Dear Parents and Carers,

What a wonderful transition back to remote learning we have seen, in what is definitely challenging times. A real credit to the staff and parents and carers for enabling this smooth transition and really supporting each other in ensuring our students are at the centre of the learning. Well done of course also to our incredibly resilient students.

We were grateful to receive the warm feedback you have sent though to our staff in regards to the quality family time you enjoyed on Friday when completing the Screen Free Friday activities. These are wonderful learning opportunities which also enable the building of positive relationships within your family group.

Screen Free Friday: Everyone’s wellbeing is so important and particularly during this second stage of remote learning. We will endeavour to work together to further minimise stress. Therefore, we will be having Screen Free Friday every fortnight in odd weeks for the whole school Prep-6 to enable families to have this time together.  Prep-2 will continue with Screen Free Friday weekly. Prep-2 teachers will also use this day to connect with students and yourselves through Google Meet conversations or on the phone and continue targeted, short term goal work with students requiring this.

This Friday is an odd week so it will be Screen Free Friday again for Prep-6. The teachers will share another matrix with different activities not requiring the screen. Children will just get on in the morning for their class meeting and read the slides.

Next Friday will be the whole school Indonesian Day and therefore another whole school day of activities planned which will be completed by families and endeavour to be as screen free as possible.

The following Friday (Week 7)  will be Screen Free again for the whole school Prep-6.

Onsite Supervision: A reminder if you are requiring access to onsite learning that  you will need to fill this Google form in fortnightly. A reminder also. as you have been respectfully doing, if you need to cancel a day to please  let us know. Onsite Learning Week 6 and 7 

Wellbeing and Mental Health:  It was welcomed news on the weekend to hear the government’s commitment to Mental Health. The increase of 10 sessions to 20 sessions for children with a mental health plan is important and beneficial in these challenging times. For us all, we are constantly hearing the messages to ensure we take care of our health and wellbeing particularly through good sleep habits, a healthy diet and exercise. Please take the time to read through the mental health tips for quarantine that Paul has shared in his well being section. Whilst they were written for Stage 4 lockdown by a psychologist, there are many helpful tips for us all in our current stage of staying at home in order to protect the health and wellbeing of all.    

Hub News: As occurred in Round 1 of remote learning, we  will not be including Hub News in the newsletter after this week. You are able to access specific Hub news via the slides in the following weeks. Please be sure to sit with your children to discuss the news with them. This week we do have some of the Hubs sharing their news in the newsletter and others on the slides or via SeeSaw. Please ensure you read the slides to ensure you are keeping up to date with any news specifically for your child’s hub. Here is the link again to the landing page. 

Indonesian Day: Indonesian Day will be celebrated on Friday 21 August in Week 6. Bree Zivic, Georgia Cowling and Novy Sunarto are preparing the day which will include a video greeting on the first slide and a special Our lady Star of theSea story  to start you off at 9 am. Then there will be a  matrix of family activities for you to enjoy together. The screen time will also be minimised on this day. 

100 Days of Prep: Congratulations to our dear Preps who celebrated their 100 days of Prep last Monday in a year that has been quite extra ordinary for them. Here are some photos to enjoy.

National Tree Planting Day: Many thanks to Kellie Clark, Sue Constable, parent volunteers and Year Prep and Year 6 teachers in their support with the students to successfully plant 150 Plants. The Year 6 students and their buddies thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

External agencies: At Our Lady Star of the Sea, we wish to see all children have the opportunity to flourish. Therefore we value working together with outside agencies and providing opportunity for any students requiring extra support to access these services onsite. Click here for our NDIS and External Providers Policy

Wishing you good health and happiness for the fortnight ahead.

Kerryn