Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- Religious Education
- Spiritual Reflection
- Zoom Award Assembly
- CEDoW and SCC: Reminder - Attendance
- Book Week 2021 - Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds
- NSW Premier's Reading Challenge Update
- Letters to Residents in Aged Care
- Let's Connect For R U OK? Day 2021
- Well-being
- P&F Father's Day Stall
- Transition to Summer Uniform
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hoping that you are safe and well and that as a family you have found a rhythm to each day that is both functional and sustainable.
CEDoW Director of Schools Mr Peter Hil sent to our teaching colleagues during the week an inspirational message of Hope, that embraced a sense of community, love and commitment to Faith. Referring to the words of Pope Francis, Mr Hill outlined the collective despair, isolation and ongoing struggles that we all face and yet in all of this, we can discover and engage with the very best of the human spirit - gestures of kindness, compassion, peace, reconciliation and hope. As a school community may we invest in hope as a way of thinking, a process that will guide and support us in our faith, purpose and humility.
We have been enjoying a wonderful week at St Columbkille's and have much to be grateful for and to celebrate. Each of our Weekly Zoom Check-Ins have been a combination of sharing weekend stories, kahoots, Who Am I games, questionably funny jokes and outlines for the day and/or weekly tasks. Year 1 went on a Virtual Space excursion, our Students Representative Council are cleverly exploring ideas for each of their assigned classes, a group of Stage 3 students have been invited to the UN Sustainable Development Goals Zoom Meeting and we celebrated our 2nd Zoom Award Assembly this morning. Next week, we are looking froward to celebrating Book Week and the start of the Paralympics.
In relation to student attendance onsite, please refer to the attached co-signed letter - CEDoW SCC Student Attendance. Within this letter is information referring to students needing to attend school on-site and is supported by current NSW Health Level 4 restrictions. If you have any questions and/or concerns, please contact me directly at colquhounb01@dow.catholic.edu
A reminder regarding Student Remote Learning Expectations. As outlined in the Term 3 Week 4 Newsletter - SCC Remote Learning Expectations, students have clear expectations re: registering attendance and submitting learning tasks. Below are the key points outlined in the SCC Student Remote Learning expectations.
- Follow a daily routine for learning: Be ready to learn at 9am, following the grade timetable and register their daily attendance via google classrooms
- Identify a safe, comfortable, quiet space in their home where they can work effectively (access to internet, power, appropriate lighting, and ventilation
- Regularly monitor digital platforms and communication to check for announcements and feedback from teachers
- Complete tasks with integrity and academic honesty, doing your best work
- Submit a minimum of three learning tasks per day (Religious Education, English and Mathematics). Failure to do so will result in absenteeism being recorded
- Doing their best to meet timelines, commitments, and due dates with teachers following-up with student non-engagement with their learning
Below are 2 quotes that currently resonate with me. They embody compassion, understanding, empathy and sense of community. I hope that they may hold some sediment for you.
'Be kind. For everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle'. - Plato
'If you want to walk fast, walk alone, but you want to walk far, walk together'. - African Proverb
Thank you for your consistent and ongoing support, patience and dedication to the welfare and learning needs of our students.
Brad Colquhoun - Principal
You can log on to Mass at Home or St Columbkille’s Church to watch the live recordings of these weekend masses and other masses.
Sunday 22 August: 21st Sunday in Ordinary Time – Gospel of John 6:60-69 “Many disciples desert Jesus”
Sunday 29 August: 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time – Gospel of Mark 1-23 “Jesus confronts the Pharisees”. This Sunday is also called Social Justice Sunday.
This is when the Australian Catholic Bishops release their annual Social Justice Statement, which is this year titled: Cry of the Earth, Cry of the Poor. This Statement calls us to listen, hear and respond to the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor through practical action. When one part of the Body of Christ is wounded, the other parts care for the afflicted part so that all can be healed and made whole. What affects one affects all, as everything and everyone is connected. We are invited to be lifegiving agents in the transformation of our communities in ways that reflect the mercy freely offered by our loving God. As people of prayerful contemplation, dialogue, and action, we commit to right relationships in our covenant with God. It is clear that the signs of our times call for urgent action to defend, protect, and restore the earth and the dignity of the human person, especially those places, creatures, and people who are most vulnerable. In following God’s law of living a moral life from the inside out, we upend and transcend any worldly standards that would diminish the sacredness of any part of God’s creation. People are more important than profits, and the beauty of our natural world is a precious gift to us and to the generations who will follow. In transitioning to sustainable and just economic systems and practices, we commit to partnering with the work of the Spirit in renewing the face of the earth.
Season of Creation
Each year from September to October the Christian community celebrates the Season of Creation by praying and acting together to protect our common home. During this time Catholics unite with others in the global family to pray and protect every creature in God’s beautifully complex web of creation. The theme of this year’s Season of Creation celebration is “A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God”
The Season of Creation begins on September 1st, the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, which we celebrate at school with a liturgy. This annual day, established by Pope Francis in 2015, is an opportunity to pray, reflect and act to care for God’s creation. All of us, both those who most contribute to climate change and those whom it most affects, pray today for better stewardship of the Earth.
Pope Francis in his announcement for the World Day of Prayer for Care of Creation said, "The annual World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation offers to individual believers and to the community a precious opportunity to renew our personal participation in this vocation as custodians of creation, raising to God our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our care, invoking God’s help for the protection of creation and God’s mercy for the sins committed against the world in which we live."
We continue to raise to God our thanks for the marvellous works that have been entrusted to our care, and we ask for God’s help as we take action to protect our planet and all of its creatures.
Video - Pope Francis and the Season of Creation
Father’s Day
On Sunday 5th September we honour the men who are role models in our lives. Unfortunately, our celebrations for Father’s Day cannot be the same due to the COVID-19 restrictions. (Can you believe this happened last year as well!) Our school community will highlight our wonderful fathers, grandfathers, pops, uncles etc with a zoom liturgy. Details of this will be sent out via Compass. For many of us Father’s Day will feel very different with zooming, face-timing and messaging. However, our male figures will be especially remembered on this day for teaching us about life and all its challenges and loving us unconditionally. Happy Father’s Day to all!
In preparation for our Fathers Day slide show please send in your fathers day photos to info@sccdow.catholic.edu.au
Reconciliation/First Holy Communion
We are still waiting for confirmation from NSW Health and the NSW Government as to when students will return to school. If and when this occurs, we will finalise details for the sacrament of Reconciliation. Watch this space!
We become the inheritance of Mary’s Queenship,and the promise made to her through our existence.
This Sunday we celebrate the Queenship of Our Lady when Mary is crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. Mary has become known to us as our model of the Divine Feminine that works in and through us to bring goodness into this world. She is present at our beginning and our transitioning into eternal life.
Right now we see the world in trouble with conflicts and wars, famine and disasters, pandemics and climate change. Only last week the United Nations delivered the grim report that the current condition of our planet is a “code red for humanity”.
The dying of our planet is a reminder of the lack of focus on our actions and their consequences for our planet. Mary gently prompts us to bring beauty to our world and to help us to love, nurture and care for our planet. Should we not then look to Mary as the image of the spiritual beauty of what we and our planet should look like in the eyes of God? Mary reminds us to remain focused on the divine in all things including our planet.
If those in power throughout the world cannot resolve world conflicts and injustices, nor protect our dying earth, then as people of hope, maybe it’s time to re-focus on our own actions and decisions that have led to human overconsumption and deprivation of our planet? We could turn to Mary as an example of our inherited goodness to lead us to act with integrity for the common good for all.
Responding to Jesus’ call to love all of creation and through our personal devotion to Mary, we can have complete trust that she hears our prayers and walks with us as we make the disciplined decisions necessary to heal and preserve our earthly home.
Week 5 Zoom Assembly photos
Week 6 Zoom Assembly photos
We have enjoyed coming together for our Award Assemblies via Zoom. This format will continue until we are able to celelbrate face to face. We won't present Mary MacKillop Awards or School Medallions at this time. We will wait to present these face to face.
Book Week 2021 : Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other Worlds, Updates
Book Week commences this Monday 23rd August and I am excited to find out who the CBCA winners will be. The announcement will be made by the Children's Book Council of Australia this Friday, 20th August. Below are a couple of photos of the shortlisted and notable books we have in our library:
Just a couple of reminders and corrections to my previous announcements regarding book week. Please note competition entries have been extended until Friday 27th August.
• Dress up on Monday 23rd August or Tuesday 24th August (your teacher will have already let you know which day) and share your costume with your teacher and classmates during your Zoom lesson. Your costume can be your favourite character from a book, or you can get creative using this year’s theme. There is no need to purchase anything new, try using materials or clothes you’ve already got at home.
• Enter one of the two competitions being held for book week this year. Competition number one is to write a story based on the book week theme of Old Worlds. New Worlds. Other Worlds of no more than 500 hundred words. Here are some starting cues you might like to use: I opened the door and found myself in a strange world, If I had a time machine I would.., My best friend is a dinosaur. Illustrations are most welcome.
• Competition number two is to create a book trailer of a book of your choice. Your video should be about promoting the book you have chosen and should not be any longer than 1 minute and 30 seconds. You can find tips and ideas from Tristan Bancks here, How to Make a Book Trailer - Tristan Bancks. Some suggestions for free software/apps you can use to create your book trailer are: iMovie, Flipaclip, Stop Motion Studio, Animation Desk® Draw & Animate.
• Both competitions have been extended and close next Friday 27th August. Please submit your entries to scclibrary@dow.catholic.edu.au (please note there was an error in previous notifications for this email address).
All participants will receive a certificate and a winner will be selected from each stage, notified by email, and awarded with a certificate and a book. Winners will be announced in the Newsletter for Week 8. Have fun and good luck!
Helen Moon - Library SSO
To support all students due to the additional challenges with the current restrictions, the NSW Premier's Reading Challenge has been extended until 3rd September 2021. As additional support the following changes have been made:
• Students on all Challenge levels will be able to read 10 choice books (that's 10 books instead of 5 of your own choice).
• Students on all Challenge levels will be able to include books on their reading records that they read collaboratively as a class, in person or online with their teacher or at home with their parents/carers.
This is great news and should give you all that bit of extra incentive to log into your PRC student account and add the books you have read, so you can get your PRC certificate. If you have any issues with logging in or have any questions please contact me on moonh01@dow.catholic.edu.au.
Congratulations to the following students who have already completed the Premier's Reading Challenge and will receive their certificate later this year:
Kindergarten
Florence Atkinson
Finn Briscoe-Hough
Lachlan Erven
Kaela Fabon
Nate Jansen
Savanah Mortelozzo
Cohen Saweris
Kaiyah Sloan
Year 1
Amelie Andary
Jacinta Auld
Brae Cooke
Ella Hartup
Noah Mortelozzo
Sebastian McIndoe
Kaylan Pons
Charlotte Woelner
Year 2
James Andary
Juliette Ayers
Zara Erven
Keira Fabon
Daniel Fleury
Brody Foster
Amity Fuller
Darcy Fursey
Poppy Galaxidis
Eamon Higgins
Bronte Jansen
Mia McCormack
Year 3
Taavi Cooke
Harper Harrison
Isabella Masters
Ciara Pons
Eden Saweris
Abbie Stenos
Year 4
Alissa Bishop
Luca Calmasini
Riley Dorin
Livinia McLuskey
Joseph Molina
Matthew Munn
Juliet Ritz
Year 5
Harper Briscoe-Hough
Christian Da Silva
Patrick Fahey
Chantelle Fleury
Bronte Fursey
Kayle Galaxidis
Levi Huggins
Willow Jenkins
Cameron Ritz
Levi Saweris
Haydon Sharmon
Year 6
Isaac Ayers
Allegra Calmasini
Jensen Curbison
Athanael Disibio
Grace Docherty
Helen Moon - Library SSO
Over the last week, students at St Columbkille's have been busy writing letters to residents in aged care. We all know that living with Covid-19 is making life tough with residents in aged care feeling especially lonely and isolated from their families and loved ones.
Our wonderful letters will be sent to a number of aged care facilities in the local area and are sure to put a smile on the faces of those reading them.
Well done everyone for your amazing community spirit.
Amy Runko - Year 4 Teacher
Thursday, 9 September is R U OK? Day.
R U OK? Day is a reminder that every day is a day to empower people to meaningfully connect, to start a conversation, and to lend support. Join us in supporting R U OK? Day and share this year's message: 'Are they really OK? Ask them today'.
As we all know, the past year has been challenging for everyone. A common theme for many has been isolation. It's now more than ever we need to strengthen the connection between our people.
You are not your feelings. Even though feelings seem all engaging and can dominate our world, we have to learn how to befriend them, detach from them and let them come and go without getting caught up in them.
Act against negative tendencies. Keep doing the things that are good for you, especially exercise, eating well, getting good sleep, sunshine, prayer, meditation, relaxation, and staying connected. Just do it.
Practice awareness and gradual change. Being human means that we can’t suddenly fix things like a machine getting a new part. Normally we need time and practice to make changes, a process of small incremental steps.
Believe in the future - this won’t last forever. Having hope and perspective is an important thing for getting through tough times. See the beauty in small things and maintain a sense of humour.
Having faith or belief in a higher power is a key part of positive mental health. Believing that we are good, created by the Divine or whatever you believe God to be helps to build solid foundations and to be positive.
In celebrating Father's Day on Sunday 5 September, the P&F are opening an online Father's Day Stall for students to purchase presents for their dad and/or grandfathers.
Please refer to the attached flyer and mail orders to: pandf@sccdow.catholic.edu.au
'Present Pick-Up' will be using Carlines on the following days/times: Wednesday 1 September, Thursday 2 September and Friday 3 September from 8.30am- 9.10am and 3.10pm to 3.30pm.
Thank you to Nicky Bishop and the team for organising and supporting our Father's Day Stall
The transition into Summer Uniform will commence from this Monday 23 August (Week 7). All students are asked to be wearing their Summer Uniform by the following week - Monday 30 August. (Week 8)
Please refer to the SCC school uniform policy (which includes hair styles and the wearing of jewellery) outlined in the link below. If you have any concerns about wearing the correct uniform, please contact your child/ren's teacher.
We thank you and greatly appreciate your support.
Uniform Policy Link: https://www.sccdow.catholic.edu.au/parents/uniform/
