Building Project

Dear Parents and Friends,

Last week our Year 3 and 5 students took part in the annual NAPLAN tests online. For our Year 3s this was an experience they would have never before encountered. Not even the previous generation of Year 3s had undertaken NAPLAN online.

Like me, I am sure that many of our parents would have experienced the ‘deadly silent’ classroom during our education. I can still remember Sister Mary Bernadette pointing the end of a feather duster at me demanding silence or else. Friday morning dictation tests, followed by the mental arithmetic test was common practice for my generation and thankfully uncommon in our contemporary classrooms today. The difference is our generation never sat a Year 12 style exam lasting an hour or more over three days at this level! And so I was very proud of the Year 3 and 5s last week as I visited classrooms set in rows, as the children wrote a narrative text, looked for spelling and grammar errors in writing, answered multiple choice comprehension reading questions and solved Maths problems. One little Year 3 boy came up to me after the writing convention test and said “Mr D those tests are just trying to trick us!”

The NAPLAN tests, test language convention, writing, reading and numeracy in one hour blocks (approx) of silent concentration so foreign from the collaborative style of teaching today. This is why my visits to classrooms last week filled me with pride because of the way the children took on the challenge and because of the way our teachers prepared our children. Well done to all!

Our Beliefs about Behaviour

At this week's assembly I spoke to the children about our school rules and that the teachers have been busy trying to reduce all of our school yard and classroom rules into 4 simple and succinct rules that will help our students with the choices they make in their daily interactions.

Our school behaviour rules are:

• We behave in safe ways
• We treat each other fairly
• We respect each other and follow instructions
• We respect our environment and property

The children will be discussing these rules in class and teachers will help to break open the application of the rules for both the classroom and the school yard.

I also remind parents that we have a Connecting Room that operates at lunch times. The Connecting Room is a safe place to land when things are not working well in the yard. Children can self-refer to the Connecting Room if they are sad, angry or if they just want to talk to an adult to get help to resolve a yard issue. The Connecting Room is in the Innovation Space at the end of the Library. Children who make poor behaviour choices will also be referred to the Connecting Room and a planning form will be sent home for parent communication.

Monday evening 20 May was the first school board meeting of the term and also the first board meeting of the newly elected School Board. Nominations were called for the various positions and sub committees. The 2019/20 School Board positions are:

Phillip Reichelt (Oliver 1MF) - School Board Chairperson

Deanne Stephanos (Leo 5T, Lara 3H) - Deputy Chairperson and Special Projects

Fr John Rate (Parish Priest) - President

Justin Gargula (Flynn 2A, Jasper 5S) - School Board Treasurer

Chris Flaherty (Henry 1DM, Madeleine 4I, Scarlett 3CL) - Finance Committee

Andrew McEgan (Liam 3H, Paige 6M) - Grounds, Maintenance and Development

Dave Slovinec (Lilly Rec L) - OSHC and Vac Care Committee

Ryan Scott - MDC Management Committee  

Alanna Cloy (Niamh 5T, Eliza 1T, Esther 4I) - Parents and Friends Committee

Louise Santillo (Year 6 Teacher) - Staff Rep   

Joe DeTullio - (Principal) Ex Officio

Kelly Manera (Acting Deputy Principal) - Ex Officio 

Vivian DePalma (Office Secretary) - Minute Secretary

Photo gallery

Congratulations to Kate Thomson who was selected to be an Australian representative at the Oceania Interclub International Ice Skating Competition.

Congratulations also to Sienna Nesci who qualified and was then selected to be on the State Women’s Artistic Gymnastics team for the Australian Gymnastics Championships. It will be her first experience at Nationals. 

Good luck Kate and Sienna, SOS are all cheering for you!

Over the last couple of weeks, we have had numerous students taking part in various carnivals, including the SAPSASA Cross Country and Athletics carnivals.  All students performed well on the day and from those carnivals, a number of students have been selected to take part in the SAPSASA Metro Carnivals.  Maeve Nicholas, Trent Condelli and Hannah Timpani were selected to take part in the SAPSASA Metro Athletics Day, with both Maeve and Hannah winning a medal in their events.  Conor Stanton, Maeve Nicholas, Jessica Burton, Finn Carey, Eliza Beeby, Ruby Lynch, Hannah Timpani, Felicity Dini and Sean Stanton have all been selected to represent Airport Districts at the SAPSASA Metro Athletics Day.  Good luck to all of you.    

Friday 24 May 
Sportsman's Night 7pm

Tuesday 28 May
Donut Day

Wednesday 29 May
Year 2 Liturgy 11.15am
Parent Info Night for Confirmation 7pm

Friday 31 May
Year 3 Parish Mas 9am
Star Outreach Meeting 9am

Monday 3 June
P&F Meeting 7pm

Tuesday 4 June
Sacrament Leaders Training Mass

Wednesday 5 June
Year 5 Camp
Year 4 Excursion
Assembly Year 1 Hosting 1.50pm

SAPSASA Metro Cross Country Carnival  -  Thursday 6th June

SACPSSA Athletics Carnival  -  Wednesday 12th June

SAPSASA Football / Netball Carnival  -  Week 8  (All week)

SACPSSA Netball Carnival  -  Wk 10, day to be confirmed

To view the Tuck Shop roster and price list click on the link below.

Join our Community on Facebook for a 'behind the scenes' look at what happens at Star of the Sea School.

It was great to see so many passengers involved in our Walk to School Buses last Friday. The weather was certainly favourable, and it was a great way to start the day. Special thanks to our mums who provided numerous cups of Milo to all the students afterwards.

We also had a wonderful celebration of cultural diversity on Sunday at the inaugural Parish Multi-Cultural Day held on the school grounds. Hundreds of people joined in the festivities across the day and were entertained by the Parish choir, Bollywood dancers and some Irish music too. Angel and our wonderful Mandarin students performed a few items and did the school proud. The vast array of foods from India, Italy, Greece, Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Vietnam and Australia just to name a few was plentiful and delicious. There was even a special appearance act of Bollywood dancing from Joe De Tullio and Father Krish. We anticipate that this event will become bigger and better in the future.

ICAS EXAMS CONDUCTED BY UNIVERSITY OF NSW

Below is the time table of dates for ICAS exams for this year. If you would like your child to take part in any of these exams, please enrol via QKR prior to the cut off of date of Monday 1^st July. Exams on offer include Science, Writing, Spelling, English and Maths. Children from all over Australia, New Zealand and other countries in our region take part in theses exams. Once names are confirmed I will spend some time with the students prior to the tests guiding them on how they are conducted. This will be important for those attempting the tests for the first time. Children receive their certificates for these exams at our school assemblies. If you require further information you may contact me or access the webite at www.eaa.unsw.edu.au/icas

‘Hail Mary, full of Grace, the Lord is with you.’

Art work is of Mary, mother of Jesus, seen through the eyes of Year 2s, celebrating the month of May.

Confirmation and First Communion Parent Information Evening. Wednesday 29th May at 7pm in our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church. This compulsory meeting will provide you with all the information you need to assist your family in preparing for these sacraments in an enjoyable and meaningful way. Home Groups will be organised during the evening, so it is essential to be present to select sessions that suit your family. Please consider being a Home Group Leader or Host family.  Leader’s training is Tuesday 4th June at 7pm in the school staffroom. I look forward to meeting with you at these events.

$3250.00 is the amazing total that we raised for Caritas and Project Compassion. Thank you for your wonderful support.

“My(Jesus) prayer is not for believers alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.   Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

 Jn 17:20-23 

Congratulations to Antony Deptula who was our winning for the $100 Uniform Shop Voucher for participating  in the Leuven survey.

School Fees statements were recently sent home via your child/ren. If there are any questions relating to the statement, please contact Jane Leonard in the School Finance Office.

If you are making regular payments from either a bank account or credit card please ensure your payments are sufficient to cover any additional fees. Otherwise you will need to make additional payments to cover these fees via Bpay, QKR or payment to the School Office as they fall due. This will ensure your school fee account is cleared by the end of the year.

Just a reminder: Parents/Caregivers who contribute at least $250 for a single child family or $300 for multiple child family to the Planned Giving Programme of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Church, Henley Beach for the 2019 calendar year may apply for a full rebate of the School Capital Levy.

Application forms are available from the School Office. You will need to take the form to the Parish Office for approval.

Financial assistance for low income earners via the Government scheme called, School Card is available for those families who qualify.

Please see the following table to assess if you are eligible to apply for this scheme. If you think you are eligible, please phone me in the School Office to set up an interview to complete the paperwork.

If at any time, you have difficulties with payment of your school fees, or have any questions, please contact me on 8115 7400 for a confidential discussion or email me at janeleonard@star.catholic.edu.au

Jane Leonard
Finance Manager

GIRLS CROWS CUP
On Wednesday, 23^rd May, 30 Yr 5/6 Girls attended the Glenelg Zone Girls Football Carnival.  Our Girls started slow but came out strong at the end of the day. Thank you to Sean, Elyshia, Maria and Kelly for coaching and team managing on the day. Congratulations on your efforts girls!

CHESS
Registrations for Chess are due.  At this point in time we do not have enough students to continue with our Thursday morning Chess program.  If your child would like to play chess could you please enroll your child through Qkr! asap.

SACPSSA Athletics Carnival
The students who have been selected to represent Star of the Sea have been sent an email and they now need to register through Qkr!  If students would like to see the list there is a copy on the sports door. 

SACPSSA Netball Carnival

SACPSSA Netball Carnival will be Wk 10 of this term.  Notes will be going out shortly to any Yr 3 – 6 students (both boys and girls) who would like to take part.  Both hard copies and skoolbag app notes will be going out.

Devon clothing uniform shop are pleased to announce that Star of the sea customers can now purchase uniform from:

84 daws Road, Edwardstown Ph: 83731776

Email: dcus@devonclothing.com.au

What does this mean for you?

You can now purchase your uniform Mon – Fri 9am-5pm and Sat 9am-12pm during the school holidays* and school term, as well as during the usual opening times a the School Shop.
Your Online Orders will now be processed as we receive them, at Edwardstown, and you can still opt to have your order put in your child’s classroom box or have it sent to your Business or Home address or you can collect it from the school uniform shop on Tuesdays or anytime during regular trading hours at Edwardstown

To view the  this term's Road Monitors Roster click on the link below.