Newsletter Term 4 Week 8

Dear Families

This week’s newsletter was mainly to be about the building program but we are also sharing some staffing information for next year.

Firstly, you will find a community announcement from CESA about leadership positions in our school for term 1, 2023.  A summary is…

• Matthew Perry will continue as Acting Principal at Christ the King School, Warradale for Term 1 2023.
• Narelle Sandercock has been appointed to the role of Acting Deputy Principal at Mercedes College for Semester 1 2023.
• Kelly Manera has been appointed to the role of Acting Deputy Principal at Star of the Sea School for Term 1 2023.

Without a doubt these are marvellous opportunities for Matt and Narelle and we wish them all the best for 2023.  We are also excited to welcome back Kelly Manera to our staff, Kelly has taught at Star of the Sea for many years before we released her to taking up an Acting Leadership position at Parkside.

Please find attached a letter regarding this from Dr Neil McGoran.

THE BUILDING PROGRAM BEGINS

Our building program begins on Monday, December 12^th.  The builders will be on site erecting temporary fencing around the admin building and green courts, that will be used for their compound.  This area will be out of bounds during the building program.  There will be some minor works occurring in the last three days of school.  Preparatory works will not begin until students conclude school.  The major work will not occur until early January when the building will be demolished.  By the time children return next year the building will be gone!

Military Road Entry/Exit to School

A major change is to the school gates on Military Road. The main gate will be permanently closed from Dec 12^th and entry/exit to the school will be via the double gate 10m to the North (near the bin enclosure/playground).

Admin Office

From this time the Admin Office will be located in the front of the library, entry to which will be from the library door on the north or playground side of the building.  There will be an A-frame display outside the door indicating the new entrance.

Please see the map, in this newsletter, for further details.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

This is our next whole school event to be held on Friday December 9^th.  All the details can be found in this newsletter.

Our last whole school event will be the end of year Liturgy/Farewells, to be held in the Church on Wednesday December 14^th.

REPORTS

A celebration of the learning that has happened over the last semester is coming home on Wednesday December 7th.  Congratulations to all our students and thank you to all of our teachers who have spent many hours putting this work together.

AMENDED VACCINATION POLICY

CESA has announced an amended vaccination policy that is now in effect, the full announcement is included in the newsletter. The amended Policy has adopted a ‘personal responsibility’ approach that strongly encourages vaccination but does not require it to work and volunteer at Star of the Sea School.

CLASS TEACHERS FOR 2023

There will be some changes in our teaching staff next year.  Lisa Russell and Rose Russell will both be moving back home, nearer to families and Ali Rebuli is taking six months off.

Joining our staff will be Sarah Helmore and Georgia Borlace.  Sarah has been teaching at Woodville Primary school across R-3 and Georgia at Woodend Primary School where in 2023 she taught Year 3.

I wish to advise our community of an update on the outcome of the consultation process and approval in relation to the amended COVID-19 Vaccination Policy as implemented by Catholic Education South Australia (CESA) sites.

The amended Policy has adopted a ‘personal responsibility’ approach that strongly encourages vaccination, but does not require it to work and volunteer, in most CESA workplace settings (except a few ‘high-risk’ settings where up-to-date vaccination will be required).

This outcome means that volunteers who are approved by the school to provide support at our school including attending excursions, now need only to comply with the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools Policy for Volunteers. In short, volunteers need to have signed the school’s Volunteer Declaration and hold a current Catholic Working With Children Check. Ongoing volunteers also need to have completed the free 2 hour online Mandatory Reporting (RRHAN-EC) training.

We are grateful for your continued support of our students, particularly in volunteering for excursions and other key events and activities.

Should you require any further information regarding the COVID-19 Vaccination Policy, please contact Damian Weeks in the first instance.

Please see attached information for Carlos Night, Friday 9 December.

A message from the P&F Committee

Hello to our wonderful Star of the Sea community! With the end of the year approaching, I wanted to send out a quick note from the P&F.

Quiz Night

A few weeks ago, we held our first ever quiz night, which was also the P&F’s last major fundraiser for the year. We had so many requests for another ball, but we thought we would save that for next year and instead try something different. It was such a huge success with our wonderful families and friends taking dress up to the max and setting the tone for an incredibly fun night. With the theme being ‘choose your own’, we were graced with a display of Halloween figures, sports stars, bogans, hippies, Pink ladies and T-Birds, Hawaiian shirts, a deck of cards, and even Barbies and Kens amidst many more! We were able to raise money for our school thanks to the very generous businesses within our community who donated amazing products and hampers to raffle on the night, as well as the families who donated wine and chocolates.

Thank you to the following companies:

• Lifestyle Finance
• Gaganis
• Priority Health and Premium Choice Liquor
• Todd Hair Studio
• Cosmic Yoga and Pilates Studio
• The Local Greek
• Blackwoods
• GC Accounting and Business services

We look forward to this one having a regular spot on the P&F calendar!

P&F Changes

I have decided that this year will be my final year as chair of the P&F. I have been a part of the committee for 4 years now and I have enjoyed being able to introduce new and fun events to our school. I have enjoyed my time with the P&F and will continue to help the committee. Please join me in welcoming the amazing Emma Marsden to the role. I know Emma and the team will continue to do an amazing job at bringing exciting and fun events to our community and to our children.

I would also like to thank Vanessa Kosmidis for all her help on the committee and filling the role of Parent Rep Coordinator. You have been a wonderful addition to the team with so many fabulous ideas! Vanessa will continue to help the committee but her role will be replaced by Josephine Zotti who also volunteers her time to help the school through the Star Outreach Program.

The role of our schools Parents and Friends group is to help build and keep our community united and engaged as well as raise money for our school to make added improvements for our children. Fundraising as well as friend raising! With lots of new faces entering our community we welcome you to come along to a P&F meeting, meet the team get involved and help where and if you can. It’s not a major commitment and the more support it has the longer the P&F will survive. Without parents help the P&F will cease to exist and so too the fun events for parents and children.

Final thank you

I would like to say a big thank you to all the parents of the Star of the Sea community. Your support in attending our events like the School Ball, Quiz Night, Ladies Night etc, as well as the kids functions like disco, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day stalls is truly appreciated. The last few years have been tough for all, and we have worked hard to keep the community spirit alive, as Star of the Sea has always been known as a tight community. Your support helps us to build this community, so for that, we thank you!

To my team and my friends on the P&F- thank you for everything you have done to support me, very grateful for you all.

Enjoy the rest of term 4.

Cheers
Natalie Canova

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