22 March 2022

Newsletter Articles

Our Mission @ SJM

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

Quote

Lent is a good time for sacrificing. Let us deny ourselves something every day to help others.

Pope Francis twitter

Principal’s Message

Thank you to those families that reached out to me to wish my family well last week. As you many know the Moon household was hit by COVID-19. We had three of our children COVID positive. Thankfully their symptoms were all mild.

COVID-19 is still around so I do encourage you to do what you can to minimise the chance of you and your family catching COVID-19. This includes practising social distancing, using hand sanitiser, even wiping down a trolley when you go to use it.

Please remember:

• We have Rapid Antigen Tests available if you have collected your supplied tests. Please contact the office for more details.
• If your child/ren is COVID-19 positive or they are a close contact, please inform the school at your earliest convenience.

Thanks everyone and stay safe!

Holy Week

Please see below the information for Holy Week @ SJM.

Holy Week is the holiest week of the entire liturgical year. Holy Week begins on Palm Sunday and continues until Easter Sunday. It celebrates the passion and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and his resurrection.

Holy Week is an opportunity for both joy and serious reflection in anticipation of Easter Sunday celebration.

Holy Week means so much more to me now after I completed my pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 2019. To be able to be there and see the landscape, the actual places that Jesus visited was quite overwhelmingly. Highlights of my pilgrimage included: silent reflection and meditation in the Garden of Gethsemane, walking the road of Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, taking part in Mass inside the Edicule of the Holy Sepulchre, the place of Jesus’ resurrection were simply amazing. I was also fortunate to take part in the ‘Via Delorosa’ or ‘The Way of the Cross.’ Our group carried the cross throughout the city as the Stations of the Cross depict, finishing at the Holy Sepulchre. Honestly, this pilgrimage has given me greater insight to my faith and has inspired me to be more in my life.

I definitely try to share this experience with the students each year. Only two weeks ago I shared this pilgrimage with 2G whilst I taught them. They were intrigued as I shared photos and stories of the desert, the Sea of Galilee and Jerusalem.

Easter Hat Parade

We are so excited that the Easter Hat Parade is back at SJM in 2022.

All the community is welcome back for this fun way to end the term.

Just remember:

• It doesn't have to be a masterpiece. Have fun making the hat with your child.
• The children aren't judged on their entry. All entries are drawn randomly from a hat.
• All parents are welcome at this outdoor event. Please arrive early so that you can sign in and not miss out.
• Pre-schoolers are most welcome to come with their hats

Parent Information night – 10th March

Thank you so much for your attendance at the Parent Information sessions. It was great to see you and to share with what is happening in 2022 at SJM.

We have a great community, and we look forward to welcoming you back to many more events across the year. Stay tuned…..

Enrolments for Kindergarten 2023

Do you know of anyone with a child starting school next year? If you do, please encourage them to consider SJM. Our enrolment period has begun and we look forward to offering interviews early next term.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

Reflection

During the last two weeks of Lent we have read about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness for forty days and then Jesus took three disciples up on a mountain to pray and Jesus is transfigured. At this moment the three disciples were able to see clearly and understand who Jesus was.

The two messages that we can take from the first two weeks of Lent are these:

1. Lent is a time that we need to guard against temptation. We are able to do these things during Lent by fasting, praying and almsgiving. Jesus wants us to think more of others than ourselves.
2. The transfiguration gave the disciples hope. God is present in the everyday moments of our lives. Real encounters with God happen in our everyday life actions. So how can we see God present in our lives? This can be done by spending just five minutes quietly. We don’t need to have a book of prayers to say, we just need to find a few moments in our everyday actions to spend with God. .

CLEAN UP AUSTRALIA DAY

Our SJM community particpated in Clean Up Australia Day on Friday 11 March. Due to the wet weather we experienced our Clean Up Day was postponed a week. A huge thank you to the Muswellbrook Council for providing our students with gloves and bags to collect rubbish around our school. As Australia’s waste challenge continues to grow, we are reminded that we need to Step up and challenge ourselves. On the Clean Up Autsralia Day website a pledge challenge was put forward. This follows the discussions SJM staff and students have been working towards in line with Pope Francis encylical Laudato Si. We can take small steps and make small changes. So I challeneged each class at SJM to come up with one pledge that they can continue to do throughout 2022. Here are some of the pledges from our classes at SJM.

Sacramental Program 2022

Thank you to those parents who have expressed as interest in the Sacramental program for 2022. If you are interested in your child participating in this parish-run program, to prepare for the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Holy Communion and Confirmation, please email me your name and your child’ name ( jane.jacobs@mn.catholic.edu.au )

May we continue to sow seeds of goodness in 2022

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Primary Coordinator

Life Education Van

The Life Education Van will be visiting SJM from Wednesday 23rd March until Tuesday 29th March.

All classes K-6 will be attending a session during that time.

Sessions will be 60 minutes each for ES1 and S1 classes and 90 minutes each for S2 and S3 classes.

ES1 - My Body Matters
S1 - Growing Good Friends
S2 - B Cyberwise
S3 - Relate, Respect, Connect

Last week, a merchandise order form was sent home with each student. If your child would like to purchase something from the Life Ed Van, please return the order from to the front office, in a clearly labelled envelope (child's name/ class). Please note that orders must be CASH only.

We ask that all orders are in by FRIDAY 25TH MARCH (Week 9).

Any questions, please phone the front office or contact Miss Hand: eloise.hand@mn.catholic.edu.au

Grow Your Mind

Shrink your Guard Dog with finger breathing:

Our Guard Dog (amygdala) gets stress wrong sometimes. It mistakes everyday stress like a friend leaving you out of a game, failing a test, not getting your way etc as a threat to your life. Sometimes we can find ourselves shouting, pushing or speaking in a way we later feel bad about. Listen to your body, can you feel your heart rate quicken, do you feel warmer suddenly – or sick in your belly?

Give your Wise Owl a chance to switch on by this simple breathing technique: Trace your fingers on your left hand with your right hand’s index finger. As you go up a finger breathe In and down the other side: breathe out. Trace the entire hand and then swap.

Thought of the week:

Choose kindness always!

Miss Eloise Hand
Primary Coordinator & Lead Teacher of Positive Education

Awards

Class News

ES1

During the past 2 weeks, the Kindergarten students have learned that the sound at the beginning of the word ‘mouse’ is represented by the letter ‘m’, the sound at the beginning of the word ‘seal’ is represented by the letter ‘s’ and the sound at the beginning of the word ‘tiger’ is represented by the letter ‘t’. When introducing these graphemes (letters), we begin by matching them to the sounds made when speaking. The children learn about the ‘feel’ of the sound in their mouth as sounds are distinguished from each other by the placement and action of the teeth, lips, and tongue during articulation. When introducing a new sound, the children practise making that sound over and over. They look at the teacher making the sound and at each other, checking for the position of their mouths, tongues, and teeth. They hold their hands in front of their mouth to feel if there is any air coming out; they hold their nose to see if that makes any difference to the sound; they place their hand on their throat to see if there is any vibration. All these activities are designed to help the children to distinguish between sounds that are very similar, for example, /n/ and /m/. Both sounds are nasal, but one is made with the lips apart and the other is made with the lips touching.

Over the coming weeks, the letters representing the sounds /a/ and /p/ will be introduced and then the children will be able to blend sounds together to read a word, eg /m/ /a/ /t/. This is when it gets very exciting!

Mrs Donna Smith and Mrs Jane Jacobs

Stage 1

In Mathematics, students have been modelling one- and two-digit addition, learning the counting on strategy to complete addition questions. They have also been learning about fractions by identifying halves, and quarters of shapes and collections.

Students are beginning to prepare for our Holy Week liturgy coming up in week 11 this term. Your child may come home with a line to practise, please take the time to help you child learn their part.

Year 2 Homework

Homework will go home one Monday’s, please return to your child’s teacher on Friday’s.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email.

Stay safe and well.

Miss Annerley Fitzsimmons, Mrs Mary Ballard, Mrs Trishelle Threadgate and Miss Jane Boyle

Stage 2

Stage 2 students are flying through the term. We cannot believe how quickly the term has flown by. The students have been making remarkable progress in Spelling. The discussions around phonemes and graphemes, digraphs and trigraphs have been fantastic and we love talking about metalanguage. If your child has struggled at all with homework, it is important that you highlight this with the class teacher, as this should all be revision.

We are about to commence preparing for the Holy Week Liturgy which will be held in Week 11. Stage 2 will be responsible for preparing The Garden of Gethsemane. This will be held in the courtyard on Wednesday 6th April. We look forward to seeing you on this day, if you can join us. In the meantime, we encourage you to assist your child with their reading part, if they have one. We appreciate your assistance with this.

Miss Emma Beletich, Mrs Jane Dengate and Mrs Donna-Maree Watt

Stage 3

Stage 3 have been learning about the qualities of Jesus’ disciples and the ways in which we display and show these, to others. Students have been inspired by the actions of St Teresa of Calcutta and the ways she assisted the poor and less fortunate. This has led perfectly into Lent and the introduction of our Project Compassion boxes and making Lenten promises.

Students are also focusing on ‘Fractions and Decimals’ in Maths and the importance of ordering fractions on a number line. They have been able to distinguish and compare various number values.

Mrs Rebecca Harrod, Mrs Melissa McLennan, Mrs Clare Collett and Miss Lauren Osborne

Finance

Annual School Fees

Annual school fees statements were emailed to the nominated fee payer on 3rd March 2022. If you have not received your statement, please check your junk inbox or email Virginia on Virginia.chapman@mn.catholic.edu.au to have another copy sent to you.

Payment options

BPAY and EFTPOS remain our schools preferred methods of payment for school fees however we also accept direct debit and over the counter cash payments.

Regular instalments made by any of the above payment options are required to commence by 31st March 2022 and be finalised by 30th November 2022. If paying in full the due date for your school fees is 30th June 2022.

If the nominated fee payer is the holder of an approved government issued health care or pension card, a completed form and copies of the card need to be presented to the office by Friday 25th March for the discount to be applied to the fees account, submission after this date may result in the discount being declined.

MNSIS

The Maitland-Newcastle Student Information System (MNSIS) is a new student information and finance solution being rolled out to schools to replace SAS and other school systems.

A SIS is effectively a software application for the collection, organisation and management of student data that includes, but is not limited to, student schedules, enrolment, fees, billing, course history, achievement profile, grades, attendance and demographic information.

The following components make up the MNSIS solution:

• Compass (now delivered)
• Compass Ancestry
• Compass Billing and Receipting
• TechnologyOne Financials

WHAT IS COMPASS

Compass is a student information system that manages:

• Attendance
• Events
• Calendars
• Chronical / behaviour
• Parent & Student Portal
• Learning Tasks
• Academic Reports
• Continuum / Learning Progressions
• Analytics
• …and more

What is Compass Ancestry

Compass Ancestry brings minimal change to the existing operations of Compass however it does add extra functionality.

This new platform enables additional features such as:

• Student Billing
• Student Fees and Receipting
• Parent Portal
• Online consents for Events

In addition, Compass Ancestry combines each school into one single environment. This delivers analytical opportunities, by merging individuals and their associated history, across our network of schools.

In other words, the system recognises a single record for each individual.

We are pleased to advise that we are now ready to go live with the new solution!

What’s changing?

• New online Parent Action Centre and account details via your Parent Portal
• Online consents for student excursions and events

How will this impact me?

In addition to the new functions in your portal, the school’s finance and administration system will be offline during cut-over. Please be patient with us and avoid making payments over the counter at the school during this period.

Please note, you may experience issues connecting to your school portal directly after we cut over. This is normally caused by a consolidation of your user account across more than one school. You will now have one username and one password.

If you receive a message prompting you to login or delete your school account, please: -

1. Enter your normal password.
2. If you don’t know this or it doesn’t work, please reset via the prompts.
3. If this doesn’t work, please delete the school account, and ‘Add’ once again.
4. If you have another school account that works ok, please use this username instead of your old one.

Important Points

• The school finance system will be offline between 28th March and 1st April 2022
• Transactions can be viewed via your Parent Portal
• Event consents are processed online with payment (if applicable)
• Your future statements will look different
• Only outstanding transactions will show on new statements (this year only)

What will this look like?

Library News

Borrowing Days

Please encourage your children to return their library books, on their borrowing days.

Tuesday – Kinder      Thursday – Years 1 to 6

Scholastic Book Club

Book Club orders must be in by tonight, 21st March.

PLEASE NOTE: Book Club can not be paid by cash.

Please ensure if paying by cheque or phone orders, that orders are placed in an envelope, correctly filled out and clearly marked with your child’s name and class. There only three methods of payment available now.

1. Phone. Automated free call 1800 557 908. When paying by phone you will receive an 11-digit receipt number. Return to school with completed order form.
2. Cheque made payable to Scholastic Australia. Attach cheque to completed order form and return to school.
3. LOOP Ordering Instructions from Scholastic:

• Simply grab your child's Book Club catalogue and either sign in or register your account
• Click on ORDER and then select your school and your child's class*
• Add your child's first name & last initial (so the school knows who the book is for) PLEASE NOTE: Your child's details will never be shared with 3rd parties OR used for marketing purposes - this is for distribution purposes only.
• Enter the item number from the Book Club catalogue
• All orders are sent directly to the school for submission to Scholastic. Books will still be delivered to your child's classroom if you order by the close date
• Afterwards, there's no need to return paper order forms or payment receipt details back to your school!

If you get stuck and need help, simply call our friendly Customer Service team on: 1800 021 233 between the hours of 8am to 5pm. After 5pm, you may email our after-hours LOOP help on Customer_Service@scholastic.com.au

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is optional, but I urge all Years 3 – 6 students to participate. The books are available during their borrowing times. At the end of the year the children are awarded a certificate from the Premier of NSW. The primary students, who wish to participate, will be given a record sheet this week, to start recording their books. They then need to visit the PRC website to locate the ID number for each book.

Please feel free to contact the library if any problems/concerns arise during the year.

lisa.wilson@mn.catholic.edu.au or 65433094

Mrs Lisa Wilson
Teacher Librarian
Mrs Nadene Douglas
Library Assistant

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts

Catholic Schools Office

Complaints and Concerns - A Positive Approach

Concerns arise at schools for a variety of reasons, sometimes due to the very busy nature of the school environment.

In addition to solid teaching and learning, there are many extra curricula activities to enhance school life and a great deal of coordination is required. Accordingly, many considered decisions are made every day by our professional team to ensure the safety and wellbeing of students, staff and the wider community, and promote learning for all. At the same time, the school community is quite diverse, with many individuals or groups having vastly different opinions on how things should be done.

It is inevitable therefore, that times will arise when some parents agree with the school’s actions while others disagree and wish to discuss the matter and seek clarification with the school. We welcome such discussions and encourage parents to raise issues so that they can be dealt with speedily and resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Raising concerns or seeking clarification is not a negative experience if everyone focuses on it being a solution-focused experience by valuing everyone’s opinions. The following process for presenting and managing parental concerns works well and is the way we manage all concerns at our school.

Complaints Procedure

The following procedure is used to resolve complaints or concerns at our school.

STEP 1: Try and establish the facts before contacting the school. Many concerns are quickly resolved once the parent is aware of all the facts.

STEP 2: In the first instance, speak to your child’s teacher about the matter.

STEP 3: Let the school know via letter, email at admin@muswellbrook.catholic.edu.au , telephone (65433094) or in person at the office, that you have a concern, providing details of the issue.

STEP 4: The school WILL investigate the concern and the most appropriate person will contact you to discuss the matter or organise a meeting. Almost 100% of problems are resolved at this point.

STEP 5: If however, the matter remains unresolved, additional support from a member of the executive or Principal may be required which usually involves a formal appointment to discuss the issue.

STEP 6: Support from the Catholic Schools Office is sometimes sought to help solve problems. Contact details for the CSO Parent Liaison and Resources Officer are available from the Principal or CSO on 49791200.

For further advice, please see the COMPLAINTS AND GRIEVANCES RESOLUTION POLICY (AUGUST 2013) for the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle which can be accessed via the CSO Website and is found under Policies.

Community News