Dear Parents and Carers,

You may recall our theme for this year was working together in Faith, Hope and Love. The prayerful reflection in this newsletter reminds us that in Jesus' time he was the ”God of Now”, then Catherine McAuley, 200 years ago, was the “God of Now” for the people of Ireland. Today we are the ”God of Now”  in the way we bring Mercy to others and ,ïn particular, respond now in these times of uncertainty.

I hope your last fortnight has been full of moments of faith, hope and love and you are continuing to stay connected in a positive way with each other. 

Return to School:

As you may be aware, the Premier announced this morning a staggered return to school for everyone before the end of term. We are very excited by this announcement as I am sure your children and yourselves will be.

This means that Prep-2 will return to school on Tuesday 26 May, with a pupil free day for the whole school on Monday 25 May. 

Year 3-6 students will return on Tuesday 9 June. 

In the meantime and, in preparation for a return, we ask that in order to support the health and wellbeing of all in our community, you please endeavour to do the following things.

• Download the Covid safe app
• Ensure your child(ren) have had their flu shot
• Notify the school if you have a confirmed case
• Do not send your child to school unwell
• Continue to reinforce with your children good hand hygiene practices and using sanitiser at the entrances at school before entering.
• Follow any guidelines we share before returning including the dropping off of children and collecting. There will be more to come on this regarding safe guidelines and points of pick up.

Reporting on Semester One:

We have received confirmation that we will be reporting on Semester One. The teachers and yourselves have continued to do a great job in continuing the learning journey for our students during Term 2 with remote learning. We are collecting evidence of learning that we can authenticate and have been tracking both through Term One and Term Two. Whilst the learning has looked different, we are going to make the most accurate judgements based on the authenticated learning pieces and provide a personalised comment. We will also conduct interviews and details of when these will happen will come. In order to support teachers with time to begin  the writing of reports, there will be no slides for Prep-2 on Friday 22 May and no slides for Year 3-6 on Monday 25 May. Please take the time to celebrate all you have achieved and enjoy some downtime, perhaps with no technology, with your families on these days. 

Friday 22 May school will still be open for families needing to access onsite learning in Year 3-6 and students of essential workers Year Prep-6. The Premier announced Monday 25 May as a pupil free day. There will be no onsite learning for any students in preparation for the return of Year Prep-2 students. All teachers will be expected onsite from this day.

Finalists of the 2020 ResourceSmart School awards:

We have some very exciting news. We have just been notified this afternoon  that we have been nominated for four awards in the Victorian Sustainability awards.

Teacher of the Year (Primary): Sue Constable and Kellie Clark, Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Ocean Grove; 

Student Action Team of the Year (Primary): Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Ocean Grove

Community Leadership School of the Year  (Primary): Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Ocean Grove

Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Primary): Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School, Ocean Grove

A very big thankyou to Kellie Clark, Sue Constable, Alison Healy and the Leadership team for completing these applications for recognition. A special mention Kellie Clarke and Sue Constable for their continual great work and  Rhonda Boyd and Alison Healy for being the pioneers of our strong sustainability focus. Also Marianne Caddy, our Learning and Teaching Leader, for her great work in the curriculum area.

Library: Please contact your class teacher if you would like to access books from the library. 

Family Week

CatholicCare’s Family Week 2020 takes place next week, from Friday 15 May to Thursday 21 May.

The theme is ‘Building Connections in the Spirit of Hope’, and reflects CatholicCare’s focus on supporting and strengthening individuals, families and communities.

Family Week this year comes during one of the most challenging global health and social crises. The COVID-19 pandemic brings into sharp focus the importance of families, as it is families who bear the brunt of the crisis – sheltering their members from harm, caring for school children who are learning from home, and at the same time continuing their work responsibilities.

 The spirit of hope

This year’s Family Week theme is ‘Building Connections in the Spirit of Hope’, and hope is a powerful and transformative idea. It has a focus of providing hope for vulnerable families, while building the rich, broad and meaningful connections that promote resilience in families and the community.

The Catholic Church seeks to support and encourage every family to become what it was intended to be from the beginning – a community of life and love. To the extent that each of us opens ourselves within our own ‘domestic church’ to life and to love, we become like the Holy Family, a family through which the light of Jesus Christ becomes a real presence in the world.

The Great Realisation Some of you may have seen this but a wonderful poem to share and invokes deep reflection. It is an older brother reading it to his younger brother.

A very big Terima kasih / Thank you

The last few weeks of flexible and remote learning have been challenging for everyone in education. It has been a difficult period for teachers, students and families, as we have all adjusted to new ways of learning and teaching. The transition has not been an easy one at times for families or teachers, but where we have been successful, it is because parents and carers are partners in achieving learning outcomes. As a staff we  wanted to take this opportunity on behalf of the school and our teaching staff, to offer our sincere  thanks for the support you have provided during this transition.

We have been inspired by the commitment and energy shown by you the parents, teachers and Learning Support Officers, in educating our students and, this is reflected in the innovative and creative ways we have come together to ensure continuity of education.

From the way you have been open to supporting your child with the learning, communicated warmly and respectfully with all our staff, embraced the technology, learnt alongside your children and enabled your children to be present for their morning greetings, Google Meets and Hangouts or assembly times. 

Examples like this show how our school community is supporting each other through this period.

I believe that meeting this challenge together has strengthened the partnership between Our Lady Star of the Sea and our community, which will sustain us through the learning and teaching of the weeks, months and years to come.

Our Lady Star of the Sea  and its staff are here for you and, if you have any questions or concerns, please contact us as we continue to be available to help during this challenging period.

Please note we have postpooned our Professional Learning Day in Term 3 on Friday 24 July with Berry Street to next year. Therefore, school will be open on this day and no longer a Pupil Free Day. 

Wishing your family many blessings for the fortnight ahead

Kerryn