Term 4 Week 7 (29/11/2024)
What is On?
Monday 2nd December - Just a little bit of fun for Christmas 5:00 - 7pm (see details below)
Tuesday 3rd December -ES1 & S1 Class Mass, in hall 10:15 – 11am
Friday 6th December- Year 5 Captain Speeches, 9:30 – 11:00am
Monday 9th December - Private Music concert 9:30 – 10:30am
END OF YEAR 2024-
Wednesday 11th December 2024 - End of Year Awards at Yamba Bowling Club
Tuesday 17th December - Year 6 Graduation dinner at Yamba Golf Club
Tuesday 17th December - End or Year Mass and Spirit of St James Run
Wednesday 18th December - Last day Term 4
2025
Term 1 2025
Friday 31st January - Staff Administration Day - Pupil free day
Monday 3rd February - Staff Professional Learning Day- First Aid- Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 4th February - First Day for Stage 1 to Stage 3
Thursday 6th February - Swimming Carnival
Monday 10th February - First Day for Early Stage 1
Tuesday 25th February - Zone Swimming Carnival- Maclean
Thursday 10th April - Last Day Term 1 for students
Friday 11th April - Staff Professional Learning Day - On Country - Pupil Free Day
Term 2 2025
Monday 28th April - Staff Professional Learning Day - Learning Collaborative - Pupil Free Day
Tuesday 29th April - First Day Term 2 for Students
Thursday 3rd July - Last Day Term 2 for Students
Friday 4th July - Staff Professional Learning Day - Foundation Day- Pupil Free Day
Term 3 2025
Monday 21st July - First Day Term 3 for Students and Staff
Friday 25th July- Foundation Day - Feast of Saint James
Thursday 25th September - Last Day Term 3 for Students
Friday 26th September - Staff Professional Learning Day - Curriculum - Pupil Free Day
Term 4 2025
Monday 13th October - First Day Term 4 for Students and Staff
Wednesday 17th December - Last Day Term 4 for Students and Staff
Dear Parents and Carers
I have just been at the Little J's graduation.
What a fabulous group of children and a wonderful new group of families at St James. We are very lucky to have the returning and beginning families with us for the journey. At the ceremony I was surprised to see some grandmothers of students who left 5 and 7 years ago. It was lovely to find out that they are great grandmothers of a new family. That is the joy of the school for me. The generational connections which we are now building in Yamba.
Such a great moment.
You may have heard along the grapevine that St James Yamba is part of the DLCSL growth strategy and as such over the next few years we will be changing some of our configurations. We will not be making any changes that are not communicated with you and discussed with you, but as we already have over 30 children enrolled for the 2026 school year in ES1, we are expecting to begin to transition from the bottom of the school into a 2 stream school long term.
How long? Don't know yet...
When does it start? When the DLCSL tells us...
How will the senior school change in the short term? It won't, our staffing will not increase until at least 2026...
At this stage this is all in the planning stage at the DLCSL. When I know, you will know!
One of the things we let families know at the Graduationis that Canteen is moving in 2025 to Thursdays. This is so we can run our Breakfast Club out of the Canteen. This will also allow us to look at the Play J's program which we have missed since Covid as the DLCSL is keen to establish these across the diocese and we are "somewhat old hands at it".
Catch me if you want to chat about the changes or anything really! See you Monday evening.
Ann
Just a little bit of fun for Christmas -BBQ
BBQ available from 5pm - 6pm. Performances begin at 6pm sharp and as you know it is one hour and we will have a little bit of fun for Christmas. Finish at 7pm sharp we promise.
Please use the link below to RSVP:
https://compasstix.com/e/naax3frf2e
PRC Gold Awards
Congratulations to Dolly and Maeve on receiving the NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge Gold Award!
This award goes to the students who have participated in the PRC for four consecutive years!
Well Done!
Socktober
Our Mission team have been thanked by Catholic Mission for their work with Mrs Howland to ensure that events which focus us on making important issues are accessable for the students.
Why Socktober? Because we know that supporting others who have less access to clean water, safe food and shelter is what we are about. Not because it makes us feel good but because it is right that all have these basic human needs met.
Well done team.
Public Speaking
Trophies arrived this week for the Regional Public Speaking. Well done Slater (Yr 5)and Dolly(Yr3)
How does a student get involved? Enter the school event in Term 3 next year.
Sport News
This week has been an exciting one for sport! On Tuesday and Thursday, the Dio Summer Sport Trials were held in Lismore, with 11 of our talented Grade 4 and 5 students proudly representing the Clarence Zone teams. They participated in various round-robin competitions, showcasing their skills, teamwork, and enthusiasm. Congratulations to all students for their fantastic efforts!
Jake- Cricket & Touch Football
Ashton- Basketball & Touch Football
Duke- Touch Football
Jensen- Tennis
Jarrah- Touch Football
Ella- Basketball & Touch Football
Sol- Basketball
Poppy- Basketball
Iyla- Touch Football
Sunny- Touch Football
Lily- Touch Football
Congratulations to Jake, Ashton, Sol and Ella- who made it to the ‘Possible and Probables’ in their various sports.
A huge congratulations to Ashton- he has been selected to play in the Dio Basketball team and will head to Tamworth in February.
Kind regards
Tash Hancock
Sports Coordinator
Follow up on uniform chat with the students from yesterday!
I had a couple of questions from parents asking me to clarify the uniform chat we had with the children yesterday. Children wear untucked shirts (both boys and girls), navy socks, black shoes and navy shorts or skorts (not cargo shorts). We are starting to see some girls tucking their shirts in a rolling their skorts up high. That is not how the uniform is designed. The students do not wear netball skirts unless they have a specific reason to do so (personal choice is not a legitimate reasoning). Bike shorts are also not a substitute for a skort.
Please come and see me if you need clarification.
Thanks in advance for your cooperation.
Ann Dawson
Stage 2 News
Religion
In Religion, we have been exploring Advent. We are learning the true meaning of Christmas and thinking about how we can help others during this time. This week we created a kindness Advent calendar, to remind us each day of what we can do to be more like Jesus and to help those around us.
English
In English, we have been learning about characterisation, exploring the text ‘Rowan of Rin’ by Emily Rodda. We have been learning to develop characterisation through the use of actions, thoughts and dialogue. One of our favourite parts of Rowan of Rin is hearing the riddles and working out what they mean.
Health
In Health, we are learning about being healthy, safe and empowered. We knew a lot about being safe and healthy, but we were very interested to learn about what empowerment is. We each made our own social story targeted at teaching ES1 and Stage 1 students about feeling empowered to say no. We learnt how and when it is important to say no to keep ourselves safe and out of trouble.
Birthdays
Pearl 1/12, Ella 3/12, Luka 5/12, Levi 6/12, Lennox 6/12, Hudson 8/12, Miss Dawson 15/12, Bonnie 20/12, Rhaya, Mrs Hollington 21/12, 22/12, Sunny 22/12, Bronte 24/12, Lily 24/12, Sofia 24/12, Mrs Hamilton 24/12, Archer 30/12, Isiah 31/12