8 November 2021

Newsletter Articles

Our Mission @ SJM

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

Quote

Dear Lord,

Help me to live a life that is in relationship with Jesus to be humble in heart. Amen.

Principal’s Message

Can you believe we are in Week 6 already? Time is flying and we are currently planning for the end of the year.

Over the last few weeks, I have received many enquiries relating to end of year activities including the 2021 Swimming Carnival, Presentation, Graduation/End of Year Mass and Year 6 Graduation Lunch. At this stage we are continuing to plan these in the background. We do hope to have notes out soon. However, please know, that that at this stage Guidelines from NSW Health and Catholic Schools NSW do not allow us to hold these in normal ways, even in a modified fashion. We are hoping COVID-19 guidelines ease further in the coming weeks so that we can have parents onsite for some of the ‘End of Year’ events. Please also know that if the swimming carnival does go ahead, at this stage, it will be without parents as spectators.

As stated above, we will continue to plan these, but please understand that these plans may change at any time if we are directed to by NSW Health, our Catholic Schools Office or Catholic Schools NSW as we are bound to adhere to the public health orders.

We will keep you up to date with all information regarding the end of year on COMPASS, Facebook and via hard copy notes. I appreciate your understanding and patience regarding this, but as you can appreciate, our hands are tied at the moment.

Student Reports for Semester Two

Semester Two reports will be modified compared with our reports that were sent out in Semester One. This is a direct result of students learning from home for a significant period.

The Semester Two report is focused on the Religion, English and Mathematics outcomes taught between when Semester 1 Reports were written and the timing of reports in Term 4.

• The Commitment to Learning is a scale from Emerging to High and based on RE, English and Maths
• The Student Achievement in these same subjects will be recorded as working towards, working at or working beyond class expectations for the semester.
• The Learner Profile section includes Personal and Social Development as well as Learning Dispositions on a scale from ‘Requires Support’ through to ‘Consistently’.

Student reports will be available on COMPASS on the afternoon of Friday 10th December (Week 10). Any questions please contact me.

COVID Intensive Learning Support (CILS) Program

As you may be aware from previous newsletters, the NSW Government committed a total of $337 million towards the 2021 CILS Program. During 2021 this program provided additional support for students with learning needs, following the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and other natural disasters in 2020. The CILS program has and is still delivering targeted and intensive small-group tuition support to students at SJM.

The CILS Program was meant to conclude at the end of 2021, however we have received initial advice to confirm that this program will be continued, in some way, in 2022. Stay tuned for more information.

2022 Staffing

I would like to announce our staff and classroom structure for 2022:

• KG – Mrs Donna Smith
• KM & Religious Education Co-ordinator – Mrs Jane Jacobs
• 1G – Miss Annerley Fitzsimmons
• 1M – Mrs Mary Ballard
• 2G – Miss Jane Boyle
• 2M – Mrs Trishelle Threadgate
• 3G – Miss Emma Beletich
• 3/4M – Mrs Jane Dengate
• 4G – Mrs Donna-Maree Watt
• 5/6G – Miss Lauren Osborne
• 5/6J – Mrs Clare Collett
• 5/6M – Mrs Rebecca Harrod & Ms Jane Harris
• Assistant Principal / Gifted Education Mentor / Pedagogical Mentor / RFF Teacher – Mrs Shannon Hall
• Primary Co-ordinator / Lead Teacher of Wellbeing / RFF Teacher – Miss Eloise Hand
• Aboriginal Education Teacher – Mrs Tania Thompson
• Learning Support Teacher – Mrs Renee Gavin
• Library Teacher / EALD Teacher – Mr Lisa Wilson
• RFF – Mrs Jo Whitehead

Classes will be announced in the last week of school. Any questions please contact me here at school.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

This week is the 32nd Sunday of Ordinary time in the Church calendar year. The Gospel reading is from Mark (12: 38-44).

Mark’s Gospel raises several powerful themes for reflection.

Jesus tells the disciples to “be aware of the scribes wearing long robes and accepting greetings in the marketplace.” They like to be called “rabbis”, and even the way they dress invites attention. Jesus calls us to live in humility, while the scribes act out of vanity and pride.

What does humility mean for you? For me, humility is the space in which we embrace and hold onto vulnerability, regardless of failure and success.

Mother Teresa said, “we have forgotten that we belong to each other” and we are connected through our humanity. Jesus describes this humanness, challenging each of us to love with complete humility, to be honest with ourselves and everyone we meet.

Humility is strength in honesty and openness. The woman in the passage had limited funds but gave two coins to the treasury. Rich people donate large sums of money and are praised, even offered reverence. However, what this woman did is “hand over all she had, her whole livelihood.” How profound: to hand over all she had. How might her life change because of this gesture?

I worked with a man many years ago who became homeless when his wife died. When I arrived at his house, he offered me a coffee, a simple but powerful gesture. I had a choice to accept this gesture or reject it. This man had no money, but he had the gift of welcoming hospitality, of care and interest in others.

Reflection is from the St Vincent de Paul Society ‘Spiritual Reflection Guide’ and was written by Peter Gormly.

Something to think about …..How does such a response influence your reflection?

This week each classroom will be given a basket to start collecting non-perishable items for the Christmas Appeal within our local Muswellbrook community. It would be wonderful if while you are doing your shopping in the weeks leading up to Christmas that you select an item from the shelves that will help a family in need. Mrs Ballard and myself always keep an eye out for the great specials and continue to buy an extra item leading up to Chritmas.

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

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Assistant Principal

We have a couple of big weeks coming up at SJM, so please make sure you are keeping up to date. We send home messages via Facebook, Compass and this newsletter. Grab a cuppa and your diary and jot down all those important events so that you don’t forget! Have a great week.

Tell Them From Me (TTFM) Survey

Last year 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 last year.

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.

The survey is now open until Friday 12 November. We welcome your timely feedback. If you have questions about this survey, please don’t hesitate to email us at school.

The survey can be accessed from this link below:

Attendance

Your child’s attendance at school is important. We encourage you to ensure your child is at school for all days that they can. We do understand that your child may be unwell, and therefore require some days away (and this may include time away while you wait for a COVID test result). We understand this reason for absence and thank you for ensuring your child stays home while they are unwell. Don’t forget that we are back to using Compass to record absences for your child. We encourage you to log into your parent portal and log the reason for absence as soon as you can. You only have 7 days to explain their absence, and then it becomes unexplained. If you have taken your child for a COVID test, we require a copy of the negative test results so that they can return to school. A screenshot of the text message you can receive is sufficient evidence of this. It can be emailed to your child’s teacher or to admin@muswellbrook.catholic.edu.au

Assessments for Year 2 to Year 6

Each year, we use the ACER PAT online tests for assessment of Reading, Spelling and Mathematics. The results from these tests form part of the data that we use to help guide us in the decisions we make for teaching your children. These online tests are taking place over the next couple of weeks for all students in Year 2 to Year 6. They only take up to a maximum of 60 minutes to complete (many take a lot less time) and are facilitated by classroom teachers and learning support teacher.

Uniform

Don’t forget that we expect all students in our school to be in full school unform each day. Of course, we understand if there is a reason your child is out of uniform for a short period of time … this happens from time to time. Please contact Mr Moon if there is a reason your child is out of uniform for an extended period. The uniform shop is open each Wednesday and Thursday during the day when Mrs Hand has a chance to fill your order. You are asked to send your order form to the office, and we will arrange for the order to be filled on those days. The order form can be sent to the email address admin@muswellbrook.catholic.edu.au or can be sent to the office using the order form.

Mrs Shannon Hall
Assistant Principal

Primary Coordinator

WELLBEING WEEK – WEEK 6

This week is Wellbeing Week, our favourite week of the term! As week to work on calming our mind, putting things in perspective, and this term in particular – dialling up our character strength of KINDNESS!

The following timetable has been put together:

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• On Monday, students may wear their favourite hat to school and wear this instead of their school hat if they wish.
• On Wednesday, student may wear a pair of crazy socks with their school uniform.

We are looking forward to a great week at SJM!

Spelling Bee Stage Finals – Week 5

Congratulations to the following students who represented their class in the Stage Spelling Bee finals on Monday 1st November. It was an IMPRESSIVE spell off!

Miss Hand and Mrs Thompson were extremely impressed by the composure and positivity shown by each student. It is never easy having to spell tricky words on the spot.

Congratulations to our stage winners on the day:

Spelling Bee Stage Finals – Week 5

Our stage Maths Bee finals will be held on Monday 22nd November.
Classes will be holding their class bees prior to this week.

Please contact your child’s classroom teacher if you require any

further information about the class bees.

Pos Ed Book Club

Untold Resilience

by Future Women

A timely and uplifting book of true stories from 19 women whose resilience has seen them survive extraordinary global and personal tragedy.

What does it take to find courage in the midst of deprivation and devastation? Why are some people able to continue living with purpose, even when faced with loss and despair? How does our community turn challenge into triumph? And what can we learn from the exceptional women in our midst who have done just that?

It might feel like we are living in unprecedented times but ours is not the first generation to withstand upheaval as seismic as the COVID-19 pandemic has caused. In every town and suburb in Australia, there are women from older generations who have encountered unimaginable difficulties before; women who have endured and survived. Their stories are proof of the incredible resilience of the female spirit.

Based on hours of interviews from their homes during lockdown, in Untold Resilience the all-female journalistic team at Future Women uncovers the real-life accounts of a diverse and fascinating collection of women. In doing so they have drawn on the deep wisdom and perspective that can only be gained from a life fully lived.

Our history books have long been dominated by men’s triumphant tales but there are also lessons to be learned from the quiet, modest, and largely untold experiences of women. With warmth and candour, 19 ordinary, and yet truly remarkable, individuals share their experiences of pandemic, poverty, famine, war, violence and discrimination.

Through these hope-filled stories from women who have gone before, we can find inspiration and comfort, and rebuild faith in our own futures.

(taken from www.goodreads.com )

Thought of the Week

Choose kindness, always.

Miss Eloise Hand
Primary Coordinator & Lead Teacher of Positive Education

Awards

Class News

ES1

Students in Kinder participated in the Early Stage One Spelling Bee. Each student applied all their sound/letter knowledge and should be very proud of their efforts. The class finalist for Kindergarten 2021 were: Maliah, William and Eyden (KM) and Isla, Maddison and Ruby (KG). Congratulations to Eyden who is the 2021 ES1 winner. In the coming weeks we will be getting ready for our Early Stage One Maths Bee.

It was wonderful to see so many colours last Friday for Colour your threads Day. It is always great to see our students expressing themselves through colour. A huge thank you to all families for participating in Positive Education Day and Where There’s a Will Foundation.

Students are finding some of their belongings in the lost property collection. Please ensure that you label everything that is coming to school: lunchboxes, drink bottles, hats and jumpers.

Mrs Donna Smith and Mrs Jane Jacobs

Stage 1

Our Science unit this term is called ‘Investigating Living Things. Stage 1 students have been classifying living and non-living things and learning that living things move, reproduce, grow, respire, eliminate waste products, are sensitive to changes in the environment and need nutrients to survive. They have been examining the external features of animals by observing, drawing and identifying the habitats in which they live.

In Geography students have been examining the natural and human features of places. They have been exploring a variety of pictures to discuss built, natural or constructed environments and how to care for these places. They have discussed the meaning of ‘birds eye view’ and drew in detail a map of our school.

Stage 1 recently participated in Spelling Bee rounds in class and the finalists competed in Stage 1 Spelling Bee final. A great effort to all that was involved.

Miss Emma Beletich, Mrs Mary Ballard, Mrs Trishelle Threadgate and Miss Jane Boyle

Stage 2

In Stage 2 the students have been very busy developing their paragraph writing using rich, descriptive language. They have been completing activities from picture prompts from their reading text and a variety of sea creatures. The children are learning to use the word because to develop a compound sentence which is being included in their paragraph.

The children are enjoying the novel Grimsdon by Deborah Abela and will continue the journey of the children in the story by reading The New City by Deborah Abela next.

In Mathematics the children are becoming more efficient at recognising equivalent fractions and have been very enthusiastic when completing class Maths Bees.

In science the children used their sense of smell to decide what flower would be chosen to take to an imaginary planet. This activity lead to a lot of discussion why each plant would be beneficial.

Ms Katrina Clement, Mrs Jane Dengate and Mrs Donna-Maree Watt

Stage 3

Stage 3 have been busy with many things this fortnight. Students had the opportunity to participate in a pilot/ online excursion with the National Electoral Education Centre (NEEC). Stage 3 looked closely at the history of democracy and the processes involved, including elections and the voting process. Students enjoyed partaking in a mock election, filling out ballot papers, counting the votes and announcing a winner.

Students in PDHPE have been working on ‘Movement Exploration’. Stage 3 have been building upon their gymnastics skills and finding movement solutions. The importance of stretching and flexibility has been shown and students have been finding ways to build on these areas. It has been wonderful to see the creativity and feedback the students have provided to each other to assist them in improving further.

Mrs Rebecca Harrod, Mrs Jane Harris, Mrs Clare Collett and Miss Lauren Osborne

Let’s Yabber – Indigenous News

Just a reminder that our St James’ NAIDOC is on this Friday, 12th November. We cannot wait to enjoy our day of activities and learning based on this year’s theme, ‘Heal Country’.

Children are encouraged to come out of uniform dressed in clothes with Indigenous designs or colours of the Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander flags. If your child is wishing to purchase something special to wear on the day Wanaruah Local Aboriginal Lands Council in Sydney Street were selling NAIDOC shirts featuring local artists for $10-child and $15-adult. You may wish to ring ahead though to check which sizes they still have available.

All students must wear joggers and a hat as they will be participating in some traditional sporting activities.

Unfortunately we are unable to invite parents, friends & community members to attend and participate in our celebrations this year.

Yours in Culture
Mrs Tania Thompson
Aboriginal Education Teacher

The Children and Young Person’s (Care and Protection) Act 1998

Parents need to be aware that as teachers in the state of NSW we are required by law to report certain information to the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ). Reports to the Child Protection Helpline (Ph. 132 111, 24 hrs/7 days) must be made where we have reasonable grounds to suspect that a child or young person is at risk of significant harm and our concerns are current. Risk of significant harm may occur from a single act or omission or to a series of acts or omissions.

We can get help to determine whether we need to report by using the DCJ online Mandatory Reporters Guide:

We can also contact the Office of Safeguarding (Ph. 4979 1390 Mon-Fri). Information about the roles and functions of the Office of Safeguarding can be found here:

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts