Principal's Post
Dear Families,
Last Monday's Twilight Sports was probably the community highlight of the past few years!
We had students having heaps of fun and competing in a relaxed mode at times and in a competitive mode at other times. The House Colour chants at the conclusion of the evening were evidence enough of how engaged the students were.
We had parents socialising with each other and also watching their children and their children's classmates compete and have fun.
We had our Year Six students lead the activities and events. They did a magnificent job which has two benefits; not only does this develop their responsibility and agency in their learning but, parents can enjoy socialising and spectating.
Congratulations to all Houses and special mention to Dillon, Red House, for finishing in front with the most points.
Thank you to the Year Two Champions who organised the catering for the evening and to all those who supported this.
Thank you to the staff who gave up their Monday evening to be there. A special mention to Catherine Wall who put so much time into organising the evening, helping to make it the success it was.
Raffle Tickets
Please return all tickets by Friday 7 November.
So far we have approx. one third of all books returned. Families who had returned their books by last Friday went into the first sellers prize draw for a $50 Coles voucher. The winning family was the Skerry family, via Poppy.
We will have another sellers prize draw this Friday afternoon for a $50 food voucher at as an incentive to return your books.
Please remember 50 % of all sales, that's $1 for each ticket sold goes directly to our St James P & F fund raising efforts.
Uniform Supplier - Spartan
Just a reminder that we have changed over to Spartan as our uniform supplier
Parents have the option to either visit the store in Bayswater to make a purchase, click and collect or order online and have purchases delivered to school (orders placed by close of business Tuesday will arrive at St James on the following Thursday and we will distribute them to students to take home in their bags). We sent home three orders last Thursday!
See the attached price list and information.
Socktober Celebrations this Friday
All students are welcome to wear free-dress in exchange for a gold coin donation. The theme is to wear crazy socks and/or soccer gear.
See the Education in Faith page for details.
Election Information from MACS
Fair funding for students to learn, grow and flourish With less than 50 days until the Victorian State Election, help us continue to spread the word that our students deserve equal access to the funding and opportunities they need to learn, grow and flourish.
I’m pleased to share that the Liberals and Nationals Party have committed $175 million per annum over four years towards non-government schools for capital infrastructure, if elected in November. This multi-year investment will go a long way to ensuring that our students have access to school infrastructure that meets all the needs of a modern and evolving curriculum. While this is a significant step forward, we’re only halfway there.
We are hopeful that the Victorian Labor Party will make a similar announcement in the coming weeks and call on all our parents and carers, family and friends of our students to show their support for our plan by advocating to their local Labor MP.
Visit cecv.catholic.edu.au/funding to find out more about our plan to address increasing demand for a Catholic education and ensure that our schools have the right funding and support into the future.
School Closure Days: Friday 17 November and Monday 5 December
The Monday prior to Cup day remains as a pupil free day as in previous years.
Friday 17 November is our Parish Religious education Faith development day where we combine with St John's Mitcham while the fete set up takes place. This year we are visiting the Mary Mackillop Heritage Centre in the city.
Monday 5 December is our 2022 review and 2023 planning day.
Camp Australia will be available for student care on both of these days.
2023 Class Groupings
We will commence the process of grouping students into their 2023 class groups later on this term. Parents who have a special request must have this in writing (email is acceptable) to me by this Friday 28 October. Requests must be clear and based on student well-being, socialisation or specific learning issues. We do not take requests for specific teachers.
Please keep in mind that the two classes in each level are usually located next to each other and do work closely together at times. It is also good for students to mix with different students from within their cohort rather than maintain a small social circle.
Any families not returning to St James for 2023, other than current Yr 6 students nee to inform me in writing by the end of this week too please. Our class grouping process is very thorough and commences next week.
Interested Year Six Parents
We are planning a meeting on Monday 7 November at 2:30pm to gather Year Six parents who can help with the the end of year dinner for our Year 6 students. If you can't attend but are happy to help, please let the office know and we'll be in touch.
Key Enrolment Dates for Year 5 students in 2023
27 January 2023 - Applications will open for Year 5 student commencing Year 7 in 2024
18 August 2023 - Applications will close
20 October 2023 - Offers to be posted to prospective Year 7 applicants
10 November 2023 - Final date for Parents/carers to accept an offer made by a school
Student Wellbeing Seminar
The final webinar in our 'Healthy Families' series will be hosted on November 17th.
Presenter: Carley McGauran
Date: Thursday 17 November
Time: 7.30pm (60 min)
Here is the link for your parents to register for the webinar:
COVID Update
There has been an increase of positive cases reported to school in the past week, we ask that families please continue to report any cases to the office/classroom teacher and keep up the vigilance in preventing the spread of the virus. As we have received another delivery of RAT's we will be sending boxes home later in the week. Feel free to the school office if you require any additional RATs or children sized masks.
CDF Pay and Special Food Days
We are excited to announce we are moving to CDF Pay to order and pay for Special Food Days!
To order you will need to install CDF pay and order through this platform. Here is the link to the St James CDFpay page.
https://sites.google.com/cdfpay.org.au/st-james-vermont-cdfpay/home
Please see link below for full instructions for the App.
In Brief:
- Congratulations to Mrs Foster who is now a grandma!
- Check out our new FETE page listed on the LHS menu bar. Please volunteer to assist in some way. Many hands make light work!
- Don't forget to send along your donations of chocolate and/ or bags of lollies for the fete. Much appreciated.
- Keep Friday 4 November free for the Twilight Working Bee. The focus is on spreading some mulch, so if you have a wheelbarrow and rake to bring along, that would be helpful! Plan to stay for a sausage sizzle and catch up afterwards. If you'd like to help by buying the sausages and bread and/ or cooking them, please let the office know.
- Year 5 parents advance notice: 2023 Year Six Leadership explained Tuesday 8 November, 7.00pm - 7.45pm.
Have a great week!
Dave