Dear Parents and Carers

We hope all our fathers and significant males enjoyed Father’s day, the Father’s night and assembly held in honour of our dad’s and significant males. You all do a wonderful job of loving and caring for your children and we thank you for raising the respectful young people we have the pleasure and privilege of educating.

40 Years: This week sees us celebrate 40 years of Our Lady Star of the Sea. Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School is one of two primary schools (P-6) situated within Holy Trinity Parish, Queenscliff, in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. St Aloysius, located in Queenscliff, is our sister school. The school was once urban, but has rapidly grown. In fact, once upon a time we could see the water from the grounds. We are fortunate to have the Church up the road which was relocated to John Dory Drive from The Terrace and opened in 2002. Whilst there may have been many physical changes over the years, due to significant growth from the 84 students in 1982 to 589 now, the community has always been a strength of Our Lady Star of the Sea. Parish and school links value the experiences that encourage children and families to participate in parish activities, which help to promote a sense of identity, belonging, spiritual development and connectedness. 

We acknowledge all those that have come before us, past priests, students, staff and families. We especially pay our respects to our founding Principal, Sr Jean Mc Gonigal from the Mercy order of nuns. Chris Malady (dec) followed for the next 10 years, then Rhonda Boyd for the next 21 years from 1998-2019. I personally have had the pleasure, privilege and joy of being an educator at Our Lady Star of the Sea for the last 26 years.

On Friday, we come together to celebrate the special feast of the birth of Mary and the birth of our school. We honour Mary as the person who carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him, the Son of God. Mary was a faith-filled and loving person who showed us the fruits of the Spirit in the way she lived her life. Mary is known by many names, but for us, the most special name is Our Lady Star of the Sea. 

As the Mother of Jesus, Mary was His precious guide and constant companion. Just as the stars guide people of the sea and the Christmas star leads us to Christ, so does Mary. As our Mother, she is also our guide. Our school Motto is “Setting the Right Course,” derived from this belief of Mary, Our Lady, Star of the Sea nurturing, guiding and supporting us on our journey. As a catholic community, we place ourselves in Mary’s care and pray to her for guidance and direction.

We also welcome Andrew Chinn as a special guest providing us with music and singing to celebrate the day.

Please see below for a schedule of the day. 

9.30-11 am Tours for past families,students and parishioners.

On behalf of all the staff, we are very grateful you are all part of our learning community during this time of celebration and that our vision statement which was written in 2011 and renewed in 2022,  is actively lived in our positive relationships with God and each other. 

A beautiful reflection of the beginning from Lib MacPherson:

As a founding member of the staff at Our Lady Star of the Sea, I have many fond memories of the early days of our wonderful school. I can recall driving up the dirt road for a site visit in the early days of construction. I walked on the concrete slab situated in beautiful bushlands and tried to imagine how the rooms would be set out. 

Under the leadership of Sr Jean McGonigal, our small staff group met several times in January 1982 to talk together about our vision for our new school. It was an exciting and somewhat daunting experience beginning a new school with 84 students.  We continued to work together diligently, and with the trust of our families and our Parish Priest the dream became a reality. My initial time teaching at Star of the Sea was for 9 years. I was fortunate to be able to return to a teaching position at the school in 2008, where I remained until my retirement at the end of 2021. 

Over the past 40 years there have been many aspects of our school community that have remained constant:

A welcoming invitation to be part of our learning community, a desire for all to feel nurtured and respected in an environment that encourages engagement by all, and teachers who strive to collaborate with each other with the best interests of their students in mind. I look back with gratitude for the opportunity to be part of the community of Our Lady Star of the Sea. 

Lib Macpherson

Gold coin donation for the Open Doors Foundation: This week marks 40 years since our school was established on this land. 

As part of our celebrations, we would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which our school is built and the importance of education in providing opportunities for all children. We are hoping that all students will bring a gold coin donation to school on Friday.

Through our FIRE Carrier program (Friends Igniting Reconciliation through Education) we will be asking for all students to donate a gold coin donation to go towards the Opening Doors Foundation.

The Opening the Doors Foundation is an Aboriginal-led community organisation supporting educational opportunities for Aboriginal children. The Foundation enables Aboriginal students to participate fully and equally in education, and supports their families to make their own choices about their children’s future.

Drive In Movie: All welcome from 5 pom for a family picnic, food vans and activities like chocolate coin toss. Please bring some coins. Those attending the Drive in need to park cars from 4.30 pm - 6.15 pm.

National Child Protection Week and Safeguarding Sunday: This week is also National Child Protection Week, which is marked this year from 4 to 10 September. This year’s theme is ‘Every child, in every community, needs a fair go’. The theme was chosen to emphasise the importance of children growing up safe and supported. Following National Child Protection Week, our Catholic community will mark Safeguarding Sunday. National Child Protection Week and Safeguarding Sunday are important for all of us in Catholic education to recognise, as they reinforce our unequivocal commitment to protect the children and young people in our care.

First Eucharist: Congratulations to the following children who received their First Eucharist on Sunday 28 August. Many thanks to the Fr Darien, Rebecca Nancarrow and Year 4 teachers for the wonderful work preparing the children and the beautiful celebration.

Willow Armitstead, Byrdy Bakacs, Mokey Bakacs, Will Baker, Sophie Batters, Koby Binnion, Lola Carr, Jed Burchell, Maddison Mifsud, Chace Garrard, Bas Gee, Millie Harrington, Caleb Horner, Isaac Geerings, Billy Levis, Jasper Lindsay, Amara Gauld, Jett Piec, Charlie Perkins, Keely Russell, Maggie Wallace, Eliza Wood, Savannah Selig, Nate Wombwell, Noah Jennings,Iyah Durling,  Jethro Mansell, Harvey Mansell, Gus Morgan, Chance Cruickshank, Oscar Falconer, Tom Rattray-Wood, Yousif Waleed, Isla Jobling, April Dee, Ace Dupe, Dantes Talaue, Oscar Paraskavas, Noah White, Ruby Ritchie, Harry Stubs, Reeve Wellard, Queenie Patterson.

Camps: We are very fortunate at Our Lady Star of the Sea with all our extra curricula activities, and at the moment we have all our Year 5 and 6 students on camp in Melbourne. Last week we saw Year 3 and Year 4 attend. What a wonderfully respectful and engaged group of children to go away with and enjoy the learning experiences. A credit to all you as their parents. Special thanks to the parents and staff who attended and ensured this was a safe and enriching experience for our students.