Newsletter Term 2 Week 2

Dear Families

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting important visitors to our school.  Sally Egan, Deputy Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission and Amanda Humeniuk, our School Performance Leader came to hear more about our school.  The Director of Catholic Education SA, Dr Neil McGoran, was also going to attend but unfortunately was called to an important meeting at the last moment.

You might ask, “Why are they visiting our school?”  Read the article in this newsletter to learn more!

Future Directions at Star of the Sea School.
Read the article in this newsletter about the final step in the development of our three-year School Strategic Plan.  We invite all families to contribute to our prioritising exercise by completing our survey, 2022 - 2024 SCHOOL STRATEGIC PLAN.  The survey can be accessed via this link:

Federal Election 2022
Education is an important topic at every election. As we head towards the Federal Election on May 21, Catholics are being asked to consider how their vote will benefit the whole community. It is essential that everybody who cares about Catholic schools understands the key issues. In this newsletter you will find a summary sheet outlining the positions of the major parties.  Further resources are available at www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/federal- election.

Annual General Meeting – you are invited.
In this newsletter you will find information about our AGM to be held on Monday 30 May 2022.

Interested in joining the School Board?  You can read about what School Board Members do in this article and fill in a nomination form.

Parent Teacher Interviews

We are entering into the second week of interviews, unfortunately the rules from SA Health and CESA are that these cannot be face-to-face at this time.  In the coming weeks we will be keen to meet face-to-face with families, if you would like, that have been provided with a Personalised Plan for learning.

NAPLAN
Congratulations to our Year 3 & 5 students who have almost completed their week of testing.  Technology caused a few hiccups on the first day but otherwise it has been smooth sailing!

Regards,
Damian Weeks

Yesterday we had the pleasure of hosting important visitors to our school.  Sally Egan, Deputy Chair of the National Catholic Education Commission and Amanda Humeniuk, our School Performance Leader came to hear more about our school.  The Director of Catholic Education SA, Dr Neil McGoran, was also going to attend but unfortunately, he was called to an important meeting at the last moment.

You might ask, “Why are they visiting our school?”

The word is out about the results that have been achieved at our school.  While I have been telling plenty of people about our internal results over the last two years, as you know these have now been validated externally with last year’s NAPLAN results.  People are becoming more and more interested in how we have done this.

The first thing I tell them is I have been lucky to come to a school with such a great staff, willing to look at what is working and changing those things that require change!

The second key to our success is our “Leaders of Learning.”  This group meets every Wednesday and works on the key aspects of developing, “thriving people, capable learners and leaders for the world God desires.”  Another way of describing this is the culture we are developing here at the school.  A large part of the work our “Leaders of Learning” are doing is around, new ways of working to achieve improved student outcomes, and this has been part of the success story of the improved results at our school.

I would like to thank our Leaders of Learning for the fantastic work that they have been doing over the last year and a half.  Our teachers, that are members of this group are Louise Santillo, Domenique Laurendi and Sheena Pattinson.  They are joined each week by members of our Leadership Team, Jhovana Fenu, Matt Perry/Narrelle Sandercock and myself.

Over the last year and a half this group has worked on:

I would also like to thank the Year 2 teachers for hosting our visitors in their classroom.  The teachers and children shared different aspects of their literacy block.

We have arrived at the final step in the development of our three-year School Strategic Plan.  This step requires our school community to help prioritise the many great ideas we have collected.  You can participate by completing the survey that can be accessed via this link:

The Strategic Plan outlines the directions that Star of the Sea School will be taking over the next three-year time period so that our students will continue to thrive, learn and develop into the leaders for the world God desires.

Our Strategic Plan directly relates to Catholic Education SA’s vision for all Catholic Schools captured in the Living, Learning, Leading Framework and the other key documents for Catholic Schools (A Blueprint for Step Change and the Balanced Scorecard).

The final plan revolves around the four key domains

Catholic identity is experienced within a culture of dialogue in an inclusive school community.

Learning and wellbeing is experienced through the Australian Curriculum and co-constructed learning and assessment design where student agency, identity, learning and leadership is experienced.

Resourcing includes buildings and grounds, human capital and the optimal staffing ratio, a healthy financial position and a healthy 5 Year enrolment trend.

Community Engagement is evident when the school promotes a vision for learning that recognises the primary role of parents and families in the identity development and education of their children.

Join the conversation by completing the survey

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This year, with the easing of Covid restrictions, the School Board is hoping to run a traditional Annual General Meeting on…

Monday 30 May 2022  – 7pm in the Stella Maris Room

The format for the evening will be:

1. Welcome
2. Prayer
3. Presentation of reports
4. Elections of Board Members
5. Thank you from the School Board Chair

Nominations – Included in this newsletter is a Nomination Form.  Please consider if you would like to take up this most important role.  Below is a description of the role of a School Board member.  If you wish to nominate, return the signed form after having someone in the community (ie another adult) sign to second your nomination.  Nominations close on Thursday 26  May 2022.  School Board appointment are for two years.  Many School Board members renominate for another period of two years, while some choice not to.  Every year 50% of the positions become vacant for which community members can nominate.

What do School Board Members Do?

The faith community has a responsibility for the maintenance and development of its Catholic school.  A practical way of accepting its responsibility is to appoint some of its members to use their gifts in working with the principal and staff in School Board ministry.

There are 5 elements of community responsibility that the School Board undertakes:

• Policy Direction – to guide the school
• Financial Management – to account for and administer all income
• Planning & Development – for the present & future
• Pastoral Care – is care for people (students, parents & staff)
• Evaluation – of the effect of policy decisions

The School Board meets monthly during the four school terms (on the Monday of weeks 5 & 9 at 7pm).  Meetings run for no longer than two hours, at which discussion is based around reports from the P&F, Principal, Parish, Staff, Treasurer/Bursar and other key groups.

If you require any further information, please feel free to contact me.

Damian Weeks
Principal