Dear God,

We come before You with hearts full of gratitude as our students celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation and have celebrated the Sacrament of Confirmation. We acknowledge those times when we have all made choices that were hurtful to ourselves and others. We seek Your forgiveness and ask for Your guidance to make better choices in the future and allow the fruits and gifts of the Holy Spirit to be active in our lives.

Your love and mercy are always present, welcoming us back into Your embrace no matter how far we may have strayed. As we celebrate these Sacraments, we are reminded of Your infinite compassion, grace, and presence in our lives.

May this special time bring peace to our hearts, to our school community, and to the world. Help us to carry the spirit of reconciliation and Confirmation with us, spreading kindness, understanding, and harmony wherever we go.

In Your holy name, we pray.

Amen.

Dear Parents and Carers

Congratulations to the Year 3 students who will be receiving their first sacrament since baptism, the Sacrament of  Reconciliation next week. As we continue to journey together on the path of peace within our learning community, we value the many opportunities of being witnesses to the values of dignity, justice, respect, forgiveness, harmony and love being lived out daily.

The Year 6 students had a wonderful celebration of  their Confirmation last Sunday. Many thanks again to Bishop Martin Ashe, Fr Linh, Rebecca Nancarrow, Lisa Grigg, Emily Bissell -Barahona, Patrick Kennedy, Maddie Seitz, Bree Russell and Jess Mullen.

Reports and 3 Way Conversations: 

Teachers are completing written reports to parents, which provides an opportunity to acknowledge your child’s achievements for Semester One and proposed future learnings for Semester Two.

The teachers’ written comments outline achievements that students have demonstrated with skills and tasks completed during Semester One. Students have been involved in learning, investigating and the presentation of information that supports the development of new understandings. Teachers have also included future learning suggestions for your child in areas where they need support to achieve their best. Teachers make comments on your child’s social development. This aspect of the report will enable you to gain an understanding of how your child relates to others at school and some of the social skills and work habits they are demonstrating. 

Parents and Carers  have been offered the opportunity to attend a Student, Parent, Teacher Conversation. Please book a time via Operoo if you have not already done so. 

This is a great chance for your child to share aspects of their learning with you, for you to ask questions, find out how you can support your child’s learning and to establish a closer working relationship with their teacher. Before you attend the Student, Parent, Teacher Conversation talk to your child about their report and look through their reflection through Seesaw or Google Classroom. If you have a question, write it down and have it ready for the conversations.

Behaviour Management Processes at Our Lady Star of the Sea: 

At Our Lady Star of the Sea we have clear processes in place to manage behaviour and support social and emotional learning of all. We ask all families to respectfully understand that we do not encourage or respond to conversations within the community between more than one family. If you have a concern it is important to us that you make contact individually. We simply ask you to individually email or make time to meet to discuss your individual concern and know our door is always open to engage in this way. I have also included links here to our Student Wellbeing Handbook 2025 outlining all we do in this space, our Our Lady Star of the Sea Complaints Handling Policy and our MACS Health, Safety and Wellbeing Policy

It is apparent in the current climate across schools and society, we are being exposed to more negativity, particularly in the media. This leads to a lower level of resilience and higher anxiety, including with our students, which can filter into school conversations. That's why it's so important that we always stick to our established policies and procedures. They are there to help us manage these situations consistently and fairly for everyone.

Importance of Attendance: At Our Lady Star of the Sea, we want to provide our students with every possible opportunity to achieve at their highest level. An important aspect of this is ensuring our students' attendance at school is regular and consistent.  

Maintaining a high level of school attendance can only assist your children in:

• Academic Achievement: The Building Blocks of Learning
• Active Participation: Fostering Engagement and Confidence
• Building Relationships: Connection and Support
• Developing Responsibility: Life Skills for the Future
• Preparation for the Real World: Professionalism and Discipline

It is important to  support your child in creating a positive attitude towards their schooling particularly given there are some concerning statistics around absences and the amount of schooling your child will miss throughout their school life, if they don’t maintain regular attendance:

 (1 day a week = 8 weeks a year = 2.5 years over their schooling life)

Please  ensure you are providing your child with the best possible opportunity to learn and achieve at their highest possible level.

If your child is absent from school that the correct procedure is followed as noted below in order of preference:

• Record on PAM
• Email the classroom teacher prior to 8.30 am
• Phone call to the front office 52554308 before 8.50 am.

If we do  not receive notification an automated text will be sent to families at 9.30am.

If parents/carers receive this text it is crucial they respond. Please go onto PAM before 11 am or  call the  front office to ensure the whereabouts of the young person can be confirmed.

In relation to students leaving throughout the school day, this is discouraged. Obviously there will be times that this will need to occur but ideally if appointments can be made outside of school time it would be appreciated. In the interest of child safety and to support uninterrupted learning, parents and carers must report to the school office and not enter classrooms during learning time unless a prior appointment has been arranged.

We thank you for your ongoing support and partnership in your child’s education. Regular school attendance plays a vital role in their learning, development and success. By working together—school and family—we can ensure your child has every opportunity to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.

Free Cybersafety online Session for our families: We are excited to engage with KD solutions and offer Our Lady Star of the Sea families a free online session to support you as you navigate the challenges of Technology. KD solutions have recently be working with our Year 5 and Year 6 students in the educational space. We are hoping by offering it online, more families will engage in the comfort of your home.

This session will include information regarding:

-the online world young people live in

-Common online risks

- Laws and Digital consent

- Home strategies for safety Resources and support.

When: Wednesday June 11

Time: 7pm -8 pm

Venue: Via Zoom

Please see click here for information on the upcoming parents workshop.

The digital link is also attached below for anyone that has issues with the QR code. 

 https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81859063254?pwd=Nhw9yplubZRMEJbMyxwx6LaTlItiYC.1

From the Year 6 workshops in this space, please see their pledge below to how they will move forward in the online space.

Reconciliation Week:

Our students completed some great learning during Reconciliation Week last Week. Year 5 SC led a beautiful assembly reflecting on the theme "Bridging Now to Next," which means learning from what happened before and making things better now and in the future.

The whole school also contributed to this mural depicting some amazing Australian plants! An artist named Bree Buttenshaw, who is a Kalkadoon woman, made a beautiful picture to go with the theme for this year. She used plants that grow again after fire to show how strong and hopeful people can be.

Our students from Prep- Year 6, were asked to think of plants like Lemon Myrtle, Banksia with its pointy flowers, Gum Leaves you see on gum trees, little Desert Limes, and Kangaroo Paw that looks like a kangaroo's foot!

These plants are super tough. They can live even when things are hard, like when it's very hot or after a fire. They can even grow back again!

Just like these strong plants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are strong too. They have been through hard times but are still here and looking forward to a good future.

The picture also has bright patterns that look like paths and journeys. These show how people are connected, how they keep going, and how things can get better. It reminds us that we are all connected to the land and to the people who came before us.

So, the artwork uses these tough plants and bright paths to show us about being strong, sticking together, and having hope for the future during National Reconciliation Week. I am sure you would all agree, the students did a great job. 

New Gate off Red Hub:

The addition of our new exit gate has relieved some congestion from the Shell Road Gate. Currently 2 classes of Year Prep and one or more of Year 1 are exiting via this gate.

Wishing you all a hope filled fortnight ahead.

Kerryn

On Tuesday, 20th May, we had 23 students selected to compete in the Bellerine Division Cross Country at Eastern Gardens. The students did a remarkable job competing against the best of the best from the Bellerine and Surf Coast.

Congratulations to the following students who competed on the day: Vincent Bonacci, Kealan Lester, Joseph McKinnon, Grace Miller, Harry Miller, Lily Van Maasdyk, William Wolfe, Sebastian Edwards, Kenzie Andrews, Jed Douglas, Jemma Geerings, Alfie Ward, Lucy Warren, Sonny Reynolds, Fletcher Reid, Ines McCaffrey, Jack Miller, Augustus Hinch, Grace Casamento, Harriet Lucas, Ava Bonacci, Connor Murphy, and Harvey Stefanovski.

Special congratulations to the following students who have advanced to the Western Metropolitan Region Finals on Wednesday, 19th June, at Keilor Park:

• Ines McCaffrey – 7th place, 9/10 Girls

• Augustus (Augie) Hinch – 2nd place, 9/10 Boys

• Fletcher Reid – 5th place, 9/10 Boys

• Connor Murphy – 4th place, 11 Boys

• Harvey Stefanovski – 1st place, 12/13 Boys

• Harry Miller – 5th place, 12/13 Boys

What an amazing achievement for all who were involved, and in particular, those who have progressed through to the regional stage. Well done!

The winner of the Golden Sneaker this week is 4MH.

Term 2 2025

20th June: Three way (student, teacher, parent) conversations

2nd July: Inquiry showcase 4:20pm

4th July: End of term (early finish 2.30pm)

Term 3 2025

21st July: Term 3 begins

11th August: Student free day (Professional learning day for staff)

18th-19th August: Yr 4 camp

20th August: Yr 4 rest day 

27th August: First Eucharist Sacrament Information Night 6.00-7.00pm 

31st August: First Eucharist (session 1 9.00-10.00am) (session 2 1.00-2.00pm)

1st-3rd September: Yr 6 camp

4th September: Yr 6 rest day

8th September: School Feast Day

8th-19th September: Prep & Yr 6 swimming lessons 12.30pm 

9th September: Fathers night 4.30pm-6pm

9th September: Division athletics (year level qualifiers)

10th September: Yr 3 rest day

11th- 12th September: Yr 3 camp

15th-17th September: Yr 5 camp

18th September: Yr 5 rest day

19th September: 19th September Footy colours day, End of term (early finish 2.30pm)

Term 4 2025

6th October: Term 4 begins

16th October: Arts Trail 4-7 pm

3rd November: Student Free day

4th November: Melbourne Cup Public holiday

7th November: Mission Fete

24th November: PFA AGM 7.00-8.30pm

2nd December: 9-1.30pm Prep Orientation in small groups

3rd December: 9-1.30pm Prep Orientation in small groups

5th December: Student free day 

9th December: Whole school orientation 9-10am, Prep orientation 9.30-11am

17th December: End of term (early finish 2.30pm)

Please note: Please refer to the Parent Calendar for all dates

Term 1

Thursday 30 January: Students return - Friday 4 April 

Easter: Friday 18 April - Monday 21 April 2025

Term 2 

Tuesday 22 April - Friday 4 July 

Term 3 

Monday 21 July - Friday 19 September

Term 4 

Monday 6 October - Wednesday 17 December 2.30 pm 2025