23 Term 3 Week 10

As we approach the end of term 3, we reflect on the busy term we have had and the experiences, learning and highlights we've shared. Over the last few weeks, we have gathered as a school community for Community Prayer, where we have reflected on the gifts God has given us and the way we can share those with others. At a time of the term where students (and adults) are tired and ready for a break, these moments help us to be grateful and to continue to strive to be 'Stella' people!

Catholic Schools Music Festival

Tonight our Catholic Schools Music Festival Choir will take the stage at the Festival Theatre for the annual concert. The CSMF has been running since 1989 an has brought together thousands of students, parents, school staff, parishes & the general public, to witness & celebrate the extraordinary talents of young people within Catholic schools across South Australia. Our choir has been practising the songs for most of the year and the big night is finally here. They will take the stage with approximately 14 other schools and a range of feature acts. We thank Kate Mainprize for her commitment, expertise and energy in leading our talented group of singers through this memorable experience. We hope they have a fantastic night!!

Market Day

On Tuesday we celebrated our annual Year 6 Market Day. This event is a major component of the Business and Economics curriculum for our year 6s and coincides with Catholic Charities Month. During this time Catholic schools throughout South Australia play a crucial role in fundraising to assist the many local agencies currently supported by Catholic Charities.

The day involved a whole school liturgy, led by our Year 6s followed by at 10.00am followed by the market stalls in the park. All students were able to enjoy the stalls, which ranged from food stalls, lucky dips, nerf mania, basketball shootout, ring toss, and a jellybean guess.

All money raised on Market Day, which was approximately $1500, will be donated to Catholic Charities- so thank you for your support of this wonderful event!

We thank Brooke Penney, Kym Hill, the Year 6s and the many staff who contributed, for their excellent planning and running of the event. The amount of time and planning that goes into events such as these is significant and their efforts are greatly appreciated.

Im sure our year 5s are already thinking about what they might do next year!

Sports Day- Save the Date

This year we will be returning to SA Athletics Stadium (formerly known as Santos) for our sports day on Friday, November 10^th (week 4). Information and permission slips were sent home today and need to be returned by the end of week 1. Please note that students will need to be dropped at the stadium at 8.30-8.45am for a 9am start, with no OSHC available on this morning. The day will finish around 2pm, with students collected from the stadium. There will be transport back to school for students required to attend OSHC in the afternoon.

Term 4

As we come to the end of a busy Term 3, we also prepare for a number of major whole school events in Term 4. Please take some time to look at the events calendar within the newsletter, which includes many of the key dates for term 4.

Thank you

On behalf of our leadership team, I would like to thank our school community for your ongoing support and involvement within our great school. We wish our Stella community a great school holiday break, and hope that everyone finds some time to relax and reset before a busy term 4.

Thanks again

Ella Kirkham

Year 6 Journey to Emmaus Reflection Day

On the 15^th of September the Year 6’s took a bus to St Martin De Porres for the first Journey to Emmaus day. The other schools that came were St Martin De Porres, McAuley Community School, St Bernadettes and Christ the King.  One of the reasons we went was to make friends with other people from other schools, to be ready for high school. To start off the day, we played Name Bingo and had to find some people from the other school. Then we went into our groups and played Would You Rather, which helped us get to know other people in our group. After that we went out for Recess and played with other kids.  We also played Ultimate Rock Paper Scissors and if you lost you became the winners’ cheerleaders. We went into our groups and wrote positive notes to people in our group.  To finish off the day we sang 2 songs altogether and we all enjoyed the day.

The day supported us to overcome our shyness and just go up to people and make new friends.  We were also reminded that God always loves us, no matter what we do.

Written by Ella A, Molly H, Rosie M and Alice R M

As you can see from what the students have written, it was a fun day and quite a few games were played to help break the ice and encourage interactions between students of the five attending schools.  I have to say that this certainly worked, as by the end, students were mixing with and getting to know each other in a more relaxed way.  The day also had a number of important messages for the young people:

• that they are loved unconditionally and treasured by God and the people who surround them in their lives
• that they have enormous capacity to spread that love to others, through words and actions
• that we are called by God into Community through relationships – we journey with others through our lives

Our Year 6’s will be attending a second Journey to Emmaus day in Term 4.

Year 6 Market Day – Giving a Helping Hand Liturgy

 A group of Year 6 students from the Social Justice Student Group, worked together to prepare all aspects of the Market Day liturgy.  This included other members of their classes to participate through writing prayers, doing the various readings and managing the PowerPoint.  Market Day funds raised go to support the Catholic Charities Appeal.

I will leave you with some wisdom on justice, from the 1971 Synod of Catholic Bishops…

“Christian love of neighbour and justice cannot be separated. For love implies an absolute demand for justice, namely a recognition of the dignity and rights of one’s neighbour.”

And from Audrey Hepburn…

“People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed and redeemed; never throw out anyone.”

Many blessings to you all,

Tanya

Stella Maris School Sports Day will be held at SA Athletics Stadium, Mile End on Friday 10 November. The day will commence at 9am and conclude at approximately 2pm.

Please see the note and permission forms sent home today and please return the permission form by Friday 20 October 2023.

Please contact the office if you would like more information.

Lessons commence week of Monday 16 October 2023