Principal's Address

Dear Families,

It is a very busy and exciting time at Stella Maris and I encourage all families to read this newsletter and access the parent Calendar.

Previously I have communicated the importance of encouraging independence with your children to foster self-esteem, confidence and social skills. 

In this newsletter I have been inspired by our Year 5 students with their work displayed below, after the Inform and Empower sessions. They mention the risks and benefits of screen time. We are living in a world with expanding use of computers and screens are known to cause a cognitive load.

Children (and adults) need sleep to be fit and healthy to begin each day. However, parents need to be aware of children looking at screens prior to going to sleep. Does your child have trouble going to sleep? Are they looking at a screen close to sleep time?  If the answer is YES, you may consider removing access to the screen for 30-60 minutes beforehand. Over a period of time, has this allowed your child to go off to sleep quicker? As an alternative, you could try reading a book together with your child. 

If you resonate with this idea; creating new routines can be challenging but very worthwhile.

Year Five

Following the Inform and Empower webinar about developing healthy habits when using devices and the internet, Year 5 researched the positive and negative impacts of screen time on physical health, sleep, learning, attention, friendships and wellbeing. 

As part of our current learning about information reports, students organised their research in a spider diagram. This will serve as the planning stage for an information report, in which they will develop each section into a factual paragraph using a title, introduction, subheadings and conclusion.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the following Principal Award recipients:

• Week 4 - Charlotte L from Year 3

Week Six Update

Please watch the following video about Book Week and new Smartboards.

Stella Maris Podcast - Episode 4

Click on the following link for Episode 4 of our student podcast

Our students speaking about current and future events. It is really worth listening to.

Compliance Review

Stella Maris participated in a mandated compliance review this week, conducted every five years. It is overseen by the VRQA and covers areas such as: Risk, Child Safety, Curriculum, Enrolments, Employment, Minimum Standards, Attendance and Onsite Visitors. It has provided a wonderful opportunity to review all aspects of our school. We are yet to receive the official review but we are looking forward to outstanding feedback on the compliance of school practices at Stella Maris. We are always looking for ways to improve but as a school, we are proud of the early feedback about our school.

Book Week

Students are currently visiting the Book Fair and preparing lists of books they would like to purchase. The Book Week Costume Parade will be at 9am, Monday August 24 followed by the assembly from 2:30pm. Thankyou to Mrs Louise Moore for her coordination and immense efforts. Please watch the following video for an outstanding collage of Book Week: Book Week

New Website

Click on the following link to access our new website.

Simon Millar

Principal

#CourageAlways