21 February 2024

Our Mission @ SJM

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

Quote

'Let us not grow tired of doing good, for in due time we shall reap our harvest, if we do not give up'. Pope Francis reflecting on St Paul's epistle to the Galatians (6:9-10) 

Principal’s Message

It has been wonderful to welcome our new and existing families to ST James for the 2024 school year. The children are settled in class and have begun working hard already.

Thank you to our families that attended the Parent Information Night last Thursday. It is a great opportunity to share with you what’s happening here at SJM. Last week you would’ve received via COMPASS your class/stage/grade newsletter. This tells you the everyday ins and outs of the classrooms.

Remember if you have any questions, please speak to your child’s teacher in the first instance.

Upcoming Dates

• • Week 5
    • Diocesan Swimming – Tuesday 27^th Feb
    • SJM School Maths Bee – Thursday 29^th Feb
    • UH Netball Trials – Thursday 29^th Feb
    • Clean Up Australia Day for Schools – Friday 1^st March
  • Week 6
    • Pupil Free Day – Monday 4^th March
    • Upper Hunter Touch Trials – Monday 4^th March
    • Steve Simpson Shield (TBC) – Wednesday 6^th March

NAPLAN

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is undertaken by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN 2024 will take place from Wednesday 13 March to Monday 25 March.

NAPLAN is just one part of our school learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school.

In preparation for NAPLAN, our school will undertake activities to help students become familiar with the format and functionality of the online tests. These activities are not an assessment of student ability and will not be marked. Excessive preparation for NAPLAN is not required nor recommended.

The public demonstration site

Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website

If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact your child’s teacher.

Please ensure your child has headphones at school before the test.

A timetable for NAPLAN will be formulated in coming weeks. This will be made available on COMPASS and a hard copy will also be sent home.

Mobile Phones & Other Cellular Devices

A reminder that here at SJM we do not allow mobile phones and other cellular devices, like ipads and apple watches into the school grounds. We have done this for a several years for a number of reasons. These include:

• To ensure the safety of our students
• To limit distractions
• To ensure expensive items like this are not stolen or damaged.

Students are able to use these devices to and from school, however, we ask that all devices are check into the office of a morning where they will be securely stored. The students may then collect their device/s as part of afternoon dismissal.

Enrolment

As you may have noticed, we are experiencing quite an enrolment growth at SJM. We were planning for 315 students to start 2024. We currently have 330 students and still have a few enquiries. This is fantastic for our school community.

You may be aware of the CSO Enrolment Prioritisation that has come into effect this year. See below for more details. The following excerpt has been taken out of the CSO Enrolment Policy:

A commitment to Catholic education when considering priority of enrolment for secondary education generally means enrolment at a CDMN primary school from kindergarten, however the following situations will also be considered:

a) Enrolment at a CDMN primary school from the commencement of Year 4 for priority enrolment for secondary schools;
b) Enrolment at a Catholic school in another Diocese from Kindergarten

Please share this information with your friends.

Thanks for your ongoing support.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Assistant Principal

It has been wonderful to see our SJM community settle back into school life so quickly. As I visit different classrooms around the school, it is exciting to hear all of the learning, laughter and fun. I have a feeling that 2024 is going to be a great year!

LABELLING ALL SCHOOL ITEMS

Don’t forget to label everything! This is the only way that lost items will be returned to your child. Now is a great time to make sure all school items have your child’s name in permanent marker or a label that will not peel off easily. Don’t forget to show your child their labelled items … this will help them when they come to ask us for help finding lost items.

HEAD LICE

From time to time we are made aware of cases of head lice that have been detected in a child’s hair. Luckily, we don’t have many outbreaks here at SJM, as our parents are great at minimising the risk of the spread of these little critters. We ask that you remain vigilant and check your child’s hair regularly for any lice or their eggs. If detected, please treat immediately. We encourage all students with hair longer than their collar, to pull hair neatly back into a band. We also encourage all hats to be clearly labelled with your child’s name to avoid the wrong hat being worn. 

COMPASS Parent Portal

The Compass Parent Portal is used as a channel for communicating important messages with you. I would ask that all current parents check that they have their Compass Parent Portal login details and are able to log in using those details. Compass is a major form of communication here at SJM and it is important that you are able to access these notifications when they are sent. Please send the office an email (admin@muswellbrook.catholic.edu.au) if you require any assistance logging in.

SCHOOL HATS

Please ensure your child comes to school with a school hat every day. We do not have spare hats at school for them to use. Any student who does not have a hat will be asked to sit on the verandah for lunch breaks. Labelled school hats will be returned to your child if they are found in the playground. We ask that you regularly check your child’s hat for their name, as the name wears off easily when they are used every day.

Acting Assistant Principal
Mrs Jane Jacobs

Religion

Reflection 

Our Ash Wednesday liturgy was led by Stage 2. Thank you to Fr Victor and our SJM community for joining us at the beginning of the Lenten season. Ash Wednesday is the first day of the season of Lent. It is a wonderful way to remember Jesus’ sacrifice for us and prepare us for the Easter season.

The students of SJM enjoyed sharing pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. Traditional pancakes were eaten the day before the Lenten season started so that they could use up all the fat, dairy and sugar before the Lenten fasting started. A big thank you to Mr Moon for providing pancakes for all the students at SJM.

On Thursday we celebrated our Opening School Liturgy and our school leaders were commissioned into their leadership roles. Thank you to Fr Victor and all our families and friends who were able to join us in this celebration.

Sacramental Program 2024  

Thank you to those parents who have expressed as interest in the Sacramental program for 2024. 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 your lamp continue to burn stronger and brighter in 2024

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Awards

Merit Awards

Principal Awards

Class News

ES1

Welcome to Kindergarten 2024. We hope you have survived your first week. We are pleased to report the children have settled in nicely with only a few tears.

There is always so much to learn in the first few weeks of kindergarten: rules of the classroom, rules of the playground, the names of the teachers, what to do when you can’t find anyone to play with, where to go to the toilet, and heaps of other things. It’s no wonder the children are exhausted by the end of the day!  

Both teachers sent a welcome email to the families. If you haven’t received the email, could you please check your junk folder and then let us know that you found it. I believe we have received replies from most families.

We look forward to getting to know and you and your family throughout the year.  

Mrs Donna Smith (KG) and Mrs Trishelle Threadgate (KM)

Stage 1

Welcome back to school! Students are settling well into new class routines with their new teachers. They are doing an amazing job of transitioning into the next stage and have had a fantastic start to the year. We look forward to an amazingly productive year ahead.

It is still very hot, please remember to pack your child a drink bottle and hat each day.

Library day for Year 1 is on a Wednesday for you to bring in and return your library books. Library day for Year 2 will be on a Thursday.

Please remember to label all belongings including hats, lunch boxes, drink bottles to ensure they don’t get lost.

Year 1 homework will be handed out on Monday of week 4, the 19th of February and due fortnightly, which will be Week 6 Friday the 1st of March 2024. Year 2 homework will be sent home every Monday, and we ask for it to be returned on the Friday of the same week.

We have hit the ground running with Year 1 enjoying the book Josephine Wants to Dance and Bears Don’t read. We have been focusing on the elements of imaginative texts discussing the features of a narrative. Year 2 will be finishing up the poem ‘Waltzing Matilda’. Here, Year 2 has taken the time to explore synonyms of words such as “jumbuck” (sheep), “billy” (kettle) and “thoroughbred” (horse) and the elements that make up a poem.

In Mathematics we have been exploring whole number, including place value, before and after and ordering numbers. Year 2 have explored the units, tens and hundreds column, as well as rounding to the nearest ten and hundred.

Please if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us via email.

1G Mrs Jane Baker and Mrs Mary Ballard

  jane.baker@mn.catholic.edu.au
mary.ballard@mn.catholic.edu.au

1M Mr Bradley Sabotic and Mrs Joanne Whitehead

bradley.sabotic@mn.catholic.edu.au
 joanne.whitehead@mn.catholic.edu.au

2G Miss Claudia Becus

claudia.becus@mn.catholic.edu.au

2M Miss Rachel Cooper

rachel.cooper@mn.catholic.edu.au

We look forward to getting to know all families throughout the year.

Stay safe and well.

Kind Regards,
Mrs Baker & Mrs Ballard (1G), Mr Sabotic & Mrs Whithead (1M), Miss Cooper (2M) & Miss Becus (2G)

Stage 2

Stage 2 have had a great start to the year! The children have spent time getting to know their new class, their new teachers and have enjoyed welcoming some new children to our school. For our Year 3 students, it has been wonderful to watch them transition into primary and the additional independence this brings with it. Our Year 4 students have had no trouble showing them what to do!

Weeks 1 and 2 have flown by! Alongside being introduced to our new topics for the year, children have been preparing for the athletics carnival with Denis from Spectrum Sport on a Friday. Children have also been participating in sports lessons with Mrs Dengate, which they have been enjoying. We hope the children aren’t too tired!

We look forward to seeing what the rest of the year has in store for Stage 2 and are looking forward to getting to know you as the year progresses!

Miss Maher (3M), Miss Fitzsimmons (3G), Miss Dafter (4G), Mrs Jane Jacobs & Mrs Mary Ballard (4M)

Stage 3

Stage 3 have had a great start to the 2024 school year. Students have returned and spent time getting to know their new class cohort and teachers. We have watched Year 5 take on leadership roles with our new kindergarten students by showing them around and leading by example. It has also been wonderful to see our new Year 6 group take upon their roles as leaders whether that be with or without a badge!

In English students have started reading their class novel’s.

Year 5 are reading ‘The Wild Robot’ by Peter Brown

Year 6 are reading ‘Storm Boy’ by Colin Thiele

In Religion students have been discussing the concept of ‘Mission’ and what that means for us and our world. Stage 3 were able to identify Jesus’ mission and the part it played and the importance of this. Students could also explain the definition of a mission and recognise that a mission can be big or small, but all have a purpose.

Sport uniforms will be worn on Tuesdays and Thursdays for the first 5 weeks. The students will be having sport with Mrs Dengate on a Tuesday, and they will have athletics with Denis from Spectrum Sports on a Thursday.

This term, the end of term reward is Laser Tag! Children who remain eligible will be able to participate in the last week of term.  

We can’t wait to see what the rest of the year brings!

Mrs Gehrig (5G), Miss Lamont (5G & 6G), Miss Brimble (5M), Mrs McLennan (6M) & Mrs Helen Feeney (6G)

Pedagogical Mentors

As Pedagogical Mentors we are implementing the work of Leading Learning Collaborative (LLC) by Dr Lyn Sharratt. This pedagogy has a focus on building teacher and leader capacity to increase student achievement and growth in a measurable and sustainable way. This translates to things such as a whole school data wall where we put ‘faces to the data’ in English and Mathematics, having clear Learning Intentions and Success Criteria to assist students to achieve their best and Learning Walks and Talks. Learning Walks and Talks involve teachers walking around classes and asking students the following questions:

These questions illustrate student understanding of the tasks they are given and provide teachers with immediate feedback. This assists in the upskilling of all teachers and success of all students.

All families will be receiving a magnet with the 5 Key Questions, so you are able to utilise these at home. They offer a terrific opportunity to engage in conversations with your children about their school day.

 As Pedagogical Mentors we have had several opportunities to work with Lyn at the CSO (Catholic Schools Office) and St Joseph’s Primary School Wauchope where we were invited to join Lismore Diocese cohort with Lyn. This school was a few years ahead of us on the journey and displaying the positive change LLC can bring to a school.

We look forward to sharing more of LLC with our community.

Mrs Lauren Gehrig and Mrs Jane Jacobs

Sport Report

Regional Swimming Carnival.

Congratulations to the students who travelled to Merriwa for the Regional Swimming Carnival.  The students displayed sportsmanship and were successful on the day.  The following students will be going to the Diocesan Swimming Carnival on Tuesday 27^th February at the Forum  Callaghan.

Winter Sports Trials

Regional Winter Sports Trials will be held over the next few weeks.

Netball : Thursday 29^th February at St James Primary School Muswellbrook from 9:30-11:30am.

Touch Football:  Monday 4^th March 9.30-12.00am at St Cath's  Singleton

Soccer:  To be announced

Rugby League: Rugby League does not have a regional trial.  3 students will be nominated for Under 11s and 3 for Under 12s to attend.

Steve Simpson Cup

The school will be entering 2 Open sides and 2 Under 10 sides for tackle Rugby League on Wednesday 6^th March at Singleton.  There will be 1 girls league tag team also going on that day.  Students have nominated to be part of this competition and will train on nominated lunch hours during the weeks prior.  More information will come out on compass through the week.

Jane Dengate
Sports Coordinator

Community Notices

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts