6 September 2022

Newsletter Articles

Our Mission @ SJM

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

Quote

Father’s Day Blessings
May the Lord bless you and keep you;
May the Lord shine his face upon you…. and give you peace.

Principal’s Message

Father’s Day

Happy Father’s day to all of our SJM fathers, grandfathers and all men who play a role in the life of our students. I do hope you had a great day, and you were well looked after. Mr Moon was treated to breakfast in bed and then a meal with our close friends out in Denman.

It was wonderful to spend Friday after as a community to celebrate Father’s Day. A great time was had by all. A big thank you to Simon and the team at Double Picc who catered our event on Friday.

The SJM Paper Plane Challenge was a fun way to conclude our celebration. Congratulations to all of our winners, this activity was hotly contested and was a lot of fun.

Congrats to our Winners:

Thanks everyone for a great day.

RUOK? Day

R U OK?Day is Thursday 8 September 2022. It’s A national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, ‘are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they spot the signs that someone they care about might be struggling with life.

On this day we are asking all members if our school community to wear an item of clothing that is yellow. It can be socks, as shirt, ribbons in your hair…… anything.

Don’t forget to ask someone R U OK?

Obstacool

It was great to finally have our Term 2 End of Term Reward last Thursday. The children that were eligible had a great time.

This term’s reward is the Triple M Day – Movies & M & M’s. This will be held in Week 10.

Staffing

I would like to announce several items relating to staffing for 2023:

• Great news – our increase in enrolments over the last fours years has meant that we have been allocated a 13th class in 2023. This will mean there will be 2 x Year 3 classes and 2 x Year 4 classes. This position is currently being advertised as a permanent position.
• As you know, Mrs Hall resigned as Assistant Principal last week. This is currently being advertised also.
• I also wanted to inform the SJM community that Mrs Donna-Maree Watt has tendered her resignation here at SJM. Donna-Maree has been a valued member of our school for a number of years; however, she is stepping back to care for her father. On behalf of the SJM community I would like to wish Donna-Maree all the very best. Her position has been advertised.
• Mrs Tania Thompson has been appointed our Permanent Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) Teacher. Tania has been doing this job expertly for several years at SJM on a temporary basis. Congratulations Tania. Her permanent classroom position is also being advertised.
• As you know, Mrs Baker and Miss Hand will go on maternity leave soon – Eloise at the end of this term, and Mrs Baker at the end of next term. These two temporary positions have also been advertised.

So, as you can see there are a number of jobs currently advertised at SJM, some are incentive based positions. If you know any teachers out there, I encourage you to share these positions with them. They can be found at the link below:

Canteen

The canteen is closed again this week. I apologise for any inconvenience.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers and men who are like fathers to our wonderful students at SJM. KG and KM did an amazing job leading our school community in our liturgy on Friday. Even though it can be extremely daunting standing up and speaking in front of a crowd, all the Kindergarten students should be extremely proud of their efforts.

On Monday 19 September the staff at SJM will be participating in Religious Education Professional Development. The staff will be looking at Pope Francis encyclical letter Laudato Si. During the past 2 years the staff have had the opportunity to deepen their understanding of Pope Francis’ message, on caring for our common home.

Here is a link to a quick 4-minute clip about what Pope Francis’ message is all about and what we need to do to make positive changes to the environment.

May your light continue to shine brightly

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Assistant Principal (Acting) and Lead Teacher of Positive Education

SJM Spelling Bee

Congratulations to all of our SJM Spelling Bee finalists. Each stage competition was extremely competitive, and each student should be incredibly proud of their achievements.

Here are the final results for each stage:

ES1 WINNER: Arlo Gallagher (KG)
ES1 RUNNER UP: Violet Komacha (KG)

S1 WINNER: Ivy Miller (2G)
S1 RUNNER UP: Isla Andrews (1G)

S2 WINNER: Flynn Miller (4G)
S2 RUNNER UP: Liliana Rutherford & Liam Ovenden (3G)

S3 WINNER: Llayten Arrowsmith (5/6G)
S3 RUNNER UP: Keenan Russell (5/6J)

UPPER HUNTER Spelling Bee & Math’s Bee Competition

Congratulations to the following students who will be SJM’s representative at the Upper Hunter Spelling and Math’s Bee competition:

SPELLING BEE REPRESENTATIVES:
ES1 - Arlo Gallagher (KG)
S1 - Ivy Miller (2G)
S2 - Flynn Miller (4G)
S3 - Llayten Arrowsmith (5/6G)

MATH’S BEE REPRESENTATIVES:
ES1 – Savannah Borg (KG)
S1 - Hayden Clerke (2M)
S2 – Riley Brett (3G)
S3 – Chase Dellar (5/6M)

This competition will be hosted by St Joseph’s Denman at the Denman RSL located at the corner of Paxon Street and Isobel Street. It will be held on Wednesday 7th September.

SPELLING BEE INFORMATION

We ask all Spelling Bee competitors to arrive at Denman RSL by 8:45am. The timetable for the morning, which is a guide only, is as follows:

ES1 - 9:00am
S1 - 9:45am
S2 - 10:30am
S3 - 11:15am

MATHS BEE INFORMATION

We ask all Maths Bee competitors to arrive at Denman RSL by 12:15pm. The timetable for the afternoon, which is a guide only, is as follows:

ES1 – 12:30pm
S1 – 1:15pm
S2 – 2:00pm
S3 – 2:45pm

We wish all of our SJM students competing on Wednesday the best of luck! We know they will represent our school with pride.

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

We have been skipping our HEARTS out! It is hard to believe that we are in our FINAL WEEK of the program! On the Friday afternoon (9th September), we will be holding a Whole School Jump Off!

It’s not too late to register your child and raise money in this last week!

Register your child online. Visit the link below:

Contact Miss Hand eloise.hand@mn.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions about SJMs participation.

R U OK? DAY

R U OK? Day is Thursday 8 September 2022.

It’s our national day of action when we remind Australians that every day is the day to ask, ‘are you OK?’ and start a meaningful conversation whenever they spot the signs that someone they care about might be struggling with life.

ABSENCES DUE TO COVID

Just a reminder that you are asked to contact the school to let us know when your child is absent because of COVID. We are legally required to ensure our class rolls are up to date, and we can only do this if you let us know why your child is away. If your child is absent because they have tested positive to COVID, and you have let the school know via email or phone call, there is no need for you to use the Compass app to add an attendance note. We will do this for you to ensure we are using the correct roll marking code.

WINTER UNIFORM

We have well and truly moved into the cooler weather, so we ask that all students wear their winter uniform. We understand that some items are in short supply in the uniform shop, so we understand that some students may be missing some items until they return to stock. Where possible, please ensure your child is wearing their full winter uniform, and not a mix between summer and winter uniforms. In case you need a reminder, this is straight from our Parent Handbook.

THOUGHT OF THE WEEK:

Choose kindness, always.

Miss Eloise Hand
Assistant Principal (Acting) and
Lead Teacher of Positive Education

Awards

Class News

ES1

What an exciting 2 weeks it has been! On Wednesday 24th August, the kindergarten students, teachers, Mrs Hand, some parents, and Mr Moon, travelled to Hunter Valley Wildlife Park for the students first ever excursion! There was lots of excited chatter on the bus, before the calls of “How much longer?”, began. What a wonderful day we had. The weather was chilly to begin with, but then we had a marvellous sunny day. Mr Moon bought feed bags for everyone, which gave Mrs Jacobs and Mrs Smith a slight headache, but it turned out alright in the end. Feeding the animals brought great joy to some and tears to others. The children were able to touch a tortoise, a lizard and a snake, and were filled with information about the animals from our zookeeper, Kristen. The children are to be congratulated on their excellent behaviour. They were a credit to you.

For the last 2 weeks we have also been practising for the Father’s Day liturgy. The children were quite nervous on Friday, but they did an amazing job presenting the liturgy for the dads and granddads.

Mrs Jacobs and Mrs Smith think it may be time for a rest now. Hahaha!

Mrs Donna Smith and Mrs Jane Jacobs

Stage 1

In Religion Year 2 have completed the unit on Liturgy, learning about the liturgical calendar and the reasons, symbols and the colours for each season. Year 2 have started exploring to understand Social Justice. This is developing the skills and knowledge in how to help others and care for the common good through God’s love.

During Religious Education Year 1 have completed their first unit on Prayer, learning to deepen their relationship with God through prayer. They have begun the unit focused on Values, discovering the law of love, how to recognise signs of God’s love and be guided in living in relationship with God and others.

The students have been taking on each challenge in Jump Rope for Heart. They have improved their fitness levels and so have some of the teachers. We are showing great resilience and persistence. They have learnt the skier, Criss cross, backwards and partners. They like to use the long rope and build a sense of community by encouraging each other, taking turns and including everyone.

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

Stage 2

Stage 2 have had a wonderful fortnight with many highlights. The students and teachers certainly enjoyed Wellbeing Week, with many students taking part in fun activities such as a lunchtime disco, bubble blowing and trivia.

It has been wonderful to see so many students taking part in Jump Rope for Heart. We are so impressed with how Stage 2’s skipping skills have developed! The students are having a lot of fun practising skills like criss-crossing and are being very creative with the skipping tricks they are devising.

In class all of Stage 2 have been working hard in Mathematics to develop their multiplication and division skills. The students have been using their problem solving skills to work with large numbers in these areas, and we are so proud of how they have displayed growth mindset in these tasks.

Miss Emma Beletich, Mrs Jane Dengate, Miss Eloise Hand and Miss Gabrielle Dafter

Stage 3

As we near the end of a busy term 3, the stage 3 students have a number of exciting events to look forward to; including, the school disco, Bengalla mine excursion (yr6 only) and the touch football gala day. Please check Compass and FB for further details on these events. In class, students will be working on speaking and listening in preparation for up-and-coming public speaking English assessments. In Religion they will be reviewing Gospel stories and looking at a variety of different versions – noting similar and different points of view. In mathematics they will continue to explore the properties of 2D and 3D shapes and the importance of shapes in our daily lives. In Geography they are learning about Macquarie Island and the amazing island that it is. In science, they are studying the formation and devastation of natural disasters (particularly earthquakes) and what it means for plant and animal survival and adaptations.

Just a quick reminder that term 4 starts with stage 3 camp! Please remember to have all permission notes and the required finances sorted by the due date. If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact your classroom teacher. Thank you!

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

National Child Protection Week 4 – 10 September 2022

National Child Protection Week will continue to embrace the overarching message that ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’.

In particular, this year we will be shining a light on children growing up safe and supported.

Children and young people thrive when they grow up safe, connected and supported in their family, community and culture.

They have the right to grow up in environments that support them according to their needs, now and into the future.

This year let’s talk about how we create a supportive environment for every child.

National Child Protection Week will be looking at what works to keep children safe and supported… what children are telling us… what families are telling us… what the evidence is telling us… and how to translate this knowledge into action.

We know that too many children are not growing up safe and supported and that Child Protection systems are overloaded. There are many opportunities to change the trajectory for these children.

We can stop child abuse and neglect – and reduce its impact – by working together to make sure every child in every community has a fair go.

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts