Dear Families,

WELCOME BACK

There has been such an exciting buzz around the school today. It's been so good having the students back. This reminds us of why we chose the profession we did and why we love working at St James so much!

We are extremely proud of our students during this remote and flexible learning time, especially in the commitment that so many made to their continued learning. So many students took up the challenge to respond to their teacher’s instruction throughout last term, showing perseverance and resilience. We know too that for some students there were great challenges in this style of learning. Consequently, children will return to school with varying needs. However as teachers we know and understand that all students have varying needs, with or without a global pandemic! We also know that our role is to view each student as an individual on their learning journey and that the journey is life-long! It doesn’t stop at the end of Year 6, or after Year 12 or even after a University degree.

Our aim for our children this term is to gauge where they are at in the various areas of their learning and to continue that journey in the best possible way that we can. We also know the great importance of our children having opportunities to explore their thinking and delve into their own areas of interest, which inspire critical thinking and research skills. Whilst the fundamentals of literacy and numeracy are essential in student development, so are elements of play, investigation, experimentation, questioning and wondering.

We also know the need for us to focus on and develop students’ social learning at this point in time, indeed this is essential to practise at all times. For many, social interactions may have been limited to zoom meetings with family and friends and occasional play sessions at the park in recent times. We will seek out opportunities for students to practise cooperative and social skills during term 4, which is naturally a part of the Personal and Social Capability in our Victorian Curriculum. This compliments our whole Student Wellbeing approach at St James where we will remind our students of the school’s motto of looking after one another.

We encourage all parents to continue to work closely with our staff to further enhance our student’s learning and instill in your children a passion of this life-long pursuit.

Class Placements for 2021

We will commence the process of grouping students into their 2021 class groups later on this term. Parents who have a special request must have this in writing (email is acceptable) to me by the end of this month. Requests must be clear and based on student wellbeing, socialisation following Remote Learning or specific learning issues. Please keep in mind that the two classes in each level are usually located next to each other and do work closely together at times. It is also good for students to mix with different students from within their cohort rather than maintain a small social circle.

Non Sharing of Food

Sorry parents but because of the COVID situation students are not permitted to share any food with each other. This included pre wrapped birthday treats. Thank you in advance for your support of this.

In short:

Year Five on site/virtual camp combo in on this Thursday and Friday
It is Highly Unlikely that our Swimming Program will go ahead this term.
Order Forms for a Subway Food Day, planned for Thursday 22 October go home today. Please return these by this Friday 16 October. No late orders can be accepted.
Please check that your child has his / her hat packed.
A reminder to send back any medication your child may need - eg epipen, ventolin
Today, Year Five parents have an invitation coming home to order a Year Six rugby top for their child. ALL ORDERS MUST BE BACK AT SCHOOL BY NEXT WEDNESDAY. Payment is due before delivery. We are aiming for before the end of term.
Keep looking out for emails and updates

Prep 2021 Transition

Specific details regarding Prep Transition remain unknown at this stage.

We are hopeful of being able to hold gatherings whereby the 2021 preps can come onsite. Advice at the moment is suggesting small groups only and hopefully this will change over the next month to facilitate larger gatherings. We will be sending out further information to 2021 Prep families next week.

Our Parent Information Evening will remain on Monday 26 October but will be a virtual event.

We are unsure about whether the advertised Student Transition Days will go ahead.

Once we have received further advice and have made final decisions we will advise all families.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility around this.

Assembly link from this morning

12 October

Looking forward to sharing the next ten weeks of learning and extra curricular activities,

Dave

Spotlight on Learning