Newsletter 27 November 2024
Principal's Message
This week we are continuing with our whole school focus on being Responsible, Respectful and Safe. There have been so many examples of this.
RESPONSIBLE- we use our equipment and spaces appropriately
- Thank you to the year 5 and 6 students for taking the initiative to clean down the tables under the grey roof- they look almost new!
RESPECTFUL and SAFE- we use kind and calm words, actions and body language, we are mindful of others’ personal (bubble) space
- Several of our students braved the torrential rain to offer an umbrella concierge service to students arriving during the storm. Thank you to these students and Mr M for showing such consideration.
We will continue to focus on these behaviours and recognise those students who are setting great examples at assembly.
2025 class structures:
Monday afternoon, Kathy and I met with the School Advisory Committee to discuss the class structures for next year. We are in a challenging position with only 8 Year two and 10 Year 5 students. As a result and taking into account the needs of each cohort, class sizes and staff collaboration the structure will be as follows-
Foundation- Trish Hermann
Year 1/2- Julieanne Dell’Oro and Alicia McGeorge
Year 2/3- Loren Bertoncello
Year 4/5- Shivonne Stewart
Year 5/6 – Jess Duplock
This structure allows for class sizes to be in the low twenties, rather than two significantly larger classes and the allocation of full-time additional support for every class.
Staffing-
Unfortunately, Daniel Hellyer has made the decision to follow his passion for secondary teaching and will be taking up a position in Cranbourne. He promises to drop in when he can, however we are very sad to lose a teacher who brings so much joy and fun to the school. We have been fortunate to appoint Danielle Sharpe to the position of PE teacher.
Lisa Banjac has also made the decision to transfer to St John’s Koo Wee Rup. Lisa is able to continue her passion for classroom teaching and visual arts. We are very sad to lose Lisa as she has sparked so much creativity in our children.
Paula Pearce is another significant loss. We will miss her calm, wisdom and insights into the worlds of our children. Paula has been offered an amazing opportunity supporting wellbeing in a leadership capacity at another school.
While it is a loss to us, I’m sure you join with me in congratulating these staff with their appointments.
Single Subjects-
Visual arts- to be appointed
Technology (encompassing STEM and Digi Tech)- to be appointed
Japanese- Elise O’Shannassy
PE- Danielle Sharpe
Performing Arts- Alicia McGeorge
We are in the process of appointing replacement staff.
Have a good week,
Bec
Deputy Principal's Message
Term 4 2024 - Upcoming Events
| Date | Event | |
| Thursday | 05/12/2024 | Carols on the Green |
| Thursday | 12/12/2024 | Grade 6 Graduation |
| Friday | 13/12/2024 | End of Year Mass and Yr 6 Guard of Honour This is a great way to celebrate the end of year for our leaving families and we welcome all families to attend. |
RE News
Christmas Masses
Carols on the Green
Carols on the Green will be held on Thursday 5 December from 4pm - 5.30pm.
Students can wear free dress with a Christmas Theme.
Please return your raffle tickets by Wednesday 4 December. Raffle will be drawn on the night.
Scholastic Book Club
Issue 8 is the final Book Club of the year!
Closing date for Issue 8 orders will be
Monday December 2
Parents & Friends News
2025 School Bus Information
Families will be receiving travel offers from the 27/11/2024 from the Student Travel Asistance Portal for bus travel in 2025. Families have until 14/12/2024 to accept these travel offers.
We encourage families to:
- review bus travel offers in the Student Travel Assistance Portal
- check all traveller details are correct
- if families have changed address or school and their travel offer is incorrect, they will need to decline their travel offer, update their address in their profile (if required) and then submit a new travel application
- accept offers prior to the expiry date.
Families requiring assistance with STAP (including requests to change thier allocated bus service/stop) can email: schoolbus@education .vic.gov.au or phone: 1800 338 663.
Important Information
This year St James will be using two main platforms of communication with our families - PAM and Schoolzine.
To ensure that you keep up to date with what is happening with your children and within the school please ensure that you have access to these platforms and are familiar with their uses.
If you require assistance with accessing or setting up these platforms, please do not hesitate to contact the school office.
From time to time it will also be necessary for emails and text messages to be sent.
Schoolzine App Installation Instructions:
This is an app that you have on your phone and allows for easy reading of the newsletter, as it customises to the screen and translates into many languages if required.
Please click the link below for the instructions on installing the app on your phone.
https://www.schoolzine.com/
As part of the installation, you will be required to enter the following 4 digit passcode -
3675
Please do not hesitate to contact the school office if you have any questions or queries.
Accessing PAM Instructions:
Please use the below link to access your PAM account.
https://pam.stjamesnng.catholic.edu.au
The user name is the email you have provided to the school and if you have not logged on previously, you will be able to set a password.
If you require your password to be reset, please contact the school office.