22 Term 1 Week 7

We acknowledge the lives of two important saints, we get ready to head to the polls, we continue our war on waste at Stella, our Parents and Friends begin their fun and fund raising mission and we welcome back Sport and the Arts activities with great excitement! This is Week 7, Term 1.

IT’S NICE TO BE BACK:

After a few weeks of COVID absenteeism, it is really fantastic to be back! The welcome back from parents, staff and students has been greatly appreciated! I do want to thank and acknowledge both Ella and Paula for their leadership on site during my absence. I have 56 days of feeling ‘invincible’ now!

SOME IMPORTANT SAINTS TO CELEBRATE:

This week we recognise two significant Saints days. St Patrick’s Day occurs today - the 17^th of March and St Joseph’s Day is on Saturday 19^th March. Significantly, if not for both of these men, we probably wouldn’t be doing what we are doing in our school today.

St Patrick was an Irish missionary born some time in the 5th Century. This feast day has always held a significant cultural and religious presence in Australia because of the legacy of Irish history, faith, culture and religious practices of the Catholics in early Australia. St Patrick’s story – involving pirates, kidnapping and escape is the stuff of a Hollywood blockbuster! His strong faith in God and his commitment to spreading God’s message around the world make him a very important Saint in history.

St Joseph, the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus, with his spirit of simplicity and humility so inspired St Mary MacKillop and the Josephite Sisters (to this day) in their faith and everyday works. In South Australia there are over 30 schools with the name St Joseph, and all Catholic schools have strong links to the life and work of St Joseph.

Both of these days are significant in our Catholic life. We are offered the opportunity to reflect on the messages and lives of these two great saints.

STATE ELECTION:

On Saturday, we will head to the polls to vote in the State Election. As always, one of the important aspects of any election should be a party’s commitment to Education. With children in Primary school, the next four years of this election cycle will be important as your child continues their Primary school life and for many, will move into High school.

Catholic Education SA has asked the major parties for their commitments to Catholic Schools over the next four years.  I encourage you to have a look at the responses and to consider this information as you cast your vote: https://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/news/state-election  

WAR ON WASTE:

Our War on Waste at Stella Maris continues at full speed. As you would be aware, we are now encouraging all families to send waste free items in lunch boxes. By waste, we mean any item that can not be recycled or composted. For those things which can’t, including soft plastics, chip packets, muesli bar wrappers, we are sending these back home.

While this has meant some changes in practices – in our yard for example we only have bins for compost items or 10c recyclable items – the change for most people has been very smooth. I have been so impressed with the vast majority of families who have ‘bought in’ to this practice and are sending wrapper free lunch boxes. Some of our Year 6 leaders are beginning to complete some random lunch box audits and I look forward to providing further information about what this uncovers in the next couple of weeks.

PARENTS AND FRIENDS:

Our Parents and Friends have been a busy committee over the last few weeks, with their first committee meeting occuring and a number of fundraising events on the go.

You will have received information about:

• Kytons Easter Fundraiser – for all your Easter and holiday needs -including Hot Cross Buns, Choc-Chip cookies, Lamingtons and everything in between.  Orders are due by 30^th March and can be completed via QKR!
• Easter Raffle – we are looking first for donations from all families so that raffle prizes can be put together for our Easter Raffle. Families will also be asked to purchase a book of raffle tickets – or even better to sell them to family and friends. We will draw the prizes at the end of Week 10.

Information for both of these can be found via email, See Saw and on the parents Facebook page. Please support our P and F events!

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING:

There is no more exciting time than now to join our School Board. With some exciting building plans underway, important financial conversations occurring and a great collaborative feel to our current Board, now is a great time to consider joining this important Governance structure for our school. Our Board meets every second Monday of the month at 7.00pm and meetings normally last no longer than an hour and a half. It is a great opportunity to learn more about how the school operates, help plan for the future and discuss the many relevant decisions the Board has carriage over. If you are interested in joining the Board, an email will be sent tomorrow to all families with further information about the nomination process.

This is in preparation, for our Annual General Meeting which will occur on Wednesday the 30^th March at 7.00pm. At this meeting, which all families are encouraged to attend, we will discuss our achievements in 2021 and our plans for the next twelve months.

HARMONY DAY:

Next week is Harmony Week and as well as various activities through the week, we will acknowledge this important day on Tuesday 22nd March. Harmony day is a ‘Nation wide’ day that aims to celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It’s about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone.​ This sits so comfortably and aligns perfectly with our School Values of Compassion, Respect, Inclusivity and Courage. Activities will occur in classrooms and students are invited to wear a ‘splash of orange’ OR dress in cultural dress which celebrates the cultural diversity of students in our school.

SPORT AND THE ARTS ARE BACK:

It has been great to see our Sporting and Extra-Curricula activities begin to return. We once again have a huge number of students participating in both After School sporing teams and a number of sporting carnivals. We have also unveiled some new ‘Sporting uniforms’ –  Netball and Representative tops are now ready for purchase online through the Belgravia site we use for our uniforms. A sizing set will be available at school from Monday, March 28, These look great and will continue to enhance our sporting program. I thank James McCarthy (and Kym Hill) for their ongoing work in driving our strong sporting program.

Our Band and Choirs are also back on and it has been great to hear them in full voice and noise over the last couple of weeks. Cathy Lainio is working with another great group of Yr 5 and 6s in our Festival Choir and Vic Traeger is working with our Band and Junior Choir and Good Samaritan singers and again they are sounding fantastic.

As you would know Kate Mainprize has begun with us in the Dance/Drama roll and Kate is looking forward to starting an extra curricula Dance program for interested students next term. Look out for further information about this in the coming weeks.  

COVID UPDATE:

Ongoing challenges:

I am pleased to let you know that our COVID cases have ‘slowed’ down this week – although I am always nervous about saying this! As I have communicated with you previously, the COVID challenges has been a very significant and disruptive one for our school this year. High numbers of student and staff absences has meant that we have had to show enormous flexibility, adaptability and resilience. I can not speak more highly of the way this has been handled by both students and staff and I thank parents for the patience and support you have given us during this time. The ongoing restrictions and lack of ability to ‘connect’ in person has been a significant challenge and one we certainly don’t believe is best practice. We are very hopeful of restrictions lifting and some changing of protocols in the coming days.

Parent-Teachers Conversations:

One of these will be our Parent-Teacher conversations. At this stage these are occurring in Week 10 of this term. We are very hopeful that lifting restrictions will allow these to occur in a face-to-face mode which we think is such an important element of these conversations. Further information will be provided once an update is provided to us later this week.

As always, my door is open and I look forward to hearing any news, celebrations or concerns you may have at any time and I again thank you for your ongoing support of our great school.

Take care.

James

SECOND RECONCILIATION MEETING TUESDAY 22 MARCH 6.30PM

The second meeting for those children and their families who are preparing for the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be held this coming Tuesday 22 March 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.

We are aware that due to various circumstances a number of families were unable to make it to our first meeting. We ask that these families stay behind for a short period of time following this meeting so that we can catch you up on the meeting missed.

PROJECT COMPASSION – CARITAS AUSTRALIA

During the Liturgical season of Lent, Caritas Australia run their fundraising campaign, Project Compassion. The theme of this year’s campaign is, ‘Together we can make a difference, now and for all future generations.’

Each week over the five weeks of Lent, a story is shared of a different person or group of people who have received the support of the Project Compassion fundraiser to improve their life and the lives of others, now and for future generations.

This week I share with you the week three and four stories.

Third Sunday of Lent: 19-20 March

Janice's story - Australia

A Wagilak woman, Janice is a traditional dancer who tells stories through movements handed down over generations. With your support, Janice and the Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation support the community to generate income and employment, while keeping culture alive.

Janice lives on Jawoyn country in Arnhem Land. Like many remote communities in the Northern Territory, Janice’s community faces a range of challenges – low employment and education, financial hardship, poorer health and lower life expectancy.
With your help, Caritas Australia supports Djilpin Arts Aboriginal Corporation, which operates a centre for traditional and contemporary Aboriginal arts and culture, providing employment and generating income for local communities.
Elders run workshops and share their knowledge with the younger generation and with visitors. Local guides run bush cultural tours and architect-designed tourist accommodation is available for visitors.

Fourth Sunday of Lent: 26-27 March

Rosalie's story - Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

From her life as a former child soldier in the DRC, Rosalie is a now a business owner, a community leader and a role model for other ex-combatants seeking to readjust to civilian life.

Rosalie had a tough childhood. Her father passed away when she was just two years old and her mother struggled to look after the family on her own.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, women are traditionally responsible for household tasks, with limited employment opportunities outside the home. Rosalie's mother found it difficult to afford food and clothing, let alone school fees, and Rosalie had to drop out school.

Then, when she was just 15 years old, Rosalie was forced to join the army. In recent decades, the DRC has experienced ongoing political instability, violence and conflict, and the recruitment of child soldiers is all too common.

Please donate to Project Compassion 2022 to help young people succeed in the future and bring stability to vulnerable youth and adults.

Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow For All Future Generations.

You can donate to Project Compassion either by using the donation boxes given to the eldest child in each family on Ash Wednesday, by visiting lent.caritas.org.au,  or by calling 1800 024 413.

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

You cannot lose what you have given away.

Paula Clark

APRIM

If you would like to know more about Kytons Bakery’s products, including nutritional information, ingredient lists, or serving suggestions, visit www.kytonsbakery.com.au