Dear Families,

We are thrilled to announce that our refurbished Junior classrooms are now fully set up and ready for learning! Our dedicated staff made the most of their time together, working hard to unpack, organize resources, and create inviting learning spaces. The results are fantastic—each classroom looks incredible! We warmly invite you to drop by and see them for yourself.

It was great to have such wonderful feedback from those who attended the Prep Parent function last Tuesday evening at Mr Fox! It was a fantastic opportunity for parents to relax, chat, and enjoy each other’s company while connecting with both new and current families in our school community. We’re so grateful to have been able to host this event and start the school year together. A big thank you to everyone who joined us.

Work is in progress on the new pathway leading from the driveway to our building. Once completed, this will provide families with easier and more convenient access to the Administration Office. We appreciate your patience as this project nears completion.

If you know any families exploring school options for their child, we’d love for them to visit St James! Our upcoming school tour dates are listed below—please feel free to share them with anyone interested in learning more about our wonderful school community.

Wednesday 5th March - 9:15am - 10am

Thursday 13th March - 9:15am - 10am

Monday 24th March - 9:15am - 10am

Tuesday 1st April - 9:15am - 10am

Wednesday 7th May - 9:15am - 10am

Click here to share a link to register for one of these dates.

District Swimming Carnival

Division Swimming Team

Congratulations to the students that represented St James at the Division Swimming today in Ringwood. All gave 100% and represented their school so proudly.

Congratulations to Lachie (yr 5) and Elijah (yr 6) that came 1st and 2nd in the backstroke and progressed to the Eastern Metropolitan Regional Finals on Friday 21st March!! We wish them both the best of luck.

Check out the Physical Education page for more details.

On a more serious note, we have had a number of complaints recently regarding dangerous driving on Centre Road and Rowan street. We ask that all parents take their time and drive carefully especially near our school.

Opening of New Building and Junior Classrooms

We are very excited to formally open our new building and renovated classrooms on Wednesday 2nd April at 2:30pm. Save the date and we will share further details with everyone over the coming weeks.

Ash Wednesday Mass

We invite families to join us for our Ash Wednesday Mass at 12:00 pm on 5 March as we begin the season of Lent. This special service is a time for reflection, prayer, and renewal as we prepare our hearts for Easter. Ash Wednesday is a reminder of kindness, faith, and new beginnings. We hope you can join us as we come together as a school community for this meaningful celebration as our Year 4 students lead us in prayer.

Follow up webinar with Carley McGauran - Managing Big Feelings Webinar

Last year, Carley shared valuable insights with our parent community. In this session, she’ll provide even more practical strategies to help parents and children navigate big emotions with greater ease.

📅 When: 7:30 PM Thursday, 6 March ⏳ Duration: 75 minutes Who: Prep - Year 2

🔗 Register now: bit.ly/bigfeelings2025

Once registered, you’ll receive an email with the link to join the webinar. Don’t miss this opportunity to build on what you learned and gain new tools to support your child’s emotional well-being!

Closure Day Friday

On Friday, our school's Professional Learning day will focus on the MACS Vision for Instruction. Building on last year's learning, we will explore research on how students learn best and engage in meaningful discussions to deepen our understanding and practice.

MACSEYE will be be available for families requiring their service, opening 7am-6pm. Communication and information will be sent to families that are currently enrolled through the Xplor app and email. Families will be able to book via the app or call 1300 501 029 or speak to the team within the service.

Speech Pathologist

At St. James, we continually seek ways to enhance student learning. Last year, we explored the benefits of employing a speech pathologist, visiting schools and seeing the value firsthand. As a result, we partnered with Speech Pathology for Schools to bring this support to our students.

Every Thursday, Laura Ryan, our speech pathologist, works onsite, guided by Veronica Brightwell, Dave, and our Literacy Leader Louise Matthews. This term, Laura conducted Prep screenings and supported Year 1 and 2 teachers with assessments. Moving forward, she will work with teachers and Learning Support Officers (LSOs) to deliver targeted programs, including in-class support, small group work, and individual sessions.

Laura will also provide professional learning, focusing on receptive and expressive language skills. We will continue to keep parents informed about the work that Laura does with our students and teachers.

Second Hand Uniform and Morning Tea - Wednesday 12 March

We will be running our second hand uniform shop in our Community Centre on Wednesday 12 March. We will have a morning tea from 9am -10am. This is a wonderful opportunity to meet and catch up with other parents and purchase some uniform items. We hope to see you there. We would like some volunteers to run the morning tea. If you can help please email pandf@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au or sign up on our "2025 P&F Roles & Event Teams" page volunteersignup.org/KL7JM

P & F Meeting – Thursday 13 March

We are still in need for Volunteers for the P & F this year and will be having our first P&F Meeting on Thursday 13 March at 6pm.

If you are at all interested in contributing or helping out, please come along. As with all things, the more people we have helping out, the easier it is on all, and the more enjoyable the whole experience is for everyone. There are a range of things that we provide support for, for your child, so if you can spare some time to assist, it will be greatly appreciated.

If you are interested, please email pandf@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

Parent Helper Course

Just a reminder that Louise Matthews and Josh Crowe will be holding a Parent Helper Training Session on Wednesday 19 March . There will be a morning and an evening session held. Please email louise.matthews@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au OR joshua.crowe@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au if you would like to attend.

CDF Pay

St James Vermont has recently switched from FlexiSchools to CDFpay for special food days and sports top purchases.

Important: Your existing CDFpay credentials will not work for the new CDFpay mobile app. To create a new CDFpay account, please follow these steps (you can use the same email address if you prefer):

Download the CDFpay mobile app from the app store on your device. No app? Register here.
Register your child, providing their full name and class, then select St James Primary School Vermont.

Details about upcoming special food days and some tips for new families are included on the P&F page.

nForma Parent App

The nForma Parent App now allows you to log an absence on the morning the student is away, as well as future absences. There have been some technical glitches with the app that the developers have fixed. We hope that the app will now allow things to be easier for you to notify the class teacher, as it goes directly onto their roll in the morning. Please see Nadine's Digital Technologies page for a how to Parent Guide on using the app.

If you need to email in regards to a students absence we ask that you ensure you email the class teacher and cc in attendance25@sjvermont.catholic.edu.au

St James Movie Night

Friday 21 March is School Movie Night and we’ll be “Kung Fu Pandering” !

Bring your blankets and chairs and enjoy a fun filled evening with your family and friends from our school community. We’ll have snacks and drinks available for pre-order via CDF pay, as well as to purchase on the night.

Tickets can be purchased using the TryBooking link: www.trybooking.com/czkqp

We’ll also need some helpers on the night, so please sign up at our volunteering link https://volunteersignup.org/e9bd7

MACSEYE Out of Hours School Care

Please register your children for this service

Click here to register

If you have any questions you can email MACSEYE

directly at enrolments@macseye.vic.edu.au

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Kind regards,

Anita Dell'Orso

Acting Principal

Down on the Farm