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STAFF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT DAY 

While our students enjoyed an extra-long weekend on Monday 19 August, our staff gathered for a day of engaging and informative professional development. The focus for the day was Mathematics, specifically effective pedagogy, problem solving and the use of data to inform teaching and learning. The day was facilitated by Mistelle Moore (Numeracy Coordinator, Catholic Education Western Australia). Mistelle returned to school the following day to meet with teachers individually in a coaching capacity to discuss class-specific matters and further unpack key learnings from the previous day. These two days provided rich professional learning, reflecting our continued practice of being child-first educators.  

BOOK WEEK  

A big thank you to the families who have supported our Book Fair! If you haven’t popped into the library already, please consider doing so on 26-27 August between 8:30-8:45am or 2:50-3:50pm. Your support of the Book Fair promotes reading at home and supports our school at the same time. We saw some wonderful costumes this morning during our Book Week Parade! Thank you to the parents who came along! 

URSTRONG SPIRIT OF FRIENDSHIP DAY 

Students and staff enjoyed our URSTRONG Spirit of Friendship day on Thursday 8 August. I thank Mrs Erin Tyrrell, our Year Six Teacher and Leader of Wellbeing, for her organisation of this day. This day saw students engage in a range of activities that reinforced learning from the URSTRONG Friendology 101 curriculum and celebrated the wonderful work students have done to develop and maintain healthy friendships. Please see further information and photos from the day further in this newsletter.

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK 

We followed our Spirit of Friendship Day with a celebration of Science on Tuesday 13 August, during National Science Week (10 – 18 August). The theme for this year was Species Survival – More Than Just Sustainability. Students engaged in a variety of exciting activities around this theme and even had a few special visitors! A big thank you to Mrs Deb Sanger for preparing a day of exciting Science Week activities. 

OPEN AFTERNOON: WEDNESDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 

As advised at the beginning of term, our Open Afternoon will take place on Wednesday 18 September, 1:30 – 3:30pm (Pre-Primary – Year Six).  We will be trialing a different format this year, commencing with a Dance Showcase (Pre-Primary to Year Six) in the hall at 1:30pm. This will see students share what they have been learning in Dance over the term. Our Dance Showcase will make for an exciting start to our Open Afternoon, with families then invited into classrooms to view student work. Parents and caregivers are welcome to sign their child/ren out for the day after completing the Open Afternoon experience. Our Pre-Kindy and Kindergarten Open Afternoon sessions will take place at different times, which have been communicated to families via Seesaw. Our Open Afternoon is always a great way to celebrate the achievements of our students, and I encourage you to save the date and attend. 

FATHER’S DAY BREAKFAST: FRIDAY 30 AUGUST  

I look forward to seeing our fathers and father figures at our annual Father’s Day breakfast taking place on Friday 30 August, 7:30-8:30am. This will take place in our Koortoomitji area and school hall. The New Moon Van will be onsite, should you wish to purchase a morning coffee! A registration form was shared via Seesaw recently, to be completed by Tuesday 27 August. Please complete this form to assist with our planning, if you have not done so already. 

ENROLMENTS FOR 2025 

As we are in Semester Two, we are planning for the 2025 school year. If you are yet to enrol your child in Pre-Kindy or Kindergarten, please do so as a matter of priority. We are currently considering moving to a four-day Kindergarten program next year. If you are not returning to Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Primary School in 2025, please ensure that you advise the school in writing (email admin@olsots.wa.edu.au) by the end of Term Three, as is the required notice period agreed upon enrolment. 

SOCKTOBER

Socktober is an initiative under Catholic Missions which raises funds for communities in need each year. In 2024, Socktober will raise funds for programs like the Don Bosco Caring Center in Mongolia, a safe home for children who have been abandoned, are homeless, or are fleeing desperate situations.   

On Friday 20 September we will hold Silly Socks Day. Students can wear silly socks with their sport uniform for a gold coin donation. We will finish the day with a Tabloid Sports afternoon.   

2024 SACRAMENTAL DATES

• Tuesday 17 September – Sacramental Workshops with Mildred Rego
  • Holy Communion 2:30-3:30pm
  • Confirmation 3:45-4:30pm
• Saturday 12 October – Sacrament of Reconciliation @ 2:00pm
• Sunday 27 October – Confirmation @ 9:00am
• Sunday 10 November – First Holy Communion @ 9:00am

The Sacramental workshop for First Holy Communion and Confirmation will be held on Tuesday 17 September in the Parish overflow area. These workshops must be attended by the children and families of the children receiving one of these Sacraments this year. Students who are participating in the sacrament of Reconciliation do not need to attend. Please talk to your class teacher if you have any questions regarding these workshops.  

In History we have been exploring how things have changed from the past to the present. We began our unit of work with a gallery walk trying to figure out what each item from the past was. There were lots of items we could identify, however, we were a little confused with old VCRs and cassette tapes! In our last lesson, Miss C set up lots of different games and activities that children played in the past. We had a great time playing these with our classmates and discussing how games and toys have changed over time. We are all looking forward to investigating other changes in everyday life from the past to the present.

This term in Year 3 we have been learning about Australian Geography. Students have been enjoying exploring the location of Australian states, territories, and capital cities. We look forward to showcasing all of the special places and natural features around Australia at our Year 3 performance Assembly later this term!

The Pre-Primary class have been looking at the ordinal numbers of first, second and third. This aligned nicely with the Olympics creating our very own Pre-Primary Olympics during our fitness sessions and completing a potato Olympics in class.

Our Year 1 and 2 students have been learning about the Earth’s natural resources and how they are used in a variety of ways. We were lucky enough to have a visit from Kim who works for DPIRD. She taught us how to fish sustainably to ensure that we protect this precious resource.

Happy investigating everyone! Mrs S.

OLSOTS Book Fair & Book Week 2024

The Library has been set up ALL week for our biggest event of the year.. .

Book Fair & Book Week!

Calling all kids…  bring along your Parents, Aunties, Uncles and Grandparents to come and see ALL the amazing authors and illustrators that are being showcased in our Library! Grab yourself one… two or even three books to buy and take home and let the adventures, imagination and magic begin! We have one more week to grab a book and see our book goal reached !!

Dates:

Monday 26^th August – Tuesday 27^th August

Open hours:

Mornings    8:30am – 8:45am

Afternoons 2:50pm – 3:50pm

Book Week Parade

This year’s theme for Book Week 2024 was

“Reading is Magic”

Students from Kindy to Year 6 have dressed up in their favourite book character and parade class by class across the stage to showcase their characters. Staff and students ALL looked amazing and made this book week one to remember! Well done everyone.

Last Thursday we celebrated our first Spirit of Friendship Day. Students participated in a fun workshop facilitated by Tyson at URSTRONG, made Friendship Ninja headbands which they wore throughout the day, practised the skill of ‘Ask and Pass’ when making new friends, constructed nature Friend-o-meters and made Kind-On-Purpose Jars with small acts of kindness to do each day. Over the course of the day all students also designed and painted their own friendship themed tile, collaborating to make a whole school mural next to the basketball courts. It was wonderful to see all students using their skills to be Friendship Ninjas and actively working to cultivate strong, positive relationships which each other. Thank you to all the parent and student helpers from Wongutha CAPS who helped make our shared lunch possible! 

All classes are working hard learning and remembering the choreography for their dances on Open Afternoon. It is wonderful to see the students’ energy and enthusiasm for the upcoming performance, and great to see students showing the CORE values of Courage and Optimism as they approach, what is for many of them, their first on-stage dance performance.

A reminder that shirts for Open Afternoon dance costumes were supposed to be brought to school yesterday (Thursday 22 August). Thank you to those students who brought their shirts in. If your child did not bring their shirt in, please send it to school with them as soon as possible. Students in Pre-Primary to Year Three require a plain white t-shirt, and students in Years Four to Six required a plain back t-shirt. These shirts will be held at school for decorating until the Open Afternoon, when students will wear them and take them home. Students who are participating in Dance Club will be advised in the coming weeks of their costume requirements.

Dear Parishioners

As part of the process of being prepared for when a new Bishop is announced for the Bunbury Diocese please see a Q&A that has been prepared for the parishes.

 In saying that, there is still no timeline of when this announcement will be made.

EOISC-Questions and Answers-July 2024

VacSwim October 2024 Information