11 October 2021

Newsletter Articles

Our Mission @ SJM

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

Quote

Pope Francis’ Message for World Mission Month.

“We cannot but speak about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 4:20)

Once we experience the power of God’s love, and recognise his fatherly presence in our personal and community life, we cannot help but proclaim and share what we have seen and heard.

Everything about Christ reminds us that he knows well our world and its need for redemption, and calls us to become actively engaged in this mission: “Go therefore to the highways and byways, and invite everyone you find” (Mt 22:9). No one is excluded, no one feel distant or removed from this compassionate love.

Principal’s Message

There have been many changes which you either have received or will in coming days. I feel that I have communicated with you a lot lately, so I won’t leave you with anymore here.

Please know:

• To keep and eye out on COMPASS and Facebook for all updates
• That if you have any class-based questions to please make contact with your child’s teacher
• That you can contact for any overarching questions you may have

Here’s looking forward to a positive Term 4

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

This term, the month of October is dedicated to Mission Month. Our school is partnering with Catholic Mission by participating in Socktober. We invite our students to connect with young people experiencing challenges in the developing world through education and the world game of soccer.

This year, our collective fundraising efforts will support vulnerable children in Thailand through a kindergarten run by the Good Shepherd Sisters in Bangkok. The kindergarten provides a caring learning environment for the children and allows their parents, often single mothers, to work and support the family.

The Mini Vinnies students will share more information about Socktober we they return to school. Please keep a look out to see how you can help raise vital funds for Catholic Mission. More information can be found on the Socktober website.

SJM School Garden

At the end of last term, the students and teachers in Stage 3 were very busy weeding, planting and watering the veggie garden. I wanted to share what that dedication and perseverance has grown especially during the school holidays.

May your lamp continue to burn brightly helping others along the way,

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Assistant Principal

Welcome back to Term 4. Some days it feels like we haven’t even had a holiday! I hope that you are managing to return to some form of routine … whatever that looks like for you and your family. Some days we need a reminder that routine is different for every family. Please be gentle with yourself and remind yourself often that you are doing your best today and that is good enough. We truly appreciate everything that you are doing to keep things going. You are doing an amazing job!

10 TIPS FOR PRIMARY STUDENTS RETURNING TO SCHOOL

These are some tips from NSW Department of Education for returning to school at the link below. A printable PDF is also available.

Get ready

Try on your school uniform and school shoes. You may have had a growth spurt and it may not fit!

Get organised and pack your bag the day before school starts. Pack your own hand sanitiser and a mask. If you don’t have hand sanitiser or a mask don’t worry, your school can give

Be safe

It’s a good idea to wear a mask while on the bus and at school.
Wash your hands or use hand sanitiser during the day and before you eat.
Cough or sneeze into your elbow. If you need to blow your nose, use a tissue and put it in the bin. Make sure you wash your hands or use hand sanitiser afterwards.

Feelings

Just so you know, it’s ok to have different feelings when coming back school. You may feel worried, nervous, angry or happy, or any feeling in between.
Talking to friends and family can be helpful. You can even talk to your teacher or school counsellor /school psychologist if you’d like to. Your school can help you get in contact with someone to talk to, just let your teacher, parent or carer know. 
Watch out for your friends too! Ask them “Are you OK?”. It’s OK to tell someone if you are worried about your friend. There are more ideas on looking after yourself on the Department of Education’s student mental health and wellbeing pages.

School work

Try your best. Let your teacher, parent or carer know what you found easy or hard when working from home. They are there to help you.

Be kind

Be kind to your classmates. Invite them to play a game with you.
Be patient. It’s been a while since we have all been together.
If you feel a bit annoyed or angry while playing or learning, try taking some deep breaths, walk away to another area or talk about it with your teacher.

Have some fun

Have fun with your class and teacher.
Use your break times to spend some time outside playing with your friends.

Eat

Don’t forget to eat breakfast!
Pack a healthy lunchbox and drink bottle for school.
This will help you feel energised during the day.

Sleep

Make sure you go to bed on time! Sleep helps us concentrate, learn and enjoy the day at school.
Put your devices in another room, so your sleep is not disturbed.
You might notice you are more tired than usual. That’s ok, after a while you will get back into your going to school routine.

TIPS FOR PARENTS AS STUDENTS RETURN TO SCHOOL

These tips are from the NSW Department of Education website at the link below.

Every family has a different learning-from-home story. Here are some ways you can support your child return to school and reconnect with their school community.

Be positive about the return to school

• Ask your child how they are feeling about returning to school. Your child may be feeling a mix of emotions about their return, so it is important to listen to any concerns and respond in a calm, supportive and reassuring way.
• Promote positive conversations by asking what they like about school and what they are looking forward to when they return. Let them know that school staff are looking forward to seeing them. Your child might like to make a list or drawing about things they have missed about school.
• If they feel nervous or worried, help them understand this is a normal reaction, and that you and their teachers are there to support them.
• If your child has questions about COVID-19 provide factual and age appropriate information. Let them know everyone at school is working hard so that everyone is safe.
• Consider limiting media content your child is viewing if it is contributing to worry or distress.
• Remind your child that everyone at school is working hard to make sure that everyone is safe and that anyone who is unwell will stay home.
• Prepare yourself and child for changes and new school procedures
• Look at the school website, Facebook page and Compass news items to learn about new procedures that may have been introduced such as changes to parents’ access to the school grounds, drop off and pick up points as well as new rules such as wearing face masks or hygiene rules.
• Discuss these with your child and plan together how these changes will be managed. The more your child understands the changes, the more comfortable they are likely to feel. If you are unsure about anything, contact the school or your child’s teacher.

Re-establish your routines

• Routines help provide certainty and increase feelings of security, so it will help to re-establish routines and plan for the return.
• As soon as you can, bring back the usual wake up, bed and breakfast routines. Set aside time to find school equipment and check uniforms and shoes still fit – your child may have grown. Give yourself enough time to organise replacements or a uniform alternative if needed.
• The day before returning, encourage your child to pack their school bag, and get their lunch box, drink bottle and uniform ready.
• Allow more time than usual on the first morning back to calmly get ready. Take your child to school if that will help build a greater sense of security. Alternatively, encourage your child to meet up with a friend before school and travel in together.

Update the school

• Let the school know of any concerns relating to your child that may impact their transition back to school. This will assist the school to work with you to plan and put in place appropriate support strategies.

At the end of the school day

• Talk to your child about their day and what they are looking forward to tomorrow. If your child prefers, get them to write down or draw their feelings.
• Provide opportunities for your child to play and relax at the end of the day. Returning to school may contribute to tired and emotional reactions at the end of the day.
• Help re-establish after-school routines to review the day’s learning and complete homework tasks.
• Consider having extra family time together as your child may have missed being at home with you.

Supporting your child

• Returning to school routines may take some time. Reassure your child that this is normal. Encourage them to ask for help if they need it
• Take care of your own wellbeing while supporting your child’s return to learning at school. You may have some children returning to school while others are continuing to learn from home. You can help your child by explaining that all children will be returning to school soon.
• If they are finding things difficult, remind your child of times in the past when they were able to do things that were difficult and face situations that made them nervous or scared.
• If you are concerned about your child, seek support by contacting the school.

How you can help your school community

• If you are picking your child up from school, please be sure to follow the guidelines for your school.
• Please practice physical distancing at pick up time.

Tell Them From Me Survey

In 2020 we asked parents and carers to participate in a survey conducted by Tell Them From Me©. (TTFM). The survey data provided us with valuable feedback on what our students think about their faith, school life, how engaged they are with school and the different ways that teachers interact with them.

The information gathered from this survey helps our school community to be better informed about what we are doing well, where we need to focus more attention and how we can sharpen our planning to ensure we achieve improved outcomes for our students. This year, we are seeking your help and participation to improve on our parent/carer response rate from 2020.

As parents and carers of students in our school, we deeply value your feedback and encourage you to partner with us and complete this survey. The information we gather is critical to us and allows us to hear directly from you and gain insight into what you think is important about the work we do, how we communicate with you and where you think we need to improve.

From the 2020 TTFM survey data we learnt the following as both areas of strength and improvement:

What we learned:

1. We celebrate that our staff believe we have an inclusive school culture, and in particular the establishment of clear expectations for classroom behaviour.
2. We are aware that our staff believe we need to develop plans for improving technology in the school, and in particular the ways we work with students and technology to track progress towards set goals.
3. We celebrate that our staff believe parent involvement is a key driver for student learning, and in particular the staff work with parents to help solve problems that may be interfering with their child’s progress.

What we did:

1. We have communicated our learnings to the staff at a staff meeting at the end of last year, and again at relevant staff meetings related to the themes in the survey (eg meetings about behaviour, technology and parent involvement).
2. Last year we purchased new laptops to be used in the Stage 2 classrooms. This year, we have purchased new interactive displays for our infant’s classes, as well as interactive displays for the primary classes. We will continue to budget for additional purchases and updates over the next two years.
3. We continue to promote the involvement of parents in the school, and encourage the achievement of outcomes by students to be celebrated on our school’s Facebook page. Teachers are also encouraged to contact parents when students achieve learning goals to share the good news with them.

As you can see, we use the feedback you provide us to action strategies.

We want all young people in our schools to thrive and we know that working together, listening, and sharing ideas helps our schools to improve and grow as strong learning and faith communities.

The survey is now open until Friday 29 October. We welcome your timely feedback.

If you have questions about this survey, please don’t hesitate to email us at admin@muswellbrook.catholic.edu.au

Information regarding a link for the survey will be sent to all families via Compass.

Child Protection Training

This week we have staff from our school attending their required Child Protection training. This is a mandatory requirement for all staff in our school for them to attend on a regular basis. This year, the training will be held online, to allow for teachers to attend even though we have restrictions on face-to-face professional learning due to COVID-19 guidelines and is presented by one or more members of the Office of Safeguarding.

The training package is designed to highlight the global concepts and state legislation relating to child protection as well as introducing workers to their obligations under the Diocese’s safeguarding processes. The training course will address in detail:

• the Diocese’s safeguarding infrastructure including Office of Safeguarding, related policies, procedures and material covered in the safeguarding induction module
• indicators of abuse and neglect
• responding to disclosures
• reporting obligations
• information sharing and records keeping
• contributing to child-safe cultures

Mrs Shannon Hall
Assistant Principal

Sport

School Swimming Carnival

The school swimming carnival will be held on Thursday 2nd December at Denman Pool. A note about travel will be sent out Week 3 with students. To assist with creating the events for the carnival could you please email nominations to jane.dengate@mn.catholic.edu.au

State
Childs name
Class
House Team
Events to be entered in.
All children who are turning 8 or older in 2022 are eligible to complete.
Available Events
100m Freestyle, 50m Freestyle
50m Breaststroke
50m Backstroke
50m Butterfly

Individual Medley ( 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke and 50m freestyle.)

The 100m Freestyle is an Open age group where 8 to 13 year olds compete against each other.

50m Freestyle is age groups.

50m Breaststroke, 50m Butterfly, 50m Backstroke and the Individual medley is divided into 3 age groups. Junior which is 8, 9 and 10 year olds. 11yr old and Senior which is 12 and 13 year olds.

Further information will be provided at a later date.

Mrs Jane Dengate
Sports Co-ordinator

Library News

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Congratulations to Logan McFawn, Daniel Mulholland, Harrison Musca, Bradley Watt, Lily Musca and Cameron Watt, who successfully completed the Premier’s Reading Challenge for 2021. It is wonderful to witness your love of reading!

Library Books

Library borrowing will return this week. Tuesday for Kindergarten and Thursday for all other students. All library books must be returned by this Thursday 14th October.

Book Week

Due to restrictions with Scholastic Book Fair, Book Week dates have changed and will take place from Monday 15th November to Friday 19th November. Students can continue to work on the book nook and poster competitions. All entries are due by Term 4 (Week 4), 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.

Please feel free to contact the library if any problems/concerns arise lisa.wilson@mn.catholic.edu.au or 65433094. Happy Reading and stay safe!

Mrs Lisa Wilson
Teacher Librarian
Mrs Nadene Douglas
Library Assistant

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts