Today we celebrate the feast of The Assumption, a Holy Day of Obligation and the oldest feast day of Our Lady. It remembers that, at the end of her life on earth, Mary was assumed, body and soul, into heaven. It is also known as the Feast of the Dormition (falling asleep) of Mary.

While the when and the how of Mary’s assumption is utterly a mystery, there is no doubt that the reason for her assumption is ultimately a matter of love, God’s gracious love in response to Mary’s faithfulness. In Mary we see an ordinary woman who becomes extraordinary by virtue of her faith in what God makes possible in her life. Mary not only listened to God’s word and heard it, but she allowed the Word to take flesh in her life. In and through her feminine humanity she proclaims the greatness of God’s love for all humanity and in this sense is a disciple of God’s love. This feast is an opportunity to celebrate the heavenly rewards of such a loving discipleship and to be inspired at how lowly humanity can be raised to such glorious heights simply because of love!

Father in heaven,

all creation rightly gives you praise,

for all life and all holiness come from you.

In the plan of your wisdom

Mary who bore the Christ in her womb

was raised body and soul in glory to be with him in heaven.

May we follow her example in reflecting your holiness

and join in her hymn of endless love and praise.

We ask this through Christ our Lord, AMEN.

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

As mentioned above, today’s feast day, The Assumption, is also our school’s feast day. Students in Kindergarten to Year 3 participated in a morning liturgy whilst the older students attended Mass. One of the highlights was our tabloid games afternoon, organised in family groups. We are indeed fortunate to be involved in the Stella Maris school community.

WRITING DATA- GOOD NEWS!!

At Stella Maris we are constantly using data to assess students progress in learning and our effectiveness as teachers. We have had a focus on making improvements in writing across all grades. Last year, we established what we consider to be the most essential writing skills for students in each grade to achieve. We also established success criteria that are co-constructed with students. These success criteria are designed to set high expectations and means that students know exactly what they need to do to be successful writers. 

We collected writing data based on our essential learnings in writing at the end of 2018 & at the end of Term 2 2019, and were extremely pleased with the significant improvements across all stages. Some of the most notable achievements are: In Kinder over 80% of students have already achieved their essential writing skills for the year; in Year 1, Year 2 & Year 3 over 90% of students are on track to achieve their essential writing skills or higher by the end of the year. This data also highlights the impact our early intervention efforts have made. In Grades 4 - 6 around 80% of students are on track to achieve their essential writing targets or higher by the end of the year. 

We are well pleased in knowing that our collaborative K-6 approach in delivering consistent, quality teaching is making a positive difference at Stella Maris.

Vanessa Hanns - Literacy Coordinator

STAFF NEWS

After a recruitment process I am pleased to announce that Mrs Katy Grennan will be replacing Mrs Emma Mansbridge as Year 4 Blue’s Tuesday to Friday teacher from Tuesday 27 August. We thank Mrs Mansbridge for the care and devotion to the students in her class and we wish her well for all future endeavours. Mrs Grennan has done casual teaching at Stella Maris this year and is familiar with the school and our students. We know that she will continue to work with Mrs Sanchez-Levine in supporting all children in their learning. In other news, Mrs Emma Tory will be finishing up with Year 5 Blue, next Friday 23 August to commence a period of family leave. We thank Miss Tory for being a wonderful teacher who has played a significant role in the positive progress of the students in her care. Her position will be taken by a job-share arrangement involving Mrs Ashleigh Ahearn and Mrs Anna Clori, both long-time staff members at Stella Maris. We know that the students of 5 Blue will continue to receive high quality teaching. As a result of this appointment, Miss Emma Steele will assume full-time teaching responsibilities for Year 5 Gold.

REGIONAL ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

South Coast Athletic Carnival

A 35 strong team represented Stella Maris at Beaton Park on Tuesday.  We were very proud of their efforts both on and off the track and field.  The efforts of all students placed us 5^th out of all schools.

Congratulations to the following students who will compete at the Diocesan Trials next Tuesday.

Jye Bridal-  Shot Put

Adella Hopkins- 200m, 100m

Noah Jackson- Shot Put and Discus

Mackeay Kesby- 800m

Rahni Lachlan- High Jump

Joshua Lakeman- 800m

Harry O’Shea- High Jump

Kingston Obednikovski- High Jump

Mason Soligo-  100m

Matias Valenzuela- Discus

Senior Girls Relay- Adella Hopkins, Rahni Lachlan, Caitlinn Hager, Ella Greatz

Junior Girls Relay- Maya Hopkins, Tahlia Muller, Bronte Grove, Isabella Clowes.

Thank you to all our parents for their support, particularly Mrs Aslani and Mrs Kesby for filling our duty, assisting at High Jump on the day.  Thank you also to Mr O’Grady and Miss Fry, for their time spent training the relay teams before school. 

Kim Downing

COMPASS UPDATE

As mentioned in the last newsletter, Stella Maris has started to use the Compass School Management System. Compass is a student information system that will allow you to access up-to-date and meaningful information about our school and your child’s progress. On Tuesday letters were sent home to all parents containing login details, which will enable everyone to access the system. We will be holding two important parent workshops in the school library, facilitated by Catholic Education Office Staff next Monday 19 August (Week 5). One will be held for parents who pick up their children from 2.15-2.45pm and the other, just before the P & F Meeting from 5.45-6.25pm. These workshops will greatly assist parents in effectively using the Compass App. From Week 5, the current Skoolbag App will no longer be  

in use at the school because it will be replaced by Compass, which acts as a “one-stop shop”.

SOCIAL MEDIA TIP NUMBER ONE

ADDRESSING CYBERBULLYING

For many children and teenagers, their online life is an important part of their social identity. They can’t just “switch it off”. Many young people do not report cyberbullying to their parents as they fear that they might lose access to their devices and the internet. Young people also feel that parents’ actions will make cyberbullying issues worse, so it is important that you remain calm and supportive. Some tips for parents include:

• Talk to your children before any cyberbullying issues arise. Ensure that your children understand what constitutes cyberbullying (abusive texts/emails, hurtful messages, images or videos, imitating, humiliating or excluding others online and nasty online gossip and chat). Together try to work out strategies to address any potential issues and reassure your child that you will be there to support them.
• Report the cyberbullying material to the social media service where it happened.
• Collect details of the cyberbullying material. You might need to do this before you report it to the site. A simple way to collect this information is by taking a photo or screenshot or copying the URL.
• Block the person. It is recommended that you help your child block or unfriend the person upsetting them, so they cannot continue to upset them while the material is being removed.
• Seek help through Kids Helpline, a free and confidential online and phone counselling service for young people, available 24 hours a day, 7 days a wee on 1800 55 1800.

YEAR 4 RELIGIOUS LITERACY ASSESSMENT              

Good luck to our Year 4 students who will be undertaking the Annual Religious Litearcy Assessment on Monday. The assessment is designed to identify areas of the Religious Curriculum that the students are performing well in and areas that require further attention.

MINI VISIT FOOD VAN VISIT

The Mini Vinnies students will be involved in a school visit from the St Vincent De Paul Food Van on Monday. This will present the students with an understanding of the importance of this service, which provides meals for the under-privileged in the Illawarra.

BEVERLEY WHITFIELD SWIMMING AWARD

Next Friday 23 August our mayor Marianne Saliba will be presenting our two senior swimming age champions, Will Fowler and Indy Amatto with the Beverley Whitfield Award at our afternoon assembly, which commences at 1.55pm.

This Sunday’s Gospel,

Lk 12:49-53

Jesus tells his disciples he has come for division.

All Saints Catholic Parish Shellharbour

Mass times: All Saints Church

19 College Ave, Shellharbour City

Saturday  6.00pm Vigil 

Sunday    9.00am inc. Children’s Liturgy

               5.00pm (6.00pm daylight saving)

Mass at Stella Maris 

We would like to welcome all friends and families to the following School Masses this Term.

15 August - Years 4-6  Mass 11am

15 August - Kinder to Year 3 Liturgy 9:45am

27 August - Years 5 & 6 Mass 9:45am

10 September - Year 2 Mass 9:45am

17 September - Kinder & Year 1 Mass 9:45am

Confirmation & Life

The Year 6 students who will be confirmed this September have been attending the Confirmation & Life Program at All Saints Church.

The next session of the program is on the 20th August at 7:00pm.

Conversations about Catholics

27 AUG  - 3 SEPT  - 10 SEPT -  17 SEPT 8:40AM

Conversations about Catholics is a four-week informal gathering and discussion group that will answer any questions you may have about being Catholic, as well as allowing you to be more confident in speaking to your children about their learning in Religious Education. All Stella Maris parents, grandparents and carers are welcome! 

If you can join us leave your name and number at the school office or email us at info@smsdow.catholic.edu.au

Religious Literacy Assessment

We send Yr 4 our prayers as they sit the Religious Literacy Assessment on Monday 19th August.  This assessment provides a systematic Diocean approach to the documentation and reporting of students’ learning in the key learning area of Religious Education across the diocese and in particular, aspects of religious literacy.  It is a means of celebrating and sharing the good news about students’ learning in Religious Education and enables the story to be told on a continuing basis.

More Photos from the Year 6 Mass with Bishop Brian

…………………………………………………......

Alicia Sanchez-Levine

Religious Education Coordinator

On Tuesday, letters were sent home requesting explanations for absence.  As we are currently changing over our attendance system to Compass, could I please ask that you return these letters with an explanation for absence as soon as possible, otherwise the absence will be left as unexplained on your child's record when the system changes.

Thank you for your attention to this.   

We have continued our journey with critical and creative thinking and project based learning this year at Stella Maris. Critical and Creative thinking (*CCT) are 21st Century skills that are essential for our students to practise continually, so that they may grow successfully as learners and constructive members of our community. Project Based Learning (PBL) is a way of teaching and learning that allows for students to take ownership of their learning, solve real world problems and collaborate with other students.

During 2019 CCT skills have been reinforced across all learning, in particular via Challenging Maths, PBL and Inquiry learning. The dispositions (or super powers) include: being open minded, reflective, flexible and resourceful. Maybe you could ask your child who Captain Disposition is and how he can help them to learn.

Students from Year 4 have begun to work on a PBL unit around recreational sustainability, while Year 5 are focussing on plant and animal adaptations. Year 5’s project will be connecting with the Diocesan STEM competition- Project New Earth. See the website for details, Project New Earth .Years 3 and 6 will also have opportunities to participate in PBL later in the term. Year 6 will be coding microbits to detect natural disasters and Year 3 will design their own ‘Amazing Race’ around Australia. 

It certainly is an exciting term ahead and we look forward to celebrating all of our learning with you later in the term.

Thank you,

Emma Mansbridge 

PBL Teacher

Congratulations to the following children who are receiving Gold Awards:

1B  - Grace Griffiths, Alanah Toskoski

Earlier this year, several children from Stage 3 participated in the Computational and Algorithmic Competition offered by the Australian Mathematics Trust. This required children to unpack 15 complex problems to find their solutions. Overall, the children involved did extremely well and are to be congratulated for their efforts. The results are as follows:

Participation – Ryan B, Elizabeth B, Caiden J, Joshua L,  Kylan S, Elitia T, Kye L, Lachlan M, Noah R, Topher P,  Aleighsha R, Eva V

Credit – Milly D, Blake D, James C

Distinction – Isabella M

These children will be receiving their awards at Friday’s assembly.

Miss Crandell      

On Friday 2 August, a large group of students from Years 3-6 travelled to different venues in the Wollongong Diocese to participate in the Soccer Gala Day. 

All the teams represented themselves and Stella Maris extremely well, showing team spirit and respect towards the officials and their opponents. 

A big thank you to the parents who came and supported the students, whether coaching or just cheering, it really made for a fun day. 

Mr O’Grady. 

The University of Wollongong would like to invite students to LITTLE AND EARLY LEARNING LABS, an academic enrichment holiday program. Students from Years 1 to 6 who are passionate, self-motivated and curious learners may be interested in applying.

Dates:    Little Learning Labs (Years 1 and 2): 30th September – 2nd October 2019

              Early Learning Labs (Years 3 to 6): 2nd – 4th October 2019

Venue: University of Wollongong (Wollongong campus)

Applications close: 21st August,  2019

For further information about workshops and the application process please visit the website at https://www.uow.edu.au/in2uni-myway/learninglabs/index.html  or contact the Learning Labs team via email at learning-labs@uow.edu.au or phone on (02) 4221 5557.