From the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
Welcome to Term 4 Week 9. I hope you are all travelling well. It is hard to believe this will be our second last newsletter for the year and we are nearing the end of 2021. Time can certainly appear to travel at a great pace at this time of the year. It is therefore important to take time and to be still, which is the theme of Advent as indicated in this week’s prayer. The first candle on the Advent wreath is the candle of Hope and this was celebrated on Sunday, the last Sunday in November.
We ask that particularly during these times of COVID and the impact it has had locally and globally, may we be inspired always to lead with hope, love, charity and compassion for others in whatever we do – to look at others through the eyes of Jesus himself and to see the face of Jesus in the poor (Francis 2020a).
This week sees us enacting Hope as we recognise and celebrate two events on Friday 3 December where we offer hope to others. Mission Fete and International Day of People with Disabilities.
International Day of People with Disabilities:
Friday December 3 marks the International Day of People with Disabilities.
All year levels will be viewing the IMOVIE below with guest speakers discussing their disability, highlights of their lives, sharing great positivity, strengths and talents they use and the many character strengths they show. They are questioned beautifully by our very own students, Ella Mitchell, Ivy Mitchell, Jude De Jong, Sutton Jaye-Grant, Flynn Madden and Isabella Flanders. The Video was edited by Ella Mitchell. A very special thank you to Kristen Leonard who organised this and liased with all involved. Kristen is our Learning Diversity Leader and brings so many strengths to this role in support of all our students, including those with disabilities.
Some of the students have viewed this today and it has prompted many to forward on more questions. You are all to be proud of the amazing empathy and respect your children have shown during this viewing and the beautiful messages they have taken on board to ensure inclusivity of all. Please take the time to view again with your child or discuss.
The special guest speakers are listed below and we thank Carly, Peta, Lucy and Renay for their commitment and time to share their story, create awareness of people living with disabilities and support inclusion of all.
Carly Findlay has ichthyosis and is a writer, speaker and appearance activist. She has written 'Say Hello' and compiled ‘Growing up Disabled in Australia'. In 2020 Carly was awarded the Order of Australia Medal in the Australia Day Honours for "Service to People with a Disability". She was also in the series 2 - facial differences episode of 'You Can't Ask That'.
Peta Hook has cerebral palsy, is a disability activist and has a podcast called 'I can't Stand' where she tackles the difficult questions around having a disability. https://www.icantstandpodcast.com/
Lucy Carpenter is 19 year old local girl who went to St Ignatius. She has a condition called oculocutaneous albinism and is legally blind. She contributed a chapter about her experiences growing up here in ‘Growing up Disabled in Australia' and has an instagram page which shares her journey.
https://www.instagram.com/lucy_and_sammy/?hl=en
Renay Barker--Mulholland is a first nations woman from the Biripi and Djangadi Mobs of the mid north-coast of New South Wales. She is an artist, a writer and a mother and has ankylosing spondylitis.
Mission Fete: This week we will have our wonderful celebration of the Mission Fete. We thank you for sending your donations prior to the day and have a fun filled day planned. The day also consists of students engaging in meaningful and authentic activities which will create awareness and develop empathy. Below is the schedule for the day. We apologise that again this year we cannot invite families in for this wonderful event but look forward to this time next year having the Mision Fete of old, where our entire learning community, can be present and enjoy together.
Elizabeth MacPherson and Trish French: You may have heard through your children that we have two of our long standing and greatly valued staff members moving on to different journeys at the end of the year.
Lib MacPherson, after a career spanning 44 years of which 21 years have been at Our Lady Star of the Sea between 1982 and 1989 and 2008 until now, has made the decision to retire. Lib will be greatly missed and will be sent off with an assembly next week. I am sure you would agree with me that Lib has been instrumental in supporting the amazing culture of our school, excellent religious leadership over the years as our RE Leader and brilliant classroom teaching. Lib’s many character strengths shine through. Lib is the epitome of a wonderful Catholic primary school educator as she lives the gospel values in all she does and this is appreciated by all. I cannot think of a truer person who lives out our vision values of being respectful, nurturing and engaging. Lib’s calm and patient presence, wisdom, love, intuitiveness and kindness is greatly valued. Only in an email last week a parent said “Lib’s blood is worth bottling.” We could all do with a bit of Lib in each of us. We wish Lib many blessings as she moves forward with hope and love in life and look forward to welcoming her back at different times. Lib has said she would like to continue to be present within our the community, which as an entire community, we warmly welcome.
Trish French has decided to take leave for 12months and therefore may or may not return depending on her adventures and other opportunities that might present. Trish has been at Our Lady Star of the Sea for a total of 26 years. Trish also lives so many wonderful values out in her everyday life and shares them with us including love, kindness, courage, persistence and love of learning. Particularly in the latter years, Trish been an inspiration to many of our students in one of their most formative years, Year 6. Trish’s care, enormous strength of wellbeing and high expectations of students, has seen so many thrive and flourish in their final year with us. We personally hope Trish has a wonderful year and whatever she decides at the end of 12 months, whether it be that we warmly welcome her back or she is happily thriving in her new ventures, we wish her all the very best. Thank you Trish also for being such a valuable member of staff and making such a positive difference in all our lives. You will be missed.
We welcome another teacher Emily Bissell- Barahona aboard next year. Here is her wonderful bio.
Hi! My name is Emily Bissell-Barahona and I am thrilled to be joining Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School as a grade six teacher in 2022. I have been teaching for the past seven years in schools in Canada, Costa Rica, the UK and most recently Australia. I have enjoyed the opportunity to become part of various school communities and build lasting relationships, something I greatly look forward to doing at Our Lady Star of the Sea.
I was born and raised in Toronto, Canada where I grew up in a big family with three younger brothers and more aunts, uncles and cousins than I can count! In 2014 I moved to London, England where I spent two wonderful years living, travelling and teaching. I moved to Australia five years ago and feel very lucky to call the surf coast home.
In my spare time I enjoy hiking with my dog Roy, camping, and spending time with my family and friends. I am so looking forward to joining the Our Lady Star of the Sea school community and can’t wait to meet you all!
Vinnies Christmas Appeal: Thank you for your $2 donation on our casual clothes day. We raised an amazing $1206.50. Our Year Five students will now be allocated a family and budget accordingly for a special Christmas lunch. They will then go shopping to purchase these food items in order for St Vincent de Paul to deliver them.
Earth Fest 2022: Friday 18 February 4.30pm - 7.30pm. If you can, please read the flyer and volunteer to help out on the BBQ for the night or with your child’s hub. This will also be our beginning of the year celebration. Volunteering is a way to build school community and relationships and will be a great start to the year.
Please click here for the link to the Earth Fest flyer. Earth Fest 2022
Student reports: Reports are well underway and will be available electronically to families via PAM on Thursday 9 December.
COVID Update from School operational Guidelines: Please note changes to Rapid Antigen testing from the last newsletter.
As the population is now over 90% of eligible people vaccinated if we were to have a case at school staff and students who are notified by the school that they are a contact exposed to COVID-19 at school should:
- immediately seek PCR testing, and quarantine until they receive a negative PCR test, regardless of their vaccination status to provide evidence of their negative PCR test to school
- it is strongly recommended to complete five days of rapid antigen testing each morning before attending school.
- in exceptional circumstances, the Department of Health may determine that close contacts in significant school outbreaks are required to undertake additional quarantine and/or testing. In this scenario, students will be notified directly of any additional quarantine and testing arrangements, including rapid antigen testing.
-Staff and families of students who have been told by Department of Health that they are household contacts, are required to notify the school.
Persons fully vaccinated and living with a person who has COVID-19 will;
- quarantine for 7 days o seek PCR testing on day 6 o provide evidence of their negative PCR test to school o note that children under 12 years will be regarded as fully vaccinated if all persons they live with aged over 12 years are fully vaccinated.
-Persons not fully vaccinated and living with a person who has COVID-19 will;
- quarantine for 14 days o seek PCR testing on day 13 o provide evidence of their negative PCR test to school Catholic Education Commission of Victoria (Ltd) School Operations Guide, Term 4 Page 33 Schools are required to maintain a record keeping system to list and advise contacts of their obligations to obtain a PCR test and quarantine until they receive a negative PCR result, and to record assurance of a negative PCR test. The CECV has partnered with the Department of Education and Training to provide schools access to a statewide web-based form and instructions to complete the identification of possible exposed persons and communication templates.
Wishing you many blessings for the fortnight ahead as we wait with hope and joy during this Advent season.
Kerryn