17 March 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Next Week, from the 19 - 24 March, St James Catholic College will join more than 36 Catholic schools across Tasmania to celebrate Catholic Education Week. This year the theme is “Love God with all your heart.”

St James Catholic College is extremely proud of its Catholic heritage and over the years have continued to commit to the charism of St Joseph, Sisters of St Joseph and Blessed Edmund Rice. The College along with other Southern Colleges including: Sacred Heart Catholic School Geeveston and St Aloysius Catholic College have this year organised the Southern Catholic Education Week Mass to be held at St Mary’s Cathedral. Our year 6 students will be attending the Mass. Thank you to Mrs Craddock and Mrs Thomas who have been our staff representatives on the committee to organise this Mass.

This coming week as part of our ongoing building connections with our Charism on Tuesday morning we are hosting a meeting of Edmund Rice leaders from across Australia. Two of our students JinJu Redding and Brooke Lutwyche are participating in the AJASS Pilgrimage that will visit a number of the southern Tasmania Josephite Schools including the College next weekend.

Fr Tate

Fr Tate next week will be celebrating his last Mass as our Parish Priest. All community members are welcome to attend the Mass commencing at 9am at St James Catholic Church. Our Year 10 students will be attending this Mass.

Change of School Time

Starting Term 2 the first bell will go at 8:40am. At this time, ALL students will move to their classroom to prepare for the day. Year 7-10 students will begin homeroom time and the K-6 students will enter the classrooms to prepare for the day.

Bullying No Way

At the College, we are all about building respectful relationships. Part of this process are the expectations around how we treat each other. As the main educator of your child it is great when children witness you modeling these respectful behaviours. Conflict is part of life and we endeavour to equip your children with skills to deal with this. If you have any concerns, please contact your class teacher. This can be done briefly in the morning, or if longer time is required please arrange a contact the office to make an appointment with the relevant staff meeting.

STEM Day

Thank you to Mr Weerts, Ms Galbraith and all the staff who have been busily preparing for the upcoming STEM Day on 30 March 2017. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, the College is hosting the day for the year 5 and 6 students from SJCC, Cygnet Primary and Sacred Heart Geeveston. There will be lots of fun and educational activities held on the day - check out the poster attached.

Emergency Practice

Within the next four weeks we will hold an unannounced emergency practice with staff & students, to test our response to a potential scenario that staff identify a threat warranting the school go into lockdown (opposite to evacuation). We have plans in place to make this practice as least disruptive as possible. If you have queries you are welcome to call me via the College office: (03) 6295 1541.

Reminder

No foot access via back boom gate off George Street at SJCC. This is currently a worksite and your child's safety is our priority. Thank you for your cooperation.

Sacramental Program

Parents wishing to have their children participate in the 2017 Sacramental Program please contact Mrs Connie Thomas at the College for further information on how to be involved.

Parent /Teacher Learning Conferences will be held 10-12 April 2017

The Learning Conferences involve students participating in a discussion about their learning with their parents/guardians and their homeroom/class teachers. Students from P-10 will be issued an Interim Report at this conference. Whilst meeting with specialist subject teachers is not part of this initial process; however, this can be organised later if it is deemed necessary.

The Conference allows for homeroom/class teachers to discuss progress in key learning areas, as well as work habits, such as organisation. Goals will be developed and set so that students can work towards achieving them during the remainder of the year. Please note that this conference will facilitate the construction of their Personalised Learning Plan (PLP). A similar process in the middle of the year will allow for reviewing how progress is going towards their goals.

Each conference is scheduled for 15 minutes and I ask that in fairness to all, you stick to this time. If you need more time, teachers will be happy to make follow up appointments. This process is a very positive way of building relationships and ensuring commitment to the individualised learning outcomes your son or daughter requires.

It is an expectation that learning conferences are conducted for every student from Prep to Year 10 and that the student is present for all or part of the conference. Appointments can be made ONLINE or by contacting the College office. The online booking process is done through a system called Session Keeper, information on how to access the site will be provided next week.

God Bless,

Mr Allan Clark
College Principa
Congratulations

Congratulations

Tasmanian Little Athletics State Individual Championships

The Tasmanian Little Athletics State Individual Championships was held last weekend in Launceston. Two students, Darcy Direen (Year 3) and Harry Brereton (Year 5) from SJCC participated in the event and each did exceptionally well. Congratulations also to Hunter Thorpe (Year 4) and Charlotte Direen (Year 5) who also competed fiercely at the event.

At the end of a wet and windy long weekend, Darcy finished with the following awards:

• Gold in High Jump
• Silver in 200m
• Silver in 400m
• Bronze in 70m
• Bronze in 100m
• Bronze in Long Jump

• Harry also did exceptionally well and received:
• Silver in the 800m race
• Silver in the 1500m race (boys under 11)

Hunter Thorpe

• Under 10 Boys Long Jump
• Under 10 Boys Triple Jump

Charlotte Direen

• Under 11 Girls 60m Hurdles
• Under 11 Girls 200 Metres
• Under 11 Girls 400 Metres

Tasmanian Schools Rowing Championships

Over 4-5 March the Tasmanian Schools Rowing Championships was held at Franklin, this event marked the conclusion of the school rowing season for St James Catholic College.

The St James Catholic College team made 2xA finals and 3xB finals, all students were very impressive with their efforts, showed great support of each other and other Huon Rowers rowing for various schools.

Results-

A Finals: (Top 8 race after heats)

U13 Single Scull - Patrick Robbie 7th
U13 Quad Scull - Patrick Robbie, Noah Redding with JinJu Redding coxing 4th

B Finals (9-16) race after heats

U13 Single Scull - Noah Redding 4th
U13 Double Scull – Noah Redding and Patrick Robbie 2nd
U15 Quad Scull – Monica Robbie and JinJu Redding 5th

State Rowing Championships

Thank you to all our parents who continually support students with their sporting events including training sessions and transporting to and from events!

Huon Art Awards

When our 9/10 art class visited the Huon Art Awards (Huon Art Exhibition Group) exhibition in the Cygnet Town Hall, we went with high expectations having heard that two members of our class had won prizes for the work that they had entered. We were not disappointed: Daniel Flakemore’s 3D metal sculpture was astoundingly creative and eye catching and had been welded together (the artist was very humble and modest when complimented for his work), and Ayla McIntyre’s 2D picture in lead pencil was magnificently rendered with beautiful form and a wonderful grasp of shading. Everyone in our class is extremely proud of them, and I am sure that the rest of our school is as well. The rest of the exhibition was a wealth of ideas in the form of various media, showcasing many of the best artists in the area. Maxi Taylor.

Ayla McIntire- Year 9. Winner of the Artery student mixed media award ($100)

Huon Art Awards

General Information

College Book Fair

The 2017 SJCC Book Fair will be held from: Thursday 23 March to Thursday 6 April 2017.

There will be a variety of books and items available for purchase. Students will be given the opportunity to view the books and items in Library lessons. They will be able to make a wish list or purchase items. Parents are welcome to view items and may come in the mornings or afternoons or by appointment (contact College office 62 951 541).

For those students that received a voucher on prize day last year, they may choose to spend the voucher at this book fair. Vouchers need to be spent in one order and unfortunately change cannot be given. Your children benefit from the sales as the Library will receive a percentage of sales. There are lots of goodies that would make excellent presents. Hope to see you.

Connie Thomas - Library Technician

Fee and Levies Payments

Thank you to parents/carers that have paid their fees and levies or are making regular payments. Just a reminder that you can still qualify for the 5% discount on levies if school fees and levies are paid in full by 31 March 2017. Thank you. Jenny Coulson, Business Manager.

SMS Absence Notification

The College now 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.

Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden

The Year 3’s had their first lesson in the Kitchen! Using a big, sharp knife can be a daunting experience at any time but when you are in Year 3 it can be a major challenge. Thankfully all fingers were still attached at the end of the lesson. The challenge for the day was for the students to use the vegetables to create an image of their face. There certainly were some interesting characters. Year 5 and 6 had the chance to create some Zucchini Pickles, so we will be able to enjoy this throughout the year. The Garden now has 4 new chickens so lots of eggs are headed for the Kitchen. The favourite recipes for the last 2 weeks have been the Blackberry Muffins and the Lemon Curd.

Little Lights – Birth to Four Program

Little Lights Playgroup is held every Tuesday (term-time only) from 9.30am -11am. Everyone is welcome to come along and join the fun. During the session, children will have the opportunity to explore, participate in art experiences, ride bikes and having fun with new friends.

Kindergarten

The Kindergarten children have been enjoying learning all about the letter “S”. We have been talking about the letter and the sound that it makes, and identifying the letter “S” in the children's names. We have spent a great deal of time counting, and we are all excited to attempt to add two numbers together using two dice, cleverly adding the word addition to our vocabulary in the process.

Learning the Bear Hunt song has been a brilliant way for us to talk about positional language, words such as over, under, through, and their actions are in the song, and so learning what those words and what they mean has become a fun learning experience.

Kindergarten

Year 7/8 Camp

Last week the Year 7 and 8 students travelled to Spring Bay for their 2017 Camp! Students participated in a range of activities including: team-building exercises, bushwalks and archery - to name a few!

Forms/Policies

Please return and complete the package of forms that were sent home in late 2016. These forms include vital student information including emergency contacts, student and medical details. To help us update our records the office requires these forms returned at your earliest convenience. If you need a copy of the forms, please contact the College office.

Definition of a Local Excursion at St. James Catholic College

Parents and Guardians are asked, at the beginning of each school year, to give permission for their child/children to participate in local excursions. Below is a fuller explanation of what constitutes a local excursion at St. James.

A local excursion is any excursion within walking distance of the school as the school views the local community as an extension of the classroom. For example, the Tennis Club, Cygnet Sports Centre and Football grounds are regularly used for PE lessons and that other venues may include Burton’s Reserve/Scout Hall, Aboriginal Heritage Centre, other schools or businesses e.g. Bookstore, Post Office. If the weather is inclement the school bus may be used for transport. Risk assessments will be in place for any excursion undertaken whether walking or using the bus. Any excursion requiring buses due to distance being travelled, will always require written parent permission.

VET Information

Mr Neilson is the VET coordinator for all VET courses and is the first point of contact for general enrolment enquiries. He is also available for Agrifood enquiries. Mr Donaghue is available for Construction and Mr Perigo for Engineering and Ms Katny for Hospitality. Further information is available on the College website.

Enrolment finalisation

Enrolment for a VET course is a mandatory Australian requirement before we can officially deliver the training and assessment. The enrolment process comprises: Filling out a 2017 enrolment form, obtaining a USI number for new VET students and completing a VET 2017 contract. Students have already completed an enrolment form. Thank you also to all those who have already organised their USI's as part of the enrolment process. This week, you will receive a VET student contract. You will receive two copies. Please read, sign and return one copy. This ensures your child enrols correctly and will finalise the enrolment process.

Schoolzine / SZ App (College App)

Schoolzine is an online communication platform that the College will use to produce and distribute: newsletters, e-forms, absentees, calendar and online parent teacher bookings! The information can be accessed on any device, at any time, but you will need an internet connection! So, follow the instructions below and install the app for quick and accurate communications!

Policy on dogs within school grounds

We understand that at times parents need to bring a dog with them when picking up or dropping off students. We would like to keep these occasions to a minimum so if you are able to leave your dog at home this would be appreciated. Our reasoning being that a number of students are frightened of gods and that dogs in unusual and crowded situations can also be frightened and are know to bite as a defense mechanism.

Dogs do attract crowds!

• If you do have to bring a dog onto the grounds please ensure:
• It is on a lead
• The dog is accustomed to interacting with strangers and large groups of people
• That you stay in larger open spaces and do not go into small foyers and classes etc

From time to time students ask or are asked to bring a dog (or other pet) to school for a ‘show and tell’ type session especially if a child has a new pet or a dog has pups etc. This is fantastic but any visits of pets to classes must be pre-organised with the class teacher so they can prepare the students.

It is the school policy that if we have dogs stray onto the school grounds we usually get the groundsman to constrain it call the Council and have them collect the dog. The dog is not left to wander amongst the students.

College Facebook page

Join our College Facebook page just type in: @StJamesCatholicCollege in the Facebook search bar!

Community Events

STEM Day

Asthma Back to School Information

Bendigo Bank Student Banking

Dance Classes

Diddy’s Day Out (Night Event)

YOU+ME=community festival

Box Car Challenge

Family Fun Day