Hi St James families,

This is quite a long newsletter this week with some thanks for our wonderful Twilight Sports BBQ team, lots of details planning for P&F 2023 and lots of fete news and requests! BUT FIRST….

FOOD DAYS ARE GOING CASHLESS!

Starting with the next Food Day on Wednesday 9th November!

After many interruptions, mostly due to Covid, we are finally moving to CDF Pay to order and pay for Special Food Days! No more having to scramble for cash, no missing order forms or forgetting to bring orders in for families AND no sorting envelopes for office staff or no finding missing orders and names, counting cash, and collating and counting orders for me or any future Food Day Coordinators! How good is that!

Details on how to install this app on to your phones/devices are in TODAY’S main section of the newsletter and will be sent out with flyers this week for our next Food Day. A flyer will still come home with details of what children can select and as a visual reminder but not an order form as such.

This is quite a big process to get up and running so please be patient with office staff and volunteers BUT one thing you need to know is if you wish to order for the next Food Day you need to install CDF pay and order through this platform.

P&F PLANNING - 2023

The time has come to really start planning for next year's P&F Team.

We are sure that you will all agree that it has been great to have so many events back this year. From a lovely mum's night in May, the amazing Disco Bingo Night that we had waited so long for and had so much fun at, the best kids GLOW disco ever, a well-attended and delicious Father's Day breakfast to the Perfect Twilight Sports night last week, there certainly has been many events to bring us together as a community. Along with that, there have been Mother's and Father's Day Stalls, Raffles, Morning Teas, Year Level Dinners, Various Fundraisers, Food Days and Friday Treats. A lot of work goes into putting all this together but requires the effort from a large group of people. Our P&F certainly cannot run without the help of volunteers. Distributing roles and tasks amongst individuals and teams and across year levels means that all can share in building the community and sharing the volunteer workload. Research shows that having a strong parent community has a very positive influence on the wellbeing of all students and as a former teacher and parent I can certainly see how a parent's involvement in their child's school, not just at the classroom level, can have a very positive impact on their wellbeing, involvement and even learning.

Below is a link and a document listing all the roles we need filling but there are a few key roles where we are really needing assistance.

Team Leaders

We need some leaders to help! Given the impact of Covid over the last three years it has been very difficult for parents from younger year levels to see how the P&F is run and become involved, however we are really needing some assistance in this area and some new enthusiasm and encouragement. While I (Kylie) need to step back a little with increased commitments and after 9 years at the school (and at least 7 heavily involved in the P&F) I recognise the need for any future leaders to have an experienced person on board, particularly after Covid, to assist and mentor. I think I can do this, but I can't lead it myself ...and also need to find some apprentices to help with my other roles which I think I am halfway there with! I am happy to stay involved but can't keep doing it forever...all my kids will be gone relatively soon so succession planning is imperative! Sheleigh is also still around to call on.

An ideal team would be 3 or 4 with roles shared out and enough people to cover meetings should one person be unable to attend. There is a heap of documents to help with the leadership role including flyers, event plans to distribute to teams, planning instructions, contacts and schedules for teams, sponsorship letters, old newsletters, calendars, minutes from meetings etc, all collated and sorted for ease of access on the P&F Google Drive.

Any future leader can change things up, but there is a lot of work that has been done over the years to make things easier and some traditional events that work so well that it makes it a no brainer to keep much of what has been done before. If you have any questions about this role please speak to Kylie, Sheleigh, Dave or Carmel.

Sponsorship & Donations Coordinators -

This year our sponsorships and donations team has been very small and required a lot of additional work to be taken on by the P&F team leader. The Sponsorship and donations team main role is to source and collect donations from the community for raffles and our Major Fundraiser, the silent auction in June, and seek sponsors for our cinema night event. We have an extensive list of contacts and supporters of our school and already drafted letters and thank you certificates to make this role easier. Some of you may not be aware that most businesses factor donations to, and sponsorship of community groups in their marketing budgets so have the means there to support us if only someone has the time to ask! Jason Barrie is happy to continue in this role, but it is definitely not a one-person job. A team of three or four would be great. Even if you are someone with a lot of contacts for donations but not a lot of time for admin that would still be a great help. The Silent Auction is the biggest task, but Kylie can be around to assist with navigating the very easy to use Silent Auction site. It is also quite a flexible role as much of it can be done in your own time.

Grade Level P&F Event Teams

Next year we are changing the name of our Class Champions to GRADE (insert grade level) P&F Event Teams.

All will still be the same, just a name change! A group of people from a year level take on their assigned event and then at first look for volunteers from their year levels and then the wider school community. Below is a list of events assigned to each level. During Covid we had to move things around a bit but now they should stay the same, with some larger events separated out amongst the year levels. As someone who has been a part of many teams organising events, while there is a bit of work involved it is a really great way to meet people and the buzz you get when the event has arrived and is a success (or even a wash out but still a success like a Cinema Night 2019!) is worth it.

2023 Grade P&F Event Teams

Grade 1 P&F Event Team - Father's Day Breakfast

Grade 2 P&F Event Team - Major Social/Fundraiser Night

Grade 3 P&F Event Team - School Disco

Grade 4 P&F Event Team - Cinema Under the Stars

Grade 5 P&F Event Team - Twilight Sports BBQ

Grade 6 P&F Event Team - Mum's and Dad's Nights

There are instructions and plans and help from team leaders that make coordinating these events quite easy, though new and different ideas to change them up are also welcome.

While all need filling, we would love this role to be filled very soon. Please consider if you can get a team together to work on this-

Cinema Night (Grade 4)

After 3 years of having this cancelled due to restrictions, we would love to be able to run this event next year in mid to late March. It is a great night and a great way to welcome everyone back. Next year we will be focusing on it as a night where we can come together, socialise, have a bite to eat and enjoy a movie together. While we will seek sponsors for the event there will be no auctions or added games for the coordinators to factor in. We are asking Grade 4 2023 parents to coordinate this but welcome other groups from across the school too.

Here is the link to see the various roles for 2023 and to sign up!

volunteersignup.org/ARBQF

and below is a document listing the roles and duties of each role:

P&F 2023 Position Listings.docx

Each week I will update this and list positions still open for volunteers to take!

If you have undertaken a role this year and are happy to continue, could you please sign up as soon as possible. It is very helpful and much appreciated to have some people around who know the ropes!

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS ABOUT ANY OF THESE ROLES, PLEASE CONTACT US! We almost always have the answers and if not know where to find them!

TWILIGHT SPORTS THANKS

What a wonderful night the 2023 Twilight Sports were for the whole community. The staff and Grade 6 Leaders certainly put together a great evening of events and fun for the children.

AND what an amazing job our AWESOME Grade 2 Champions did in preparing and coordinating the BBQ/drinks stall on the night!! A huge thanks must go to the team of Amy Dougherty, Cate Pigeault, Deanne Wingate, Monika Moylan and Sarah Dowds!

Not only did the stall run very smoothly but we think has raised quite a lot to go towards our fundraising goals. We'll let you know when we can, but one way they did boost fundraising was by taking the initiative to contact businesses to donate products or vouchers towards the cost of products that needed to be purchased. Thanks to Deanne for sourcing donations from the following:

Bakers Delight Brentford Square (Donated all bread and rolls needed!)
Costco ($50 voucher)
Coles Ringwood Square ($50 voucher)
Woolworths Brentford Square ($30 voucher)

On the day and the night there were many people who generously gave their time to help the organising team. A very big thanks to the following people:

Food Preparation team on Monday Morning- Deb Vukic, Lisa Sully, Amanda Nedza, Felicity Southorn and Nadia Harris.

Set Up Team- Paul Nedza, Ben Lovick, Jen Harvey and Len Harris.

Merchandise Stall- Chandika Soccio and Kylie Brooks-Verberne,

BBQ Cooks- Mick McMahon, Dan Moylan, Aamad Armakan, Len Harris, Matt Yeung, Dustin Archer, Steven Swann and Pat Sully,

BBQ Servers and Cashiers- Sebin Jose, Anne Dawson, Euan Dawson, Bec Park, Sheleigh Keating, Belinda Bele, Karina Quires-Unkles, Michelle Holmes, Lena Zappia, Winnii Gee, Patrice Barrie, Mo van Vuuren and Tristan Hunt,

Raffle Ticket Sellers - Kath McMahon, Angela Brown, Aimee Varga and Anne McLaughlin.

Our raffle and merchandise sales combined raised $441 dollars. Congrats to the following winners:

First Prize- Will Davis (Gr1)

Second Prize- Brooks family

Third Prize- Eva Pigeault (Gr6)

Thanks again to Jason Barrie for sourcing the prizes from Rebel Sport.

FETE RAFFLE TICKET UPDATERaffle ticket booklets for the fete went home with the eldest child from each family the week before last. Each family has 10 tickets to sell, and they are $2.00 each. Please note that 50% of all money raised from the sale of the raffle tickets comes straight back to our St James community!The first Early Bird Winner of a $50 Coles voucher was Poppy Skerry. There will be a second draw for another voucher this Friday 28 October, so those families who have returned their sold books already or by next Friday will be in the second draw.

Please return all tickets to the office with money in a labelled envelope. All raffle tickets (preferably sold!) must be returned to the school office by Friday November 4th as all tickets need to be accounted for!

A big thanks to Claire Doherty for liaising with the fete raffle coordinator and coordinating all of this for St James!

MANGO FUNDRAISER

A very big thank you to everyone who ordered mangoes from our MANGO FUNDRAISER! When we put a call out on Thursday for around 12 more orders to make up our minimum order, we ended up with around 45 taking the total sold to an even 100 trays sold! A great boost to our fundraising! Mangoes will arrive in early December, a perfect time for summer, end of year and Christmas celebrations. Thanks to Bec Park for coordinating this for the P&F this year!

ST JOHN'S PARISH FETE NEWS

There is so much happening so don’t miss any news:

SWEETS STALL AND LOB A CHOC STALL

Don't forget to bring in a bag of lollies and block of chocolate per child to support the running of these stalls. Thank you!

CRAFT & GIFT STALL

Stitching, stitching, stitching. Mitcham is a buzz with noisy needles and the hum of sewing machines.

Never too late to start so contact Agnes to get a feel for what is most needed. Email agi48@hotmail.com

Donate – Don’t accumulate- Second-hand Clothes, Toys and Bric a Brac!

Thank you for the terrific response to date. But don’t forget Sunday 6th November is the final drop –off day at the Parish Garage- next to the Church.

CAKES STALL

Calling all Nigella’s (Lawson) and Margaret’s (Fulton)!

Traditionally all St James families (and St John's and parishioners) have been asked to contribute some baked goods for this very popular stall. It can only be a success as it has been in the past, with our contributions. So, from someone who likes a bit of a heads up about such things, get all the ingredients ready for your Fete baking in the week prior to the fete!

CAKE DROP OFF is Friday 18th November, 1pm – 3pm to the Cake stall at St John'sMore details will be coming out on ideas of what to bake and how to label your donations but get planning!

FACE PAINTING STALL

Just a plug for my (Kylie) own stall that I run with Lena Zappia!

We need face painters for shifts all day and cashiers to take money and direct children to those painting faces! In the past Lena and I have practically painted all day and while we love it and one of us will be there, we can't do quite as many hours this time, so we need YOUR HELP!

Many people can be a little hesitant to help on this stall as they feel they need to be a great artist, but with our special paint cakes and brushes all supplied it really is easier than it looks to replicate the designs we have put together for the kids to choose from. If you like or are good at doing makeup it really is not that much different. Most of the designs are quite simple to do and with a few tricks, are very effective. If you are interested but hesitant, please contact me on this email and I can show you the designs and even give you some tips and supplies to have a bit of practice with prior to the day.

We need painters throughout the day. They are one hour shifts but they go VERY fast and so we recommend a 2hr shift as in one hour you feel like you are only just getting into it and it's time to stop! Those in the past who have helped have said the same but any amount of time you can give will be greatly appreciated. Sign up here to help either as a cashier or face painter: volunteersignup.org/DXM3C

SIGN UPS FOR ALL STALLS

Volunteers – without volunteers none of this will happen.So please consider assisting on fete day or with set up or pack up. There’s a link for all options if you go to the following or head for the Parish web site home page.https://stjohnsmitcham.com.au/st-johns-parish-fete

COMMUNITY CENTRE KITCHEN

If you visit or use the kitchen over the next while you may notice it has had a bit of a refresh! I have finally been through and sorted (most) cupboards, labelled every cupboard with what should be in there, disposed of unused and old items and purchased some items that were needed or had gone missing. It is looking much better, is much more user friendly especially when there are many large groups using it and I must say, while I have been intending to, I should have done it ages ago! How many times have we all said that?!

To keep it in order can those using the kitchen please do the following:

Can all items used please be returned to their correct spot.
Keep benches and floors clear of any items and cleaned after each use. This is a Council Community Health requirement.
Tea Towels have been restocked but if used can they please be washed and returned as soon as possible.

Thanks very much for your help with this.

Thanks for your support.

Kylie and Sheleigh

St John's Community Fete - 19th November