St James News

Principal's Post

Dear Families,

We received some more positive news from the state government yesterday and look forward to advice and directives from Catholic Education Melbourne over the coming week. 

 

Last Thursday and Friday we welcomed all 50 of our 2021 Prep students to a transition session here at St James. The students were able to come onto our site in groups of 10. They are booked in for another session on Wednesday 16 December. Hopefully I will be able to conduct the "meet & greet " session with the remaining students and their parents before the end of the year. This includes siblings of our current students and a few new families who were unable to attend  the sessions held up the driveway earlier in the year.

 

 

We have plans for our Year Six end of year activities and farewells which we are hopeful of having parents attend. Stay tuned for information regarding parent attendance as it becomes available to us. We are still hopeful of being able to hold a version of our 'Moving On' ceremony where we farewell our Year Six students as a community on the afternoon of Tuesday 15 December.

 

In regards to food sharing and providing food for other students from home, to keep it clear and simple for everyone, we will continue the no sharing and no bringing food from home policy until the end of the year.

Confirmation 2020

We are delighted to announce that Father Dispin has received approval to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation to our Year Six students. This will take place on Tuesday 1 December in our St John's church. We have two ceremonies organised for 6pm and 7.30pm to cater for approximately 20 candidates and three other family members (mainly 2 parents and a sponsor) at each ceremony. Please keep these students in your prayers.

Indigenous Education

Last Friday our staff professional Learning day centered around having increased understanding and appreciation of Indigenous Spirituality and culture and how this may impact our teaching.

Sherry Balcombe who  is an Olkola / Djabaguy woman from Far North Queensland and has worked at the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry for 16 years presented to the staff via a hangout meet. 

We also heard from Tanveer Alvi from the Whitehorse Council about local flora and fauna and its significance. 

We have many ideas that need to be formulated into action plans of how we can further enrich our students' education and understanding related to our indigenous Australians.

Board Shorts

Our final Education Board meeting for the year is on Wednesday evening. We will farewell Lisa Sully who has made many valuable contributions to our numerous discussions over the past four years. Lisa stayed on the Board for an additional year to provide some experience as we inducted new members. We have had some interest in community members joining the Education Board and will be in contact with these parents soon.

Staffing Update

Congratulations to Claire Feild who is pregnant. We have advertised her position and will shortly employ a new Physical Education Teacher to work at St James for the 2021 school year.

We have almost completed the process for employing a new staff member to replace Molly Masters who is on maternity leave for 2021. Julianne Bogemann is replacing Molly in Yr 5 until the end of this year.

School Fees

All school accounts should now have been finalized unless you are paying by monthly instalments or you have spoken to Dave. 

Assessment Days and Starting Dates, 2021

Wednesday 27 January

  • 8.30am - 12.00pm          Staff Meeting
  • 12.30pm - 3.30pm          First Assessment Block

Thursday 28 January

  • 8.30am - 11.30am            Second Assessment Block
  • 12.30pm - 3.30pm           Third Assessment Block

Friday 29 January

  • 8.30am - 11.30am            Fourth Assessment Block
  • 8.50am - 12.00pm            Preps Start School
  • 12.30pm - 3.30pm            Staff Meeting
  • 4.00pm - 5.00pm               Staff Mass with St John's staff

Monday 1 February

  • 8.50am - 3.20pm              All students attend school for the first official day together

Information regarding booking in for the Assessment Days will be sent home to families later in the year, once class lists including, class teachers have been finalised and published. The, 'Step Up' morning is planned for Friday 11 December, when students will meet their 2021 classmates and teacher.

 

Condolences...

It is with great sadness that we let you know about the passing of Mrs Grace Shim, a past teacher of St James. Grace worked generously in Catholic Education over many years, with her final place being at St James, within her Parish. She was a faith filled woman who made many contributions to our community, from her tireless work in the library to playing the piano – and who could forget her curry puffs she made! We give thanks for Grace’s life and feel blessed that she was part of our community. Our condolences extend to Michael, her husband and Davina, her daughter, along with her extended family and friends. A generous soul is at rest.

 

In short:

  • Our Advent drive to support our St Vincent De Paul Group is launching. Please read about this in Education in Faith.
  • A School Closure Day is planned for Monday 7 December, where we will be planning for 2021. Bookings are available with Camp Australia for the day.
  • Special thanks to Kylie Brooks - Verberne for organising our Subway Food Day on Friday 4 December. Order forms go home today. Please return them by this Friday if you would like to place an order.
  • Next Tuesday is 1 December and the launch of our summer season. To remind us about our sunsmart practices, we encourage everyone to wear their (named) sunglasses for, 'SUNNIES' DAY' at St James.

Assembly link from this morning

We were not able to record our assembly this morning.

 

 

 

Dave