3 July 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Term 2 has been an event-filled and productive time. On Thursday, the College distributed the Mid-Year Student Reports. It was very pleasing to read about all the wonderful efforts and contributions of our students towards their learning goals and extra-curricular activities. The students have displayed a true commitment to their studies over the past semester and we look forward to their ongoing achievements. I would also like to take the opportunity to acknowledge the wonderful staff at the College, your dedication to your roles and the support and guidance you provide the students in their learning journey is greatly appreciated.

I would like to congratulate Ms Stacey Cooper on receiving the “Early Career Emerging Leadership” award at the Tasmanian branch of Australian Council for Educational Leaders (ACEL) awards ceremony last Thursday. These awards honour educational leaders who have made a significant contribution to the improvement of student and organisational outcomes.

The College is very proud to announce that our Year 1 and 2 teachers Miss Mary Griggs and Ms Sarah Smets will be presenting alongside Vic Ryles at this year’s Australian Literacy Educators Association National Conference in Hobart. Their presentation will focus on the “Kids Own Publishing” program focusing on how they have implemented this program at St James Catholic College. The program has been highly successful and our students have been producing some outstanding work.

Reflecting on the past six months at the College, I can truly say that St James Catholic College is a place of encouragement and understanding. We have celebrated many significant College events, most notably the May Ball and the Official Opening and Blessing. Although many significant and promoted events have taken place, it is the small and often forgotten, day-to-day learning outcomes and opportunities that make the College such a special place.

Literacy and numeracy skills are very important aspects of learning, the introduction of Mathletics saw at our last Primary assembly, the presentation of 32 bronze and 2 silver certificates, this in addition to our FLAMES values awards and sporting achievements. Many of our students have participated in International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS testing) and students are excited about the upcoming “WordMania” competition. This term saw the introduction of Code Club which students are thoroughly enjoying and the Year 6 students accessing the “Bigger Things Program", an initiative of the State Government and the University of Tasmania and they are planning and modelling brilliant robots.

These programs and practical learning experiences all contribute to the knowledge and skills that the students will take with them into the future.

I wish you all a restful and safe term break and look forward to what I am sure, will be a busy, but magnificent Term 3.

Year 9/10 Exams

The Year 9 and 10 students have been working extremely hard in preparing for their examinations held this week. The students recognised the importance of this type of formal assessment and approached these exams with a mature and positive attitude. In addition to exams this week, the Year 10 students have been involved in Year 11 and 12 pathway planning sessions held at the College with the support of Guilford Young College staff.

LiteracyPlanet WordMania Competition

SJCC students are participating in Australia & New Zealand's biggest literacy competition. WordMania is a fun and exciting word building challenge for students. Students race against the clock to build as many words as possible in three minutes. Students are actively practising and refining their skills preparing for the National competition scheduled for August. This competition will assist in developing vocabulary and literacy skills as well as being interactive and engaging.

Parent /Teacher Learning Conferences – Book Now!

The Learning Conferences will be held on 4-5 July 2017 and involve students participating in a discussion about their learning with their parents/guardians and their homeroom/class teachers. 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 the report and allows the opportunity for a review of the progress towards student 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.

*Due to staffing arrangements Year 7 Learning Conferences will be held on Monday 3 July and Wednesday 5 July between 3:15pm-6pm.

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. The site address is below, a copy of the instructions can be found here:

If you do not wish to use the online booking system, please email or phone the office to book in your preferred time. The confirmation of your booking will be sent by return email or phone.

God Bless,
Allan Clark - Principal

General Information

Kindergarten Enrolments

NAIDOC Assembly Invite

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.

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.

Christmas Fair Flyer

Classroom activities and Excursions

Introduction to coding – Grade 7 & 8 Digital Technology

Over the past couple of weeks, students have been developing algorithms (sets of instructions, formula) and transposing these into flow charts that can be followed to create animation or games. Below are some samples of the instructions and flowcharts produced by the students. Thinking logically and sequentially has challenged the students, as has the degree of accuracy and detail that is required.

Instructions:

1. BEGIN
2. ASK THE QUESTION- do you want to play HI-LO?
3. Click yes or no to start the game
4. If no is selected
5. Say goodbye
6. Then exit the game
7. If yes is selected
8. Move on to play the game
9. Then go to level 1

Say you have to choose a number between 1-100

Volunteering Tasmania visit

Denise from Volunteering Tasmania visited the Year 10 students to explain the range of different services and programs available to assist and work towards making a positive change to our Community. This was an inspiring session with many of the students asking questions in how they can be involved.

All Schools Cross Country

Congratulations to the Primary students who represented the College at the All Schools Cross Country event held at Symmons Plains this week. The team included: Harry Brereton, Caleb Clark, Jack Walter, Lochlan Turnbull, Jesse Cowen, Hunter Thorpe, Seth Denny, Anikah Jones and Darcy Direen. Congratulations to Harry Brereton who achieved overall 3rd position in the State. Harry will be participating in the National Cross Country event that will be held in August.

MS Readathon

Through supporting the MS Readathon the College and your child can make a big difference to so many different people’s lives. To participate in the program students need register individually and organise and collect donations as well as reading as much as possible throughout August. Every individual that completes the program will receive a Certificate of Appreciation. Books that students have read for the Premier’s Reading Challenge or Reading Eggs can also count towards the total books read for the MS Readathon.

The MS Readathon is good way for students to develop a love of reading, to dive into a book and find out some fascinating facts or loose themselves in the storyline of chosen book, and this fits nicely with the Book Week theme this year, “Escape to Everywhere”. Books allow us to escape this World and go into places where you can experience other countries, cultures and times both real and imaginary. This quote, “Reading gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are” (Mason Cooley), almost sounds like it was written for a sufferer of MS.

The students can also use the library at lunch times to read or choose some books for reading to make their lists grow.

I have signed the College up to do the MS Readathon and students need to register online (with parents help) by following this link and steps below.

Follow this link,

1. https://www.doitforms.org.au/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=4360
2. Click “MS Readathon 2017”
3. Click “Register now”
4. Click “Student”
5. Click “Find a school”
6. Click on “St James Catholic College”
7. Continue to next step
8. Fill in information with parents
9. Click continue to next step

Connie Thomas
Library Technician/Chaplain

JB HI-FI Information

Looking to buy an iPad or MacBook?

The College has access to the JB HI-FI Bring Your Own Device Portal. The portal provides parents with discounted Apple products and accessories. This is a private arrangement between JB Hi-Fi and the buyer. Parents/Students are under no obligation to use this service and the College receives no commercial gain from JB Hi-Fi.

For more information visit the link below and enter the school code: STJCS2017

Community Notices