Dear Parents and Carers

This week is family week and we celebrate all our families.The week began with celebrating or remembering our beautiful mums or significant females on Sunday. This day reminds us of the blessings of care and protection given by our mothers, grandmothers and all who are like mothers to us. 

I hope you had a wonderful time together with all the mums and  special females in your lives.  

Family Week 9-15 May: We invite Our Lady Star Of The Sea Primary School community to join us from 9 - 15 May to celebrate Family Week 2022 and be part of our mission of strengthening families and communities. Families are the building blocks of our community and Family Week is a great opportunity for our school to come together to reflect on the vital role family plays in enriching and supporting our lives. Please refer to the activities in the Religious Education section below and particularly the canvas family activity at home, which we ask you to complete as a family and return to school to be added to a mural within our school.

Mother's Day Celebrations: It was wonderful to see our mums and special females come along on Tuesday night. Also at our special assembly Friday. We hope you enjoyed this time as much as your children and of course the presents and cards they made with love.

COVID Update: It is great to return this term with a few more restrictions lifted but still being conscious of supporting the health and safety of all. Therefore we do still have many measures in place like using air purifiers, sanitising, learning outdoors, wearing masks if required, RAT testing twice a week  and parents only volunteering to work with children have the third vaccination dose. This includes cclassroom, excursions, camps and canteen help. Thank you for your continued support and respect with these guidelines. A reminder we have masks available for those families requiring masks. Please email your class teacher. 

Reporting and 3 Way Conversations: Part of our Mid Year reporting is to accompany the written report with a Parent/ student/ teacher conversation. You will receive an Operoo to book in for a conversation with your child and their teacher in the final week of the school term. We ask you to respond to this Operoo when it comes.Students get an opportunity to share their achievements, goals, challenges and favourite pieces of work with you. There is also time at the end for a quick chat with the teacher. 

Celebration 40 Years (1982-2022): Our Lady Star of the Sea is celebrating 40 years and we have a special day planned for September 9. Stay tuned for more details as we commemorate this significant milestone.The canvases you are completing for Family Week will add to a mural to commemorate 40 years.

Andrew- John Dory Drive  Crossing man

Andrew has been on our John Dory Crossing for at least 15 years. He has had a wonderful connection with the school, cared for our children superbly and will be greatly missed.

We thank and acknowledge Andrew for his amazing work and wish him all the very best in his retirement.

Visual Arts leaders: Thank you to our Visual Arts Leaders who are proactively doing a great job of adding to our sea mural out the front.

Earth Fest: Click Here to view our wonderful success story of Earth fest published on the MACS website. 

New Child Safe Standards

In July 2021, the Victorian Government announced new Child Safe Standards to further strengthen child safe environments and protect children from abuse. The new standards come into effect on Friday 1 July 2022.

The new standards include requirements to:

• involve families and students in efforts to keep children and young people safe
• focus on safety for Aboriginal children and young people
• better manage the risk of child abuse in online environments
• improve governance, systems and processes to keep children and young people safe. 

We will provide you with more information as we learn more about these new standards and build them into our current practice.

Principal of the Day: Great job last week by our 'Principal for the Day' Kealan, along with his support friend Vin.

Wishing you many blessings for the fortnight ahead.

Kerryn

Empowering Children

At Our Lady Star of the Sea, wellbeing incorporates all aspects of life and is illuminated by our catholic faith.  Wellbeing is enacted through our school’s vision and fostered through our explicit Social and Emotional Learning and teaching practices.  

Social Emotional Learning (SEL) supports students to develop fundamental skills necessary for wellbeing and life effectiveness. SEL enables students to recognise and manage emotions, demonstrate care and concern for others, establish positive relationships, make responsible decisions and handle challenging situations effectively. The Personal and Social Capability within the Victorian Curriculum encompasses Social and Emotional Learning.  The Personal and Social Capability supports students in becoming creative and confident individuals with a sense of self-worth, self-awareness and personal identity that enables them to manage their emotional, mental, spiritual and physical wellbeing, empowering our children to have confidence in their ability to manage life’s bumps and to come out stronger.  Recent times have definitely presented some challenging ‘life bumps’.

Whilst dealing with some of these global challenges may take time or even professional support,  thankfully there are some simple things we can do to help our children cope with some of these ‘bumps’, including:  busy lives, friendships, school, big feelings and just feeling overwhelmed and overloaded. We teach them how to manage feelings by providing them with age appropriate strategies and tools, we then let them have a go. We don’t interfere in the process, even if they get angry and frustrated, then we ask them to reflect on their choices and the outcomes that resulted from those choices. 

When we feel capable and empowered, we feel confident in our ability to look after ourselves and to solve problems. The more we practice at making decisions and solving problems, the more capable and empowered we feel. This creates a positive feedback loop. We want our children to have these little victories often. We start small because we want success and these small successes provide enormous benefit to their self-esteem. Most of us have experienced the exhilaration of overcoming a fear, or mastering something we didn’t think we could, and how invincible we feel afterwards. 

eSmart Online Learning for Parents.    

eSmart has developed live workshops for parents/carers that provide expertise and guidance from the eSmart team of advisors who work with schools every day.

All webinars are free and offered as an investment into encouraging responsible online and offline behaviour and student wellbeing.  

These workshops address a range of topics including: parenting in the digital world, and gaming.  Star of the Sea has registered for the following session, allowing parents to attend using Microsoft Teams from the comfort of their own homes.  Click on the link to register.

Parenting in the Digital World - Click here to register

Wednesday 25 May 2022 6:15 PM - 7:00 PM

Parents are invited to join an online presentation of 'Parenting in the Digital World' hosted by an eSmart education expert and learn skills and strategies for all ages to thrive online.

Playing IT Safe: Online Safety Through Play (Parent Audience of Junior Primary Students) - Click here to register

Wednesday 25 May 2022 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Gain an insight into the digital world through the Playing IT Safe project. Adults will learn some simple and straightforward ideas on how to best set your child up for a life of appropriate tech use.

 Gaming – Turning it into a positive experience (Parent Audience) - Click here to register

 Tuesday 31 May 2022 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM

Come along and hear about just how prevalent gaming is, and how to support your child to make gaming a beneficial hobby and to turn the tussle over gaming time on its head.

SAVE THE DATE

Parent Information Night - Digital Tattoo: Tuesday Sept 13th

Presenter: Leigh Bartlett 

Age-appropriate content. Focusing on how the online world intersects with Families.
Strategies for conversations about digital footprints and how to support Young Students as they begin to explore their online worlds.

Term 2 Week 3 Red Hub News (Prep)

Term 2 Week 3 Green Hub News (Year 1)

Term 2 Week 3 Blue Hub News (Year 2)

Term 2 Week 3 Yellow Hub News (Year 3)

Term 2 Week 3 Purple Hub News (Year 4)

Term 2 Week 3 Purple Hub News (Year 5)

Term 2 Week 3 Orange Hub News (Year 6)

Term 2 School Fee statements will be issued in Week 4. Please be reminded that if you have chosen to pay the 2022 school fees in full, this was due on Friday 18 March. Direct Debit monthly instalments are processed on the 14th of each month and quarterly payment are 14 May, 14 August and 14 November. 

Congratulations to all those students who represented our school at the Geelong District Swimming and Western Region Swimming carnivals late last term. We had some terrific results in both individual and team races. 

School working bee 10am - 12pm (Prep Red Hub  and Year 3 Yellow Hub Focus) to help tidy the school grounds and attend to some minor maintenance tasks. All families are welcome. 

Tasks will include sweeping, raking, whipper snipping, cleaning tank inlets and drains, general maintenance. Bring some tools and garden implements if you can. Meet some other families, catch up with those you know. 

Children must be supervised by their parents or the adult they are attending with.

Many hands make light work. 

Issue 2 Book Club orders close on Friday 13 May. All orders are online, with no cash orders accepted.  

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

"Seagulls Basketball Club are looking for three players to join an U12 girls basketball team playing in the Bellarine competition, on Monday's at Ocean Grove and Drysdale. We have five players already and would love to fill the team with three more. If you have a 2011 or 2012 born girl who would like to join this team please email seagullsbasketballclub@gmail.com. Beginner players welcome."