Term 4 Week 8 (2/12/2022)

What is On?

Advent- a Season of HOPE

Heavenly Father, as we begin this Advent, give light to our eyes and peace to our hearts.
May the Lord find us watching and waiting in joy when He comes.
We pray in Jesus' name.

Amen. 

Dear Parents and Carers

The year is flying by and if you are anything like me about now you are doing two things...

1. Dreaming of the chance to stop, pause and spend time with those I love and

2. Thinking of all the things I still need to get one before I can begin number 1. 

I have decided this year I will "do my best and not stress the rest". I will let you know how that goes!

So we began the first on the list 2 today at Saint James, BUT this was a good item on the list that makes it worthwhile.

Our first "end of year" event was Little J's Graduation. 25 excited new learners and their families completed the 12-week transition program with a "glittering ceremony in front of family and friends". While it is on list two it was a lovely moment to see the children (who started nervously in August) stride across the stage to receive their certificates. Yet again we have a fabulous group of young learners eager for the journey, enthusiastic staff beginning a new adventure and another great supportive parent community ready to build connections.

Welcome!

Teachers have now completed the semester two reports and I have some reading to do! These will come out on Friday of Week 9. ( I was so nervous last semester with the new system! but I think it is now working!)  Parents can request an interview with staff in Week 10 if required.

Have  a lovely weekend and see you on Wednesday evening in full voice for the Carolling

Best wishes

Ann

Sport Dates 2023

2023 Sport Dates:

The following sport dates have been locked in for Term 1 and Term 2 next year.

Term 1

School Swimming Carnival - Thursday 2nd February (Week 1)

Zone Swimming Carnival - Monday 27th February - Maclean (Week 5)

Diocesan Swimming Carnival - Friday 3rd March - Kempsey (Week 5)

School Cross Country - Friday 24th March (Week 8)

Polding Swimming Carnival - Thursday 30th March - Sydney (Week 9)

PSSA Swimming Carnival - Wednesday/Thursday 5th, 6th March - Sydney (Week 10)

Term 2

Zone Cross Country - Wednesday 3rd May - Grafton (Week 2)

Diocesan Cross Country - Tuesday 23rd May - Grafton (Week 5)

Polding Cross Country - Tuesday 13th June - Sydney (Week 8)

Will Hutchinson

Will competed for Catholic Schools NSW at the National Catholic Schools Carnival in Brisbane over the past weekend.  He placed 9th in Australia in Long Jump for his age and had a great time. There was an opening and closing ceremony and a march past. He has jumped continuing PB's through the year leading up to this (5m in a practice) and is keen to continue the effort. I have video sent from Will's dad but of course the system won't transmit it!

Congratulations Will.

RE News -Mini Vinnies Christmas Appeal

Mini Vinnies is collecting food items for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal.

Some families in our community are unable to buy special treats to share with their loved ones at Christmas time and rely on Christmas food hampers from St Vincent de Paul. We are asking the St James families if they would like to donate any of the following non perishable food items to help make Christmas Hampers.

Christmas treats for the hampers include: long life custard, long life milk, plum pudding, blocks of chocolate, Christmas cake, bags of lollies, soft drink, cans of beetroot, pineapple, corn, peas or fruit, packets of jelly, popcorn, chips, nuts, corn chips, salsa, milo, fruit mince pies, icy poles in plastic, biscuits or anything else you might enjoy at Christmas.

A little Bit of Christmas

A Little Bit of Christmas - Christmas Carol evening- 5:30pm - 6:30pm -ish! At 5:30pm we settle on a rug and do some community singing.

At about 6pm we will have classes lead a song each. Words will be provided.

Please bring along your picnic supper, something for the giving tree and an enthusiastic voice. This is a community carolling as well as the Little Bit of Christmas. This change to community singing came from parent feedback from our last Little Bit...

FEATURED CLASS - Stage 1

Religion

Students have been learning about the season of Advent which began on Sunday 27th November. Monday saw students change our prayer space to reflect the season of Advent a time that we reflect and wait for Christmas. Students wrote prayers of thanks and wishes and hung them on our space. 

Investigations

Our investigation spaces are alive and running! Students are writing letters to Santa, making Christmas ornaments, writing prayers and words of thanks. They are also trying to persuade Ms Dawson on the type of playground they would like to see in our school. Students are using clay and matchsticks to create playground models.

English

Stage 1 students have been applying for jobs! The jobs are with Santa. Students have to use their persuasive skills and convince Santa to hire them for a job with him at the North Pole. Some of the jobs include - Toy Tester, Santa’s Assistant, Reindeer Keeper and Baker and Candy Maker. Students have to persuade Santa to hire them by convincing him they are the best person for the job. They have to tell him what skills they have to make them the best person for the job!

Maths

With our wooden play set missing from our playground, Stage 1 has taken it upon themselves to work out what area is available for some new equipment. Using metre rulers students worked out how many metre squares are in the blank play area. From here we researched some equipment that would fit in the area and drew it up on an interactive program.

History

Stage 1 has been learning about school in the past. This week they posted on Seesaw some questions that they would like answered about what school was like for you. 

A very special visitor arrived in our classroom this week!

The classroom was full of excitement on Thursday morning with the arrival of an Elf! Apparently he has been sent by Santa to keep an eye on the students leading up to Christmas! The teachers have been assured that we are not on the naughty list! The only thing we have to do is give him a name……..stay tuned to find out what the students decide to call him! Hopefully he won’t get up to too much mischief in the lead up to the festive season.