2022 Week 1 Newsletter - Term 2

Weekly Focus

Each week we provide you with a short video supplying our key messages for the week.  

From the Principal

Dear Families

Happy Easter to you all.  I hope this Easter Season was one full of peace and relaxation for you all.

I loved being able to celebrate inside my Parish Church this year with no limits on how many people could be in there for both our Parish and School Easter Liturgies.    I loved the ritual of the Easter Vigil Mass with the lighting of the Easter candle from the fire outside in the night, the baptism of the adults and children joining our faith community, and the beautiful music.  All blended to give a message of hope and joy for us all.

I also loved that this year saw a rare convergence of the Abrahamic faith traditions - Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths – celebrating our religious feasts at the same time.  Other faith traditions such as our Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist brothers and sisters also aligned with us this year with significant observances and celebrations.

While we do have definite differences in our beliefs and practices, we also have similarities and much to learn from each other.  Each encounter gives us an opportunity to rededicate ourselves to spreading tolerance, acceptance, and respect for all people which is at the heart of the Christian faith.

I look forward to seeing you at the ANZAC Day March on Monday if you are able to join us.  More information is provided further in the newsletter.

COVID
Covid really made its presence felt amongst our school community last term and I think this term is shaping up to have a similar start.  The most effective things we can do to protect our school community is to be vigilant with hygiene and ensure we do not come on site if feeling unwell.  Masks are also shown to be a useful deterrent for those who wish to use them.

SCHOOL EVENTS
We are fortunate this term that the restrictions on gatherings have eased and we can finally come together as a school community.

More information is included later in the newsletter, but I strongly encourage you to mark in your calendar our School Disco on Friday 6th May at 5:30pm.  It will be great to finally get a chance to socialise, reconnect and welcome new families.

We also need as many of you as possible to join us for our Working Bee on Saturday 14th May at 3pm.  We have the potential to create a really fantastic place for our children to learn and play but we do need your help.  A sausage sizzle and a few drinks will follow as a thank you for your efforts.  It’s a great way to get to know people and your children will be very grateful.

There are a number of Athletics Events also that we would love you to lock in your calendars and conisder volunteering to help us:

Junior Jumps Day (Prep to Year 3) - Friday 20 May

Senior Jumps (Years 4 to 6 & some Yr 3's) - Monday 23 May

Athletics Carnival  (Yrs 1 to 6) - Friday 27 May (TBC)

2023 PREP ENROLMENTS
We have reached that time of the year when we start interviewing our prospective new Prep families for 2023.  Please spread the word for us to any families you know that have children in Prep next year.  Don’t forget to enrol your own child if they are of this age.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are still chasing some volunteers to be Class Parents.  Please let us know if you can help.
Our Mother’s Day Stall also needs volunteers to help for some or all of the day, selling presents to the children.  Please contact the School Office if you can assist.

God bless you and Live Jesus in Your Hearts Forever!
Jennett Mullane
Principal
jennett_omullane@rok.catholic.edu.au  

From Our APRE

He is risen, Alleluia!

Welcome to Term 2.  I hope you all had a chance to find some quiet time over the Easter break to rest and recharge.

We spend the first few weeks of term celebrating the season of Easter after our Lenten period of reflection and change of heart.

The fifty days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost are celebrated in joyful exultation. These, above all others, are the days for the singing of the Alleluia.

The season of Easter is when we literally live in the mystery of our initiation into Christ’s Body. Eastertide is sometimes called the period of Mystagogy – a time when we reflect on the mysteries into which we have been called.

The Easter Scriptures show us how to savour the meaning of our baptism, the richness of the community and reminds us of our mission to the world.

Adapted from An Introduction to Lent and Eastertime, Gabe Huck, LTP, 1987.

It was so nice to be able to gather together as a whole school to begin our term and celebrate the season of Easter.  As we go out this Easter season -

May our hearts be blessed with the love of the risen Lord.

May our minds be blessed with the words of the risen Lord.

May our spirit be blessed with the joy of the risen Lord.

I pray that we can all be people of Peace this Easter season.

MONTHLY MJR  MESSAGE

This term we focus on the working together in order to achieve more.

Together

Everyone

Achieves

More

© Images used with permission from Garratt Publishing.  All rights reserved.

We can’t be a team player if we don’t consider the needs of others!

THANK YOU

Earlier this year I put a call out for help with our beloved Prep boat and we were lucky enough to get the help we needed.  Hopefully you noticed the change that happened over the holiday and we now have a ‘new’ boat in our Prep area.
Many thanks must go to the Slow family who put us on to Damien Van Deudekom who completed the repairs.
We are extremely grateful and the students can now enjoy ‘fishing’ in our boat again.

God’s blessings,

Kellie Richardson
Assistant Principal: Religious Education
Kellie_richardson@rok.catholic.edu.au

In our Prayers

Liturgies and Assemblies

Curriculum News

Welcome back to Term 2 everyone.  I hope you all had time to relax and refresh over the Easter break after a very busy start to the year.  I went camping at 1770 with a very large group of family and friends.  This family tradition started with only two families, the Kings and Norths back in 1991 and has grown into almost 100 people attending.    

We have a few traditions we try to keep to every year and one of them is the annual Campsite Trivia Competition.   My mother, Julie mixes up the adults in our group into teams, Ian North reads the questions, and we work through 8 rounds of some easy and some very tricky general knowledge questions.  

This is a highlight for me as I enjoy watching so many people of different ages, different backgrounds from places all over QLD and NSW whispering to each other their guess of the answer.  Each question often sparks a memory and this then leads then into a story to be told.  

It is through the sharing of stories that we get to know each other a little better, we begin to build or deepen our relationship with each other which then helps us to understand and accept each other more intently.  

I am amazed each year how this many people can live side by side on very small camp sites with very little conflict.  Of course there is some conflict, there has to be, but it is often handled with patience, understanding and acceptance.  It doesn’t matter how old we are or what our background is, we need to all continually live our lives with these virtues.

At the end of each day at 1770, as the sun is setting, it draws us all to the beach.  A couple of hundred people from the campsite stand on the sand, looking at the ocean watching the sunset over the mountain.  Every afternoon is a different sunset depending on the weather but each one of them just as mesmorising as the other.   

My hope for this term is that each member of our school community acts with patience, understanding and acceptance, including myself, so we can continue to create a loving and welcoming atmosphere here at SOS.    May we always remember that with each sunset and the closing of a day, there will be an opportunity for a new start tomorrow. 

Have a good week everyone.

Anthony King

Assistant Principal: Curriculum

ICT Code of Practice - ACTION REQUIRED PLEASE

Information and Communication Technologies are used as a resource in many of the teaching and learning activities in the classroom.  A requirement of all students participating in these activities is to commit to a safe and respectful use of the various technologies.  This is completed each year by parents logging on to Parent Lounge, reading through the ICT Code of Practice with their child and showing their commitment to this Code of Practice by clicking the appropriate approval icon.

https://401sosg.https://401sosg.rok.catholic.edu.au/parentlounge/login.cfm?reason=timeout rok.catholic.edu.au/parentlounge/login

Students in Years 3 to 6 also work through the Code of Practice in class as well to ensure a thorough understanding.

Thank you to those families who have already completed this process.  This approval must be given by the start of Term 2 please.  Any students not covered by this agreement will unfortunately not have access to technology equipment at Star of the Sea from Term 2 onwards.

Chanel College 2023 Year 7 Information Evening

CLASS PARENTS - WE NEED YOU

As an important way to keep our class families connected, we ask that at least one parent from each class volunteer to be a Class Parent.  It can even be a shared role and Class Parents from previous years can be there to support you.

Our Class Parents play an important role in our school community.  It is not meant to be a particularly demanding job but it does provide an important bridge between the parent body and the teacher.

The role of the Class Parent has a few main duties:
•    Class Morning Teas (Held in the Outside Hours Care Room): This involves making sure the urn is filled and turned on ready before the Class Assembly item or whenever there is a Year Level Cuppa.  (You can even get someone else to turn on the urn if needed).  It also involves an invitation to parents to bring along a plate of food to share with the cuppa..
•    Sending an email as a reminder for class events etc.  This just involves writing what you would like said and then emailing it to the office and your child’s teacher for us to send out for you.   This also sometimes involves a Facebook reminder if your year level has set up an unofficial group (without the school's name).
•    Helping serve food and drink to the students in your class at events such as the Christmas Concert (or organizing someone else to do it).  

There are other optional things you can do such as organize class get togethers for parents etc. but this is not a mandatory part of the role.  

Please contact your child's teacher or the front office if you can assist us.

Please also let us know if you are an administrator for a Facebook Group for your class/year level.  Whilst these groups are not officially connected to the school, we recognise the connection that is provided for many parents and would like to help get information to other parents about them.  

2022 SOSG Cross Country

Our Cross Country was a great way to end last term and a perfect example of what makes us such a great school. We are grateful for the team spirit our students showed and the generous efforts of our staff and parent volunteers who helped make it possible.

PREP 2023

Children born between 1^st July 2017 and 30^th June 2018 are eligible to commence Prep in 2023.  If you have a child eligible for Prep in 2023 please visit the school website and complete the Online Application Form.

http://www.staroftheseagladstone.qld.edu.au/enrolment/enrolment-information.html

All current families with a child eligible to commence Prep 2023 are required to complete and online application form.

Use of School Toilets

As part of our commitment to providing a safe and supportive learning space for our students we have strict rules surrounding the use of our school toilets.  

Only students who are currently enrolled at Star of the Sea School are permitted to use the student toilets, including the PWD Toilet.  

Parents, volunteers, toddlers and high school students are asked to go to the School Office to be directed to suitable toilets if required. 

WHEN MAY YOU DROP YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL?

Please remember that supervision for your child is not provided until 8:10am each morning.  No child should arrive at school before that time please.

We have a Before Hours Care service that is licensed by the department to care for our students before the official school hours begin.  This means that children outside the care of that service cannot be on site while this service is operating in the licensed area.
 
If you do need your children on site before that time you will need to enrol them in our Before Hours Care Service.

More information about our OSHC Service can be obtained via our website:
http://www.staroftheseagladstone.qld.edu.au/about-us/oshc.html 
 
We appreciate your support in keeping your child safe and complying with the legislation we are bound to work under.

Student Absentee Line

If your child is not attending school, you can call us, 24/7, to leave a message to report the absence. The  phone number is 4994 8301. 

As always, absences can be reported using Parent Lounge or by emailing your child’s teacher. (Please cc to SOSG_Absentee@rok.catholic.edu.au).

This designated phone line gives you the opportunity to call the school at a time that is convenient to you.

Thank you to our Caulfield Sponsors