Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- Spiritual Reflection
- Religious Education News
- Merit Certificates, Principals Awards and School Medallions
- K-6 Reformed English Syllabus
- K-6 Mathematics Syllabus Reform
- Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L)
- SCC Sport
- Afternoon Dismissal - Wet Weather
- A Guide to Compass - For Parents and Carers
- Library News
- Year 5 2024 iPads for Learning
- St Columbkille's and St Joseph Parish Bulletin
- Young Engineers Illawarra Club
- Opportunity for families to apply for FREE NBN Services
- Italian Classes for Children
- Bulli PCYC - Christmas Donations
- Colours of Australia
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hope that you are well and have enjoyed our week.
Grandparents Day is always an outstanding community event and celebration for SCC and this year was no different. It was amazing to see so many parents, grandparents and great grandparents in attendance last Friday. Thank you to the students, staff, parents, grandparents and great grandparents for their many contributions and commitment in making the day such a success - we look forward to our next Grandparents Day on Friday 29 November 2024.
All Souls and All Saints Days is acknowledged respectively on 1st and 2nd of November. It was wonderful to celebrate All Saints Day Mass with our Year 5 and 6 students and staff. All Saints Day is dedicated to the saints of the Church. Thank you to Fr Patrick and our parish community for making our students and staff feel so welcome.
This afternoon, we held our final P&F meeting for 2023. Thank you to the P&F executive of Sarah Foster, Kelly Saveski and Rosie King for their tireless work, dedication, organisation and commitment to our school community. To our parents who have supported the P&F, we greatly appreciate your time, investment and assistance throughout the year. The P&F AGM is scheduled for Tuesday 13 February 2024 at 7pm.
We are currently in the process of finalising staffing for 2024. It is with mixed feelings and emotions that we announce that Mrs Fulwood, Mrs Runko and Mr Lattimore will be leaving us at the end of the year - congratulations to Mrs Fulwood on her decision to retire after 13 years at SCC, Mrs Runko will be moving to St Therese West Wollongong after successfully gaining a permanent full-time teaching position and change in career for Mr Lattimore as he will commence training as a Fire Fighter in January. Sue, Amy and Tom will certainly be missed at SCC and will always be part of our family. We wish them and their families every success and happiness moving into the future. Thank you.
- What do you want our school to continue doing? Sense of community, broad range of curriculum across Key Learning Areas and extracurricular opportunities
- What would you like our school to do less of? Reviewing and updating current homework policy
- What would you like our school to start doing? Enrichment programs and opportunities to support the diverse learning needs of students.
In Week 6, parents, carers and grandparents will have the opportunity to view our students workbooks in RE, English and Mathematics. Please take this opportunity to ask questions about your child/ren's learning, what they are most proud of and affirm their work.
Enjoy your weekend and we look forward to moving into Week 5 together.
Take care
Brad Colquhoun - Principal
In the Catholic tradition, All Saints’ Day is celebrated on 1 November. This day publicly venerates ‘all’ the saints, officially canonised or not, who lived heroically virtuous lives and who are worthy of imitation. That’s right - imitation!
By virtue of our baptism, we are all called to holiness. We are called to sainthood. By virtue of our original blessing, we are called to goodness, after all, God made the world and humankind and saw it was good.
However, for some, the idea of imitating and being saintlike might seem unattainable. Even laughable. “A saint? Who me? I’m no saint. I think you have the wrong person” - we might find ourselves thinking.
Like oranges to apples, we might find ourselves comparing our ordinary lives and less than flattering qualities, to those of the saints characterised by piety, charity, miracles, and marvellous feats. Some even accomplished in true superhero fashion through the power and blazing glory of God, as their stories are told.
Often these familiar stories of the saints focus on the most altruistic and heroic aspects of their lives. However, when we get to know the saints and their stories a little further we begin to see the journey to sainthood involves the full range of human emotion and experience. For a number of saints, the journey to holiness involved a great deal of brokenness and beginning again. We might call this a journey from transgression to transformation, whereby the mess of our lives gives rise to the message and mission of God.
Consider St Matthew, chosen by Jesus to be one of the twelve apostles and author of one of the four canonical Gospels. As a Jew collecting taxes for the Roman government his ‘priors’ involved tormenting those who could not pay.
Or St Francis of Assisi, the great teacher and steward of Creation. St Francis was known for being vain and self-centred, indulging lavishly in earthly pleasures, quite ironically.
His Holiness Pope Francis helps to put this into perspective. Once he was asked, “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?" And his most humble reply was, "I am a sinner.”
These words of Pope Francis, along with the secret lives and seldom-told stories of the saints, reveal these holy people are just like us. They are poets, healers, practical jokers, environmentalists, travellers, and finders of lost things. Each with their own stories, doubts, and struggles, but importantly created and called by goodness, for goodness.
Put simply by Mother Teresa, “Saints are only sinners who keep trying.” As we are reminded to imitate the goodness of the saints this week, we do so with the comfort of knowing that God’s love is never too far out of reach. Knowing we are always loved, our goal then is to simply keep trying for goodness. Venerated or not, this is the path to holiness.
Crazy Socks Fundraiser
A huge thank you to the Mini Vinnies and Mrs Barrett and Mrs Kipp for organising our annual 'Crazy Socks' fundraising event. There were certainly some fabulous creations this year! Approximately $450 was raised by our school community which is amazing, so thank you all. Our total amount will be forwarded to Catholic Mission who will make sure those in Timor -Leste will benefit.
Grandparents / Grandfriends Celebrations
Last Friday was a wonderful day for our staff, students, Grandparents and special elderly friends. Our Liturgy was a celebration of love and gratitude, with special reflections from our guestspeakers - Stella Howell (Year 4) and Imogen Howell (Year 1) alongside their grandmothers and great grandmothers, Jan ‘Ma’, Joan ‘Dinna’ and Eunice ‘Mama’. Open classrooms were once again an exciting time and the luncheon was a lovely event organised by Mrs Pascoe and Ms Howard. Thank you to everyone involved, especially Mrs Rita Finlay-Joseph for her photo slideshow.
National Recycling Week
This week takes place from Monday 13th to Saturday 19th of November. In 2023 we are asked to become better at recycling and managing our rubbish. St Columbkille's will have a special focus on this theme during the week as we continue to be stewards of God's creation.
Sacraments
It is almost time for our First Communicants to receive this special sacrament. Our final make up class is held on Monday 6th November at 3.30pm, followed by our retreat day on Tuesday 7th November. Students are to wear mufti clothing and bring their recess and drink bottle to school. Lunch (sausage sizzle) will be supplied by the parish Hospitality Group. All families should have registered for their weekend Mass by now. We look forward to celebrating on the weekends of Saturday 11th/Sunday 12th November, Saturday 18th/Sunday 19th November and Saturday 25th/Sunday 26th November. Please keep all our communicants in your prayers.
First Reconciliation enrolments for our Year 2 students should have been returned to the parish office by now. Student workbooks were sent home this week.
Keep the date Sunday 3rd December in your diary, as we celebrate our final Family/Parish Mass for 2023. Our school band will lead us and we appreciate their time and talents, under the guidance of Mrs Marguerite Andary. Come along and join us for this eucharistic celebration.
Christmas Concert & Celebrations
SAVE THE DATE: Wednesday 6th December 6-8pm
More details to come shortly!!!
Have a wonderful fortnight!
Mrs Jo Herring - Religious Education Coordinator
Merit Awards
Merit awards are given by all teaching staff and are presented at the Award Assembly each Friday. Awards are given for:
▪ “Core Value” - Fortnightly focus (one per class per week)
▪ Academic/behaviour/sport/social achievements (two per class per week)
▪ Specialist Lesson (three per week across K-6)
When children have received five (5) merit awards they will be presented with a Mary MacKillop Award. The children will be required to bring their five merit awards to school and send them to the office, via the office bag. When (3) Mary MacKillop Awards have been received a special school medallion will be presented.
Sticker Books
▪ All students at St Columbkille’s are issued with a sticker book. Stickers can be given for academic/behaviour/sport/social/achievements.
▪ Principal awards are presented at the Award Assembly.
▪ The reward steps for all stages is as follows:
|
10 stickers – Middle Leader Award |
20 stickers – Principal Award |
30 stickers – Middle Leader Award (Bronze) |
|
40 stickers – Principal Award |
50 stickers – Middle Leader Award (Silver) |
60 stickers – Principal Award |
|
70 stickers – Middle Leader Award (Gold) |
80 stickers – Principal Award |
90 stickers – Outstanding Achievement Award |
Each of these students has represented St Columbkille’s with pride, displaying skill and ability in their chosen sports. Well done.
Junior Gymnastics Championships
On Friday 27th October, Jett Hyslop from Year 2 competed in the South Coast A Team at the Junior State Gymnastics Championships in Sydney. She got a gold banding on all apparatus’s - floor, beam, bars and vault. Her team (comprising of five girls from the South Coast) placed 2nd overall taking home silver. Congratulations Jett!
Below is a reminder of our School Afternoon Wet Weather Dismmissal Procedures:
2:55pm - Call for children on car lines to move to the Basement from where they are taken by the teachers rostered on car lines to the covered area at the rear of the Parish Centre.
3:00pm - Call for children being collected by parents to go to the Hall under the supervision of Blue teachers. Gold teachers continue to supervise.
3:05pm - Bus children and After School Care groups to line up in the Basement.
3:10 – Play Space Drama students to move to the Basement (Wednesday Only). Walkers and bike riders to move to Front Cement with Gold teachers.
All staff need to assist with wet weather – Staff to assist with assigned dismissal areas as per ‘Teachers Afternoon Dismissal’ Roster.
STUDENTS BEING PICKED UP LATE
There has been a regular occurence of students who are waiting in the school grounds for their parent/carer to pick them up after school finishes.
At times, students are not picked up until 3.40pm - 4pm from the school office.
This is an important message for parents/carers to please be mindful of picking your children up ON TIME each afternoon by 3.20pm.
Tips for Parents:
1. Please communicate effectively with your child/ren about how they are getting home that afternoon. This avoids confusion with the office staff and the students at the end of day.
2. If you know you are going to be late to pick your child/ren up, please contact the school office on 4284 7987 and please give us as much time as possible so we are advised early on.
Thank you kindly for your cooperation.
Belinda Howard
Senior School Support Officer
Scholastic Book Club
Thank you to all of you who made purchases to the Book Club Magazine Issue #7. You should have received your orders by now, Friday afternoon at the latest.
Issue #8 of the Club Magazine will be sent home with students soon.
As always, thank you for supporting this resource fundraising initiative.
Scholastic Book Fair
We are absolutely delighted by the fabulous response to our recent Book Fair and we extend our thanks to everyone who participated in making it a resounding success. Your support has been truly wonderful.
The Book Fair resulted in a total of $4,538 funds raised. As we raised over $4000, a substantial sum of $1,588 will be designated as commission, which will be thoughtfully invested in acquiring books for our library and classrooms. This not only enhances the learning resources available to our students but also promotes a lifelong love of reading.
One key factor that undoubtedly contributed to the fair's success was its timing, coinciding with our Grandparents Day. We express our gratitude to the students who not only visited the Book Fair themselves but also took the initiative to bring their grandparents along!
Once again, thank you for your enthusiastic support and for helping us continue to provide valuable literary resources to our students. Your contributions have a lasting impact on their education and love for reading.
NSW Aboriginal Languages Week
In Week 3 we recognised the inaugural NSW Aboriginal Languages Week, celebrating the multitude of distinct indigenous languages in NSW. This annual event, observed from Sunday to Sunday during the week of October 24, aligns with the historic passage of the Aboriginal Languages Act in 2017.
The primary objective of this week is to shine a light on the cultural significance of Aboriginal languages, as we endeavour to bring them back from the brink, and to preserve them.
We invited students into the library during their lunchtimes to learn how to speak some Dharawal language. We played Dharawal word games and enjoyed learning words and phrases from a book and website by Dr Edwards, a Walbanja Woman, from Yuin Nation with Dharawal Nation Kinship ties.
Dr Edwards book "Dharawal: Words, Phrases and Activities" is a ground-breaking resource produced through decades of working with Dharawal and Yuin knowledge holders and we have copies in our library.
If you would like to learn Dharawal, or teach your children some words, please refer to Dr Jodi Edward's website:
https://www.dharawalwords.com.au/kinship
On her website, Dr Edward has provided an invaluable resource. She has painstakingly recorded every Dharawal word she has listed, ensuring that the pronunciation is accurately preserved. It is important to note she received permission from Dharawal Elders to teach the language in this manner.
“Keep languages alive and culture will thrive!”
Please see the Aboriginal Languages Trust website for more information -
https://www.alt.nsw.gov.au/whats-on/latest-news/aboriginal-languages-week-announced-in-nsw/
Mrs Carroll’s Musing
As we recently celebrated Grandparents Day, coupled with the Book Fair, I couldn't help but reflect on the importance of such community events, especially in light of the challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. These occasions are not merely gatherings; they are essential for the thriving heart of our school.
School events like these serve as a powerful unifying force, bringing together students, parents, teachers, and school staff. They create an environment where we all become part of a collective whole, fostering a sense of community and connectedness that can significantly enhance the overall school experience. In essence, they make us feel like we belong and that feeling is priceless.
Beyond their role in connecting us, community events play a pivotal role in cultivating a positive school culture. They establish an atmosphere where everyone feels valued, respected, and appreciated. This, in turn, leads to increased morale and satisfaction among students, parents, and staff. They're the building blocks of an environment where we all thrive.
Many of these community gatherings also serve as valuable fundraising opportunities. The funds raised are not just numbers; they translate into support for the school's initiatives, enrichment of our educational resources, and enhancement of our students' experiences. From educational materials to extracurricular activities, these funds provide the means to make our school an even better place for learning and growth.
In our diverse world, celebrating cultural diversity and inclusion is paramount. School community events often provide a platform for these celebrations. They enable our students to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of different backgrounds and perspectives, preparing them to thrive in an increasingly interconnected and diverse world.
But the significance of community events goes beyond culture and connection. They offer a fertile ground for skill development. Students, through participation in events such as public speaking, leadership roles, organisation, and teamwork, have the opportunity to cultivate essential skills that will serve them in their personal growth and future success. These gatherings encourage parents to actively engage in school events and in their child's education. This engagement can have a profoundly positive impact on students' motivation and academic performance, creating a powerful support system for their educational journey.
And let's not forget the fun! Community events provide not just a break from the regular school routine but an opportunity for students, parents, and staff to come together, have a good time, and revel in enjoyable experiences. These moments contribute to a positive school atmosphere and create lasting memories.
In essence, school community events are the lifeblood of a supportive and thriving educational environment. They promote unity, understanding, and the well-being of students, parents, and school staff. We come together not just to learn, but to grow, connect, and succeed as one community.
Thank you for being part of our SCC community and we look forward to more such enriching experiences together.
Best wishes to you all -
Mrs Katrina Carroll - Library Administrator
If you are looking at purchasing a new iPad for your child moving into Year 5 2024, the following link to EduCom It may be of interest. The link will allow you to view EduCom It prices and iPad models and if interested place an order. You may choose to use this price to help you shop around. There is no obligation to purchase through EduCom It.
Please note that wifi models are all that is required and devices with greater storage (GB) will last longer.
Further information regarding 1:1 iPad Learning in Stage 3 was shared via Compass.
Please feel free to contact me, shoud you have any questions.
Mrs Maria Disibio
Leader of Technology and Assistant Principal
Young Engineers Club at St Columbkille's Primary School
Young Engineers offers unique STEM programs where children have fun while learning critical skills for the digital age.
We aim to ignite a student's passion for science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by building Lego prototypes and Lega robots.
Please see the attached information for further details and for registration.
For more information please call 0421209892 or email iliawarra@young-engineers.com.au
School Student Broadband Initiative (SSBI)
To boost education opportunities and narrow the digital divide, the Australian Government, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts, is working with NBN Co to provide up to 30,000 families with no internet at home free NBN for 12 months.
To be eligible, a family must:
- Have a child living at home that is enrolled in an Australian school
- Have no active broadband service over the NBN network
- Live in a premise where they can access a standard NBN service
- Not have had an active NBN service during the previous 14 days
Families can either directly contact the National Referral Centre to have their eligibility assessed or be referred by a participating nominating organisation.
The first families were connected during Term One in 2023. The 12 months of free service begins from the day the service is activated for each family. The period in which a family can be nominated for the initiative has been extended to 30 April 2024.
The Government is supporting NBN Co’s implementation and delivery of this initiative with a $4.5 million grant.
To check your eligibility, follow these simple steps.
- Contact the National Referral Centre, operated by Anglicare Victoria, on 1800 954 610 (Mon-Fri, 10am-6pm AEDT) or at www.anglicarevic.org.au/student-internet.
- The National Referral Centre team will help assess your eligibility for the SSBI, by checking several things including your residential address and current financial situation.
- If eligible, you will be issued a voucher which can be redeemed at any of the participating SSBI retail service providers. The National Referral Centre will also be available to assist with contacting your SSBI retail service provider of choice and providing follow-up support.
Belinda Howard
Senior School Support Officer