Dear Parents, Grandparents and Carers,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our staff for their dedication and commitment that they have shown to our students, parents, grandparents and to each other throughout the year. To our parents and grandparents who generously give their time to provided the extra care and support our students need across many areas, a sincere thank you. It was great to celebrate this support with you at last Friday's 'SCC Helpers Thank you' afternoon tea. We greatly appreciate all that you do in making our school community so special and unique.

Last Wednesday we formally acknowledged Year 6 on the occasion of their Graduation with a Liturgy, and the presentation of awards in the Monsignor Downey Hall. The Year 6 Graduation is a significant time of gratitude and celebration, as well as a time to acknowledge the students and their families for all that they have contributed to our wonderful school. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Father Patrick and Father Geoff, Mr Ryan Park, our Staff and the many parent helpers across Years Five and Six, for their support, both in preparation and on the night itself. We wish our Class of 2019 every sucess and happiness moving into the future.

There are a number of families leaving our school community at the end of the year. I take this opportunity to thank each of you for your contribution during your time at St Columbkille’s. I hope that you take with you many fond memories and I wish you much happiness for the journey that lies ahead. You will always be part of us here at St Columbkille’s.

Thank you to the following families: (6 Blue) Bosevski, Butler, Disibio, Duggan, Frizell, McIntyre, McPhee, Panagiotidis, Panetta, Payne, Schmidt, Simon, Sweeney, Walton, Waters and Zielinski; (6 Gold) Disibio, Giannetti, Good, Kelly, Lesile, Lim-Corby, Mullard, Short and Singh families.

Congratulations to the following Graduation Presentation Year 6 Award recipients;

Monsignor Downey Faith Award – Ciara Dorin 

Anthony Devlin Citizenship Award – Emy Ryan

Ebony Giraldi Learning Award – Macie Simon

Hon. Sharon Bird MP Book Prize Award – Lucas Disibio and Logan Bosevski

Keira Leadership Award (Hon. Ryan Park MP) – Felicity McIntyre.

The following students have been elected by our staff and their peers from Year 4 & 5,  for the following student leadership positions for 2020. I would also like to acknowledge and commend the Year 5 students who nominated themselves for these positions. Congratulations to the following students:

SCHOOL CAPTAINS & VICE CAPTAINS

School Captains:    Emma Lumsden & Lucas Dubowski          

Vice Captains:        Alessandra Ezquerro & Samuel Morrisey  

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE COUNCIL

Matilda Bailey, Joelle Bates, Zara Srbinoski, Harper Fursey, Olivia Otsyula, Emily Sharman, Tahlia Capocchiano, Isaac Fielding, Lucas Cooper, Taje Dorrington

SPORT CAPTAINS

Downey:    Isabella Oliver & Indiana Dalton

Joseph:      Maddison Wood & Oliver Ibrahim 

MacKillop:  Billy Collyer & Noah Smart

McCabe:     Lukas Srbinoski & Liam Pleace

LEADERS OF COMMUNITY

Cameron Munn, Xavier Palermo, Ellie Cram, Evelyn Ritz, Jasmine Whiddon, Lucas Tortorici, Mia Akhurst, Jay Giblett, Elayna Elston, Lucas Sharman, Tayler Humphries

LEADERS OF FAITH

Steven Porter, Lucy Baggio, Niceisha Manago, Neave Hurley, Sophia Kordalis, Robert Banfield, Jake Walsh

LEADERS OF LEARNING

Levi Hart, Saxon Cappellin, Kaden Drady, Mira Cameron, Alana Mauroplous, Riley Locke, Tyler Karhof

 LEADERS OF CELEBRATION

Max Baumeister, Ellie McCormack, Kobe Carter, Jed Petre, Gabriela Ramirez, Riley Holl, Wil Malcolm

Enviro Ninjas:

Isaac Fielding, Ellie Cram, Samuel Morrisey, Niceisha Manago, Sophia Kordalis, Neave Hurley, Riley Holl, Liam Pleace, Emma Lumsden, Cameron Munn, Indiana Dalton, Lucas Cooper

I would like to wish all families a safe, joyous, fun-filled and Holy Christmas. Enjoy the holiday break with family and friends. I look forward to seeing you again in 2020.

Take care,

Mr Brad Colquhoun - Principal

Another wonderful year has come and nearly gone! In 2019 each of the students at St Columbkille’s have had a chance to learn more about the Catholic religion and traditions within teaching and learning opportunities, or what is known as “teaching people religion.” These students have also learnt what it means to be a faith-filled person by being involved in a number of out of class/school opportunities, which allows for “teaching people to be religious.” Both of these areas run alongside each other and are equally important for the development of the whole child.  Thank you to everyone who has helped with and/or been involved in our  liturgies/celebrations, parish events/sacraments and fundraising initiatives. We look forward to working with you again in 2020 by living out the gospel values of Jesus linked to our school- Respect, Responsibility, Learning, Community, Celebration and Faith.  God bless and have a wonderful Christmas!

Joanne Herring - Religious Education Coordinator

Christmas Mass Times

Tuesday 24 December - 7.00pm Mass

Wednesday 25 December – Midnight Mass

Wednesday 25 December – 9.30am Christmas Day Mass

Christmas Reconciliation

Friday 20 December (2^nd Rite) – 7.00pm

Congratulations to the following students:

Principal’s Award

1B - Chloe Copson

1G - David Asher, Jasmine Bertacco, Rebecca Cowle, Khloe Jorgenson, Blake Lumsden, Abby Mannion

3G – Betty Barry, Patrick Fahey

4B - Maddison Beverley, Jensen Curbison, Jonothan Logue, Quito Munoz-Letham, Matilda Noonan

4G - Mackenzie Kerr, Ben Purtell

5G - Steven Porter, Olivia Otsyula

6B - Michael Da Silva, Jack McPhee, Kye Mitchell, William Muller, Luke Purtell, Layne Sweeney

Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop Award

KB - Bronte Jansen

KG - Zali Mayo

1G - Harper Harrison

2B - Joseph Molina

4B - Sebastian Pannell

5G - Isaac Fielding

6G - Hamish Kelly

Medallion

3G – Victoria Muller

4B - Sebastian Pannell

5G - Saxon Cappellin, Emma Lumsden

6G - Georgia Bartzos, Lilly Gallo, John Jones-Murphy

Congratulations to Michael and Holly on the birth of their son Oscar. For mum and dad, sisters - Stella and Imogen , is it a wonderfully exciting time for their family and friends coming inot this festive holiday season.

Our blessings and well wishes go out to the Howell Family.

Year 6 have proudly purchased a Digital Camera for the Holy Child School in Bethlehem. The camera will be used by students and parents both at school and home to promote and assist their learning. Ms Marianne Patton will be visiting the school in Jan 2020 on Pilgrimage and will personally deliver it to the school on our behalf.

Mrs Natalie Shelley - Teacher of Year 6

We would like to sincerely congratulate all our students for raising $562.45 for the Vinnies Christmas Appeal, Vinnies Bushfire Appeal and Vinnies Drought Appeal.  The students came up with varied and inventive ways to raise these funds through market stall's on the playground during recess and lunch on Monday and Tuesday this week.  Lots of fun was had by all the children.  

A friendly reminder for our Kindergarten 2020 parents / carers to ensure a Best Start Assessment has been booked per Kinder child for early 2020.  This can be done through the Compass App by selecting 'Conferneces' from the menu or via a browser at https://sccdow-nsw.compass.education/login.aspx?sessionstate=disabled  It is essentail that all our Knidergarten students sit the Best Start Assessment, hence you are encouraged to login as soon as you can to make a booking.  

If you have any issues booking a time or loging into Compass, please contact the School Office or myself.  

Mrs Maria Disibio - Assiatant Principal 

School will resume for students Year 1 to Year 6 on Wednesday 29 January.  

Kindergarten will have Best Start Assessments from Wednesday 29 through to 5 February.  

Kindergarten will then start (full days) from Thursday 6 February.  

All students will wear their full summer uniform on their fisrt day of school for 2020. 

In 2019, through the Return and Earn partnership with Vinnies our schools have recycled 75 317 containers raising a total of $28 751.35 for Vinnies social works.

This means that we have reduced the amount of rubbish going to landfill and we have also raised money for the St Vincent de Paul Society who assist those people in our community who need a helping hand. 

Our schools are doing their bit to respond to "the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor" that Pope Francis calls us to in Laudato Si'.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE FOLLOWING 12 SCHOOLS WHO COLLECTED THE MOST CONTAINERS FOR 2019.

1. St Joseph's Albion Park - 10 465 containers recycled raising $4264.48 for Vinnies

2. Holy Spirit College Bellambi - 6211 containers recycled raising $2952.93 for Vinnies

3. St Francis College Edmondson Park - 5858 containers recycled raising $2167.88 for Vinnies

4. St Columbkille's Corrimal - 4050 containers recycled raising $1448.21 for Vinnies

5. Holy Family Ingleburn - 3991 containers recycled raising $1241.94 for Vinnies

6. St Brigid's Gwynneville - 3178 containers recycled raising $1066.80 for Vinnies

7. St Joseph's Bulli - 2416 containers recycled raising $955.83 for Vinnies

8. St Paul's Camden - 2337 containers recycled raising $946.91 for Vinnies

9. St Paul's Albion Park - 2285 containers recycled raising $944.03 for Vinnies

10. St Clare's Narellan Vale - 2181 containers recycled raising $852.65 for Vinnies

11. St John's Campbelltown - 2127 containers recycled raising $797.65 for Vinnies

12. St Francis of Assisi Warrawong - 1362 containers recycled raising $740.81 for Vinnies

 

For more information about the Vinnies Return and Earn Partnership please go to the following link:

https://www.dow.catholic.edu.au/catholic-education/wen/vinnies-return-and-earn/

A new edition of the NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook is now available online. The current edition has been updated with digital/online safety, light rail safety, metro train safety, dental health, diabetes. 

The Child Safety Handbook App has also been produced by NSW Police Legacy and includes everything we need as a community to protect our most valuable and vulnerable resource – our children.  From preventative measures at home to safety outdoors, from cyber safety to dealing with peer pressures, this App is a resource for every family and school community. The app can be downloaded via the Apple store, Google Play or Amazon Kindle.

Link to the digital handbook - NSW Police Legacy Child Safety Handbook

Here is also a link to the childsafetyhub.com.au website with assets that can be used - http://nsw.childsafetyhub.com.au/downloads/