22 Term 2 Week 5

We acknowledge National Reconciliation Week with the respect and focus it deserves, we look forward with anticipation to a building project on the horizon, we thank our P and F for a fantastic movie night and we say thank you to our community for their support of our Winter Woollies fundraiser. This is Week 5 of Term 2!

NATIONAL RECONCILIATION WEEK:

The word “reconciliation” means to ‘bring together again’. This week as a nation, we acknowledge National Reconciliation Week. The week seeks to ensure that we continue to celebrate and build on positive relationships between Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander people and other Australians. This year’s theme is “Be Brave, Make Change”. This is in recognition of two significant steps forward over the last 50 years. The first was on May 30th in 1967 – the Australian referendum that saw over 90 per cent of Australians vote to give the Commonwealth the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and recognise them in the national census. It actually seems unfathomable to me that it took Australia until 1967 for this to occur in the first place – but is a significant and important date for our country none-the-less.

The second significant event was the High Court decision now commonly known as the Mabo decision. This decision, handed down on June 3rd commemorates the High Court of Australia’s landmark Mabo decision in 1992, which legally recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a special relationship to the land—a relationship that existed prior to colonalisation and still exists today. This recognition paved the way for land rights or Native Title.

Classes have engaged in various activities, prayers and events this week commemorating National Reconciliation Week and its significance to our country and way of living.

BUILDING PLANS:

Last week I wrote to all members of our community to announce that we are planning on undertaking a significant capital development project at Stella Maris. This has been a number of months in the planning and is partly due to the enrolment growth and interest in our school. While there is still some planning and approvals required, we are preparing for work to begin in earnest in late Term 3.

As you would have seen, this will begin with the movement of some transportable buildings onto our grass space. This has been confirmed to occur in late June. During the July holiday period, further work will be undertaken. Over the course of the next month or so, parents will be invited to view and comment on our plans and discuss the purpose and reason behind them, both with me and our Architects from Russell and Yelland.

This is exciting work and I look forward to sharing this journey with you.

MOVIE NIGHT:

What a fantastic night we had last Friday! Just over half the school population turned out for our P and F movie night! It was a delight to see the smiling faces and kids enjoying a chance to socialise together outside of school hours.

The little details were done perfectly – the red carpet on arrival, the photo booth opportunities, the snack boxes provided.

We need to extend our deep thanks and appreciation to the P and F sub committee – Kylie Bowman, Jess Wight, Ainslie Brook, Ang Papalia and Tam Blasbery for all their hard work in ensuring this was the ‘special experience’ it was for the students. And thank you also to the many parents who supported through supervision and set up on the night!

SACRED HEART COLLEGE – MESSAGE TO PARENTS:

I share with you two important messages to families from our friends at Sacred Heart College:

• It has been announce that Mr Steve Byrne who has been Principal at SHC since 2013 has recently been appointed to nearby Cardijn College as Principal beginning in January 2023. Steve has overseen a number of significant developments at SHC in the last 10 years and I know he will be missed by the SHC community. A process to appoint a new Principal to begin in 2023 has commenced.
• In the past, it has been an ‘accepted’ agreement that if your child attended a Catholic school in the S-W region, you would have a ‘place’ at SHC for High School. However, with significant enrolment growth in our S-W Region schools, and a cap on enrolments at Champagnat campus, this will no longer be the case. As such, he has stressed to families that enrolment forms to begin at SHC must be provided to the College at the beginning or soon after your child starts in Year 5. SHC is about to begin interviews in preparation for the 2024 school year and if you are not on the ‘interview’ list because you have not put your enrolment form in, you may very well miss out on a place. If you are thinking about attending SHC into the future, I encourage you to put an enrolment form in as soon as possible.

PARENT WORKSHOPS:

Now that we are able to have parents back ‘on site’ we are very excited to begin our ‘Parent Workshop’ opportunities here at Stella. As you would know, we are very focussed on our partnership with you and the significant impact you have on your child’s holistic development. As such, we are in the final stages of putting together a calendar of parent workshops that we will offer throughout the rest of the year. At this point these will include:

• Early Years Literacy development and supporting your child with Literacy development at home
• Supporting your child with fun and engaging Maths activities at home
• Supporting your child’s Well-Being – including supporting students with high Anxiety
• Cybersafety and the use of Digital Devices at home
• The Stella Learner – how you can help develop strong ‘capabilities’ in your child

I’d love to hear any other suggestions that you might have that you would like to hear of and know about. Look out for further information about these Stella based and run workshops in the coming weeks.

We have also been lucky enough to receive invitations from two Catholic schools to attend parent workshops run by highly regarded experts in the parenting field:

• Loretto College have invited parents to attend a workshop by Michael Carr-Gregg on
• McAuley Community School have invited you to attend a workshop run by Mark Le Messurier on Wednesday 15^th June at 7:00pm at McAuley.

PUPIL FREE DAY:

Next Friday, 10^th June we will hold a Pupil free day with a Literacy focus. Our staff will be working with Marney Yeates and Ella Kirkham to continue to unpack, drive and learn about research based, excellent practice in Literacy.

OSHC facilities are available through Camp Australia – but please ensure you book in to these sessions.

MEET THE SCHOOL BOARD:

This week we meet one of our ‘new members’ of our School Board. Luke Northcote (Grace Yr 6 and Sam Yr 3) has provided us with his ‘Meet the Board’ questionnaire.

WELCOME:

We have welcomed a few new students to Stella.

We welcome Seth (Yr 3) and Travis (Yr 5) and next week we will welcome Luke (Yr 5). We do hope that your time with us here at Stella Maris is a positive and fulfilling one.

AND A NEW….PET!

There was also a great buzz around the Year 1 room last Friday as they were introduced to Ellie – the Border Collie x Poodle who will be with us on a Friday. Charlotte McCann (1CM) has a great passion and interest in the use of dogs to support learning and well-being in students. After a very thorough presentation to the Leadership team, Ellie had her first day with us on Friday.

She was a very popular members of the class and will support in the development of oral language skills, literacy and numeracy activities and well-being support.

Take care,

James

THANK YOU! - STELLA CELEBRATION DAY FOR THE FEAST OF MARY HELP OF CHRISTIANS

A huge thank you is extended to all families for your support of our ‘Stella Celebration Day’ last Tuesday. It was lovely to see the students dressed in their winter woollies and either donating funds or bringing in donations of new winter woollies, to support those most in need this winter.

All items donated have been given to ‘Calvary Hospital, Adelaide’, who have then forwarded these items on to the ‘Adelaide Day Centre for the Homeless’ to distribute to those most in need this winter.

A big thank you is also extended to Deacon Andrew who came along and celebrated our liturgy which really set the scene for the day. Deacon Andrew encouraged the students to think about the example of Mary and reminded the students that by helping others they were following this example.

As a part of this celebration children each received a donut for recess and a sausage for lunch. Thank you to Mr Carbone, Koz and their band of parent and grandparent helpers who also used their ‘own to hands’ to assist with this special celebration.

CONFIRMATION AND FIRST COMMUNION GATHERING MEETING 7 JUNE, 7PM HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH

On Tuesday 7 June, 7pm at Holy Spirit Church, we will hold the first of our gathering meetings for the Sacraments of Confirmation and First Holy Communion. At this meeting we will determine further dates and times for preparation meetings. We look forward to seeing the students and their families who have enrolled for these Sacraments this year, at this meeting.

YEAR 1 CLASS MASS TUESDAY 7 JUNE 9.15AM HOLY SPIRIT CHURCH

Parents of our Year 1 Students are invited to join us at our Parish Mass on Tuesday 7 June. Students will be involved in the Mass and will bring joy to the Parishioners with their singing which will be led by our music teacher, Victoria Traeger.

We look forward to seeing those who are able to join us at this Mass.

Last week I watched Dan Siegel, one of my favourite parenting experts give a talk about children's brains. He reminded me that being a parent/caregiver has so many privileges and responsibilities - one of which is shaping our children's brains through the way we communicate and connect with them. He stated that is possible to teach children empathy, kindness and compassion which is the basis of social and emotional intelligence. 

Sometimes we don't communicate or connect in the most effective way - no one is perfect! Try and try again.... practice - each positive experience helps. 

Emily Hughes

PCS|ESO

Welcome to this fortnight’s newsletter component of “The Stella Capabilities.” Within the coming weeks I will begin unpacking our capabilities, providing an insight into the aim of each of our 7 capabilities and how our students will demonstrate progressive development in each of these areas throughout their learning journey here at Stella Maris. Today’s focus capabilities are:

• Collaborative and Self-Aware
• Responsible Digital Citizens
• Inspired by Faith
• Critical and Creative Thinkers
• Globally Minded
• Literate and Numerate
• Ecologically Aware

Each day, The Stella Learner is provided with exciting, challenging and different experiences to help them learn a range of skills. Through these experiences, our students are supported in building on their knowledge and abilities to demonstrate how to be a Collaborative and Self Aware learner. The range of behaviours and skills we are specifically looking for and developing in our students are:

• A demonstration in following the routines, expectations and values of our school.
• Skills that demonstrate resilience and strategies that help them to control their emotions.  

• Applying a positive mindset to their learning.  
• Working independently and taking responsibility for their learning and
  • Seeking, accepting and responding positively to feedback.  

The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) within a classroom setting can enhance the learning and development within all key learning areas. The Stella Learner will have multiple opportunities to exhibit being a Responsible Digital Citizen through the use of ICT in our classrooms. The type of behaviours and skills we are specifically looking for and developing in our students are:

• A demonstration of responsibility and skill in using ICT to communicate ideas.

As you can see above, the criteria for the ‘Collaborative and Self Aware’ and ‘Responsible Digital Citizen’ capabilities are clearly defined. Each capability and their elaborations are clearly displayed in each classroom, allowing students a visual reminder of what skills and experiences they need to focus on during lesson time, to grow and develop further in each of the capabilities.  Our teacher’s quality teaching and learning programmes contain the content that will provide students with a multitude of opportunities to demonstrate their ability to apply these skills confidently and effectively in their learning.

Next week, we will explore another 2 capabilities. The breakdown of each our “Stella Capabilities” will allow you to work in partnership with us, as we work towards the development of the whole child, here at Stella Maris.

Kindest regards,

Louise Perry

Capabilities Leader

Child and Adolescent Psychologist, bestselling Author, Broadcaster and Social Commentator, Dr Michael Carr-Gregg will be presenting the secrets of building happy and resilient children and teenagers in a post-pandemic Australia.

In this special event, you will learn the skills, knowledge and evidence-based strategies to help our young people face, overcome and be strengthened by adversity, including stop-start schooling and the pressures of being a teenager in a social-media driven climate.

An event not to be missed as tickets will sell FAST!

To register: https://events.humanitix.com/raising-happy-and-resilient-children