22 Term 3 Week 7

Well done to our year 4-6 students who participated in the annual SACPSSA Touch Football carnival on Wednesday. Thanks to the parents who supported the teams and James McCarthy for his organisation and support on the day. 

Student Free Day

Last Friday while our students were enjoying a day off from school, our staff engaged in our annual staff reflection day, which was hosted by Cardijn College. We had the opportunity and privilege to spend the day listening to Father Richard Leonard, a Jesuit priest and internationally acclaimed author. The day focused on the themes of love, hope and faith and through his inspirational narrative, Fr Richard engaged us and challenged our thinking. The key messages of the day centred on our individual journeys of faith formation and the need for our schools and parishes to instil hope in our children, at a time when they need it the most.

Happy Father’s Day

We hope that all of our fathers had a very special Father’s day on Sunday and that you were acknowledged for the very important role you play in the lives of your children! Thank you to those who were able to join us for our Father’s Day breakfast and liturgy, it was wonderful to gather and celebrate together.

I’d also like to thank the Parents & Friends Committee for their time, effort and commitment to yet another wonderful Father’s Day Stall, where students were able to purchase gifts for the special male role models in their lives. We hope you loved the treasures they brought home! Also congratulations to Alden Pascua who won our Father’s Day raffle- thanks again to the P&F for this great addition to our Father’s Day celebrations.

Sacrament of Confirmation- Congratulations

On Tuesday night this week, 18 of our Year 4 students received the sacrament of Confirmation. This is a special and significant celebration in their faith journey. The ceremony was presided over by Vicar General Fr Dean Martin, Parish Priest Fr Joseph and Deacon Andrew. This Sunday, they will also receive the sacrament of First Holy Communion, another major milestone for them.

I wish to congratulate the students who received this sacrament and wish them well as they continue their faith journey.

A big thank you to Paula Clark for preparing the students for these experiences.

R U OK Day

On Friday this week (9th September) we will acknowledge R U OK day with the following invitations:

* Students are encouraged to wear a 'splash' of yellow on the day with their normal uniform.

* Students will be engaged in activities between recess-lunch in their House Teams with a focus on 'Emotions'.

* Students will explore the notion that all emotions are helpful for our well-being and we can learn to control and manage our 'big emotions' in many ways. We will discuss what we can do if we are feeling a 'particular' emotion and how we can help others when they are showing 'big emotions'.

* After lunch (1:30pm) we will gather in the Church for a wrap up assembly of the day. Parents are invited to join us for this assembly.

COVID UPDATE

From 12.01am this Friday 9 September 2022, the mandatory isolation period for COVID-19 positive cases will reduce from 7 days to 5 days.

The change means that, provided the COVID-19 positive case is no longer displaying symptoms on Day 5 of their isolation period, they will be able to leave isolation on Day 6 (noting Day 0 is the date that the positive test was taken).

Please ensure that you notify the school if your child returns a positive covid test.

Building update - community invitation to view plans:

We are very pleased to let you know that we are at a point where our architects from Russell and Yelland are ready and able to share the plans for our new building to be completed during the 2023 school year. All parents and families are invited to this presentation where we will outline the current design and the purpose behind the plans and the current projected timeline for completion of the build.

DETAILS:

When: Tuesday September 13th

Time: 6:00pm - 7:00pm (we will provide supervision for school aged children if required)

Where: Community Room

RSVP: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=q2QiNpggQkGJVNZfIlG_pfvhQh5W_e5MtVMowIUvk1VUNjJWMEhDR1Y2UVhRWUxVVEgwNDY0SExMUy4u

We look forward to sharing these exciting plans with you.

Cybersafety Parent Workshops
We have a very positive response and turn out to our Parent Workshops this term. A final workshop this term will be offered with the details below:

Creating a Cybersafe Home:

WHEN: Wednesday September 14th - 7:00pm

WHAT: Cybersafe Families school parent sessions provide parents and guardians with strategies to make their home environment cybersafe. It’s important for parents and guardians to understand both the opportunities and the threats that the online world provides, to equip them with knowledge about the best practices available to protect their family.

WHO: Presented by Cybersafe Families

REGISTER: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=q2QiNpggQkGJVNZfIlG_pfvhQh5W_e5MtVMowIUvk1VUN0dVWEkzRFZHRUdHUFkwME5DVlMxUUtNOC4u

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Following a number of discussions, we have made the decision not to continue with the Premier’s Reading Challenge at Stella Maris this year. There are a number of reasons for this including decreased participation and engagement and minimal overall benefits to student reading. We would like to acknowledge the initiative for the positive role it has played in schools since it began in 2004.

Reading is at the heart of students’ literacy development and there are a number of ways that we support students to develop an intrinsic love of reading, all of which will continue- such as exposure to high quality literature, weekly library sessions, celebrations such as Simultaneous Story Time and Book Week, book fairs and the daily immersion in quality books of all genres.

For families wanting to continue with the challenge and collect the medals, there is an ‘at home’ option whereby the forms can be completed and returned by families, based on books that the students have read this year. Please see the link below for more information. Forms can be printed off at home or if you contact me here at school, I can send one home with your child.

Families have until 30^th September to complete and return the form to the PRC team at the address on the bottom of the reading challenge form.  The form can be filled out retrospectively based on books students have read.

Home Education Families and Individual Students | Premiers Reading Challenge SA

Please feel free to contact me at school if you have any questions.

2023 INTENTIONS:

Our enrolment interest continues to be very high here at Stella, and a number of our year levels are now full. As such, we would ask that if you are intending on not being with us next year that you let James know officially in writing as soon as possible.

Thank you for your continued partnership and support of our school. As always, please feel free to contact me at school if there is anything you would like to discuss further. We look forward to a busy and exciting final three weeks of term 3!

Kind Regards

Ella Kirkham

Tickets are on sale now.

You will be in awe of the 320-voice choir of year 5 & 6 students from Catholic schools around the state. The nights will also feature soloists, big bands, vocal groups and more.

The Stella Maris Parish School choir will be performing on the Tuesday evening, September 27.