30 August 2021

Newsletter Articles

Our Mission @ SJM

St James’ Primary School community excel in education through living and learning in Christ.

Principal’s Message

Dear Parents & Carers,

In this Principals Message in the newsletter, you will find information regarding:

• The extension of the NSW lockdown
• Who SJM is open for?
• Continuity of Learning During Home Learning K – 6
  - A message from the Director
  - Zoom expectations
• SJM Home Learning Website and Learning Booklets
• Communication @ SJM
• Moving forward if lockdown continues beyond 10th September
• Thank you to our SJM staff

The Extension of the NSW Lockdown

To protect the people of NSW from the evolving COVID-19 outbreak the NSW government have extended the State lockdown until September 10. Everyone within the must stay at home unless it is for an essential reason.

Who SJM is Open for?

Our school remains open to support ESSENTIAL/AUTHORISED WORKERS who need to send their children to school.

If there is a parent/carer at home I urge you, as per our Premier’s recommendation, please keep your child at home.

Please find the link for essential/authorised worker -

If you are working at home, please keep your child at home with you.

Continuity of Learning during Home Learning K–6

From the Director of Catholic Schools Office (CSO)….

As Catholic schools in the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle we believe that parents are the first and foremost educators of the child, therefore parents are trusted and empowered to make decisions about how children learn at home. Learning will be different in every home. A school day will not be delivered from home. We acknowledge that parents are not teachers and are not expected to deliver a curriculum. Families have differing access to technology and devices in the home setting.

A minimum of two contact sessions per week with all students is strongly recommended. This contact may be made by the class teacher, a grade/stage teacher and/or a specialist teacher e.g. Aboriginal Education teacher, EALD teacher.

Schools are asked to schedule student contact sessions at different times of the day to support families with limited access to computer devices. Contact sessions are not focussed teaching sessions. They may include prayer, story reading, reminders, opportunities for students to ask questions, birthday messages etc. Phone calls may be required to contact students without access to technology.

We encourage students to have a balance of class-based content, physical activity, creative activity, inquiry and investigation and play time.

Here at SJM we have asked all of our classroom teachers to prepare 2 – 3 Zoom contacts per week. This is meeting with CSO recommendations. At SJM, we are also interacting with our students in many and varied opportunities via:

• our Aboriginal Education Teacher, Mrs Tania Thompson – CREST CREW sessions
• our Learning Support Teacher, Mrs Renee Gavin – CILS program & Wellbeing checks
• our Learning Support Assistants – CILS program and Wellbeing checks
• our Library & EALD Teacher – Mrs Lisa Wilson – check ins.
• our Executive – Mr Aaron Moon, Mrs Shannon Hall, Mrs Eloise Hand and Mrs Jane Jacobs – SJM Home Learning website – www.sjmhomelearning.weebly.com, mindfulness, discos and trivia.

We are committed to the needs of our students and our families. As Stay at Home Orders are being extended, we will be reaching out to you more with additional Zoom opportunities that will be another way for the school to reach out to our community. These include concerts, exercise and Stage Q & A check-ins.

Please keep an eye out on the SJM Home Learning page for these additional opportunities.

SJM Home Learning

Home Learning Website

Remember our SJM Home Learning Webpage –- is your one stop shop for home learning.

Here you will find:

• Zoom Meeting Schedule – This was updated on Friday 27th August so that you can plan for you Zoom meetings scheduled for this coming week.
• All the relevant work for all classes
• Links for:
  - Aboriginal perspectives
  - Literacy resources
  - Numeracy resources
  - Wellbeing resources
  - Learning Support resources
  - Other activities

New activities for the next week – Week 9 will be published on the Home Learning site on Sunday afternoon.

Off-Line Learning - Hard Copies

All hard copy booklets are now available in front of the office each day from 8:30am. Please you check in via the QR code, wear a mask and practise social distancing. If you need anything printed off the website, please call the school on 65433094 or email Mr Moon – mailto:aaron.moon@mn.catholic.edu.au or your child’s teacher.

Communication @ SJM

I pride myself on our school’s communication, especially throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. We encourage you to continue to stay up to date with all of the information on the COMPASS app or via the school’s Facebook page. Please know that if you have any questions for the teacher, please email them directly. All of the teachers’ emails are on the SJM Home Learning Website – on the relevant tabs. Please also know that if you have any concerns or want a check in with me, please do so. I am available on my phone 0438 344 757 or email: aaron.moon@mn.catholic.edu.au.

Moving forward if lockdown continues beyond 10th September

On Friday the Premier announced the plan for the return to school for students.

The plan looks like this:

• If the Muswellbrook Local Government Area (LGA) comes out of lockdown on 10th September, we assume that all students will return to school on Monday 13th September (This is to be confirmed).
• If we remain in lockdown, then students will begin a staggered return to school from October 25.
  - From October 25, Kindergarten and Year 1 will return to face-to-face teaching
  - From November 1, Year 2, Year 6 and Year 11 will return to face-to-face teaching
  - From November 8, all other years will return to face-to-face teaching.
• We do sincerely hope that we come out of lockdown quicker than October 25, as we miss the children terribly.
• Double doses of COVID vaccinations will be mandatory for all school staff from 8 November.

Thank You SJM Staff

Everyone in our community is doing it tough, even our school staff.

I want to publicly thank our amazing staff at SJM for everything they are doing. They are doing an amazing job – from programming for online learning, being present for our students of essential workers, balancing home learning, even though they are managing their own lives and families.

I appreciate you all.

Religion

Dear God,
We open the doors wide of our home learning and invite you in.
Please be in our lessons and help us to concentrate and learn.
Fill us with happiness as we discover more about the world.
Guide our creativity to express ourselves in art, music and movement.
Help us to share, care for and love one another.
Watch over us and protect us as we run and play outside.
Please come and be a part of everything we do today.

Amen.

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Assistant Principal

Just a couple of things from me this week as we look towards another week of home learning. As we have been interacting with parents since the beginning of this lockdown, we are noticing similar questions being asked of us. We just thought we would answer some of those common questions here … in case you are wondering the same things.

Please know that we are missing everyone’s smiling face, and we can’t wait to see you all again as soon as we are allowed to have you back with us.

Don’t forget to visit the SJM Home Learning site

As you know, all of the learning for our students can be found on the SJM Home Learning site. We know that many of you are coming into school to pick up the copied booklets of work, but these should be completed in conjunction with the information on the site. Lots of the worksheets in the booklets will not make sense unless you see the resources that go with it one the site. I cannot stress enough the importance of visiting this site regularly. Lots of teachers have included videos where they are explaining a new concept, or there are PowerPoints that teachers have prepared to revise concepts already covered in class before the lockdown.

What’s new on the SJM Home Learning site?

We are doing our very best to ensure you have everything that you need, and the only way can get this to everyone is to put it on that site. We have tried to make it easy by adding a WHAT’S NEW page to the site, which shows you when we add something to the site … you can just go there to see if there is anything new for your child’s class, instead of looking through the pages every day.

What if I have a question about home learning?

If you have a question about home learning, your first contact should be your child’s teacher. Don’t forget, they are receiving almost double or sometime triple the email messages that they normally get into their inbox, and they are doing their best to reply to each of them as quickly as they can.

My child has finished the booklet of work, what now?

We have had quite a few people try and drop their booklets of work back to us here at school. We ask that you please keep these booklets at home with you. The teachers have asked that you take a photo or scan any work that you would like them to have a look at (either you are proud of it and want to share it with your teacher, or your teacher may have asked you to submit that piece of work so that they can see how you are going with learning at home). The teachers email address are at the top of the class or stage page on the SJM Home Learning site. If you finish all of the work before the end of the week and you are looking for something extra, please visit the other pages on the SJM Home Learning site. We have ideas for movement, creative arts, literacy and numeracy. There are lots of options that you could try while you are at home.

My child is learning at home with me, do I have to mark them as absent in Compass?

We have been advised that you will not need to enter your child’s absence into Compass whilst we are in lockdown. We have been advised to enter all students into a LEARNING FROM HOME event Compass, which means the absence will not be counted as an absence for official records for your child. If your child does need to be at school for the day, we will then enter them here at school using our processes, ensuring we have a record of the students who are on site if we have an emergency.

What happens if we don’t get the work done?

Please don’t worry about not getting the work done. Everyone’s home learning schedule is different. Everyone’s time allocation for home learning is different. Children complete activities at different paces. If you need a day to be a family and have a breather from home learning, then please do that. If you are finding that you are having a day where the home learning is causing nothing but arguments, please stop and have a break for the day. Children learn in so many different ways. Ask them to go and jump on the trampoline and count, or recite their timetables, or spell their spelling words out loud as they jump. Ask them to write numbers or spelling words on the pavement with a wet paint brush. Get out the lego and build something. Find a scene in their favourite movie and ask them to describe what they see. Water the garden and say thank you for the beautiful things we have in our life. Don’t forget to try again tomorrow. These are all valid learning opportunities. The last thing we want is for our children to dislike learning.

Finally, stay positive and keep learning … I love that we are all working together to support each other during a time that may lead to easy frustrations and anxiety. You are all doing an amazing job!

Shannon Hall
Assistant Principal

Primary Coordinator

MINDFUL MINUTES with Miss Hand

Over the next two week, I will continue to run a daily Mindfulness session with students via zoom. During these sessions, we will complete a short meditation, checking with our feelings and emotions, stretch and move our bodies and practice some gratitude.

I look forward to seeing the students then!

Monday: 11am
Tuesday: 11am
Wednesday: 11am
Thursday: 11am
Friday: 11 am

Please keep your eye out on the SJM Home Learning website, Compass and Facebook for the Zoom link.

POS ED BOOK CLUB

I thought I would again feature my most favourite book - ‘The Happiest Man on Earth’ by Eddie Jaku. I read this one in a day! It has so many reminders about life, not taking things for granted, the importance of gratitude and never loosing HOPE!

Life can be beautiful if you make it beautiful. It is up to you.

Eddie Jaku always considered himself a German first, a Jew second. He was proud of his country. But all of that changed in November 1938, when he was beaten, arrested and taken to a concentration camp.

Over the next seven years, Eddie faced unimaginable horrors every day, first in Buchenwald, then in Auschwitz, then on a Nazi death march. He lost family, friends, his country.

Because he survived, Eddie made the vow to smile every day. He pays tribute to those who were lost by telling his story, sharing his wisdom and living his best possible life. He now believes he is the 'happiest man on earth'.

If you have read anything lately that you think would feature well in our Pos Ed Book Club, I would love to hear about it. Please send me an email at eloise.hand@mn.catholic.edu.au.

Using your Character Strengths during these challenging times:

HOPE (from the Institute of Positive Education)

Optimism, future-mindedness, and future orientation

Being optimistic and having confidence something can be done to create a brighter future

Hope is a strength which is closely related to other strengths of Transcendence, including Gratitude and Spirituality. These strengths are about connecting to something bigger than ourselves.

What does a focus on Hope look like in your world today? Can you ask the other members of your household to look out for and share examples of hope and optimism?

Some suggested Hope activities

Read a hopeful story book, or watch a Youtube video of someone else reading one.

Share excitement with people in your life about things you are looking forward to.

Draw a picture of what hope feels like.

Write a list of things they feel hopeful for, and identify ways they might achieve these things.

Write down something challenging, and some hopeful things about the situation.

Identify a previous challenge and how you overcame it.

Identify the use of hope and optimism around you.

Try These Three Things

Children's Book
Wisp: A Story of Hope , Zara Fraillon

Practice
Best Possible Self  meditation and visualisation exercise

Movie
Hook  (1991)

Thought of the week:

Choose kindness, always.

Miss Eloise Hand
Primary Coordinator and Lead Teacher of Positive Education

Library News

Library Books

Students of essential workers are able to borrow on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during the lockdown period.

Book Week

Book Week will take place from Monday 1st November to Friday 5th November. Scholastic Book Fair has been rescheduled to these new dates. Students can continue to work on the book nook and poster competitions. All entries are due by Term 4 (Week 2), however students can bring them in before this date.

Poster Competition

Create a poster from one of the Book Week books or on the Book Week theme –“Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds.” (A4 – cardboard size)

Interpreting the Theme

Old Worlds – Books set in past times (historical fiction) or old cultures, e.g. Aboriginal.

New Worlds – Realistic stories set now or in the future with new ideas, new cultures, new thoughts and look at the impact of new worlds on old worlds.

Other Worlds – All types of fantasy and science fiction or look at the worlds of other people, other cultures. (Ipswich TL Association)

Book Nook Competition

A Book Nook is a bit like a mini diorama that is created to fit into a small space between books on a shelf. The book nook is usually an imaginative creation of a scene from a book, and lends itself to a fantasy setting which could fit the Other Worlds part of the CBCA Book Week theme. They become like a hidden entrance into a book’s world.

Another way of creating a scene from a book is using plastic drink bottles. Cut off one end.

Assemble the world inside the bottle. It could be one of the shortlisted books or just a favourite book.

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge deadline has extended and will finish on Thursday 2nd September. If your child is partaking in this important challenge, please ensure they are meeting the requirements. Remember the list of challenge books is available on the website.

You may email a copy of your child’s PRC record to lisa.wilson@mn.catholic.edu.au

Scholastic Book Club

Issue 6 has opened online! All orders will be delivered to school, unless you choose the ‘deliver to home option’, which has a $7.50 fee. If we are still in lockdown, when books are delivered to the school, I will make arrangements for collection or delivery. The web address is Scholastic Book Club

John Heffernan

John Heffernan is a well-known, Australian author who has written many beautiful children’s picture books and novels. He recently contacted me, regarding a new website and YouTube Channel, which he would like me to share with you. It is free to subscribe and would be particularly beneficial for Years 3 to 6 students. He has recently uploaded his book My Dog, to the channel.

John Heffernan introduces one of his most special works - the award-winning MY DOG - a picture book for all ages. Set around the conflict in Bosnia Herzegovina during the 1990s, the story follows a young boy in his travels across the war-torn countryside accompanied by his tiny canine companion. All he wants is to be reunited with his family so that "my dog can become their dog too". The book is beautifully illustrated by Andrew McLean

Happy Reading and stay safe!
Lisa Wilson
Teacher Librarian
Nadene Douglas
Library Assistant