Term 2 Week 2 (6/5/2022)
Together we serve
What is On?
10th to 13th May - NAPLAN -Year 3 and 5 Students
Tuesday 24th May - Dio Cross Country
Friday 27th May - School Awards Assembly
Wednesday 1st June - Incitare Year 6 Retreat
Tuesday 7th June - Polding Cross Country
Friday 24 June - School Athletics Carnival
Thursday 30th June - Confirmation
Thursday 30th June - Last day term 2 for students
Friday 1st July - Staff Development Day - Pupil Free Day- Foundation Professional Development
Dear Parents and Carers
I trust that Mother's Day was beautiful with your loved ones.
My apology for the newsletter not arriving on Friday. I was unexpectedly held up with operational matters much of the morning and then had an early visit from the Deputy Director and Regional Service Leader for most of the afternoon.
You will notice (or have heard) that the past 2 weeks and into this week we have had many staff out and our "trusty" part time, executive and casual staff stepping in. The impact of illness has finally caught up with us, as has tbe CSO Professional Learning calendar and some leave that has been 2 years booked and somewhat overdue!
We are NOT complaining at Saint James as we do have capable part-time staff and 2 casual staff to step up and in, which is much better than most other schools in our zone. I have been told by other leaders that I am lucky and am not complaining! but I am running out of whiteboard markers as we continue to make changes on the day and week plans (sometimes 3 times a day). I imagine you are all in the same situations in your workplaces and businesses, but think it is important to clarify when the report home is " We had Teacher X today".
This will settle, but luckily we have managed to have one staff member in each space who knows the routine each day. Any concerns please ring.
This Friday, I am meeting with the diocesan solicitor as part of the Parent Engagement Working Group who are about to write new guidelines for Forums or P and F groups. At this stage there is some talk of a whole restructure and I hope next week to communicate a timeline and potential processes with you. The new laws and governance have tightened and changed processes regarding what is allowed in the "trading" space, where money and fundraising are involved (as we all expected) and as soon as this is clear we will move forward.
I wish you a lovely week ahead and look forward to seeing you either in K and D or onsite.
Ann
Sport dates 2022
Cross Country
-Dio - Grafton, Tuesday 24th May
-Polding - Tuesday 7th June
Athletics
-School - Yamba, Friday 24th June
-Zone - Coffs Harbour, Wednesday 20th July
-Dio - Lismore, Friday 12th August
-Polding - Newcastle, Friday 9th September
SACRAMENTAL DATES 2022
Confirmation- Thursday 30th June, from 5:30pm at St Mary’s Church, Maclean.
Reconciliation- Wednesday 24th August, 11:40am in school hall.
First Holy Communion- Saturday 27th August, 5:30pm at St James Church, Yamba
CSO Covid update
I have been waiting for the updated Covid guidlelines. Will be emailied tonight to all families
Short version
- any symptoms even if you do not test positive - do not attend school.
- positive results must be communicated with the school. This is so that we can let other famliies know to watch for symptoms.
- RATS- I was hoping to have news that a new supply had arrived. We received 25 in total late on Thursday. I was expecting about 1000 and I am waiting for the rest to arrive. We will distribute ASAP. ( there must be a maths lesson in fractions and percentages there!)
- masks not mandated but advised if anyone is concerned.
- ventilation is key and we continue to focus on this (everyone will need a jumper coming into winter)
-extra cleaning and sanitising continues every day.
RE News
Happy Mother’s Day!
This weekend we celebrate and give thanks for all the women who gave us life. Mother’s Day is an opportunity for us to remember and honour our mothers for their kindness, selflessness and generosity. As we celebrate these women, we pray together as a faith community and acknowledge this gift that God has given to us.
Catholic Schools Week
This week we celebrated Catholic Schools Week. The theme for this year's Catholic Schools Week is ‘Community, Care, Compassion.’ This theme encourages us to work together to become a strong and faithful community, committed to living out the Gospel. Catholic Schools Week is also a time to celebrate our schools and to give thanks for the gifts, sacrifices and passion that we, as educators, have given to establish that community.
It was lovely to have our parents and community members back onsite to celebrate with us this week.
BBQ afternoon - Catholic Schools Week
It was the special night on Tuesday to have so many families back on site with us as a school community. The story of Saint James has always been written with families highly engaged,with the learners, the staff and parents ever-present on site. While we may have continued in our role of education while the community was not accessing the site, this is not a viable view of education long term.
Can I also acknowledge the work of all staff in preparing and catering for the evening. Without their efforts, the "relaunch" in Catholic Schools Week would have been a very flat event.
The story of each child and every learning group requires parents, students and staff to be the story tellers.
It is a story worth telling and we are please to tell this story with you.
Not sure what the story looks like? Have you joined us on instagram? The team ( about 6 people post regularly) show a small part of what happens across the week and as you know you are welcome on site any time to join in the learning.
@stjamesprimaryschoolyamba is the account. This is a closed account group with only parents and grandparents given access by our managers. If you have a "creative" instagram name we will send a message to check before offering access.
Sport News
Cross Country
On Wednesday we had 25 St James students travel to Grafton Racecourse to run at the Zone Cross Country carnival. It was a very warm day and all the students ran well in the hot weather. We were lucky enough to have 10 students finish in the top 8 in their respective races to earn qualification for the Diocesan carnival to be held at the same venue on Tuesday 24th March. See names below. Also, a special congratulations to Jake Seivers and Heidi Van Leest who both won their races and were Age Champions for the day. Well done to all who competed.
Diocesan Qualifiers:
8/9yr boys - 1st Jake Seivers, 4th Harlan Bews
8/9yr girls - 3rd Iyla Towner, 8th Poppy Erbacher
10yr girls - 8th Grace Wilkinson
11yr boys - 5th Eamon Mawn
11yr girls - 5th Willow Seivers
12yr boys - 7th Will Hutchinson, 8th Owen Mortimer
12yr girls - 1st Heidi Van Leest
Netball
The Stage 3 girls Netball team competed yesterday in Maclean in the first round of the Netball NSW Schools Cup Carnival. Miss Imeson said the girls played some excellent Netball on the day and managed to finish 3rd overall. A great effort. Well done girls.
Rugby Union
Eamon Mawn and Levi O’Shea are playing today at the Diocesan Rugby Carnival in Grafton. No news yet on how the boys went but we look forward to hearing some next week.
Mother's Day Morning
School Photos
If you would like to order any Sports or Co-curricular photos please order online. Cathc ups will happen on Monday this week.
McAuley Catholic College - Year 7, 2023
LOP News
Maths fun with your children
You will need to think like a mathematician to solve the following problems and find multiple solutions. Have a go at these with your children and bring in your answers to share with Mrs Dougherty.
You may need to use concrete materials such as blocks, pasta shapes, beans or straws to help solve.
Have Fun.
Lisa Dougherty
ES1
This week in ES1 we have been celebrating our wonderful mothers. We have been thinking about all the ways they help us and what we love to do together. Students completed a special labelled diagram, highlighting their mums unique features. It was so entertaining! We hope all our mums have a wonderful Mother’s Day!
I love when my mum makes pizza and pasta. I like it when we go and look at the beach. I love when she picks me up and spins me around - Maggie.
I love my mum because she gives me big tight cuddles in the morning. We go for ice cream together. I love her - Kingston.
My mum gives me hugs and squeezes me. We read stories together. We read the story “How to Annoy Dad” - Elsie.
I love my mum because she gives the best cuddles ever. I always give her cuddles on the couch when we watch movies. We put the blanket on together - Athena.
Stage 1
We have had a very busy yet exciting week this week in Stage 1. Our new investigation areas are open and operational-these include our construction area, literacy wheel and grass heads. We have also been busy creating an informative text ‘about me’ students had to write facts about themselves and present them on a poster and include photos. The students really enjoyed finding out where they were born, comparing the different years they were born and measuring their heights. It was lovely to see the kids get to know one another and make connections with each other as they share many of the same interests.
Stage 2
Stage 2 have been busy preparing some special gifts for their Mum’s for Mother’s Day this week and we asked the students to give us a quick quote on “why their mum is the best”
Sev - because she cares for me and loves me lots. Sol - she's funny and kind.
Duke - she makes me breakfast and gets my lunch organised for school.
Anzac - she looks after me and is so nice. Poppy - she cares for me and she is funny.
Billie - she's taking me to Dreamworld soon. Cadence - she helps me read difficult words.
Oscar - because she lets me do whatever I want. Rashad - because she trusts me.
Jack - because she’s always funny. Myla - she does whatever we want.
Zoe - because she makes me laugh alot. Max - she spends time playing with me.
Austin - she always kicks the soccer ball with me. Grace - she loves me.
Lily - because she loves me. Jake - because she loves me and takes care of me.
Hannah - she takes care of me. Heath - she takes me to soccer training.
Harlan - she takes care of me. Ashton - she plays sports with me.
Scarlett - she lets me bake things with her. Levi - she comes and visits me.
Liam - because she makes me nice dinners. Isabel - she spends time with me.
Fionn - she works hard and takes care of us. Slater - she's always calm and happy
Dean - she helps me live a healthy and happy life. Eli - she reads me stories at night time.
Lola - she makes me happy when I'm sad. Sarai - because when I'm sad she helps me.
Lucee - because she supports me in everything I do.
Jensen - she cares for and looks after us. Sailor - she looks after me and cares for me.
Joe - she makes my dinner every night. Rhys - she lets me stay up late on the weekend.
Stage 3
Zone Cross Cross Country
On Wednesday some students went to Grafton to represent our school at Zone Cross Country at the Grafton Race Course. It was squelching hot, which is pretty different to the last couple of weeks, as they were pretty wet and rainy. The 8-9’s and 10’s only had to run 2km but the 11’s and 12-13’s had to run 3km. The actual track that we ran was on the ambulance track which is the dusty track on the inside of the main grass course. The McAuley track was too wet to run on so it was moved to the race course instead.
Catholic Schools Week
On Monday we celebrated the start of Catholic Schools Week. We started off the day with a whole school liturgy where we said our prayers and then listened to the song ‘All the people said Amen’. After that the parents had a morning tea in the kiss'n’drop area and the students did rotations of activities. First we graffitied our names on the concrete. Secondly we wrote what we cared about on a long strip of paper. Thirdly we wrote on a tag how we can help out and hung it up on the tree and lastly, we listened to Ms Dawson where she taught us about the 8 missions of Project Compassion.
Buddies
This week the Stage 3 students and kindergartens will be starting ‘Buddies’. Buddies is when a kindergarten gets paired with a Stage 3 student to do activities and games with every Friday! This term the Stage 3 students will be organising sport for the Kindy kids. This could be basketball techniques, handball or even a game of tips!
Geography
This week on Tuesday we learnt about different days during the year that are observed by The UN, and whether these days are a Commemoration or a Celebration. For example, International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples is a celebration, because it celebrates the diversity of humanity - it is held on the 9th of August each year.
Radio
Radio will be starting next week on Friday the 13th. Radio is when two Stage 3 students are rostered each week to go to the radio station in Yamba and host it! They will write a script to read and will also be playing some songs of their choice! Be ready to tune in to the Yamba radio station (TLCFm 100.3 ) and call up the number 6646 1100 to request a song for them to play! The time that this will be on is around 11:00am - 12:00pm! So remember to listen to the Yamba radio station on Friday!!! (The first people to be hosting the radio station will be Willow Bews and Dusty Woods.)