Hello Friends
It’s hard to believe that this is the second to last instalment of newsletters for this term and that next week sees us ‘tip’ over into the second half of the year. I hope that you are managing stay warm at this time of the year and that you have managed to be ‘cough and cold’ free. It was terrific to see so many dads and Friends at the Sportmans Night on 15 June. There were some great stories to be heard and shared and plenty of laughs had. Thanks to Ryan Scott for his hard work in coordinating the night and to everyone for their support of the evening and our school.
Learning Assistance Program
We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful LAP Volunteers here at Star of the Sea School. If you have ever thought, “is this program for me”, my answer would be, “why not come and find out some more information”. Please feel free to see Viv De Palma in the front office or me.
LAP is a student-centred and volunteer-based mentoring programme designed to assist schools to implement one-to-one learning that supports, guides and enriches the wellbeing and learning outcomes of their students from Reception–Year 12.
It focuses on the wellbeing, academic, social and emotional needs of students through the powerful and positive contribution of mentors.
Gaming Online Fortnite, the Game
There are currently many children in our school playing the Fortnite. I write to bring this game to parents’ attention, given the popularity of the game at present and the online feature that the game has. I ask parents to be vigilant in asking when, how often and how long children are playing the game and who are children playing against, especially online.
Fortnite is a strategic adventure game released in July 2017 and now available on PC/Mac, Xbox One and PlayStation4. It can be played in solo mode or in a team of up to 4 players. The premise of the game is that a storm has wiped out 98% of the earth's population, and the player's role once dropped into the zone by a battle bus, is to build structures to gain an advantage over others, gather resources and kill everyone to be the last person standing.
Despite its M rating and an age rating of 12+, children younger than 12 are playing it along with teens and adults.
Fortnite utilises cartoon-like and fantasy based characters, and when "kills" are made, the characters disintegrate into thin air and disappear. There is no blood and gore or graphic scenes.
The game does have an inbuilt chat function so that players operating as a team can talk to each other and discuss tactics. However, this can be turned off in settings.
Please click on the following link for continued due diligence by parents in this area.
National Consistency Collection of Data (NCCD)
As you may be aware the National Consistent Collection of Data (NCCD) process has been undertaken at our school since 2014.
The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability provides Australian schools, parents, education authorities and the community with information about the number of students with disability in schools, where they are located and the adjustments they receive.
The national data collection on students with disability reinforces the existing obligations that schools have towards students under the Commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and the Disability Standards for Education 2005. It counts the number of students who are supported under these obligations based on the professional judgement of teachers and their understanding and knowledge of their students. This also includes students with an Individual Education Plan
This is an anonymous process and no student is identified by name or location of school.
More information can be found at: http://www.schooldisabilitydatapl.edu.au/
If you have any queries please do not hesitate to contact me via mperry@star.catholic.edu.au
The more we are willing to forgive, the less we are willing to suffer.
Thoughts for a Miraculous Life by Julie Way