Dear Parents and Friends,
Week three is upon us and I am pleased to report that we have all settled into school routines and classroom learning is well and truly up and away. I don't know whether it is my age but recently I have been thinking about the pace of life and that our lives seem to be governed by many calendars - the family calendar of birthdays and family events, the school calendar, the sporting calendar and the calendar of the seasons just to name a few. The liturgical calendar - the churches calendar of seasons and celebrations has a great deal of competition and can struggle to stay on the radar in amongst our busy lives.
Like families, schools are extremely busy places with many events and programs running simultaneously at any one time. In common with other businesses, education too needs to be contemporary and in touch with current research to meet the needs of students in the 21st Century. At a national level, schools are also required to meet various benchmarks related to the Curriculum and the general wellbeing of the student body. These requirements and responses are reflected in school improvement strategies and require schools not just to develop one new initiative at a time but to map and establish a clear framework for what changes need to be made and existing successful structures and habits of excellence that need to be maintained, so no child is left behind and every child can meet their full potential.
Thank you to the many parents who took the opportunity last week and this week to come along to the ‘Parent/Teacher Chats' and took part in beginning of year interviews. It was pleasing to see so many parents come along and to show such an interest and allow teachers to meet you. Making contact with your child’s teacher in the first few weeks is extremely important and helps to establish a mutually beneficial relationship for the remainder of the year. If you haven’t touched base with your child’s teacher as yet then I urge you to make contact soon.
On Saturday the Parents and Friend's Association held a beginning of year 'friend-raiser' in the form of an Aloha Family Fun Day on the school oval. Blessed with a sunny and warm afternoon, all those who attended had a great day of fun and games, and it was nice just standing on the oval talking and connecting with friends. Overall it was a most successful event and one that many people said we should do again.
My thanks to the Parents and Friends who organised the Family Fun Day and went to a great deal of effort to ensure we had a wonderful time.
We are very fortunate at Star of the Sea to have a very active and dedicated P&F group. Throughout the year they hold a number of 'fundraising' and 'friend-raising' events with the aim of raising funds for the children. Last week, families would have received an email letter from me calling for P&F support as we are trying to find new parents to keep the Star of the Sea P&F tradition going. We need the support of new parents to help with the many tasks ahead of us this year. Unfortunately we cannot keep relying on the efforts of a few. If you can make it to the next meeting on Monday 2nd March at 7pm in the Staff Room, I would be truly appreciative. A crèche will be available in the Multi-Purpose Room.
Swimming Carnival
The annual school swimming carnival was held at Immanuel College, Novar Gardens last Wednesday. Again this year I came away so impressed with the behaviour of our children, their ability to be self-managed and their enthusiastic spirit. The carnival was great fun, well organised and a wonderful display of swimming talent. Congratulations to all concerned, in particular I extend our thanks to Kristen Victory our Sport Coordinator, for her attention to detail and for all of the hours she devoted to ensure the children were placed in appropriate events. I extend my appreciation to all the parents and friends who attended and cheered on the swimmers. Thank you to those parents who volunteered as marshals, timekeepers, scorers and starters. It was truly a team effort.
Well done to all of the House Leaders who led their teams impeccably. The scores were very close.
Coolock House (Red) 352pts
Fitzpatrick House (Gold) 368
MacKillop House (Green) 394pts
McAuley House (Blue) 473pts
Congratulations to all of our swimmers for a great day.
Class Parent Reps
Thank you to Class Parent Reps who have put their hands up this year. The Class Rep system is an important role in the school and helps with communication and dissemination of information. I would like to thank Natalie Canova for agreeing to take on the Class Parent Rep Coordinator role this year. There will be a number of occasions throughout the year when Natalie will be calling on the support of parents via the Parent Rep system. To help keep in contact with families and to distribute information efficiently emails are the best method. Class email lists will be generated and made available to Class Reps for the sole purpose of class business. If you do not want your email address to be made available (blind copied) then please contact Viv De Palma at the front office. If we do not hear from you by Friday 28th February we will assume you are ok for your details to be forwarded to your Class Parent Rep.
Enjoy the weekend ahead
Joe De Tullio