Dear Parents and Carers,

Congratulations to our Year 3 students who made the Sacrament of Penance (Reconciliation) for the first time yesterday. The students were very well prepared by our teachers and parishioners who have supported them over the last four weeks. It was wonderful to be part of the celebration and participate in this sacrament with our students and teachers. Each student received a special Medal of Forgiveness to commemorate this first step towards the Sacrament of the Eucharist (First Holy Communion). 

A special thank you to Father Patrick for guiding and supporting our students throughout the sacrament.

Tomorrow is a Pupil Free Day. On this day, our staff will be participating in a spirituality day - 'People of Ritual’ and with Gary Quinn from the Catholic Education Office, Wollongong. Our prayers, meditations and learning will focus on being People of Ritual who live the gospel values of Jesus’ vision.

PUPIL FREE DAY -  FRIDAY 27 SEPTEMBER

In relation to staffing, I would like to congratulate Mrs Leonard and Mrs Thatcher on their appointment to the role of Acting Middle Leader in the absence of Mrs Perre (Maternity leave) for the reminder of the year. Mrs Leonard and Mrs Thatcher will be responsible to and for Kindergarten and Year 2 respectively and we welcome then to our Leadership Team. Whilst undertaking these leadership responsibilities, Mrs Bower will be supporting KG and 2B. We also welcome Mrs Anglea McLeod to our staff and Team Kinder. Mrs McLeod is replacing Mrs Connelly (recently retired) in supporting the Literacy and Numeracy learning in KB and KG. We welcome Angela to our school community.

Mrs Lyndall Warmington will officially hang up her apron after several years of dedication and commitment to our school community as Canteen Coordinator. Lyndall,  has served the St Columbkille's with great distinction during this time to ensure that our students have a healthy and and available canteen. I would like to sincerely thank Lyndall for her effort and energy that she has poured into the canteen, selflessly giving up family and personal time on many occasions to ensure that the canteen was open.

Lyndall would like to thank all the volunteers that she has worked with throughout her time as our Canteen Coordinator. We look forward to seeing Lyndall working in the canteen as a mum to Emma, Sam and Max.

Thank you to Tanya Coughlan for accepting the role of Canteen Coordinator. We look forward to working with Tanya through the reminder of the year.

On Wednesday 23 October our five-year Cyclic Review will be held.  The last review being in 2014. The  Review will focus on the following six questions:

• What are our school’s main features and challenges since the last Cyclic Review?
• Where is the school in their current School Improvement Plan (SIP)?
• Where are we now and how did we get here?
• In what ways have we engaged the school community with our improvement journey?
• Where do we need to go from here?
• How will we get there and how will we know when we get there?

The Cyclic Review panel will consist of Catholic Education Office, Wollongong personal and will involve Father Patrick and Father Geoff, along with our Leadership Team, Student Council Representatives and members of our parent community. A report will be made providing us with recommendations moving into the future.

On Monday 21 October we will be conducting our final parent session - Understanding Our Boys: Technology at 7:00pm in the MD Hall. Our guest speak will be Mark Woolley - Educational Officer (Technology) from the Catholic Education Office, Wollongong. 

Thank you for what has been an amazing term with our students experiencing an enormous range of celebrations and events. We are extremely fortunate to be part of such giving and caring school community.

Enjoy the time with your child/ren, travel safe if holidaying and we will see you on Monday 14 October for Term 4.

Take care

Mr Brad Colquhoun – Principal

Mission Liturgy - Nowra

Last Wednesday the school captains and Mrs Herring journeyed to St John the Evangelist Church at Nowra. It was a wonderful celebration and reminder of the work of Catholic Mission and the commitment of our diocesan communities in helping others. Each school was given a Catholic Mission bag containing information and Mission boxes. Instruments from Ghana, the focus country to the Catholic Mission appeal this year, were also included in the bags. These items will be used in our school community to raise awareness and as a focus for the support of Ghana. Early next term St Columbkille’s will celebrate Mission Month with a liturgy and fundraising ideas.

Reconciliation

On Wednesday 25 September a number of our students celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation in St Columbkille’s Church. We thank those staff and parishioners who helped prepare them, and their parents, so reverently for this occasion. May they remember to take part in this sacrament whenever they feel the need for Jesus’ forgiveness. For by reconciling with others, friendships are restored. Let us keep these students in our prayers.

Staff Spirituality Day

On 27 September, St Columbkille’s staff will engage in their annual Staff Spirituality Day. A wonderful program focusing on ‘People of Ritual’ will be explored- including ritual in prayer, ritual in Jesus’ life and ritual in everyday life. Thank you to Gary Quinn for his leadership on the day and all those who helped to organise in one way or another.

October – Month of the Rosary

The Rosary is Mary’s special prayer, which we often associate with intentions. That is why each night a member of each class will bring home a drawstring bag. This bag contains a candle, rosary beads, prayers and an exercise book. In this book you are encouraged to share your special thoughts or intentions to Mary, with others in your class. You might choose to:

• Write a prayer to Mary.
• Write the names of those you are praying for.
• Add an illustration.
• Write a quote that is important to your family.

This is a nice way for the family to spend some time in prayer throughout October, and class members enjoy listening to these special prayers written at home.

Social Justice Sunday

The last Sunday in September is recognised by many churches as Social Justice Sunday. The theme this year is Making it Real: Genuine human encounter in our digital world. It affirms the positive possibilities offered by new digital media, while warning of the elements that are harmful to the dignity of individuals and the common good. The Catholic Church provides more information at www.socialjustice.catholic.org.au.  Pray that we “boldly become citizens of the world.” (Pope Francis)

Season of Creation

We continue to celebrate the month of creation within our school community. Thank you to your child’s efforts in supporting our environmental initiative for the month regarding ‘Soft Plastics.’ This will continue throughout next term with our newly purchased ‘blue bins.’ The staff and students have been doing a great job with their recycling, especially with the help of Mr Zhi Fang and his son Dylan. A reminder that these items CANNOT be collected in the blue bins:

• papers (paper bags, tissues, cupcake or muffin cases, baking paper)
• aluminium foil
• leftover food (this needs to be separated from the plastic)

Christmas Art

Congratulations to our Year 5 & 6 school winners who have entered the annual Diocesan Christmas Art Competition.  Our Year 5 entrants were Alessandra Ezquerro, Sophia Kordalis and Gabriela Ramirez. Our Year 6 representatives were Georgia Bartzos, Lilly Gallo and Elise Leslie. News just in… Alessandra and Gabriela have been chosen in the top 50 artworks and their works will be exhibited at the Wollongong Art Gallery on Wednesday 16 October. Good luck girls!

PHASE 2 OF PLENARY COUNCIL 2020

An invitation to discern and propose actions

A process of communal discernment in which we pray, reflect, share, think nationally, think locally and respond with proposals for action will take place within our parishes over the next few months.

You are invited to read about the national themes for discernment and then come to one or more of the sessions across our parishes.

How is God calling us to be a Christ-centred Church in Australia that is:

Please register in the foyer area of each Church. For further enquires talk to your animators or email bullipc2020@gmail.com

Congratulations to the following students:

Awards

Principal’s Award

1G - Lachlan Miller

2G - Luca Calmasini

3B – Isla Ryan

3G – Kiah Hukins-Ellis

4B - Allegra Calmasini

5B - Robert Banfield, Mira Cameron, Elayna Elston, Riley Locke, Wil Malcolm, Niceisha Manago, Emily Sharman, Lucas Sharman

5G - Tayler Humphries, Xavier Palermo

6B - Elivia Duggan, Isobel Schmidt, Macie Simon, Charlotte Walton

6G - Ella Baumeister

Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop Award

1B - Taavi Cooke, Haize Humphries

1G - Dylan Fang

2G - Luca Calmasini, Amelia Stewart

3B - Willow Jenkins

3G - Patrick Fahey, Victoria Muller

4B - Allegra Calmasini, Jensen Curbison, Phoenix Miller, Ashleigh Whiddon

5B - Harper Fursey

5G - Tayler Humphries

6B - William Muller

Medallion

3B - Chantelle Fleury

3G - Sibella Bartzos

4B - Stella Peiris

On Monday 21 October we will be conducting our final parent session - Understanding Our Boys: Technology at 7:00pm in the MD Hall.

Our guest speaker will be Mark Woolley - Educational Officer (Technology) from the Catholic Education Office, Wollongong.

All are welcome to attend.

On Monday 16September, Hamish Dorney (1500m), Danielle Mullard (Discuss), Randy O’Brien (100m) and Amelia Rutledge (100m) competed in the Mackillop Athletics Trials at Homebush. All four students achieved outstanding results in their events, with Hamish qualifying for the NSWPSSA next term. Well done to all competitiors!

On Saturday 14September a number of St Columbkilles girls played in their netball Grand Finals at Berkeley. The Wonoona Emeralds under 10’s (Ellie Cram, Indiana Dalton, Grace Docherty, Maddison Beverley) and and Corrimal Urban Timber Fireworks under 11’s (Olivia Otsyula and Danielle Mullard) both won their respective Grand finals. Well done girls!

Mrs Colleen Kipp - Leader of Sport

On Thursday the 19th Year 3 and 4 travelled to Illawarra Sports Stadium in Berkeley to participate in the Basketball Gala Day. As we walked in the door we heard people shouting and cheering. The first team year 4 girls played was Thirroul, our team lost but we still had fun. While we waited for our next game we cheered on our other friends, after that we all put our money together and bought a large hot chips, it was the best.

Our year 4 boys team won 5 games out of 6, when we were waiting we would cheer on our school friends and our friends form different schools. The year 3 boys team did not have enough players in their team, so we were happy to fill in so they could have a fun day. We even got to play against a former Australian Basketball players son, we thought we would lose against their team but we won. Everyone had the best day and we would go back and play next time. 

On Friday the 20th year 6 go to travel down to Berkeley to participate in the Basketball Gala Day. We got to play against arrange off students from different schools in the Wollongong Diocese, during the 4-5 games  we played we got to make new friends and have a lot of fun. We even got to catch up and play against our friends from other schools, we encouraged our classmates and cheered at their achievements during and after the games they participated in, and they would cheer us on as well. Mrs Gaffney, Mr Cervonaro and Mrs Shelley cheered us on and encouraged us to keep going and improve or basketball skills, all throughout the day.

On the 12 and 13 of September Year 5 had the opportunity to go on a two day excursion to Canberra, we were fortunate enough to visit the Olive Oil Factory and were able to have a bacon and egg roll for breakfast. Afterwards we went to Parliament House and had lots of fun, it was cool to see all of the paintings of people like Bob Hawke, Julia Gillard and many more. After that we went to the War Memorial where we got to place a poppy on a soldiers grave. Next we went to the AIS (Australian Institute of Sports) where we would be staying for the night. Once we arrived we were welcomed by the AIS with a slide show about all the rules and expectation we would have to follow while we were there. After we had dinner we headed to the soccer fields and played a game which was lots of fun. Next we went to the theatre to watch Home Alone which was super funny. When the movie had finished up at 9:30pm we went straight to our rooms to get changed into our pyjamas and went to sleep.

When we woke up the next day, we were provided with our breakfast and a tour of the AIS. We were also able to see some famous athletes training for upcoming games and events. Next we headed to Old Parliament House. While we were there we had to wear gloves to touch things because the items are so delicate. Years ago when people would handle the statues without gloves, the oil from their hands would permanently changed the colours of some items. This is why it is so important to wear gloves when handling the statues. While we were in that room we had screens that would lead us to different places. The screens would tell us different facts about old parliament and the rights they had. We were lucky enough to go into one of The Senates and to see the chair that the royals would sit in when they would come to Australia.

Next on our excursion we headed to Questacon - National Science and Technology, one of the first things we did was go into the room that had The Big Drop, this was one of our favourite things that Miss Steep was brave enough to go on. Another on of our favourite things was The Illusion Rooms and all the different experiences that they had going on. Some other things we enjoyed while at Qusetacon were the amazing facts about the Planets, also the cameras that would zoom in on all the different insects. We had the idea to zoom in on our hair and hands, when we zoomed in on my hair it looked like straw, and when we zoomed in on Matilda and Alana’s hands you could see all the particles of dust and dirt on their hands.

After Questacon, we got to go into some gift shops and buy ourselves a toy or something that looked interesting. On the way home from Canberra we got to stop off at McDonalds and buy whatever we wanted. We also got to watch a variety of movies on the bus trip home which made it better, because the double decker bus was way hotter at the top than downstairs. We hope you enjoyed reading about our fun trip to Canberra. Thank you to all of our teachers and our bus driver. We had a safe and very fun trip.

By Maddison Wood (5G) and Tahlia Capocchiano

A big thank you to all of the students who took part in the UNSW Global ICAS Assessments for 2019. This year, students from Years 3-6 were given the opportunity to demonstrate their higher order thinking and problem-solving skills in English, Mathematics, Science, Writing and Spelling. As of 2019, ICAS Assessments were administered online. This new online platform brought many positives, however some challenges did arise. Thank you for your patience through the roll out of these assessments and for your support in registering and making payment independently via the new system. Information in relation to accessing results and reports will be shared as soon as possible.

Congratulations to the students and families of 3G & 6G. These classes have won the Gnome award for having the most students trash free both weeks! Well done. September has been the month for the care of creation. At St Columbkilles we are trying to reduce our waste. Congratulations to the Enviro Ninjas for their education around soft plastics and to the Year 3 students who have been assisting the junior students to sort out their rubbish on the playground.

LIDS4KIDS

A big thank you to all who are collecting lids from milk, water, UHT and soft drinks bottles and sending them into school.A reminder that the white foam circle from under the milk lids need to be removed and then the lids need to be rinsed out please. The lids are sorted into colours, counted and sorted then they will be stored until required by Envision. The lids need to be clean and dry please. Nothing smells worse than sour milk!

The last batch count was 1488. That's close to 3 more hands. Well done everyone! Thank you for supporting such a great initiative.

Thank you so much your support of the Footy Colours Day.  We raised $381.10.  Amazing effort!

Year 5 students from St Columbkille’s have recently undertaken an education tour of our national capital. Students were given the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government contributes funding of $20 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

Canteen Roster

Term 4 - Week 1

Monday, 14 October - 

Janine Baumeister, Marc Fursey, Kerry Fabon, Trudie Bell (11.30-2.30)

Tuesday, 15 October – SUSHI TUESDAY

(Canteen is closed – Sushi Available via Online Order Only)

Wednesday, 16 October

Linda Logue, Gisella Villella, Tracey Disibio, Caroline Ayres

Thursday, 17 October

Pamela O'Brien, Ashley Cooper, Anita Zubovic (9.00-11.30), Lana Bloom (11.30-2.30)

Friday, 18 October

Kirsten Immens, Tanya Coughlan, Elizabeth Coll

Term 4 - Week 2

Monday, 21 October

Kirsten Stone, Diana Tasca, Olivia Seweris (9.00-12.00)

Tuesday, 22 October – SUSHI TUESDAY

(Canteen is closed – Sushi Available via Online Order Only)

Wednesday, 23 October

Avril Imber, Lesley Elms, Helen Pittman (9.00-11.30), Ashley Potts (11.30-2.30)

Thursday, 24 October

Tienelle Anderson-Ireland, Dianne Hukins

Friday, 25 October - 

Natasha Fuller, Lisa Bates, Carmen Petch, Nicole Akhurst (9.00-12.00), Lisa Esposito (11.30-2.00)