Dear Parents and Carers

I hope you are all well and have transitioned smoothly into remote learning with your children. It is a surreal feeling to find ourselves here again. Fortunately we have a wonderful, familiar platform set up to transition quickly over to and our flexible and  resilient students are able to navigate the learning with wonderful support from yourselves and the staff. Please continue to reach out as you need to our teachers who are available throughout the school day. Hopefully we will all return onsite on Friday.

Today’s prayer has a beautiful, nurturing  picture of Mary with her son Jesus. It also sees us calling on Mary to Pray for Us. The most significant woman in the Catholic Tradition is Mary, the mother of Jesus. Our Lady Star of the Sea, like many Catholic schools, is named in her honour. Catholics have honoured Mary in a special way during the month of May since the end of the 13th century and this has been encouraged by different Popes throughout the years (Francis 2020; Paul VI 1965). Last year, Pope Francis urged Catholics to unite in prayer to Mary during the month of May for all those impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (2020).  As May draws to a close and we see our world still coping with the challenges of the pandemic and other social issues, may we continue to pray to Mary who exhibited qualities including justice, mercy, compassion and protection of, and for, women.

COVID Information: 

Hopefully we will see you all back on Friday but for now here are the links again to the onsite supervision which is only for essential workers where there is no parent at home and vulnerable children, including children in out-of-home care, children deemed by Child Protection and/or Family Services to be at risk of harm and children identified by the school as vulnerable (including via referral from a family violence agency, homelessness or youth justice service or mental health or other health service). Click here to access the onsite supervision form.

Our Lady Star of the Sea Learning From Home Landing Page

Prep-2 learning will also be shared via See Saw and Year 3-6 via Google Classroom.

Please email your classroom teacher if your child requires a device to  access the learning program for these five days.

Attendance: We are also required to record attendance daily. We simply ask that in Prep-2 you upload the day’s activities via See Saw and Year 3-6 via Google classroom. Therefore, your teacher will mark attendance based on submission of any learning tasks for these days. We also encourage your child to log onto the daily Google Meet to stay connected with their teachers and greet each other in the morning. 

First Assembly and new buildings: It was wonderful to have our first assembly last Friday. Many thanks to Prep MR for leading this.

It has been a very exciting couple of weeks for our students and staff making the most of the new facilities. If you have not had a chance, when things return to normal, please feel free to come in and take a look.

Many thanks also for this beautiful letter of gratitude to all involved and to you, our amazing families, for contributing to the repayment of these facilities via the Capital Levy. 

Dear Miss Kerryn,

Thank you for the unbelievable new gym area and new classrooms. The whole school is so thankful for the new learning environment where we can learn in a safe and friendly environment with other students and teachers. We respect to all the long hours the builders and you have put in to make this whole thing possible. In the end it turned out great so this is a letter of thanks from the school and I saying how much we love this new area. The classrooms are so big with updated furniture in all the rooms. With Doors that go on the outside of the building and doors that go inside the building so we don’t interrupt any of the other classes. The gym is crazy good. All the kids are so excited to do PE and Sport in their free time. The siren when the timer goes off it is really loud to be honest is it too loud. The floor is so smooth. With clear markings for every sport. The projection screen is so big and all the speakers are really good too so it was very clear to hear in assembly and it’s much better than doing it outside. It is also really warm in there.

From Milla Bennett

Working Bee: Many thanks to the following families for your great support with the Working Bee and Mark Monahan for again coordinating so well. It was a great success and terrific turnout with planting around the new building included. House points will be given to the following families as part of our annual Good Citizenship Award.

Mark Monahan, Xavier Monahan, Evie Monahan, Sarah Burchell, Grace Burchell, Olivia Burchell, Jed Burchell, Jason Bonacci, Max Bonacci, Vin Bonacci, Ava Bonacci, Nick Fone, Jess Counihan, Clint Miller, Harry Miller, Jack Miller, Tom Wettenhall, Isabella Wettenhall, Sophia Wettenhall, Melanie Kemp, Andrew Kemp, Maycee Kemp, Josh Miller, Oscar Miller, Grace Miller, Tom Fairway, Ava Fairway, Maya Fairway, Brew Hipik, Madlen Zerafa, Chelsea Hipik, Annabelle Hipik, Gerard Donovan, Nate Donovan, Jimmy Dalton, Matilda Dalton, Penny Freeman, Zach Zarro, Sam Ellis, Olivia Ellis, Jackson Ellis, Courtney Said, Jack Said, Tilly Said, Kevin Mitchell, Ella Mitchell, Ivy Mitchell, Julian Toscano, Ella Toscano, Zoe Toscano, Kellie Piec, Jett Piec, Koko Piec, Emma Hamm, Damian Hamm, Ella Hamm, Liam Hamm, Thomas Wilkin, Rose Wilkin. 

School Sports Day: Many thanks to all involved with our fabulous sports day. A special mention to Lisa Grigg and Bree Zivic and all the wonderful parent volunteers. Mercy (Blue) won for the juniors and Boyd (Green) who won for the seniors and took the overall shield. A fabulous team effort by all- students, teachers and parents.

School disco: We hope you enjoyed the “warm up” disco Friday night. Please be assured at the first available opportunity we will reschedule the disco. 

New MACS Policies: 

Attendance Policy: Please read carefully our procedures for notifying of an absence. We ask you email the classroom teacher prior to the day where possible or the morning of. If you are taking a holiday please email the Principal requesting leave and an agreed absent learning plan will be organised with the classroom teacher. Here is our new, updated policy for attendance. 

Our Lady Star of the Sea Attendance Policy May 2021

Our Lady Star of the Sea Duty of Care Policy May 2021

Wishing you health and happiness for the fortnight ahead

Kerryn

Click the following link 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1r2IKwn-ntFYvo3jQP5cp49VMXZXCi0tA/view?usp=sharing

to see the last new building update by Nate Wombell Yr 3 MC.

INFORMATION FOR PARENTS

Every Victorian child should have access to the world of learning opportunities that exist beyond the classroom. The Camps, Sports and Excursions Fund (CSEF) helps ensure that no student will miss out on the opportunity to join their classmates for important, educational and fun activities. It is part of making Victoria the Education State and the Government’s commitment to breaking the link between a student’s background and their outcomes.

School camps provide children with inspiring experiences in the great outdoors. Excursions encourage a deeper understanding of how the world works while sports teach teamwork, discipline and leadership.  All are a part of a healthy curriculum.

CSEF is provided by the Victorian Government to assist eligible families to cover the costs of school trips, camps and sporting activities.

If you hold a valid means-tested concession card or are a temporary foster parent, you may be eligible for CSEF. A special consideration category also exists for asylum seeker and refugee families. The allowance is paid to the school to use towards expenses relating to camps, excursions or sporting activities for the benefit of your child.

 The annual CSEF amount per student is:

• $150 for primary school students

HOW TO APPLY

New applicants should Click here for CSEF Application Form  or contact the school office to obtain a CSEF application form. 

If you applied for CSEF  last year, you do not need to complete an application form this year unless there has been a change in your family circumstances. 

You only need to complete an application form if any of the following changes have occurred:

• new student enrolments; your child has started or changed schools this year.
• changed family circumstances; such as a change of custody, change of name, concession card number, or new siblings commencing this year.

MORE INFORMATION

For more information about CSEF visit:
https://www.education.vic.gov.au/about/programs/Pages/csef.aspx

All canteen orders are now to be ordered through the online platform hosted by School24. Parents must register online before purchasing. Go to OLSOTS_Reg_Guide.pdf to access the Registration Guide.

A few tips:

*All orders will need to be in by 9.00am of the day that you want the lunch order.
*You will only see what items are available to purchase on the day you are ordering for example you will only see pies & sausage rolls on a Wednesday.
*Once you send an item to your cart, options will come up for that item for example if you order a pie the tomato sauce option will pop up.

Payments are made with a credit card. You will not need to send an order with your child. They will receive their lunch to their classroom, as previously. 

Kerry Street

Canteen Manager