Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you had a wonderful holiday break with your children.

We begin Term 3 with hope and enthusiasm. Your children have a great sense of achievement from Semester One and celebrated this with pride during the 3 way conversations. The feedback from staff, students and parents was that this was a wonderful opportunity and greatly appreciated. We now look forward to all students  being ready to continue their learning journey focusing on their individual goals in their learning. There is also much to look forward to which the teachers have been  planning for including First Eucharist, engaging learning experiences, more excursions, Year 3-6 camps, 40 years celebration, Indonesian Day, the PFA organised Trivia Night and Drive In Movie. 

NAIDOC Week: I acknowledge the traditional owners of this land, both past and present, the Wadawurrung people, on whose land we walk. Last week NAIDOC week was celebrated across the country with the theme Get Up!  Stand Up! Show Up! The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee. Actions can be traced back to the 1920’s when aboriginal groups formed to raise awareness about the treatment of Aboriginal people. It has its roots in the 1938 Day of Mourning, becoming a week-long event in 1975. 

NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is an acknowledgment of the contributions that Indigenous Australians have made. NAIDOC Week is celebrated by all Australians and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Hopefully some of you managed to partake in one of the many community events that were on offer throughout the week.

Our students all learn Indigenous Perspectives, and bringing this history and cultural understanding to our students and community is very important to us. There are many opportunities to integrate Indigenous Perspectives throughout the curriculum. The focus this term is History and this will provide further opportunities for our students to learn about the Aboriginal people and their history with a different focus at each year level. As a family you can have conversations with your children  throughout the term and help support your child’s understanding. It is with great delight we inform you that Our Lady Star of the Sea is engaging with the Fire Carriers Program. FIRE Carriers Program- Friends Igniting Reconciliation Education. As a staff we have been informed in some detail and more information will come forward as we partake in this exciting initiative.

COVID Measures: We continue with safety measures including staying home if unwell, testing when experiencing symptoms and informing the school if a household member has COVID. This requires wearing masks (8 years and over but recommended for under 8 years) and testing daily. We continue to have a large supply of masks available. The window from having COVID to being required to retest when symptomatic has reduced from 12 weeks to 4 weeks as of today, 12-7-22.

Rapid antigen tests − Terms 3 and 4: The Victorian Government has determined the rapid antigen test (RAT) distribution strategy for Terms 3 and 4. Under the approach, schools will receive up to three deliveries of RATs each in Terms 3 and 4. Schools will be able to provide these RATs to parents/carers, staff or students on request, as the previous settings that required weekly or daily testing of students and staff have ceased. Hopefully you still have a supply at home which were distributed late in the term and please let your classroom teacher know when you require more. 

Face masks
Schools have been asked to remind staff, students and families that the current advice from the Victorian government is that it is recommended face masks are worn in indoor settings (except for close contacts, who must wear a mask indoors unless an exception applies). We have ample supply and encourage this.

Principal for the Day: A huge congratulations and thank you to the magnificent Malakai McLauchlan and his assistant Jed Douglas. Malakai enjoyed being Principal for the day. Some of his achievements were a special message and announcements at assembly, attending the Year 6 leader meeting and taking on suggestions, cooking a barbecue lunch for his class, morning tea with the staff and handing out gotcha awards during the break.  

Student Free days: A reminder we have two student free days this term. The first one is Friday 12 August. This day is our Vision renewal. On this day we will be working with Paul Spence who worked with us in creating this wonderful Vision statement in 2011. With a larger staff and new staff members since 2011, this day will be very important to renew, refresh and deepen our understanding of the Vision as we continue to have a culture of shared expectations, collaboration and respect as we remain faithful to our vision moving forward. This Vision work is very timely as we come out of a successful review and move into the next phase of developing our School Improvement Plan for 2023-2026. 

The second day, as communicated last term, is on Monday 12 September. The MACs Executive Leadership Team have approved an additional pupil free day for MACS primary schools in Term 3. This is due to the disruption to professional practice for staff over the last couple of years. They acknowledge professional practice time remains significant to deliver improved educational outcomes and for maintaining staff engagement. On this day we will be engaging with a new data platform for student learning and finalising our School Improvement Plan (2023-2026) and Annual Action Plan for 2023.

Wishing you a healthy and happy fortnight.

Kerryn