Page 38 - Bulletin 13 2009

35

To keep up with the age of technology the children go to computer lessons on a regular
basis.

The school is fully co-educational from pre-school to grade Seven and many family

groups of brothers and sister are present in all classes. The Catholic ethos is firmly

upheld in the school and the children have daily Religious Education classes and in
those classes are also taught about other religions and how to respect them. At year end,

the children are encouraged to bring a toy and a tin of food for the poor to a special
Carol Service, thus teaching them to care for the less privileged in the community. The

legacy of loyalty at Star is such that Past Pupils have returned to work there as teachers
and Past Pupils bring there own children to be pupils at Star.

Such a brief outline is the story of the school by the sea which bears the lovely name
Star of the Sea. Founded on rock, built on rock, it has weathered the storm for one

hundred years.

That rugged sincerity, simplicity and friendliness of her great and indomitable Founder

are still evident today as more than one hundred and thirty years have passed since he
arrived in Kalk Bay “to relieve for six months”.

The St. James Mission School

There is evidence that a school for the children of the fisherfolk had existed at Kalk Bay
until 1874, whereafter Fr. Duignam arrived and moved the school for weekday classes

to the small sea-facing vestry at the back of the first Catholic Church which had been
built at St. James in 1858.

Here he taught religious doctrine and the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic up to

Standard Two. His class consisted of about 10 to 15 pupils. After Standard Two the

children left school. The boys helped their fathers in the fishing industry, while the girls
attended to the home while their mothers worked as domestic servants and later in the