Dear Parents and Carers, 

I hope this edition of the fortnightly newsletter finds you well.  

Thank you to the P&F for the planning and organisation of the School Discos last night.  The students throughly enjoyed dancing, singing and generally socialising with their friends.  I also thank our staff who volunteered their time to supervise the students, and have a sneaky dance and sing along.  

We look forward to celebrating the joy of Christmas with you all through the Christmas concert on Wednesday, 4 December. The event will take place from 1:00 pm to approximately 3:00pm in the Monsignor Downey Hall. 

Since the previous Newlsetter there has been a slight change in Academic Report requirements. Students who have recently enrolled at St Columbkille's will now be provided with an A to E graded report, with only the areas taught and assessed during their enrolment to be completed.  Should you have any questions regarding this, please reach out via the school office. 

At present, along with finalising Academic Reports, teachers are also creating the 2025 class lists based on their professional opinion, the needs of the student and other factors such as gender balance, behavioural needs and academic levels.  I am hopeful that I will be able to share the 2025 staff with parents in the Week 8 Newsletter.  Students and teachers will have the opportunity to meet their classes on Thursday 12 December from 2pm. It is normal to be slightly anxious about the change in year group and class and as adults we need to model and and talk to our children about how they can manage these feelings in a positive way.

Enjoy the coming fortnight. 

Warm regards, 

Maria Disibio 

Principal (Acting) 

CHRIST THE KING FEAST DAY

Every year on the last Sunday before Advent, we celebrate the feast day of Christ the King. The Feast of Christ the King was established by Pope Pius XI in 1925 to remind Catholics that Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Universe, both as God and Man.

This feast day is about looking at Christ the King as our ultimate leader. The most important part of leadership lies in love. Christ the king shows us that the ultimate power is the power of love. Regardless of what happened to him, Jesus Christ always loved. No one could stop him. His love continued to flow from the cross and reveal the mercy and power of God.

The Feast of Christ the King serves to remind us of his love. We are urged not to lose our perspective. Through the power of love, we can effect change in our world and continue to create a life filled with forgiveness and mercy in a world where justice and peace reign supreme.

Ask yourself: What can you do to show Jesus that He is the king of your life?  What can you do to show other people that Jesus is your king?

ADVENT

The Season of Advent begins on Sunday 1st December and is the special time when we prepare for Christmas. Advent invites us to reflect upon time, the relationship between past, present and future. Advent is a Latin word that actually means “coming.” In the Christian church, Advent is a time of preparation and waiting for the birth of Jesus. During this time, it is also an opportunity to remember our place in the global family and to think about how we can contribute to caring for our common home, both during Advent and in our Christmas celebrations.

Each class will be given a Christmas stocking for a child to take home each day to reflect on something from the Advent /Christmas calendar. They can then share their reflection or action with their classmates. If you wish to complete some of the ideas as a family, the calendars are below.

Each Monday morning at 9am our school community will come together in the hall to reflect on Advent. Everyone is most welcome to attend. (Monday 2nd December, Monday 9th December and Monday 16th December).

GRANDPARENTS DAY

An invitation has been sent to all parents and carers for our upcoming Grandparents Day celebrations. This will occur on Friday 29th November commencing with a liturgy at 9am, followed by open classrooms and the celebration of a picnic morning tea where families are to bring their own special treats. I am sure most, if not all of you, have already been in contact with your parents, in-laws and elderly friends. We are looking forward to your presence on this special day!

CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

St Columbkille's annual Christmas concert will be held on Wednesday 4th December from 1-approx 3pm in our Monsignor Downey Hall. Mrs Lattimore and her actors have been busy in readiness for this event, and Ms Patton has the choir humming along nicely. It is always such a wonderful way to re-live the Nativity Story (this year with a twist), as well as sing along to contemporary and well known Christmas songs. We can't wait to perform this extravaganza for our school community.

ROSARY BY THE SEA

 

This is an opportunity, especially for families with young children, to gather together in a beautiful venue for prayer, in this case the Rosary. It is very relaxed, only runs for 20 to 30 minutes. Bring a chair or a blanket, and if the children run around a bit then that is fine!

Where: Just down the road from St Joseph’s Catholic Church - directly opposite the intersection of park Rd & Trinity Row. 

When: Tuesday evenings at 6.00pm.

Questions: please email Fr Anthony on anthony.crook@dow.org.au

Joanne Herring

Religious Education Coordinator 

Student academic reports for Semester Two will be published via Compass in Week 8 (Thursday 5 December). The Semester Two Report, assesses all Key Learning Areas taught using the A to E scale.  Students (Kindergarten to Year 6) will receive a Semester Two Report. 

Students who have been enrolled at St Columbkile's for less than ten weeks during Semeter Two will also receive a graded A to E report with only the areas taught and assessed within this time to be reported on.    

Optional Learning Conversations will follow during Week 9 and 10.  Should you require a Learning Conversation with your child's class teacher, please contact the teacher via email or through the School Office.   

The final day for Term 4 for students is Wednesday 18th December.

Thursday 19th December and Friday 20th December are Pupil Free Days.

Staff return for Term 1 in 2025 for two Teacher Professional Planning Days on Friday 31st January and Monday 3rd February. Students do not attend on these days.

Students in Years 1-6 begin Term 1 on Tuesday 4th February 2025.

Students in Kindergarten begin Term 1 on Wednesday 5th February 2025. 

This week has seen the final of our 5 Orientation and Playgroup sessions for Kindergarten 2025. Having our future Kindergarten students begin their visits to 'Big School' is always an exciting time. While the children were involved in play in the classrooms, the parents and caregivers participated in three workshops:

1. Religious Education and Social Emotional Learning - led by Mrs Herring and Mrs Leonard

2. Reading- led by Mrs Perre

3. Mathematics- led by Mrs Perre and Mrs Disibio

A HUGE thank you to the parents and caregivers who engaged so enthusiasically.

We look forward to welcoming all of our Kinder 2025 students and families to St Columbkille's for their first day on Wednesday 5th February 2025.

A big thank you to all of our Year 5 students who had an opportunity to support the Kinder 2025 children throughout the play sessions. 

Mrs Christine Perre

Acting Assistant Principal

In order to further acknowledge and celebrate student engagement and effort in their learning, we are introducing Key Learning Area (KLA) End of Year Awards.

In each class, students will be selected to receive these significant awards in the following KLA's:

• English - 1 student per class
• Maths - 1 student per class
• Religious Education - 1 student per class
• Science - 1 student per class
• History/Geography - 1 student per class
• Creative Arts (Music) - 1 student per class
• PDHPE (Physical Education) - 1 student per class
• Italian - 1 student per class

Students are not necessarily selected for high achievement in this KLA, but rather, may be selected for one or more of the following reasons:

• Engagement in learning
• Demonstrating a positive attitude 
• Persistence
• Consistent effort
• A love of learning
• Demonstrating growth throughout the year

These awards will be presented at the final Award Assembly in Term 4 each year and will count towards receiving a Mary Mackillop Award (5 Merits/KLA Award= 1 Mary Mackillop). 

The Final Award Assembly for 2024 is Friday 13th December, beginning at 2:10pm. Check the school calendar for updates to time.

If your child is selected to receive a KLA End of Year Award, you would have been notified via compass last week. 

Mrs Christine Perre

Acting Assistant Principal

We are not slowing down even as we approach the end of the year! Representatives from each class have been assisting in decorating a Christmas Tree to be displayed in the Corrimal Village - please vote for our tree if you are in the area!

As part of our preparations for 2025, Year 3 students will particpate in the CoGAT assessment. Please see the attached flyer for information.

Kind regards,

Michelle Lace

If you play and deliver sport or have children that play sport, you can complete the cost to play survey multiple times (indicating the costs involved for you and your child/ren to play sport).

Scholastic Book Club

Orders for Issue #7 of the Book Club were distributed earlier this week, along with the Issue #8 magazines—the final issue for the year. I’d like to apologise for the delays in the delivery of the last two orders. I contacted Scholastic regarding this issue and they explained that the delays were due to a change in their courier company. However, they have assured me that they will be returning to their original courier in the new year, which should result in more timely deliveries moving forward.

For Issue #8, if you’re purchasing early Christmas presents for your children, please remember to mark these orders as a ‘Gift.’ I will then contact you directly to arrange a convenient way for you to collect or receive the items.

Thank you for your continued support. 

Scholastic Book Fair

Thank you to everyone who supported our Book Fair this year—your contributions are truly appreciated! Thanks to your purchases, we earned just over $700 in commission to spend on books and resources through Scholastic.

This year, instead of allocating the funds solely for library books (as we’ve been fortunate to add many new titles over the past two years), we’ve decided to provide each grade with $100 for teachers to purchase resources for their classrooms. This ensures that your support directly benefits your children and enhances their learning experience.

Thank you once again for your generosity and continued support!

Premier’s Reading Challenge

The NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge concluded in August and we are proud to announce that 130 of our students successfully completed the challenge.

Across NSW, 431,383 students participated in the PRC this year, with a record-breaking 323,328 students completing the challenge. Together, students read an incredible total of 9,115,211 books, with this year’s most-read title being Bowerbird Blues by Aura Parker.

Congratulations to the following St Columbkille's students who completed this wonderful reading milestone!

Best wishes to you all - 

Katrina Carroll

SSO/Library Administrator