Dear Parents and Carers,

It has been an exciting and highly enjoyable last couple weeks at St Columbkille’s with numerous events and activities taking place including today's presentation of welcome certificates to our Kindergarten students, the Swimming Carnival and  Year 6 Berry Sport and Recreation Camp.

Thank you to parents and grandparents who supported our Swimming Carnival at Corrimal Pool. Our students had a wonderful time competing in a range of events. We thank Mrs Kipp and her team for organising a very successful carnival and the parents you gave up their time in supporting the morning.

Mrs Barrett, Mrs Gaffney, Mrs Tyrrell and myself have been taking part in the Berry Sport and Recreation Camp with Year 6 this week. Our students and teachers have been challenged over the last 3 days by a number of team and leadership activities ranging from ropes challenges to archery. It has been a wonderful opportunity for the students to further develop leadership skills and strengthen our relationships.

It was great to hear that our school band ‘The Cobra’s’ are back again this year. Thank you to our Band Leader, Mrs Lucy Fielding for her time, expertise and guidance once again.  If your child/ren is in Year 3-6, plays an instrument and would like to join our school band, please let me know.

Our first Parents and Friends (P&F) meeting will be held on Tuesday 10 March at 7pm in the SCC Library. It will also be our Annual General Meeting for 2020. All are most most welcome and are invited to attend.

Have a sensational couple of weeks and remember to look after one another.

Take care

Mr Brad Colquhoun 

Ash Wednesday & LENT

Masses will be celebrated at St Columbkille’s Church at 9.30am, 12 midday and 6.30pm on 26 February. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent in the Catholic Church and is an opportunity to turn back to God in prayer. Mr Colquhoun and our school captains – Emma, Lucas, Alessandra and Samuel- will be attending the Caritas Lenten Launch at St Benedict's Catholic College the day before as representatives of our school. Caritas posters and money boxes have been distributed to all classes, so please give generously this Lent and pray for those in need.'

Lenten Prayer Boxes

Family Prayer boxes will be sent home during the Season of Lent. The box contains all that you will need for your family to pray together. Please remember if your child doesn’t bring the prayer box home during the season of Lent they will have a chance to bring it home during October – the month of the Rosary, or in the season of Advent.

Confirmation

Dates have been announced from Bishop Brian for the Sacrament of Confirmation -Tuesday, 9 June and Wednesday 10 June (Week 7, Term 2). Year 6 parents please note these dates in your calendar. Information about enrolment and classes will be advised closer to the dates.

Catholic Schools Week

Catholic Schools Week is a special time in the year when we celebrate and give thanks for Catholic Schools, especially our own school, St Columbkille’s. The theme for 2020 is “Embracing our future together.” Throughout the week beginning Sunday, 1 March till Sunday, 7 March, staff and families will have an opportunity to join together for a liturgy and classroom visits and reflect on why we are thankful for our Catholic school community. In the words of our Director, Peter Hill, “Catholic Schools Week is about looking back and looking forward, acknowledging the past and being re-energised by the future. Our work is about keeping hope alive and providing the best possible Catholic schools for our young people, as a place of faith where they’re invited to encounter Jesus.”  

Relics of St Therese

Attached is a flyer regarding the Pilgrimage to Lisieux at St Columbkille’s Corrimal.

If you haven’t experienced the Tongan choir there are 2 opportunities to witness their soulful singing, at the 7pm Mass on Friday, 20 March and Stations of the Cross 8.30pm on Friday, 20 March.

There is also a special Parishioners Mass at 9am on Saturday, 21 March and an Anointing of the Sick at 2pm on Saturday, 21 March. Everyone is welcome to attend and view the relics of St Therese of Lisieux and her parents, Sts Louis and Zelie Martin.

Conversations About Catholics

Those Kindergarten parents/carers and others interested in discussing their faith in a supportive and nurturing environment are invited to conversation mornings on Wednesday, 11 and 18 of March from 9-10.30m in the Parish Centre.

Paschal Meal

Those families interested in celebrating our annual Paschal Meal (the Passover as celebrated by the Israelites) or wanting to find out further information about this event, please email corrimal@dow.org.au.  The evening will be held on Thursday, 2 April at 7pm in the Monsignor Downey Hall. Restrictions of 35 guests apply so get your names in quickly.

Outdoor Cinema

Don’t forget to book your tickets for our Welcome Event, the movie “SING,” in our school carpark. It should be a great evening commencing at 7.30pm on Saturday, 29 February. Mass commences at 6pm if you would like to attend before the movie.

St Columbkille’s Lenten Group

This starts on Tuesday, 3 March at 10am in the Parish Centre. If you would like a copy of the Lenten program they are in the porch of the church and cost $7. All are welcome to attend. Contact Sonia for all enquiries: 0433709837

Mrs Jo Herring - Religious Education Coordinator

Congratulations to the following students:

In celebration of Catholic Schools Week, themed "Faith in the Future" and to allow our students to showcase their learning environment, our Year 1, Year 3 and Year 5 classrooms will be open on Tuesday 2 March between 6pm and 6:45pm and the Year 2, Year 4 and Year 6 classrooms will be open on Wednesday 3 March between 6pm and 6:45pm.  This is an opportunity for parents and carers to be introduced to their child’s teacher/s, to take a look around the learning environment and to engage and celebrate in the learning already achieved. 

With your child as your tour guide, feel free to attend at any time between 6pm and 6:45pm on the designated days. 

We look forward to seeing you. 

Parents of Kindergarten students will have the opportunty to meet with their child/ren's teacher to discuss the Best Start results during Week 6.  These appointments can be made via Compass. Compass bookings are now open.    

Mrs Maria Disibio - Assistant Principal

Swimming

On Tuesday 11 of February St Columbkilles held their annual swimming carnival at Corrimal pool. Luckily for us the weather was beautiful after several days of heavy rain.  The students went in many events during the course of the day and it was fantastic to see so many of our Year 3 students who experienced the swimming carnival for the first time. Our age champions for 2020 are:

Junior Boy – Bailey Mitchell

Junior Girl – Harper Brisco-Hough

11 Year Boy – Hamish Dorney

11 Year Girl – Maddie Wood

Senior Boy – Jed Petre

Senior Girl – Emily Sharman

Our winning team for 2020 was Downey

Thank you to our parent helpers who assisted on the day.

 AFL Diocesan Trials

On Tuesday 18 February Oliver Ibrahim and Billy Collyer (Year 6) attended the  Diocesan AFL trials. Both boys were successful in gaining selection in the Wollongong Diocesan team and will travel to the Mackillop trials in Wagga Wagga on Friday April 3.  Well done to both boys!

Mrs Colleen Kipp - Leader of Sport

Our school band, the mighty ‘Cobra’s’ has continued to grow and improve over the years with many enthusiastic and talented musicans taking part.  Once again, we are calling on students in Year 3 to 6 who have a passion for music, play an instrument and like being part of a team, to come and play.

Mrs Lucy Fielding will once again be our band leader. Lucy is a highly accomplished  and gifted musicans. We thank Lucy for her dedication and commitment in taking on this role.

The band will practice on Friday mornings from 8:00am to 8:50am in the Monsignor Downey Hall.

Each student is asked to bring along their instrument. The band will get the oppprtunity to play at our Award Assembly each Friday afternoon.

If your child/ren are interested in becoming part of the school band, then please contact the School Office for a permission note or speak with Mr Colqhuoun.

On Monday 17 February some of our parents received a letter from Big Fat Smile outlining the closure of Fun Club @ St Columbkille's on Thursday 9 April. After much discussion, disappointingly for both parties, Big Fat Smile have reached a decision to withdraw Fun Club from our school due to the financial sustainability of the program.

We would like to thank Big Fat Smile and in particular, Fun Club Director Samereh and her team for the outstanding support, care and dedication that they have shown our students and parents over the last two years. We wish Samereh and soon-to-be new family all the very best moving into the future.

Date:      Saturday 29 February

Time:      7:30pm

Veune:    St Columbkille's Catholic Primary School, Corrimal

Movie:     Sing   

See link below for online ticket sales.

Food and drinks will be available on the night. More information will be avaible shortly.

As you would be aware a number of our students have food allergies to nuts, eggs, fish and shellfish.  In keeping these students safe from food reactions including anaphylaxis, we ask that you take great care when packing lunch boxes for your child/ren school each day. 

We ask that you pack:

No raw nuts (nut muesli bars)

No nut products (peanut butter, Nutella, coconut water)

No nuts in cooked items

No raw eggs

No cooked eggs (egg sandwich, egg in a salad, egg based mayonnaise)

No meringue 

No raw fish

No raw shellfish

No cooked white fish, salmon or shellfish 

Items that are OK to include in lunchboxes are:

* tinned tuna

* egg within cooked foods (cakes, biscuits, quiche or zucchini slice) 

We ask all who consume these foods to wash hands thoroughly after consumption and to ensure that they do not share their food with others.

The following website, ‘Kids with Food Allergies’ contains a number of recipes that are as free of many different food allergens as possible.  If you struggle with what to pack your child, this site is worth a browse.

http://www.kidswithfoodallergies.org/page/recipes-diet.aspx#res

Also, just a reminder that NO dogs are permitted on school grounds as we have a student very allergic to dogs.