Dear Parents and Carers

Welcome to Term 4. I hope your children had a wonderful holiday break and you all managed some quality time together. Judging by the footy colours on the last day of Term 3, there are quite a few of us happy with the result on Grand Final Day. Well done to the Geelong Football Club, namely Joel Selwood, for the beautiful moments of inclusion on the day, which are visible signs of love and hope. He certainly, through his actions, is  endeavouring to  make a difference in the world.

We are looking forward to our diversity day and colour run next Monday 10 October.  Our Lady Star of the Sea celebrates diversity and inclusion every day and also have a significant focus annually as part of our Respectful Relationships and Barwon Health Month of Action. The focus on colour provides the opportunity to celebrate diversity amongst the school community and integrate key messages around cultural diversity, disability, gender equality, Koorie inclusion and the engagement of all students no matter their background, gender or ability. There will also be music from our very own Kevin Mitchell and we thank Kevin for this extremely kind donation of his time and talent. Parents are also welcome to come along to our short assembly at 12pm in the hall. More details below .

Diversity Dash/ Colour Run:

The Colour Run encourages students to get out and get active as part of a fun, social, colourful and inclusive event conducted within the school grounds. Students will be able to run, skip, dance or walk their way through a course that will be exploding with COLOUR!

Date: Monday 10th October

What to wear: As much white or light coloured ‘old’ clothing as possible, this will make the colours vibrant and colourful. You can wear your white T-shirt / clothing to school on the day over your sports uniform.

Community generosity thank you: Many thanks to all our magnificent families for the donations to the following great causes. Together we raised $648.20 for Jump Rope for Heart; $513 for our Fire Carrier initiative and the Opening Doors Foundation and $1,931.60 for Drive In Movie. Many thanks to all who helped with the Drive In particularly Alison Dove (Willem’s mum from Year 6). We sincerely thank you Alison for bringing this wonderful event back to life in your final year with us.

MISSION FETE: Mission Fete will take place in Week 5 on Friday November 4th and is the favourite day of the school year for many students. This is part of our Catholic Mission and our fundraising event to support the community of Bulbula in Ethiopia, as we have done since 2015, making a tremendous difference to the care, health and education of these children and their families.

Students will be asked to donate to their class stalls, as well as making a donation to participate in activities on the day. We ask that the students donate some of their own money for this activity, so that they have a greater appreciation of the value of money and the needs of the poor and disadvantaged. 

Our Week 3 Newsletter will have further details of the donations required for each class and a run down of the day and activities.

Attendance and notifying of absences:  There has been a change to the way in which we contact parents regarding absences. We will follow up with a phone call by 9:30am if we have not had any correspondence so please email your child’s teacher or mark their absence in PAM (where you access reports) as soon as you know. Before 9am on the day or earlier if known is ideal. Please click here for the link to our attendance policy. 

Working Bee Sunday 23 October 10-12 noon: As you are aware we have reduced official Working Bees to one in Term 4 and one prior to the first day . We have a few jobs on the list including general tidy up, weeding,  mulching and putting  sprinkler systems into the veggie gardens. Therefore, we invite all who can attend to come along even if it's half an hour. The work will not be too laborious and you can enjoy working alongside and meeting more of the community. The Working Bee will conclude with a sausage in bread and house points for all family members that attend. We warmly and gratefully welcome you if you are able to come along.

Finally, next week I will be taking one week’s Long Service Leave to accompany 5 of my 9 siblings and my incredible mum to Queenstown in New Zealand. My mum turned 80 last year and whilst Europe was the plan pre COVID, it is beyond mum now, so we are being told Queenstown is the next best “Mini Europe” experience. As we are all aware, these special occasions are to be celebrated. Our much loved mum, who also incredibly continues to make a difference through her life of faith, hope and love, deserves the best for the many sacrifices and giving she continues to make in her lifetime. She  still actively volunteers at St Vincent de Paul at the ripe old age of 81. Mum has been the best role model to us 10 kids, 29 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren. Feeling truly grateful for the opportunity to spend this time with most of the immediate family, celebrating mum. We are blessed.

Wishing you all many blessings for the fortnight ahead.

Kerryn