Dear Parents and Carers

Congratulations to the Year 3 students who will be receiving their first sacrament since baptism, the Sacrament of  Reconciliation next week. As we continue to journey together on the path of peace within our learning community, we value the many opportunities of being witnesses to the values of dignity, justice, respect, forgiveness, harmony and love being lived out daily.

The Year 6 students had a wonderful celebration of  their Confirmation last Sunday. Many thanks again to Bishop Martin Ashe, Fr Linh, Rebecca Nancarrow, Lisa Grigg, Emily Bissell -Barahona, Patrick Kennedy, Maddie Seitz, Bree Russell and Jess Mullen.

Reports and 3 Way Conversations: 

Teachers are completing written reports to parents, which provides an opportunity to acknowledge your child’s achievements for Semester One and proposed future learnings for Semester Two.

The teachers’ written comments outline achievements that students have demonstrated with skills and tasks completed during Semester One. Students have been involved in learning, investigating and the presentation of information that supports the development of new understandings. Teachers have also included future learning suggestions for your child in areas where they need support to achieve their best. Teachers make comments on your child’s social development. This aspect of the report will enable you to gain an understanding of how your child relates to others at school and some of the social skills and work habits they are demonstrating. 

Parents and Carers  have been offered the opportunity to attend a Student, Parent, Teacher Conversation. Please book a time via Operoo if you have not already done so. 

This is a great chance for your child to share aspects of their learning with you, for you to ask questions, find out how you can support your child’s learning and to establish a closer working relationship with their teacher. Before you attend the Student, Parent, Teacher Conversation talk to your child about their report and look through their reflection through Seesaw or Google Classroom. If you have a question, write it down and have it ready for the conversations.

Behaviour Management Processes at Our Lady Star of the Sea: 

At Our Lady Star of the Sea we have clear processes in place to manage behaviour and support social and emotional learning of all. We ask all families to respectfully understand that we do not encourage or respond to conversations within the community between more than one family. If you have a concern it is important to us that you make contact individually. We simply ask you to individually email or make time to meet to discuss your individual concern and know our door is always open to engage in this way. I have also included links here to our Student Wellbeing Handbook 2025 outlining all we do in this space, our Our Lady Star of the Sea Complaints Handling Policy and our MACS Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy

It is apparent in the current climate across schools and society, we are being exposed to more negativity, particularly in the media. This leads to a lower level of resilience and higher anxiety, including with our students, which can filter into school conversations. That's why it's so important that we always stick to our established policies and procedures. They are there to help us manage these situations consistently and fairly for everyone.

Importance of Attendance: At Our Lady Star of the Sea, we want to provide our students with every possible opportunity to achieve at their highest level. An important aspect of this is ensuring our students' attendance at school is regular and consistent.  

Maintaining a high level of school attendance can only assist your children in:

• Academic Achievement: The Building Blocks of Learning
• Active Participation: Fostering Engagement and Confidence
• Building Relationships: Connection and Support
• Developing Responsibility: Life Skills for the Future
• Preparation for the Real World: Professionalism and Discipline

It is important to  support your child in creating a positive attitude towards their schooling particularly given there are some concerning statistics around absences and the amount of schooling your child will miss throughout their school life, if they don’t maintain regular attendance:

 (1 day a week = 8 weeks a year = 2.5 years over their schooling life)

Please  ensure you are providing your child with the best possible opportunity to learn and achieve at their highest possible level.

If your child is absent from school that the correct procedure is followed as noted below in order of preference:

• Record on PAM
• Email the classroom teacher prior to 8.30 am
• Phone call to the front office 52554308 before 8.50 am.

If we do  not receive notification an automated text will be sent to families at 9.30am.

If parents/carers receive this text it is crucial they respond. Please go onto PAM before 11 am or  call the  front office to ensure the whereabouts of the young person can be confirmed.

In relation to students leaving throughout the school day, this is discouraged. Obviously there will be times that this will need to occur but ideally if appointments can be made outside of school time it would be appreciated. In the interest of child safety and to support uninterrupted learning, parents and carers must report to the school office and not enter classrooms during learning time unless a prior appointment has been arranged.

We thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in your child’s education. Regular school attendance plays a vital role in their learning, development and success. By working together—school and family—we can ensure your child has every opportunity to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Free Cybersafety online Session for our families: We are excited to engage with KD solutions and offer Our Lady Star of the Sea families a free online session to support you as you navigate the challenges of Technology. KD solutions have recently be working with our Year 5 and Year 6 students in the educational space. We are hoping by offering it online, more families will engage in the comfort of your home.

This session will include information regarding:

-the online world young people live in

-Common online risks

- Laws and Digital consent

- Home strategies for safety Resources and support.

When: Wednesday June 11

Time: 7pm -8 pm

Venue: Via Zoom

Please see click here for information on the upcoming parents workshop.

The digital link is also attached below for anyone that has issues with the QR code. 

 https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81859063254?pwd=Nhw9yplubZRMEJbMyxwx6LaTlItiYC.1

From the Year 6 workshops in this space, please see their pledge below to how they will move forward in the online space.

Reconciliation Week:

Our students completed some great learning during Reconciliation Week last Week. Year 5 SC led a beautiful assembly reflecting on the theme "Bridging Now to Next," which means learning from what happened before and making things better now and in the future.