Parents Association

St James’ Parents Association

We’ve made it to the end of term 1 (hooray) and are so happy to have seen our children and families back onsite, getting back to somewhat of a COVID normal. This year, the STJPA is focussing on ‘reconnection’. We had very limited opportunities to develop and nurture our community in 2020. 2021 is about bringing us all back together. Fundraising is important, but it will be seen as a bonus to the importance of being together again and nurturing our community. We’ve already had some great events and opportunities planned and run, and we’d like to thank our PA reps in particular for their efforts in keeping their year levels informed and together.

STJ Mums Drinks / Dad’s Camp

STJ Mum’s Drinks were held on Friday 12th March at Antique Bar Elsternwick. We had 48 RSVPs, with around 30 attending on the night. Fantastic night, great venue and the private room was wonderful. Lovely to see so many new faces and welcome you all to STJ. Thank you to all who came along!

A big thank you to Toby Simmons who organised the Dad’s Camp which was a great success. There were a great deal of challenges running it this year in this COVID era, but he worked so hard for the benefit of our children and Dads. Thanks to all who supported it.

Key event updates

Easter Raffle / Hot Cross Buns

The Easter raffle will be held today - the last day of school. Last week 45 hampers were wrapped on Monday thanks to the support of some wonderful year 3 Mums (thanks to Albana, Sharon and Liliana). 1025 tickets were sold which was a great outcome. We thank everyone for their generous donations and ticket purchases. We hope you all enjoy the chocolate!

The Hot Cross Bun drive raised $192 for the school. $2 per packet ($8) was donated directly to STM. Thanks to Michelle Thomas for her work in organising this!

School welcome disco - Friday April 23

Our welcome disco will be held on Friday April 23 (first week back) from 5-6.30pm. Please purchase your tickets asap so that we can confirm numbers to ensure the event can go ahead. Please refer to the flyer below for more details. Thanks to Sarah Webb for her hard work and persistence in making this event happen! Tickets available via https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=737894&

Mothers’ Day Lunch - Sat 15 May

The beloved Mothers’ Day lunch will this year be held on Saturday 15th May at Elwood Bathers. With the fabulous theme of ‘70s Disco’ this year, the team are looking to help us all have a great day out, and bring a little ‘groove back into our stride’. Information about tickets and the raffle prize draw (with $15,000 worth of prizes), was sent today. We urge everyone to buy a ticket and come along, it will be a great day!!! Thanks to Fernanda and Angie (Grade 3 Mums) for their hard work in organising, as well as Rose who has supported the gathering of the impressive raffle donations.

STJ Parent night out - Sat August 28 - Team needed to coordinate

Traditionally, this night has been the ‘main event’ and our major fundraiser. Post COVID, we are conscious of local businesses being not as able to donate items as per previous years. It has also historically been hard to find a team to be able to put in the work to create such a huge event. With this year being about reconnection, we have decided to mix things up and focus on enjoyment. We will move the ‘major fundraising component’ to the Colour run on September 10. This parent night out will be an opportunity for our parent community to reconnect. We will hopefully still include a live auction (no silent auctions) to enable a component of fundraising by way of selling raffle tickets. We are looking for a team of volunteers to organise a simple night out at a local venue, and coordinate a live auction by promoting donations from within our school community. If you are interested in running the event or can donate towards raffle prizes on the night, please contact myself or Kat as we need to get this moving asap.

Colour Run - September 10

We have engaged Australian Fundraising to support us in hosting our first Colour Run. This will be our major fundraiser for the year, but will also focus on giving the children a unique experience to promote fun and physical activity. It will be held at Elsternwick Park (ovals 3 and 4 - new street side) on Friday Sept 10. We will include a sausage sizzle and dance warm up for the kids. Timings for the day have not yet been finalised but we are hoping to have as many in our community present as possible there to help make the day a great one. Each child receives a pair of sunglasses and headband to wear, and we will incorporate the house colours in some way. Each child will create their own avatar / fundraising page that can be shared with family and friends.

It has been incredibly successful in other schools and we hope to create excitement and anticipation for the day! Volunteers will be needed and more information will be given closer to the event.

Grandparents Day - Friday Oct 22

This beloved day will be held on Friday Oct 22 with Year 1 parents to host the morning tea.

End of year Parent function - Elsternwick Tennis club - Friday Dec 3

With a ‘Wimbledon’ theme, place the date in your diaries!

Fundraising spending goals for STJ 2021 and beyond

We have obtained feedback from the community that it would be a great idea and motivator to have some goals for the use of fundraising.

The Parents and Friends Association exist for the benefit and general good of the school. The Principal's evidence approval is required for the Parents Association to be officially associated with the school, to utilise school premises and to raise funds for the school. The Parents Association do not have an absolute right to the school funds raised nor to the final determination of projects on which the funds will be spent. (Finance and Procedures manual - Parents and Friends account) .

Current goals for fundraising (based on parent input and direction from the school)

The purchase of 2 quality BBQs and a pizza oven (Tiley Space) for use of school activities and events
Large scale mobile play equipment (.e.g giant chess, giant noughts and crosses etc)
New play ground down side space
Turfing the entire Basketball court area (similar to undercroft area) - large scale project for use as a multi-purpose space

We thank you for your ongoing support. Whether you help as a rep, an event volunteer or as a parent who purchases tickets or donates, every little bit helps for the benefit of our children, and the building of our school community.

Wishing you all a safe and restful Easter break. Enjoy!

Kat and Kate

Co -chairs STJPA

Kat Cheshire E: Katrina.cheshire@bigpond.com &

Kate Korber E: kkorber@stmhadfield.catholic.edu.au

Welcome Disco

... don't forget to purchase your ticket!!

Dear Parents

A friendly reminder to please purchase your tickets for the upcoming St James Welcome Disco. As it's taking place on the first Friday back of Term 2, we need to confirm attendance as possible to ensure this wonderful event has sufficient numbers to proceed.

Thank you to all those who have already purchased their tickets!

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St James Welcome Disco 2021

Friday 23rd April | 5pm - 6:30pm

Theme: 'Outer Space'

TICKETS: https://www.trybooking.com/BPZOO (NO TRANSACTION FEES will be charged on ticket sales)

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Any event queries can be directed to Sarah Webb via email: sarah.webb@live.com.au.

We look forward to seeing you all there!