Welcome to Term 3 Week 9 2023
Principals Report
SUNDAY CONNECTION
Gospel Reading Matthew 18:21-35
Jesus teaches that we must forgive one another as God has forgiven us.
Family Connection
Children learn to trust God's mercy and forgiveness when they experience forgiveness from those closest to them. We hope that we model God's love and forgiveness within our family life. Sunday's Gospel reminds us that forgiveness is measured by its quality more than its quantity.
Invite your family to consider some recent times when family members sought the forgiveness of another. Ask if there were any statements made that put conditions on our forgiveness, such as “I will play this game with you if you apologise for knocking over my blocks” or “I will accept your apology after you clean up your room.” Do we sometimes “keep count” or put conditions on our forgiveness of one another? This is something we may be doing without realising it.
Read together Sunday's Gospel, Matthew 18:21-35. Ask if we sometimes find ourselves sounding like Peter, concerning ourselves with the quantity of forgiveness rather than offering forgiveness abundantly and unconditionally. Reflect upon the parable that Jesus tells. What does the servant do that makes the king so angry? He refuses to forgive his fellow servant the debt that he owes. Because we have all received God's forgiveness, God expects that we will also be forgiving toward others. Jesus' answer to Peter's question is found at the end of the parable. The number of times that we forgive one another is less important than the depth of our forgiveness. We must forgive one another from the heart.
Conclude in prayer together that God's love and forgiveness are evident in your family life. Pray together today's psalm, Psalm 103, or the Lord's Prayer.
REF: Excerpts from the Sunday Connection copyright © Loyola Press. Used with permission. Visit www.LoyolaPress.com for more information.
STELLA MARIS FACEBOOK POLICY
We encourage families to take time to read our Facebook Policy below.
Uniform Shop
Opening Hours
Each Tuesday, 8.30am - 12.30pm.
Orders placed via Qkr after 10.00am on a Tuesday and before 10.00am cutoff the following Tuesday will be processed when the shop is open and sent home with children on the day.
Alternatively, orders can be collected after 11.00am on Tuesday during opening times if preferred.
Update
An update on the future direction of the school uniform will be provided to the school community prior to the end of Term 3, 2023.
Stella Stars
Sessions: 9.15am - 10.45am & 12.00pm - 1.30pm
Bookings through Facebook: Stella Stars Early Years Learning
School Photos
Our school photo day for 2023 will be held on the first day back at school for students in Term 4, Tuesday, the 17th of October. Please ensure your child is wearing their full uniform for the day.
Kinder - Grade 2: Sports uniform
Grade 3 - 6: Summer uniform
Family photos will be taken between 8.30am and 9.00am, and bookings are not required. However, you must order your family photos online through Compass/More/Photo Ordering by midnight on Monday 16th October.
Photo packs can be ordered from today through Compass/More/Photo Ordering. NOTE: From midnight Tuesday 24th October, prices will be increased.
Unfortunately, there is no backup photo day this year.
Assembly Awards
Congratulations to our latest award recipients who have been working hard and inspiring us through actively living the school values in their work and actions towards their peers and staff.
Kindergarten Dog Safety Awareness
This term in Kinder, we have been learning about Dog Safety.
We have learned how to recognise when a dog is feeling angry, scared, sick or happy and how we only ever approach happy dogs.
We have talked about the correct way to ask permission before patting a dog for the first time.
Recently, we had a visit from Freddie the dog. He came to school so we could practice firstly asking the grown-up to look after us, then the dog's owner, then finally the dog.
He enjoyed all of our loving pats, and we loved meeting him too.
Grade 1 and Grade 5 Buddies
On Friday, 8th September, the Grade 5s taught their Grade 1 buddies how to play dodgeball! Everyone had a great time and displayed amazing sportsmanship.
Grade 1 Room 5 enjoying the Summer sunshine
Epic Afternoon of Play
Last week, our Hollows readers enjoyed an Epic Afternoon of Play after winning the Premier's Reading Challenge.
Students were given points for all the readings they recorded. Hollows spent the majority of the 10-week challenge in third place but jumped to the lead on the final count. There were only nine points between first and second place in the final score.
On Tuesday, the winning team spent an energetic afternoon playing together. They absolutely loved it and were very appreciative.
Well done, Red Team! Better luck next year, Flynn, Mawson and Lyons!
Dockers Football
Last Friday was the final game for our Stella Maris School teams participating in the Dockers Cup. A huge thank you to our families for getting your child/ren to the games and encouraging them each week.
Special thanks to our coaches Michael Keep and Keygan Wells, for coaching and helping our students with their skills throughout the series.
Green Team
The Green Team has had its first Garden Market Stall after a busy year of preparing gardens for produce. They have had 2 stalls over the last week and have sold beeswax wraps, fresh produce, worm juice, resin dishes, oils and some other items. Thank you to the Green Team members and Mr Carlon for organising the events, and a big thank you to everyone from our wonderful school community who supported the stalls, we have raised $598 for the school.
Student Achievements
Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Achievement
Noah, Abel and Elijah Fitzmaurice all competed in Melbourne last weekend in a Brazilian Jiu-jitsu competition. Noah and Abel came 3rd, and Elijah came 2nd. They were the only children from Tasmania to compete, fantastic results, boys.
Running Achievement
Congratulations to Jakai Wescombe, who attended the National Cross Country Championships in Canberra in August. Jakai represented Stella Maris in the School Sport Australia Primary Tasmanian State team, he was picked in the State team to travel to Canberra as a result of his 3rd place at Symmons Plains in June. Jakai finished 20th in Australia and was the 1st Tassie boy home for his age group. Well done, Jakai, amazing results.
Author Visit
We recently welcomed the very talented graphic novelist Alyssa Bermudez into our school.
Alyssa is primarily an illustrator; however, her new book is a graphic novel and Alyssa spoke to the students about it and the process of making a graphic novel.
Graphic novels are sometimes referred to as comic books. When done well, they convey a lot of story with very few words. Alyssa's book Big Apple Diaries is a great example of a graphic novel done well.
Alyssa grew up in New York and she dutifully wrote in her diary. Years later, she read through her diaries and noticed the issues were still relevant. So she put aside her strong feelings of "cringe" and published a graphic novel based on her diaries.
Her book explores issues of friendship, fashion, race, school and boys. As well as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as seen through the eyes of a child.
The Stella students' feedback was incredibly positive. Alyssa had them feeling what she felt as a pre-teen in New York City.
Thank you for visiting us, Alyssa. We also had a blast! Who knows, we might have some future graphic novelists amongst us.
Schools Triathlon Challenge
The school's Triathlon Challenge is confirmed for Thursday, 24th of November. Further information has been sent to our Grade 3-6 families via Compass. Parents will need to provide consent for their child to participate. If you wish to learn more, please click on the link below.
Entry forms are available online or from the school office and will be due back to the school office by Wednesday, 20th September.
School News
Rapid Antigen Tests Available
With the COVID-19 risk recently raised to a moderate level, we encourage you to collect RATs from our school office for your family. These will be available until our stocks run out, and we will not be replenishing our supply.