Dear Families,

A huge thank you to the wonderful organisers of Friday's cinema night. With over 500 attendees, it was a huge success and we are very grateful to the time, thought, planning and efforts of the parents involved. It's a testament to the wonderful community that is the cornerstone of St James. We hope you all enjoyed it.

Special mention to the many volunteers who helped out on the night with signing in, food sales, security, etc and of course the organising committee of : Lusia Kho, Natasha Kaing, Vanessa Soleman, Sheena Candy, Claire Doherty, Megan Madonna and Meg Callanan who did a lot of background work to ensure the success of the evening.

Congratulations to the Le family who won the raffle and enjoyed the VIP seating position.

Apart from being a fun night, we also raised quite a few dollars to add to the P & F funds.

Pies and Hot Crossed Buns

Thank you Catherine Nicolas for organising this treat and fundraiser.

Hot Cross Buns available in traditional, chocolate and fruitless varieties at $8 per 6 pack. They also have a variety of tasty pies and quiches in a great range of flavours. Everything is baked fresh by the fabulous team at the Emerald Village Bakery. Items can be frozen if you would like to stock up or order for friends and family while supporting our school!

Check out the full list of items and prices on CDF Pay. Orders close on Wednesday 26th March with Pick Up on Thursday 3rd April.

Other Happenings

Last Friday ten Year Six students, two parents and myself enjoyed a celebratory mass at St Patrick's Cathedral to mark Catholic Education week.

Tomorrow we have some Hawthorn AFL players visiting the school at 1:30pm - 2:15pm who will provide a photograph and autograph signing opportunity, so bring anything you may have that you want signed.
Tomorrow is also our Yr 4 Interschool Gala Sports Day. Best wishes to all competitors competing in Newcombe Ball, Tennis, Ultimate Frisbee and Cricket.
Elijah Kew and Lachie Lim participated in the Regional swimming carnival last Friday. Well done! Elijah is pictured here with his bronze medal.

This week specialist lessons will look a little different to accommodate some necessary term two planning for our teachers.
STEM classes for the remainder of term will be taught by teachers other than Nadine Jones and we anticipate Nadine to return next term.
Don't forget to book in for the Learning Conferences - see below for further detail.
Save the date mums! We are planning for a Mothers Day Breakfast at school on Friday 9 May before school. Further details and registration will be out at the start of Term Two.
We still have some unclaimed raffle prizes from our Christmas Raffle. Please come to the office to collect yours if you have not done so already.
This Friday we are celebrating RESPECT with a casual clothes/gold coin donation day. All funds raised will be donated to our Catholic CARITAS charity. The Year Six students will be leading our RESPECT prayer service at 2.25pm. All parents are invited to attend.
Please complete the Operoo form sent out last week regarding attendance at our building opening ceremonies to be held next week to assist us with catering for the numbers in attendance.

Term One Learning Conferences

Our Term One Learning Conferences are an opportunity for students, parents, and teachers to come together to discuss learning progress and future goals.

Conference Dates & Times:

Thursday, 3rd April (Onsite) – 3:40 pm to 7:00 pm

Friday, 4th April (Onsite) – 8:30 am to 10:00 am

Friday, 4th April (Online) – 10:30 am to 11:30 am

We strongly encourage both parents and students to attend the conference together. This will allow students to share and discuss their selected work samples. To support this, we have extended the original finish time on Thursday evening.

While online bookings are available, we highly recommend face-to-face meetings for a more interactive discussion, allowing easy reference to student work. If you opt for an online meeting, please try to ensure your child can attend virtually as well.

Please also note the following information regarding student attendance on the Friday

Thursday, 3rd April: School will finish at 3:20 pm as usual.
Friday, 4th April: No regular classes – students should only attend if they have a scheduled onsite conference, and if possible the online conference. MACSEYE will operate a full day program if required by families

Booking details for your child’s Learning Conference can be accessed here. Please confirm your appointment by Friday, 28th March.

Please note that Nadine Jones is unavailable for these learning conferences.

Have a wonderful week ahead.

Dave

Important Dates

2025 Dates:

Term 1

Term Dates for 2025

Parish - Information and Mass times