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- Mission Fete - Friday 8 November
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PRAYER
Loving God, give me the heart of a servant,
That I may give before I receive,
That I may offer before I ask,
That I may understand before being understood,
That I may show mercy before I am offered it,
That I may love first with all my heart and soul.
Dear Parents,
Our School Vision, inspired by Mary and guided by our faith in her Son, Jesus, is a vision that aspires to be a respectful, nurturing and engaging learning community.
Why parents choose which school to enrol their children in is an individual family choice. For families who choose Our Lady Star of the Sea they are welcomed to a nurturing and engaging learning community who demonstrates respect as a key value. The many authentic learning opportunities also ensure we have our students at the centre of learning and look to our scripture reference “I have come that you may have life and have it to the full.” (Jn 10:10)
Respectful Relationships: The very successfully planned and implemented Connecting Community Day, held on Friday 11 October, is an example of how important positive relationships are in our learning community. The engagement of the students in the quality activities and the feedback from students, parents and teachers has been overwhelmingly positive and well received. It was great to see so many parents attend their session, make new connections and feedback what has worked well for them in making connections and feeling connected at Our Lady Star of the Sea. Some feedback included the way we work in hubs, the welcoming culture, friendliness of staff, newsletter which includes the “hub news”, family friendly events and opportunity for involvement in school life. Thank you to the team including the parents on the team Sharon Ashton and Penny Freeman for the organisation of another successful day.
Mission Mass: This Wednesday, student leaders will be attending the annual Mission Mass to be held at St Patrick’s Cathedral celebrated by Archbishop Peter Comensoli. Later this term our students have an opportunity to participate in our Mission Day, scheduled for Friday 8 November. As a school we support the Bulbula community in Ethiopia who are very appreciative of our financial support. Like you, the parents of the children of the Bulbula community have hopes and dreams for their children. Our Mission Day is an opportunity to help them with their hopes as this activity gives children the opportunity to give back to others a value I am sure you encourage in your children.
CEMSIS Survey Results: We have received back the results of our CEMSIS data and thank the 78 families, all staff and Year 4-6 students who took the time to fill out the short survey. We will share the results with the School Education Board and the broader community in the coming weeks. Please be assured the feedback is used to inform our school improvement Plan and Annual Action Plan which the staff are working on this term. The 2020 Annual Action Plan will be shared with you before the end of the year.
Working Bee: We invite you to a working bee this Sunday 27 October, 10am - 12pm. Red Hub 1 and 2 families are particularly invited to this working bee, although all families are welcome. Please ring your children with you as there will be an opportunity for them to do some potting up for the Mission Fete plant sale.
Some of the tasks will include cleaning the shade sails, small carpentry repairs, installation of play kitchens, general grounds tidy up, weeding and guttering cleaning. Completing these tasks will enhance our school grounds thus providing a safer and aesthetically more pleasing environment for the children. I remind you that the generosity of the families who attend working bees is an enormous support to our school. If you haven't been able to get to one so far this year I encourage you to endeavour to attend on Sunday. Our school needs your support.
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Horizons of Hope in Context Horizons of Hope provides us with a context in which to base our work as a learning community. The following 2 minute clip below gives an overview of the connections of Horizons of Hope to the Victorian Curriculum. |
2020 Classes:: Staff and class allocations for 2019 are well underway. The structures for 2020 will be Prep - 4 classes, Year 1 - 3 classes, Year 2- 3 classes, Year 3 - 3 classes, Year 4 - 4 classes, Year 5 - 2 classes, Year 6 - 4 classes.
Just a reminder, if your child will not be returning to Our Lady Star of the Sea in 2020 please inform us through email: principal@staroceangrove.catholic.edu.au by Friday 25 October.
Warm wishes for a positive fortnight ahead full of love, kindness and respect.
Kerryn
Respectful Relationships - Connecting Our Community
We held our annual Respectful Relationships Day as part of Barwon Month of Action against Domestic Violence on Friday 11 October. The focus of the day was Connecting Our Community, Make A Connection to Someone New! The day started with our Assembly led by 3LM, who shared some of the ways they are connected within our school commuity. Students also participated in a Circle Time and considered what they value most about friendship and ways that they can connect with new people to create new relationships. After recess, students participated in our annual Tabloid Sport Respect Games, which focused on team spirit, cooperation and inclusiveness.
Parents also had an opportunity to connect with a cuppa and a chat after Assembly in the staffroom. Thanks to the parents who had time to join us. Along with the cuppa, parents took part in a Cirlce Time, providing opportunities to connect with other parents and grandparents from across our community.
Thank you to the parents who were able to join us at any stage of our celebration day. Also thanks to all the staff who planned and organised our activities on the day, especially our Respectful Relationships team. Finally, our Respectful Relationships Students Leaders are to be thanked for their leadership in connecting our community through respectful relationships.
Cyber Safety
Assisting our children navigate the internet is a challenging role that all parents face. Managing screen time, gaming, cyber bullying, online pornograhy, unwanted contact and social media are just some of big issues parents deal with in their commitment to keep their safe online.
If you are looking for information on how best to support your child be safe online, visit the Office of the eSafety Commissioner website for the best advice, tips and information.
Office of the eSafety Commissioner
This site also has information on games, apps and social media plateforms so that parents can be informated when making decisions about what is safe and appropriate for their child.
Games, Apps & Social Networking
Paul Anderson
Student Wellbeing Leader
Thank you to families who have finalised their 2019 School Fee account. Final statements have been issued. Please contact the school office if you need to discuss your school fee account.
Sharon Lane
Pope urges us to use God’s language of compassion
Pope Francis recently invited the faithful to see reality clearly through the lens of compassion. He said that compassion enables us to open our hearts to see and understand the true situation of others so we can then act.
‘If compassion is the language of God, so often human language is that of indifference’, the Pope said.
‘How many times do we look away? By doing so we close the door to compassion.’
The Pope was reflecting on the gospel reading of Jesus’ encounter with the widow grieving the loss of her only son in the city of Nain and the parable of the multiplication of the loaves.
He said that compassion is the quality that enabled Jesus to see and understand the reality of the widow: ‘Compassion allows [us] to see reality … it allows us to take in and understand the true dimensions’.
The Pope also said that Jesus told the disciples to feed the crowd as a gesture of compassion but the disciples were selfish and only wanted food for themselves. He noted that the disciples ‘do not get their hands dirty’ and want to ‘leave those people to get on with it’ but compassion is when ‘we get involved in the problems of others’.
Pope Francis explained that compassion is not a feeling of pity, which is a sentiment you might feel if you saw a dog die on the road, but ‘an examination of conscience’ and we should ask ourselves whether we let the Holy Spirit guide us along the road to compassion.
The Pope was speaking during the homily at Mass in the Casa Santa Maria when he urged attendees to abandon closing themselves to indifference and instead speak God’s language.
SUPPORTING BULBULA, ETHIOPIA AT MISSION FETE
In our last newsletter, you will have read that for many years we have been supporting the community of Bulbula in Ethiopia. You will have also read Sr Abeba’s letter, thanking us for our financial support and the tremendous need to break the poverty cycle through education. Yr 5 student Opal Butcher is already helping us educate more children in Ethiopia. Over the holidays Opal ran a couple of Bake Stalls outside her house. As a result she has donated the $200 she raised to the community of Bulbula. Congratulations on an amazing, compassionate action Opal.
We will have a guest speaker at our Mission Mass at 9:15am on Friday 8 November in the church. It would be wonderful for you to join us and learn more about the community of Bulbula.
Mission Fete Day is made up of a liturgy, compassion activity and Mission Fete which begin at 1.15pm. Each class and students from Year 5 & 6 prepare stalls. To assist with raising money, we ask families to donate to their class stall, if donations are required. Below are the stalls each class will be organising and their required donations. You are welcome to send these donations in, as of now. On the day of Mission Fete, we are encouraging students to spend their own money that they have saved up or earned through doing jobs to help out. This year each family will receive a small book of raffle tickets to purchase before fete day.
Parents and Friends Association Nomination Form 2019
Parents and Friends Association - AGM Agenda 2019
Dear Parents,
You are invited to attend the 2019 Annual General Meeting of Our Lady Star of the Sea School Parents and Friends Association.
Time: 7.00pm
Date: Monday 25 November 2019, 7pm
The School Education Board encourages the Parents and Friends Association to continue to be an energetic and successful association. All parents of Our Lady Star of the Sea School are members of the Parent and Friends Association. The PFA provides support to the school by organising activities aimed to bring school families together and funds raised through PFA activities are donated to the school.
Aims of the PFA
To be involved in a catholic school community, where all parents, friends and parishioners will feel welcome and involved spiritually and socially.
The roles of the committee of the Parents and Friends Association have been structured to ensure that no one office holder is required to commit more time than another and each will be fully supported by a very enthusiastic group of people.
The Parents and Friends Association committee roles for 2020 are President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, School Board Representative, Events Liaison Representative, Parent Liaison Year Level Representatives and General Committee Members. These roles are one year in tenure and therefore are voted for each year. Parents can hold positions for more than one year but must be voted in each year. All committee members are expected to attend the general meetings and the annual meeting.
General Committee Members: General Committee Members attend the meetings and support the Parents and Friends Association activities.
Please find attached the 2019 Annual General Meeting Agenda and 2020 Nomination Form.
Kerryn Sells
Principal
Walk to School Month
Michael Sheridan Yr 5NS
Patrick McCaffrey Yr 3SC
In the September school holidays the McCaffrey family travelled to Brisbane so that Paddy could participate in a Futsal tournament representing Victoria in the Under 9 competition.
It was a very successful trip as Paddy arrived back to school with a Runner-Up medallion.
Futsal is a relatively new sport to Paddy who is currently playing for Surfside Waves in the Geelong competition. We wish Paddy well in his future Futsal playing endeavours and look forward to hearing where this sport takes him in the future.
Grace McLean Yr 5MC
Grace was nominated recently to represent Our Lady Star of the Sea at the Geelong Region Cricket Trials. Grace then progressed through another regional session to the Victorian School Sports State Cricket Trials. It was held at the Maribyrnong Sports Academy on Sunday 25 August, where 35 girls from around the state were trying out for the Victorian team which would play in the National titles in November in Adelaide. Grace did not make the final team but is to be commended for her dedication in progressing as far as she did.
Term 4 2020
Friday 16 October: Respectful Relationships "Gratitude Day"
Monday 19 October: Book Week Dress Up Day
Thursday 22 October: Footy colours casual clothes day and Gold Coin donation for Cherished Pets Ocean Grove.
Friday 23 October: AFL Grand Final Public Holiday, school closed
Sunday 25 October: School working bee 10am - 12pm - Purple Hub TBC
Tuesday 3 November: Melbourne Cup Public Holiday, school Closed
Friday 6 November: Mission Fete Day
Monday 9 November: School Photo Day Individual and Class Photos
Tuesday 10 November: School Photo Day Family Portraits
Monday 23 November - Tuesday 24 November: Year 6 Camp Wyuna
Tuesday 24 November: Prep 2021 Parent Information Session 6 - 7pm TBC
Thursday 26 November: Prep 2021 Parent Information Session 6 - 7pm TBC
Friday 27 November: Staff 2021 Planning Day, student free day
Monday 30 November: Year 3 Camp Wyuna
Tuesday 1 December: Year 4 Camp Wyuna
Wednesday 2 December: Year 5 Camp Wyuna
Wednesday 2 December: Prep 2021 Orientation Day 9.30am - 11am TBC
Tuesday 8 December: Prep 2021 Orientation Day 9.30am - 11am TBC
Thursday 17 December: End of Term 4
Please note: Please refer to the Parent Calendar for all dates
Samuel Johnson and the Love your Sister crew are coming to Barwon Heads IGA on Thursday 14 November and will have merchandise available for sale to raise funds for cancer research.
In the lead up to this community event Caitlin and Joshua Maud will be holding a bake stall outside the Barwon Heads IGA.
The next stall will be held on Saturday 26 October. If any teachers, parents or students would like to contribute by baking something to be sold on that day please contact/message Deb Maud on 0407552935. Love your sister socks are also available for purchase.
All proceeds will be passed on to Love your Sister charity.
Kind Regards,
Deb Maud
