Dear Parents and Carers, 

It was wonderful to celebrate our Father figures this morning with picnic breakfast followed by our liturgy and open classrooms.  Thank you to all who were able to join us and to Mrs Herring and her team for the oragnisation of the Liturgy.  We hope you enjoyed the time with the children and we hope you enjoy your Father's Day.  

I thank those families who have transitioned into the summer uniform in the correct manner. The way our students proudly wear their uniform is often discussed positively at enrolment interviews.  

Next week many of our Year 3 students will prepare for receiving the Sacrament of Holy Communion through particpation in the Communion Retreat Day.  I ask our whole school community to keep these students in our thoughts and prayers. The Eucharist, also known as Holy Communion, is considered the source and summit of the Church's life, and receiving the Eucharist is a way for Catholics to connect with Christ and the Church community.

On Friday 6 September the school community will celebrate Footy Colours Colour as an opportunity to acknowledge the benifits of living an active lifestyle and as a way to raise money for Fight Cancer Foundation.  Students can wear colours of any favourite sporting team and with the Olmpics still in the air what a wonderful opportunity to wear green and gold.    

Have a lovley fortnight.  

Warm regards,

Mrs Maria Disibio

Acting Principal  

FATHERS DAY CELEBRATION

Thank you to all those dads and father figures who joined us for our celebrations this morning. It is always wonderful to have our parents visit us and join in some fun. Thank you to the students who helped with the liturgy in some way and especially to our guestspeakers, Mr Mat Windisch and his daughters Sophie and Chloe. Also a huge thank you to Mrs Lattimore and the Year 1 students and teachers for performing at our celebration. Wishing all our father figures a wonderful day on Sunday as they reflect on how much they are appreciated and loved.

WORLD DAY OF PRAYER FOR THE CARE OF CREATION

On Monday morning at 9am St Columbkille's will celebrate the beginning of the "Season of Creation" with a liturgy acknowledging World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. Parents and friends are invited to attend this event led by our teachers, students and Enviro Ninjas. Thank you to Mrs Rathbone and Mrs Russo for organising our special liturgy. 

The Saeson of Creation begins on September 1 and ends October 4, with the Feast Day of St Francis of Assisi, the beloved patron saint of ecology. During this time the entire Christian family across the world unites in a celebration of prayer and action to protect our common home. As followers of Christ from around the globe, we are co-creators with God who share a common call to care for all that God has made. This year, the theme for the season is “To hope and act with Creation”. Pope Francis reminds us that “To hope and act with creation, means above all to join forces and to walk together with all men and women of good will.” Today we join forces to give praise to God expressing our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our
care, and we ask for God’s help as we take action to protect our planet and all of its
creatures.
Attached is a document linked to Pope Francis' document "Laudato Si" where he asks all of ask to care for creation. There are some nature based outdoor activities you may like to do as a family, especially during the Season of Creation.

FIRST HOLY COMMUNION

Next Thursday 5th September many of our Year 3 students, as well as students from the parish, will take part in a retreat day prior to receiving the sacrament of First Holy Communion. Students are to wear mufti clothing and bring their recess and a drink bottle to school. The Church Hospitality Group will provide a sausage sizzle and icecream for lunch, and the Sydney Youth Team will be leading part of the day.

N.B. There are 5 communion dresses which have been dropped off at the school office which are available to be used. Please contact Allison if you require more information about the sizes and styles. 

INDIGENOUS LITERACY DAY

St Columbkille's will acknowledge Indigenous Literacy day on Wednesday 4th September with a live event involving a 15 minute film and then a 45 minute livestream from the Sydney Opera House. The students will journey into three First Nations Communities across Australia: Cunnamulla in Queensland, Vincentia in New South Wales and the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory. This years theme is ‘Be A Proud Voice for Country’. Some of the deep and diverse ways children, Elders and families connect with Country, and the significance of Country in Aboriginal Communities will be shared.

CATHOLIC MISSION LAUNCH

On Thursday 12th September Mrs Herring and our school captains, Rosalie and Kynan, will represent our school at the Catholic Mission Launch at St Michael's Thirroul. Each school in the Diocese of Wollongong is represented as we embark on our annual fundraising and advocacy in supporting the "Catholic Mission" organisation. October is Mission Month and more information about this will be forthcoming.

YOUTH GROUP

An invitation is extended to all students in Year 6 who would like to meet for food, games and fellowship on a Friday evening each fortnight. Please see the flyer below for all the information. Any further questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Students will have a Pupil Free Day on Friday 27th September 2024, while our staff engage in a Spirituality Day.

Last day of Term 3 for students will be on Thursday 26th September 2024. 

Monday 14th October will also be a Student Pupil Free Day while our staff engage in Professional Learning. Students' first day of Term 4 will be Tuesday 15th October. 

Students may begin wearing their Summer Uniform from Monday 26th August. This is the transition period. 

All students must wear their Summer Uniform Summer from Monday 9th September. 

These dates are available in the Parent Calendar. 

Please Note: Students are not permitted to wear a combination of Summer and Winter Uniform. 

On Friday 6th September, students are invited to wear their favourite sport jersey or the colour/s of their favourite sporting team in celebration of Footy Colours Day.

Footy Colours Day raises money for the Fight Cancer Foundation, to help fund patient accommodation for more than 1,000 families each year, as well as cancer research into better treatments and outcomes for people of all ages.

Students are asked to make a gold coin donation. Families may also like to contribute directly at the following link:

https://www.footycoloursday.com.au/after-your-event/donate-your-money 

Mrs Christine Perre

Acting Assistant Principal

World Gratitude Day is recognised on Saturday 21st September 2024. 

Our Student Representative Council (SR) are planning a day of celebrations on Thurs 26th Sept (Last Day of Term 3 for Students - Week 10).

This day will be a Mufti Day. Students are asked to bring a Gold Coin donation (will contribute to our Mission Month donation to Caritas in October).

The SRC have planned lots of fun activities including:

- Performing of a chant at the morning assembly on Thurs 26th Sept

- Creating a Gratitude Tree (whole school) and a Gratitude Chain (Individual Classes)

- Finally, the SRC will run a games afternoon!

Gratitude Day serves as a timely reminder of the profound impact gratitude can have on our lives.

"Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." Melody Beattie

"A grateful heart is the best kind to have." Author unknown

"Living in a state of gratitude, is the gateway to grace." Arianna Huffington

In recent weeks, we have noticed an increasing number of students bring toys (soft toys, teddies) and cards (football/soccer/disney) to school. While we understand that the students enjoy playing and sharing these with friends, we ask that they are not brought to school, unless otherwise specified by the class teacher for a particular purpose (e.g. News).

Thank you for your support.

Mrs Christine Perre

Acting Assistant Principal

We are engaging in our school's Cyclic Inquiry in October. This is an opportunity to celebrate the great work that we are doing here at school, but also to identify areas for improvement. As part of this, we require parent representatives to come in on 23rd October to meet with members of the Cyclic Inquiry Panel (from the Catholic Education Office, Diocese of Wollongong). 

If you are interested and available, please email me at perrec01@dow.catholic.edu.au.

Thank you.

Our staff are involved in a number of Professional Learning opportunities to further build their capacity as teachers and school support officers, in order to provide the best possible outcomes for our students. This means that casual staff are employed to replace these staff members. Professional Learning takes placed both on and off school site. 

Some of the Professional Learning Opportunties that our staff will be involved in this term include:

• Cyclic Inquiry- all staff
• Learning for Leadership - Mrs Herring and Mrs Leonard
• Year 1 SPOT Training - Mrs Page and Mrs Barrett
• 3-6 English and Maths Curriculum - all Years 3-6 Class teachers
• Collaborative Planning Sessions (focusing on our school priority of Spelling) - all K-6 Class teachers
• Spelling (PETA Assosciation) - Mrs Rathbone
• Road Safety Planning - Mrs Lace
• Catholic Life Education Mission - Mrs Page and Mrs Connery
• Curriculum Focus Day - Mrs Perre
• Primary REC Meeting - Mrs Herring
• Year 1 Phonics Screening Check - Mrs Page and Mrs Barrett
• Personalised Planning Meetings - all K-6 Class teachers
• Assistant Principal Retreat - Mrs Perre
• Principal Retreat - Mrs Disibio
• Lamplighters Spiritual Formation Program - Mrs Rathbone and Mrs Perre
• Alight for the World Program - Miss Connery
• Another Cup of Life Program - Mrs Sumner, Mrs Carroll, Mrs Abdulnour

Mrs Christine Perre

Acting Assistant Principal

On Wednesday the 28th of August, Year 3 headed to the Illawarra Museum in Wollongong. Students had a fantastic time learning about and engaging with activities from the past. From learning how to hand-wash clothes to experiencing life inside the classroom before technology was incorporated! 3 blue visited the museum first and had lots of fun completing the rotations, while 3 Gold went for a historical walk around Wollongong Harbour. During the walk students made several stops including the lighthouse and Smiths Hill Fort to learn about how these iconic places contributed to Wollongongs history. Mrs A even informed the students that the canons at Smith’s Hill Fort are still currently used at ANZAC ceremonies! All student’s enjoyed learning about Wollongong’s past despite the very windy day!

TAP Basketball Camp

Congratulations for Dylan Fang who attended the Talented Athlete Program (TAP) organised by Basketball NSW.

The 2024 TAP trial process saw over 857 athletes trial from across all of NSW.  The athletes who were selected attended a two and a half day camp with our High Performance Coaches and participated in a training camp that introduced the young pre elite athletes into the Basketball NSW High Performance Pathway at Billbergia Indoor Sports Centre.

A great acheivement for Dylan.  

Oliver Park and Hunter Worthington both competed in the 2024 ACT and Regional NSW Interschools Snowsport Championships at Perisher where 1,300 students competed from 146 schools. Hunter competed in the Alpine division and Oliver competed in the Ski Cross and Alpine division. Both boys did an amazing job with very strong competition from schools in the Alpine and ACT Region. Oliver received 4th place in Ski Cross and 5th place in Alpine. 
Oliver qualified for the NSW / ACT / QLD State Interschools Championships with over 1,800 students participating from 255 schools.  Oliver competed in Moguls, Ski Cross and Alpine and came away with 8th place in Ski Cross. In September, Oliver will be competing for the school at the National Championships where he was selected for the Ski Cross and Mogul divisions. 
Congratulations to both Hunter and Oliver. We wish Oliver all the best when he competes in September.

Photo Images show: Hunter in the starting gates ready for the alpine event and Oliver on course in Ski Cross.

Soccer Gala Day

On Friday the 23rd of August, students from years 3-6 attended the South Coast Soccer Gala Day at Thomas Dalton Park. All students enjoyed a great day out, as they participated in several games throughout the day versing three other local diocesan schools. It was great to see all students have a go even by those who don’t play the sport, and the teamwork displayed during each game. Thank you to all the parents who helped as team managers for the day, we appreciate you giving up your time to help towards the success of the day. 

Miss Connery

Leader of Sport

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge wrapped up at midnight last Friday, and I’m thrilled to share that 131 of our students successfully completed the challenge this year. We couldn’t be prouder of their dedication and hard work. A big thank you goes out to their families for the support and encouragement they’ve provided along the way.

Certificates of achievement will be issued by the PRC and distributed to students later this year.

Book Week 2024 

Unleashing the Magic: St Columbkille’s 2024 Book Week

What a week it was! St Columbkille’s 2024 Book Week was nothing short of magical, and it all kicked off with a bold and unforgettable opening from our staff. We created a video montage where books quite literally came to life, showcasing how we, the teachers and staff, can be just as silly and fun as the students when the moment calls for it. The reactions from the students were priceless—shock, surprise, and utter delight as they saw their usually serious teachers letting their hair down. The laughter, clapping, and cheers filled the room, but it was Mrs Finney who truly stole the show. Her acting, dancing, and fabulous sense of humour left everyone in stitches and set the perfect tone for the week.

The excitement continued as Kinder, Year 1, and Year 2 each embarked on an excursion to Corrimal Library - thank you to our parent volunteers who joined us. There, the amazing library staff entertained the students by acting out some of this year’s Children's Book Council of Australia (CBCA) shortlisted books. The interactive games were a hit, with the students fully immersed in the world of stories.

Wednesday brought us the highlight of the week: our much-anticipated Book Week Parade Day. Both students and staff dressed up as their favourite book characters, transforming the school into a vibrant, literary extravaganza. The creativity and imagination on display was simply astounding! Students wowed us with their inventive costumes, showcasing a fantastic array of characters. We were especially delighted to see how many groups joined together to plan themed costumes—there were plenty of Despicable Me groups, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ensembles, a Cat in the Hat “Things” quintet, and even a colourful clan from The Day the Crayons Quit (what a great idea!). And of course, many embraced the magical theme with a variety of Harry Potter characters. Beyond the group efforts, there were countless original costumes, each one wonderfully well thought out and crafted with so much imagination and hard work. It was clear that a lot of effort went into creating these masterpieces and we are incredibly grateful to all the parents and carers who helped the children prepare for this event. The day was stunning, with a fantastic turnout of parents and family members who came to support the event. It was a beautiful community gathering, showing just how much our school and everyone in it means to us. Thank you for helping to make it such a memorable and magical occasion! 

The afternoon was another showstopper as the staff took the stage with our take on “The Day the Crayons Quit” by Drew Daywalt. In our version, “The Day the Crayons Took Charge,” we added a fun twist with an appearance by an “escaped chick” from the Kinder classrooms—brilliantly portrayed by Mrs. Page, who donned a cosy (and rather warm) costume for the role! The playful addition was a hit, adding to the story’s charm. The performance wrapped up with the entire school joining in a lively rendition of the “Chicken Dance,” leaving everyone grinning from ear to ear.

As the week drew to a close, we brought everyone together once more for a whole-school gathering. We dived into a gross facts true or false quiz based on a CBCA shortlisted book, “Ewww, Gross Facts: Foul Facts and Putrid Pictures” by Dan Marshall. Let’s just say our students now possess some truly gross trivia—like how beaver urine is used as a flavouring in certain foods, platypus poop isn’t as smelly as you might think, and kangaroo farts, while odorous, don’t contain as much methane as cow farts, making them more eco-friendly.

To cap it all off, we played a video of our Book Parade and the week’s highlights—fun memories to be treasured. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the incredible support of the SCC staff and our entire community. I’m especially excited to report that library borrowing numbers have already increased, perhaps because together we’ve shown our students that reading truly is magic.

And with that, the 2025 CBCA theme was announced this week: “Book an Adventure.” The ideas are already flowing, and I can’t wait to see what adventures we embark on next year!

With much gratitude to you all for supporting our 2024 Book Week.

Best wishes - 

Katrina Carroll

SSO/Library Administrator

We’re looking at updating our equipment on the school playground. If you have any matchbox cars or miniature monster trucks that are in good condition, that you no longer use or need at home, we would appreciate the donation.

Other donation items could include:

• Board or Card Games for Wet Weather Breaks

• Buckets and spades for the sand pit 

• Tea sets

• Blocks or Lego

If you have an item and you aren't sure if it could be used, please email Mrs Stephenson.  

Mrs Melanie Stephenson

Acting Middle Leader

We have many items of lost property at the school. If any of these items belong to your child/children, please collect them from the school office.

Fathers Day Stall: We held a successful Fathers Day Stall this week with many eager shoppers choosing a great gift. Thank you to our volunteers who helped on the day with selling items you help is greatly appreciated.

Outdoor Movie Night: We will be hosting an outdoor movie night on Friday 20th September in the school playground. Many Thanks to Stone Real Estate for partnering with us to support this event. More details to follow about this fun event.

Family Fun Night: Reminder that our Family Fun Night will be held on Friday 25th October. This will be an amazing night filled with fun including rides, food and stalls. Many thanks to those few who have offered to co-ordinate and organise a stall on the night. 

P&F Meeting: Our next meeting will be held on Thursday 12 September from 6pm in the Library. Come along and hear all the school news and plans, contribute your ideas and provide feedback. Main topics this meeting will be planning our upcoming events including the Family Fun Night.

Sarah Foster 

P & F President

The P&F will hold a Movie Night on Friday 20 September which will be hosted by Stone Real Estate.  

The event will be held on the Balawarri playground and will commence at 6pm.  Tickets are $5 and need to be purchased via Eventbrite. 

Pack your picnic rug or low lying chairs so that you can comfortable.  

We look forward to watching The Emoji Movie together in the outdoors.  

On Wednesday 11 September from 9:15 to 10:15am Catholic Care will present a parent workshop titled Managing Big Emotions for Your Child.  The presentation will explore how emotions impact our daily lives and why they are important.

You will learn strategies for regulating and managing intense emotions and we will discuss coping skills and techniques to handle emotional experiences as well as highlight the importance of self-care for both you and your child.

Should you wish to attend please register here.