Dear Parents and Carers, 

Mrs Narelle Bower will be taking leave from Term 4. Week 10 this Term will be her final week with us, she will be relocating from the Illawarra area.  Mrs Bower is moving to the Central West where she is hoping to continue teaching in schools within her area. She has stated that she will miss our St Columbkille's community greatly however, is very much looking forward to this new change. Arrangements for a replacement for Mrs Bower during this time will be communicated in the coming weeks. I take this opportunity to thank Mrs Bower for her many years of dedication, professionalism and commitment to St Columbkille's.

Mrs Lorraine Hatton will take on an additional day and work in Kindergarten replacing Mrs Sarah McMillan and Mrs Sue Fulwood will work one day a week, replacing Lorraine.  We welcome back Sue Fulwood to our school community and thank Lorraine Hatton for taking on additional days for the remainder of 2025.

A reminder regarding school uniform.  Student can transition to Summer uniform from Monday 1st September (Week 7) - during the transition week, students may choose to wear either the Summer or Winter Uniform, but not a combination of both. Change Over to Summer Uniform will occur on Monday 8th September (Week 8) - all students must wear the Summer Uniform.

Go well, 

Mrs Maria Disibio 

Acting Principal 

This weekend, we mark the twenty-second Sunday of Ordinary Time. In the Gospel, we are reminded to be like Jesus - to be humble and share with others. We are asked to do this especially towards those who need it most, without expecting anything in return. Each week in the classroom, our students are engaging in a Gospel Reflection based upon the upcoming Gospel for the coming Sunday. During this time students and teachers unpack the reading and make connections to its relevance today. 

Year 5 Excursion - Mary MacKillop Place 

Our Year 5 students recently visited Mary MacKillop Place, a special site honouring Australia’s first saint. Mary MacKillop is significant to our school because she and the Sisters of St Joseph, the order she founded, played a vital role in Catholic education across Australia — including Corrimal. The Josephite sisters lived out St Mary’s mission of providing education for all children, especially those in need, and they were closely connected to the establishment and growth of St Columbkille’s School. Thank you to two of our Year 5 students, Amelie and Charlotte for their thoughtful reflection of the day. 

First Holy Communion

Students who wish to receive their First Holy Communion this year are invited to enrol through our Parish. Thank you to all of those families who were able to attend Mass last weekend and received their enrolment forms. Please note that these forms will also be able to be collected this weekend - Saturday 30 (6pm) and Sunday 31 (9:30am) August. Forms are due back to the Parish Office via email or at Mass by 18 September. 

Season of Creation 2025

The Season of Creation is a time for Christians around the world to come together in prayer and action for the care of God’s creation. This year's theme is: Peace with Creation. To mark this special season, our school will celebrate with a liturgy on Monday 1 September at 9:00am in the Monsignor Downey Hall. We warmly invite all families and parishioners to join us as we give thanks for the gift of creation and reflect on our call to care for our common home.

Father's Day Celebrations 

Next Wednesday 3 September, we will gather as a school community to acknowledge and celebrate Father’s Day. We give thanks for the gift of fathers, grandfathers, and all father figures who nurture, guide, and share God’s love in our lives. All are warmly invited to join us for a sausage sizzle breakfast at 7:30am, followed by a special Father’s Day Liturgy in our Church at 9:15am. Together, we will celebrate and pray for the fathers in our community, asking God to bless them with strength, joy, and wisdom in their important role.

Mrs Libbie Tyrrell

Acting Religious Education Coordinator 

This is a friendly reminder that students are NOT permitted to bring toys from home to play with in the classroom and/or playground. This includes soft toys (e.g. Labubu), teddies, football cards etc. 

Exceptions include:

- When an item is being shown for news (in this case, it is to remain in the school bag for the duration of the day and only to be taken out for news)

- Those students who have been permitted to have a fidget tool. 

Congratulations to the 41 Students from Years 3-6 who participated in the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee.

Our Grade Champions are Savarnah Carlon (Year 3), Liam Ferguson (Year 4), Kaylan Pons (Year 5) and Matthew Bertacco (Year 6).

Further congratulations to Matthew Bertacco who is our School Champion and has progressed to the NSW State Final to be held next week. More than 82,000 students from around the country participated in the Prime Minister's Spelling Bee this year - a new record for the Bee. Two hundred students from each reading level in each State and Territory progress to next week's State and Territory Finals.

Michelle Lace

Leader of Enrichment

A huge congratulations to the Year 6 students who participated in STEM MAD, which stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, Making A Difference. Teams came up with an idea to positively impact a problem that they have witnessed. They then tested designs and made prototypes to improve the situation. Throughout the process they learned about how to follow a design process, test prototypes, problem solve, collaborate and persevere.

Ideas included:

A backpack tent for the homeless - Reece King, Hunter Moskwa, Matthew Bertacco

Biodegradeable mould wipes - Abigail England, Oscar Haafkens

An app to encourage children to complete chores - Kai Fletcher

An app to help the elderly with shopping - Maisie Caine and Elodie McLuskey

An app to stop pollution and encourage people to pick up rubbish - Juliette Ayres, Giorgia Marcelli, Cleo Mancini, Amity Fuller, Roma Aimasso, Imogen Wright

The teams presented their design process to their grade and representatives from the Cathoic Education Office who had been working with them throughout the process. Following this Abigail, Oscar, Maisie and Elodie were selected to attend the Innovate for Impact Conference on 23 September to showcase their ideas to other schools from both the Catholic and Department systems, including Highschool students, as well as industry and training representatives. They will also be able to interact with other teams to learn how they problem solved throughout the process.

They will create a video that will be entered into our Diocesan STEM MAD competition, along with one of the other teams.

Michelle Lace

Leader of Enrichment

In response to parent feedback from the Listening Assemblies and more recently through our Tell Them From Me Survey Results regarding a need for more regular communication/updates about your child's learning, all classes K-6 are now utilising the Seesaw Platform. 

Each student will share a minimum of 1 piece of work with their family each week based on an agreed focus across both classes in the grade (e.g Maths, Spelling, Writing, Science).

An important component to ensure the success of this sharing, is that families take the time to discuss this piece of learning each week. This will help to build on the partnership between home and school.

If you haven't already, please link to your child's account by following the instructions given by your child's class teacher.

We welcome any feedback that you may have as we move through the term.

Thursday 25th September is Footy Colours Day at St Columbkille's Primary School.

Today students wore their favourite footy or other sporting jersey for a gold coin donation. Together we raised $341.15

Thank you for your generosity. It does not go unnoticed. 

Parents & Carers are welcome to join us for an afternoon of entertainment.

All students K-6 will be involved in 'A Dance with Disney'.

More information to come soon. 

Service Amendment Notification (PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT)

We are writing to advise that from Monday 15 September 2025, the following services will be amended:

• S408 – service will no longer operate

• Route 90 – timetable updated

• Route 92 – timetable updated

The changes follow a review by Transport for NSW to ensure that school travel services continue to meet current student demand and that resources are directed where they are most needed. As part of this review, services with consistently low student usage were re-evaluated.

We understand some changes may affect students who previously used a service that will no longer operate. Please be advised students have access to regular route services in the area that accommodate travel to school. Please see details below.

We ask that you please share this information with your school community to ensure a smooth transition.

Please feel free to contact us if you require further information or assistance.

02 4243 8888

PLEASE SEE ATTACHMENT

1) St Joseph’s & St Columbkille’s Parish Monthly Dinner, THIS SATURDAY, 30^th AUGUST

We invite all members of our community to come together and celebrate in an ongoing monthly dinner held 

at Woonona/Bulli  RSL Club This Saturday. Meeting at 6pm for a 6:30pm start in the main dining area. All Welcome.