13 September 2023

Our Mission @ SJM

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

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Principal’s Message

It certainly has been a busy two weeks for me.

Two weeks ago myself and our Pedagogical Mentors, Mrs Jane Jacobs and Mrs Lauren Gehrig, visited St Joseph’s Wauchope. Whilst there we visited the classrooms, as well as looking at their journey on the Learning Collaborative. We too, are on the Learning Collaborative Journey and took away some great ideas that we can look at here at SJM. Thanks to Brendan and his team for hosting us.

Last week I attended the Canberra excursion with Stage 3. I am sure you saw some of the photos on Facebook. The children were amazing and did SJM proud. I must admit I had two highlights: visiting the Governor General’s residence – a place that I have never been too. The other place was the mint. Snagging one of the heritage $5 coins was a highlight as well. I am sure the Stage 3 families would’ve heard some great stories.

On Monday the staff attended the Diocesan Spirituality workshop – Rediscovering Joy in Scripture. This was an in depth delve into breaking open the scriptures for students. It was a worthwhile day.

Next week is our last week of Term 3. This term has flown. All the best for the holidays and we will see you back at SJM on Monday 9^th October.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Religion

Last week the staff at SJM participated in their Religious Spirituality Day with many other school across our diocese. This day allowed staff to look at scripture in different ways and discussions flowed around the tables.

Each week at SJM we have been working hard to continue looking after our common home. We are recycling our fruit scraps in our compost bins, the veggie garden is thriving, and we are learning to recycle our juice and milk bottles and our poppers. Each day our small bins are placed in the eating areas, which encourages students to put their empty drink containers in. Mrs Threadgate has been returning these to the Return and Earn stations in Muswellbrook for Mini Vinnies. Every small action helps. This reduces our waste in our bins and going to landfill.

Over the holidays what can you do in your home to ensuring less waste in your general waste bin?

Each year our SJM community supports Socktober. This year there is going to be an event at McDonald Jones Stadium for our captains to attend to support Catholic Missions. There is a link included for you to support this great event. Simply scan the QR code to go into the draw to win one of several great prizes.

More information regarding SJM Mission Day and Socktober will be sent home at the beginning of Term 4.

I wish all our SJM community a safe, relaxed and happy holiday. Spending time with family and friends is a wonderful way to relax. Happy Holidays!

May your light continue to shine brightly

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Religious Education Coordinator

Awards

Class News

ES1

Welcome back Mrs Smith. We have missed you.

In Mathematics the students have be learning to share groups equally. Learning that even numbers are more likely to be shared equally with none left over. We have introduced odd and even numbers while learning about sharing.

When we are sharing cakes and pizza kindergarten quickly recognised what is fair and made sure the groups were equal.

We are also looking at patterns. Exploring AB patterns, ABC and AAB patterns. The children have made patterns with blocks, numbers, natural objects and colours. We have also noticed patterns in the environment.

Mrs Trishelle Threadgate and Mrs Donna Smith

Stage 1

Dear Stage 1 Parents and Carers,

What a fantastic two weeks Year 1 and Year 2 have had! We enjoyed making our hair crazy and dressing as bright as we could for the final two ‘Wacky Wednesdays’. Thank you, everyone, for helping your children participate in these fun days.

2G could not be happier to welcome back Miss Becus full time. We thank Miss Janik for her commitment to 2G whilst Miss Becus was away.

Thank you also, to Miss Brimble, who has taught 1G whilst Miss Fitz was completing her university practicum. We are excited to have Miss Fitz back on 1G and wish Miss Brimble the best of luck whilst she completes her final internship at St. Nick’s.

1M are thoroughly enjoying having Mrs Norman in their class and are grateful for the wonderful help she is providing.

We are looking forward to a fabulous final two weeks of Term 3. Wow, hasn’t it gone fast!

As always, please do not hesitate to reach out to your child’s classroom teacher for any questions you may have regarding your child’s learning. Thank you for your ongoing communication and cooperation.

Kind Regards,
Miss Cooper (2M), Miss Becus (2G), Miss Fitzsimmons (1G), and Mr Sabotic and Mrs Norman (1M).

Stage 2

Hi parents/carers,

Stage 2 have had a wonderful fortnight, kicking off with Wellbeing Week. Students enjoyed not having any homework, and all the fun activities throughout the week.

Crazy Hair Day was a blast! There were some wacky hair dos, well done to those for getting involved. Wacky Wednesdays have now come to an end, finishing up with out of uniform day. Thank you to all for your gold coin donations.

We would like to congratulate all students on their efforts for public speaking. We are aware of how quickly the process happened; however, the children handled it very well giving it their all. Us Stage 2 teachers are very proud.

Wellbeing week was also Book Week for 2023. Although there was no parade this year, students still participated in the share reading with younger students at SJM. This happened over two days due to an interruption. The students enjoyed this time sharing each other's books. Reading is a vital part of student learning, we encourage all students to keep reading.

On Friday September 1st, we celebrated our dads and Father figures by making gifts and getting ready for the annual paper plane challenge. The students really enjoyed this day, and loved competing against their peers. We hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

Stage 2  
Mrs Ballard, Mrs Jacobs, Miss Dafter, Miss Maher and Mr Somerville.  

Stage 3

Stage 3 had an amazing 3-day trip to Canberra last week. The students are all very excited. They enjoyed seeing our nation’s Capital and exploring the sights starting with Questacon and ending with Parliament House. More to come in the next newsletter….

Last week we celebrated our dads at school and made cards and gifts in class for them. The students were all so proud. We hope that all our dads and father figures had a wonderful day.

In PDH we are exploring how to refuse unsafe or unwanted touch. We have looked at different scenarios discussing and role playing how we would do this.

Miss Isabelle Lamont, Mrs Melissa McLennan, Mrs Lauren Gehrig, Mrs Helen Feeney, Miss Alyssa Pritchard

What’s on in the Library

Book Week

Book Week was celebrated with shared reading sessions in the courtyard. It was wonderful watching the younger and older students engaging with books.

Book Week Competition

Students have created amazing miniature houses and reef dioramas. Thanks to the students and parents who have put so much effort and creativity into these masterpieces. Winners will be announced shortly.

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Library Assistant

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