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A PRAYER FOR FATHER’S DAY
We give our thanks, Creator God, for the fathers in our lives. We ask for your blessings for them all. This Father's Day we remember the many sacrifices fathers make for their children and families and the ways both big and small they lift children to achieve dreams thought beyond reach. So too we remember all those who have helped fill the void when fathers pass early or are absent - grandfathers and uncles, brothers and cousins, teachers, priests and coaches - and the women of our families. For those of us who are fathers, we ask for wisdom and humility in the face of the task of parenting. Give us the strength to do well by our children and by you. In your Holy name, O God, we pray. Amen.
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
We hope that all the dads and pops have a wonderful Father’s Day with their families this Sunday. Hopefully the weather will allow everyone to enjoy quality family time. We also look forward to our Father’s Day breakfast tomorrow, followed by the stall, where children can purchase a nice present for their dads. A big thank you to the P & F for organising these events and to the many parents who will help out tomorrow.
RESILIENCE PRESENTATION
Corpus Christi has invited interested parents to a talk at Corpus Christi, next Wednesday 4 September at 4.30pm in Chisolm Space, Southern Building Upper Level. The keynote speaker, Dr Justin Coulsen, is one of Australia’s leading experts in the area of parenting relationships and wellbeing. His topic is “9 ways to build a resilient child”. Bookings can be made at www.trybooking.com/BEQIR
BOOK WEEK PARADE
It was great to see all the children in their costumes last Thursday and having so much fun at the Book Parade. Mrs Hogan and Mr Price kept everyone amused and I’m sure the large number of parents and grandparents certainly enjoyed the entertainment. A big thank you to our library staff Mrs Love and Ms Morand for all their hard work and for creating a vibrant Book Week display in the library.
STUDENT UNIFORMS and APPEARANCE
Thank you to the many parents who ensure that their children come to school wearing correct school uniform. There may be times where the students cannot wear a correct item of school uniform and it is great to see that most parents will send a note explaining the situation. Parents are reminded that the school uniform policy states that joggers are to be predominantly white. I understand that purchasing plain white joggers that fit correctly may be a challenge at times, however it is important that we all work together to try and maintain a high standard of uniform. In terms of appearance, I would like to remind students with long hair, both girls and boys, that it must be tied back with a gold or green (school colours) hair accessory. This will also apply on School Photo Day, which occurs this year on Wednesday 23 October.
PARENT EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The next session of the Parent Education Committee will be held on Monday 16 September after the morning assembly (8.45am) in the school library. Rather than having a formal agenda, I would like to make it an open forum, gaining feedback from parents on various topics such as learning and teaching, behaviour, uniform, extra curricula activities, Religious Education, uniform, excursions etc. It is open to all parents and will conclude by 9.45am.
CATHOLICCARE COUNSELLOR
SOCIAL MEDIA TIP NUMBER TWO: POSITIVE USE OF SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES. Parents can help their children have positive experiences on social networking sites by implementing the following strategies:
- Stay involved in your child’s use of technology. Set up your own account and learn about privacy settings.
- Read the “terms of use” and make sure your child understands what is expected.
- Check the age ratings set by app stores before downloading an app, bearing in mind that these age ratings can sometimes differ from those for websites of the same service.
- Advise your children to set their accounts to private so that the only people who can view their information are those they trust.
- Encourage your children to think before they put anything online and to be respectful of others. Information posted online can be difficult or impossible to remove.
- Remind your children to be careful when making new friends online. People may not be who they say they are.
Show your child how to manage location services on their phone so that they are not inadvertently broadcasting their location.
P & F DONATION
Thank you to our P & F Committee who have, this week, donated $15,000 to the school. This will be used towards IT equipment, library furniture, home readers and teacher resources. We are very grateful to the P & F Committee and their helpers for all the hard work they put in to help our school.
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
This Sunday’s Gospel,
Lk 14.1, 7-14
Humble yourself and be exalted.
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.
27th August - Years 5 & 6 Mass 9:45am
3rd September - Year 2 Mass 9:45am
24th September - Kinder & Year 1 Mass 9:45am
Feast of the Assumption
On the 15th August we celebrated the School Feast Day, The Feast of The Assumption of Our Lady.
According to our faith, the Holy Mother, “having completed her course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory”.The Assumption signals the end of Mary’s earthly life and marks her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus.
Students from Year 4 to Year 6 celebrated Mass with Monsignor Jones and students from K to Year 3 took part in a Holy Liturgy.
The students continued the celebrations with Tabloid Games in the afternoon.
Pope Francis’ intention for this month:
That families, through their life of prayer and love, become ever more clearly “schools of true human growth”.
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 3rd September at 7:00pm.
Conversations about Catholics
Due to lack of numbers Conversations about Catholics has unfortunately had to be cancelled.
Kindergarten
This term Kindergarten have looked at the story of Abraham and Sarah. It is a story of promise and trust and formative to our identity as the People of God. The second part of the unit introduced Jesus’ family and told two short stories of Jesus as a boy. The story of the people of God begins a new chapter in the person of Jesus. The unit focuses on belonging both in the family and with all the people of God.
Julie Hopkins
Acting Religious Education Coordinator
Premiere Illawarra, the company who run our school buses, have contacted the school recently to ask us to remind parents that, if a card is lost, students must do one of the following:
- Pay cash fare until a new card has been ordered
- Order a new card and print the email receipt for the child to carry until the new card arrives
Thank you for your attention to this.
While we value everyone’s contributions and encourage parents and carers to post in the group, it is expected that everyone will follow the CEDoW Social Media Policy and the Social Media Standards. Please see the Standards at http://tinyurl.com/y3q5elyb
In particular, it is expected that each person will:
• respect the dignity of self and others;
• not bring the school into disrepute or engage in any use of, or content on social media, that may negatively impact on CEDoW or any of its school communities.
• not publicly criticise CEDoW, schools, staff or students;
• not promote perspectives contrary to the Catholic faith; and
• align with the parameters of the intended purpose of this group – ie: P&F and school matters only.
By posting or commenting on any official CEDoW social media sites - including this Facebook group - users accept our Social Media Standards. Stella Maris reserves the right to moderate all content and review or remove any comment it deems inappropriate, and to block users who violate these Standards.
This Group is administrated by the P&F Executive. We have work and family commitments of our own, so appreciate your patience when we approve posts. If you require an immediate answer or clarification on a query, we advise you to contact the school office directly (See http://bit.ly/2H2hx6S)
KEY LINKS:
Email our P&F: pandf@smsdow.catholic.edu.au
Website: http://www.smsdow.
Latest Newsletter: https://smsdow.
Official Stella Maris Facebook page: https://www.facebook.