Welcome to Term 4 Week 7 2022
Principals Report
Advent - November 27, 2022
Advent is a four-week liturgical period when with hearts and minds renewed we anticipate the fulfillment of God’s promise to be with us always. Jesus is the Emmanuel spoken by the prophets and angels who will bring us joy and peace. He will call us out of darkness into his wonderful light.
After these years of Coronavirus, wars, natural disasters, and people who may just feel hopeless, Jesus comes with hope. We must be ready to walk in this hope which will light our way to peace. May the 4-candles of our advent wreath serve as a reminder of our journey with God.
The scriptures remind us that we must be prepared. God’s kingdom is established among us. Do we recognize it? Unlike the days of Noah, we have the stories of people who came after him to show us the way. The scriptures speak volumes about how people can become distracted and unprepared as we wait for the day of the Lord.
This is the first Sunday of the new liturgical year. Advent is a time of hopeful expectation. During this season we reflect on Jesus’ birth and his second coming. This a time to allow our hearts and minds to become focused on encountering Jesus who is God’s gift to the entire world.
We know that the Lord is coming, we pray for patience as we wait. Watchful and ready we say, “Come Lord Jesus”.
RE News
CELEBRATING THE SACRAMENTS
A School Baptism
A couple of weeks ago, Grade 1 student Morgan Pedder along with her little brother Jobe, received the Sacrament of Baptism at Stella. Classmates from Morgan’s grade were present to witness firsthand an actual baptism and help Morgan and Jobe celebrate this special time. Fr John did a great job explaining to the students the process and items used for Baptism. Congratulations Morgan and Jobe!
Revisiting the Sacrament of Confirmation through the call to Apostleship
Stella students who were part of the Sacramental Program in 2021 and 2022 had the opportunity to meet up with Claire Willis, Parish Sacramental Co-ordinator, and reflect on their reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation, thus answering the call to the lifelong commitment of Apostleship. Students Christina, Abigale, Xavier, Chia, Tessa, Ollie, Finn, Darcy, Oliver, Kai, Macklan, Lucy, Maeve, Sofia, Amara, Sophia and Abigail participated in a variety of activities designed to remind them of the qualities of Apostleship. These qualities include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
THE SEASON OF ADVENT
Sunday was the beginning of the Season of Advent. As we prepare and wait for Christmas, the Birthday of Jesus, we reflect on the HOPE that Christ brings the world. Take a moment to reflect on what your hope is for the world and how knowing Jesus can fulfil this hope.
School News
Breaking news……
Grade 6 – Room 15 have been raising funds to buy presents for the St. Vincent de Paul Giving Tree.
Why is this important? As a school we believe that it is important to make a difference to those who are not as fortunate as us, in particular at Christmas time.
We have raised funds through selling bookmarks, bracelet packs, pencils, cards – including Christmas cards, and the BEST sherbet in the world at lunchtimes.
We have already raised $1825.75! Our last day for sales will be this Friday 2nd December. We hope that we can raise $2000. We are going to have lots of fun buying gifts!
Children are also encouraged to bring new, unused gifts, wrapped with a label identifying the age and gender for whom the gift is suitable to their classroom. In return, they will be given a personalised thank you Christmas card. The gifts will be presented to St. Vinnies at our End of Year Assembly
Stellas Got Talent
This week we ran Stella's Got Talent, we certainly have many very talented students at our school. It was fantastic to see all of our students being brave, curious and kind those that were both supporting and performing.
We have raised $244.70 which is going towards building a gaga pit. We are still collecting IOU's, please ask your child to bring this to school as soon as possible.
The winners were:
Prep - Grade 2 - Layla Busuttil & Isla Stephen - Singing and signing I Still Call Australia Home.
Runner Up - Mia Zhao - Performed a song on the piano
Grade 3 to Grade 6 - Angelise Kennedy - Gymnastics act
Runner Up - Abigail Edwards - Batten twirling
Christmas Concert
Dear Parents and Guardians
Our School Christmas Concert is on Thursday 8th December.
The theme of the concert is ‘Celebrate, rejoice and be glad on the birthday of Jesus’.
Clothing
Kinder students are to be dressed as characters from the Nativity scene. Children may dress as a sheep, donkey, wise man, star, angel, shepherd, Joseph or Mary with their baby doll. We kindly ask that children do not wear large headpieces, oversized wings or a shepherd’s crook as this can prevent some children on the stage from being seen.
The attire for our Prep - Grade 6 students is to be strictly black bottoms with a choice of colour for the top. This can be any colour of the rainbow.
Please also follow these guidelines:
No messages on clothing. Christmas messages accepted
No hats
No singlets or midriff tops
No short shorts or short skirts
No thongs
Black or white socks
Drop off locations & Start/finish times
Drop off time: 6:00 - 6:20pm
Students will be asked to gather in the courtyard area opposite the Town Hall entrance. Classes will be lined up in order by their teachers and behind witches hats.
Concert start time: 7:00pm
Finish time: approx 8:30pm
Parent/carer access
Doors open at 6:20pm.
Town Hall doors: Kinder & Prep
Braddon Hall entrance: Grade 1, Grade 2 & Grade 3
Theatre entrance: Grade 4, Grade 5 & Grade 6
We are looking forward to celebrating as a school community.
Catholic Education Storytelling Showcase
This year Catholic Education Tasmania held its third annual storytelling showcase. The students involved were asked to write a Drabble, which is a story that must contain a beginning, middle and ending, a twist at the end and be exactly 100 words. This was a challenging process to work through, and the children learnt a great deal about word choice and being creative with sentences.
It was exciting to have 4 of our students shortlisted who received the following awards:
Piper-Rose Jones - Highly Commended
Ticky Prescott - Highly Commended
Olivia Woodcock - Highly Commended
Daniel Eghonghon - 2nd Place
Kinder Red Buddy Walk
Kinder Red and Room 9 have enjoyed getting to know each other during buddy time this year. To celebrate the end of the year, we walked to Burnie Park for a fruit picnic and play time. Thank you to our wonderful parent helpers
Grade 1 Guide Falls Excursion
On Friday 18th November Grade 1 children went on an excursion to Guide Falls Farm.
It looked like it might rain but we were lucky and the sun came out. We travelled by bus up past Ridgley and arrived in time to have our fruit break before splitting into two class groups to walked around the farm. Farmer Rachel And Farmer Mack walked in front of each group in case we came across a snake! We all had a container of grain each to give the animals. Several parents joined us for the morning. We saw lots of different animals. There were hens and roosters, peacocks and an emu. We fed the goats, the sheep and the alpacas. There was a dam with fish and platypus but we did not get to see them. We all had a swing near the dam. We patted the farm horse and went back to have our morning tea on the verandah. After our snack we split into two groups again. One group sat in a circle to hold guinea pigs and rabbits. The other group decorated cups and filled them with soil and planted a seed to grow at home. We had a wonderful day at Guide Falls Farm.
Grade 2 HIVE Excursion
Last Friday, both Grade Two classes went to The Hive for an excursion. All student’s had the chance to watch a show in the Planetarium, explore the museum and make a car and test it. It was a fun and educational day.
Grade 5 Camp Clayton Excursion
Last week Grade 5 had their annual camp. We left early on Monday morning to visit Entally house. We were fascinated with the layout of the house, especially the steep stairs and the area under the house for the convicts as well as the farm machinery. We then enjoyed a wonderful play at Riverbend Park before heading to Penny Royal. Here we completed a cliff challenge, went panning for gold, cruising in a historic journey and kicking off our shoes for barefoot sensations. Then we headed for a lovely meal and some outdoor games, trampoline fun and gaga ball challenges at Camp Clayton. We were up early for some more fun and games as well as breakfast. We then spent the day building huts at Somerset beach as well as having a pizza lunch. Thank you to the parents who were able to attend the beach day.
All School Triathlon Challenge
Thursday 24th November
On Thursday, 24th of November, 63 students from Stella Maris gathered at the Devonport Bluff to participate in the School Triathlon Challenge. The event’s focus is on being active and becoming a part of the community with a belief that anyone can do it!
The triathlon atmosphere was electric, and the weather was perfect. The students entered individual and team events or both. The triathlon involved three legs: swimming, cycling and running. Stella Maris was represented by an amazing group of students who supported and encouraged each other. There was so much energy and excitement, and we were very proud of our students' team spirit, resilience and comradery.
Resources For Parents
Outside News
