Welcome from the P&F Leaders 2021

DATES to REMEMBER

Friday 26 February - SUBWAY Food Day

Sunday 28 February - Vision Portraits Fundraiser

Tuesday 9 March (7:30pm) - P&F Meeting

Hi Everyone!

Welcome back to school for 2021 and hopefully a more normal school year! Despite this latest hiccup (...can you believe it!!) we will forge ahead! It has been a little slower start than normal but now that school and P&F leadership have met to navigate the various restrictions we need to adhere to and finalise our calendar, we are excited to start planning and working together to bring our community back together after a very difficult 2020!

Kylie Brooks-Verberne (Elodie 4F, Spencer 2D and Monet now in Yr 7) and Sheleigh Keating (Grace 5E and Emerson 2S) are once again team leaders and we are really hoping we can run all the events we have planned. Hopefully any lockdowns will be short lived like this current one we are in the middle of!

VISION FOR 2021 AND CALENDAR

This year, the P&F is very much focused on bringing back some familiar events for our children and hopefully a number of social events that we missed so much last year. While we have some small fundraisers planned, we will not have a fundraising goal and rather really focus on fun and face to face events as much as we can. Given the impact that the pandemic has had on businesses and families, we envision it may take some time before we can have such things as silent auctions and sponsored events, but really see this as a unique opportunity to focus on what the P&F is really here for, which is to support our school staff in providing some special events for our children and bringing our school community together.

Please see our 2021 calendar attached.

VISION PORTRAITS – SUNDAY 28 FEBRUARY

Bi-annually the P&F offers the opportunity for families to sit for some family portraits with Vision Portraits. This year they will be offered outside onsite at St James on SUNDAY 28 FEBRUARY.

Due to the ongoing issues of Covid 19 Vision Portraits have made a few changes that are really positive ones and have been very well received. To minimise contact with families they now offer online viewing of photos instead of same day viewing. This is a great change as you can now take the time viewing photos in the comfort of your home. You will no longer have to decide in 15 minutes straight after the photo shoot with kids in tow!

Each family pays $20 for their sitting & will receive one high resolution digital photo free with this - Usually $75 AND this $20 is donated directly back to our school.

Photo Packages:

Vision Portraits packages are the best value in the industry with each high -resolution digital photo just $20 and to own ALL DIGITAL is only $233 (if family orders early). This is for over 50 Photos!

Print orders are now express posted directly to family's homes.

Please go to www.visionportraits.com.au/fundraise to book a sitting (between 9am and 4pm on the day) and use the password raisefunds to make your booking.

Thank you to Sarah Dowds for coordinating this!

ICY POLE TREATS ARE BACK!! THIS FRIDAY 19 FEBRUARY

Friday treats are back! After three terms we can now start selling Icy poles on a Friday. For new families and those that may have forgotten (a lot has happened!) icy poles are sold for 50c at afternoon recess every Friday. We will need 2 parent helpers each Friday from 1:50 to 2:20 to assist. Remember you need to have a Working With Children Check and have completed a volunteer application (found on the school website) with the school to assist. Please see the following link with times for the term to help sell icy poles and for further details: volunteersignup.org/QP4TY

FOOD DAYS

CHANGE OF DATE – SUBWAY NOW FRIDAY 26 FEBRUARY

Thanks to everyone for returning orders for our first food day. Owing to the short lockdown we are now moving this to FRIDAY 26th FEBRUARY. Just to be safe! You never know and let’s hope we don’t have another next week!

If your child will not be at school on this day please email Kylie (Food Day Coordinator) by this FRIDAY at craikyli@tpg.com.au and she can return your child’s order and payment to you.

We are also VERY HAPPY to announce that we can also bring back some more variety for Food Days! Our next Food Day will be a Sushi Food Day on Friday 19 March. We will need a lot of helpers for this so keep an eye out for a link to sign up in the coming weeks.

CINEMA NIGHT

Usually at this time of year preparations are in full swing for our annual Cinema Night held in March. Sadly due to Covid restrictions currently in place for outdoor gatherings and the uncertainty around them (look what happened on Friday!), we have made the decision with school leadership to reluctantly cancel the Cinema Night for 2021. We may be able to run an alternative later in the year and hope we can bring back this fun family night in 2022. Thank you to Kath McMahon, Emma Rodda-Hopkins and Anne Dawson for volunteering to organise this for the school community.

MORNING TEA – MONDAY 1 MARCH

On MONDAY 1 MARCH after the 8:50am assembly the P&F will be hosting a Morning Tea to welcome new and old families back on site! Finally! With a cap of 150 people in the community centre we have plenty of room for many to enjoy a Covid Safe Catch Up. We would love to see you there!

SECONDHAND UNIFORM COLLECTION AND STALL

At the same time as the Morning Tea we will also run a Second hand Uniform Stall. As we weren't allowed onsite for most of last year stocks are rather low but we have heard some say they have uniforms in good condition at home that can be moved on. If you have any outgrown uniforms, hats or bags that are no longer needed please send into the office prior to this day. Thank you!

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

We had a great response late last year in filling many roles to help run our events. Thank you to our regular volunteers and quite a few new faces who have put their hand up. We are very grateful for your help. We will be in contact shortly or well prior to your event to help and assist you.

We have 2 roles we still need some help with:

Grade 6 Champions - Mum's and Dad's Night

So far we only have one Grade 6 Champion to organise the Mum's and Dad's nIghts. Thank you Kate Ryan! Can anyone with a child in Grade 6 help her plan these?

Donations Coordinator

Whilst we won't be having a silent auction at this year's major parent social event, nor looking for sponsors for major events we still do need a volunteer or a group of volunteers to coordinate our donations. This would be a much smaller role than in previous years and would entail sourcing small prizes for several raffles we would like to hold throughout the year and keeping our rewards bonus programs running, including those with Bakers Delight and Rebel Sport. Previous holders of this role are available to assist and pass on resources to help with this role.

If you can help with either of these please sign up at the following link: volunteersignup.org/PW4ML

If you are not on our email list to receive extra information and reminders, but would like to be please email pandf@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

Thank you for your support,

Kylie and Sheleigh

P&F Team Leaders

St James Parent and Friends Association

pandf@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

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