Dear Parents and Carers,

Hope that you are well and enjoying the countdown to Christmas and the holiday break.

We travel together into the 3rd week of Advent. This season signifies the coming of Jesus, and Advent being a season of preparation for His arrival. While we regard Advent as a joyous and festive season, it is also a time of preparation, prayer, giving and service to others in our care. 

"Advent is the time we are given to welcome the Lord who comes to encounter us, and to look forward and prepare ourselves for Christ's return" - Pope Francis.

Year 6 Graduation 

Week 10 has been a sensational cumulation of events, celebrations and activities that our school community should be most proud of and have collectively enjoyed. One of the many highlights was held on Wednesday evening, where we formally acknowledged Year 6 and their families at the Graduation and Awards evening in the MD Hall. 

Thank you to Father Anthony, Mrs Herring, Mrs Disibio, Mrs O'Connor, Mrs Barrett, Mrs Page, Ms Howard and Mrs Pascoe for their organisation and preparation. To the Graduation Team of Melissa Docherty, Fran Doherty, Zora Casarotto, Mary Munn, Palma Calmasini, Julia Noonan, Trudie Bell, Naomi and Scott Cram, Jodie Hillhouse, Kirsten and Sam Immens, Tienelle Ireland, Kylie Gale and Ange Mamouris, thank you for your generosity of time, work and support. To Nicole Akhurst and Fiona Lally for creating and publishing the Year 6 Graduation Book, Nicky Bishop for the 2023 Graduation cake, Year 5 Parents Graduation Cermemony Helpers, and to Sarah Foster and the P&F for acknowledging our leaving families with a farewell gift. It was an outstanding collective effort for a most memorable night.

Congratulations to the following students who received our Year 6 Graduation Awards:

• Monsignor Downey Faith Award  -  Indira Lozenkovski
• Anthony Devlin Citizenship Award -  Vogue Catlin
• Ebony Giraldi Learning Award  - Claude Vincent 
• Ryan Park Keira Leadership Award - Livinia McLuskey
• Alison Byrnes Community Spirit Award - Alissa Bishop

There are a number of families who will be leaving our school community in 2023. Thank you for your contributions during your time at St Columbkille’s. I hope that you take with you many fond memories and I wish you every happiness and success for the journey that lies ahead. You will always have a place here at St Columbkille's, Corrimal.

We acknowledge and farewell the following SCC Class of 2023 families - Barry, Bighetti, Bishop, Calmasini, Cameron, Catlin, Cooper, Dalton, Docherty, Doherty, Dorin, Franco, Gale, Harris, Hillhouse, Immens, Mamouris, Minogue, Munn, Munoz-Letham, Niew, Nightingale, Potter, O’Brien, O’Rourke-Bocking, Russell, Smith, Ryan, Tadros, Tropea and Whitton’s.

Student Leadership 2024

The Student Leadership Teams for 2024 have been elected and announced. Congratulations to each of our Year 5 students on their respective leadership roles. We look forward to working with each team and know that they will do an outstanding job in upholding our Core Values and supporting our school community. Please refer to the Student Leadership Team article for a full list of students and their respective leadership teams.

Outstanding Student Acheivement 

The annual NSW St Vincent dePaul Christmas Card competition has been held with over 500 entries posted. Amity Fuller's 4G card design was chosen as the winning artwork for the Southern NSW region. Amity’s design will be printed as part of  the official Members Cards for Christmas 2024. WIN News visited SCC today to interview Amity and discuss with her this outstanding achievement. We congratulate Amity on the award, her creativity and success in this state-wide competition. Outstanding.

Mighty Mini Vinnies

To members of our Mini Vinnies Team (Sophie, Kade, Harper, Zara, Ruby, Ethan and Darcy), Mrs Kipp, Mrs Herring, Mrs Russo and parents, thank you for supporting the St Vincent dePaul Christmas Appeal. Peter and Lee Reardon collected a trailer load of food items that will support the many people throughout the area in need of support and care over Christmas. The Mrs Russo inspired 'Return and Earn' netted a return of $66.90 to the St Vincent dePaul Christmas Appeal. Congratualtions to our amazing recylcers. Thank you for your very kind and generous donations.

P&F 2024

We have a number of P&F events to look forward to moving into 2024. Thank you to P&F President, Sarah Foster for her support of these events. Please refer to the P&F Proposed Events and Dates 2024 article.

Staff V Students Game

We enjoyed our annual Staff V Students game. Thank you to Ms Finlay-Joseph and Mrs Kipp for umpiring and scoring a competitive game. It was lots of fun and played in good spirits. Thank you to Sarah Foster and the P&F Team for their gift of  'Snow Cones' for each of our students after today’s game. 

Wishing our wonderful school community a Merry Christmas filled with joy, laughter, and cherished moments with loved ones. Thank you for your dedication, understanding, support, and hard work throughout 2023.

Wishing you a very 'Merry Christmas' with family and friends. Enjoy the holiday break.

Take care

 Mr Brad Colquhoun - Principal