Dear Parents and Carers,

Welcome Back! The year has started well and the students have settled quickly into their new classrooms. We are so fortunate to have such a lovely school in which to learn and work in.

Prayer for Teachers and Families

Heavenly Father we bring before You the Staff, Students and their families at St James and pray that You guide them throughout this new school year. Bless the Teachers as they continue to educate a new generation of children and young people , and bless the Students and their families in their

learning journey at St James.

Amen

Reflection:

As a family take turns in sharing a positive experience at Primary or Secondary School.

“A positive memory for me at school was…… because……….”

Funeral Arrangements - (Osborne Close - NO ACCESS)

On Tuesday 9th February, the Staff and Students at Star of the Sea College will be farewelling their beloved Mary Harmes. The funeral will be held at 2.00pm at Star of the Sea College. Funeral cars and funeral traffic will all be entering and exiting via Osborne Close, including a guard of honour.

Family groups to go home with the youngest sibling, e.g I have a Child in Yr 1 and another in Yr 5. This family group would all go home at Year 1 dismissal time of 3.10pm.

St James Drop Off / Pick Up

A friendly reminder regarding drop off / pick up times and locations . To enable a safe and efficient flow of traffic we are asking that we continue to use a turning circle in the mornings and afternoons. Please do not park in the 2min parking bays as this will only create a traffic jam. Thank you to everyone for their patience and collaboration in following the new procedures.

SAVE THE DATE

Meet the Teacher online - Thursday 11th February 2021

Once again this year given the current restrictions, we will be conducting our “Meet the Teacher” interviews online. Interviews will run for 10 minutes. You will be able to make an appointment to meet your child/s teacher/s via the School Interviews Quicklink on the School Website. Correspondence along with the booking codes will be emailed directly to all families.

Important to note that school will finish promptly for all students at 1.00pm on Thursday 11th February to allow Teachers to set up for the interviews.

2022 School Enrolments - School Open Days

We are now taking bookings for our School Tours in preparation for 2022 School Enrolments. People can register for an event via our school website, from Monday 8th February onwards.

Please see below listed dates:

Friday 12th February - 11.30am - 12.30pm

Tuesday 23rd February - 9.30am - 10.30pm

Wednesday 10th March - 2.30pm - 3.30pm

Monday 22nd March - 12.30pm - 1.30pm

COVID restrictions will dictate how our School Open Days will be conducted. Even so, parents will need to register for the event as we will be capping numbers inline with current restrictions and inline with our COVIDSafe Plan.

In the event that restrictions prevent us from touring the school, we will be providing Virtual Tours.

Please look out for flyer which will be shared via the schools social media.

School Assembly

Our First school Assembly will take place next Friday afternoon, 12th February. At this stage we anticipate that the assembly will be recorded and shared via the Parent Portal. Further details and links to the eventual streaming will be shared next week.

Thank you to Miss Sarah Black and the students in Yr 6B who will be facilitating our assemblies this year.

(Please refer to the St James parent Google Calendar for additional Information)

COVID-19 Safety at School

At St James we have put a number of strategies in place to reduce the risk of transmission. No one strategy is 100% effective.

Here are just some of the ways we are doing to keep our Students, School community and Staff safe and well.

In light of current restrictions and inline with our School COVID Safety we ask that you respect and follow the following guidelines.

School Devices and Acceptable Use Policies and Operoo

This week has been a device free week for the students. Next week to coincide with Safer Internet Day, the students will be provided with acceptable use agreements to read and sign prior to using a device or the internet.

Once Operoo is up and running we will be sending electronically to all parents a series of policies and agreements to read and sign. One of these policies will be the Acceptable Use Policy. We kindly ask that when you receive this agreement via Operoo you discuss it with your child. Students will be unable to use a device without this permission.

For new families to the school, Operoo is an easy way for our school to communicate with you. It provides a simple way for parents/guardians to sign forms, and safely share emergency and medical data. You can easily keep your child’s medical data and emergency contacts up to date, ensuring the school has access to the right information in an emergency. Handy email notifications let you know when there is something for you to read or a form to complete. Automated reminders ensure your child never misses out.

You’ll love the ease of completing and signing online consent, permission, medical and onboarding forms right from your phone, tablet or PC.

To get started, simply wait for St James to send you an email from their Operoo system asking you to sign up or create your account. Follow the instructions to create your account.

Social Distancing

Thank you to all parents and carers who are helping the community to stay safe and healthy by keeping 1.5m apart at drop off and pick up times.

Although physical distancing will not apply to students in class, it does still apply to staff and parents. Therefore we ask that you respect our requests to minimise contact and continue with social distancing during drop off and pick ups, adults will also need to adhere to wearing masks when in public places including drop off and pick up.