8 March 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

As we head towards Easter we need to remember that Easter is a time to come together as Christians and remember the great sacrifice that Jesus made for us.

We are reminded to put our faith in him and follow his teachings. Is this a tough thing to do? Not really. We are a Catholic school, however, we celebrate the diversity of faith that our school has. Jesus’ teaching can be taken quite simply:

• Love your Neighbour as yourself

I believe that this teaching is in fact something that should be part of life. Treat people the way you want to be treated is a mantra for life. We need to treat people with compassion, with love, with respect, with forgiveness. If we can do this I think our part of the world would be a better place.

How can we do this you may ask. I believe we could do this simply in our everyday interactions. If someone:

• falls over during soccer help them up.
• is sitting on the buddy bench and looking sad, offer to let them play with you.
• is treated unkindly by others, stand up for them.
• lets you in the lane when you are driving, give them a wave.
• offers you a coffee, thank them with words and a kind smile.

As you can see, you don’t need to be a Catholic to use Jesus’ teachings in our everyday life in a positive way.

I encourage you that during this Lenten time you discuss with your family how we can ‘love your neighbour as yourself.’

Holy Week

Holy Week and Easter is a special time in the Church’s Calendar. The week between Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday, Holy Week, is the most sacred time of year. During this special time, we enter into the passion of Christ — his crucifixion, death and resurrection — through liturgical celebration and personal conversion.

Here at SJM we continue our tradition of our Holy Week commemorations through re-enactment. We invite you to come along to one of the commemorations below. Please don’t forget to book your place through the humanitix links. These have been sent out through COMPASS.

Holy Land Pilgrimage

Did you know that I travelled to the Holy Land on pilgrimage in 2019?

I travelled to Israel and Jordan in 2019 and spent 12 days around the Sea of Galilee (also known as Lake Tiberius) and also in the Old City of Jerusalem. It was a very special pilgrimage for me and one that brought Jesus more alive to me and helped me to share this story with the children of SJM.I still share my trip to the classes each year, which bring the Holy Land more alive for the students.

Did you know that from the Bible there are only two places that we know exactly Jesus had been……in the exact location?

These are Caesarea Phillipi (Banias) and the steps leading up to the Chief Priest’s Caiaphas’ house. See the pics below. I took my shoes off so I could literally walk in the footsteps of Jesus.

Staffing at SJM

As you may be aware we are saying goodbye to Mrs Jane Dengate.

Mrs Feeney has taken leave for the remainder of the year and relocating back to Ireland, whilst Mrs Dengate is moving to Newcastle and the beach.

We thank both ladies for the positive contributions they have made to the SJM school community.

We currently have the following positions advertised:

• Classroom teacher – temporary – 3 days per week.
• Learning Support Assistant – Temporary – 19 hours per week.

As Mrs Dengate retires, we felt it quite fitting that we come together to celebrate the celebrate the 34 years of teaching service to our school. Please see the invite below.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

What a wonderful array of footy colours we had on Friday 1 March. Thank you to all those who participated and sent in a gold coin donation for Caritas’ Project Compassion. 

Lent is a time for preparing ourselves for Easter. We are encouraged to ‘give something up’, or to adopt a positive practice, as a way of entering into the spirit of Lent. Here are a few things that you may be able to try at home yourself or as a family.

PRAYER, FASTING, ALMSGIVING

Prayer

During Lent, Christians pray for themselves and others. We encourage you to pray for the people and communities you learn about through the stories we share during Project Compassion.

Fasting

Fasting is about giving something up for a time. Many people give up something they love to eat. This can help you understand a little more about what it's like for somebody who is different from you. You can also give up something you like to do, like spending time watching television.

Almsgiving

Almsgiving means donating money or items to people who have less than you. It is a way to show that you care for others and that you are thankful for all God has given you.

Let’s be brave enough to give generously this Lent.
What can you go without during each week of Lent?
What new positive practice can you adopt for your Wellbeing?

Maybe it’s a snack or treat that you have each week. We can place the money saved in our Project Compassion boxes. Your support of Project Compassion is a way of saying you care about creating a fairer world, now and ‘for all future generations’.

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

Merit Awards

Principal Awards

Class News

ES1

Kindergarten is roaring ahead with learning, playing and building friendships. Students are enjoying our time together during successful foundations. The children have demonstrated their negotiating, sharing and investigation skills. They have been very creative and we love listening to their ideas.

This term in HSIE kindergarten are learning about families. We have been discussing our families, all the fun things we do with our family, who is in our family and why we love them. We have looked at family photos and are growing our understanding that families can be different, and we can find similarities with our friends’ families. This is a great opportunity for kindergarten to develop the confidence to get up and talk in front of an audience.  Thank you for sending in your beautiful family photos, it is nice to hear the children talk with such pride and love.

Kind regards

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

Stage 1

Stage 1 have been working hard this fortnight and have made exceptional efforts to complete homework activities. Thank you.

From Week 6 Stage 1 will be doing Athletics with Dennis. Students are required to wear their Sports uniform on Fridays as well as Wednesdays.

Year 1 library days are Wednesdays and Year 2 are Thursdays.

In English Year 1 have been reading the book ‘The Circus Ship’ by Chris Van Dusen and ‘Wombat Stew’ by Marcis Vaughan. Students have been discussing the characters in the story and identifying the problem along with the resolution.

Year 2 have been reading the books ‘Old Dan Tucker’ by Daniel Decatour and ‘You and Me’ by Murraee Kerri Hashmi. They have been making personal, text and world connections and identifying similarities between the texts.

Stage 1 have been learning about various grammar concepts such as verbs, nouns and adjectives in sentences and are encouraged to include these independently in their sentence writing.

The students have been reading decodable readers with the teacher during guided reading sessions and literacy groups. Keep up the fantastic effort with reading Stage 1!

In Mathematics, Stage 1 are encouraged to use the terms add, plus, equals, take away, minus and difference. They have been exploring addition and subtraction using hands on materials and number sentences, drawing symbols and words as well as learning about inverse operations and the relationship between both addition and subtraction.

In History, students have been sharing with the class objects/items from the past and stepping into photographs looking at a church scene from the past and being able to identify the local St Jame’s Catholic church in Muswellbrook.

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

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 continued to work hard these past two weeks. We are very proud of the children's continued efforts and continued respect for themselves and others.

This fortnight was a busy one! We hosted our school Maths Bee on Thursday 29^th of February. Two children from each class in Stage 2 were selected after a class Maths Bee. Then, on Thursday they bravely participated in a Maths Bee in front of some family members and classmates who came to watch and cheer along. We are very proud of all the children who made it to our school Maths Bee. Well done to Hayden Clerke (4M), who was the winner of our Stage 2 Maths Bee and Lukas Mitchell (4G), our runner up. Both boys will attend our regional Maths Bee later this term.

On Friday 1^st March, the children wore sports jerseys or colours for our Footy Fever Day. Children’s gold coin donations will go towards Project Compassion, as we raise money for them during this season of Lent. During Lent every year, Project Compassion encourages many schools and parishes across Australia to come together and raise funds for vulnerable members of our communities. Thank you for your generous donations.

Also, on Friday SJM participated in Clean Up Australia Day. Each class was designated a specific area of our school to clean up. While we always encourage students to pick up after themselves and choose reusable or recyclable options, when possible, Clean Up Australia Day is important in encouraging children to be sustainable and care for our environment.

Finally, in Science Stage 2 have been learning about the importance of the Sun. So far, children have explored how the Sun helps plants grow and have examined how we can prove the Sun’s power even when we cannot always see the Sun changing things. On Friday, Year 3 invited Aunty Wanda into 3M, where she taught us about her culture and their understanding of the Sun. Aunty Wanda explained through various dreamtime stories that the Sun in Aboriginal culture is seen as a “mother” because it is the giver of all life. 3G and 3M students felt so lucky to hear Aunty Wanda share her knowledge and thank her for spending some time with us.

We hope you are having a safe and enjoyable week!
Miss Maher (3M), Miss Fitzsimmons (3G), Miss Dafter (4G), Mrs Jane Jacobs & Mrs Mary Ballard (4M)

Stage 3

Stage 3 had a very busy fortnight. It has been a pleasure getting to know our students over the past five weeks of school. The students have produced some high quality and exceptional work that they should be very proud of.

On Thursday the 29^th of February, our school hosted a Maths Bee. Two students from each class competed in the Bee. It was very exciting for our participants to compete in front of their families and their fellow students, who showed great support for their classmates. The winner of our Stage 3 Maths Bee was Trinity Perry (6M) and our Runner Up was Riley Brett (5M). Trinity and Riley will be attending the Regional Maths Bee later in the term, we wish them luck!

Friday the 1^st of March was our school ‘Footy Fever Day’. Many of our students wore their favourite sport jerseys. Our students’ gold coin donation will go toward Project Compassion. We raise money for Project Compassion every year during Lent. These funds go toward helping the most vulnerable members of communities across Australia. Thank you for your support!

Friday was a very busy day! St James also participated in Clean Up Australia Day! Each class tidied up an area within the school. Clean Up Australia Day is an important event that reminds us about the effects of our rubbish and why it is important to tidy up after ourselves. The students were very responsible in cleaning up and we congratulate them on their efforts.

We also thank Dennis for teaching our students for the past 5 weeks. Dennis has taught our students many valuable skills in Athletics. This will enable our students to do their very best at our upcoming Athletics Carnival.

We are also very excited about Science in the coming weeks. Stage 3 will be designing amusement park rides. These rides will display our knowledge of kinetic and potential energy. The students will be collecting any recyclable materials they feel they need for their project. Thank you for your support with this. We will be sure to provide photographs of our designs.

We thank you for your continued support. Have a fabulous week!
Mrs Gehrig (5G), Miss Lamont (5G & 6G), Miss Brimble (5M), Mrs McLennan (6M) & Mrs Helen Feeney (6G)

What’s on in the Library

Important message

Please ensure your children keep their library books in their library bags (when they are not reading them) and store them in a safe place to prevent damage or loss. Please ensure library books are kept at home and not taken on holidays or to relatives’ homes. Students must use a library bag; plastic bags will not suffice. 

Borrowing Days

Please encourage your children to return their library books, on their borrowing days.
Tuesday: Years 5 and 6
Wednesday: Kinder and Year 1
Thursday: Years 2, 3 and 4

Scholastic Book Club

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

There only two 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. LOOP Ordering Instructions from Scholastic

1. Simply grab your child's Book Club catalogue and either sign in or register your account  
2. Click on ORDER and then select your school and your child's class* 
3. 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. 
4. Enter the item number from the Book Club catalogue
5. 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
6. 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, 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
Happy Reading!

Lisa Wilson
Teacher Librarian

Nadene Douglas
Library Assistant

Community Notices

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts