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Dear Father,
As we approach our Term One holiday, we pray for ourselves and for our world.
We thank you for the luxury of having a break, for refreshment and rest from work.
We pray for those whose lives are made harder and busier by school holidays, and we pray for those without the luxury of a holiday. May your peace be known in their daily lives.
We pray for health, that we may return from our break, safe and well.
Lord God of Sabbath rest, make yourself known to us afresh, that all our days may become holy days, to the glory of your name.
We ask this through Christ our Lord,
AMEN.
Dear Parents and Caregivers,
As we approach April holidays, I would like to sincerely thank our students, staff and parents for all their hard work throughout the term, a term that has seen us welcome thirty new families to Stella Maris. Our school is such a busy, dynamic place to learn and work together and it is that spirit of collegiality that will serve us well as a school community, as we embrace the challenges and successes that we will face during the next three terms. I hope everyone has a safe, restful break, ready to start Term Two on Monday 29 April.
STATIONS OF THE CROSS
Parents and grandparents are warmly invited to join us next Wednesday (Blue Classes) and Thursday (Gold Classes) at 2pm for our Holy Week Liturgies. This year, we will focus on the Stations of the Cross, which outlines Jesus’ journey to his crucifixion on Mt Calvary. Each class will present a five minute re-enactment of a Station and there will be an environmental connection in each presentation.
Today the students in all grades are taking home an English book and their Religious Education book for parents to look through. A student reflection sheet is also going home with the books for parents to make a positive comment about their children’s progress. It would be great if parents could do this tonight or over the weekend and then see that the children return them promptly to school by Monday. All students who return their books by Monday will receive a bonus Dojo point. This will ensure that class work is not impacted by a student not having his/her book at school to work in.
PARENT EDUCATION COMMITTEE
The first Parent Education Committee Meeting will be held in the staffroom next Tuesday 9 April from 8.45-10am. Miss Angela Crandell will be explaining the school’s whole-school focus this year on Mathematics, specifically discussing Challenging Tasks and Learning Progressions. All parents are warmly invited.
MUFTI DAY
Tomorrow all students are asked to wear mufti clothes (including a hat and closed in shoes/joggers) and to bring in Easter Eggs for the Easter Raffle.
EASTER RAFFLE
The Easter raffle will be held next Friday at 2pm in place of the regular awards assembly. Parents who are present may take their children home immediately after the conclusion of the raffle.
NAPLAN ONLINE
The Years 3 and 5 students continue to prepare for the Naplan Online Testing Schedule, which will occur from 14-24 May. A schedule of testing dates will be sent home to parents by the end of term.
WINTER UNIFORM
The official start of winter uniform will be Monday 13 May (Week 3), however the children may start to wear their winter uniform earlier if the weather is particularly cold. I commend all students for the manner in which they proudly wear their school uniform and I know this will continue throughout the year, keeping in mind that winter shirts are to be tucked into school pants.
TRY YEAR 7 ST MARY’S/EDMUND RICE
Parents of Year 4 and 5 students are to note that the annual Try Year 7 for the Day at St Mary’s and Edmund Rice will be held on Thursday 7 November. There has been an obvious change to include Year 4 students for the first time.
ANZAC DAY CEREMONIES
Stella Maris will be represented by four Year 6 students at Anzac Day Services on Wednesday 25 April. Sibeal and Kye, our school captains will attend the ceremony with myself at the Shellharbour City Memorial, and earlier that morning our vice-captains Lucy and Matias will join me at the Shellharbour Village ceremony. Everyone is also invited to our school-based Anzac Day Service, which will be held on Wednesday 1 May at 2pm.
SPORTS NEWS
Congratulations to our Junior Boys Freestyle Relay Team Nathan Bitz, Chayce Tenana, Tane Tenana and Kobi Howard-Shilling on finishing third at the Mackillop Trials and in doing so have now been selected to represent Mackillop at the PSSA Swimming Carnival, which will be held next week. This is a great achievement and we are so proud of this team. Well done boys! 
CROSS COUNTRY
Congratulations to the thirty-two students who have been selected to represent Stella Maris at the Diocesan Cross Country Carnival, which will be held at the Willandra Course, Nowra on Tuesday 7 May (Week 2). The children will continue to train in the next few weeks in order to compete to the best of their ability.
CONGRATULATIONS
Congratulations also to Ella Greatz, Emily Klein, Lila Miller and Addison Corcoran on their selection in the Wollongong Diocesan Touch Team. Well done girls.
PRINCIPAL’S LUNCH
This term’s Principal’s Lunch for the students who receive the most Dojo Points in their class this term will be held next Thursday. The winners will be announced next Tuesday after recess.
STUDENT SUPPORT
Each term our Year 6 Student Support Leaders visit the classes to ask them questions about the school. Over the next few newsletters I will publish some of the children’s responses starting this week with the question:
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT STELLA MARIS?
- Learning about the Catholic faith and how to pray
- Nice, caring, happy staff and Principal
- Not much bullying
- Opportunity to go to the oval to play (Years 3-6)
- Using iPads/technology
- Roster for playground use and different lunchtime activities
- Earning rewards and receiving awards
- Having our parents and grandparents at the school
- Involvement in extra activities such as band, choir, STEM, chess, writing clubs, sport
- Improvements to the playground including fake grass and the 60th Anniversary pavers
- Our school uniform
- Mini Vinnies and helping the poor in our community
- Caring for the environment
- Our location near the water
DIOCESAN SOCIAL MEDIA POLICY LAUNCH
On Tuesday I attended the Wollongong Diocesan Launch of the Social Media Policy, together with our SPB4L leader Mr Chris Price, Mrs Gemma Bolton, my Executive Assistant and our P & F President Sarah Roche. The day was spent unpacking
the policy and working through various scenarios that schools could encounter. An initial plan was devised on how to move forward with introducing a Facebook and Instagram page for Stella Maris.
The launch day also highlighted how we as a school community can best support our students, staff, families and the broader community to use social media as a positive connection and communication tool. The school will be sending home an information sheet for parents and carers, which provides information on expectations of users of social media. The information also provides a quick overview of the policy and what this means for parents. We will also provide parents with further information regarding keeping our children safe online and conduct a parent workshop in Term 2 before a P & F General Meeting.
NEW STELLA MARIS FACEBOOK and INSTAGRAM PAGES
To coincide with the Diocesan Social Media Policy and Statement, Stella Maris will be launching its own Facebook and Instagram pages.
These will compliment the current digital newsletter as they will include regular posts of class happenings, complete with photos and a description of the activity. They will provide us with a further opportunity to celebrate the wonderful learning that takes place each and every day at our school and share it with the school community. It is also an effective way of promoting our school amongst the local community. These pages will start from next Monday 8 April and can be accessed using the following links:
We are also exploring the possibility of establishing a P & F closed Facebook page where communication matters and upcoming planned activities can be shared with parents across the school. In time this will eliminate the need for grades to have their own pages and run the risk of not all parents being informed. It is vital that all parents are familiar with the Diocesan Social Media Policy and are responsible users whilst contributing. We will share further information regarding the establishment of this page when it becomes available.
OUTDOOR LEARNING PD DAY AT STELLA
Further to my article in the last newsletter, we now have an article on The Catholic Education Office social media. The article is now live at:
Website - https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/about-us/general-news/making-the-most-of-nature-around-us-stella-maris-embraces-outdoor-learning-and-teaching/
Facebook - https://bit.ly/2WI75XZ
Twitter - https://bit.ly/2UceDoP
Instagram - https://bit.ly/2TMn9FS
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION NEWS
This Sunday’s Gospel,
Jn: 8 - 11
The Pharisees confront Jesus with an adultress.
All Saints Catholic Parish Shellharbour
Mass times: All Saints Church
College Ave, Shellharbour City
Saturday 6:00pm Vigil
Sunday 9.00am - Children’s Liturgy
6.00pm
Holy Week Liturgies
We would like to invite parents, grandparents and friends to the following liturgies:
The Stations of the Cross will be held at 2.00pm on Wednesday 10th April, (Stations 1 - 7 Blue Classes)
and Thursday 11th April (Stations 8 - 14 Gold Classes).
Palm Sunday
Palm Sunday will be celebrated on April 14th.
Palm Sunday marks the beginning of Holy Week.
Palm Sunday is a commemoration of Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem, coming in peace and riding on a donkey. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem coincided with the Jewish festival of Passover. He was met by crowds of followers and supporters who lined the road into the city and waved branches cut from palm trees. They laid palm fronds on the road and even laid down cloaks for Jesus to ride over. This entry into Jerusalem fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies promising that God's Messiah would enter the holy city and go to the temple.
Holy Thursday
Holy Thursday falls on Thursday 18th April. Holy Thursday is a holy day falling on the Thursday before Easter that commemorates the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles.
WHY WALK FOR WATER?
Over 50% of the children currently in hospital around the world are there simply because they don’t have access to clean water. They don’t have taps in their houses, or even in their villages – some have to walk up to 7km each day just to find clean water. Every day they are challenged to find clean water.
Yesterday we raised money for Project Compassion by running a Water Marathon. Students joined their classmates and took their bucket of water on a walk of solidarity with so many other children around the world. By showing solidarity with children in the developing world, they learnt an important lesson about water. But even more importantly, they’ll be helping raise money to help improve access to clean water for children around the world.
MATHEMATICS AT STELLA MARIS
This year, part of our strategic direction involves the school examining our Mathematics teaching practices and exploring ways we can embed contemporary theory into the Mathematics classroom. In 2018, the teachers were involved in the initial stages of Professional Learning, implementing Maths Challenging Tasks regularly into their classroom practice. 2019 will see a consistent, consolidated approach across the school, ensuring that the children are offered opportunities to apply mathematical thinking to complex problems via the Maths Challenging Tasks platform. A huge element of this process is building the students’ capacity to involve themselves in productive struggle and develop their ability to persist when learning is challenging.
Our attempt is to really raise the profile of Mathematics learning within the Stella Maris school community and assist students to see Mathematics as a positive experience to their learning development. In addition to the Challenging Tasks that all students will be involved with, students from Stages 2 and 3 have been assigned an account through Cambridge Hotmaths to consolidate the learning in the classroom. Here, they are able to revisit concepts taught and go through a self-paced course, enhancing their learning of Mathematical concepts.
Earlier in the term, Stage 3 students were offered an opportunity to participate in the Australian Mathematics Trust Competitions, giving them the chance to enter a Computational and Algorithmic Thinking Competition and the Australian Mathematics Competition. Given this is the first year we have offered this to our students, it was well received and accepted by 16 students. With the increase in focus on Mathematics, we hope to have more children involve themselves in the coming years. There will be more opportunities for students to engage in these style of opportunities as the year progresses and I would encourage you to have the conversation with your child/ren as these arise about extending themselves to participate.
Mathematics learning will be the focus of the Parent Education Committee meeting to be held on the 9 April t 8.45am. If you are interested in hearing about the Maths Challenging Task process and the Learning Progressions as a way of tracking student acquisition of Mathematical concepts, please come along.
Angela Crandell
Most children in years 3-6 carry their own Asthma medication and are responsible for self-medicating. We ask that parents of these children ensure that the medication is up to date and that Action Plans are stored with the medication and are current (these should be renewed on a yearly basis).
Thank you for your assistance with this.
The application period for enrolments for Kindergarten 2020 is currently open. Enrolment forms are available from the school office or on our website. Please ensure that your application form is submitted, along with all documentation, before the closing date of 12 April 2019.
Could I please ask that no dogs are brought onto the school premises unless they are Assistance Dogs.
Thank you for your attention to this.