Principal's Message

This weekend we celebrate the special people in our lives who are mothers, carers and mother figures. It is a wonderful time to celebrate and acknowledge the love and care that we are shown and carry with us always.

Thank you to the parent volunteers who have worked tirelessly to provide the opportunity for our students to play a special part on Sunday. We are looking forward to joining as a community again for breakfast on Friday and then the children get to do some shopping! I know that it will bring many smiles to many faces on the weekend.

Wishing all mothers and mother figures a joyful and blessed Mother’s Day. May your day be surrounded by love and family.

Tell Them From Me Survey

Thank you to the families that have already completed the Tell Them From Me Survey. If you could please take the time to provide your insights, thoughts and valuable input into our school it would be greatly appreciated. The survey closes on 19 May. The link you need is:

http://tellthemfromme.com/stella2023

God Bless

Principal

Belinda Hughes

May - The Month of Mary

For centuries, the Catholic Church has set aside the entire month of May to honour Mary, Mother of God. Not just a day in May, but the entire month.  She has a unique role in salvation history as the Mother of God, conceived without Sin, who by her own free will, agreed to bring the “Word made flesh", (John 1:14) our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ into the world.  Her life in the Gospel years was one of service and great devotion to Jesus, from the stable in Bethlehem where she gave birth to Him, to Calvary in Jerusalem where she stood by His cross in His Crucifixion. Mary was a woman of great faith and courage.  May we all follow in her example.  

Mother’s Day

This Sunday is Mother’s Day.  We would like to wish all our Mums, Grandmothers and Carers a day filled with love, joy and happiness.  May you all be blessed by our most Holy Queen of all, the Mother of God, Mary.

Proverbs 31:31: "Honour her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate." Psalm 139:13-14: "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

God Bless

Alicia Sanchez-Levine

Religious Education Coordinator

This Sunday’s Gospel

Jn 17:1-11

Jesus prays to the Father.

All Saints Catholic Parish Shellharbour

Mass times: All Saints Church 

19 College Ave, Shellharbour City

Saturday  5.00pm Vigil 

Sunday    9.00am, 5.00pm 

Mass at All Saints

Beginning this term, we will also be participating in weekend stage Masses at All Saints Catholic Parish.  Please come and join us as we celebrate Mass together on the following weekend dates:

Kindergarten (ES1) Sunday 14 May 9am  …Mother’s Day

Year 1 & 2 (Stage 1) Sunday 28 May 9am …including Pentecost Celebrations

Teachers Saturday 15 July 5pm

Year 5 & 6 (Stage 3) Saturday 26 August 5pm

Year 3 & 4 (Stage 2) Sunday 12 November 9am

Mass at Stella Maris 

Grade Masses also take place at our Stella Maris church on Tuesdays at 9:30am.  Parents, grandparents and carers are most welcome to attend.  Please find below a schedule of the Masses for Term 2, 2023.

Yr 4 Week 2 2 May

Yr 5 Week 3 9 May

Yr 3 Week 4 16 May

Yr 6 Week 5 23 May

Yr 2 Week 6 30 May

Yr 1 Week 7 6 June

Kinder Week 8 13 June

Join us for a Cuppa!

Additionally, we would like to invite parents, grandparents and carers to please join us for a cup of tea or coffee after Mass in the school staffroom.  Simply follow the students, Mrs Sanchez-Levine or Mrs Hughes through the gates after Mass to join us for a 30 minute informal gathering.

The Sacraments

The Sacrament of Confirmation - Year 6 Students

After weekend Masses on the corresponding dates, the following events will occur…  

13/14 May: Families advised of group allocations

20/21 May: Books for workshops distributed to children

22 May: Confirmation Workshops begin

If there are any questions related to any of the Sacraments, please contact the parish office via email shellharbourcity@dow.org.au

On Tuesday 2 May, we remembered with special visitors from the Warilla RSL, the anniversary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli with a beautiful liturgy led by Year 5.  Anzac Day is a day when we give thanks for all that our war veterans and heroes have sacrificed so that we can call “the lucky country” - Australia - home. Anzac Day also inspires our nation to strive for peace in our homes, in our country and in the world. We recognize that it is through the successful pursuit of peace, that we can truly live a content, happy and Christ-filled life.

Foundation Day Liturgy

Parents, grandparents, family and friends are warmly invited to our Foundation Day celebrations on Friday May 19 at 11am.  This day celebrates the day our school was founded by the Sisters of Charity in 1958.  Every year we celebrate Foundation Day with the Mary Aikenhead Awards.  The Awards Ceremony will be preceded by the Year 2 presentation of the Story of Mary Aikenhead.  Following the awards, from 12-1pm we will have open classrooms where parents, grandparents and carers are invited to visit their child’s classroom.

Playground Activities

It has been wonderful to see the many smiling faces and friendly play on the playground so far this term. The students at Stella Maris have an array of activities to keep them busy during break times, which include handball, Chill Out Zone and skipping. Classes are rostered on to daily activities which include basketball, volleyball, master, fly, chess and playground equipment. All students in Years 3-6 have the opportunity to attend the oval on a Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday where they are able to stretch their legs and play touch football, soccer, cricket and much more. 

Grant Application Success!

This year we applied for a Commonwealth Government Grant to upgrade Air Conditioning and Library facilities. We received the wonderful news this week that we were successful in obtaining the grant. It will be used to put Air conditioning in the Maker Space room and to upgrade the library shelving. We look forward to sharing the finished product with you and know that the children will enjoy and benefit from the upgrades. 

Mackillop Winter Trials:

Congratulations to all the students who represented the Wollongong Diocese at the Mackillop Winter trials in Canberra on Friday 5 May. 

Reid Coelho, Harry Thomson, Cooper Roche, Heath Paulissen, Hugo Manns and Harry Riddell all trialled for the Rugby League team, whilst Maya Huetter trialled for the Hockey team.

A special mention goes out to Maya who was selected in the Mackillop Team.

Wollongong Rugby Union Team

Congratulations to Hugo Manns & Reid Coelho who have been selected as members of the Wollongong Rugby team for 2023 and will now attend the Mackillop Rugby selections to be held in Forbes on the 25 & 26 of June.

AFL Sport 

Parents and carers are asked to make sure that they are using the school crossing when arriving or leaving school each day.  This sets a good example to the children and keeps them safe.

Thank you for your co-operation with this.

Canteen News

We are a school run canteen and rely on volunteers to operate.

Canteen is open Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to make and prepare lunch orders and serve the children over the counter.

Online orders can be made via the My School Connect app - www.myschoolconnect.com.au/stellamarisps click on create account.

Mothers' Day Breakfast

Join us for breakfast at 7am tomorrow morning.  Thank you to all the volunteers who have made these events possible.  Wishing all the mums a Happy Mothers' Day.

P & F General Meeting

A reminder that our next P & F meeting will be held in the school library on Monday 29 May, at 6pm.  We look forward to you being able to join us.