Parents Association
WELCOME BACK!
Well here we all are again still at home, still remote learning, still (regrettably) quite house bound. Welcome to Term 4, the final term for yet another unbelievable year for all of us at St James.
It can be incredibly difficult to put into words just what we in Melbourne have endured over the last few months as we continue to navigate our way through our 6th Melbourne lockdown. Most of us (we trust) will come out of this ok however, there are some families we know who have lost loved ones and have felt real hardship over the last weeks and months. To you we say, you are in our prayers and our hearts. Our thoughts are with you now and always to support you and your family through this.
Update on Parents Association (Roles & Responsibilities 2022)
Over the past few weeks, the STJPA exec team have been working on a review of the current PA structure, roles and responsibilities, in an effort to minimise workloads, simplify procedure and provide direction on the coming year ahead. To this end, we have a few announcements as follows:
1.“Expressions of Interest”: We are looking to all of you in our parent community group who may be interested in becoming a member of the PA team for 2022.
All roles (including Executive, Year Level Reps and Event Support roles), have been included in the following Google form: Click to view the form. If you are interested in any of the roles available for 2022, please complete this confidential form online. Only the Exec team will view these forms, collate and present our findings by the end of the year. Remember - you can nominate for one or more roles on the form and we encourage EVERYONE (new and existing families) to get involved in the PA, it’s super fun and a great way to get to know other families!
To nominate yourself or someone you know, please click on the form here: https://forms.gle/wG8DhXFmSR9TzDNW8
2. “STJ Activity Planner & Members Spreadsheet”: We have made some changes to the naming of our current roles in the PA team as follows:
> Treasurer - As we move towards all financials being managed directly through the STJ office, we have made the decision to remove the role of PA Treasurer for 2022. We do not feel this role is required as all incoming and outgoing monies are handled directly through the school office and our regular PA Treasurer Report can be simply provided by the office moving forward as well as the management of any reimbursements.
3. “2 New Member Roles”: We have created and combined a couple of roles for 2022 as follows:
> Communications Support - Formerly “Secretary”, this new role will not only support the ongoing Agenda/Minutes for the PA team but also support the rollout of any other communications required to parent reps and school community that may arise time to time, ensuring all communication to parents is clear and consistent.
> Family Wellbeing Support - Formerly, Parish and Family Liaison. This person is responsible for the acknowledgment of and support required to all STJ families who experience loss of a family member and any support that may be required from time to time. Support with creating meal deliveries / referring to counselling services available / general family support in a time of need that is in line with school policy and management team.
4. “STJPA Procedure Manual” - In the coming weeks, we will be creating a procedure manual for handover to new PA team for 2022 which will include (in one page), all the various links to historical information available in running all STJ events and activities, list of proposed events, CDF usage and FAQs and key Activity Planner and Volunteer Lists. This will be available in December.
TERM 4 ACTIVITIES
Christmas Community Board Competition!
Our competition closed Friday 8th October and may we say a HUGE thank you to all those who provided some really beautiful works of art… what a talented bunch of kids you all are!
Congratulations to to all who entered. Our children are able to vote for their favourite design with all votes due by this Friday 15th October at 5pm. Please note that voting is for current STJ children only (not parents).
Step 1: click here to view the entries
Step 2: vote for your favourite entry!.
We hope you enjoyed this activity over Term 3 school holidays. We hope to run this again each moving forward with the continued support of our teachers and local business to share with our local community. Our thanks again to our support partners Chisholm and Gamon (Elwood), led by Torsten Kasper, Managing Director at Chisholm and Gamon.
COLOUR RUN - Postponed to 2022
A lot of work and effort has gone into the planning of our Colour Run which was due to be held on November 26. Unfortunately it is with sadness that we have to share the news that this event day cannot be held due to ongoing restrictions for the operations of schools and the inability for parents volunteers to be onsite. We hate dissapointing our children, and trust us when we say it breaks our heart to make this decision.
The good news is that all children who have already fundraised will be able to order a prize from their online store. All children can make orders by logging into their ‘myprofile’ page and scrolling down to ‘order prizes’. Prizes need to be ordered by November 1st.
Thank you so much to those who raised funds. Out of 180 children, we had 68 children with profiles and 36 who raised more than $1.
Please note that those with cash donations, can you please bring them into the school office. Can you please place your cash donations in an envelope clearly marked with your child’s name and grade. We will be able to let you know the total amount raised once the cash monies are returned and the fees are calculated with the company.
In other good news, we will be organising to host this event in 2022 with a firm focus of making the actual day go ahead. We pray that this can eventuate in a new year with new possibilities!
We have had some questions relating to the focus for our fundraising for this event. Our fundraising efforts for 2022 focussed on raising money for:
- New playground equipment (design TBC)
- The long term goal of upgrading our basketball / netball courts with custom designed sports turf (similar to the ones at Star of the Sea)
PICTURE PRODUCTS
The Picture products fundraiser has now been closed.
Please note these important dates:
Steps 1 and 2 - Payment and Drawing Submission - CLOSED
Step 3. Products delivered by 6th December - OPEN
END OF YEAR - PARENT EVENT
At present, we are still planning for our End of Year parent night out in line with all COVID restrictions and rules at Elsternwick Tennis Club (Wimbledon theme). This is still earmarked for the night of Friday 3rd December this year. More to come on this in the coming weeks but we encourage all of you to please …
SAVE THE DATE!!!
Again, we send our love and strength to all our St James families right now. We truly hope we can come together as a community soon and by the end of this year.
Stay well, and look after yourselves. Good luck next week with school reopening again - yay!
Katrina Cheshire & Kate Korber
STJPA Co-chairs