Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope you and your family are well.  

Last week I had the privilege of attending camp with our Year 6 students. Our students were afforded the opportunity to challenge themselves with archery, vertical climbs and the Goliath or Giant swing and were entertained by a silent disco and movie night. Our Year 6 students settled into a great three days and the instructors and staff were very complimentary of our students’ respectful behaviours, team spirit and sense of fun. A huge thank you to Mrs Kipp, Mrs O'Connor, Mrs Sumner and Mrs Finney for giving up their personal and family time so that our students could participate in this learning experience. 

With Mrs Perre taking on the role of Acting Assistant Principal, we congratulate Mrs Melanie Stephenson for being the successful applicant of the Acting Middle Leader Two position.  Mrs Stephenson will continue to teach Year 3 Blue during this time and act in the role until the end of Term 2. I thank both Mrs Perre and Mrs Stephenson for taking on these leadership positions in our school.  

Well done to our Year 3 and Year 5 students and staff who completed NAPLAN throughout the week.  We look forward to communicating their results with you once we receive these in the coming months.  

Our Mini Vinnies team will continue to sell raffle tickets for our Easter raffle next week.  I thank our staff for the donation of Easter chocolates that have made up the many prizes.  The raffle will be drawn on Thursday next week.  

A great day was had at the Cross Country Carnival today.  We were blessed with perfect weather, and it was just a delight to see the joy, excitement and pride on our student's faces.  Thank you to Mrs Kipp, Mrs Olima, Mrs O'Connor and their team of helpers for the preparation and organisation of the day.  

As we lead into Holy Week, a time when “...grace that the Lord gives us so that we may open the doors of our hearts..." Pope Francis reminds us to go forth with love and with God's tenderness, respect and patience, "knowing that we offer our hands, our feet, our hearts, with God guiding us on the way."

I wish you, your family and your friends a holy and Happy Easter.  However, you celebrate or acknowledge Easter, may it warm your heart and may you feel God's presence.  

Happy Easter! 

Maria Disibio - Acting Principal 

PALM SUNDAY / HOLY WEEK

This Sunday the Church commemorates Palm Sunday, or Passion Sunday. It marks the start of Holy Week and commemorates Jesus' entry into Jerusalem on a donkey. As Jesus entered the city, crowds greeted him by waving palm branches, which is where the name Palm Sunday originated from. The event, recorded in all four Gospels — Matthew, Mark, Luke and John — marked the beginning of the end of Jesus' time on Earth.

On Monday 25th March at 1.30pm, all students in each grade will reenact Holy Week on our front cement area (renamed Balawarri). The students will present the important events of Jesus' life and death. An invitation is extended to all family members and friends of St Columbkille's to join us. Please bring along a chair.

We are extremely grateful to those businesses and families who have provided a donation towards this event. Thank you to the South Coast Cladding company and the Hammet and Park families.

Below are the dates and times for Holy Week within St Columbkille's Church:

ST COLUMBKILLE'S HOLY WEEK 2024

* 2nd Rite of Reconciliation: Thursday 21st March @ 6.30pm

* MASS of the Lord's Supper: Thursday 28th March @ 6.30pm (Adoration until 8.30pm)    Year 6 students especially invited

*Good Friday: Friday 29th March @ 10am Stations of the Cross

                                                 @ 3pm The Passion of the Lord

* Holy Saturday 30th March: THE GREAT EASTER VIGIL MASS @ 7pm

* EASTER SUNDAY 31st March @ 9.30am - The Resurrection of the Lord

HARMONY WEEK & DAY

This week St Columbkille's has acknowledged Harmony Week, with Harmony Day being celebrated yesterday. The theme for 2024 is 'Everyone Belongs'. It's a celebration that recognises Australia's diversity and brings people together from many different backgrounds. It's about inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. The students have designed their own logos, which are displayed in our entrance foyer, and were asked to wear "a splash of orange" yesterday. Thank you to Mrs Barrett, Mrs Page and Mrs Lattimore for organising our classwork and special project/event.

Wollongong Environmental Network (WEN) Day 

On Wednesday the 20th of March Miss Lauren Ah Tong (Wollongong Environment Network Teacher) and five year six students (Nate Elliot, Ariah Blue Channer, Khloe Jorgenson, Madison Stone and Chloe Copson) attended a ‘Primary Student WEN Day’ at St Paul’s Catholic Primary School Albion Park. The purpose of the day was to help young people connect their ecological/social justice actions with their prayer and worship – broadening their understanding of what their relationship with God means – it is within the context of community. The day also focused on providing a formation for students, giving them strategies and building their capacity so that they can be leaders of ecological actions in their schools. Before the day students made their own recycled name tags which they wore on the day, alongside their “No Sew Shirt Bag’’ made from an old t-shirt. At the end of the day, students were commissioned as Eco-Ambassadors and were presented with their WEN badges.

Miss Lauren Ah Tong

On Thursday 7th and Friday 8th March, Mrs Disibio and Mrs Perre facilitated two parent workshops: Reading and Mathematics. 

This was a great opportunity to share with our parents some information around the new K-2 and 3-6 Syllabuses for both English and Mathematics. 

We were able to unpack some research into why we teach reading the way the syllabus directs us too, as well as the implications this has for our students here at St Columbkille's. We also engaged in some fun Maths games which really got our brains into gear! Some of the foundational knowledge that is required in each of the stages in Primary School were discussed and explored through fun, hands-on games. 

A big thank you to those parents who were able to join us!

Mrs Christine Perre - Acting Assistant Principal 

Today's spotlight is on the second of the 'Big Six' keys to reading...Phonological Awareness.

Phonological awareness is the ability to hear the sounds within words. This involves children being about to hear:

• words and word spaces in language
• syllables (a unit of pronunciation with one vowel sound; for example, cat has one syllable, water has two syllables)
• rhyme (two or more words with the same ending sound; for example, ring, king, thing)
• alliteration (two or more words with the same beginning sound; for example The boy buzzed around as busy as a bee.)
• phonemes (the individual sounds within a word; for example, dog has three phonemes, d-o-g).

Being able to hear or ‘isolate’ these sounds gives children a foundation for learning to manipulate the sounds of sentences and words as they learn to read and spell.

Families can support their child at home with their Phonological Awareness by:

• Reading aloud books or poems with rhyming words at the end of lines or sentences - encourage your child to join in and predict the next rhyming word.
• Listen for and clap with the syllables of familiar and new words, for example, jump-ing, wa-ter, ha-ppi-ness, wee-kend.
• Sing songs, say nursery rhymes, chants, riddles, silly poems, tongue twisters and jokes.

See our next newsletter for the next 'Big Six'... Phonics.

Mrs Christine Perre - Acting Assistant Principal

Thank you for ensuring your child attends school each day wearing the correct school uniform.

At St Columbkille’s the wearing of a school uniform:
● provides an opportunity to build school pride, inclusiveness and defines our school identity within the community
● increases the personal safety of students and staff by allowing easier recognition of visitors and potential intruders in the school
● promotes the health and safety of students by identifying items necessary for particular activities
● includes items that are functional, affordable, comfortable and appropriate for wide ranging activities.

With the upcoming change to the Winter Uniform in Week 3 of Term 2, please familairise yourself with the expectations for Winter. 

Please find attached the school uniform policy for more information.

Mrs Christine Perre - Acting Assistant Principal

The Parent-School Partnership Framework is available in six additional languages to help support you and your family. 

The Framework is available in Vietnamese, Hindi, Nepali, Malayalam, Tagalog and Arabic. They are all available for download from the below link:

Last week we began Chess Club, with 20 students attending, and this week we welcomed nearly 40 students! Chess Club occurs each Thursday in the MD Hall for Years 4-6. After a few warm-up games, we will begin a tournament to discover our champions! With the increasing numbers, we would welcome any donations of chess sets should you have any sets at home that you no longer need.

Earlier in the term a group of Dancers participated in 'Making a Music Video with Motion Capture', organised by choreographers at the Sydney Opera House. The video is available here.

Today I have liaised with the Diverse Learning Coordinator at Illawarra Diggers in Corrimal and we will have an opportunity to share some artwork with the residents at the Diggers, and some of our talented artists will meet with the residents each term so they can also share their artwork with us. We will also have some of our interested crafters join with their knitting and crochet group, particularly as we prepare to support the St Vincent de Paul Winter Appeal with knitted goods.

Michelle Lace - Leader of Enrichment

The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge has begun and closes on Friday 23rd August. Your child/ren will have received a letter yesterday, Thursday, with instructions for logging into their PRC Reading Record to record their books. 

We are going to be encouraging all students to take part in this wonderful initiative as it’s achievable for every one of them. The aim of the challenge is to encourage a love of reading for pleasure whilst experiencing quality literature.

Below is a table displaying the number of books students need to read and log to complete the challenge.

PRC book lists can be found on the PRC website

For Kindergarten to Year 2 students, books can be read to them. 

PRC listed books may be read by teachers in the K-2 years. I will ask teachers to notify me if so and I will put these in the newsletter so parents can check if their child has logged the book in their individual reading record. (Please do not worry if you are not able to do this).

Our library books which are on the PRC lists are labelled to aid selection and I will also be putting tubs of books together for easy access. We need to make this reading challenge as accessible as we can for our students.

Our collaborative challenge is getting students to log into the PRC site to complete their reading record. I will be giving regular reminders in the newsletter as well as discussing supportive strategies for students with teachers.

Please see the PRC website for books lists, tips and further details.

If you have any queries please contact me direct.  

Katrina Carroll - Librarian

Wollongong Dioceses Rugby League Trials

On Friday 8 March, along with 50 other students from the Wollongong Diocese, students from our school attended the Diocese Rugby League Trials. The students were put through some drills at the beginning of the day and they were then split into four teams who then played a number of Rugby League tackle games. During the games the students were assessed by the position they were individually competing for by the NRL and Diocese staff for their overall skill, performance, commitment and respect during the day. 

From the 50 students competing on the day, 16 students were selected to represent the Wollongong Dioceses in the Rugby League Open Side. The four students from St Columbkille's who were competed on the day played amazing and all were selected as part of the Wollongong Open Rugby Team, representing the Wollongong Dioceses Mackillop Trials at Canberra on May 10th. The students who compete at the Mackillop have the opportunity to be selected for the NSWPSSA Rugby League team.

 
Congratulations to Sid Landow, Nixon Breakspear, Kade Bloom and Hudson Bennett.  

Swimming Selection Trials

Congratulations to the following students who swam at the Diocesan Swimming Selection Trials on Monday. 

Junior boys relay - Finn G, Lennox E, Cooper M, Henry S: 5th

Senior girls relay - Milla B, Isabella M, Stella H, Mackenzie S: 3rd

Jett H - 9 years 50m Freestyle: 5th, 50m Backstroke: 7th

Stella H - 11 years 50m Freestyle: 3rd, 50m Backstroke: 3rd, 50m Butterfly: 5th, 50m Breaststroke: 7th

Lennox E - Junior 50m Breastroke: 3rd

Sophie C - Senior 50m Breaststroke: 2nd

Nate E - Senor 50m Breaststroke: 3rd

Lennox E - Junior 200m Individual Medley: 4th

 

Congratulations to Sophie C on her selection to the Wollongong Diocesan Team. Good luck at the upcoming Mackillop Trials Sophie!

Carla Olima - PDHPE Teacher

2024 Climbing NSW and ACT State Titles

On Friday afternoon I left Year 6 camp early and travelled up to Sydney for the Speed State Titles. After two hours of competing I came first in the youth C female speed titles. On Saturday I went to the Lead State Titles. We had two qualifiers. I topped (finished the climb) and in the second qualifier, I fell off halfway. I then made it into the finals on Sunday. We were in isolation so we couldn't see anyone do the climb. The last climb was extremely difficult. Nobody made it to the top. On that last climb, I fell half way. I came third out of the youth C females titles. On Saturday I had the privilege to meet Campbell Harrison and judge some climbs with his mother who gave me some really good advice to be selected for more competitions. I also met many Para climbers, three people with one leg and a man who canyons, which means he climbed the whole climb without using his legs. But the most inspiring person I met was a girl called Sophie who had very low vision and communicated through an earpiece. It really showed anyone can do anything.

Ariah Blue

In the quiet of a Thursday night, past ten,

Mrs. Carroll sits with pen in hand, again.

The deadline looms, the hour grows late,

Yet her article for the newsletter mustn't wait.

With ADHD, a constant companion by her side,

Procrastination's lure is hard to override.

But Mrs. Carroll, resilient and strong,

Refuses to let her focus go wrong.

She takes a breath, clears her mind,

Embracing the challenge, she'll be just fine.

For within her, a creative spark ignites,

As she turns her struggle into poetic flights.

With each word penned, she takes a stand,

Against the constraints of time's demanding hand.

Her library article begins to take shape,

A testament to perseverance, not escape.

For Mrs. Carroll knows this dance too well,

Between distraction and the urge to excel.

But she refuses to let her ADHD define,

The brilliance of her spirit, so divine.

As World Poetry Day draws near,

She revels in the words she holds dear.

For in her struggle, she finds her voice,

A celebration of her unique choice.

So here's to Mrs. Carroll, honest and true,

Turning chaos into art, through and through.

For in her journey, we all can see,

The beauty of embracing ADHD's glee.

Best wishes to you all from the library - 

Katrina Carroll- Librarian

The Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP) recognises that families of children with differing abilities require targeted advocacy and support.

The CCSP Diverse Learning Working Party has developed a valuable resource to assist parents of children with diverse learning needs. This second edition includes updates and advice following a period of consultation and gathering of feedback from parents and schools. It also provides additional information for parents of secondary students, government support and post-school success.

A copy of the guide can be found below.

https://nsw.childsafetyhub.com.au/handbook/