Principal's Post
Dear Families,
Our students have been very patient over the last few weeks restricting their outdoor play to hard surface areas. Hopefully the dry and sunny weather we have enjoyed over the weekend will ensure that Oval activities can resume this week. The Olympic Games replays have been popular in the Community centre at lunchtimes.
You may have noticed that we have replaced the decking boards outside of the Year 1E classroom thanks to funds raised by our Parents and Friends. The plan is to replace all decking areas gradually over the next year or so.
New arrival
We are delighted to announce that Mrs. Darsas has welcomed the newest member of the Darsas family
Luke John Darsas
Born 1/8/24 @11:11am
Measuring 3.19kg (7 pounds) and 50cm in length
Both Luke and mum are doing well and Adam is very excited about his baby brother!
Preps Celebrate 100 Days of Learning at St James
Today marks the 100th day of Learning for our 2024 Prep students. What a delightful group of students they are with such a variety of personalities who display great empathy for one another. Congratulations to all parents who have also survived these first 100 days of school for your children. There's about 1300 days to go until they graduate from Year Six!
I am grateful to all of our staff who have helped these beautiful children transition into school life at St James, especially Amy Darvell, Deborah Butler, Bernadette Broderick, Janelle and Daniela.
Hoop Time
Our Year Fours spent last Thursday at an annual Hoop Time day at Dandenong Basketball stadium for an interschool competition. All our students played really well, but a special shout out goes to our All Stars team who truly dominated the competition and won 7-0 - the reigning champions! Thanks to Mrs Wall for facilitating the competition and creating the fixtures to ensure it ran smoothly, and to Ms Lamendola, Mr Flintoff, Betty and students Archie and Indie who helped out on the day, and all parents who attended to support.
Mission Fete
Our Mini Mission Fete took place on Friday 26 July and was a great success.
We are so grateful for this awesome experience, and we cannot believe that this was our last one! Every year we have been at school, the event just kept getting better and better… It is unbelievable how much money was raised this year, over $5,400, and we are astounded by everyone’s efforts and hard work! When we move on to high school, the Mini Mission Fete is something we will cherish forever.
Zoe, Ella & Natalia
Auskick Wrap Up
What a great season we had for Auskick at St James! We welcomed record numbers enrolled in the program from both our school and broader community. Each week the volunteer coaches took the students through skill based activities, as well as games as the skill levels increased. It was great to see the progress that the students made throughout the season but most importantly, the smiles on their faces. During the session
we also sold sausages, drinks and popcorn each week to the hungry crowd with proceeds going to the St James P&F. This year we made a profit of $2,386!
A big thank you to the following St James parents for making this possible:
Coaches- Tom Dougherty, Andrew Mitchell, Jimmy Wingate, Dave Unkles, Nick Rodgers, Chris McDade, Stefan Festa, Dave Boal, Kristan Height, Adrian Goorgianni & Phil Thiel.
BBQ team- Kylie McMahon, Daniel Savoia, Amy Dougherty, Deanne Wingate, Cecilia Kennedy, Carly Walters, Melissa Mackellin, Andrew Peters and Karina Squires-Unkles.
Fathers Day Breakfast & Stall
Father's Day breakfast will be on Friday 30 August. There will be two sittings; 7:30 to 8 am and 8:10 to 8:40am. Children attending the first sitting with their dad will be supervised in the playground from 8am.
For catering purposes it is very important to book - Please book online here
The Grade 1 P&F Event Team - Amy, Stef, Kath and Katrina will need help on the afternoon prior and on the morning. Please sign up here
Our Preps will host a Father's Prayer Service commencing at 9am in the Community
The Father's Day stall will commence from approximately 9:30am to 11am for students to purchase their gifts.
St James Art Show
As of Monday 12th August the tickets for the Art Show will be available to be purchased via the CDF Pay App. Tickets are $5 per family. The Art Show will commence on Thursday 12th. Viewing days and times are as follows:.
- Opening Ceremony
- Thursday 12 September 2:30pm
- Viewing Times
- Thurs 12 & Fri 13 Sept, 3 - 4pm
- Fri 13 & Mon 16 Sept, 8.30 - 9.15am
- Sun 15 September, 10am - 12pm
Please continue to look out for further Art Show information via the school newsletter.
Confirmation
We are looking forward to our Year Six students receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation on Saturday 10 August at 1pm in the church at Mitcham. Please keep these students in your prayers.
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.
STEM Olympics
The STEM Olympics was a huge success last week. Please see attached full report on the Digital Technologies Page.
Be sure to check on our Building Works @ St James Page to see the latest images and updates on the building works.
Parish Fete
The fete's success relies on the participation of the whole Parish and we are hoping that you will actively be involved in our wonderful Fete this year. It's a great day for the whole family and the kids love attending.
This year's fete will be on Saturday 16 November. All families are expected to contribute to our fete. This year, as a fete committee, we are discussing the possibility of asking for volunteers to sign up earlier than in the past to help avoid that last minute panic.
Have a great week,
Dave