St James' Primary School Yamba eNewsletter

What is On?

Thursday 21st March - School Family Fun Night (Bingo!)

Monday 25th March - School Photo Day (details below)

Wednesday 27th March 2024 - School Cross Country

Thursday 28th March - Holy Thursday Liturgy

April

Wednesday 3rd April 2024 - Polding Swimming-Sydney

Tuesday 9th April - Zone Cross Country - McAuley Catholic College Grafton

Wednesday 10th April - Catholic Schools Week Liturgy in hall, 10am followed by open classrooms and morning tea.

Thursday 11^th April – Friday 12 April 2024 - PSSA Swimming

Thursday 11th April- Last day Term 1, 2024 for students

Friday 12th April 2024 - Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day

*Further information will be sent home with students eligible to trial for the Winter Sports closer to the trial dates.

Term 2

Monday 29th April - Staff Professional Learning Day - Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 30th April - First day for students Term 2

Friday 10th May - Mother's Day Morning (more details to come)

Family Bingo Night

Due to the wonderful support of the community and the tireless efforts of the Community Conversations Group (All are always welcome!) this looks like a great evening.

As part of the event and because of the generosity of the community (a full list of sponsors will be in next week's newsletter and on display on the night) the CC group have developed a raffle of what look like great prizes to be drawn on the night.

Below is a QRcode to access the raffle. (Big enough that you cannot miss it!) If you are not a fan of a QRcode this link will also access the raffle. https://compasstix.com/e/b3d0sk5y6

The wonderful CC’s has a flyer below for information about the very generous prizes and the purpose of the raffle.

St_James_Bingo_Raffle_2_.pdf

Dear Parents and Carers

This week I have been walking around the school with prospective parents who wish to join our community on the school tours.

I came back to the staffroom after each tour to speak with the staff about what I saw and what the families saw and noticed.

The comments from families all focused on your children as learners, their kindness in their welcome to visitors, the continuation of learning even when we were in the rooms and their joy in being greeted by name. It has been a lovely week. It is lovely to listen to these comments and quietly think "Yes! this is what we want others to see and hear. "
With the staff I discussed what I also notice. There was the engaging content in the learning, the joy in the success of the children and the firm but kind redirection (to be fair there was only one of those!).

To be honest a couple of times I found myself listening to the learning and there I was distracted, and forgetting my "spiel". We watched lesson change overs, movement breaks and quick runs for a refresh. What we all saw was how well the children settled to learning once more.

I love my job!

This week also sees us "doing NAPLAN" No fuss is made, as we want this to be a real reflection of the skills, confidence and learning which your children display each day. We continue with this on Monday.

See you on Thursday at the Family Fun Night and Bingo!
Ann

RE News

Fourth Week of Lent

(Week beginning Monday 11 March)

Memory is 26 years old and lives in rural Malawi. As the eldest child in a low-income farming family, Memory had to take on many household chores and farming activities to support her parents. They struggled to pay for Memory’s school fees and school supplies, and Memory often had to walk to school barefooted.

With the support of Caritas Australia and its partner the Catholic Development Commission in Malawi (CADECOM), Memory was able to enrol at a technical college where she learnt technical skills in carpentry. She undertook a three-year carpentry course, with CADECOM supporting part of her tuition and boarding fees.

Memory became the first female carpenter from her village. Today, she works as a carpenter at one of Malawi’s largest hydroelectric power stations. With the income from her job, she can provide financial support to her family and inspire other young women in her community so that they may have the opportunity to succeed in a male-dominated industry.

Watch Memory’s Story

Please donate to Project Compassion.

Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow for all future generations.

Pastoral Care and Wellbeing

Finding Calm & Control in the Chaos of Parenting

POSTED ON JULY 27, 2022

Do you ever lay awake at night feeling stressed? Worried? Anxious? Do you find yourself getting impatient with your children, your work colleagues, and the world around you?

You’re not alone.

Parental stress seems to be at an all-time high. And of all the jobs in the world, parenting is one of the toughest. We can regularly feel overwhelmed. There’s so much that’s out of our control. Add to the mix the state of our world, cost of living skyrocketing, interest rate rises, the housing crisis, COVID… It’s no wonder we’re all feeling the pressure.

Yet, as I talk with parents around the country, I’m full of optimism. Because I know that despite so many things feeling out of our control, you’re doing the best you can.

So in this month’s Maggie Moment, I offer a few simple strategies to help you lower the cortisol and find greater calm, care, self-compassion, and control in the face of this 2022 uncertainty.

School Photos - Monday 25th March

Photo Envelopes are now due to be returned to the school office for School Photo Day Monday 25th March.

Stage 2 News

In Stage 2, we have been busy learning about famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci (Mona Lisa), Katsushika Hokusai (The Big Wave) and Pablo Piacasso (Self Portrait). We have been appreciating these artworks and making our own using them as our inspiration. We love how bright and creative the classroom is looking.

Mrs Hollington

English

In writing, we are reading Fantastic Mr Fox to explore narrative writing. To practise characterisation, we created our own fourth farmers. We had lots of fun brainstorming names that start with ‘B’, deciding what animals to put on the farms and coming up with disgusting meals for them!

Mathematics

In mathematics we have been using number lines. We have been ordering and sequencing larger numbers as well as using the number line to help us skip count. We have been challenging ourselves to try larger and more complex numbers when ordering and creating number patterns.

Radio - Stage 3

Stage 3 Radio Show today at TLC FM 93.5 was hosted by Indie, Sienna and Ash.

Tune in Fridays at 11am.

Sport Dates