Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to Week 7 of the term. I hope you all managed to enjoy the beautiful weather and the extra day of the long weekend. I was fortunate to be with my large, extended family at my nephew’s wedding in Moama. Such a special time where we could all be together in the one place, sharing a time of great joy and love. We truly were blessed to enjoy the amazing environment on the great Murray River amongst a picturesque Australian backdrop. These moments are so important to celebrate and be grateful for. 

This week is Catholic Education Week and the theme this year is “The Way of the Gospel.” The mission of the gospel is at the heart of our work as Catholic educators, bringing our school communities to a deeper relationship with Jesus.

A patron saint of Australia, Mary MacKillop, wanted all to enjoy God’s promise to have ‘life to the full’. Mary knew that to enjoy ‘life to the full’, to reach the fullness of our humanity, you need to know God and be educated. Mary spent her life working to give all children, especially the poor, this opportunity.

Catholic Education Week 2022 – The Way of the Gospel

Catholic Education Week is an opportunity for all Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne to celebrate their Catholic identity, the pivotal role they play within their community and the strength of the sector as a time to celebrate the education Catholic schools, like Our Lady Star of the Sea, offers to families and to the community. Catholic schools pride themselves on creating environments where students have opportunities to excel academically, spiritually and socially.

We take great pride at Our Lady Star of the Sea and as a Catholic School, to make connections with faith and life. We ensure in our everyday actions we are living out the values and being faithful to our vision as we facilitate our students' learning and make a difference in the world. This year’s Catholic Education Week theme, The Way of the Gospel, captures that missionary role of our schools.

Our School Review: We have completed our 3 days with the School Reviewer. It was an affirming time where we were able to reflect on our practices and enjoy our successes over the last 4 years. Thank you to the students, staff and parents that were part of the focus groups to gather further information. Also, to all our families that have taken the time to fill out surveys over the last four years and/or volunteered time or attended events. All this adds to our community spirit which is an enormous strength of our school and in turn improves your children's academic and social and emotional outcomes. We now await our report with recommendations to be included in our School Improvement Plan for the next 4 years. These will be shared with our School Leadership team on April 7. We will then share with our staff and families following this.

Minor Capital works: We continue to provide opportunities for our students to learn outdoors and have added some outdoor desks to some of the classrooms so children have the option of engaging in their learning whilst being in the vicinity of the classroom. There are more works to come and we will share photos as they are complete. These will include more shade sails, an extension and improvement of the giant sandpit, an outdoor area off Prep with a chicken coop and outdoor furniture, external doors and deck on the south side of green hub and some new paths.

Communication regarding student absences:  In the event of an absence from school, please ensure that you email your child’s classroom teacher on the day, if possible before the start of a school day as roll marking takes place by 9:15am. Also if you know of any early departures on any given day, please email this also before the day so that we can have your child ready at the office. Email is our preferred way of notifying teachers of an absence however we do understand there are times you may forget and therefore need to call.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy fortnight ahead.

Kerryn