FROM THE PRINCIPAL
It seems almost surreal that we are nearly three-quarters of the way through 2022. The world is trying to resume normal transmission, and planning for a different normal is not always easy.
As a School, we are dedicated to constant improvement. We don’t always get it right, but we have trust in our community to respectfully feedback to us when we missed the mark. I am proud that this is our ‘NORMAL’.
In 2021, our Executive Team and School Council were busy mapping out our next Strategic Plan, 2022-2024. Final approval late in 2021 has allowed us to start working towards these new goals.
We are focusing on some aspirational goals and some, ‘business as usual, but better’, goals. This means that we will be focused on improving the day-to-day education operations that we know are already successful, as well as making some pipedream goals that will help develop exciting new initiatives. This ‘business as usual but better, refers to adjustments to current teaching and learning programs, acknowledgement of the use of data to guide planning, improvements in teacher quality, and extending current service initiatives.
The Strategic Plan is represented by four pillars that have detailed elaborations that guide the staff given the responsibility of working towards completion by 2024. This document will be used by our Executive Team and staff regularly, reported to our Council regularly, as opposed to being a document that is hidden away and purely aspirational.
Please see the following link for more details and look out for some of our new initiatives in the coming months/years. Perhaps some of the most exciting aspects revolve around the commitment of funds to sustainability passion projects by both staff and students. I look forward to working with the entire community to achieve our collective goals.
Mr Adrian Pree | Principal
FROM THE CHAPLAIN
Despite the cold weather we still have the feeling of warmth and acceptance as we continue into Term 3. The weather can also change the way we feel, with the high or low-pressure systems. The weather can also affect the way we behave, just as the teachers of younger students will tell you, the wind can make them go ‘wild’. What we must remember is that no matter what the difference physically, mentally, or spiritually the weather makes, we are all in this together.
As we continue to grow, engage and encourage it is all down to our relationships, not only with each other but with our communities. Too often we can forget how many communities we are involved in and the way they affect how we live. To be a part of these communities we need to make a commitment to them. This is what enables the feeling of belonging and being a part of something special and important.
This is something Paul talks about in his letter to the Romans,
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. Romans 12:4-5
He is referring to how people should learn to live and accept each other despite their differences. Each part of the body, the family or the community is essential.
When I think of what Paul says about the one body with many members it reminds me of one of our School themes ‘One School, One Journey, Multiple Pathways’. This shows that the School accepts the differences and diversity of the students. It also tries to help and guide in whatever dream, plan or desire a student may have for their future
As some of you are aware the School has been working on its Strategic Plan. This is despite COVID-19 and all the disruptions it has caused. The School continues working on its commitment to increasing student numbers and new buildings. In addition to being a part of a community. We must continue to work in our community, not only for the students but for everyone to feel that they belong.
The need to belong is a task we all must be a part of. We are a part of the solution along with the desire, to want what is best for all our students. Caring for students leads to caring for the whole school community, which in turn leads to building up our community. This is what Peter says in his letter, “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble”. If we all do this, we are going to succeed in whatever we try to do.
Reverend John Taylor | School Chaplain
FROM THE HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL
I was recently involved in a meeting with Senior Staff from a range of Anglican Schools in Western Australia. We were discussing what our individual schools looked like and felt like; what we at St James’, sometimes call ‘the vibe’. Our first task was to select a word that aptly described our school. Many things sprung to mind, and by the time they came around the room to me, many of the words I had been considering had already been put forward – inclusive, diverse, supportive, innovative and dynamic to name just a few. Interestingly, mine had not. I proudly suggested that we at St James’ were competitive!
When asked to elaborate, I said:
‘By competitive, I mean that we are always looking to improve. We perform today, reflect, refine, practice and then compete again. This cycle is repeated over and over again; be it in our studies, on the sporting field, rehearsing for a performance piece, designing a project in woodwork or even working on a new recipe. We are surrounded by our coaches and our peers, who are themselves in a similar cycle of improvement. Collectively we form a ‘culture of improvement’. So, when we see our students striving for excellence, we appreciate the work that has gone into that performance. We have all been part of their journey, and they, ours. As such, we celebrate with one another, we push each other to new heights and collectively we achieve great things. This is the essence of St James’.
We continued around the room until reaching Mr Nicholas Townsend (Deputy Head of Junior School at St James’), who was sitting about five people along from me. Mr Townsend looked at me with a rye smile and proudly announced that the word he had chosen was driven! It dawned on us and everyone in the room, that despite not having collaborated on our responses, both Mr Townsend and I shared a similar view on what we are about at St James’. It is this understanding of who we are and what we stand for, that gives us a shared purpose; one that we are proud to stand behind!
So, my message to students is to get out there and actively pursue excellence, do your very best today, set yourself targets for tomorrow and the next day. Lean on your support networks, seek out experts who can help you to progress and always remember – ‘your best is always good enough’!
Good luck to our performers in the School musical, our competitors in the upcoming Interschool Athletics Carnivals and our Year 12 students with their final examinations. Represent yourselves, your school and your community with pride.
Mr Chris Hall | Head of Senior School
FROM THE HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL
Recently the Junior School staff took part in a Professional Learning session run by Claire Orange. Claire is a well-known and respected speaker who advocates for the well-being of children and their families, to help families thrive and flourish. It was an engaging session that all staff were able to take things away from. Claire focussed on brain development from an early age through to the importance of the learning environment.
The learning environment is an area that the St James’ staff are constantly reflecting on and looking to improve. The learning environment encompasses all aspects of the school from the classroom to the collaborative spaces, through to the playground, sports fields and also the Djerabin Boodja (outside classroom) and its new bike track.
A walk through the Early Learning Centre reveals an engaging learning space that aims to open the student’s imagination and sense of wonder so that they can ask those big questions that help them understand the world around them. The Kindergarten and Pre-Primary classes flow onto a purpose-built play area that has four distinct zones – the grassed pencil area for ball games, the sand area for creative play, the monkey bars and balance bars to help develop gross motor skills and the tunnel underneath the fortress – all of this is bordered by the bike track.
Year 1 and 2 is where the development of agency continues and the students take ownership of their environment. The students become more responsible for their learning and build on the foundation skills developed in Kindergarten and Pre-Primary. The students build on their background knowledge to make connections to the wider community and world around them.
In the Year 3 – 6 classrooms, the environment reflects the children’s current learning. There are displays of their work, photos of their achievements and engaging workspaces. The variety of workspaces is important as we know that everyone learns differently and we understand that it is crucial to be able to move around. There is a stage for dramatic performances, a computer lab, a dedicated music room and a large collaborative area that serves many purposes.
Outside the buildings the children have a variety of play areas – there is the nature playground, which is great for gross motor skills, playing games and generally having fun, there is also the ever-evolving ‘Djerabin Boodja’, an outside classroom that has a central yarning circle, an area to build cubby houses, a recently planted bush tucker garden and the new bike track. It is a space that will continue to grow and develop as our children and school develop. There is also an orchard and vegetable garden that the classes are taking charge of to see who can grow the best veggies and then create the best dishes.
After an unusual start to the school year, where we all kept our distance to help keep safe and healthy, we look forward to being able to share these environments with families and friends during our Open Afternoon/ Learning Journey on Monday 19 September 2.30pm – 4.00pm.
Mr Dan Mornement | Head of Junior School
INTRODUCING THE PARENTS AND FRIENDS OF ST JAMES'
I am pleased to announce that our parent's group, currently known as the Friends of St James' (FOST), will be changing to the Parents and Friends of St James’. We will refer to it as the Parents and Friends, or P & F.
The Parents and Friends (P & F) will focus on a few key areas that will help create a more engaged community on the back of the interruption caused by COVID-19. Fundraising opportunities will be explored in the coming months to help form regular partnerships with suitable, not-for-profit charities. This may include sponsoring an overseas student or school in a disadvantaged location.
We hope to provide a real connection for the students to help them understand and engage with those in need who reside locally and beyond our borders.
In addition, the P & F will also continue to organise the annual Family Fun Day, Mother's and Father's Day stalls, the Art Show, and possibly a family outdoor movie night in November.
The current committee members will remain the same until the end of 2023 to allow a smooth transition.
- President - Sonet Coetzee
- Treasurer - Laura Pritchard
- Parent representative - Nina Dorieux
- Secretary - Christine Antoine
- School Liaison - Adrian Pree
As always, we welcome any suggestions being sent to p&f@stjames.wa.edu.au
I look forward to meeting you at our next event, either as a volunteer or participant. Please get involved when you can and help build our community.
Mrs Sonet Coetzee | P & F President
WHAT'S NEW IN 2023
At St James’ we constantly grow and evolve, with the student voice an important part of our change. Next year, we are introducing some new and exciting Year 9 and 10 options and Year 11 and 12 courses. These complement the current variety of pathways that are offered.
New courses in 2023 include:
- Year 9 Journalism and Publishing
- Year 9 Graphics and Film
- Year 9 Money, Justice and Marketing
- Year 10 Game Design
- Year 10 Film Studies
- Year 10 Money, Justice and Marketing
- Year 11 Marine and Maritime ATAR
- Year 11 Media Production and Analysis General
- Year 11 Geography General
- Year 11 Certificate III in Music Industry
- Year 12 Marine and Maritime General
- Year 12 Engineering General
- Year 12 Psychology General
In addition, we have also introduced a specialist component to our Year 9 and 10 Sports Science options. Students can now choose from our General Sports Science option or a Specialist Soccer or Volleyball Program.
The process of surveying the students to optimise the subject lines will begin shortly so that students can select the courses they find interesting, follow their passions and potentially lead to future pathways.
Mrs Laura Briggs | Deputy Head of Senior School
2022 Senior School Interhouse Athletics Carnival
The 2022 Senior Athletics Carnival took place at the home of the Orange Army on Friday 5 August under clear skies, after rescheduling due to some extremely wet weather the week before. The first four days of the week offered up 90km winds and torrential rain before gifting us a dry day with little to no wind.
Congratulations to Eglinton House on a hard-fought victory. Their incredible level of participation proved to be the difference.
The atmosphere was electric all day with personal bests and records tumbling. There was healthy competition between the Houses no doubt spurred on by the dulcet tones of SJAS Director of Carnival Announcing, Mr Ryan Marlow, with music and support from House Bay Hill.
Our students continue to climb to new heights in their athletic performance which was obvious during the Blue-Ribbon High Jump event where our best athletes put on a show for the rest of the school. Equally impressive was the effort from all our students to push for personal best as well as the vital points for their House.
Some outstanding performances throughout the day were rewarded as ‘Champions and Runners-Up’ at the carnival’s conclusion. These were:
Year 7 Champions
- Makenna M
- Liam S
Year 7 Runners-Up
- Madison E
- Saul M
Year 8 Champions
- Ashlee M and Kayla C
- Barnaby L
Year 8 Runner-Up
- Zachary H
Year 9 Champions
- Ciann A
- George H
Year 9 Runners-Up
- Arieli G
- Keaghan R
Year 10 Champions
- Hayley B
- Luke H
Year 10 Runners-Up
- Madison P
- Fintan M
Year 11 Champions
- Zahra M
- Matthew V
Year 11 Runners-Up
- Isabel C
- Brady J and Gareth M
Year 12 Champions
- Elissa Q
- Chris C
Year 12 Runners-Up
- Liberty B
- Joey M
Congratulations to our award winners.
Girls Blue Ribbon High Jump Winner
- Kalani P, Year 10
Boys Blue Ribbon High Jump Winner
- Matt V, Year 11
The overall House points provided an incredible finish to the day with the results as follows;
- Eglinton 16471
- Twilight 16290
- Sydney 15994
- Cervantes 14914
A sincere thank you to the students, parents and staff who assisted in making the day a smooth operation and an enjoyable carnival.
Mr James Parsons | Head of Physical Education
Senior School Interhouse Athletics Carnival Photo Gallery
2022 St James' Day
On the last day of Term 2, our School celebrated St James’ Day, our Founders’ Day, with a hive of activity and colour around the School!
Great weather aided the planting, weeding and mulching working bee by our diligent Year 10s -12s and staff. While our Year 10s -12s were hard at work, our Year 7s – 9s got creative producing beautiful Indigenous dot art as part of NAIDOC Week activities.
Our action-packed day started with the Senior School Academic Awards assembly and our St James’ Day finale resulted in great shrieks of excitement, plus a lot of mess and colour when the whole School participated in a colour run!
The Year 5 students have created a beautiful piece of memorabilia from this St James’ Day by designing and creating the story of our School’s namesake, Saint James and his legacy as a disciple of Jesus. They drew one page each, painted it in watercolour, and added a section of text. They look forward to sharing it with visitors in the Administration building.
On the first day of Term 3, our Year 3 to 12s had the privilege of coming together to celebrate our Founder, during our St James’ Day Service led by Reverend John. Reverend John, with Reverend Marie, held a Eucharist in the Djinda Sports Centre, to celebrate St James’ life and death.
On reflecting on St James’ life Reverend John reminded us that ordinary people can achieve great things. He encouraged our students to ‘be themselves' as they navigated the term ahead.
Jacinta Spry | Marketing and Communications
2022 St James' Day Photo Gallery
Year 6 BASF Kids’ Lab at Curtin University
On Tuesday 28 June, Year 6 students participated in the BASF Kids’ Lab program at Curtin University. Throughout the day, students explored and engaged in three unique experiments working with qualified chemists.
Many students were enthusiastic about the excursion and all had an amazing time. One of the experiments that knocked the socks off the students was the colour-changing worm experiment. Many students were intrigued by this experiment and had fun exploring how the colour-changing worms reacted to hot and cold water.
Chromatography was another experiment where students separated coloured ink from textas. We learned that chromatography can be used in forensic science to distinguish a fake signature in criminal investigations.
Many of us had a good laugh when brushing our fake teeth using our homemade toothpaste. Did you know you can make toothpaste out of common ingredients found at home such as salt, water, baking soda and mouthwash?
Thank you to Curtin University and the BASF Kids’ Lab program for demonstrating knowledge of chemistry and providing us with the opportunity to improve and showcase our science skills.
Yolanda H and Ava W | Year 6 Students
ASC Rock Band Day
Towards the end of term 2, the St James' Rock Band travelled to Peter Moyes Anglican Community School for the annual ASC Rock Band Day.
It was an awesome whole day event where schools of the ASC performed to each other. The day has the feel of a festival, and the audience is extremely supportive of each other. It is usually one of the musical highlights of the year and this year was no different. Our students made us proud and felt like the rock stars they were!
Continuing with the rock star life, the band held an encore performance for House time the following day. The students showcased their pieces to another supportive St James’ audience who joined in the fun.
Ms Tracey Cook | Head of Music
Science Week at St James'
Glass, more than meets the eye!
Each year National Science Week has a new theme for schools to study and enjoy activities in relation to this theme. In 2022 the theme was "Glass" and our students found out that we rely on glass in more ways than they were probably aware of prior to this year's Science Week.
The Science Department ran a series of activities during Science Week, most of them related to the theme of glass. The students used glass jars to make their own plant terrariums, made sugar-stained "glass" windows and were entertained by a movie about glass called "Blown Away".
Students learned how glass can cause light to bend and made jelly moulds to discover how a laser beam moves in jelly in a similar way to how it moves through the glass fibre optics.
At lunchtime, interested students watched an informative movie called "The Year of Glass which is part of the "Blown Away" series. If it wasn't for glass, the students wouldn't have been able to enjoy the simple game of marbles or participate in fun experiments requiring glass beakers and test tubes during their Science lessons. They would not be able to see small structures such as cells through the microscope. The knowledge of glass and Science by both students and teachers was put to the test with a number of quizzes taking place during Science Week. The Science department hopes that all students enjoyed the week of activities all while learning that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to glass.
Ms Sue Bradley | Science Teacher
Science Week in the Junior School
The students in the ELC were entertained by exciting and visual demonstrations of chemical reactions. They got stuck into making slime and sherbet, lighting globes with electricity, performing chromatography and making glasses sing. Our very own Mrs Edwards and Miss Wilson were ‘Show Hosts’ and were supported by their very capable student assistants from Year 9 - 12.
All Year 1-6 students attended the incursion, 'Magical-World-of-Crazy-Science.' Richard-Scholes was entertaining and kept the students mesmerised for a whole hour, moving through demonstrations of Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Richard teaches students about chemical reactions, catalysts, water, Bernoulli, bubbles and science safety.
Take a beaker full of crazy science, add a test tube of comedy, then a pipette full of magic, and you’ll have The Magical World of Crazy Science! In a multi- coloured spectacle of giant smoke rings, glowing test tubes, mountains of slime and enormous bubbles, this production offers a fascinating and vibrant peek inside the crazy scientist’s lab.
Mrs Elke McKay | Head of Science
Student Spotlight
St James' is excited to announce that Barnaby L (Year 8) and George H (Year 9) have been selected for the Associated & Catholic Colleges of WA (ACC) All Stars Cross Country Team!
It is a great acheivement to be selected in the All Star team across more than 80 schools. Congratulations to George and Barnaby!
2022 has been a big year for Barnaby as he won the U14 Boys 3km race at the ACC Cross Country Carnival in June, for the second year in a row, This earned him a place on the state team to represent WA at the School Sport Australia National Championships in Adelaide at the end of this month.