St James School Community News

PA / School Community News

Parents Association

Welcome back to the new school term and the last one for the year. We hope you had a fun and restful break.

We have lots of exciting events this term including the Colour Explosion School Fun Run, School Musical where all kids participate, Christmas Party and Carols, Grandparents and Special Friends day. Make sure you add all the below dates to your calendars now.

Grandparents and Special Friends Day

We would like to invite all Grandparents and Special Friends to our school on Friday 27th October from 9-10:30am to participate in fun classroom activities with the children and a morning tea in the school hall.

Could we please ask that all St James families bring a plate/packet of food to share on the day. Please deliver food to the school hall before school starts on Friday 27th October. Non-perishable food items can be dropped off at the school reception prior to the day. Please no nuts. Ideas of food to bring include: fruit, cakes, biscuits, savories, cheese/crackers, chips, sausage rolls etc.

Thank you,

Year 1 Class reps, Sal and Steph

Colour Explosion School Fun Run -Friday 10 November from 1-3pm

Last year we hosted our very first Colour Explosion School Fun Run and this year we are back with a bigger and better event (if that could be possible!)! It was quite literally the best day of the year and 2023 will be no exception for our kids! This event is (along with our parent night out) our major fundraiser for the year. To achieve our goal, we are aiming to raise $15,000 as a school community to go towards playground equipment for the Tilley garden, upgrading our school security and awnings for our school buildings.

We need to raise $10,000 to have all the amazing inflatables in Elsternwick park for the kids to run through so lets start fundraising.

When is the Colour Explosion School Fun Run? We will be hosting our Colour Explosion School Fun Run on Friday November 10 from 1-3pm at Elsternwick park.

On this day, all of our students will be asked to bring a WHITE shirt to wear during the Fun Run obstacle course (other white clothes are also encouraged). They will be covered in non-toxic, biodegradable colour powder from head to toe! All of our children will receive a free set of colour sunglasses and a rainbow headband to wear on the day!

Is the powder safe? The non-toxic colour powder is made of high-quality corn starch and permitted food colours, so it’s safe for skin and eyes. Students with asthma are advised to be careful in their decision to participate. All volunteers who work on the day will be briefed about safe practices.

How does my child fundraise? Fundraising is easy. All fundraising happens via an online profile created for your child via the cybersafe fundraising profile at www.australianfundraising.com.au. Simply follow the instructions outlined in your child’s sponsorship booklet that you will receive today and / or follow the steps in the attached instructions. You can also view the booklet online here. Once created, you can then share the link with family and friends. Please note that this year all fundraising happens online. No cash donations can be forwarded to the school. Your child is welcome to collect cash donations from family and friends, but these will need to be converted to payments in your child’s profile online. The online portal ensures safe and secure transfer and storage of monies. The online fundraising portal closes on November 14.

How do I order my child’s incentive prizes? You can order your child’s prizes online from November 15 - 21. Order one prize based on the total amount of dollars raised, or mix and match smaller prizes. Prizes will then be distributed from school once they arrive.

More information will be shared in the coming weeks. We are so excited for this fun day and look forward to celebrating it with you all!

Thanks in advance for your support, and happy fundraising!

Kate Korber & the STJPA team!

MUSICAL

Our school musical will run over 2 nights on the 7th and 8th of December at the Star of the Sea Theatre.

Miss Leisa, who is directing our school musical, has put together a moodboard for the costumes for each class performance in Seussical the Musical Jr. which have been sent to your class level representatives. We would like to gauge expressions of interest of those who would like to collaborate with Miss Leisa and assist with costumes for the class performance.

Parents who were available, attended a Parent Helper Costume meeting with Miss Leisa today after school drop off to further discuss ideas. Following the meeting, costumes were initially sorted for each year level and class reps were notified to collect them to further review and assess what will work best for the children in their class.

If anyone has any questions, please contact Miss Leisa on lgiannopoulos@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

Christmas Carols and Party - Thursday 30th of November

The Christmas Party and Carols will go ahead this year and please pop the date in your calendars of Thursday 30th of November, 5:30pm to 8pm.

There will be carols by each year level, performance by the Rise Up Dance Program, Christmas stalls, ice creams, a visit from Santa and much more.

Dads Drinks

The next Dads and special friends drinks will return on Thursday 19 October at 7.30pm at Brighton Hotel.

Presidents for 2024

Virginia and Connie have volunteered their time for the last 2 years and are retiring at the end of this year as co-presidents of the PA and we are looking for a new president / co-president to take over for 2024. Please let Virginia or Connie know if you are interested and there are plenty of handover notes and a comprehensive google drive with everything saved.

We would love to have you!

THANKS FROM THE PA

We are very grateful for the continued support of all our parents, the school and local community. All our PA members are volunteers who generously give up their own time to organise our school events.

Contributions from our fundraising efforts will be put towards many areas across the school. Some initial ideas that have strong support from the PA group and school community are

1) Fixing the roof at school 2) A New surface and outdoor furniture or play equipment for the Tilley playground 3) Improving school security 4) New school iPads.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact us directly:

conniesands@bigpond.com

virginiapullman@y7mail.com

FUTURE CALENDAR DATES

Don’t miss a thing. Sending a reminder there is a full school calendar featuring everything in the one place. Check out St James Website page news and events / events for more:

Dads Catch Up - every 3rd Thursday of the month. Next dads drinks booked at 7.30pm on Thursday 19 October at Hotel Brighton.
Grandparents and Special Friends Day - Friday 27th October
Colour Explosion School Fun Run - Friday 10th November 2023 at Elsternwick Park
St James Christmas Party and Carols - Thursday 30th November
St James Musical - 7 & 8 December
Dads, Special Friends and Kids Camp at Anglesea YMCA for 22-24 March 2024
Mothers Day Lunch - 18 May 2024 at Elwood Bathers

PARENTS ASSOCIATION FUNDRAISER CALENDAR 2023

Connie Sands & Virginia Pullman

St James PA Co-Chairs

Second Hand Uniform Shop

We plan to have a sale every term. If you can’t make the sale, you can text us and we can put some items aside for you.

Future donations - We are short of the following items: sports tops (10, 12, 14), sports shorts (all sizes), skorts (all sizes). We are also short of mid-size items in general (8, 10). We are also short of boys white shirts (10, 12, 14).

Many thanks for your support.

Please reach out to us if you have any uniform enquiries or suggestions.

Liesl & Ali

Scholastic Book Club

The current issue of book club orders will close on Oct 20.

School Community News

There are lots of exciting things happening in our community in the next few weeks.

St James - STAY AND PLAY - Transition Playgroup

We have seen great success in our new members of our community joining us for our Stay and Play transition playgroup sessions.

The play sessions offer an opportunity for children to meet and play with other children as well as engage in a number of structured activities including PMP, singing, Craft, library, fine motor skills, stories, games and pre writing.

Mandi Joplin

Community Engagement Leader

Before and After school care - NEW Provider

Parent Google Calendar

The google calendar is designed for parents to keep up to date with school events.

Google Calendar

Please ensure that you are checking the Parent Google Calendar on a regular basis as dates are added throughout the year.

School Closure Days 2023

Monday 27 March -Term 2 Planning

Tuesday 13 June -Term 3 Planning

Friday 8 September -Term 4 Planning

Friday 24 November- Planning Day

2023 Term Dates

2023 term dates are as follows, but please keep in mind that they may be subject to change as each term staff have a full day dedicated to staff Professional learning and forward planning.

Term 1 31 January (Foundation Students commence Term 1) -06 April Final Day Term 1

Each Wednesday in February Foundation Students are scheduled for individual testing and do not attend school. Full weeks for Foundation commence in March.

Year 1 - Year 6 commence Wednesday 01 February 2022

(Y1-6 Student Testing 30 - 31st January)

Term 2 24 April - 23 June

Term 3 10 July - 14 September 3:30pm School Finish

Term 4 02 October - 15 December

Bell Times

Teacher supervision 8:40am - 9:00am

First Bell 9:00am (Music begins playing at 8:55am)

Fruit Break 10am

Morning Recess 11:00am - 11:30am

Morning Eating Time 11:30 am -11:40 am

Lunch Eating Time 1:40pm - 1:50pm

Afternoon Recess 1:50pm - 2.30pm

Dismissal 3:30pm

Teacher supervision 3:30pm -3:45pm

Lunch Orders

Please note that lunch orders are made in the Star of the Sea Canteen next to St James.

Lunch Orders will NOT be availabe on the below dates due to scheduled school closure days at Star of the Sea:

6 and 7 November (Melbourne Cup Weekend)

2023 Lunch Order Menu

NB some items are only served on certain days

St James Primary 2023 (2).pdf

Details on how to set up your Flexischools account for online ordering.

Community Notices

It's not too late to join the Rise Up Dance Progam

Children will be performing at the St James Christmas Carols on the 30th of November

Women of St James - it’s time to dust off your Netball shoes as we NEED YOU!

- There are 5 schools in total - Sacred Heart Sandy, Sandy East, Black Rock PS, Sandy PS & Us!- Lots more fun, family-friendly engagement opportunities.

- All netball abilities welcome - No need to have played before (what a great time to start!).- All while raising much-needed funds for TeamSports4All (https://teamsports4all.com.au)

- Clash of the Courts contact (Amanda Molony) - clashofthecourts@gmail.com

- St James Contact - Michelle Thomas (0418 121 560)

When: Sunday 19 November @ 2pm

Where: Sandringham & District Netball Assoc. (219 Thomas Street, Hampton)

Player Registration Fee: $50 (includes uniform, training sessions, presentation night, event costs & donation to TS4A)

We also need support crew to help on the day - coaches, team managers, scorers, umpires, general support staff.

Player and Support crew Register HERE: https://www.trybooking.com/CLDFE

See the attached flyer for more details!

Keep up to date via Instagram @clashofthecourts