Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that you are safe, well and have successfully navigated the challenging weather that we have experienced over the last couple of weeks. Our thoughts and prayers are  with those peole who have lost love ones, their homes and possessions throughout NSW South Wales and Queensland. Joseph Molina (5G) and Matthew Munn (5G) shared their idea of supporting those families who are experiencing ongoing hardship due to the recent devastating floods. To assist, on Friday 18 March we will hold a Mufti Day (gold coin donation) with proceeds going to the St Vincent de Paul Flood Appeal.  

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me.’  Matthew 25: 35-36

As we begin Lent, that time of preparation for Easter and the celebration of the Paschal Mystery. Ash Wednesday was celebrated last week K to 6.  The season of Lent  is a time to consider how we pray, serve others,  demonstrate forgiveness and care for one another.

"Lent is a time for reconsidering our feelings, for letting our eyes be open to injustice, to open our hearts to those suffering" Pope Francis

Congratulations to the following students who received Catholic School Week awards for living out our Core Values - faith, learning, respect, responsibility, celebrate and community each day through their words and actions. Certificates were presented our students at our first K-6 Award Assembly last Friday.

Open Classrooms will be held on Wednesday 23 March Years  1, 3, 5 and Thursday  24 March Year 2, 4, and 6 showcasing 'life at school' to parents. We are looking forward to welcoming you back into our classrooms.

The Year 6 Excursion Stanwell Tops Conference Centre, will be held from Monday 14 to Wednesday 16 March. Students and staff will experience a number of challenging and difficult activities, team building and leadership opportunities.  Thank you to Year 6 parents to enabling their children to participate in excursion and our staff - Mrs Tirchett, Mrs Gaffney, Mrs Stephenson and Mrs Finney for their support of our Year 6 students. There will be plenty of fun, excitment and leeches over these three days.

Enjoy your weekend and the week ahead. Stay safe and well.

Take care

Mr Brad Colquhoun - Principal

My prayers and thoughts are with you all as this flood disaster continues. During this week, we have had towns in our diocese cut off; a number of our schools closed, non-operational or on alert; church buildings and agency offices affected by flooding and heavy rain; and clergy, staff, families, students and friends from our extended community experiencing another trauma. In a heartfelt video message to his flock, Greg Homeming OCD, Bishop of Lismore, said it had been “a very tragic few days”. To those who had “lost everything” in these floods, Bishop Greg said that everyone across the diocese was suffering with them. “This has all happened at a time when we were hoping that 2022 would be a year of hope, a good year,” he said. As a diocese, I would like to provide practical support for the people of Lismore. I also want to provide pastoral and practical support for the people in our own diocese who have been and will continue to be impacted by these floods. I am inviting you to donate to my Flood Relief Appeal https://www.dow.org.au/giving/ an appeal I hope, with your support, will help me generously meet this goal. 

Bishop Brian

Living the Gospel – Lent

The 40 days that Jesus spent praying and preparing in the wilderness is reflected in the season of Lent that lasts 40 days from Ash Wednesday until the day before Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays in the season). It has been traditional that during the time of Lent Christian people renew their efforts in prayer, fasting and almsgiving. All three of these practices are actions of preparation. Just as Jesus prepared for his ministry in the wilderness, so too is Lent an opportunity for us to be deliberate about our reflection on what we are called to do in this world.

Our Ash Wednesday Liturgy for Kinder to Year 4, and parish Mass for Years 5 and 6, were wonderful celebrations to begin the Church season of LENT. As we continue to journey with Jesus through LENT and in the lead up to Easter, think about these 3 important words – change, conversion and new beginnings. Remember to use your heart and hands to emulate Jesus. Our Year 5 Mini Vinnies team certainly used their hands to support Project Compassion in cooking some yummy pancakes for our community. Thank you to all those students and parents who were involved and $312.65 was raised from this event. Amazing!

During Lent we continue to think about the projects of Caritas and Project Compassion. Our weekly stories from the Caritas website provide students with an understanding of how their money helps people in countries world-wide. If you would like to view or revisit these stories log on to Caritas. 

Doing Justice Lent Calendar

Doing Justice Lent Calendar 24.33 MB

Save the date- Family Mass

Our first Family Mass will be held on Saturday 2 April at 6pm and Sunday 3 April at 9.30am, in St Columbkille’s Church. This mass is particularly for our Kindergarten families and their Year 6 buddies, and staff, however everyone is most welcome to attend.

As the Eucharist is central to our Catholic faith, we hope to see as many families as possible attend either event and partake in the hospitality following Mass. It is also extra special as we are in the Church season of Lent, a time for prayer, fasting and works of love. At this Mass, families from our school community will be taking on various roles, including the readings, prayers of intercession and setting of the prayer space.

If you are able to attend, please RSVP by Wednesday 30 March via Compass or returning the slip to school, and don’t forget to bring a plate of yummy food for many to share. We look forward to seeing you!

Harmony Day

Harmony Day is officially celebrated on March 21 and is a day when we come together to celebrate our diversity. Diversity simply means the things that make us different from one another. At St Columbkille’s, we will be celebrating Harmony Day on Thursday March 17 with a ‘Friendship Celebration.” We will be acknowledging the wonderful friendships among our students, as well as making way for new friendships. The students will wear mufti clothes to school, as well as bring in board games which will be played throughout the day.

God our Father, give all of us hearts like your Son’s, open to the experiences, hopes, troubles and goodness of everyone we meet. Help us to be compassionate towards all, sharing the load of each other and all those in need. We ask this through Christ our Lord. AMEN

First Holy Communion

Please continue to keep our sacramental students in your prayers as they prepare for their First Holy Communion. They should be working through their online lessons and booklets in preparation for their day on Saturday 26 March or Sunday 27 March.

Clean Up Australia Day

A big thank you to St Columbkille’s staff and students for their efforts in cleaning up around the school grounds and surrounds last Friday. It was an amazing effort and has beautified our areas immensely.

Mrs Joanne Herring - Religious Education Coordinator 

Congratulations to the following students:

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Award

1B - Willow Lee Patris

1B - Eva Saveski

1B - George Al Achkar

1G - Oscar Murray

2B - Opal Duggan

2B - Maxwell Hammet

2G - Ella Dorney

2G - Abigail Vaughan

3B - Amity Fuller

3B - Brody Foster

3G - James Andary

4G - Isabella Masters

5B - Sam Dorney

5G - Georgia Doherty

6B - Wintah Breakspear

6B - Chantelle Fleury

6G - Lola Shaw

School Medallion

3B - Amity Fuller

3B - Zali Mayo

3B - Brody Foster

'For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me.’  Matthew 25: 35-36

Did you know that you can acces the school calendar via the Schoolzine App? In the Home tab of the App, select School Calendar in the bottom right hand corner and all school published events will appear.  You can also choose an event and then select 'Sync Event' to add the event to the calendar on your device.  This is a great way to keep up to date with up coming school events.  

Due to measures beyond our control, the P&F Committee have decided to postpone the 'Run4Fun Colour Spectacular', which was to be held on 1 April.

The 'Run4Fun Colour Spectacular' will now be held on Friday 20 May 2022, at Ziem's Park Corrimal.

Over the next few weeks, sponsorship books will be sent home with the students.

This will be the P&F's major fundraising event for the year, we would like your support in making this event the best we have had.

Rapid Antigen Testing Kits are available through the office. If you need additional RAT's please contact Mrs Pascoe on 42847987.

Congratulations to the followng students for their results in the ICAS Digital Assessments in 2021:

Credit - Kynan Merola - Alissa Bishop

Merit - Daisy Smith

Participation - Clover Duggan - Aiden Heaton

Mrs Bethany Tirchett - Middle Leader

The Uniform Advisory Team that will represent our school in reviewing our current school uniform.

If you would like to join our listed parents below our first meeting will be held on Friday 25 March in the MD Hall at 9am.

Uniform Advisory Team: Holly Howell, Kelly Saveski, Mary Munn, Katie Woelner, Clare Jansen, Sally Ritz, Kristina Carroll, Nicky Bishop, Rocco Zappia, Sarah Foster, Karley Beckman

Come Join the Team! 

@russellvalefc