Week 3, Term 4

New Emu Crossing for St James School

I am pleased to announce that works on a new Emu (pedestrian) Crossing will commence soon on King Edward Tce. Last year, Mrs Alanna Wardle, along with the 2022 Year 5/6 Class gathered a lot of traffic and pedestrian data and presented this to the Northern

 Areas Council. This information was combined with a detailed report that was prepared by the RAA. The school successfully applied for a $10,000 RAA Road Safety Grant. These funds will be provided to the Northern Areas Council, who will contribute the majority of the funds for these works. This project will be solely run and managed by the Northern Areas Council. The school is very excited to see this project getting off the ground. Markings have already been made and some preliminary works have started. Works on underground drainage will commence this Thursday. The project will include a new footpath on the western side of King Edward Tce that links the carpark on the corner of Cockburn Road and King Edward Tce and the new crossing. The bulk of the works will commence in mid November and should be finished in early December. I ask the school community to be patient while the works occur, as parking at the front of the school will be affected. Parents may have to park further towards the south on King Edward Tce during the morning drop off and during the afternoon pick up times during the construction phase. Parking is also available near the pedestrian traffic lights on the corner of Cockburn Road and King Edward Tce.

Staffing Update and Class Structures for 2024

Miss Hannah Arbon has accepted a teaching position at St. Joseph’s Parish School Gladstone. Miss Jessica Robinson has also accepted a Year 7-9 teaching position at St Joseph’s School, Peterborough. Mrs Carey Wurst will finish teaching Music at the end of the year and Mrs Alanna Wardle has resigned as she will spend more time working in her family’s real estate business. Mrs Cathy Kelly will take a year of leave from teaching and will become a Curriculum ESO in 2024. Amy Kennedy, who works one day per week as our WHS Officer has also resigned. She has gained more employment through the Bundaleer Forest. Mrs Alison Kelly will be taking maternity leave at the beginning of 2024. We will thank them for their contributions later this year. Most of the recruitment processes have been finalised.

Class Structures for 2024;

Reception / Year 1 – Mrs Claire Sheridan and Mrs Ellie Stacey – 2.5 days each

Year 2/3 – Miss Minnesota Cheriton – Full time. Miss Cheriton is from Booleroo Centre and is familiar to our school as she completed a teaching placement at our school last year.

Year 4 – Mr Zack Taylor – 4 days per week. Mr Taylor currently teaches Science as a specialist teacher at the Junior Campus of St. Ignatius College. He will be entering his 3rd year of teaching. He has a strong interest in Science and Technology and is skilled with robotics, coding, drones and 3D printers.

Year 4 teacher for the 5th day - TBC

Year 5/6 – Miss Georgia Parisotto – Full time. Miss Parisotto will be entering her 3rd year of teaching. She is currently employed at St Monica’s Parish School, Walkerville. She has strengths in Maths, Science and Technology. She is also skilled in the arts, as she worked for the Theatre Bugs drama company for 6 years.

Acting Religious Education Coordinator – Ms Annie O’Reilley

Wellbeing and Auslan – Mrs Sandra Gresch

Leader of Learning – two days per week – TBC

Specialist Subjects and Teachers – TBC

Finance and WHS Officer – Helen Latham

Admin Officers – Mrs Peta Caulfield and Mrs Judy Walkington

Curriculum Education Support Officers – Chloe Cunningham, Rebecca Home, Cathy Kelly, Sue Randall and Narelle Richmond

Little Jimmies Playgroup – Rebecca Home

Cleaning Staff – Joanne Daly and Colleen Broad

Grounds and Maintenance – Daryl Miller

Educational Psychologist Visit

As a part of our partnership with Catholic Education South Australia, we provide access to a highly experienced educational psychologist. Trent Ames visits our school for two days, every term. With parent permission, he can observe children in class and complete assessments for social and emotional concerns and for academic or learning issues. Trent is available to meet with parents, on request. These services are provided for free. Usually access to this type of service is expensive, requires a long wait of more than 12 months and can mean multiple trips to Adelaide, resulting in parents having to take time of work. This service is offered to compliment the school’s approaches to inclusive education. If any parent would like to find out more or has concerns about their child, please make a time to speak to me. Trent’s next visit is next week on Monday 6th November and Tuesday 7th November.

World Teachers Day

On Friday we celebrated “World Teachers Day.” I would like to thank our teachers for their teaching, passion and dedication. Their efforts do not go unnoticed. They empower the students to do their best and be their best. Thank you to the ESO’s who provided a wonderful morning tea and the surprise hats for the teachers to wear last Friday. Hats off to our teachers.

Giant Swing - Sadie and Pippa

On Monday, our first activity was the giant swing. First Lissy and Lilly our instructors taught us how to gear up for the giant swing. Patrick was brave and went first, then the class followed. A rope was used to pull you up, once you were up to your preferred height you wanted you pulled the ‘blueberry’ to let go. Everyone had a go at their preferred height.

Team Building Games - Hugh S and Jorja

We started off camp with team building activities. We played a variety of different games but our favourite was camouflage. We had to hide in an area within 12 seconds and when the 12 seconds were up we had to hide in a different spot but in 11 seconds.

Prison Break - Alexis and Alayla

On the first night we played prison break. We split ourselves into groups of 5 or 6. Our instructors, Brooklyn and James taught the rules to us. We had to go to different areas of the camp, such as, archery and the flying fox. On the way to the areas we had to collect different items. If the police man saw you moving you would get a life taken away. You had to move around to each station with your team, the team with the most items won!

Archery - Hazel and Zarah

We went into three teams and we were competing against each other and team two won. Then we had 1 vs 2 vs 3 vs the teachers and parents. The parents and teachers won. There were different colours on the target, which equaled different points. The white was 2 points, black was 4 points, blue was 6 points, red was 8 points and yellow was 10 points. The yellow was also called a bullseye.

Low Ropes - Eddie and Will

At camp we did low ropes. Some of the challenges included a wobble log, tyre swings, skate board roller and a zip line. We had to work with our partners to safely get around the course.

Challenge Course - Archer and Ned

At camp we had a challenge course. On the challenge course there was lots of wet sections. At the start we had to water slide into a big pond then we had to jump over a wall and onto a balance beam, whilst holding a cone full of water. We had to army crawl through muddy water under a net.

Raft Building - Hugh T and Gus

At camp we made rafts in the pool. We had resourses like ropes, inflatable tyres and wood to make the best raft possible. We then had competitions on who could get their team to the other side the fastest.

Crate Staking - Patrick and Ethan

We had a competition between the boys and the girls to see who could stack their crates first. It was first to get to nine and if you got to nine before the other team you would go to ten. We had to work as a team to get each person to the top. 

Quiz - Ellie and Lottie

Last week at camp we did a quiz. There were 4 teams called; Shrek’s Swamp, The Peppa Pig Squad, Grimace and Big Brains. We had to answer a variety of subject questions, such as, music, Mylor, maths, animals, books, movies and geography.

Overall we had a great time at camp. We would like to thank Jed Sutter and Craig Thompson for joining us.