Term 1 Week 6 (10/3/2023)
What is On?
Tuesday 14th March - Christian Meditation information session for parents with Helen Hunter, from the Catholic Schools Office 2:15- 3pm
Wednesday 15th March -Monday 27th March - NAPLAN (see below for details)
Monday 20th March - School Photo Day
Friday 24th March - School Cross Country (Week 8)
Thursday 30th March -Polding Swimming Carnival - Sydney (Week 9)
April
Tuesday 4th April - McAuley Catholic College Open Night- Year 7, 2024 (see flyer below for details)
Wednesday/Thursday 5th, 6th April - PSSA Swimming Carnival - Sydney (Week 10)
Thursday 6th April - School Awards Assembly and Holy Week Liturgy - Stations of the Cross
Thursday 6th April - Last day Term 1, 2023
Monday 24th April - Pupil Free Day
Wednesday 26th April - First Day Term 2
Dear Parents and Carers
This is a text I received last night from a staff member:
Just got home. Great night tonight!!! Staff were fabulous! I felt so proud to be part of St James.
Having been away from school due to principal meetings and training it's hard to write a Blog. I have been slightly distracted in my meetings by the images on Instagram and the reports from sport.
Late breaking news - Boys at the Rugby trials have done very well, just waiting on the official confirmation of results.
Congratulations Boys.
Back on site all next week. Looking forward to catching up with students, parents and staff.
Ann
NAPLAN
As with all schools in Australia, our students in years 3 and 5 will undertake NAPLAN in the next fortnight. This point-in-time assessment gives us information about the learning focus in our school. Please be aware that the next two weeks will potentially look a little different with classes being split to ensure best conditions for our children. The link below offers information for those who may be interested in the depth and breadth of the assessment.
https://nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers
St James will do these assessments on the following days:
Wednesday 15th March- Writing
Thursday 16th March - Reading and Conventions of Language
Wednesday 22nd March - Numeracy
Sport Dates 2023
Term 1
School Cross Country - Friday 24th March (Week 8)
Polding Swimming Carnival - Thursday 30th March - Sydney (Week 9)
PSSA Swimming Carnival - Wednesday/Thursday 5th, 6th April - 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)
School Athletics Carnival - Friday 16th June
Zone Athletics - Thursday 29 June - Coffs Harbour
Term 3
Dio Athletics - Tuesday 15th August- Coffs Harbour
Polding Athletics - Friday 8th September-Newcastle
Term 4
Dio Summer Sport Trials -Friday 24th November - Lismore
Sacrament Dates 2023
Confirmation- Tuesday 15th August - St Mary’s Church, Maclean.
Reconciliation- Wednesday 23rd August in Hall
First Holy Communion- Saturday 26th August, 5:15 – 6:15pm - St James Church Yamba
Sport News
Winter Sport Trials
Good luck to the following students who are competing in Clarence Zone teams at the Diocesan Winter Sports Carnival today in Grafton. Rashad Rice - 11yrs League, Eamon Mawn & Levi O’Shea - Rugby Union, Marlie Zvatora & Indie Wright - Girls Soccer.
These students will be competing against students form the Hastings, Richmond and Tweed Zones for selection in the Lismore Diocesan team to compete at the Polding Carnival later in the year. Good luck to all.
Swimming
Last week was a busy week for our swimmers with the Zone carnival happening in Maclean on Monday and the Diocesan carnival in Kempsey on Friday. St James had 11 students qualify through the Zone carnival to compete in Kempsey. All the students swam well against some strong opposition from the other Zones. Special mention to Sanne Little, Clarence Dougherty, Lola Dougherty and Kydan Jones who qualified for the Polding carnival to be held in Sydney at the end of the term. Well done and good luck down in Sydney.
Dio Swimming Results
Sanne Little - 3rd 11yrs Butterfly
Clarence Dougherty - 3rd 10yrs Freestyle, Junior Breaststroke and Junior Backstroke
Lola Dougherty - 3rd Junior Breastroke, 2nd Junior Medley.
Kydan Jones - 3rd Senior Butterfly and Medley
Advanced Notice - Disco - Thursday 18th May
RE News
Christian Meditation is taught in our Catholic schools and is a simple way to practise stillness and silence and open our hearts to God. Everyone sits comfortably, with their eyes gently closed. Pray the word "Maranatha" silently and repeatedly. Maranatha means 'Come Lord' and is a simple invitation to God to enter our hearts. Allow the meditation to last 3-5 minutes depending upon the age of your children.
We will be holding a Christian Meditation information session for parents with Helen Hunter, from the Catholic Schools Office in our school hall next Tuesday 14th March 2:15- 3pm. All are welcome to attend before pick up.
Sacrament Dates Please note change of date for Confirmation!
Confirmation- Tuesday 15th August, St Mary’s Church, Maclean.
Reconciliation- Wednesday 23rd August, school hall
First Holy Communion- Saturday 26th August, St James Church, Yamba
The order of Sacraments in the Lismore Diocese is:
Baptism, Confirmation (Year 3), Reconciliation (Year 4), First Eucharist (Year 4)
If you would like your child to receive these Sacraments, please contact Mrs Howland at school. For your child to receive any of these Sacraments they must first be Baptised. If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me at school.
If you are interested in your child/ren being Baptised, please contact the Maclean Parish Office on 66451188 Mon/ Wed/ Fri 9am-2pm.
Renee Howland
Assistant Principal- Mission
Wellbeing News
Stage 3 News
Newsletter Week 6 - By Henry and Fin
Worm Juice
Reminder! Stage 3 are selling worm juice concentrate! $2 per litre, and you dilute this concentrate 1:1 before use. Use on your garden & plants once a month for a very happy garden. Bottles can also be recycled.
Please remember to send in your used, cleaned milk bottles, so we can use them for containing our worm juice!
Caught you Being Good Box
The Caught you Being Good Box is a box used by our captains to catch people being good. If a captain sees you doing something good, then they will put your name onto a ticket and pop it into the box. Then on a Monday all the captains will pull one name out of the box and those people get an ice pole.
Harmony Day poster and Song Competition
For the last couple of weeks, Stage 3 has been making either a Harmony Day poster or a Harmony Day song. The majority of Stage 3 chose to write a song, which means you have to write a 2-minute song. The song has to be related to Harmony Day. We are also allowed to work with partners, which is pretty cool! The artwork also has to be related to Harmony Day. We are only allowed to work on our own for this activity. Both competitions close on April 16th.
Buddies
On Wednesday, we had buddies. We were told that the children in Kindy have been reading the book “We’re Going on a Bear Hunt” and decided to create a school bear hunt. We took our buddies over, under and around obstacles. We had so much fun teaching our buddies new positional language.
