Community
Sustainability
In his Catholic Social Teaching encyclical (n. 15), Laudato Si’: On Care for our Common Home, Pope Francis entreats ‘All of us’ to ‘cooperate as instruments of God for the care of creation, each according to his or her own culture, experience, involvements and talents’ (n. 14). He reminds us that the forgiving earth, our ‘sister’, ‘now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her.’ Laudato Si’ (n. 2).
(Education for Sustainability in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, 2015)
At Stella Maris we are taking steps towards the goal of embedding sustainability in everything we do and becoming a more sustainable school. Since 2012, we have been registered as a ResourceSmart School. Guided by our facilitators from CERES, we have participated in programs offered by various organisations that focus on environmental sustainability. We have established networks throughout the community and with other local schools. Some such programs include the Teaching and Learning for Sustainability Leadership Program (through the Port Phillip Eco-centre), the ‘I Sea: I Care’
Ambassador Program with the Dolphin Research Institute and our innovative whole school approach to waste management. These, along with participation in initiatives such as Active Travel days (Ride 2 School Day and Walktober) and maintaining our chicken community and Kitchen Garden have been incredibly successful over such a short timeframe. The main benefits seen from all such programs so far are the changes in attitude and enthusiasm from our children and staff. Everyone is on board!
In time, Stella Maris aims to achieve a 5 star sustainability rating as a ResourceSmart School. Our ultimate goal is to promote student ‘Voice and Choice’ and develop a culture of young leaders, actively engaged in making a difference with a ‘Think Global – Act Local’ attitude; Children with a growing awareness of local and worldly environmental issues, and skills to pass on to other children through a ‘Kids teaching Kids’ approach.
Current Projects:
- Composting waste
- Maintaining a chook shed
- The creations of our ‘Peace Garden’
- Observing bird boxes
- Planting, maintaining and harvesting our Kitchen Garden
- ‘Chop and Chat’ composting (Year 3)
- Teaching and Learning For Sustainability leadership program with the Port Philip Eco-centre (Year 6)
- ‘I Sea, I Care’ Ambassador Program with Dolphin Research Institute (DRI) (Year 6 School Captains)
Find out more about our partners:
CERES https://sustainability.ceres.org.au/
DRI https://www.dolphinresearch.org.au/
Port Phillip Eco Centre https://www.ecocentre.com/
Would you like to view a copy of the Education for Sustainability in the Archdiocese of Melbourne framework? Contact truyg@smbeaumaris.catholic.edu.au
Parents & Friends Association
The Stella Maris School Parents and Friends Association is a friendly, social group of parents and guardians who meet regularly and help the school in a variety of ways.
The P & F aims to:
- arrange practical ways and means of contributing to the material and social development of the Stella Maris School Community.
- organise functions for the children only, children and parents, or for parents alone which will help all members of the school community to get to know one another well and thus facilitate the development of a genuine community. This shall be done through social, educational or community functions and it should aim to use the talents, skills and expertise of as many members of the school community as possible.
- be a fund-raising body which endeavours to raise monies to provide for those extra school facilities, furnishings and equipment, which cannot be supplied by normal school finances.
Some of the functions include:
- End of term Hot Dog Days
- Colour Run fundraiser
- Themed parent fundraising function each year
- Student disco
- Family movie night
- Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations
- School Uniform Shop
- Scholastic book club organisation
- Christmas carols evening
- Year level parent dinners
Education Board
Governance and Authority
Parish
Within the provisions of Canon Law, the parish priest in consultation with the parish community is responsible for providing for the Catholic education of parish children and young adults as well the catechetical formation of the faithful and outreach to those who are no longer practising their faith or who do not profess the Catholic religion.
The Stella Maris School Education Board (SMSEB) provides advice to the parish priest within the context of the constitution and the vision statement.
Parish Primary School
With the approval and under the direction of the Archbishop of Melbourne, Stella Maris Primary School, has been established to provide Catholic education, according to the precepts, teachings and practices of the Catholic Church.
This school is administered by the parish priest of Nazareth Parish under the supervision of the Archbishop of Melbourne and is acknowledged as Catholic by his authority.
The governance of this school is undertaken by the parish priest with the support of the principal.
The purposes of the SMSEB are to:
(a) act as a forum for discussion on matters concerning education in the parish primary school
(b) provide a link between the parish priest, principal, teachers and parishioners in relation to the provision of Catholic education in the parish community
(c) promote community development by fostering a strong interrelationship between parish and the parish primary school, Catholic secondary colleges and pre-schools.
Welcome
Ordinary and extraordinary meetings are open to School Education Board members only.
All members of the school community are welcome to attend the Stella Maris School Education Board Annual Meetings.
The SMSEB should meet at least 4 times per year and at least once in every three months. These dates are advertised in the school newsletter.
Agenda Items
Members of the school community may request that an issue may be added to the agenda, however, as the SMSEB is advisory in nature, the principal and parish priest will decide whether it is added to the agenda.
Communication
In general, correspondence to the Board via email should be addressed to info@smbeaumaris.catholic.edu.au The administration Officer will pass correspondence to the Board Secretary for distribution to members.
Constitution
Please read the Stella Maris School Education Board Constitution, below:
The Education Board consists of:
- Parish Priest
- Chairman
- Secretary
- Father’s Representative
- Principal
- Deputy Principal
- General Members
- Sub-Committee Members
Click below to access the minutes of the SMSEB (Password protected in Other Documents section)
School Uniform
Our school has a very smart uniform, which visitors to the school often comment on. It is compulsory for children to wear the correct uniform. Not only does this automatically give each child equal status and prevent competition and discrimination, it also is a sign of respect and order.
School uniforms are checked regularly, particularly sock colours and hats. Parents whose children are wearing the incorrect uniform are contacted by staff. If children are unable to wear the correct uniform for a short time, a note to the classroom teacher is expected. The wearing or bucket style school hats became compulsory for all students, as we phased out the legionnaire and broad rimmed styles. The newsletter will contain a list of afternoons on which the Uniform Shop is open. The Uniform Shop is located in the Multi Purpose Room.
Please open the files below to read the School Uniform Policy and obtain the Uniform Order form
Lunch Orders
Classroom Cuisine is an Online alternative to the traditional lunch orders we have had at Stella Maris in the past, offering a convenient, user friendly service; creating, preparing, packing and delivering high quality school lunches at the most affordable price. They provide nutritious, well balanced, tasty food for our children’s lunches.
Their Mission is to delight both their ‘Diners’ with the quality of their lunches as well as the schools that offer their service by ensuring it’s hassle free for them. They have been operating since 2009 and now service more than 85 Schools.
Their products may contain egg, milk, oats, rye, soy and wheat products. They take great care in the preparation of products however due to the nature of processing, trace amounts of sesame and nuts may be present in some products. Again, your child’s meal should never be shared with another child.
The kitchen staff are supervised by accredited “Food Safety Supervisors” and adhere to all rules and regulations governing safe food preparation under the guidelines of Boroondara City Council Environmental Health Services, the Victorian Food Act 1984 (State) and FSANZ Food Standards Code (Federal).
Classroom cuisine post their Menu at the start of Term for the Whole Term and you are able to ORDER IN ADVANCE and CANCEL AN ORDER if for some reason you don’t require it (e.g. child illness/school activity). THEY DO NOT ACCEPT LATE ORDERS! You will be unable to access the Menu to place orders for the current day after 8.30 am. The suppliers log in to their system at and supply only the items of food ordered for that day.
Lunch orders are available each Friday. Click on the link below to place an order.
https://classroomcuisine.com.au
Parish
Our Parish Priests
Moderator and Parish Priest:
Fr David Cartwright
Parish Priest:
Fr Dean Mathieson
Assistant Parish Priest:
Fr James Baptist
Website: Bayside Catholic Mission
Email: bayside@cam.org.au
To speak with the parish priest, please contact St Joan of Arc Brighton on 9593 1703
Please feel free to contact the Stella Maris parish office at rickettspoint@cam.org.au. If you have any urgent enquiries, ring on the parish number on (03) 9589 2271.
Office Hours:
Tuesday to Friday 9.00am to 1.00pm
Outside School Hours Care
We are happy to partner with Team Kida to provide our outside school hours care program.
To find out more about the program at our school, including hours of operation, fees and how to register please visit their website. (see below)
Contact Details
Team Kids Head Office:
1300 035 000
Team Kids Website: teamkids.com.au
Hours of Operation
Before School Care (Beaumaris Primary School) 7:00am – 8:45am
After School Care (Beaumaris Primary School) 3:15 pm – 6:00 pm
Bookings
When completing your enrollment details online, you will indicate what type of booking you need to make. We have two types of bookings:
Permanent Booking: These bookings are made as 1 session or more per week for an entire term. Permanent bookings will automatically carry over until notification of a change is received by our Customer Service Team.
Casual Booking: These bookings can be made right up to the session commencement time. The Casual Booking fee attracts an additional cost on top of the Permanent Fee, as we will need to arrange for additional food, resources and potentially staff.