Principal's Post

Dear Families,

Welcome back to the new school year! 

It was delightful to welcome our new Prep students on Thursday morning and experience the"buzz" in the quadrangle and then in the Community Centre among the parents. We welcome the many new families to our wonderful, inclusive St James community.

It was also lovely to see and chat with our other students in Years One to Six as they came in for their assessment tasks last week. These assessment days have the added bonus of helping our students settle into the new school year in an informal and short day.

We welcome Evan Zhang Yr 5, Abigail Hart Yr 3 and Finn Bajcic Yr 2 and their families who have joined our St James community this year. All three students have settled in well and made a few new friends in the short time they have been with us.

We welcome new staff members: Kayleigh Darsas (returning from parental leave to share teaching Yr 4S with Katie Schroder), Louisa Norwell (previously a CRT who will now be our Librarian and support teacher), Eileen Dalton (joining our Learning Support Officer - LSO - team based in Yr 4) and Isabella (our new speech pathologist working on Mondays)

Our Year Six students head off to Phillip Island for their camp on Wednesday morning. I will be heading down at lunchtime and return to school on Friday morning. Anita Dell'orso will head down on Thursday morning to spend some time with the group at Phillip island. 

Our transition to nForma as our central, one-stop communication platform is progressing well. As staff and families become more familiar with the system, we are already identifying opportunities to streamline processes and improve the efficiency and consistency of our communications.

In other new beginnings, it was lovely to see so many of our former Year Six students enjoying their first morning of Year 7 at Aquinas. They looked incredibly grown up and confident in their new uniforms. We  also had visits from our Sion, Emmaus, Whitefriars and Mazenod students enroute to their school.

Upcoming Events

Whole School Parent Information Evening - Wednesday 11th February 

School Photos - Monday 16 February 

Prep Parents Dinner - Tuesday 24th February

Cinema Night - Friday 13th March 

Icy Pole sales commence this Friday at the bargain price of 50cents - students wishing to purchase icy-poles at the commencement of afternoon recess must have 50 cents stored in a safe place in their bag.

Year Six and SRC Badge Presentations

This will take place on Friday 13 February at our Prayer service/Assembly commencing at 2.25pm in the Reynolds Community Centre. All parents are invited.

Congratulations to the following Year Six students who will fulfill our Year Six Leadership roles this year:

Best Wishes to Jess Moffat

Jess finishes up this Friday as she commences her second stint of parental leave. We wish Jess all the best for the upcoming birth of her second child. As well as her role in Year Five last year, Jess supported many of our students throughout a variety of classes throughout the year.

School Fees

Statements will be sent out this week. There is a $120 discount for fees fully paid by the end of February. 

Child Safe Standards

To continue to promote, reinforce and build a child safety culture in our school we will share information regarding the 11 Child Safe Standards through each fortnightly newsletter. Please refer to the attachment   Child Safe Standard One Parent/Carer Newsletter  for important parent information.

Sun Smart

Until May students are expected to wear their school hats outdoors. Please ensure that your child has a named hat at school for them to wear. We have a No Hat, No Play policy, so hats are essential for outdoor activities. Students are also welcome to bring a small, labelled tube of sunscreen to reapply during the day.

Medication

If your child requires any short- or long-term medication at school, please ensure the correct medical forms are completed and provided to the office before sending medication. Under no circumstances should students carry medication in their school bags. All medication must be stored and administered through the office for safety reasons. Please contact the office should you have any questions. 

Farm

We’re looking for volunteers to help with weekend farm duty this term 🐓🦆

Farm duty involves two quick visits each day: a morning visit to let the chooks and ducks out and feed all the animals, and an afternoon/evening visit to make sure everyone is safely locked away for the night.

We’d love to have new families get involved! I’m very happy to show you what needs to be done, it’s very simple, and the kids absolutely love helping out.

Below are the dates available. Send me an email with your preferred dates at joanne.magnik@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

Outside of School Hours Care

Please register your children here if you require this service next year.

If you have any questions you can email MACSEYE

directly at enrolments@macseye.vic.edu.au

Please note, they cannot attend the service if they are not registered.

Have a great full week ahead!

Dave