St James' Primary School Yamba eNewsletter

What is On?

Saturday 27th August - First Holy Communion, 5:30pm St James Church Yamba

Tuesday 30th August - Book Week Character Parade -Note Change of Date

September:

Friday September 2nd - Breaky with Dad for Father's Day

Tuesday 6th September - Stage 3 Soccer/Netball Carnival

Friday 9th September - Polding Athletics - Newcastle

Thursday 15th September - Meerkat Performance, 2pm -3pm

Friday 16th September - Touch Carnival S2 & S3

Thursday 22nd September - Last Day Term 3 for students

Friday 23rd September - Staff - Professional Learning Day

Dear Parents and Carers

It has been an exciting day, at the end of an exciting week.

Little J's began today with 25 children and their families spending the morning with the Little J's team in the hall. We finished the session with icy poles with our siblings in the sunshine.

What a wonderful new beginning for us all.

I am never sure who is most excited, the Little J's or the siblings! I know that siblings make the transitions so much richer with their enthusiasm and excitement.

As followers on "the gram" I know you will all have cheered for the children and their parents who are building the newest part of our community in 2022 for 2023. I also know that existing families will welcome and support new families as the transition continues.

Picture this...

The staff are busy building costumes for Tuesday and much discussion and planning takes place in the staffroom over lunch. Today I may have picked up a prototype costume element and needed to have a new one built. I officially have a big head!! Tuesday should be a lovely morning filled with frivolity.

On Monday night we were lucky to work with Sarah McGowen looking at developing and maintaining healthy and positive relationships based on Informed Consent. The input was magnificent.

We are looking to offer another input early in Term 4. Stay tuned for details.

Talk soon

Ann

First Holy Communion- this Saturday 27th August, 5:30pm St James Church Yamba

All are welcome to join us.

Book Week

RE News

Reconciliation

On Wednesday 16 students received the Sacrament of Reconciliation, with Father Nicolas. We congratulate these students.

First Holy Communion- this Saturday 27th August, 5:30pm St James Church Yamba

First Holy Communion is a special Sacrament, where we are united in a special way with Jesus. At his last supper, Jesus said of the bread that he shared among his followers, “Take and eat, this is my body.” When we receive Holy Communion, we believe that in a mysterious way we are sharing in the body and blood of Christ. On Saturday night Jack W, Lola D, Clarence D, Isabel D, Fin W, Gemma H, Levi O, Owen M, Aaron P, Eamon M, Kydan J, Willow S, Savana W-M, Jack C, Henry M, and Mitchell G will receive the Eucharist for the first of many times. The opportunity to be fully active in the Mass is something we value above all about the parish community. The Eucharist brings us peace and harmony each time we receive it. We are excited to welcome these children into the Parish community and we wish them all the best for this special time.

Renee Howland

Mini Vinnies

Mini Vinnies- Annual Winter Appeal

As part of our Annual Mini Vinnies Winter Appeal we have been collecting warm blankets and clothing from our families. A box is located in the front office for anyone who is able to donate. This Winter Appeal will provide emergency relief to people at risk of and experiencing homelessness, as well as people in our community who are in need of warm supplies this winter.

Next week will be the last week for accepting donations for this appeal. All donations will be collected by St Vincent de Paul on Friday 2nd September. We thank you for your support.

Little J's

What an amazing start to Little J’s! We welcomed our new students this morning, and had a wonderful day reading stories, singing and dancing, exploring the playground equipment, and making a craft based on the St James uniform. We also planted some sunflower seeds and we can’t wait to watch them grow over the coming weeks. See you next week!

Early Stage 1

A new Dramatic Play Investigation area was set up this week, with the theme of: EXPLORING SPACE! After we read the Book Week Book Stellarphant by James Foley - Students suggested, Why don’t we create an outer space area? Jett even drew plans of what he wanted it to look like. Ms O’Halloran busily sourced some amazing astronaut costumes. As you step inside the room it is like being inside a rocket ship, students are busy communicating & organising space missions and drawing the location of the planets. Check out our photos and come visit our new area!

Stage 1

This week Stage 1 had a blast learning about position in mathematics. During this learning cycle students used a coding program called ScratchJr. They had to create and code directions to navigate a character around a classroom using the language of left, right, forward, backward and turn.

Stage 2

This week in Stage 2, students completed the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee. This is an online competition open for Australian school students from year 3-8. There are 3 levels for Years 3-4, Years 5-6 and Years 7-8. Entrants were required to answer 30 random spelling words per round. The class teacher will be notified if any student makes it to the next round of the competition.

Below are some of Stage 2’s thoughts on the experience.

Billie - I would love to learn the definitions of the words for next time.

Rhaya - I would like to see the words before the Spelling Bee.

Ashton - I kind of enjoyed it. I found it difficult to understand the accent which made it confusing.

Sevi and Heath - It was really hard.

Cadence - I would like some time to practise some of the difficult words that they may give us next time.

Zoe - Next time I could be better prepared by practising and learning more words.

Scarlett - It was just right!

Sol - It was hard but some of the questions were easy too.

Oscar and Jack - I wouldn't do it again. It was way too hard to understand the accent.

Stage 3

Week 6 News - By Latifah and Jorja!

Touch Football Competition

Stage 3 have been lucky enough to participate in a class touch football competition. Mr Dougherty has kindly offered his time to referee games at recess on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We have formed 5 teams from our class and Eamon Mawn has volunteered his time to create a draw and class ladder. It has been a very exciting week with close games each day. We will keep you posted with the results!

Science

In Stage 3, we are learning about forces and gravity. As part of this unit of work, we are looking at air resistance and designing parachutes. Our goal is to create a parachute which will safely land a toy animal to the ground. It has been very interesting watching people design, evaluate, reflect and redesign their parachutes. Keep an eye out on Instagram for our test runs in the coming weeks.