Newsletter Term 2 Week 5

Dear Families

It has been a busy week with the AGM and visitors to our school this week.  We continue to be understaffed in our front office and I thank everyone for your understanding with this.

In this newsletter you will find further information about the Annual General Meeting and concept for a new building.  All AGM reports can also be found on our website.

SCHOOL LIFE TAKING ANOTHER STEP TOWARDS NORMALITY

With the easing of Covid restrictions we are back to almost pre-covid days:

• Masks – mostly not required
• Parents – welcomed back on site, in buildings and classes, with face to face meetings and gatherings allowed
• Volunteers – approved and vaccinated volunteers are welcome back

We have already held a Reception parent morning tea and will be doing so for Year 1 parents next Wednesday (Wednesday 8 June  ) in the Stella Maris room from 8:50am.

For Reception and Year 1 parents we will also be holding an information morning on the “Teaching of Literacy” on Wednesday 15 June in the Stella Maris room from 8:50am.

For volunteers, we will be holding a Volunteer Induction meeting on Wednesday June 22nd in the Stella Maris room from 8:50am.

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 four step process:

1. CESA police check or Working With Children Check
2. Attending a Volunteers Induction course
3. Completing RAN training for volunteers
4. Proof of vaccination shown to the front office

For volunteers, we will be holding a Volunteer Induction meeting on Thursday 28 July in the Stella Maris room from 8:50am.

FUTURE DIRECTIONS AT STAR OF THE SEA SCHOOL.
What would you like the school to focus on over the next three years?

Contribute to the final step in the development of our three-year School Strategic Plan by contributing to our prioritising exercise.  Completing our survey, 2022 - 2024 SCHOOL STRATEGIC PLAN.  The survey can be accessed by clicking here: it will only take 5 minutes.

SCHOOL REPORTS

Teachers are working hard on school reports that will be sent home on July 4^th.  This has been a different semester at school with so many students away at different times but teachers are doing their best to produce a report based on the work that the students have completed.  There will be an opportunity early in term 3 to discuss your child’s progress, if you feel the need.

Damian Weeks
Principal

In the background for the last year, we have been working on the Strategic Plan for our school, which also includes work on our school’s Master Plan.

A Master Plan gives a long-term view of the facilities of our school and attempts to capture our dreams and realities as we look towards the future.

Many years ago, the school moved towards being a three-stream school (ie three classes of each year level).  This historical decision was made as the school could not cater for the children baptised in our Parish.  Soon after, a third class of Reception students began in our school.  Over time, all year levels will eventually have 3 classes and this time will arrive at the beginning of 2024.  At this time, we will not have enough classes for all our students and the required specialist teaching spaces.

The aim of our next building concept is:

• To establish our three classes of each year level, close together
• To provide dedicated specialist teaching areas
• To provide more tutorial spaces
• To achieve this without encroaching on play space

The School Board have been looking at many options, the first of which was the buying of more land, but unfortunately this has not been possible.  So, as we moved from “dreaming to reality” we began working with the Catholic Education SA (CESA) and Edge Architects.  Many options were discussed but we believe the best option is to reclaim much wasted space around our current admin building, by knocking it down and replacing it with a three storey building.  In this way we could reclaim much unused space on the first and second stories by joining the building to the buildings around it, while leaving an under croft area on the ground floor which can be used for play (see diagram below).

We are currently at the conceptual stage in this project where we are looking at options for how this space could be develop. We have established a Building Committee, a sub-committee of the School Board, who are working closely with CESA and Edge Architects.  Of course, a big part of this stage is the cost of a new building, which will definitely bring our dreams into reality!

Thank you everyone who attended our AGM, especially to those who wrote and presented reports.  On our school website, you can find all the reports from the AGM.  Some of the points highlight on the night from the reports were:

President: Father Peter – the challenges of Covid and the impact of Church visits for the school and school visits from the Priests.  Sacramental celebrations were adapted and brought pleasing new insights.  We were finally able to open and bless the new building.

Chairperson: Dave Slovinec – the challenges of Covid, key initiatives (school infrastructure and resources, strategic plan, Master Plan update, ongoing educational and wellbeing initiatives).

Principal: Damian Weeks – highlighted the improved educational results seen in our school as shown through our whole school testing.  These results are due to the educational initiatives and the hard work of our teachers.  NAPLAN results, validating what we have been seeing in our school.  The work we have been doing with the National Consistent Collection of Data, seen by parents in the Personalised Plan for Learning, resulting in almost the doubling of extra support for our students.

Finance Report: Jane Leonard – the excellent financial position of the school, despite the challenges presented by Covid and the impact it had on families.  Fee remissions were much higher than usual, as we were able to provide assistance to many families whose employment was affected.

If you refer to the school website you will find the full reports, as well as reports relating to the Religious Dimension of the School, Grounds and Maintenance, Parents and Friends, Work Health & Safety, OSHC and Vacation Care, Marine Discovery Centre and the Compliance Report.

Each year half the members of the School Board conclude their two year tenure.  Those members either choose to conclude their time or renominate for a further tenure (the maximum time on the Board is six years).  I would like to thank the following members who have retired from the Board this year:

• Deanne Stephanos – 5 years
• Justin Gargula – 4 years
• Emma Nicholas – 2 years
• Louise Santillo (staff rep) – 4 years

Thank you for your service and dedication to our school.

Brad Dunstan, has renominated after serving two years on the Board and we welcome him back for a further term.

We are delighted to welcome our new member, who have been accepted for a two year tenure:

• Mark Hayes
• Katerina Andrushenko
• Kirsty McCulloch

At the AGM we also presented a concept for a new building and had a Q&A session before closing the meeting and enjoying drinks and nibbles together.

The first meeting of our new School Board will be held on Monday 20 June.

Damian Weeks
On behalf of the Board.

With the easing of restrictions recently, we warmly welcome our families back on site! We are pleased that we can gather as a learning community once again. The official ‘Welcome to School’ morning teas have been scheduled for our Reception and Year 1 Families, despite the Reception students having already attended almost half a year of school and the Year 1 students, almost a year and a half! The resilience of our young people, staff, Parish and families during this time has been outstanding. We are looking forward to life in a (hopefully) ‘post-covid’ world!

CYBER SAFETY TALKS WITH YEAR 4 – 6 STUDENTS

This week our year 4, 5 and 6 students engaged in cyber safety lessons, with guest speakers attending Star of the Sea School from the Carly Ryan Foundation. Online environments and virtual worlds are not foreign domains for young people, but these digital landscapes can unfortunately present some dangers. Children, sometimes without even realizing, can be exposed to content that is beyond their comprehension, resulting in an anxious or heightened child, from seemingly invisible triggers! Without the neurological infrastructure, children (of all ages) can struggle to communicate their experiences of the content they consume in online worlds, and this is where educators and families can collaborate to support children to become happy, healthy and safe digital citizens.

DIGITAL DISTRACTIONS AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FACE to FACE SOCIAL INTERACTION

Digital distractions are a very real problem in society, but even more so for our young people who are yet to learn how to manage the temptation of digital immersion, whether that be on or offline. An overreliance on devices for entertainment can displace the development of social skills, play time with friends and problem solving in a face-to-face, real world setting for example our play spaces at recess and lunch. Helping young people to balance their ‘screen time’ with ‘green time’ (any outdoor play and social activity) is just one way that we can support them. Parents and educators have the right to decide:

WHAT – programs, apps and websites their children use and visit

WHEN – and for HOW LONG their children use their devices.

WHERE – devices can and cannot be used (eg behind closed doors/at the dinner table/after 7pm)

WHO – children can connect with and who they cannot connect with.

LANGUAGE – that is acceptable for use during gaming, group chatting or any online interaction; and

PROBLEMS – how to address problems that arise, in an open and honest collaborative way.

Parents and Caregivers do not need to be Tech Experts to support their children to resolve problems in a digital setting, they just need to follow the 5 principles listed below:

1. Set clear rules and boundaries
2. Parent/Caregiver makes the final decisions about device use (see above)
3. Use management controls
4. Stay up to date with your child/ren’s usage and tech habits
5. Communicate regularly with your children about their digital use

These principles will not change, even when the technology does! This will allow families to keep on top of the constantly evolving nature of apps, games and social media platforms. The key is open, honest and regular communication with your children about their digital use.

Narelle Sandercock
Acting Deputy Principal

We were pleased to host the Carly Ryan Foundation at our school ON TUESDAY 31 May. Children from Year 4-6 had a positive and informative session about how to ensure they have positive and safe experiences online now and in the future.   We learned about geo-tagging, password safety, keeping personal information safe, privacy settings and more. I encourage you to talk to your children about what they learned.

Parents, families, and carers play a crucial role in keeping children safe online.  If you wish for any further information please consider visiting the Cary Ryan Foundation website https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/ and https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/resources or The Office of the eSafety Commissioner website https://www.esafety.gov.au/

FAST FACTS

5.6 Billion FAKE Facebook accounts were taken down last year alone!

RESOURCES FOR PARENTS

Carly Ryan Foundation Popular Apps Fact Sheets https://www.carlyryanfoundation.com/resources/fact-sheets

eSafety Commission Parent Resources including webinars  https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents 

Apple Apps parental controls and privacy settings - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201304