Mark 1:40-45

A leper came to Jesus and pleaded on his knees: ‘If you want to’ he said ‘you can cure me.’ Feeling sorry for him, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. ‘Of course I want to!’ he said. ‘Be cured!’ And the leprosy left him at once and he was cured. Jesus immediately sent him away and sternly ordered him, ‘Mind you say nothing to anyone, but go and show yourself to the priest, and make the offering for your healing prescribed by Moses as evidence of your recovery.’ The man went away, but then started talking about it freely and telling the story everywhere, so that Jesus could no longer go openly into any town, but had to stay outside in places where nobody lived. Even so, people from all around would come to him.

One would read a passage like this and ask the question why would Jesus want his disciples and others like the former leper not to tell anyone about him? Here was the visible, flesh and blood, miracle-working Jesus walking and preaching all over the country. What better time for his followers to lead people to him and tell them who he was? 

Perhaps one of the reasons Jesus gave this order lay in the expectations of the crowds who followed him. What did they want? What were they looking for?

In chapter 11 of Mark’s gospel, we find a clue. When Jesus entered Jerusalem the week before he was crucified, “Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna!’ ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ‘Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!’ ‘Hosanna in the highest heaven!’” The event we celebrate as Palm Sunday and which branches we burn to form the ashes for Ash Wednesday - This week!

When people heard that Jesus was the Messiah, they were happy to receive the news. The problem lay in definitions and expectations. What the people expected Messiah to be and to do was quite different from what Jesus the Messiah came to be and to do. The people expected a king who would rally the people, and with the blessing of God, lead them to victory over their Roman conquerors and restore the kingdom of David in all its glory. They did not understand what Messiahship was all about. Their idea of Messiah was different from God’s idea of Messiah. When they heard the term, they misunderstood it, because they had been conditioned to expect something else.

The question for us is, what do we expect of the risen Messiah?

Welcome to a new year at St James Catholic College.

Already, even though we've only been back for less than ten working school days, the year seems to be very jam packed we've had our opening mass today, photo day, welcome bbq, Ash Wednesday and even a wonderful smoking ceremony lead by our indigenous students. But behind all this is the wonderful vitality and goodwill of staff and students as we embark on another wonderful educational journey in 2024.

I particularly wish to welcome new families and new students to the college. I pray that through the journey you find a community for your children that is welcoming and affirming and when things don't go quite right the support and care that particularly young people need.

I include in this newsletter the welcome letter that I sent out at the start of the year as well as a letter about our new learning management system, it's a very exciting time to be part of St James College particularly in our teaching and learning. This is so much so that even an “old hack” like myself has got back on the tools of teaching this year. Our Year 10s have the pleasure (maybe sometimes they might not think it's a pleasure) to have myself as their Religious Education teacher. Part of the reason for me going back into teaching in the classroom is to lead the way in our learning management system journey but it's also as a result of the inspiration of the colleagues that I have here at St James that have inspired me to be part of the teaching and learning at the college even more directly than I ever have been before. It's been lovely to be back in the classroom and to feel the energy that drew me to this vocation 37 years ago – Well, I am old!

Again, every blessing for the year ahead and may our community continued to flourish and provide a rich education for the students and families of the Huon Valley.

Regards,

Joe Sandric

Principal

Important Dates

On Country Professional Development

Last week St James Teaching staff spent the morning On Country with Aboriginal Elder Uncle Rodney Dillon.  This was a great opportunity to learn about the special features of our Country on which our school is situated.  Teachers discussed how we can make positive changes for our students and planned for an exciting year ahead.  Thank you Uncle Rodney for sharing your knowledge and inspiring our teachers. 

2024 Student First Day

It was great to see so many new and familiar faces as we commenced our 2024 College year. All students have settled into their new classes and are enjoying the opportunity to learn more about what the year has in store for them and how they can let their light shine every day.

Aboriginal Smoking Ceremony

College Commencement Mass

On Friday 16th our Prep to Year 10 students gathered for our 2024 College Commencement Mass. It was wonderful to be able to celebrate this occasion with many local Parish members at their weekly Parish Mass. At the end of the Mass our College Captains and Secondary and Primary student leaders for 2024 were commissioned as leaders. It was wonderful to be able to also officially welcome our new staff members to our College community. We look forward to many more celebrations of our Catholic faith this year.

Ash Wednesday

We gathered on Ash Wednesday as a K-10 College community, to mark the beginning of the Church's Season of Lent. All students were invited to think about how they can give, fast and pray during this season and Mr Sandric spoke about the work Caritas undertakes in Australia and throughout the world to help those in need. Our College will undertake several activities during Lent to support Caritas and Project Compassion.

Concert Band and Rock/Alternative Band

Students are invited to join SJCC bands:

Where: Music Room

When:

• Wednesday at lunchtime for general practising and tutorial.
• Thursday lunchtimes for Concert Band.
• Friday lunchtimes for Rock Band.

Concert band is for all classical instruments and acoustic guitars. Rock/Alternative band for all electronic instruments and vocals. Wednesdays are for both bands to rehearse.  

Year 8 students are especially encouraged to join our lunch time Music programs, as Music does appear on their other scheduled lesson times.

Chess Club

Chess players and beginners are invited to play chess. Contact Mr Freeman (nick.freeman@catholic.tas.edu.au) and/or join us for games on Wednesdays in the Music Room (space permitting due to Band practise at the same place and time). 

Year 3/4 Gold and Blue

Year 3/4 Gold and Blue have had a wonderful start to the year! We have been busy getting to know each other and our new teachers. We have learnt a lot about each other and our different interests and hobbies and we are learning to recognise the unique gifts each of our classmates brings to our classroom. 

We have enjoyed opening up our classrooms so that we can all learn and play together. We had a lovely afternoon reading the ‘Magical Yet’ together and setting goals for ourselves this year. We learnt from this book that we should see things we can’t do as things we can’t do yet, but with time and practise things that we will be able to achieve.

We have also been working hard on our literacy and numeracy. This week, we have launched into our new programs for these curriculum areas. As part of our numeracy we have learnt about how to use a vertical algorithm to perform addition and in our literacy block we have also started our new spelling program and began to practise routines like fluency pairs (paired reading). 

We are so proud of the excellent start students have made! 

YEAR 5

"The highlight of our first week in Grade 5 was our Lego building challenges where we tried to create the tallest and strongest skyscrapers possible. We also had fun painting murals, creating agamographs and creating starting off our spelling mastery classes"

Keyboard Donations

The Music department is seeking additional second hand piano keyboards. If you know of any we will be most grateful of any donations!

SMS Absence Notifications

The College accepts SMS absentee notifications. Please SMS: 0488 863 246 with your child's name, grade and absent reason. Please save this number in your phone for future reference.

Drink Bottles

Please make sure your child brings a drink bottle to school each day.  

College Facebook Page / Instagram

Join our College Facebook page just click below or type in: @StJamesCatholicCollege in the Facebook search bar.

Have your childs medical details changed?

A gentle reminder to advise the school if your child's medical details have recently changed. Please contact the College office to ensure your childs details are current.