Filter Content
The earth and all life on it are part of God’s creation. We are called to respect this gift. We are called to care for the world we live in and share all the wonders and resources the Earth gives us.
A Prayer of Gratitude for Creation
God of the universe,
We thank You for Your many good gifts -
For the beauty of Creation and its rich and varied fruits,
For clean water and fresh air, for food and shelter, animals and plants.
Forgive us for the times we have taken the earth’s resources for granted
And wasted what You have given us,
Transform our hearts and minds
So that we learn to care and share,
To touch the earth with gentleness and love,
Respecting all living things.
We ask this through Christ Our Lord,
Amen
Dear Parents and Carers
I hope you are all keeping well as we progress further into Winter. Thank you again for your continued respect as we face COVID restrictions and are still unable to have parents onsite unless deemed essential. Hopefully more easing of restrictions will come at the end of the week.
Today’s prayer and reflection comes on the back of our wonderful school based Earth Fest on Friday. As a Catholic learning community we are very passionate about caring for our world and educating our students to be stewards of creation. The day was full of wonderful opportunities to educate our children further for the common good and take action while learning and growing in their ability to make a difference for our world.
We were also presented at assembly with our 2020 Victorian Garden Program Awards from last year. These awards included taking out the award for best gardens for outdoor learning in Regional, State and the overall winners of the Kevin Heinz Perpetual Award. Thank you to Ian Trezise from State Parliament and Tim Courtney from Diacos Nursery for presenting these awards at assembly. It was a great way to start the day and further inspire our students.
Outdoor Learning: Recently a team of 6 teachers from across our school attended an outdoor learning conference at Lisieux in Torquay. There is lots of research about how important a strong connection to nature is for our children, their wellbeing and development. The teachers have returned empowered and energised after listening to experts such as John Marsden. This learning and action also fits well with our annual action plan and priority of ensuring our students are engaged, connected and challenged with a focus on outdoor learning.
To further foster this, we ask that by next term, each child has a raincoat (not puffer jacket) they can leave at school or have in their bag each day. The jacket just needs to be practical to protect their clothes from getting wet if we are outdoors and there is light rain. We do realise that some students already have a school rain jacket and that is perfect. Please ensure they are labelled with their name.
Our Annual Report to the Community 2020 is complete and added to the website. You can click here also to view and read.
A school uniform question has been raised about our white polo tops and shirts. We ask that you take the time to answer this one question survey as we further consider and help inform our decision making process. Uniform question
Reports and 3 way interviews: Here we are in June with Semester One almost complete. It only seems like yesterday that the first day of school was here and everyone was in their new learning settings, making friends and getting to know their teachers. Six months later it is time to look back and see the progress that has happened, as well as looking forward to setting new learning intentions for Semester Two.
Teachers are preparing 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. Where appropriate, teachers have included 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. You have been offered the opportunity to attend a Student, Parent, Teacher Conversation.
The students and teachers are preparing for these. If you haven’t booked in please do so through Operoo. 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.
Due to the COVID situation we will be having these conversations via Google Meet. The classroom teacher will send you a link over the coming week to join the conversation online at the same time you have already requested. It is envisaged that students will be with parents at the time and share some achievements, challenges and future learning goals. You will then have the opportunity to have a brief conversation with their teacher if needed. The interviews are running back to back for 15 minute intervals. We will endeavour to stick closely to the time frame allocated. If there are any problems on the day, please call the office on 5255 4308 and they will be able to get a message to the teachers.
Reports will become available on PAM on Thursday 17 June from 3.30 pm. Please see details in the section below regarding how to access and login.
Veteran Care packages thank you. Please click here to find beautiful letters of gratitude from the Ocean Grove and Barwon Heads RSL for the letters that went with the care packages to veterans and families for ANZAC day.
Wishing you all a wonderful final fortnight of the term and safe, relaxing holidays to follow.
Kerryn
You are able to access your child's report on Friday 14 June by 4pm via PAM (Parent Access Module login).
Please click the link here: http://pam.staroceangrove.catholic.edu.au . This will take you to the PAM login page. Your username is the email address you have provided to school. Once logged in, to access your child’s report, click on the ‘Assessment Reports’ tab on the left hand side and download the current report to view.
For new families please sign up now by clicking the link here: http://pam.staroceangrove.catholic.edu.au This will take you to the PAM login page. Click on the 'Forgot Password?' link and follow the prompts. You will be asked to enter your email address, then you will need to access the link sent to your email address. You can then create a password and this, along with your email address will be your login to PAM.
At Our Lady Star of the Sea, our students engage with the Indonesian language through the Teachers as Co-Learners Approach. We have great success with this program and love watching the students flourish with their use of Indonesian in the classroom, outside in the schoolyard and within our community.
We would really appreciate if you could take the time to fill out this brief parent survey about languages at Our Lady Star of the Sea School.
Indonesian Language - Parent Survey
Terima kasih banyak,
Bu Bree"
