Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you are all managing to enjoy this glorious, autumnal weather.

This week is family week with a theme of Building Compassionate Families and Communities. As you all are aware, this is very much part of Our Lady Star of the Sea and the vibrant, generous and out reaching community we are. Being faithful to our vision of respect and nurture, we are fortunate to be witnesses to this compassion daily.

Pope Francis, in his address to the United Nations, Clementine Hall, 2013 stated  "Over and over again we see that family bonds are essential for the stability of relationships in society, for the work of education, and for integral human development, for they are inspired by love, responsible intergenerational solidarity, and mutual trust.” With grateful hearts, we acknowledge our 393 families and the love you give within your own family and extend to others, adding tremendous value to your children’s lives and our learning community.

Fittingly, as we recognise Family Week, we have certainly experienced the coming  together of our families on numerous occasions over the last week. These include Year 6  Confirmation, Mother’s and Significant Females Night and assembly, Athletics day, Cross Country, Swimming, today’s Year 3 Sovereign Hill Excursion, Care and Concern roster, School Advisory Council and PFA Meetings to name a few. Our vibrant community is indeed something to be grateful for.

Year 6 Confirmation: On Saturday, 81 of our amazing Year 6 students were conferred by the Most Reverend Martin Ashe and supported by Fr Darien Sticklen, as they celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation last Saturday 11 May. We congratulate the  81 Confirmation candidates. 

We are also very thankful to Bishop Martin, Fr Darien, Rebecca Nancarrow and all of the Year 6 team for their wonderful preparation of the students and ensuring a beautiful, spiritual and reverent celebration.

Mother and Significant Females celebrations:  We hope  you all enjoyed the Mother’s Day celebrations last week. I know the students certainly were full of zest and enthusiasm to make you feel special. Many thanks also to the dad’s who got on board with cooking the sausages and Jess Bamfield for donating some sausages through her work. The teachers drew on their creative skills along with the students to ensure you received a lovely surprise on Sunday. Thank you also to 6BC for a heartwarming assembly and the distribution of the colourful flowers which were made with love.

Whole School Athletics Day: Many thanks again to Sam Scott for his brilliant organising of the sports day. Special mention to Kathryn and her brilliant support and all staff for yet again getting on board with passion and commitment to ensure a successful day was had by all. The students joy, persistence and participation was exemplary.

Science of Learning, Engagement and Student and Teacher Wellbeing: As we continue to explore evidence based practise for quality learning and teaching and build on the wonderful things we already do, we were grateful to have the recent professional learning day with Sarah Morgante “ The HeArt of the Matter.” Some of you may be aware of the direction all schools are taking in different ways when it comes to implementing Science of Learning strategies and explicit instruction. We were affirmed on this day as a whole staff for the evidence based explicit teaching we do bring to our students and our  focus on valuing the ‘whole child’ as part of the Science Of Learning  rather than just the rigidity and structure – hence, why the heart is included in the  title of our Professional Learning. In line with our School Improvement Plan and Annual Action Plan, we are very much continuing our exploration of the Science of Learning  to bring about further understanding in our context and have continued  access to great professional learning. The day reinforced that together as a staff, we can shape the vision for instruction in our context while prioritising student-centreedness and maintaining high expectations and teaching practices. We will continue to further to develop our knowledge and implement evidence based, tailored practices, emphasising the need for continuous professional learning among teachers. We remain committed to continue to ensure relationships, engagement, voice and collaboration are important learning sciences for our students to fully flourish.

Sustainability Through Your Own Lens Photography Finalist: Congratulations to Amara Gauld who is  finalist in the Sustainability Through Your Own Lens Photography Competition. This is a wonderful achievement and something to celebrate!

Title: Shine the Light by Amara Gauld, Grade 6, Our Lady Star of the Sea, Ocean Grove

Answer to prompt: We need to keep our planet healthy and clean for future generations. The sun comes up and sets every day we have a responsibility to keep the planet liveable for all the creatures. This photo was taken from the point of view of a creature not a human and shows how the earth is important for everyone.

Baptisms: Any parents and carers wishing to baptise their children, please submit a baptism request form. This needs to be done receiving Sacraments. Once the baptism request form is received from the family, the baptism team will contact each family. Non-Catholic families must meet with Fr Darien first to discuss why they would like their child/children baptised. Each family must attend a baptism preparation session and Welcoming Mass before their Baptism Service. Here is the link for baptism enquiries and requests: Baptism – Holy Trinity Parish Queenscliff (holytrinityqueenscliff.org.au).

Wishing all families much love and peace.

Kerryn