Dear Parents and Carers,

Today’s prayer reflects on our recent celebration of Reconciliation Week and National Sorry Day. In light of recent events globally and our current climate, the words in the song by Xavier Rudd, an Old Collegian of St Joseph’s College, remind us that we all stand united as one, in the likeness and image of God, and pray for peace “in times like these.” Please take the time to listen to this beautiful and powerful song as part of our prayer

Sustainability awards:

It was with great excitement and pride we viewed the ResourceSmart Schools Awards (2020) and successfully won the Community Leadership School of the Year Award (Primary) and Curriculum Leadership School of the Year (Primary) for our work in 2019. There are many to acknowledge and thank for this amazing achievement including students, staff and parents. For all of you thank you for your wonderful efforts led by Sue Constable, Kellie Clark and Marianne Caddy as the Learning and Teaching Leader. It has taken many over the years to see us at the point we are in our sustainability practices embedded throughout the curriculum and community and this achievement is shared by many past and present including Rhonda Boyd our previous  Principal of which “Green House Boyd” is named after. Please click here to read the brochure announcing all winners and specifically acknowledging the work completed by Our Lady Star of the Sea to lead to this amazing achievement. When the awards are posted out including the certificates, trophies and $500 to go towards a sustainable action in our school we will present at an assembly. We also look forward to continuing to build on our great work including  through continued student voice with our Green Thumbs and Sustainability student action groups empowering all, through the curriculum Prep-6  and our  Earth Fest planning for 2021.

Year 3-6 return to onsite learning: It was wonderful to have all our Year 3-6 students back onsite today. A reminder that drop off and pick up times remain the same, with the end of the day seeing us sending students in Year 3-6, who are independent and  active travellers, from 3.20 pm with teachers on duty at each gate. We will then bring Year 2, Year 1 and Year Prep students to the gates as we have been doing and all students will be dismissed by 3.30 pm. Those that are still waiting to be collected will be supervised at each gate by staff until you arrive. Many thanks for your continued support with social distancing and supporting your children to enter the school independently while we continue to adhere to regulations.  

Camps and Swimming: There may be questions around what is happening with the camp and swimming program this year. We have been advised to wait and see and are making contact with the organisations to see what options we have. When we know more we will let you know.  If any camp or swimming program does not proceed we will either reimburse those who have paid your fees in full or, at your option, carry the balance over to next year's fees.

Mental Health:

We are acutely aware that some of our families including students who have siblings at secondary schools may be aware of recent, tragic teenage suicides throughout the Geelong region. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to the students, staff and wider communities of Bellerine Secondary, St Joseph’s College and Geelong Grammar at this time of great sadness.

We are sharing with you communication from the CEO of headspace, Jason Trethowan, which was sent out to our Geelong secondary school principals, and their counterparts in the government and independent sectors, to share with parent communities. Please find the link in Paul Anderson's wellbeing message.

This letter to parents focuses on the recent suicides of young people in the Geelong community. It seeks to reassure, promote help seeking behaviours and highlight that youth suicide is not specific to any one school community. The letter also documents a range of actions being taken across education, health and government agencies to support the Geelong community.

As a parent of a son in Year 12 at St Josephs and Paul Anderson a parent of two sons in Year 11 and Year 9, we have seen first hand the support and care provided to students as they navigate this very difficult time. We wish to acknowledge the incredible work of St Josephs, Bellarine Secondary School, Geelong Grammar and all school leaders and staff across schools in the region at this difficult time.

The tragic loss of these young lives highlights the crucial role wellbeing plays within our schools. We were asked recently by a parent what we do to support student’s mental health at Our Lady Star of the Sea.  Wellbeing encompasses all dimensions of life within a Catholic school community. At Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Wellbeing is enacted through our school’s vision and mission and fostered through our explicit Social and Emotional Learning and teaching practices.  Wellbeing is brought to life through respectful relationships and a safe, nurturing  and inclusive environment that enables all to thrive. Positive relationships are very important to us as well as providing opportunities for increasing the sense of belonging and connectedness. We have a comprehensive well being strategy which includes Restorative Practices, Kidsmatter strategies (now called Be You)  and the Respectful Curriculum covering topics from Prep-6 such as coping skills, help seeking skills and social and emotional learning competencies. We have also recently undertaken Professional Learning as a whole staff in the Berry Street Education Model, which is purposefully designed to support the sequential development of students' physical, psychological, social and emotional capacities. and are trained in observing changes in behaviour of our students, anxiety or trauma for students and/ or concerning comments made by students whereby we would contact the parents and have a further conversation. Further to this, we have several staff trained in Mental Health First Aid, which teaches how to recognise the symptoms of different illnesses and mental health crises and how to offer and provide initial help. Our students are encouraged to be able to name on one hand 5 people they can talk to.

If you are ever concerned about your child’s wellbeing we ask that you speak with your classroom teacher and we have a referral pathway should they need to access Sarah Fraser a psychologist that works onsite 5 days a week and whose sessions are  medicare bulk billed.

Parish Priest Message for the 2019 Annual Report to the Community:

Fr Darien Sticklen is our wonderful Parish Priest. We are grateful for his faith leadership, his deep spitituality, his wisdom, the way he is always making authentic connections between faith and life, his compassion and actions for social justice and his support of our students and our entire learning community on all levels. Fr Darien has also embraced technology and provides mass online each Sunday along with the weekly bulletin and readings of the day. Please see below under the Religious Dimension tab for Parish News with last week's readings and mass link. We also thank Fr Darien for these beautiful words on our 2019 annual report which will be published early July.

At the centre of our learning community at Our Lady Star of the Sea is the well-being

of each child as a unique individual, but more than that, as a child of the God whom

we call Love.

There is a saying: ‘Work is love made visible,’ and the incredibly hard work that our

teachers and support staff undertake shows the enormous love and care they put

into their work. It’s not just a job, it’s a true calling.

Academic achievement is not the whole picture. This is evident in the ways our

students are taught to care for creation, to respect and care for one another, and to

contribute to the greater community. Through daily prayer and the sacraments, our

children are encouraged to dive below the surface to a deeper part of their being, to

find the power of God’s caring love that can sustain them through life.

Our many wonderful families also make a great contribution through the Parents and

Friends, the School Education Board and other ways.

The Mission Fete and the fantastic progress made this year on the major new

building project are just two of the many successes we can celebrate.

Words cannot express my admiration for Ms Kerryn Sells and her amazing team.

Congratulations on another successful year, and sincere thanks to all.

Wishing you peace for the fortnight ahead and stay well

Kerryn