Faith & Wellbeing 

WELLBEING

Transition

This year has been a year of transitions. Transitioning is a period of changing from one state to another. We should be proud of our community and the transitions that we have managed individually and together with support from the many members of our community. Teachers, parents, support staff and of course our students have all had numerous periods of change. And now at this time in Term 4 we look to further transitions. On Wednesday 4th November we held a virtual Parent Information Session for our 2021 Prep parents/carers. We then welcomed our new Prep students for 2021 onsite for some fun activities with their 2021 teachers. The second onsite orientation session for our 2021 Preps will take place this Thursday 19th November. 

On Wednesday 18th November we will also be holding a Parent Information Session for the many new families who will be joining us across all year levels in 2021. These students will join us on Up Day-Monday 7th December when students move up to their next year level to meet their new teacher and spend time in their 2021 classroom. 

I have had the pleasure of spending time with our wonderful Year 6 students every second Thursday completing some High School Transition activities. So far they have included a Q and A in the new “yarning circle” in the Tilley Space as well as a session looking at their schools website to find out some of the answers to the many questions our students have about start and finish times, timetables and clubs or opportunities that they may like to pursue in their new school. Next Thursday we will look at relationships through transition and how these can be fostered. 

Yoga

Mindfulness has been a large part of our focus during our transition back to face to face teaching. Yoga is a fantastic mindfulness practice that teaches many skills such as breathing techniques and body awareness. On Wednesday and Thursday the 25/26th October, Jackie from Yes2Yoga ran online sessions for each of our classes. Jackie is so good at what she does, her connection even though virtually to the students was terrific. She even had some grand final themed poses, as it was the week before the AFL grand final. 

Social Skills Groups

During term 4 some of our students have been invited to join in our social skills groups facilitated by our LSO’s with the support of myself. The social skills groups run for half an hour weekly. During this time students play board games, play outside games, do role-plays and even some debating! During this time they have a weekly focus of a social skill that may need to be learnt, for example communicating with others, listening and speaking to others, reading verbal and non-verbal cues. Students are invited to be a part of these groups via their teachers. We are looking forward to continuing and building upon these group sessions next year. 

School Uniform

Just  a friendly reminder that white school socks are to be worn with the summer and sport uniforms.

Kind Regards,

Mrs Georgia McNamara

Student Wellbeing Leader

gmcnamara@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION

St James Christmas Masks

Don’t forget to purchase your St James Christmas marks created by our Year 6 students with the help of the AMAZING Mrs Nicola. We have 50 to sell at $8 to go towards the Year 6 Memory Books. As of yesterday we only had 13 left so don’t miss out. Use the following Trybooking link to purchase a mask. All masks will be handed out on Friday the 4th of December.

https://www.trybooking.com/BMUIG

Sacraments for 2021

Thank you to everyone for your understanding regarding the 2020 Sacramental Program. We are happy to confirm that the Sacrament of Confirmation will go ahead for our Year 6 students on the 2nd of December @ 10am. Unfortunately due to covid restrictions we are unable to offer the sacrament to students outside of the school. 

All other Sacraments will be held in 2021. In the meantime if you do have any questions or concerns please to do hesitate to email me eherbert@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au

Christmas Hampers

Once again the generosity of our St James Community is shining through with this Year's Christmas Hampers. Donations can be placed in the hampers located in your child’s classroom. Hampers will be handed over to St Vincent De Paul on Thursday 10th of December.

For Parish Newsletters, please refer to the new Parish Website

https://www.baysidecatholicmission.org/ 

SUSTAINABILITY

School Sustainability Festival

Yesterday our Year 4 students participated in this year's Virtual School Sustainability Festival. Schools all over Victoria joined in to see what others were doing to create a Sustainable future. 

“Year 4 should all be extremely proud of the way they conducted themselves during our Sustainability Festival Incursion today. They were challenged to think about ways they can make our world a better place by listening to numerous youth guest speakers and experts.  They took notes all day, identified key information and came up with ideas for our community.  Next year, they will be the St James Sustainability Warriors, leading the school in a variety of initiatives.  They are off to a fantastic start.” Mrs Conway

I would also like to congratulate our WONDERFUL Sustainability Leaders Giselle, Imogen, Bella and Ruby on their presentation of the St James Sensory and Kitchen Garden. We are hoping to get the recording to place onto the parent portal in the coming week!

Term 4 VIRTUAL ASSEMBLIES/LITURGY

This Term we will continue with our Virtually Assemblies each fortnight. Please see below a timetable of dates and which classes will be presenting their learning from the term. Each Assembly will be recorded and posted to the Parent Portal, Friday afternoon.

Live stream links will continue to be sent to your child's school email account on the morning of the Assembly.  You will need to access this email to view the live stream. If you do not know your child’s email or password please contact their classroom teacher.

Regards,

Emma Herbert

RE, STEM & Sustainability Leader

eherbert@stjamesbrighton.catholic.edu.au