please RSVP via this link. 

https://meet.google.com/qve-udwj-qnq

Looking forward to seeing many of you then!

Pasta Day - Wednesday 8th May

Wednesday 8th May is Pasta Day! You can order via CDF pay. Orders close by midnight TOMORROW, Tuesday 30th April.

Walk to school day - Thursday 9th May

We will be holding our annual Walk To School Day at St. James on Thursday 9th May. We look forward to participating with your children at this event which promotes a safe and healthy lifestyle.

Mothers Day Celebrations - Friday 10th May

Don't forget - To celebrate the Mothers and Mother figures in our lives, we will be celebrating on Friday 10th May, commencing from 8.15am with a cuppa, chat and viewing of some artwork in the Reynolds Community Centre. We anticipate the formalities, Prep performance and raffle draw to commence at approximately 8.50am. This will be followed by classroom visits until 9.40am. Our Mothers Day stall for students will commence at 9.45am. Feel free to attend for a time period that suits you.

Mother’s Day Stall

Cate Pigeault & Jess Savoia have kindly volunteered to run the Mother’s Day Stall again for P&F.  We are grateful for all the time and effort they have put in to choosing and packaging gifts for the stall. They would love to have a few helpers on the day to assist the children with selecting and paying for their gift.

Helpers are needed from 9am-11:30am. Please sign up if you can assist. 

https://volunteersignup.org/K8APD

Please Note: The school must have a filed copy of your approved Volunteer Form & your Working With Children Check before you can assist at any school events. Please check with the office if you’re unsure. 

Catholic Secondary College Enrolments for Current Year Five Students

Students must be enrolled when in Year Five. Enrolments close on Friday 16 August. 

St James is a direct feeder school to Emmaus College, Aquinas College, Our Lady of Sion College and Whitefriars College. This means that St James catholic students receive direct entry and St James non catholic students receive greater consideration of entry into these secondary colleges.

State Secondary School Enrolments for current Year Six Students

Students currently in Year 6 must have enrolled by Friday 10 May.

You can collect an enrolment form from the office if required.

Building Update

Work on the new crossover into the teachers carpark commences this week. Following this, builders fences and site sheds will be installed.

Here are a few images of the new building which is expected to be finished prior to the 2025 school year starting. We shall keep our fingers crossed here!

P&F St James Major Fundraiser - We need your help.

As you know our annual major fundraising event is coming up on Saturday June 15th. We need donations for raffle prizes and silent auction items. We are reaching out to all of you asking that you get in touch with a business you know to ask for support. This widens the net for potential sponsors and donors. 

WOW Groups

At our School Advisory Council meeting last term we discussed our 2024 Student Wellbeing priorities and strategies. The trial for 2024 is to discontinue the Friday fortnight groups in favour of time spent on student wellbeing in classes or year levels. This enables us to create a program more specifically tailored to meet the individual needs of our students.

School Uniform Items & School Hats 

In line with our Sun Smart Policy,  school hats are no longer required to be worn until September.

In line with the recognition of our whole school value for the term of "Responsibility," we are having a specific focus on students being responsible for their clothing items (mainly jackets) and plastic food containers. You may wish to reinforce this with your child.

Parent Education Session Highly Recommended 

We are excited to shared with you that Psychologist Maria Ruberto, who presented to our staff and some of our parents last year,  will be holding a Parent Workshop: Understanding Resilience.  Please refer to the link to her website for the dates and other information regarding the outline of the two hour session and booking details. 

https://www.salutegenics.com.au/product/parent-workshop-13th-may-2024/

There may be an opportunity for some parents to car-pool given this valuable parent workshop is on the other side of town.

SAC

Our next School Advisory Council Meeting is scheduled for next Tuesday 7 May.

Enjoy a great week ahead! 

Dave