10 May 2024

Our Mission @ SJM

St James’ Primary School community excel in education through living and learning in Christ.

Quote

In Prayer, God keeps calling us, opening our hearts to charity. Pope Francis

Principal’s Message

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope you had a relaxing break and your family is ready for all that is Term 2.

Staffing

I would like to welcome Miss Shaelee Trimble and Mr Sean Sweeney to the SJM staffing team. Both Shaelee and Sean will take on RFF roles and therefore will teach all grades across a fortnightly cycle.

Welcome to SJM!

Coming Soon

Keep an eye out on our school website. We have a Virtual Tour, coming soon. This will be a great addition to our website as it shares our school with the wider community.

Courtyard Refurbishment

I can tell you that we have begun the tender process for the courtyard refurbishment. I hope to be able to confirm our contractors in the near future.

I believe the refurbishment could take 12 – 18 months.

Stay tuned for more details.

What’s On

We have lots on again this term. Please stay tuned via COMPASS, the COMPASS calendar and the Facebook page.

Mr Aaron Moon
Principal

Assistant Principal

Welcome back to Term 2! I hope that you are taking care and looking after yourself in this crazy weather that we have been having. SJM are at the end of our transition phase from Summer to winter uniform.

Please ensure that your child is in full Winter uniform at the beginning of Week 3.

Please note in the Sports Uniform our transition from the Old Maroon sports jacket and track pants have now finished. The old maroon track suit is no longer part of the SJM sports uniform. The new Navy sports jacket and Navy sports track pants are our current Sports uniform. Students may also wear the Sports Jersey as well.

In our uniform shop we are missing sizes 4 and 8 in the new navy tracksuit, but there are other options available. If your child needs to wear something else, please contact Mr Moon at school.

Reminder that hats and jackets are for outdoors.

ANZAC DAY 

Thank you to everyone who represented our school at the ANZAC Day March and Ceremony in Muswellbrook. It was great to see so many SJM students joining together to show our respect for the men and women who have in the past and continue to serve our country with such dedication. It was also exciting to see so many parents in the crowd waving and cheering on our students. Thank you for showing your support in everything we do in our community.  

Mini Vinnies 2024

The students of the SJM Mini Vinnies group started Term 2 off with acknowledging the Mini Vinnies Pledge. Mrs Ballard and I would like to thank all the parents and friends who were able to attend our Monday morning assembly to support their child.

Sacramental Program 2024

Thank you to the families that came to our Information Meeting last week to discuss the 2024 Sacramental Program. The children involved will spend the next 12 weeks preparing for the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist. Please continue to keep these children and their families in your thoughts and prayers as they continue along their faith journey.

Mrs Jane Jacobs
Acting Assistant Principal

Religion

Happy Mother’s Day to all our St. James’ mothers, grandmothers and significant women in all our lives. Thank you to the Stage One teachers and students for leading the school in a wonderful celebration to honour our mothers. I’m sure each of you felt extra special during this beautiful celebration.

The month of May is dedicated to honouring Mary the Mother of God. It is during May that we examine our family’s devotion to the Blessed Mother. Jesus gave us His mother from the Cross (“Woman, behold your son, Son behold your mother”).

During this month of May we will focus on the Hail Mary during our assemblies to continue to recognise the importance of Mary and her strength, courage and compassion for others.

Mrs Lauren Gehrig
Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Merit Awards

Class News

ES1

 Welcome back to all students and families in KG and KM. What a busy and exciting term of learning we have ahead of us. The children will continue to learn new sounds, building on the bank that they have already. Soon we will also begin teaching them some ‘tricky’ words, such as ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘my’ and ‘I’, allowing them to begin reading sentences and their first readers! How exciting!

In mathematics the students will continue to count, recognise and write numbers. We are learning that whole numbers can be broken in parts. We are aiming for fluency in recognising and recalling how smaller numbers can make larger numbers. Kindergarten will also begin looking at time, learning about hours, months, times of the day, seasons and months.  We will develop our knowledge of shapes and the attributes of objects.

Please ensure that your child has a library bag to borrow books on a Tuesday during their library lesson. Students in Kindergarten can borrow two books per week. The children are always excited to select and borrow books to read at home with you.  

A few reminders for the beginning of Term 2:  

• Please ensure that your child has some fruit or vegetables to eat during Crunch and Sip. Please send in a spoon or fork if needed to eat their fruit/veg.
• A bottle of water that students can drink inside the classroom. 
• Winter Uniform will start Week 3. As it is getting cooler please send a labelled jumper/jacket with your child.

Mrs Donna Smith (KG) and Mrs Trishelle Threadgate (KM)

Stage 1

Hello, and welcome back to all our wonderful stage 1 families! We hope you all had a safe and restful break, where you could take the time to relish in the company of friends and family. Stage 1 have moved straight into the work for term 2, eager to learn and grow from one another. Year 1 and 2 have been busy working with one another on the Mother’s Day liturgy and should be proud of their effort and commitment. We look forward to seeing you all during the liturgy on May the 10^th.  

Term 2 will see students step into the world of music, where they will explore musical concepts such as dynamics, pitch, beat and duration. Students will learn about the emotions and symbols often associated to different musical pieces and develop a connection to their musical side. In Science, students will learn about the unit ‘Food for our future’, specifically focusing on faming, seeds and the growth of food to support our hungry bellies. Students went home with a note asking if they could please bring in recycled materials so that they may build their own farm in weeks 8-9. Recycled materials could include, but not limited to: paper towel rolls, empty/cleaned butter containers, empty cardboard boxes (no staples) and tissue boxes. We ask that no recycled materials contain/or once contained alcohol and nuts or were used in unhygienic instances (toilet rolls). These can be brought in over the next couple of weeks in a labelled bag.

Many students are excited about the term’s End of Term reward (Triple M Day). We encourage our students to continue to show kind words and actions to their peers, environment and their own learning to achieve this fun goal!

Stage One have also welcomed many new friends during the start of the new term. We welcome all our new families and thank our current families for being so supportive and inclusive.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s teacher. We look forward to an exciting term!

Kind Regards,
Mrs Baker & Mrs Ballard (1G), Mr Sabotic & Mrs Whithead (1M), Miss Cooper (2M), Miss Becus (2G)

Stage 2

Dear Families,

Welcome back! We cannot believe that it is Term 2 already!

The students have been working very hard this fortnight as they ease themselves back into the school routine.

• We began the term by commemorating Anzac Day with a liturgy run by Year 6, students should be proud of the reverence and respect they showed throughout.
• Students looked fantastic for school photos on Thursday, we look forward to receiving these in the coming months.
• In Week 2, we enjoyed purchasing gifts for our motherly figures at the Mother’s Day Stall. Throughout the week many creations were made which the students enjoyed working on. We thank Stage 1 for running the Mother’s Day Liturgy on Friday, it was a beautiful presentation. We wish all mothers a very happy Mother’s Day and a lovely weekend.
• Congratulations to all the award winners for this fortnight.

Miss Maher (3M), Miss Fitzsimmons (3G), Miss Dafter (4G), Mrs Jane Jacobs & Mrs Mary Ballard (4M)

Stage 3

It has been wonderful to see Stage 3 back and refreshed after what we hope was a restful and enjoyable holiday break. Students have had an exciting start back to the Term with Year 5 and 6 participating in PDH and Wellbeing sessions with Mrs Gavin. Students had the opportunity to discuss with their peers and recognise our emotions and regulating them in a positive way. It also reminded students of the positive impact we can have by being caring, compassionate and respectful to our friends and family.

Year 5 has also been exploring the cartesian plane and the importance of being able to plot points accurately. It has been amazing to watch students develop in their knowledge and identifying elements such as: the x and y axis, quadrants, coordinates, positive and negative numbers and the limitless possibilities.

We look forward to a fantastic Term of learning ahead!

Mrs Gehrig (5G), Miss Brimble (5M), Miss Lamont (6G), Mrs McLennan (6M)

Sport Report

Cross Country 

The St James students travelled to Merriwa on Wednesday 10^th April to participate in the Regional Cross Country.   

From 30 students we have had 11 students qualify for the Diocesan Cross Country on Wednesday 15^th May. 

The successful students are:

Sport Coordinator
Melissa McLennan

Pastoral Care

Strengths Focus for this Fortnight

Kindness

Each of the 24 character strengths can be categorised into 6 different classes of virtues. They are: wisdom and knowledge, courage, humanity, justice, temperance, and transcendence. Kindness falls into the humanity virtue class. Humanity describes strengths that manifest in caring relationships. Strengths within this virtue class are interpersonal and are most relevant in one-on-one relationships.

If Kindness is one of your top strengths

Kind individuals believe that others are worthy of attention and affirmation for their own sake as human beings, not out of a sense of duty or principle. Some traits that are included within the kindness strength include being empathetic, sympathetic, generosity, having moral reasoning and social responsibility.

If someone is using the strength of kindness

SEE: expressions/body language/actions

“I see in your caring actions towards others that you are using your strength of kindness”

HEAR: volume/word choice/para-language

“When you speak softly and choose kind words when talking to others I can hear that you are using your strength of kindness”

FEEL: temperature/pressure/other sensations

“I feel warm inside when you surprise me with an act of kindness”

“Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have”

Practising Kindness

• We can practice kindness through our choice of words and tone when speaking with other people. Speaking softly and choosing kind words that lift others up.
• We can practice kindness by doing random acts of kindness. Taking the time each day to do something kind for another person without being asked and without any expectation.
• We can practice kindness by doing a favour for someone who we can see needs some help.

Please discuss the strength of Kindness with your child this week using the language of the see, hear, feel framework when you notice the strength of Kindness being used.

Remember that kindness is contagious, it takes only one person to start the spread. So, let’s spread it like confetti!

Seasons

Change and loss are issues that affect all of us at some stage in our lives.  At St. James’ Primary School we recognise that when changes occur in families through death, separation, divorce or related circumstances, young people may benefit from learning how to manage these changes effectively.  We are therefore offering a very successful education program called Seasons for Growth which will commence in Term 2.  This program is facilitated in small groups and is based on research which highlights the importance of social support and the need to practise new skills to cope effectively with change and loss.  The program focuses on issues such as self-esteem, managing feelings, problem-solving, decision-making, effective communication and support networks.

The program uses the metaphor of the seasons to explain change, loss and grief. It is based on the belief that grief is normal and can be a valuable part of life.

Research shows that participants continue to use their learning from Seasons for Growth as they face subsequent change, loss and grief in their lives. "The most important thing I have learned is that things change whether you want them to or not and you learn more things” (Primary School Participant)

The Seasons for Growth Program is not counselling or therapy. It is an educational, peer support, small-group program that allows for the exploration and understanding of change, loss and grief in our lives within a curriculum-based framework. It has been positively evaluated by the Commonwealth Government, the South Australian Government, Melbourne University and Southern Cross University.

The aims of the program are:
To support young people to understand and manage change, loss and grief in their lives
To assist them in understanding that the emotions associated with the loss are normal
To encourage the expression of thoughts and emotions
To educate about the grief process
To develop a peer-support network
To help restore self-confidence and self esteem
To reduce isolation

If you think your son or daughter would benefit from Seasons for Growth, we would encourage you to talk to him/her about participating in the program.  If they have completed the program before, they benefit from reconnecting again at a different level. 

St. James’ is pleased to be able to offer this important program and we are confident that it will be a valuable learning experience for those who request to be involved.  If you require further information, please contact Pastoral Care Worker, Emily emily.gavin@mn.catholic.edu.au

Emily Gavin
Pastoral Care Worker

What’s on in the Library

Borrowing Days

Please encourage your children to return their library books, on their borrowing days. If possible, please put a weekly reminder on your phone or calendar.

Library Borrowing Days for Term 2:
Tuesday: Kindergarten and Year 1
Wednesday: Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4
Thursday: Year 5 and Year 6

New Resources

Please see new resources attached.

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Premier’s Reading Challenge

The Premier’s Reading Challenge is optional but I urge all Years 3 – 6 students to participate. The books are available during their borrowing times. At the end of the year the children are awarded a certificate from the Premier of NSW. The primary students, who wish to participate, will be given a record sheet next week, to start recording their books. They then need to visit the PRC website to locate the ID number for each book. 

Please feel free to contact the library if any problems/concerns arise during the year.
lisa.wilson@mn.catholic.edu.au  or 65433094

Happy Reading!

Lisa Wilson
Teacher Librarian

Nadene Douglas
Library Assistant

School Notices

Community Notices

St. James’ P & F Association

P&F Committee Contacts