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BEGINNING OF TERM TWO 

It has been a fantastic start to Term Two! I extend a big thank you to our staff for helping our students have a smooth start to the new school term. We welcome Stella (Kindergarten), Emma (Year 1), Isaac (Year 3), Greyson (Year 5), and their families, to our school community.  

Families would have received my beginning of term message, now sent via Seesaw. If you haven’t read this already, I encourage you to do so. Important information regarding a number of school events, such as our upcoming URSTRONG parent and child workshop, is included in this message. 

ELECTION OF POPE LEO XIV 

We join with Catholics around the world in celebrating the election of Pope Leo XIV, formerly Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost. His election marks a time of renewed hope, strength, and inspiration for the Church, and particularly for Catholic education.  

Pope Leo XIV brings with him a rich legacy of pastoral care, missionary experience, and global perspective. As an Augustine missionary in Peru for many years, he ministered closely to communities with humility and compassion. More recently, his role as Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops demonstrated his thoughtful leadership and deep commitment to listening, discernment, and service. 

For Catholic education, his papacy offers a renewed call to centre our mission on the Gospel, to care deeply for the formation of young people, and to respond to the complexities of the modern world with wisdom and courage. Pope Leo XIV’s life of service reflects the values we seek to instil in our students, namely faith, justice, integrity, and love.  

We pray that his pontificate will strengthen our shared mission and deepen our commitment to forming hearts and minds for a better world.  

MOTHER’S DAY BREAKFAST 

We celebrated our mothers and mother figures on the morning of Friday 9 May, enjoying croissants and coffee in the sunshine. Thank you to our staff for coming in early to prepare the food, the families who came along and the New Moon Van for joining us! 

STAFFING NEWS 

Miss Chelsi Forder, our Education Assistant in Year 1 and Year 2/3, will be leaving our school community at the end of Week Five. I thank Chelsi for the contribution she has made to our school community since joining us last year. We are currently advertising for an Education Assistant to fulfil this role.

NATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING AWARDS 

For over 30 years, the NEITA Foundation has been acknowledging exceptional educators in early learning centres, primary and secondary schools across Australia and New Zealand. 

Our teachers are not just exceptional professionals. They are also talented, committed, caring, innovative, passionate and dedicated to their students, schools and the community. 

Nominations are now open, until Friday, 27 June 2025. Please consider visiting https://www.neita.com/ to nominate one of our outstanding teachers or school leaders – it only takes a few minutes to nominate! 

CODE OF CONDUCT

Our Code of Conduct, which can be found on our website, is a set of statements that apply directly to the behaviour and conduct of all parents, staff, students, and visitors of Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School.  As Principal, if I notice a breach of the Code of Conduct, it is my responsibility to address the breach to ensure the safety of our students. All community members are also charged with the responsibility of ensuring the Code of Conduct is lived out through their own words and actions. 

Welcome back from the holiday break. I trust your holidays were restful and that you are all ready for another busy term here at Our Lady Star of the Sea. 

May the Month of Our Lady 

Hail Mary, full of grace. 

The Lord is with thee. 

 Blessed art thou amongst women, 

 and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. 

 Holy Mary, Mother of God, 

 pray for us sinners, 

 now and at the hour of our death. 

Amen. 

CARITAS

Spanning across the six weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world.  

Your generous support can help change lives today – and For All Future Generations. 

This year we raised  $ 251.55 for Caritas 

SCHOOL FEAST DAY 

This year our school feast day will be on Monday the 26 of May. We will celebrate the feast of Our Lady Help of Christian, with the actual feat day on Saturday 24 May. There will be lots of fun activities planned for the day. 

We will start with a special Our Lady Help of Christians Mass in the morning led by the Year Four class, all families are welcome to attend the mass.  This year after recess we will split into our faction groups to learn more about the Saints our factions are named after. 

MacKillop faction:   Named after the Sisters of St Joseph who are an Australian congregation founded by St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Our Parish had Josephite sisters for many years.  

Salvator faction: Named after the Society of the Divine Saviour.  The Salvatorian Priests have been part of our parish for many years. Fr Paul is our current Salvatorian looking after the Esperance parish community.  

Xavier faction: Named after St. Francis Xavier, who is recognised as a co-patron of Australia, especially during the period when Catholicism was being established as a missionary country. 

For this special day, we would like all students to wear their faction shirts.  

After lunch there will be a sports afternoon where the Year One to Six students will participate in tabloid sports organised by the Year Six faction captains and the Pre-Primary and Kindy children will have their own games in the afternoon.  

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

As part of the Sacramental program for the children who will be receiving Reconciliation, Holy Communion and Conformation this year, there are some important family meetings with Fr Paul. Parents and Caregivers of sacramental students are asked to attend the following Sunday Mass where Fr Paul will discuss with the families how to best prepare their children to receive the sacraments.  

Sunday 18 May – Mass and Sacramental parent workshop, 9:00am, in the Church. 

Sunday 3 August- Mass and Sacramental parent workshop, 9:00am, in the Church. 

The Sacramental Workshop run by Mildred Rego will be in Term Three, Tuesday 16 September 

NATIONAL CONSISTENT COLLECTION OF DATA ON SCHOOL STUDENTS WITH DISABILITY

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (the national data collection) is an annual collection that counts the number of school students receiving an adjustment due to disability and the level of adjustment they are receiving to access education on the same basis as other students.  For more information regarding the NCCD data follow the link below  

FACT SHEET FOR PARENTS, GUARDIANS AND CARERS 

In Year 2/3, we have been learning about the significance of Anzac Day. Students explored the history, symbols, and meaning behind this important day of remembrance. As part of the experience, they discovered the story of the Anzac biscuit and followed a recipe to bake their own. To further enrich their learning, the Year 2/3 students teamed up with the Year 1 class next door to cook together, sharing in the hands-on experience while reflecting on the importance of Anzac traditions. Each student also had the chance to take home a delicious biscuit, making the experience even more memorable.

In Pre-Primary we have been reading the storybook ‘Thunderstorm Dancing’. We had a great time creating our own thunderstorms in glasses and watching the rain fall down. We have also made thunderstorm collages and next week we will create the sounds of a thunderstorm!

We have had a busy start to 2025 in PE. A huge congratulations to all of our students who participated in our 2025 Interschool Athletics Carnival on the last day of Term One. It was a great day and a huge thank you to everyone who helped us host the carnival this year! As always, these events are a team effort and couldn’t run without great assistance. We felt incredibly proud watching our students compete against the other schools and try their best.

Another highlight at the end of term one was having Golf WA come and visit. We had a really fun day learning about golf and implementing some new skills. We have started soccer this term and it is great to see our students so enthusiastic and involved. A big congratulations to all of our students for trying new things, getting out of their comfort zone and most importantly, having fun whilst moving their bodies.

Dear Parents,

We are proud to be a URSTRONG School and are committed to continuing to empower your children with friendship skills. As a school and in collaboration with CEWA, we believe that empowering our students with these skills will create a culture of kindness at our school and we hope that, together with URSTRONG, we can support your children to have healthy, feel-good friendships.

As with last year, you are invited to take advantage of a FREE Parent Membership to access hundreds of resources – including an 8 session video series. This will allow you to learn the same language & strategies being taught in the classroom through the Friendology 101 curriculum. We hope that, as a URSTRONG Family, you will reinforce the important messages of empowerment, self-compassion, & kindness at home.

SAVE THE DATE – Parent-Student online workshop with URSTRONG

Date: Thursday 22 May 2025

Time: 6:00-7:30pm (over Zoom)

We encourage all parents and carers to take advantage of this FREE workshop, facilitated by URSTRONG over Zoom. This workshop helps parents/carers to speak a common ‘language of friendship’ as their children, and reviews the core concepts taught in our Friendology curriculum with students. Information regarding registration has been sent to families via Seesaw.

This months URSTRONG theme is Courage. Whether kids are introducing themselves to someone new, letting a friend know they’re not ready for a sleepover yet or standing up for a friend, one things is for sure….Friendship is COURAGE! This month students will learn about the skill of courage, exploring how courage helps us to create healthy friendships.  

“FREE Health Coaching for your family! 

📍Esperance

‘1-2-3 Magic & Emotion Coaching for Parents’ ~ Learn to manage difficult behaviour and promote self regulation in young children.

Suitable for parents of 2-12yo

📅 21 & 28 May 2025

⏰ 9:15-11:45am

📍Escare OSHC: 1 George Street

Creche Available (Limited spaces)

📍Esperance

‘1-2-3 Magic & Emotion Coaching for Parents’  ~ Learn to manage difficult behaviour and promote self regulation in young children.

Suitable for parents of 2-12yo

📅 20 & 27 May 2025

⏰ 6:30-8:30pm

📍Esperance Library: Windich St

📍Esperance

FATHERING 101 ~ Unpack the role of fathering in today’s society. Delivered by a dad for dad’s and male caregivers.

Suitable for parents of 2-12yo

To find out more or to register for any of these courses: https://bit.ly/3rTnbj4