Principal's Post
Dear Families,
We are all getting excited about the students returning onsite to learn in their St James classroomsfrom next week. We look forward to welcoming back our Preps next Monday 18 October for three days and our Year Ones and Twos on Thursday 21 October for two days.
Our Year Three and Four students will join our Preps on Tuesday 26 & Wednesday 27 October. Our Year Five and Six students will join our Yr1/2s on Thursday 28 & Friday 29 October.
We will continue to cater for students who have parents unable to work from home because they are essential workers and require on site supervision. Please email me the days your children require this for the weeks commencing Monday 18 and Monday 25 October.
The draft plan for Cup Week is:
Monday - school closure day
Tuesday - Melbourne Cup Day holiday
Wednesday - Preps and Yr 3/4s in at St James
Thursday - Yr 1/2 and 5/6 in at St James
Friday 5 November - All students on site for the first time together!
School Uniform
As of Monday 18 October, ALL students will need to wear their Summer school uniform and have their hat with them to wear outside. Families may wish to transition back into school uniforms this week. I will leave that decision for this week up to parents.
Term Four Happenings
Our St James Leadership Team met last Thursday morning commencing at 7.30am and had a rather lengthy discussion regarding major events for the rest of the year. We reflected on these events keeping in mind a balanced focus of student academic learning time, student wellbeing and a sense of community.
While not all decisions have been finalised here is a draft of where we are up to:
- School Closure Day Friday 19 November - cancelled to provide more learning time
- School Closure Day Monday 6 December - maintained to allow for 2022 planning and 2022 whole school review preparation
- Confirmation - hold this Sacrament when we can later in the year
- First Reconciliation - hold this sacrament when we can, even if at school rather than in the church
- Twilight Sports - hold at school one afternoon and invite parents on site if permitted
- Concert Production - hold in a very modified form which will provide students with an opportunity to perform to the camera in the community centre and a recording will be made available to families
- Year Six Graduation Evening - Hold on Monday 13 December as planned and hopefully parents will be permitted to attend as was the case last year
- Moving on Assembly - hold as planned on the afternoon of Tuesday 14 December with parents if permitted
- Year Six Celebration Day at Funfields - go ahead if permitted
- Year Six Beach Safety Day - cancel this given the students participated in beach safety on Camp earlier in the year
- Year Five Open Water Safety Day - maintain this if permitted
- Swimming program Prep - Yr 4 - possibly hold over one week rather than two
- Mini Mission Fete - hold in a very modified form over a lunchtime
- Prep 2022 Transition Days - maintain these on different dates as permitted by government regulations
- Whole School End of Year Thanksgiving Mass - maintain in church with families if possible but more likely at school during the day
Congratulations Mr Sweatman
Congratulations to James and Jen on the birth of their son William last Tuesday morning. William weighed in at 4.2kg and measured 53cm in length.
COVID Safety
As our students return in greater numbers next week, I want to reassure all families that we will continue our many COVID safe practices including the following
- all staff are fully vaccinated
- ventilation is a priority with windows and doors open
- hand sanitiser is readily available
- regular hand washing is encouraged
- students are welcome to wear masks (we will clarify the advice regarding Yr 3 - 6 students)
- social distancing remains a priority when possible
- all visitors to the school grounds (including contractors, cleaners, external service providers, volunteers, parent helpers, etc) will need to be fully vaccinated
- information regarding students wearing masks will be communicated when the Operational Guidelines are released (hopefully later this week)
MACSSIS Feedback Surveys
These surveys are now ready for completion. They provide extremely valuable feedback on many aspects of our St James educational environment. Staff, students and parents' feedback help paint a complete picture of the current climate and consequently help set goals for our future School Improvement Plans. Please take the 20 minutes to complete these anonymous surveys throughout this week. We will send out your family's unique, login code throughout this week. There are currently a few technical issues in getting the codes sent out.
Have you completed your family's Operoo info?
Please sign up to this today or you may find that you miss important information regarding students' extracurricular events and permission forms.
Operoo website: www.operoo.com. There is also a parent introduction page here: https://www.operoo.com/intro-for-parents/.
Have a great week,
Dave