Principal's Post

Dear Families,

Today we celebrated St James Feast Day by holding our Mini Mission Fete. Tomorrow, being the recognised Feast Day of St James, we will celebrate Mass at 9am with Fr Dispin. All parents are welcome to attend this mass lead by our Year Two classes.

The Mini Mission Fete not only provides a wonderful opportunity to celebrate together as a school community but also allows us to place an emphasis on social justice and helping others in need. Stalls were ably lead by our Year Five and Six students following a lengthy time of opportunity, research and learning to ensure that all stalls and activities were engaging and profitable. The students wrote to sponsors, asking for assistance to cover the cost of setting up the stalls and of prizes, enabling most of the money taken over the counter to be profit for the chosen charity. Following a lot of research and discussion the students decided to donate this year's profits to The Ruben Centre. Early estimates are that we have raised approximately $4,700.

Ruben Centre is a faith-based Charitable Trust striving for an empowered and just Mukuru community by providing quality education, health, financial and social services to children and families in the area. Run by the Christian Brothers African Province, it is one of eight Christian Brothers project sites across Africa, and offers a vital source of community development programmes to the residents of one of the largest slums in Nairobi.

Thank you to all staff, parents, students, sponsors and other supporters of this wonderful St James community initiative.

Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour visits St James 

Last Thursday morning the 2023 Lexus Melbourne Cup visited St James as a stop over leg of its tour to the first Tuesday in November. We were treated to some fine words form 1992 Cup winning jockey Greg Hall. Laura Saunders and Joe McGrath, Cup tour representatives also spoke to the students, staff and parents in attendance. Joe spoke about the numerous moments in time where the Melbourne Cup horse race has been an inspiration to many members of society. He also spoke about some significant moments in Australia's history and related aspects of the Melbourne Cup to gold and Sovereign Hill, creating a nice segway into our Yr 5 camp this week.

Year Five Camp to Sovereign Hill

Our Year Five students depart Wednesday morning and return Friday afternoon. Wednesday will be a day of exploration while Thursday and Friday provide the opportunity for all students to dressup and participate in the costume school. This involves students participating in school classes as they were back in the 1850s.

Staff attending the camp include: James Sweatman, Sarah Plunkett, Bec Zani and Cassie Pascoe from the Year Five team. I will be there for the first two days and Tim Flintoff and Veronica Brightwell will head up on Wednesday after school. We will have replacement teachers in Year Four classes on Thursday and Friday.

Concert Production 

Preparation for our whole school concert production is under way and students will be spending additional time rehearsing for their level item. The students will have a whole school rehearsal at Crossways in East Burwood on Tuesday 29 August and then perform on both evenings, Tuesday 29 and Wednesday 30 August. Ticket information will be made available to parents via Operoo at a date closer to the performance. Class teachers will also be communicating specific costume, prop and makeup information with parents throughout the next two months.

BOOKFAIR

Sales finish on Wednesday afternoon. Feel free to drop into the library on the advertised times to make purchases. It is my strong belief that all children need to read books by turning pages. Items at the bookfair also make great stocking fillers!

Thanks to Jo Matarazzo, the parent helpers and the student helpers who help with selling the goods.

NAPLAN  

The Year 3 and 5 NAPLAN results were sent out to parents on Friday via a sealed envelope. All students who participated in NAPLAN received an individual report with their results. General information about the tests and an explanation of how to read the report was included in the envelope. 

2024 Enrolments at St James

We are expecting that all current families/students in Years Prep - Five will be returning to St james next year. If your family/child will not be returning next year, please contact the school office by the end of this week. We currently have waiting lists for many levels across the school.

Baby Boom at St James

Congratulations to the many families who have added a young member to their clan over the past month or two.  There are quite a few families in this situation. Please reach out if the school can be of any assistance to you.

Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD)

As part of our NCCD process, we are required to let families know that we are conducting our NCCD count. Please see attached the CECV Nationally Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) On School Students with Disability for your information.

Other News/Dates

• Thank you to Dylan Dipierdomenico and his team of helpers who worked tirelessly at our Bunnings BBQ over the weekend to raise well over $1 000 for our P & F funds
• The Level and Specialist Curriculum Newsletters in last week's Update Sheet have been transferred to this newsletter on a separate page 
• Friday 21- 26 July - Scholastic Book Fair
• Tues 25 July - SAC Meeting 6.15 - 8.00pm
• Wed 26 - Fri 28 July - Year 5 Camp to Sovereign Hill
• Fri 18 August - Final day for Yr 7 2025 (current Yr 5 students) applications to Catholic Secondary Colleges
• Tues 29 & Wed 30 August - School Concert Production at Crossways in East Burwood.

Have a great week.

Dave