St James News

Principal's Post

Dear Families,

It was music to my ears to hear the sounds of so many students in classrooms and on the playground last week. We look forward to welcoming our Year 3 and Year 4 students back on site tomorrow!  

We have just received confirmation that all students will resume on site together at St James from the Wednesday following Cup Day. We will follow our Semester Two specialist timetable from next Wednesday 3 November onwards. That means it's Sports uniform for Yr 6s and Yr 2s on Wednesday 3 November.

 

We have a number of staffing announcements to make. 

 

After many years of service to our St James community in their role in the office, both Maree Prendergast (21 years at St James) and Deb Lowe (23 years at St James) have decided to retire at the end of the year. We will certainly miss their experience, wisdom, work ethic, efficiency, helpful ways and friendship.

After many years of service to our St James community and to Catholic Education, Anne Gleeson (12 years at St James) and Louise Carty (20 years at St James) have also decided to retire. After working as a classroom teacher, Anne has lead our Visual Arts department for the last 6 years and lead many superb Art Shows. Louise has mainly worked in the junior classrooms, especially Prep and this year took on the role of Literacy Intervention teacher. The dedication, work ethic, care for students and friendship of these two excellent teachers will be missed.

Cassie Pascoe is taking maternity leave to have her first child and will not be returning to the classroom in 2022. We wish Cassie and Connor all the best.

Claire Feild and Molly Masters will return to St James from their maternity leave positions in part time roles next year.

Kayleigh Fitzgerald will move back into a full time role as classroom teacher and Daniel Egan will take on the role of Student Wellbeing Leader. Kayleigh has lead numerous initiatives in her role as Student Wellbeing Leader over the past 5 years and will also be a great support to Daniel as he takes on this leadership position.

MACSSIS Surveys

These were emailed out to parents last week from the office. Each family received a login and password. The surveys are completely anonymous and most important in gaining feedback about our St James culture and operations. Feedback from these surveys is used in setting future directions including our Annual Action Plan.

 

I am asking all families to take the 20 minutes to complete the surveys by this Thursday. The more families who complete the survey, the more representative of our St James population the results are!

School Advisory Council

Last week's meeting was held on line, as have been most meetings this year. Below is a list of some discussion points. 

  • COVID safe practices
  • Whole school events plan for the remainder of the year
  • Policies in Staff Recruitment and Statement of Australian Democratic Principles
  • P & F update including the Mango Drive and possibilities for 2022
  • Remote Learning Parent Survey Feedback - see  below

Remote Learning Parent Survey Feedback

Thank you to the many parents who completed these surveys last term.

The results were presented and discussed at our School Advisory Council last week.

For those familiar with statistics and the bell distribution curve, many of the responses fell within a normal distribution, although the bell was often slightly shifted towards the positive side. This indicated that the variety of family situations and responses. 

For example, for the question regarding the number of google hangouts, most families indicated the number of hangouts were about right and there were approximately as many families who preferred more hangouts as those who preferred less hangouts.

 

Some interesting differences were:

  • regarding the wellbeing of students, responses from parents indicated that generally Prep - Yr 2 students was higher than Yr 3 - 6 students
  • regarding engagement in Specialist lessons, responses from parents indicated that Preps were on the negative side of the bell curve,  Yr 6s were at an average bell curve level and Years 1 - 5 students were on the positive side of the bell curve (very engaged actually)

Some of the comments made by SAC members include:

  • it was great to see some changes made by some teachers
  • it is satisfying to know that these surveys are actually taken seriously
  • parental voice is important and it's good to know that the school takes this seriously and provides opportunities for our voice to be heard
  • I understand that you cannot satisfy every home situation but it's good to know you are listening and seeking feedback

Here is the summary I presented to the SAC

  • The exercise was extremely beneficial
  • We had approximately 62% responses
  • Feedback indicated that we are hitting the mark because the overall summary would be very close to a perfect bell curve slightly shifted to the right.
  • For every situation which suited a family well there was a family who were not suited by the same situation.
  • Having so many responses, and close to the average response in the just right category is good feedback
  • Individual levels were provided with their feedback and have
    • Maintained some practices
    • Slightly altered some practices
    • Increased or decreased the frequency of delivery modes

Class Placements 2022

We will commence the process of grouping students into their 2021 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 5 November. Requests must be clear and based on student wellbeing, socialisation following Remote Learning or specific learning issues.  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.

Neighbourhood Courtesy and Student Safety

As students are returning to school and we have greater numbers of parents and students at drop off and pick up times, please remember the following:

  • all children should cross the road with a parent
  • if possible, use the school crossing to cross the road
  • do not park over our neighbours' driveways
  • be aware of the parking signs
  • remember to keep the bus zone clear until the bus has arrived and departed on Centre Rd
  • keep COVID safe practices up, including wearing masks and maintaining your physical distance

Term Four Happenings

Here is a reminder of some events and an update on others:

  • School Closure Day Friday 19 November - cancelled to provide more learning time
  • School Closure Day Monday 6 December - maintained to allow for 2022 planning and 2022 whole school review preparation
  • Confirmation - Thursday 18 November 5pm 6C and 7pm 6B @ St John's Church, Mitcham
  • First Reconciliation - Thursday 11 November here at St James 12 noon
  • Twilight Sports - Friday 10 December here at St James 12,30pm - 3.00pm
  • Concert Production - recording day here at St James Monday 29 November. DVDs or links to the recording will be available before school finishes for the year
  • Year Six Graduation Evening - Hold on Monday 13 December as planned and hopefully parents will be permitted to attend as was the case last year
  • Moving On Assembly - hold as planned on the afternoon of Tuesday 14 December with parents (if permitted)
  • Year Six Celebration Day at Funfields - Wednesday 1 December (if permitted)
  • Year Five Open Water Safety Day - Thursday 9 December (if permitted)
  • Swimming program Prep - Yr 4 - possibly hold over one week rather than two
  • Mini Mission Fete - hold in a very modified form over a lunchtime
  • Prep 2022 Transition Days - maintain these on different dates as permitted by government regulations
  • Whole School End of Year Thanksgiving Mass - Thursday 9 December 7pm in church with families if possible but more likely at school during the day

COVID Safety

As our students return in greater numbers next week, I want to reassure all families that we will continue our many COVID safe practices including the following:

  • all staff are fully vaccinated
  • ventilation is a priority with windows and doors open
  • hand sanitiser is readily available
  • regular hand washing is encouraged
  • students are welcome to wear masks (we will clarify the advice regarding Yr 3 - 6 students)
  • social distancing remains a priority when possible
  • all visitors to the school grounds (including contractors, cleaners, external service providers, volunteers, parent helpers, etc) will need to be fully vaccinated
  • information regarding students wearing masks will be communicated when the Operational Guidelines are released (hopefully later this week)

Have you completed your family's Operoo info?

Please sign up to this today or you may find that you miss important information regarding students' extracurricular events and permission forms.

 

Operoo website: www.operoo.com. There is also a parent introduction page here: https://www.operoo.com/intro-for-parents/.

Reminders:

  1. Year 5 parents are asked to complete the form to order a Year 6 rugby top for next year and return it to school by this Friday.
  2. There is quite a bit of lost property that has accumulated over remote learning, along with many unnamed school jackets. Please remind your child to check the tubs if you are missing any items.
  3. Chrome Books need to be returned either this Friday (students in Yrs 1/2 and 5/6) or next Wednesday 3 Nov (students in Prep and 3/4)

Have a great week,

 

Dave