Term 3 Week 2 2021 (23/07/2021)

What is On?

Monday 16th August - Bikeathon S3

Tuesday 17th August - Bikeathon S2

Wednesday 18th August - Bikeathon S1

Thursday 19th August - Bikeathon ES1

 21-27 August - Bookweek

26th to 30th July - Book Fair  

Wednesday 25th August - Reconciliation in hall

Thursay 26th August - Soccer/Netball Carnival-Grafton

Friday 27th August - Book Character Parade

Saturday 28th August - First Communion - St James Church Yamba

Thursday 16th September - Last Day Term 3 for students

Friday 17th September - Staff Development day - School Closed - all staff attend

Dear Parents and Carers,

Today is a special day at St James Yamba.
It is the day we celebrate the Feast of Saint James. While this is a celebration of the historical figure we are named after, what struck me today was how children and staff can work collaboratively to grow as learners.Teams of staff developed stations around the school site to tell the story of Saint James (a Camino de Yamba if you will). My highlight of the walk was the participation of every child in the process and the assured nature of the children in Stage 3 who took charge of each stop on the journey, telling the story of the life of James and helping the children to understand why this matters. When the morning walk (Camino de Yamba) was finished I entered the staffroom to the staff raving about the presentation of every Stage 3 student. Growing in confidence and engagement as the groups came and went; presenting in front of a large group of students and adults; asking questions of their audience and responding with confidence and grace.

Every student in Stage 3 completed a speaking role which enhanced the presentation.I have watched this cohort of children grow from Kindergarten and today I am content that the rigourous curriculum that is fostered in the school nurtures the children as learners.

To finish the journey the children had a special lunch and an icypole. The rave about the lunch was interesting. Apprarently the " best burger I've ever had." was a common theme. Levi in Stage 2 also thought "this day is flying by... never had so much fun anywhere!" 

A great day due to the combined efforts of all. Thanks and Well done

See you in Kiss and Drop (or ring for a chat!) 

Ann

COVID Update

You will have noticed tha the CSO updates are resuming. At this stage we are at level 2 and teaching as normal. If the worst did happen we are ready! Book packs and maths bags were made early in the year. We purchased extra ipads and extra chrome books to make sure we have enough devices.  Teachers all take their devices home each night and as we worked online for a couple of days during the flood lockout, we have recent experience.  What ever happens we will calmly continue to teach, so that your children will continue to learn. (along the way we might also continue to have some fun)

Please keep reading the updates and ring if you have concerns. 

RE News

St James Feast Day Celebration for our whole school community. 

Today we had an exciting day at school to celebrate the feast of our School Patron Saint, St James. We started our day with a special Camino walk around our school, where we visited stations that depicted the scripture stories of James in the Bible. Students explored these stories and viewed the many drawings and creations that other students and staff had created to present each station. Students engaged in learning about who St James was in his time and why he is important to us. We also enjoyed a special lunch and an ice block for recess. It was a lovely day and we hope to celebrate with parents and our community next year!

Why a scallop shell? 

The scallop shell is a metaphor, in that its lines represent the different routes travelled by pilgrims around the world, which all lead to one point, the tomb of St James in Santiago de Compostela. Here at St James School, Yamba the scallop shell represents all of our families that make up our school community and the journeys they have travelled to arrive at St James School and join our wonderful learning community

Confirmation

We had a very exciting sacramental time this week with four students receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation last night. Lola, Clarence, Isabel and Jack made their Confirmation at St Mary’s Church, Maclean with Bishop Gregory Homeming. Bishop Greg is always wonderful to listen to and last night he did not disappoint! His message to all of us is to ensure that our children know that they are loved. Children can do anything and endure hardships with resilience if they know that they are loved and have the loving support of their family behind them. This was a wonderful message for our families and a lovely reminder of the importance of our roles as parents, grandparents, family members, teachers and friends to our children and students. Congratulations to Isabel, Lola, Clarence and Jack.

Renee Howland

Leader of School Evangelisation and Catechesis

LOP News - Maths Activities

Maths activities 

Try these open -ended maths activities with your child . The tasks presented can be completed in a short period of time or the investigations can be explored further . 

Send back to school to Mrs Dougherty as she would love to see your answers. Have fun.

ES1

Kindergarten are so excited to welcome a new student, Hunter, to our class. He has settled in so well and it really does feel like Hunter has been a part of our class for much longer.

This term, students are sharing their favourite book with the class. Why is this your favourite book? Is it fiction or non-fiction? What is the author's purpose? Who is the author’s intended audience? These are just a few of our focus questions. There will even be other staff at school “on tour” and reading their favourite book to the class! We just love celebrating books and becoming authors in Early Stage One!

Stage 1

This week Stage 1 has been busy finalising their displays for our St James feast day. They have done an amazing job!

Each morning in Stage 1 this term, we have a math challenge to complete that warms up our minds ready to start the day. We complete this in our math mentals exercise book. We have been exploring the different ways that we can solve scaled number lines.

Stage 2

We are all about the Olympics in Stage 2! Students have been researching facts about a chosen athlete and have created an athlete profile poster using canva. Students enjoyed learning about their chosen athlete and the events that they are competing in. Using some of the data we collected (the athletes birthday) we learnt how to display the data in a graph. As we continue to follow the Olympics we will be collecting data on medal tallies and race times and then learn ways we can display the data. We will also be creating newspaper articles to inform our audience about results, highlights and athlete progress. Aussie Aussie Aussie!!!

Stage 3

Birthdays

Poppy Dougherty - 28th July, Jack Drayton - 30th July, Finn Brossmam - 1st August, Tayah Cole - 3rd August, Aiden Johnson - 3rd August, Louis Collins - 6th August, Rashad Rice - 6th August