Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that you are safe, well, and that both you and your child/ren have enjoyed what has been a successful and thoroughly enjoyable start to Term 1 2022.  It has been brilliant to see the school come to life again with the enthusiasm, joy and energy that our students bring. Thank you to both our parents, grandparents and staff for their support in making the start to 2022 such a successful and positive one.

We welcome many new families to our school community. Welcome to the Zikic, Reid, Jurjevic and Richardson families. Welcome to the Arroyo, Benham, Boater, Burns, Carlon, Cauduro, Davis, D'Crus, De Gori, Dincsoy, Good, Jacobs, Lobban, Martin, Panetta, Quick, Schafer, Suyasa, Tsekouras, Witt, and Zappia families, our new Kindergarten families.

On Tuesday, we welcomed Kindergarten 2022 to our school community. Thank you to our staff, parents and grandparents for their organisation, care and commitment in making this possible. To our new and Kindergarten families, thank you for making our school, St Columbkille's part of your learning journey.

In relation to staffing, we welcome our new staff members Mrs O'Connor (2G), Mr Lattimore (1B) and Mr Lowrie (5B). Adelaide, Tom and Adam, will be wonderful additions to our school community and we look forward to learning with and from them over the course of the year.

Mrs Barratt started her maternity leave on Wednesday. We wish for Alyssa, Andrew and Rylan every success and happiness with their impending new addition to the Barratt family. All the very best Alyssa.

Congratulations Mrs Herring and Ms Emmett for successfully gaining a $2000 grant for our SEMP project. The focus of this project will be developing and/or improving grade-based outdoor learning spaces.  

“The capacity to learn is a gift; the ability to learn is a skill and the willingness to learn a choice.”

Last weekend, the school was treated by GermGuard - an antimicrobial treatment and protect program that support our existing cleaning processes. All high touch surfaces were treated and will aid as a protective layer against germs. This was a school initiative in further support of safety protocols and procedures as we transition back to school. Please refer to the attached 'GermGuard' article for further information. 

Thank you for your ongoing support in testing our students and the collection of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs). We are currently distributing our 2nd rounds of RAT kits. If you were unable to collect your kits this week, please contact the office to arrange collection. We greatly appreciate this.

Student Leadership Presentation will be held on Thursday 3 March at 2:15pm. We are hoping that parents and students K-6 will be able to attend as we continue to work under current COVID-19 restrictions. Further information regarding the presentation will be available closer to the day.

Congratulations to former St Columbkille's students - Lily King, Sabine Abou-Fassa, Aiden Colquhoun (Holy Spirit College) and Mia Begic from St Mary Star of the Sea College's for their outstanding Higher School Certificate (HSC) results.

Aiden (Electrotechnology) and Mia (Business Services) were named in the Illawarra Top Achievers and Sabine received a $20000 scholarship to attend University of Wollongong to study a Bachelor of Mathematics Education from Catholic Education Office, Wollongong. Lily, Mia and Aiden all received an ATAR above 90. Congratulations to our former students and their families. We are extremely proud of their achieivements and wish them every success moving forward.