On Wednesday 28 August,  the school buzzed with excitement as students eagerly participated in the annual Father’s Day stall. For just $5, they purchased thoughtful gifts for their dads—a token of appreciation and love. The children eagerly selected items ranging from BBQ aprons, coffee mugs, sunglasses and bells to name a few. Each gift carefully chosen to bring a smile to their fathers’ faces.

To continue the festivities, the P&F organised a delightful Father’s Day breakfast this morning. Dads’ gathered with their children on the school oval, sipping coffee, eating egg and bacon burgers and delicious croissants whilst basking in the warmth of the morning.

Following this heart warming start to the day, the entire school assembled for a special liturgy. Thank you to Fr Isaac for celebrating the liturgy with us. We love sharing these special days with our parish priests.

Prayers, songs, and blessings were offered to all dads, celebrating the role of fathers in our lives. And of course, no Father’s Day would be complete without a good-natured dad joke! To cap it off, Year 6 students challenged dads to a spirited kickball competition. It was a great morning celebrating our dads’, those who were present, and those in our hearts.

Stella Maris Primary School 

Excitement levels are rising as preparations continue for performances of our 2024 school musical, The Little Mermaid.

Already, many months of work have taken place, with heavy-duty decision making around which musical to select; script preparation; auditions; music rehearsals; acting workshops; choreography; set, props and costume design.  Our school Performing Arts team and 150 student performers are getting very excited as they see the results of their hard work take shape.  We are so grateful to have a fantastic team of volunteer parents and staff, working behind the scenes, tutoring, measuring, cutting, painting, pasting, sewing and supporting.  Our little performers are having a blast, learning lots and enjoying every minute.

The big news this week, is that our ticket sales have opened!!

You can purchase tickets for any of our public performances on the following website:  https://events.humanitix.com/stella-maris-2024-musical.

All performances will be held in the Stella Maris School Hall, commencing promptly at 6.30pm. The show is estimated to end at around 9.30pm (including a 20-minute interval).

Siena Catholic College  

During the week, our staff have been engaged in a series of meetings and workshops to help them both reflect on where we are, and look ahead to our preferred future. Collaborative planning in the teaching and learning space was undertaken, as was a whole staff deliberation on what needs to be considered in the formation of our new strategic plan. Students also engaged in workshops led by Catholic Mission and BCE’s Student Voice initiative.

On Wednesday, our Year 7 students joined the St Catherine’s community for mass. In his homily, Fr Isaac reminded us that we are called to be the sort of authentic people that others want to be around … pointing us to saints, like St Augustine, who show us how to spread the love, mercy and joy of God, and so make the world a better place.

On Friday’s Student Free Day, ten of our staff members travelled to Cherbourg to visit the Ration Shed Museum. This was a great opportunity to explore the past and present of South East Queensland’s largest Aboriginal community.