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Dear Parents and Carers,
Today marks R U OK? Day, is a significant occasion dedicated to promoting mental health and encouraging open conversations about wellbeing. At Stella Maris, we believe that caring for each other is central to our community values, vision, and mission.
On R U OK? Day, we invite everyone to take a moment to reach out to those around us—whether it’s a classmate, a teacher, or a family member. A simple, heartfelt question can make a world of difference. Remember, it’s not just about asking if someone is okay, but also being present, listening, and offering support.
We will be engaging in activities throughout the day to highlight the importance of mental health and to build a supportive environment for all. Let’s use this day as a reminder that our care and compassion can help create a stronger, more connected community.
Thank you for being a part of this wonderful community that is supportive and understanding, fostering a Christ-centred school environment.
God Bless
Belinda Hughes
Principal
Season of Creation
We are in the Season of Creation andthere are some wonderful activities and
resources for families to delve into at
https://seasonofcreation.org
Take the time as we move into Spring to
pray, to plant, to recycle and enter into
the awe and wonder we find in dwelling
on and being in God’s creation.
- Watch the sun rise and set
- Step outside and look at the stars
- Have a digital device free day
- Read an article addressing environmental concerns
- Purchase less of what you need
- Be conscious of the water you use
- Pray for people who are victims and survivors of extreme weather events
- Take your family for a picnic
God Bless
Alicia Sanchez-Levine
Religious Education Coordinator
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Catholic vocabulary term of the week: Genesis – The first creation account was never meant to be a scientific treatise. It is rather a primary witness to the profound truth of God who created the universe, who created each one of us, who loves and cares for us, and presents God’s challenge to us to be responsible stewards of the gift of life that we have been given. It is poetry not science. (Source: Brisbane Catholic Identity) |
The ‘St Francis of Assisi’ Environmental Award
Last week, we celebrated stewardship with the new St Francis of Assisi Environmental Award. This annual award was presented to students in each year from K-6 who exemplified outstanding environmental stewardship and alignment with the values of St Francis of Assisi. We congratulate the following students for their amazing commitment to creation.
- Max Warner - Kindergarten
- Demi Wilson - Year 1
- Kai Mang - Year 2
- Layne Neels - Year 3
- Isla Clark - Year 4
- Emily Broadhead - Year 5
- Charlotte McGoldrick - Year 6
Grade Masses at Stella Maris
The Stella Marish Church is currently closed for maintenance. A notice will be posted when we can resume our weekly grade Masses on Tuesdays. Thank you for your understanding.
All Saints Catholic Parish NEWS
All Saints Church Mass Times: 19 College Ave, Shellharbour City
Saturday 5.00 pm Vigil
Sunday 9.00 am & 5.00 pm
Stage Masses: Celebrated at All Saints Church with Nazareth students.
Please join us on the following dates where students will be involved in participating and celebrating together:
Sunday 3 Nov 9 am Years 3 & 4 Ordinary Time
Programme for the Sacrament of First Holy Communion (Year 3 Students)
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Vigil/Sunday |
Programme |
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14/15 Sep |
Group preference sheets will be distributed & Parents will be required to provide preferences for the workshop days and times. |
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21/22 Sep |
Commitment Mass - Compulsory Attendance / Prayer Cards distributed |
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28/29 Sep |
Parents advised of workshops - See the parish office if requesting a change |
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12/13 Oct |
Workshop books distributed & First Week of Workshops |
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19/20 Oct |
Second Week of Workshops |
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26/27 Oct |
Blessing & Distribution of Holy Communion Medals - Third Week of Workshops |
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2 /3 Nov |
Instruction on how to receive Holy Communion - Last Week of Workshops |
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16/17 Nov |
Rehearsals and Seating Allocations |
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Sun 24 Nov |
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION MASS 11 AM |
If there are any questions related to any of the Sacraments, please contact the parish office via email shellharbourcity@dow.org.au
Uniform
The summer uniform will formally come in from the beginning of Term 4. Weeks 9 & 10 of this term can be used as a transition week if the weather is warming up. Please ensure that all children are wearing the correct summer uniform. A reminder that the second-hand uniform shop is open each Friday morning on odd weeks and Friday afternoons on even weeks if you require any extra items.
PB4L - Social Media
On Monday we hosted a Social Media Workshop for parents that Catholic Care ran. Our two presenters, Catriona & Emerald, discussed the many challenges parents and caregivers face due to the increased access children have to the online realm.
Students today face an online world, that many of us who went through school 10-15 years ago have never experienced.
They have access to social media, online gaming with chat facilities, YouTube videos, and the ability to communicate solely with friends via an online platform.
Whilst being online has many benefits, such as communication, social interactions, research, and learning, etc. it is important to note the negative impact too much time online can have and being able to recognise the warning signs where parental intervention and boundaries are required.
Some helpful tips that Catholic Care communicated include:
Warning signs of unsafe online use:
- Hiding or lying about their device or online use
- Fatigue due to lack of sleep
- Emotional dysregulation
- Spending high amounts of time on the device
- Continued use of the device after negative consequences
- Peer conflict/lack of social connections
- Increased negative feelings - sad, anxious, depressed
- An adrenaline rush and mental overload leading to emotional meltdowns
How to support your child being online:
- Have open and honest conversations about what is safe and unsafe online material
- Set consistent boundaries around what they are allowed to watch or play online
- Set consistent time frames for your child to use a device and be online
- Engage with their online gaming and learn about the game or app they are using
- Set up parental controls to monitor your child’s online gaming or device use
Most of the social media apps and online gaming have parental controls available, as well as a legal age requirement for children to use the apps. Most of the common games (Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and Call of Duty) and Social Media apps (Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, and Discord) have an age limit of 13+ with some having a higher age of 16 or 18 due to the nature of the content in the game. Having open and honest conversations around these will assist in creating boundaries and helping your child stay safe online.
The e-safety commissioner website has some helpful tips and articles on supporting you and your family when online.
https://www.esafety.gov.au/key-topics
At the last P&F meeting, it was shared that the school is reviewing the operations of the Canteen at Stella Maris. The canteen is a much-valued part of the community and has run effectively and successfully for many years.
The CEO is directing schools to focus resources and time on the core business of schools, Faith, Learning and Teaching. One of the moves from the office is to strongly encourage primary schools to outsource their canteen operations. Stella Maris is one of only 3 schools in the diocese that remain a school-run canteen. The school is exploring alternative options for canteen operations and will share any developments as they may come to light.
Thank you to all of our parent helpers and to Mrs Harrison who continue to provide a great service for our community.
Book Week
Each year since 1945 the CBCA (Children's Book Council of Australia) has brought children and books together across Australia through CBCA Book Week. The theme for Book Week this year is ‘Reading is Magic’
At Stella Maris, we will be having a special event dedicated to Book Week on Thursday 26th September at 11 am. Students may come to school dressed as their favourite book character or costume appropriate to the theme and take part in a whole school parade. Students will need to wear appropriate footwear, no open-toed shoes as this is a safety issue. They may bring a change of clothes if their costume is too uncomfortable to wear for the entire school day.
Year 6 students will parade with their Kinder buddies. Students are discouraged from wearing costumes or masks that might frighten other students.
There will be a presentation for The Book Competition entrants and Stage 3 will be performing a play.
Preschoolers are welcome to dress up and parade with their older siblings!
On Wednesday 18th of September at 5.30 pm, Mrs. Gallinar will be running a repeat of the 2023 parent information session about the School Managed iPad program in the Library for any parent/carer of Years 3&4 students who wish to better understand this process. If you wish to attend this information session, could you please email the school office to let us know the numbers - info@smsdow.catholic.edu.au
Details about the program are also attached for those who are new to the program. Furthermore, an Insight Survey will be sent out via Compass early Term 4 where you will be asked to nominate the device option for your child. The school-managed iPad program has been in place for Stage 3 since 2023 and we are looking forward to bringing it into the Year 4 classrooms as well next year.
Key Sport Dates:
Week 8 - Monday 9th & Tuesday 10th September - NSWPSSA Girls Rugby 7’s - Camden (Marli K)
Week 8 - Tuesday 10th September - Representative Sport Pathway parent information session - School Library TBC
Week 9 - Thursday 19th September - South Coast Basketball Gala Day (JUNIORS, Years 3/4) - Shellharbour Sports Stadium
Week 9 - Friday 20th September - South Coast Basketball Gala Day (SENIORS, Years 5/6) - Shellharbour Sports Stadium
Week 10 - Monday 23rd September - 2025 Representative Sport school-based nominations due (CRICKET)
Week 10 - Wednesday 25th September - Mackillop Athletics Trials - Homebush (Banksii S)
Week 10 - Monday 23rd September - School-Based Nominations CLOSE for Representative Sport Cricket 2025
Representative Sport
Rugby Union
Early this week, Marli K represented Mackillop, competing at the NSWPSSA Girls Rugby 7’s tournament in Camden. Despite being new to Rugby 7’s, with only one day of Rugby Union experience under her belt, Marli delivered an outstanding performance. Her team went undefeated throughout the tournament, advancing to the final where they faced Sydney South West (SSW). After a closely contested first half, Marli's team pulled ahead in the second half, securing a solid 30-15 victory over SSW to claim the title of NSWPSSA Girls Rugby 7’s Champions. Congratulations to Marli and her team on an incredible tournament and an impressive win!
2025 Nominations
The nominations for the Representative Sport Pathway for Cricket have now opened. The parents/carers of all Year 4 & Year 5 students have been emailed the link to nominate your child. Please note that as this is a representative sport pathway, students should be of a high level of proficiency in the sport and likely already in representative teams outside of school (or have been in the past). The nominations for school-based entries close on Monday the 23rd of September. This will allow us a few days to check over the nominations and pass these on to the Sports Convenors and Sport Officers at CeDOW.
An information session was conducted on Tuesday of this week for parents/carers who wanted to receive some further information about the Representative Sporting pathway. If you were not able to attend we have emailed out the presentation slides and parent information. If you have any further questions, please contact the office or speak with Mrs Sablowski.
Gala Days
Basketball
The Basketball Gala Day is being held in Week 9 at Shellharbour Sports Stadium. The Junior age groups (Year 3 & 4) are being held on Thursday the 19th of September, while the Seniors (Year 5 & 6) are being held on Friday the 20th of September. If you can please complete the online consent/permission form as soon as possible it would greatly assist the teachers who are coordinating the event to form teams. If you know your child will not be attending the event, please decline the invitation on Compass.
Cricket
The Stella Maris teams (number of teams) have been nominated for the upcoming Cricket Gala Day, held in Week 1 of Term 4. This is, unfortunately only available to Stage 3 students, so students in Years 3 & 4 will not be attending the day. More information to follow.
Swimming Carnival 2024
Information has been sent out via Compass in relation to the upcoming Swimming Carnival. There are some modifications to the program with the omission of the 25m races (except freestyle), the inclusion of more novelty races, and access to the wading pool. Year 6 races will be the only timed races in order to crown Year 6 champions. We will then be holding the annual school Swimming Carnival on the 6th of February 2024 which will form the selection for the school swimming team to compete at the South Coast Swimming championships in March. The November carnival will be compulsory for students in Years 3-6 and open to PROFICIENT swimmers only in Years 1 & 2.
CEO DOW Sports Website
For more information on any of the upcoming Diocesan carnivals, or representative sports please visit the following website. For further information regarding Gala Days please click on the link ‘About Primary Sport’ link on the above website.
CEDOW Instagram
Don’t forget, the Sports Council at the CEO DOW has set up an Instagram account to help spread the news about sport in our Diocese. Please follow @cedow.sport to keep up to date with all the latest news and information.
Casey Sablowski
Sports Co-ordinator
The canteen is open on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
The canteen menu is on our website.
Online orders can be made via the My School Connect app - www.myschoolconnect.com.au/stellamarisps and click on Create account.
Father's Day Celebrations
Thank you to all of the volunteers who helped to make Father's Day a wonderful celebration again this year.
We hope everyone who attended the breakfast had a wonderful time and that all of the stall items will be cherished forever!!
Pie Drive 2024 - Orders for collection TOMORROW
All orders will be available for collection from the library tomorrow afternoon from 2 pm.
Thank you to those who have volunteered to pack the pies, your help is appreciated.
Reminder of Upcoming dates
6 December - Christmas Market
Thank you
P&F Association
Summer Sport
Looking for sports to play in the Summer? Here are a couple of local options with registrations closing soon.
