Dear Families,

I hope you're enjoying this lovely spring weather. Our students thoroughly enjoyed Book Week, taking part in a range of literacy-related activities, including a school-wide colouring competition that ran throughout the week and culminated in a fantastic Book Week Parade on Friday. Thank you to all the students, families and staff who contributed their time, ideas and creativity to make our parade such a fun and festive occasion.

Photos here:

In other news, you'll be pleased to hear that Dave is thoroughly enjoying his time with his family overseas. Here is a photo of him at Yosemite with his wife and children.

MACSSIS Survey

In 2026, our school is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). The surveys are an annual process whereby schools receive feedback from students, families and staff.

Students in years 4-6 will partake in the survey during class-time in the coming weeks and we are asking families to partake in the survey which has been emailed to you today.

We greatly value the community insights provided by the MACSSIS survey data. As a school that values feedback, we encourage families to have a voice and contribute to shaping the ongoing improvement of our school.

The online survey and can be accessed by families who receive the link from Monday 31 August and needs to be completed by Friday 18 September 2026. The survey can only be completed once by each family.

For families with more than one child at our school, please focus on your eldest child when completing the survey.

To say thank you for your time, an additional link to a form will be shared via nForma. Every family that completes the survey can submit the form for their child/ren to receive a free lamington on the last day of term.

MACS Funding of Catholic Schools

As mentioned in earlier newsletters, there has been a great deal of media and social media interest and rumours regarding the future funding of Catholic schools and the implications this may have on all schools.

While there will need to be some budget alterations for us here at St James, there will be no change to our class structures. We will be keeping our structure of 14 straight classes averaging approximately 25 per class, supported with Learning Support Officers in the classes.

There have and will be many rumours circulating over the next few months and know that families will be kept informed once any firm decisions have been made. Our School Advisory Council provides a forum for discussion around this, as we maintain our focus on student academic learning and social/emotional development.

Drop and Pick Up Road Safety

To keep our community safe at drop off and pick up, please park only in appropriate spaces and avoid double parking on Centre Road.

Centre Road gets very busy before and after school, with heavy traffic and pedestrians crossing. Please drive carefully, and use the designated crossing point when crossing with your child. Students may also use the crossing alone or with an adult, so please supervise closely and wait for a safe, clear gap in traffic, especially during busy morning and afternoon times.

Learning Conferences

Our Learning conferences will be on the following days this term;

Thursday 17th September, (Onsite) – 3:40 pm to 7:00 pm Friday 18th September, (Onsite) – 8:30 am to 10:00 am

Friday 18th September (Online) – 10:30 am to 11:30 am

Please note that students will not have classes on the Friday. Students should only attend if they have a scheduled onsite conference, and if possible the online conference too. Bookings will be made available later this week.

MACSEYE will operate a full day program if required by families. Bookings are currently open via MACSEYE. Teachers will be onsite until 12:30pm, taking the rest of their work day as Time in Lieu.

Footy Dress Up Day & Food Day

On Thursday 17th, our last school day of Term 3, we're celebrating with a food day and footy colours dress-up day! Students are welcome to wear their favourite team's colours — footy shorts, a guernsey or top — or simply pair their school shorts or casual shorts with their team's colours.

Party pies and sausage rolls and other options are available NOW to order on CDF Pay. Orders close on Wednesday 9th September.

Injuries sustained outside of School

If your child injures themselves outside of school that limits their participation in PE or active play, please let us know. Please email both your child’s classroom teacher and our PE teacher, Catherine Wall. Keeping us informed ensures we can make the necessary adjustments to keep them safe and involved while they recover.

Child Safe Standards

With the importance and commitment that we place on student safety as a school system, please take the time to read and familiarise yourself with the information in the Child Safe Standard Seven Parent/Carer Newsletter.

St John's Fete - 21st November

St Johns Fete is fastly approaching. We are looking for volunteers to help make this event a success. Please refer to the St John's Fete page.

Father's Day Celebrations

Please send your Raffle tickets back to school with your child by this Wednesday 2nd September.

Father's Day Stall - we recommend students bring along $5 to choose from a selection of gifts for Father's Day. Further information will be shared via the Whats app groups this week.

We are still seeking a few more volunteers to help on the day. please- https://volunteersignup.org/4FKQP

Help needed at the Farm

With only three weeks left until the school holidays, we are now looking for family volunteers to help care for our wonderful farm animals over the September school holidays.

The tasks are very easy and don't take long at all. Volunteers will need to visit twice a day, once in the morning to feed, water, and let the animals out and again in the afternoon to collect eggs, feed and lock them safely away for the night.

If your family can assist, please check the dates below:

Saturday 19th & Sunday 20th September
Monday 21st & Tuesday 22nd September
Wednesday 23rd & Thursday 24th September
Friday 25th & Saturday 26th September
Sunday 27th & Monday 28th September
Tuesday 29th & Wednesday 30th September
Thursday 1st & Friday 2nd October
Saturday 3rd & Sunday 4th October

Please contact Jo at joanne.magnik@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au to lock in your preferred dates.

Hope you have a lovely week,

Anita