Newsletter Term 1 Week 1

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Greetings and welcome back to the start of a new school year for 2025: Our Year to Thrive! It has been wonderful to see everyone return refreshed from the summer holidays. We trust your break from school was pleasant and revitalising. It is amazing what a change of scenery and time away can do for the soul. The staff and students have returned with renewed vigour and excitement about what the new school year will bring. We are excited about the year ahead and know that it will be filled with many learning opportunities, community connections and collaboration – our Mercy value theme for 2025.

We warmly welcome to Star of the Sea, all new students and their families to our beloved community. We have many new families in Reception commencing their journey and a number of new students joining in various year levels. If you know of a new family, please make them feel a part of our community by introducing yourself and offering your support. In addition to new students and families we welcome several new staff to our team. 

As usual, schools are very busy places!  We invite you to please take note of the School Calendar for this term as it has a number of activities, many of which are approaching quite quickly. Our live digital calendar is found on our school website.  To ensure you are able to join in supporting our school in a variety of ways please ensure your volunteer check is updated and if not, we welcome you to the volunteer induction course on Tuesday 11^th February at 9:00am in the Stella Maris Building. If you require any further information, please contact the Front Office.

We look forward to a successful and productive school year and are eager to work together to provide the best education for our students. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate us.

Book A Chat
During Week 2 and 3, Wednesday 5^th February to Tuesday 11^th February, you will have the opportunity to book a 10-minute chat with your child’s teacher(s). The aim of the chat with the teacher is for you to share with the teacher your child’s needs, strengths, interests and future goals. You will be able to log into PTO and book your interview. The last date to book online is Tuesday 4th February 2025.

Attached will also be a MS Forms we would like you to complete to provide further information about your child to their teacher. Please contact Vivian Andrews on 8115 7412 or email vandrews@star.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions about your booking.

Carparking
We are fortunate to be able to use the Parish carpark in the mornings and afternoons.  In the morning there are Parish Masses being held so we kindly ask you to please vacate the Parish carpark by 9:15am.   There is ample parking available along the beach, just a short 2-minute walk away. Please make every effort to park there.

Enhancing Communication for Our Families
We value the feedback from our school community and always strive to make communication clearer and more accessible for families. In 2024, we heard your concerns about receiving the same information across multiple platforms, sometimes three or four times. To make things simpler and more efficient, we are streamlining how we share important updates.

Moving forward:

✅ Whole school event information will be shared on Audiri (with teachers optionally resharing on Seesaw).

✅ Classroom-specific updates will be shared directly by teachers on Seesaw.

✅ School reports will continue to be available via SEQTA.

To keep communication clear and consistent, other platforms such as Parent Facebook groups will no longer be used for official school updates. Our goal is to ensure families can easily access important information without feeling overwhelmed.

Families will still have the opportunity to post comments on Seesaw; however, for any direct communication with teachers, we kindly ask that this be done in person or via email. This ensures that important conversations receive the attention they deserve and allows for more meaningful and effective communication.

Thank you for your understanding and support!

Birthday Celebrations
As part of our commitment to fostering a safe, inclusive, and healthy environment for all students, we kindly remind families not to send food or treats to school for birthday celebrations. Any such items brought to school will be sent back home.

This is in place to ensure:

• Safety for All: Many students have food allergies or dietary restrictions, and even minimal exposure to allergens can pose serious health risks.
• Equity and Inclusion: By avoiding food-based celebrations, we create a more inclusive environment where all students feel equally valued, regardless of their family’s circumstances.

We also want to emphasise that there is absolutely no expectation for families to provide anything for birthday celebrations. However, if you would like to acknowledge your child’s special day, here are a few thoughtful, non-food suggestions:

• Donate a favourite or meaningful book to the classroom library.
• Arrange a fun class activity or game in coordination with the teacher.

Provide small keepsakes like stickers, pencils, or bookmarks.

Uniform
At our school, we take great pride in our uniform as it reflects our sense of community and belonging. We kindly ask families to take a moment to review our uniform policy to ensure they are up to date with our expectations. For your convenience, a copy of the policy is attached below. Thank you for your support in helping our students wear their uniform with pride!

Swimming Carnival
Excitement is building as we gear up for our School Swimming Carnival next week at Immanuel College! This event is a fantastic opportunity for our Year 3-6 students to showcase their swimming skills, participate in both individual and team events, and most importantly—have lots of fun! We look forward to cheering them on.

P&F Family Fun Gathering – Save the Date!
Our amazing Parents & Friends (P&F) group is hosting a Family Fun Gathering on our school oval on Sunday, 2nd March. This will be a wonderful opportunity to connect with other families, enjoy some fun activities, and celebrate our school community. More details will be shared soon but be sure to mark your calendars—we’d love to see you there!

Beginning of Year Jitters
If your child is experiencing some anxiety or beginning of the year jitters, here are some conversation prompts that may help you commence a dialogue with them.

• ‘Being nervous doesn’t mean you are not brave. You can be nervous and brave at the same time.’
• ‘When I was a kid, I used to have lots of worries. Have I ever told you about that?’
• ‘There is something about this that doesn’t feel good. I believe you. Let’s work through this together.’
• ‘I see you are having some big feelings. That is why I am right here.’
• Starting something new can feel uncertain, but remember a time when you were nervous and it turned out okay?"

These prompts can help open up a conversation and provide reassurance as they adjust to the new school year.

As always, our door is always open to discuss any matters pertaining to our school. We also encourage you to reach out to your child’s class teacher in the first instance for any matters relating to their learning or wellbeing.

We look forward to seeing you around the school in the coming weeks and are committed to leading Star of the Sea as a school of inclusion, excellence, community and faith.

Enjoy the weekend ahead!

Go well,

Annette Diassinas and Kelly Manera
Co Principals

Thank you for the very warm welcome to the Star of the Sea community. The support and warmth that I have received from staff and students has made me feel like I have been part of this community for much longer than two weeks. 

I thought I would start my first newsletter article with an introduction to myself as it is very early in the school year to jump straight into curriculum talk. 

I have started here at Star of the Sea after 15 years of teaching across various Catholic schools in the western suburbs. After I finished my Bachelor of Education (Primary / Middle) I was fortunate enough to teach at St Michael's College where I spent a number of years in the early years classroom. I am very passionate about early primary education. These years are pivotal into ensuring successful learning for students throughout their years of schooling. 

Whilst at St Michael's, I took on leadership opportunities and future studies to find ways I can improve on my teaching and best practice to support student learning. I completed a Master of Education (Cognitive Psychology and Educational Practices) where a large focus was on teaching practices and how to ensure students are getting the most out of their time in class. 

In 2021 I began a Master of Educational Leadership (Leading Learning) when I became the Leader of Learning at Dominican School, Semaphore and St Joseph's Memorial School, Norwood. Throughout my time there I implemented whole-school processes and practices to assist in cohesive and consistent practices across the year levels. 

I am excited to start on this next adventure in assisting leading the teaching and learning, as well as the wellbeing of students and staff here at Star of the Sea. With a dynamic leadership team with innovative ideas, I am sure Star will continue to soar to great heights for all in our community. 

Kind regards
Nick Ryan

Jubilee Year of Hope 2025  

Every 25 years the Catholic Church celebrates a Year of Jubilee that invites people into a deeper relationship with God, each other and the world around us. In 2025 for the Year of Jubilee, Pope Francis has chosen the theme “Pilgrims of Hope”. This beautiful theme offers all people an opportunity to focus intentionally on the notion of hope. Hope holds a special place in Christianity and indeed across all of humanity.

“Pilgrimage is a symbol of life. It makes us think of life as walking, as a path.

If a person does not walk, but instead stays still, this is not useful; it accomplishes nothing.

Think of water: when water is not in the river, it does not course, but instead it remains still and stagnates.

A soul that does not walk in life doing good, doing many things that one must do for society, to assist others, or who does not walk through life seeking God and inspiration from the Holy Spirit, is a soul that finishes in mediocrity and in spiritual poverty.

Please: do not stand still in life!” – Pope Francis

“May the God of hope fill you with such peace and joy in your faith, so that you may be filled with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13

As we here at Star of the Sea embark on a new school year, we ask that we be blessed with constant hope, with confidence in what awaits us, and a strong trust that all shall be well.

Together we walk with courage.  Together we walk with trust.  Together we walk with hope.

Sacramental Program 2025
In the Archdiocese of Adelaide, Sacramental Catechesis occurs within the local parish with the focus on a strong partnership between families, parish and school. We acknowledge that parents are the first and enduring nurturers of faith in their children. The local Catholic community supports parents and families in their role and the parish community welcomes and supports each family as they undertake the sacramental journey within the community.

This journey begins with the decision taken by the family to initiate their child into the faith and life of the Christian community through the sacrament of Baptism. Parents then make the decision for their child to participate in the Sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion based on the readiness of each individual child.

A letter of invitation has already gone out to all current Year 4 families, however if you feel your child is ready to embark on this journey and you would like them to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion this year, then we ask that you fill in the questions via the Forms survey to show your interest and commitment towards the program.

https://forms.office.com/r/gyU1aMFb1D