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

Another school year has almost come to an end! It has been a year in which many blessings have been bestowed on us all and for this we can be eternally grateful. In 2023 each of the students at St Columbkille’s have had a chance to learn more about their Catholic religion and traditions, by immersion in class and grade teaching and learning opportunities. These students have also learnt what it means to be a faith-filled person by being involved in a number of out of class/school/parish opportunities. Both "learning about religion" and "learning to be religious" are equally important for the holistic development of each child. Thank you to everyone who has helped with and/or been involved in our liturgies/celebrations, parish events/sacraments and fundraising initiatives. We look forward to working with you again in 2024 by living out the gospel values of Jesus promoted at St Columbkille's Catholic School- Respect, Responsibility, Learning, Community, Celebration and Faith.  God bless and have a peaceful, happy and safe Christmas!

Advent

This weekend marks the third week of Advent, and next weekend the fourth and final week. The "Shepherds Candle" (pink) reflects the joy that comes through Jesus’ arrival, and through the salvation he has gifted us. It also highlights the joy the shepherds experienced when they received the good news about Christ’s birth. The final candle, the “Angel's Candle,” (purple) symbolizes peace. It reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.” 

Christmas Concert

An amazing night was had by everyone who attended our Christmas Celebration last Wednesday evening. The focus on the "Nativity Story" emphasised the true meaning of Christmas- the birth of God's Son – Jesus, who came to give us love, hope and joy. Highlighting this story through special Christmas songs was indeed wonderful, thanks Ms Patton for orchestrating this. As always a huge thank you to our school Band, the Cobras, with Marguerite leading some of our favourite Christmas songs. A number of students, parents and parishioners also enjoyed the staff choir, thanks SCC staff for allowing this to happen! To everyone who in some way, big or small, helped to bring our celebration to fruition a MASSIVE thank you, it truly was a community event with the students, staff, parents and parishioners involved. We are truly blessed in maintaining such strong collaborative partnerships.

Christmas Hampers

Our jam-packed St Vincent de Paul Christmas hampers have once again shown the generosity of our school community. The local chapter of Vinnies have been overwhelmed by the number of donations, which will certainly put a smile on many families faces this Christmas within the local Corrimal area. Thanks again from the bottom of our hearts.

Year 6 Graduation

Year 6 graduation, a special celebration filled with excitment for the students futures, yet tinged with sadness as we say goodbye to those we have known for the past 7 years. Congratulations, not only to our St Columbkille's award winners, but to all these Year 6 students for completing their primary years of learning. They have been wonderful ambassadors for our school and we look forward to seeing what their future holds.

Christmas Masses Corrimal & Bulli

St Columbkille's

Christmas Eve | Sunday 24th December 7:30pm Vigil MASS | 12 Midnight MASS Christmas Day |Monday 25th Dec | 9:30am MASS

St Joseph’s, Bulli

Christmas Eve | Sunday 24th December 5pm VIGIL MASS | 7pm VIGIL MASS Christmas Day | Monday 25th December 8:30am MASS | NB: NO Evening MASS

II Rite of RECONCILIATION Bulli: Wednesday 20th December at 6pm Corrimal: Thursday 21st December at 7pm

Merry Christmas and a Happy New year!

Mrs Jo Herring

- The final day of 2023 for students will be Friday 15th December 2023.

- Staff will return to school on Tuesday 30th January 2024.

- Students will return to school on Wednesday 31st January 2024.

- 2024 Kindergarten students will start their first day at St Columbkille's on Wednesday 7th February 2024.

Belinda Howard

Senior School Support Officer

Starting from the beginning of Term 1 2024, our school will be transitioning to a new online enrolment platform called Funnel.

This will remove the use of all paper forms.

Please take note of this particularly for sibling applications.

This new program will be effective for both parties to communicate effectively throughout the enrolment process.

The online application form will be accessible from the home page of our school website - https://www.sccdow.catholic.edu.au. 

Dear Parents and Carers,

School Fees will be due for payment in full by Wednesday 28th February 2024.

This is also when first instalments will be due. 

Statements should now have been sent to all parents/guardians. If you have not recieved your 2024 statement, please contact the SSSO Belinda Howard as soon as possible via email - howardb03@dow.catholic.edu.au. 

What is applied within the school fees?

Payment Plans

Parents have the option of going on a payment plan if they are unable to pay school fees in full at the start of each year. If parents are already currently paying by instalments there is no need to complete another Request to Pay by Instalment as your request carries over from year to year.

In order to go on a payment plan, a Request to pay by Instalment Form must be filled out by the parent and emailed to the Senior School Support Officer - howardb03@dow.catholic.edu.au. Alternatively you can also drop the form off to the school office. Parents have the option to pay either on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.

IMPORTANT: Please note, if you currently have a child at another school in the Diocese and you are paying by instalments at this location, you will not need to complete another Request to Pay by Instalment. The instalment request carries over from school to school with the same frequency of payment. EG: Weekly, fortnightly, etc.

Please contact Belinda Howard via email - howardb03@dow.catholic.edu.au or please call 4284 7987 to discuss this in further detail.

Financial Hardship

It is an important part of the Senior School Support Officer’s duty to implement strategies for families who may be experiencing financial hardship and may be finding it difficult to pay their school fees. If you are experiencing financial hardship, it is important to advise the Senior School Support Officer as soon as possible. A special form called a Diocesan Application for Fee Concession will need to be completed by the parent/carer.

Please contact Belinda Howard directly via howardb03@dow.catholic.edu.au or please call 4284 7987 to discuss this in further detail.

Kind regards,

Belinda Howard

Senior School Support Officer

Dear Parents/Carers

The safety and wellbeing of students is always our first priority. This includes protecting their privacy and respecting the wishes of parents and carers regarding the use of student photos, images, and works at all times.

At the start of each school year, you are asked to complete a form to provide your consent for images of your child to appear in various places (e.g., in school newsletters, social media, and promotional material).

In 2023, this form became digital, and you were asked to consent to an event in Compass. 

In the same way that you provided consent for your child in 2023, you will still be able to simply reply in the Compass app; however, in 2024, this consent will be provided in a new app feature called Compass Insight. Compass’ Insights module is a tool for gathering information from staff, students and parents that can be used for a variety of purposes.

What do you need to do?

During the Christmas vacation period, you will receive a new image consent Insight in the Compass app. Please click on the link provided and read the details of the Insight carefully, discuss it with your child, and once you have made your decision, answer the question to either provide or decline consent.

To ensure that no child misses out on having their photo taken as part of school life, we will occasionally send reminders to parents and carers who have yet to complete the Insight.

If you have any questions about this change or the image consent form in general, please contact the school, and we will be happy to discuss this further with you.

This information was provided by Anthony Rooskie (Information System SME - Finance, Facilities, ICLT and Planning) - Head Office. 

Kind regards,

Belinda Howard

Senior School Support Officer

With the warmer months upon us, it’s timely to remind students of the dangers of UV rays and the importance of sun safety.

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, and statistics show that melanoma is the most common cancer affecting young Australians aged 15 – 24 years. The good news is that skin cancer is highly preventable.

The new Sun and UV at School skin cancer resources will assist primary and secondary school students in making healthy, safe, and proactive choices regarding sun protection to reduce their risk of skin cancer.