Welcome to Term 4 Week 7 2023

Principals Report

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week, we held our final Kinder Orientation session for 2024. Congratulations to all our Kinder students and families. 

Student class placements are almost finalised and ready to be communicated to students on the morning of Orientation on Monday, 11th December. 

If any families foresee changes to their child's enrolment in 2024, it would be appreciated if you could please let our front office know as soon as possible. 

Thank you for your support and patience as we finalise key arrangements for our major events and activities. 

Sincerely, 

Christina Gretton & Ben McCulloch

Health & Physical Education (HPE) - End-of-Year School Reports

In Semester 2, assessments from Mrs Melina Triffett in our Health Specialist subject will be considered along with the 'Movement and Physical Activity' assessment and achievement from Mrs Liz Murton when finalising an overall grading for Health and Physical Education. 

In 2024, the school introduced Health as a specialist subject to have a more targeted focus on the Personal, Social and Community Health sub-strand of HPE.

For more information on the components of the HPE curriculum, please visit: https://v9.australiancurriculum.edu.au/teacher-resources/understand-this-learning-area/health-and-physical-education

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.

Stella Stars

Sessions: 9.15am - 10.45am & 12.00pm - 1.30pm

Bookings through Facebook: Stella Stars Early Years Learning

Last Sessions: Wednesday 6th December

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. 

Book Packs 2024

On Monday, the 11th of December, students will be provided with their book packs for 2024 to take home. It would be helpful if parents and guardians could ensure there is room in their child/children's bags to take these home, and where needed for younger students, organise to pick up your child as the book packs may be too heavy for some to carry themselves. 

School Concert

Dear Parents and Guardians

Our School End of Year Concert is on Thursday, 7th December. 

The theme for the 2023 concert is: “Australia: His Story” The Musical

Clothing

Kinder students are to be dressed as characters from the Nativity scene. Children may dress as sheep, donkeys, wise men, stars, angels, shepherds, 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.

Please note further information regarding the recommended attire for the night for Prep to Grade 6. 

• Prep: Green/gold top and black bottoms
  
• Grade 1: Bright-coloured shirt and white or denim bottoms (1980’s)
  
• Grade 2: White top and black bottoms (convicts)
• Grade 3: Red/blue/white top and black bottoms
  
• Grade 4: Flannelette shirt and/or overalls dress 
  
• Grade 5: Red, Yellow, black (Aboriginal Flag) OR blue, green, white (Torres Strait Islander) tops.
  

• Grade 6: T-shirt or shirt with jeans/ long pants/knee-length shorts 

All clothes are to cover shoulders, midriffs, thighs and toes. Please do not wear shorts/skirts, large headpieces, or tutus.  

Drop-off locations and start/finish times:

Drop-off time: 5:30 - 5:45 pm  

Prep to 6 Students will be asked to gather in the court area next to the Marist Harcombe Centre. Classes will be lined up in order by their teachers and behind witches hats. 

Kinder students will gather in the classrooms on the southern side of the Harcombe Centre. 

Concert start time: 6:00 pm

Finish time: approx 7:30 pm 

Please note that the concert time has been moved forward to ensure children can stay throughout its entirety. 

Parent/carer access

Doors open at 5:30 pm. 

Kinder parents will have a reserved seating area to easily collect their children and sit with them after their performance. 

We can't wait to see you there! 

Spring Netball Season

The BNA primary school netball roster concluded for the year last Saturday. All teams have shown big improvements and displayed good sporting qualities towards their own team members and the opposition. Thank you so much to the parents who helped out and the amazing coaches Erin Wells, Sally Abell, Ella Williams, Karen Voss and Duleeka Mihirani.

Stella Green Team

The Stella Green Team has continued to harvest from our worm farms, and we have lots of Worm Juice for sale. This was one of the most popular items at our stall in Term 3 and is back due to popular demand. Worm Juice, also known as ‘liquid gold’, is a magical elixir that provides billions of good microbes such as fungi and helpful, nitrogen-fixing bacteria to your plants and veggies. You don’t see these good microbes in synthetic liquid fertilisers, so nothing beats this recipe from Mother Nature. If you use your kitchen scraps to feed your worms, you are returning all those extra nutrients into your soil in exactly the right balance as you are harvesting. Win, win, win!

If you would like to purchase some, they are available for sale in Grade 5, Room 14, and the cost is $1 per bottle. This can be done daily before school, from 8:30-8:45 am until sold out. Happy gardening, everyone! 

Grade 1 Guide Falls Excursion

On Friday, 17th of November, both Grade 1 classes visited Guide Falls Farm in Ridgely. Students got to feed, pet, and ask questions about all of the farm animals, including sheep, rabbits, ducklings, goats, chickens, pigs, a horse, an emu, turkeys, and so many more! Students also got to plant their own sunflower seeds. The sun was shining, and we had a fantastic day!

Grade 2 Advent Prayers

Grade 4 Camp Clayton Excursion

On Friday, November 17^th, the Grade 4 classes went to Camp Clayton for the day. They participated in frisbee golf, the giant swing, the flying fox, team rescue and the team challenge. Everyone enjoyed these activities. In their free time, the trampolines were given a good workout, and the other activities included gaga ball, beach volleyball and mini golf. The parent support was amazing, and this helped the day run really smoothly. A big thank you to our amazing parents and of course, the equally amazing teaching staff.

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Student Report

At Camp Clayton I loved going on all of the equipment especially the flying fox. The flying fox, because of the view. 

I like the view because you can see everything that’s going on beneath you.

I liked it best about the flying fox because Mrs Gibson went on it. 

Also, I loved seeing all the other students enjoying the day.

I liked taking photos of all the other students enjoying that wonderful day.

The scariest part of the day was on the BIG swing. The BIG swing was the scariest most unexciting part of the day. 

It was exciting trying all these things in one whole day. 

After that fun and exciting day we had dinner there and we had a delicious dessert. For dinner we had roast potatoes, gravy and sausages, peas, corn on the cob and roast carrot. 

At the end of the day I was exhausted and excited at the same time.

Lennox 30/11/23

Grade 4 Tiagarra Excursion

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On Monday the 27th of November our Grade 4 students had the opportunity to visit the Tiagarra Aboriginal Centre in Devonport. There they had a bush walk and tasted a variety of bush tucker as well as an hour in the museum learning about the traditional aboriginal culture. The presenters were amazing and the children gained a much clearer insight into recognising traditional aboriginal culture. 

School News

We have had some wonderful initiatives shown throughout the school this term towards keeping our school grounds looking clean. It is terrific to see our younger students taking pride in their school and offering to pick up rubbish during their playtime. 

All Schools Triathlon Challenge

On Friday, 24th of November, a large contingent of Stella Maris students from Grades 3 to 6, attended the triathlon held at the Bluff in Devonport. The students were well supported by their parents and a special thank you to Mr Cunliffe who had the tent set up in an ideal location. The students demonstrated great sportsmanship, and determination and were very competitive. Well done to all participants its been wonderful to hear how much the children enjoyed the day.

Collingwood Cup Tour

On Monday this week, we had a surprise visit from the Collingwood Football Club who were on tour with the Premiership Cup. The students and staff were delighted and many overwhelmed to meet the ex-student of Stella Maris, Brodie Mihocek and hold the impressive cup. 

Huge thank you to the Collingwood Football Club for visiting our school. 

Stella Maris Giving Tree

Parent Resources

Important Upcoming Dates

Grade 6 Award Presentations - Monday 4th December 9.30am - 10.30am

Prep Wild on West Excursion - Wednesday 6th December 11.30am - 1.30pm

School Concert - Thursday 7th December 6.00pm

2024 Classroom Orientations - Monday 11th December - 10.00am - 10.45am

2024 School Book Packs Sent Home - Monday 11th December 

Grade 6 Graduation and Dinner - Monday 11th December from  5.30pm 

Last Day of Term 4 for Students - Wednesday 13th December

First Day of Term 1 2024 for Students - Wednesday 7th February 2024

Outside News