Newsletter Term 4 Week 1

Dear Families

Welcome to the last term of the 2022 year, how quickly time flies by! 

I was very lucky to have a week of long service leave before the holidays started.  I travelled to Sydney to watch the Women’s World Cup of Basketball.  This is the second time Australia has hosted the games (the last time was in the 90’s).  There is nothing like seeing some of the best athletes in the world “live.”  Following this great week and enjoying the “caravanning life” I then travelled up to the Gold Coast, where it was warm but wet!

This is a very busy term so please keep an eye on the calendar and announcements.  It is school photos next week, sports day the week after and our School’s 110 year celebration (including the Convent turning 100 years) on November 18^th.

We held a very successful Pupil Free Day, with our staff, on Monday.  The professional learning covered three very important areas:

1. Learning Intentions & Success Criteria
2. Student Agency & Goal setting

These first two areas relate to the work being done across every Catholic School in SA, the Clarity Learning Program.  This program focusses on building teacher and leader capacity to increase student achievement and growth in an ongoing, sustainable way.  Our Leaders of Learning have been completing their own professional learning, as a group, in this area over the last 18 months.  We are now introducing staff to this program.  Learning intentions are making clear, to students what we are learning in a unit of work and Success Criteria what success looks like.

3. SEQTA

SEQTA is the Catholic Education SA, teaching and learning support system that also integrates Wellbeing, Learning and Attendance management in one solution. SEQTA supports teachers with workflows and decision making.  It is a collaborative teaching and learning ecosystem, providing teachers with a range of tools to support student outcomes. 

Next year this system will be used for our School Reports, so it is very important that our teachers have a very good understanding of the system.

Our other area of work, on the pupil free day, was with the SEQTA program.  You may have heard about this, as many secondary schools use this program.  SEQTA is described as a learning management system.  SEQTA supports teachers with workflows and decision making.  It is a collaborative teaching and learning ecosystem, providing teachers with a range of tools to support student outcomes.  We are very much at the beginning of this learning journey, but the future possibilities look very exciting.

All three areas have been consistent themes of staff professional learning throughout this year.

Over the holidays there was a variety of maintenance undertaken around the school.  The most noticeable of this was the oval.  With grass not growing over winter we have a number of patches where the grass has been killed. We have replanted these sections during the holidays and they are coming back well.

Staff are currently working on creating classes for the 2023 year.  If, as caregivers, you would like to contribute to this process you will find information about this in this newsletter.  Tomorrow, Friday 21^st is the last day for parents to contribute to this process.

Have a great term,
Damian Weeks

We will soon begin the organisation of classes for next year.  We invite parents to share any educational factors regarding the placement of their child.  The type of information you may like to share could fall into a number of needs that your child has, social/emotional, learning, physical and behavioural (please note that this does not include selecting a particular teacher). 

Students also get input into their class placements and they will soon be asked to choose some friends that they would like to be with next year.

It is always possible to take into consideration requests received by the due date.  This is not the case once this date passes because moving one student will affect the placement of many other students and the balance of the class.

If you would like to share any educational factors regarding the placement of your child please email me by Friday October 21st. dweeks@star.catholic.edu.au

It is important that students have a range of teachers, so they can experience different styles and develop different strengths over the years.  We discourage parents requesting specific teachers.  Also, each year teachers have the opportunities to change the year levels that they teach.  There is no need to requests friends for your child as every student has the opportunity to do this as part of the process.

It is always possible to take into consideration requests received by this time.  However, this is not the case once this date passes, for several reasons.

Our teaching staff will spend a considerable amount of time placing children into classes.  We will aim to make “balanced” classes, looking at the following issues:

• A balance of sexes
• Children who are progressing at the rate expected at their year level
• Children who are progressing beyond the expected rate
• Children who have needs (social/emotional, learning, physical, behavioural)
• Relationships
• Other factors

Once the process is finished, it is extremely difficult to entertain further input from parents because the movement of one child will more than likely effect other children in the class and the balance that we work hard to achieve.

In previous years, if you have put something in writing, you must do this again this year. Do not take it for granted that a request from a previous year will still be applied.

The points above can be used as a guide when putting a request in writing.

Remember the cut-off date for requests is Friday October 21st. 

Welcome back to Term 4

We trust you have found the opportunity to reconnect with family members and find rest and rejuvenation these school holidays. The family and friend time of the school break are always valuable opportunity for memory making together.

Term 4 is always a fun and busy term that flies by with only 9 weeks until the end of the school year! This is an important time of celebration in our community as we acknowledge the fruits of the relationships that have been formed over the course of the learning journey. Many special events, graduations, and rites of passage to wrap up the academic year are exciting, and joy filled. We reflect on all that has been achieved and invite our partners in education, the families, to do the same.

Summer School Uniform

With the warmer weather upon us, we remind students and families of the summer uniform expectations. Broad brimmed Star of the Sea School hats are a compulsory part of our school uniform as this provides sun safety for our children at the play breaks. Our NO HAT, NO PLAY rules applies and to support accurate interpretation of this rule, I would like to clarify that it means that children will not be permitted to play outside in the sun without a hat. They can still play, but the play will be isolated to the Grandstand and Library. Even though we have shaded Sand Pit and Playground Areas, we cannot guarantee that sun safety will be the case for children playing in these areas as they move from in and out of the shaded areas, thus NO HAT, means NO PLAY in these areas too.

We remind children and families that it is an expectation that they attend school in Star of the Sea School uniform items. Generic navy leggings, coloured brand name socks e.g Santa Cruz or Vans are not a part of the school uniform and therefore not permitted to be worn to school. Please seek to purchase (new or second hand) the Star of the Sea school shorts or school skorts, instead of navy leggings and please seek to ensure children have plain white or grey socks.

Nail polish and dangly earrings are also not Star of the Sea school uniform items. I have been acknowledging how pretty these are with students this week but also with reminders to remove the nail polish now that the school term has commenced and to wear neat studs or sleepers over dangly earrings.

Reception to Year 2 learners wear their Sport Uniform all five days of the week. All Year 3-6 learners are expected to wear their Sport uniform for PE lesson days and on one other day of the week, as communicated by the Classroom Teacher. The Sport Uniform is not to be worn on any other day. Thus, children in years 3, 4, 5 and 6 wear Sport Uniform for two days per week and formal Summer Uniform for three days per week. This is to support opportunities for washing the formal Summer Uniform and preparedness for physical activity. I acknowledge also that the formal school uniform does not inhibit daily physical activity opportunities as I joyfully observe energetic games of chasey, skipping, footy, basketball, soccer, playground climbing and so on from students in these uniforms every single day. I even see students enthusiastically participating in PE lessons and daily fitness whilst in their formal school uniforms. I thank families and students for their excellent support of the school uniform policy, as I believe it is a very smart and attractive school uniform that is being worn with pride by most of our community. I would be delighted to speak with families who require further clarification regarding any aspect of the school uniform policy, and I invite them to contact me at any time.

Smart Watches and Mobile Devices

What a wonderfully advanced digital world we now live in! Mobile phones, tablets, smart watches and numerous other ICT gadgets support connectivity like never before. Whilst this is something to celebrate it is timely to acknowledge the negative impacts of digital saturation and connectivity. The temptation for distraction is huge with such devices as they have been intentionally engineered to hijack our thinking. We remind families and students that smart watches must be switched to ‘school mode’ during the school term. To minimize distraction of these devices and maximise learning engagement and being present to social opportunities at school, we ask for families not to contact their children during school hours please. Our beautiful front office staff, Lisa Sghirripa, Viv Andrews, Paula Ogilvie and Jane Leonard are more than happy to receive and pass on your messages to children during the school day, should they be needed. Thank you for your support in this.

Thank You

As we begin to emerge from the restrictions of the pandemic and look to life beyond covid, I take this opportunity to thank all in our community for their resilience and continued partnership in education. The strength of the students, staff, families, parish, school committees and school board has been quite apparent to me. Star of the Sea School is a school that is welcoming of all students and families. We take pride in living the gospel values in an intentional way in our everyday lives. I regularly witness this inclusivity and faithfulness in our learners, educators and families. It warms my heart and is life giving! I encourage all to slow down and enjoy the final weeks of 2022, as we support each other to have an excellent finish to the academic year. Let’s not become too focused on what might transpire in the new year, instead remaining present to each moment we share together this year.

Stewardship Reflection

“….proclaim the word, be persistent whether it is convenient or inconvenient….” Timothy 4:2

It is not always convenient to be a good steward, especially when all the temptations of our busy and materialistic world get in the way. Now, add our own pride and ego into the equation and living a stewardship lifestyle may be downright uncomfortable! Remember, God didn’t call us to be comfortable. God never said that we would have an easy life. Rather, God called us to be faithful and embrace life long learning!

Pray continually and never lose heart. Feelings of discomfort are not to be squashed or avoided altogether, they are there to help us to grow and learn, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually and physically.

Please see link below with important information regarding Sports Day Thursday 3 November, Henley Oval.

Please note there will be a toddlers race for any students starting in 2023 and or any younger siblings. Race will be at 1:15pm

Our school choir participated in the Catholic School Music Festivial at the Festival Theatre.

Well done to all.