Week 2 Term 2, 2025

Loving God,
 We thank You for the gift of mothers—
 for their love, care, and guidance.
 Bless all mothers today with strength, joy, and peace.
 Watch over those who are missing their mothers,
 and comfort those who find this day difficult.
 May we always show our love and gratitude
 to the special women in our lives.

Amen.

Welcome back to Term 2. I hope everyone had a restful and refreshing break.

I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the entire St James community for the warm congratulations and support I’ve received as I officially begin my role as substantive Principal. It is a great privilege to lead our wonderful school, and I look forward to working closely with staff and families to provide the best possible education for your children.

A special thank you to those who attended our Working Bee on the Sunday before term began. It was incredibly heartening to see such a strong turnout. With your help, we were able to tick off several important jobs around the school, and I was genuinely impressed by the level of support and community spirit.

Thank you also to our dedicated teachers and staff for the hard work and preparation you’ve put in to ensure a smooth start to the term. Your commitment to our students and their learning never goes unnoticed.

Judy and I have taken another look at the uniform review, and we will be reconvening the uniform committee very soon—hopefully in Week 3—to discuss next steps and continue this important conversation.

Finally, I am very much looking forward to celebrating Mother’s Day with our school community at our Mass this Friday at 9:30am. I hope to see many of you there, and I especially look forward to connecting with more of our mums at the morning tea that will follow.

Here’s to a positive and productive Term 2 ahead.

Martin

ANZAC DAY

Thank you to Indy and Bentley for representing St James at the ANZAC Day remembrance service and for Mrs Kelly for supporting them.

UPDATED VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENTS – RHAAN COURSE

Here at St James, we are incredibly grateful and proud of the parent and community volunteers, putting in so much time and effort contributing to our amazing school community.

To be a volunteer with the school, it does come with some small requirements.

All volunteers must have a current Working With Children Check, and have completed the RRHAN-EC training for volunteer’s course, along with standard induction procedures.

If you are new to the school and wish to be a volunteer, please chat with Martin or the team and we can start the process of signing you up.

The RRHAN-EC course can be completed following the instructions online through this link:

https://www.education.sa.gov.au/working-us/rrhan-ec/how-volunteers-access-rrhan-ec-training

Alternatively we are planning to hold in person sessions in Term 2, please express your interest in this option to Tammi or Judy in the front office or Helen our WHS officer via email: hlatham@stjames.catholic.edu.au and we will pop you on the list of attendance. Dates to be confirmed.

JUMP ROPE FOR HEART

In the first half of this term, students from R-6 at St James are participating in Jump Rope for Heart. We believe it has been a number of years since our school has participated, and we are excited to take on this challenge again in 2025. Families will be sent home this week (hard copy) an individual registration form. Families/Students are welcome to collect donations for the Heart foundation if they wish, but it is by no means mandatory. We have decided that we will fundraise for the Heart foundation as a collective/group on our “Jump Off” day, and more information on how this will look will be sent out once our Year 5/6 student leadership have finalised the plans for this day.

SAPSASA CROSS COUNTRY

Congratulations to Bentley and Denzel who competed in the Cross Country trials last Wednesday.  They both had a good run and won their respective age groups.   They have been invited to compete in Adelaide at the State Cross Country Championships. Congratulations.

UNIFORMS – Transition Period

For the first two weeks, and last two weeks, of each term, we have a transition period for uniforms. Therefore, students can wear the summer or the winter uniform depending on the weather forecast for the day.

From Week 3, Term 2 all students will be asked to wear the winter uniform. Wearing the school hat is compulsory for Terms 1, 3 and 4, and in Term 2 when the UV is higher than 3. Please make sure that your child’s hat and jumpers are named. Please also take the time to check your child’s winter uniform for sizing and place orders through the Flexi Schools App.

BOOK CLUB

Scholastic Book Club catalogues were sent home with the eldest in the family today.  We offer this as an opportunity for families, and even though we earn reward dollars for orders which go towards purchasing books for the library, please note there is no pressure to purchase. All orders are to be placed through LOOP   www.scholastic.com.au/LOOP.   A sheet with “How to Order and Pay Online” has been attached to this newsletter or copies are available from the front office.  Orders will close on Friday 16^th May (end Week 3).

REMEMBERING THE LIFE OF POPE FRANCIS

God of mercy and mission,

We thank you for Pope Francis,

a teacher of truth, a friend of the poor,

a shepherd who walked with courage and joy.

As individuals, give us a heart like his:

Open to wonder, brave in justice,

ready to listen, slow to judge,

and always leaning toward love.

May his legacy echo in our classrooms and school,

not just in words, but in the way serve others. Amen.

On Friday our school community joined together in a prayer service to honour and celebrate the life of Pope Francis. Throughout his life he was a shepherd of deep faith, compassion and humility.

Pope Francis dedicated his life to serving God’s people and advocating for the poor, the marginalised and the dignity of all human life. He lived his life as a true witness to the Gospel, always reminding us of God’s mercy and calling us to a life of love and service.

May Pope Francis rest in peace, and may his legacy of love, justice, and peace continue to inspire us here as individuals and within our St James School community.

MOTHERS DAY MASS AND MORNING TEA

Please join us for a special mass this Friday (May 9^th, Week 2) to celebrate the wonderful mums, grandmas, and special people in our children’s lives, hosted by the Year 1 class.

After Mass, please join us for a morning tea under the trees, prepared and served by the students.

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK

Next week we celebrate Catholic Education Week. Catholic Education Week is a great opportunity to highlight all the wonderful things that are happening in every one of our Catholic Schools across South Australia. This year, some of the weeks activities will be based around our Diocesan theme, Seeds of Hope as well as elements of our Catholic Social Teachings.

Throughout this week, students will be engaging in a variety of activities to celebrate being a part of our Catholic School community.

What’s happening during Catholic Education Week

Monday:

Opening Prayer 9am

Wednesday:

Bring Non-Perishable Food Items for the Vinnie’s Winter Appeal

Students will use their creativity to create a symbol of “Seeds of Hope” with the gathered Non-Perishable items. Students can start bringing in non-perishable items anytime from now to support the works of St Vincent De Paul and are asked to give these to their classroom teacher to store in their classrooms until Wednesday of Week 3.

Thursday:

St James Switches Off from 11am - each class will be going without power for a part of the day to show our commitment to looking after our world and help protect the environment.

RFDS Fundraising Day – We will confirm in the near future as to what this day will look like, but we will ask that children donate a gold coin which will be donatnted to the RFDS.

Friday:

Casual Clothes to be worn on this day.

Students are invited to meet at 8:15am at the Jamestown Memorial Park on Friday morning and participate in the Walk Safely to School Day.

Please join us out at the Bundaleer Forest for Mass at 9:30am, led by Fr Harold and the Reception Class.

Our Term 2 Parents and Friends meeting will be held at Bonnie Levine on Tuesday, 20th May. A special thanks to Philippa Pycroft for generously agreeing to host us. Join us at 6:00 PM for a drink and a chance to browse before the meeting begins at 6:30 PM. We hope this to be a fun, social evening, while supporting a local business. Even if you’re not interested in joining the committee, feel free to come along and enjoy a night out with other school parents.

The St James Parish are looking for people to help prepare the flowers for the Altar in the Church. No experience necessary. Veronica Malone has kindly offered to meet with anyone interested to give some tips. Veronica has been doing the flowers for many years. You could choose how often you could give your time, even if it is once every 6 months. All offers will be greatly appreciated. If you could kindly RSVP to Deb McCarthy on 0409 700535 by the 9^th May.