Newsletter Term 1 Week 3

Dear Families

Our two weeks at school have been very successful as we devote the time to social and emotional learning.  This is the beginning of our Student Wellbeing which continues throughout the year.

PARENT TEACHER CHATS

Teachers have been putting in long hours this week offering an opportunity to meet your child’s teacher.  If you missed the opportunity, please contact your child’s teacher directly. 

VOLUNTEERING AT STAR OF THE SEA

We are very happy to have volunteers assisting teachers and the school.  Volunteers add to the quality of what we are able to offer at the school.  The process for becoming an approved volunteer is a three step process:

1. CESA police check or Working With Children Check
2. Induction course
3. RAN training for volunteers

For more information how to become a registered volunteer please follow the link.

PLAYGROUP

Our very popular playgroup began this week.  It is again held on Tuesdays in the Parish Hall.  The group is run in conjunction with the Parish and is for Parents, Grandparents and care givers.  Bookings are not necessary just turn up at 9:30am. More information can be found on our website.

SCHOOL ROUTINES

As school routines begin to take shape you will notice that homework will beginning to appear, the majority of which is reading.  The importance of reading cannot be underestimated and has been the topic of thousands of pieces of research.  For example, in a study of the out-of-school activities of fifth graders, Anderson, Wilson, & Fielding (1988) found that time spent reading books was the best predictor of a student’s reading proficiency.  Some examples from the study are…

• A student reading at home for 2 minutes a day would read 100 000 words a year and would be in the bottom third of reading ability when compared with all 10 year olds
• If that student increased their reading by 10 minutes a day, they would bump up into the top third of reading ability when compared to all 10 year olds
• Those students in the top 10% of readers, when compared with all 10 year olds, read for 21 minutes a day, reading nearly 2 million words a year away from school

Please keep in mind that when children bring home readers they should be quite easy for them to read.  The rule of thumb is no more than 5 errors per 100 words, this is because the aim of reading is to comprehend the text.

SCHOOL BAG APP is our major link to families delivering school alerts, information as well as our new electronic version of the school newsletter instantly and directly to your smartphone and/or tablet.  In your devices “App Store” search for “Skoolbag” and follow the very simple instructions.

STAR OF THE SEA SCHOOL FACEBOOK SITE

This year we are continuing our Facebook site to celebrate some of the fantastic things happening around our school.  On Facebook you can search for our site by using Star of the Sea School.

SCHOOL HOURS

Just a reminder that children are welcome at school from 8:20am, when our gates are opened and teachers are on yard duty.  In the morning children can play in the Nature play area, on the MDC courts or on the oval.

At the end of the day we supervise children in the yard till around 3:25pm.  Any remaining children are then seated in the front office and should be picked up no later than 3:30pm.

CARS AND CHILDREN

The safety of our children is paramount to the operation of any school and where our children and cars share the same space every care is needed.  We make many appeals to parents about parking, kiss and drop etc.  Sometimes we have neighbours and their visitors or workmen not paying attention to the parking signs.  The council are quite vigilant at checking around our school over the first few weeks and I have already seen a number of police patrols before and after school.

TERM 1 NEWSLETTERS

This term we will be publishing newsletters in weeks 1, 3, 5, 7 & 9.

Kind regards
Damian Weeks.

Dear Families,

Welcome to Week 3!

Our learners are well and truly settled into school life. As I move around the classrooms this week the focus on establishing routines, expectations and relationships over the past two weeks has been a valuable opportunity to set up for success for the year ahead. You may hear your child talk specifically about our whole school wellbeing program Learn to Play that includes ‘safe hands, safe feet and safe mouths’. In addition, as part of our Health curriculum this term, all classes will be engaging in learning centred around the Zones of Regulation. This curriculum provides an easy way for our students to think and talk about how they feel on the inside and sort these feelings into four coloured Zones, all of which are expected in life. It is important for our young people to build a vocabulary of language that helps them express their specific feelings at any given time. I encourage you to discuss this learning with your child so they can utilise the ‘zones of regulation’ language both at home and at school.

Meet The Teacher

It has been wonderful to see so many families take up the opportunity to come and meet their child’s class teacher. I know our educators have found these meetings beneficial in building a learner profile and working in partnership with you to support your child. As you are aware, open communication at Star of the Sea is vital and welcomed. Your child’s class teacher should be your first point of call if you have any concerns or celebrations you wish to share.

NAPLAN (National Assessment Program- Literacy and Numeracy)

Did you know NAPLAN is moving to March this year? At Star of the Sea School, our Year 3 and Year 5 students will be sitting the assessments during Week 7 and 8 of this term. The NAPLAN assessments are linked to the Australian Curriculum. The aim is to determine whether students are developing the essential skills; predominately in literacy and numeracy, that they will need in life. It is important to understand that this is one form of assessment that is used to gather data about your child’s attainment of literacy and numeracy skills. At Star of the Sea, we use a variety of ongoing assessment and reporting processes to inform our teaching and support student learning. 

In the media recently, you may have heard that parents and carers will get earlier, simpler and clearer information about their child’s NAPLAN achievement based on new, more rigorous national standards. If you have any questions regarding NAPLAN, please contact your child’s class teacher.

Parking Etiquette

We understand the challenges the new building presents in terms of parking around our school. We thank you for being flexible and patient particularly at the end of the day. A reminder to be mindful of parking restrictions around our school, in particular, the importance of being respectful to our neighbours by not waiting or parking across driveways. This also includes our school driveways, in case emergency vehicles need to gain access into the school grounds.  We appreciate your support.

Community Events

It is wonderful to be able celebrate whole school events as a connected community! Our Welcome Mass was a beautiful celebration, and we look forward to our Carnevale Parade tomorrow at 9:15am. You are all welcome to attend the parade, and we invite you to visit the Stella Maris room to view the creative works of art created by our talented students. Next week, we thank our parent volunteers who will cook 500 plus pancakes to mark Shrove Tuesday. Star of the Sea continues to be a busy and vibrant school community.

We hope to see you at the parade tomorrow!

Go well

Kelly Manera
Acting Deputy Principal

During the course of a year, you may find yourself in a situation where you are unsure or concerned about something involving the school.  Most matters can be resolved very simply and easily through an informal discussion with the appropriate person.  We appreciate parents/caregivers bringing their concerns to our attention, so please don’t hesitate to make a mutually convenient time to meet with your child’s Class Teacher if it is a class related matter, or the contacts listed below depending on the issue.

If, however you feel that a more formal approach is needed, the best course of action will be determined by the type of concern that you have.

If your concern is about an individual classroom, student or program issue, the first person to talk to is the Classroom Teacher.  Teachers appreciate parents bringing issues to their attention and matters can often be resolved quickly and easily by talking to the teacher.  If however you are not satisfied with the outcome of this, the next thing to do is to make a time to discuss the matter with the Principal or Deputy.

If you have a concern about the day-to-day operations of the School, which is a matter that is not directly concerning individual staff members or classes, but rather with the overall well-being of the School, please speak to the Principal or Deputy.

Your query may be about a program run by one of our Specialist Areas.  If so please make a mutually convenient time to talk to any of the following:

Sheena Pattinson/Domenique Laurendi(Acting RECs)             RE/Sacramental Programs

     Kristen Victory                                       Sport/PE

     Tania Condelli                                        Italian

     Allison Sammut                                      STARS Literacy Support

     Kelly Manera                                          Inclusive Education

     Jessica Stewart                                      Science

     Kirsty Jewel                                            Music

     Lisa Lata                                                 Art

If you have a concern about an issue that is part of the School Board’s area of responsibility, which includes policy development, financial management, pastoral care of children, parents and staff and planning, you should speak to the Principal, the Deputy or a School Board Member.

The Parents and Friends support social events.

If you are uncertain about whom to approach, you can seek clarification from the Principal, Deputy or a School Board Member.

The names of School Board and Parents and Friends Members are listed in the Newsletter from time to time.  They may be contacted by leaving a message at the School Office.  A Parent Committee Member may bring relevant or appropriate matters to the Parents meeting, subject to consultation with the Chairpersons of the Groups, and prior listing on the meeting’s agenda.

If after taking action in accordance with the steps outlined above and you believe your concerns have not been addressed satisfactorily, you may approach the Catholic Education Office, either by phone or in writing.  The Catholic Education Office has advised that its practice is not to get involved in pursuing matters raised with them, unless the above procedure has already been followed.  They will suggest to people that they follow the above procedure with the school.

It is hoped that these procedures will be useful should you ever have the need to contact anyone here at Star of the Sea.  It is sincerely hoped that we can work together should any issue arise as most are resolvable.

Current School Board Members include:

Dave Slovinec
Brad Dunstan
Elizabeth Sarris
Kirsty McCulloch
Mark Hayes
Katerina Andrushenko

Click on link below.