22 Term 1 Week 3

We take 2 on welcoming the year back, we unveil our school theme for 2022, we provide the obligatory COVID update and we discuss the important jobs we have to do in 2022. This is Week 3 of Term 1!

WELCOME BACK…AGAIN:

On Monday we welcomed back the majority of our Year 2-6 students who had been learning from home. We had a whole school ‘Teams meeting’ where we unveiled our 2022 School theme – “With our Own Two Hands..”. This will continue to build on last years theme of ‘We are Good Samaritans’ – and we will discuss how we can live our Stella Values with our own two hands. There has already been some fantastic ideas and great visual representations of how we can use our own hands to live with compassion, respect, inclusivity and courage.

Students were treated to a free ice-block on Monday as a welcome back treat – the excitement at this small gift was priceless!

COVID UPDATE:

Having said this, I am very aware that a number of students are at home still, either recovering from COVID, as close contacts of someone who has COVID or anxious about our COVID cases here at school. Please know that you are well and truly in our thoughts and prayers and we hope to see you back soon!

Yesterday was actually the first day since Friday of last week where we didn’t have a confirmed case within our school. I am hoping we have seen the end of the current cases and we can return to some ‘normality’ in the coming days. It has certainly been an interesting (and busy) start to the year. I want to express my thanks to you all for your continued positive messages and support as we navigate the ongoing challenges. It seems we are not the only school where COVID cases have arisen.

On Tuesday I emailed you all with an update regarding current COVID cases and provided you with our new Learning Continuity Plan. This plan is for students (and families) who are at home for any of the reasons listed above and require home learning to be undertaken. It is different to our previous model used in the first two weeks of the term, and of course the main reason for this is because we can not ask out teachers to teach face to face and in the remote learning space like we did previously. A different scenario calls for a different approach.

We are hoping for a further update in the coming days in regards to restrictions and other activities from Week 5 onwards. In the meantime the other restrictions and protocols in place remain in place.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON:

Despite our COVID challenges, we continue to move forward in ensuring that our school is the absolute best possible school it can be. We are committed to ensuring that every child reaches their full potential in all aspects of their life.

I am pleased to let you know of our 2022 Annual Improvement plan summary – which outlines the key elements of our practice which will be a focus for us this year.

These come from our ‘Towards 2024 Strategic Plan’ and we look forward to keeping you updated in terms of our progress towards achieving these goals this year.

ENHANCED CATHOLIC IDENTITY:

GOAL 1.To use data collected through surveys and observations (ECSI survey and report) to enhance the Catholic Identity of our school, with a specific focus on our Good Samaritan charism and living like Jesus would want us to.

GOAL 2. To enhance our staff’s knowledge and formation in Curriculum (New Crossways), Prayer and Liturgy.

GOAL 3. To demonstrate a commitment to ecological sustainability and care for God’s planet.

EXCELLENCE IN TEACHING, LEARNING AND WELL-BEING:

Goal 4. To improve the learning outcomes and achievements of all students by developing and implementing whole school, best practice pedagogies in Teaching and Learning programs with a particular focus on Literacy and Numeracy.

GOAL 5. To ensure that every staff member is provided with the opportunity and expectation to enhance their professional abilities as educators at Stella Maris.

GOAL 6. To establish and implement a whole school approach to Wellbeing, reflecting the Live, Learn, Lead Framework.

GOAL 7. To expand our capabilities as active and thriving citizens by prioritising the Key Capabilities through our school.

GOAL 8. To ensure that processes and policies are in place that support the inclusivity and engagement of students with additional needs (including Students with Disability, EAL students and ATSI students)

QUALITY COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:

GOAL 9. To enhance the engagement, involvement, confidence and knowledge of all families / parents in the education of their child by providing quality shared resources, information and workshop sessions.

GOAL 10. To manage the ongoing COVID situation with success ensuring that parents, staff and students feel a sense of calm, connection and learning continuity occurs. 

EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION AND RESOURCING:

GOAL 11. To effectively and strategically manage a building project which will provide more classroom spaces for increasing enrolments and enhance the features of Stella Maris, with as limited disruption to the community as possible.

GOAL 12. To review the schools current Resources (human, capital, teaching and learning, digital etc) and allocation of them to support staff in a more practical, successful and sustainable way.

As you can see, we have a busy year ahead! While as Principal, I will of course oversee all of these goals and improvements, a number of staff will take responsibility for certain aspects of our Annual Improvement Plan. We report on a monthly basis to the Board with a focus on the achievement of these goals.

OPEN AND HONEST COMMUNICATION AND SUPPORT:

At Stella Maris we pride ourselves on our open door policy and engagement with parents. It has always been a long standing belief of mine, that when we work in unison and have strong partnership with families, then student success is a guarantee.

I pride myself on ensuring that I make time for you and your questions, concerns, celebrations or challenges. I invite you to contact me here at school via phone or email at any point should you wish to discuss any matter pertaining to your child’s school life here at Stella.

My door is always open!

Regards,
James

OUR SCHOOL THEME FOR 2022 - “WITH OUR OWN TWO HANDS”.

Our school theme for this year is, “With our Own Two Hands”. We began unpacking this with our students on Monday morning in our morning notices which we held via MS TEAMS.

Our theme encourages students to think about how they can be ‘Good Samaritans’, using their ‘own two hands’ to show love for one another and to care for our ‘common home’, earth.

Victoria Traeger will be working with the students to introduce our theme song which goes with this year’s theme, in the coming weeks. Children will hear Victoria singing it in our live streamed Liturgy into classrooms on Tuesday, 22 February, and parents have the opportunity to hear Victoria sing this song on our school’s Facebook site. I recommend that each parent takes the opportunity to listen to it as it will help you to unpack the theme with your child/children at home.

SHROVE TUESDAY – PANCAKE TUESDAY – 1 MARCH

On Tuesday, 1 March we will celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Here at school each child will be invited to bring in a gold coin donation in exchange for a pancake. Donations will be able to be made either by cash or using the Stella Maris QKR app. Pancakes will be distributed in a COVID friendly manner and all allergies will be catered for using the information from students' returned health forms.

All donations collected from this day will be sent off to Caritas Australia to support their fundraising drive of Project Compassion. More information about Project Compassion will be in our coming newsletters.

Shrove Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday the beginning of Lent in the Roman Catholic Church and in Protestant churches that observe Lent.

Shrove Tuesday is a reminder that Christians are entering a season of penance and was originally a solemn day. But over the centuries, in anticipation of the Lenten fast that would begin the next day, Shrove Tuesday took on a festive nature.

From the earliest days of Christianity, Lent, the time of penance before Easter, has always been a time of fasting and abstinence. While the Lenten fast today is confined to those over the age of 16, on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, and abstinence from meat is required only on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday, and the other Fridays of Lent, in previous centuries the fast was quite severe. Christians abstained from all meat and items that came from animals, including butter, eggs, cheese, and fat.  Celebrating with pancakes became a way of using up all the items in the household that people would obstain from during Lent.

ASH WEDNESDAY MARKS THE BEGINNING OF THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF LENT – 2 MARCH

The liturgical Season of lent begins on Ash Wednesday, 2 March. This is an important time in the liturgical year of the church, as we prepare ourselves for the death and resurrection of Jesus at Easter.

We will hold a whole school liturgy at 9am on this day, which will be shared into each classroom.

SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM 2022

Enrolments are now open for St Ann’s Parish Sacramental Program for 2022. Enrolment forms can be collected from the school office or from the foyer of Holy Spirit Church. Please note all enrolments are to be in by Tuesday, 8 March so that planning can be finalised for these sacramental programs.

Please note that the program for this year may look a little different to previous years, as a number of changes have taken place in our Parish over the last year.

Firstly, we farewelled Fr John and welcomed Fr Joseph as our Parish Priest. Sue Schulz, who was the Parish Pastoral Assistant for St Ann’s Parish, left the role to take up a new position with the Monastery Parish at the end of last year leaving this position vacant in our parish. Stef Turcinovic, who was the APRIM at St Bernadette’s, also retired at the end of last year. We thank them all for their many years of service to the St Ann’s Parish.

As a result of all these changes and a shortage of people with the required skills and time to take up the role of Parish Pastoral Associate, Deacon Andrew will be leading this program this year. He will be supported by Fr Joseph, Matthew Min, the new APRIM from St Bernadette’s and myself as APRIM of Stella Maris.

THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK

Even the richest people in the world are poor if they are without love in their hearts.

Paula Clark

APRIM

Thank you for your ongoing support as we continue to adapt to these recent and ongoing covid challenges. Earlier this week you would have received information re: our updated school Learning Continuity Plan, which has been created in response to supporting students who are required to be at home.

This plan explains that we will be using a different model to support students who are learning from home than what occurred in the first two weeks of the year. Most students have returned to school and are now learning face to face, and as a result our teachers are no longer able to support students at home in the way they did for the first 2 weeks of the term. As such, the plan is built around the use of online resources and well known tools and activities, and predominately uses the DfE ‘Our Learning SA’ website as the main element of learning activities. This website has been created by the Department for Education for the purpose of supporting students who are working at home. The resources are high quality and provide excellent revision and consolidation of essential skills. The resource provides daily blocks of activities, focusing on Literacy, Numeracy, Physical Education and Humanities.

This learning program has been designed to ensure that students have access to high quality learning experiences while working from home. The program focuses on the ongoing strengthening of previously learnt skills, which students and families can work through at their own pace while also including a suggested daily timetable.

If your child is at home and you would like them to engage with the learning program (and they are well enough to do so), please contact your child's teacher and they will send you their Individual Class Learning Continuity Plan which will explain the plan in detail. It is important to note that your child's class teacher will provide support for your child, however their focus is now on face-to-face teaching and learning experiences, and the immediacy and availability of support will be different to when we were learning remotely. 

If you have any further questions or require any support, please don't hesitate to contact us at school, either in person or via phone and email.

Kind Regards

Ella Kirkham

Assistant Principal (Learning & Wellbeing)

ella.kirkham@smps.catholic.edu.au

On Monday as part of a state wide ‘blitz’ on school drop off and pick ups we had a SAPOL officer visit our site to observe the kiss and drop and general movement around our school at these busy times. While they stated they were very impressed with our morning routine, they identified significant challenges with our afternoon procedures – I wasn’t surprised! It was noted that the biggest difference between the morning and afternoon is the amount of time parents spend ‘stationary’ in the kiss and drop zone. There are actually more parents who use the kiss and drop zone in the morning than the afternoon. The accepted rule in our kiss and drop zone is that cars SHOULD NOT be parked (stationary) for more than 3 minutes at any one time. Obviously in the morning this is not an issue, as students exit the car quickly and parents move off far quicker than the 3 minutes allowed. The afternoon is where we run in to more trouble.

One of the initial issues is that parents are waiting in the kiss and drop zone for far longer than 3 minutes. In fact some adults are arriving at 2:45pm and waiting until their child comes out at 3:05pm before moving away – obviously far more than the 3 minute maximum.

Our second issue occurs because people are ‘lining’ up around the corner and into Ramsey Avenue which is a yellow line no standing at any time rule. As I have mentioned before this is a very dangerous practice.

As such, I again want to re-iterate what we would like to see occur at pick up times:

• Don’t arrive prior to 3:00pm to pick your child up. There is no point, students do not leave classrooms until 3:00pm and you risk a $192 fine for ‘parking’ in a no parking space. Instead, arrive between 3:05 – 3:15pm and this will ensure that you will be waiting for no longer than the 3 minutes allowed. We have staff on duty and supervising students until 3:20pm, so there is no need to rush to get to pick up time.
• If you arrive and the line in the kiss and drop in Mulga Street is full, do a lap of the block and wait until a spot in Mulga St opens up. It is both illegal and very dangerous to ‘line up’ down Ramsey Avenue.
• Ensure that if you are using the Kiss and Drop to collect your child, they can quickly, easily and without adult support get in the car, do their seatbelt up and allow you to move off from the line straight away. There really should not be a need for you to get out of your car at this time. If there is, it may be worth parking and walking in to school to collect the students. We will keep reminding students of the need to be ‘ready’ and concentrating on knowing when your car arrives.

I feel like I comment on this all the time – and yet at the same time feel frustrated each afternoon when people are doing the opposite of what I suggest. While I am not a Parking inspector or Police officer and so can’t ‘enforce’ these requirements each day, the Police and Council have suggested they will have a stronger and more consistent presence to ensure we are doing the right thing. (As a reminder, if the council fine you it will be $104 and if the Police fine you it is $196 and a loss of demerit points).

I also wonder whether part of the challenge is that a number of people who do the pick ups at this time are ‘grandparents, friends or family’ who may not necessarily see or hear these messages. If this is the case for you PLEASE ensure that you pass this information on to them to allow for us all to work together to make our kiss and drop time to be much safer and legal!

Thanks for your support!

James

Dear families,

For those of you who are new to our school, or that I have not met, my name is Emily Hughes and I'm the Pastoral Care Support Worker here at Stella Maris. My role is to be available for students and parents at times when we need someone to listen, or to chat to about things that are going on inside or outside of school. I am here Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, you may see me around the schoolyard, or you can reach out to me phoning the school office, or email Emily.Hughes@smps.catholic.edu.au

I'm always happy to listen to what's going on for you and your family. 

We find ourselves in Week 3 for some children, what feels like week 1 for others and there are some who have not yet managed to return to school! Here is an article that I hope helps us to understand that this period of uncertainty will not last forever and that we are better together. 

What to Say to Help Kids Feel Calm When the World Feels Fragile - Hey Sigmund

The Seaview Downs Deli has added a few more items to their lunch order menu.

Singing Lessons at Stella Maris Parish School

We are delighted that Hallmark Music Studio will again be running singing lessons during the day time at school.  Learning music provides enormous benefits for students, and singing lesson provides the opportunity for students to learn how to use their voice safely, and also for students to express their feelings and emotions in a different way.  Lessons help to provide students with confidence not only in singing, but also speaking in front of others.  Lessons are available in both private tuition, or grouped in a small group (subject to compatible students being able to work together).  Please note, these lessons are on a private user pays system and not a part of your school fee’s – your will be invoiced separately with payment to be made to the singing tutor.  For further information or to send a completed application form, please email: kylie@hallmarkmusicstudio.com.au  .  We are looking forward to providing your child with singing lessons at Stella Maris.

KELLY SPORTS WEEKENDER PROGRAM

The Kelly Sports Weekender program provides energetic and highly active sport-specific sessions, run on Saturday and Sunday mornings across separate-aged groups which allows for children to learn and enjoy sport in an age-appropriate environment. All programs are run indoors.

This program challenges and improves motor and coordination skills and our experienced coaches aim to develop and enhance a wide range of sporting skills while also improving strength, flexibility, hand-eye coordination, spatial awareness, co-operative skills and teamwork.
Sports we will be focusing on throughout the year will be : Tennis, Basketball, Soccer & AFL and in Term 1 we will be offering Tennis, Basketball and Soccer sessions. 

Sessions are held at various locations so please see our attached flyer for Term 1. If this could be placed in your schools newsletter and/or on your SkoolBag app that would be greatly appreciated.  Registrations and further information can be found at our website www.kellysports.com.au or contact us on 0421 888 400.