22 Term 1 Week 11

We conclude our term with a sigh of relief, we acknowledge our most ‘holiest’ of weeks, we celebrate a new play space, we welcome a new School Board and we sign off on COVID for term 1. This is Week 11 of Term 1!

A WORD OF THANKS:

As a challenging term draws to a close, I want to take some time to reflect on our term and the continued resilience of our school.

I would describe this term as the most challenging in my 22 year teaching career. And speaking to other staff and colleagues at other schools, some more experienced than me, they share this sentiment.

While there are a large number of factors which have led me to this conclusion, the fact that we simply have not been able to do what we normally do in the way we normally do it is the major element of this thought.

And yet as Term 1 draws to a close, I look back on what we have managed to achieve, despite all the challenges, with a great sense of pride and accomplishment. Not only have our staff managed to keep a calm, happy and productive environment in their classrooms and the school in general, they have ensured learning growth and progress for your child.  

We have many people to thank for this of course.

To you as parents firstly, for your ongoing support of all we do, thank you. Thank you for your flexibility when we have needed it, for following our guidelines and restrictions despite the changes occurring on a daily or weekly basis and for reading my 100 odd emails! Thank you for your trust in us and the way we have moved through very trying circumstances. Thank you for your words, emails and messages of support and affirmation.

To our staff, as I say often, they are a special bunch! I hear of many schools that have just not coped in the way we have, and this is due to the amazing resilience, courage and dedication our staff have to your children and their learning. I thank them on your behalf as well.

To our students, who again have shown us how to be resilient and cope with any challenge thrown their way. Their ability to live our school values of Compassion, Respect, Inclusivity and Courage each and every day.

While we have made it through to the end of term, I feel it is by the skin of our teeth! Our students and staff need a break like they always do, perhaps more so than in previous years.

I wish you all a very Holy and Happy Easter and a well-deserved holiday break. For those that are travelling, please travel safely and we look forward to seeing you all back on Tuesday 3rd May for another bumper term at Stella.

HOLY WEEK:

This week is one of the most important weeks in our Catholic calendar as we prepare for the death and resurrection of Jesus. It has been great to be able to ‘gather’ as a whole school to unpack and listen to the many stories of Holy Week. Various classes have led us through Palm Sunday, The Last Supper and the Garden of Gethsemane – each of which has very important messages for us about Jesus’ last few days.

Throughout the last couple of weeks, each class has prepared one of the 14 Stations of the Cross. Yesterday each class spent time wandering to each Station which were scattered through the yard and school and the final Station in the Church. They listened to the story behind each station and then reflected upon what this may mean for us in today’s modern world.

It was a very powerful and reverent week. We look forward to sharing the Easter Story as a whole school when we come back to school in Term 2.

RAMSEY AVENUE RESERVE UPGRADE AND OPENING:

It was a pleasure to have the Mayor Kris Hanna and around 60 odd families (over 100 students) join us for the official opening of the upgrade of Ramsey Avenue Reserve last week. On the day, Year 6 student Logan, spoke brilliantly about what the park means to our school and how we really ‘can’t live without it’!

As such, it was an easy decision to partner with the Marion Council and support both financially and through a strong consultation process in the upgrade. Students have certainly loved being ‘back at park’ this week and trying the new and exciting activities on offer.

A letter from Mayor Kris Hanna to our community can be found below and you can find a great article and some fantastic snaps of the opening here:

https://www.marion.sa.gov.au/about-council/news/ramsay-reserve

SCHOOL BOARD:

We had our first meeting of our newly elected School Board on Monday. We have four new members and we thanked Lisa Greene, Lyndon Parry and Bryan Ward for their time and commitment as retiring Board members.

Our new School Board consists of:

Parish Priest = Fr Joseph Raja

Principal = James Quigley

ELECTED PARENT REPS:

Chair of the Board = Rachel Miller (Lachlan Y4 and Grace Y2)

Deputy Chair of the Board = Andrew Colette (Ethan Y3 and Xavier Rec)

Chair of the Finance Committee = Tamara Best (Emily Y6 and Brooke Y2)

Paul Durrand (Sarah Y4)

Katherine Thrussell (Pheobe Y5)

Brendan Duffy (James Y5 and Isabella Y1)

Luke Northcote (Grace Y6 and Sam Y3)

Deb Reynolds (Matilda Y2 and Harriet)

Loretta Delfino (Jed Y4)

Parents and Friends rep = Kylie Bowman (shared role)

Staff rep = Ella Kirkham

Secretary = Cathy Lainio

We thank these members for their ongoing commitment to our school.

COVID UPDATE:

At this point in time, there is very much a ‘wait and see’ approach  to the ongoing school restrictions and COVID plan for Term 2. I sense, much will depend on the case and hospitalisation numbers over the holiday period.

I will certainly be in touch with you all (via email) during the holiday period to ensure you are well aware of what the term will hold for us. We are looking forward to hopefully returning to some form of ‘normal’ at some point during the term.

Families would be aware, from recent media reporting on the issue of vaccination mandates, that Catholic and Independent schools are considering their options in regard to the matter of vaccinated workers, volunteers etc. Should families wish to express their thoughts on this matters, they are encouraged to engage in the conversation by providing their views to the overarching parent association, Catholic School Parents SA via their website at https://www.cspsa.catholic.edu.au or to Executive Officer, Trish Jarvis – trish.jarvis@cspsa.catholic.edu.au Your thoughts are due by 20^th April.

As I said earlier, please enjoy the holiday period and we look forward to seeing you all in Term 2.

James

HOLY WEEK COMMEMORATIONS

This week we have once again come together as a school community to share in the Holy Week events. On Monday Yr4JP shared with us the joyful events of Palm Sunday. Tuesday morning the events turned slightly more sombre with Yr2PH sharing with us the story of the Last Supper. In the afternoon Yr3BP presented to us the events that occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane, as Jesus prayer to his Father.

Today each class has presented a Station of the Cross in a Contemporary manner and each class is walking the way of the Cross reflecting on how the events of the Stations of the Cross cause us to reflect on our own lives today.

I extend a big thank you to all the Staff of Stella Maris Parish , particularly our classroom teachers, for the way they help to unpack Holy Week with our students.

Wishing you all a holy, happy and healthy Easter with your friends and family.

THE CELEBRATION OF THE RESURRECTION – WEDNESDAY 4 MAY 9AM

The Children from 5HM will tell the joyful story of Jesus Resurrection.

Parents are encouraged to come along and celebrate the joyful resurrection of Jesus! This celebration will be held on the courts at Stella Maris at 9am on Wednesday 4 May.

RECONCILIATION MEETING TUESDAY 3 May, 6.30PM

The final meeting for children preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation, will be held on the first day back of Term 2, Tuesday 3 May at 6.30pm in Holy Spirit Church. It is expected that this meeting will run for no more than an hour. At least one parent and the child preparing for the sacrament must attend this meeting. At this meeting we will make the final preparation for the celebration of this Sacrament which will be held on Tuesday 17 May at 7pm.

PROJECT COMPASSION FUN DAY FRIDAY 8 APRIL

Thank you to all families for your generous support of Project Compassion again this year. We finished off the Lenten Season with a final fundraiser on Friday with an afternoon of coin lines, dance, games and exploring the new play space at the park in order to support the fantastic work of Caritas Australia. 

I am so pleased to report that we were able to raise $2,600 for Project Compassion. What a fantastic effort!!

SOUTHERN CROSS:

The current edition of the Catholic newspaper put out by the Archdiocese called,’ The Southern Cross,’ is available at; www.thesoutherncross.org.au

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK:

Kindness is the oil that takes the friction out of life.

May each of you have a holy, happy, relaxing and enjoyable Easter holiday break with family and friends.

God’s blessings.

Paula Clark

APRIM

(Assistant Principal in Religious Identity and Mission)

Internet Safety

We were recently contacted by the Community Engagement Section of SAPOL offering some updated and useful information for families re: internet safety. They also provided this message:

'Meeting people and interacting online is common place in the world that we live in.  We are seeing a growing trend of younger children engaging on different Social Media platforms.  Many of these young people and their parents/carers are unaware of the risks of interacting with others online.  Attached is a Social Media Starter Kit for Parents and Carers that contains some very useful information. 

“It includes advice on what to consider when creating social media accounts, potential challenges relating to certain features on social media, as well as tips and advice for ongoing social media use to prevent online child sexual exploitation”. 

The resource, Social Media Starter Kit, along with other great resources can be found at the following link and is definitely worth reading and referring to in future:

https://www.thinkuknow.org.au/resources-tab/parents-and-carers

As a school, we are also looking to hold cyber/internet safety sessions with students this year, with the intention of also offering a session for our families. More information will be provided when available.

End of Term

I would like to wish everyone in our Stella Maris community a happy, safe and resful holiday break. Thank you for your ongoing support as we have navigated our way through a tricky term. We look forward to seeing everyone back for term 2.

Kind Regards,

Ella Kirkham

EASTER MASS TIMES ST ANN’S PARISH

Individual Reconciliation: 

Reconciliation will be held at Holy Spirit Church on all weekends during lent, 5.30pm on Saturday’s and 8.45am Sunday mornings, and at St Bernadette’s Church after the 12pm Mass on Wednesday’s and Friday’s.

Palm (Passion) Sunday:

Saturday, 27 March, 6pm Vigil, Holy Spirit Church 

Sunday, 28 March

9.15am, Holy Spirit Church

10.45am St Bernadette’s Church

Holy Thursday:

Thursday, 14 April

6.00pm St Bernadette’s Church

7.30pm Holy Spirit Church St Bernadette’s Church

Good Friday:

Friday 15 April

11.00am Stations of the Cross, St Bernadette’s Church

2.00pm Liturgy, Passion of the Lord, St Bernadette’s Church

4.00pm Liturgy, Passion of the Lord, Holy Spirit Church St Bernadette’s Church

Easter Vigil:

Saturday 16 April

6.00 pm Mass, St Bernadette’s Church

8.00pm Mass, Holy Spirit Church

Easter Sunday:

Sunday 4 April

 9.15am Holy Spirit Church

10.45am St Bernadette’s Church