Dear Parents and Carers

I trust you had a lovely Spring holiday time together.

It is pleasing to return with a plan in place to have all our students back onsite in, what we pray, is a more optimistic term for all schools in Victoria. 

With Spring comes hope. We look forward, with hope and optimism to a time very soon, where we can all engage onsite together with our beautiful families, enjoying our wonderful whole school community activities which we so enjoy. Hopefully some opportunities for more onsite interactions with all of you before the year ends.

Parents all around the world are interested in the education of their children. Like you, they want their children to get the most they can from their schooling and to grow up as happy, caring and committed citizens. Parents also know that the school cannot do this on its own; they need strong parental partnerships. Partnerships are the ‘educational glue’ which assists children to have a happy and productive time at school. In recent times, with remote learning a necessity, this could not be more evident and we have appreciated all your efforts to support your child’s learning.

We very much look forward to the return of our community activities such as assemblies, parent information sessions, parent helpers, Working Bees, family fun PFA activities like the School Disco, Colour Run and Drive In Movie night; School Concert, Earth Fest, excursions, attending Parents and Friends Association and School  Education Board meetings face to face and so much more.

Many of these opportunities fall into the area of extracurricular. These are very worthy opportunities, and additional to the basic required for a school to provide. Additional opportunities planned for over the term include Respect Day, Mission Fete Day, Sacrament of First Eucharist and Reconciliation, Year 6 Graduation and School Concert preparation. How these days will look remains to be finalised but we will certainly endeavour to bring them to our students in a COVID friendly way. These days are an opportunity to further promote partnership between the home and school. 

Research sends out a very clear message about the importance of partnerships in education. When parents express confidence in the school and teachers, and are involved in some way, their children are more likely to be happier and perform better academically. We thank you for your continued involvement and respect.

Our Lady Star of the Sea school actively seeks partnerships with parents. This is done deliberately, because once forged, these partnerships have been found to result in: 

∙ a greater understanding by parents of their child’s learning  

∙ improved appreciation as to how and why the school operates to promote growth in student learning and engagement for the  children 

∙ appreciative understanding by teachers of the students and  their unique needs 

∙ better communication and understanding between home and school 

∙ higher student morale and confidence 

∙ increased academic performance 

∙ increased goodwill and mutual esteem between parents and  ‘their’ school. 

Opportunities for partnerships at Our Lady Star of the Sea school include: 

∙ availability of teachers, before or after school and via email or Google Meet, for conversations with parents 

∙ regular communications through the fortnightly newsletter,  See Saw, Google Classroom, Operoo, Our Lady Star of theSea Parent Facebook Page, SZapp, parent teacher student conversations

∙ invitation to attend the weekly assembly to appreciate the  children and their learning 

∙ supporting children with home school activities; listening to reading, talking about what they will write about in the ‘Big  Write’ session, helping with division or fractions or Inquiry projects, supporting them to becurios about the world and sustanability

∙ classroom helper volunteers, helpers on extracurricular activities; excursions, camp, sporting  events, swimming program, green thumbs activities including  composting and gardening, Working Bees, Tree Planting Day to name a few

∙ book club organiser, library and canteen helpers

 ∙ preparations for celebrating the Sacrament of Confirmation  and First Eucharist including participation in Family Nights , attending Parents and Friends Association and School Education Board meetings 

This poem titled Unity summarises so sincerely the importance of parents’ partnership with the school.

MACSIS Surveys: Also in relation to our home school partnership, we ask that you take the time to fill out the Melbourne Archdiocese of Catholic Schools- School improvement Surveys (MACSIS) which is a very important task you can do. These surveys bring clarity to how well the school is meeting the needs of the children and parents as well as providing insights as to the areas for improvement for the next four years. Please read Paul Anderson’s piece below and respond to the email you will receive.The window officially opens on Thursday 7 October and will close on Thursday 28 October. 

Staggered return next week Year 3-6: We are very excited that Year 3-6 will return next week part time. Year 3 /4 on Tuesday and Wednesday. Year 5 /6 on Thursday and Friday. To support our students' return, we have decided we will change their specialist days so that whilst they are onsite they can be with their own classes and teachers for the two days. Therefore you will notice one day of slides during remote learning next week will be specialists slides. Year 5 / 6 will be specialists online on Tuesday, Year 4 on Friday and Year 3 on Thursday. 

Melbourne Cup Weekend: You will receive an Operoo announcing we will now open on the Monday 1 November of Melbourne Cup to cater for families that are not going away and give our students the opportunity to be at school after what has been another year of time spent in remote learning. Teachers will be given their day for report writing on another day which doesn’t involve closing the school. Tuesday 2 November, Melbourne Cup Day, the school will be closed as this is the public holiday that Our Lady Star of the Sea takes each year. You will be asked on the Operoo to indicate if your child(ren) will or will not be in attendance on Monday 1 November.

Postponing Mission Fete: At this stage, Mission Fete is going to be rescheduled as it was timetabled for the first Friday all children are back and they are requiring more preparation time. 

Grounds Works - Half Court Basketball Court and GaGa Pit: It is wonderful  to see our students enjoying some new outdoor additions. The half court is a huge success in the junior end and the removal of the old gaga pit and a larger and more user friendly gaga pit with lower walls, sees much fun and excitement added to our yard play this week.

Stay well and enjoy the fortnight ahead

Kerryn