Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- Religious Education Coordinator
- Spiritual Reflection
- ICAS Assessments
- SCC Sport
- Angolo Italiano
- Kindergarten: Class of 2023 - Upcoming Dates
- Resourcing: Carpeting Year 2 and 3 Classrooms.
- Teacher Professional Planning Days - Pupil Free
- School Photos - Thursday 20 October 2022
- Medical or Health Related Concerns of Students
- Holy Spirit College Information
- Lost Property
- Lord Mayors Picnic in the Park
- Ready-Set-Connect
- UCI Calendar of Events
Dear Parents and Carers,
Hope that you are well.
'Build brighter futures for families in Ethiopia’ is the theme of the 2022 Catholic Mission World Mission Month Appeal, celebrated at a Diocese of Wollongong school launch at St Thomas More Catholic Church, Ruse at Tuesday.
Students and staff from every school across the Diocese gathered in music and prayer, with Bishop Brian Mascord, Peter Hill, Director of Schools; Fr Brian Lucas, Catholic Mission National Director; representatives of Catholic Mission and CEDoW, to pledge their commitment to the annual school appeal and ongoing fight against poverty.
2022 World Mission Sunday message, Pope Francis invited everyone to answer the call to be missionary and a witness to Christ, stating that "Mission is carried out together, not individually".
We thank Religious Education Coordinator - Mrs Herring and student representatives - Bailey Mitchell and Zaria Nguyen for attending the launch on behalf our school.
Throughout Term 3 Year 5 and Year 6 have been working on representing a chosen Christmas scripture passage through art. Following a judging process involving Father Anthony, Mrs Herring, Mr Colquhoun, Mrs Disibio and Mrs Tirchett, 3 artworks from Year 5 and 3 from Year 6 will be sent to the Catholic Education Office for the next stage of the Christmas Art Competition.
Thank you to Mrs Lace, Mrs Rathbone, Mr Lowrie, Mrs Gaffney and Mrs Tirchett for their work and support of our students throughout the term.
- Year 5: Natalie Harris, Hugo Immens and Bronte Ireland
- Year 6: Betty Barry, Lauren Foster and Amelia Rutledge
Reminders:
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese recently announced that Thursday 22 September 2022 will be a public holiday for the National Day of Mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. All schools in the Diocese of Wollongong will be closed on this day and your child will not be required to attend.
- Pupil Free Day - Friday 19 September, Staff Spirituality Day: Listening to the Spirit of the Great Southern Land.
- Pupil Free Day - Monday 10 October, Writing Collaborative and Vision/Mission
- Term 4 will commence on Tuesday 11 October
Thank you for what has been an amazing term with our school community experiencing a variety of celebrations, activities and events.
Enjoy the time with your child/ren, travel safe if holidaying and we will see you on Tuesday 11 October for Term 4.
Take care
Mr Brad Colquhoun – Principal
Staff Spirituality Day
Beth Riolo and Karan Taylor from the CEO will lead the staff in our annual Spirituality Day on Friday 23rd September. The day will be an opportunity to explore some of the spiritualities of Aboriginal peoples and make connections to our Catholic Faith Tradition. Our venue is Five Islands Secondary College at Port Kembla. We look forward to our immersive experience on country.
Activate Fire
On the first Tuesday back for term, (Tuesday 11 October), St Columbkille’s will host the Year 6 Activate Fire immersive experience for our neighbouring schools. This had been postponed from the previous term. The day will be run by the Catholic Youth Team with activities, games and songs focusing on the gifts of the Holy Spirit. If any parents can help with cooking a BBQ lunch on this day, please notify the school.
First Holy Communion
Our sacramental preparation will begin early next term. Specific details in regard to books, the retreat day and actual event/s, will be sent after the holidays. Please look out for these emails.
Last week Zara, Jed, Mackenzie, Stella, Theia, Milla, Abigail and myself raised $137 for St Vincent de Paul. Students from K-6 brought a number of items including loombands and embroidered disc's to raise this money to help others in need. Thank you to everyone that made a purchase big or small - you have made a difference.
James Andary 3G
Have a wonderful holiday break. We look forward to our final term together for 2022!
Mrs Joanne Herring - Religious Education Coordinator
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen”.
As people of prayer these words are ingrained in us from a young age when we make the sign of the cross. Often used as a formality to commence and conclude prayer, the gesture is sometimes performed so quickly by the prayer leader that in keeping up our own signing becomes somewhat Tau shaped.
Nonetheless, the mark of the cross which we place on ourselves is a profound point of connection to the Divine Presence as we remind ourselves in gathering that our Trinitarian God is always amongst and within us. And in our sending forth we are beloved and blessed to do good works in the name of God.
This gesture, spoken with the words - ‘of’ the Father - ‘of’ the Son - ‘of’ the Holy Spirit, carries with it a call and commitment to be people ‘of’ the cross.
In the Gospel stories, characters were often identified through the place they were from. Consider Jesus of Nazareth, Mary of Magdala, Simon of Cyrene. This place being their home-town, an indicator of one’s cultural roots and ways of life.
When we apply this thought to our own lives we might ask ourselves:
In what ways might we be ‘of the cross’?
How might we make a home for ourselves in the cross through the outstretched arms of Jesus?
How might we carry with us our cross-identity as we journey from place to place?
What cultural practices and ways of life define us as being ‘of the cross’?
We need only look at the life of Jesus Christ to learn the way of the Cross - marked by love, compassion, mercy, justice, peace, inclusion and reverence for all creation. And in knowing the life of Christ we also realise this path isn’t always smooth sailing. If the life of Christ is anything to go by, the only way to reach our resurrection moments in life is through the cross and the darkness of the tomb. From crucifixion to the triumph of the cross, God’s transformative power prevails, once again making all things new and glorious.
In our own backyard we see the way of the cross exemplified by our own St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. When taking on a religious vocation she took the title Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary often spoke about the joys and hardships of the cross. She once said, “we may feel our crosses hard at times, but our courage should rise with them.”
As the Church celebrates the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross we are all invited to take up the Cross and follow Jesus through darkness into light. As we make the sign we are reminded of our call to be of the cross. Like Jesus along the Via Dolorosa (sorrowful way), and like St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, we embrace the cross in all its fullness though hard at times. We support one another in carrying its load. We stop to wipe one another’s tears. We ask for mercy. We offer up forgiveness. We fall and we rise with courage for we are all ‘of the cross’.
ICAS Assessments
Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the UNSW Global Digital Technologies and English ICAS Assesments for 2022. A special mention to the following students for their outstanding results:
Digital Technologies:
Merit:Alissa Bishop
Credit: Kai Fletcher, Hunter Moskwa and Dylan Fang
English:
Credit: Dylan Fang, Rosalie Larkin and Ciara Pons
Distinction: Brody Foster
High Distinction: Isabella Masters
Mrs Bethany Tirchett
Sport News - Sporting Schools Basketball
We have been very fortunate to have had Ella from Illawarra Basketball running a skills program in PE lessons with us. The whole school from Kinder to Year 6 participated and learnt lots of new skills including dribbling, defence and shooting. If your child is interested in participating in a Basketball School Holiday program, please visit the following link for more details;
Carla Olima - Physical Education Teacher
It has been a great term of learning for the Gold classes, who have continued their learning and love for the Italian culture and languge. Kindergartern, Year 1 and Year 2 have focused on Il Corpo (the body) naming body parts in Italain and singing Testa, Spalle, Ginocchia e Piedi. Year 3 and Year 4 looked at I Posti Belli (Beautiful Places) in Italy and Year 5 and 6 focused on Italiani Famosi (Famous Italians). Ask you child to share about their Italian lessons with you.
If you would like to encourage your child to practice their Italian skills, the Languages Online App is a free download.
Signora Disibio - Leader of Languages - Italian
Monday 24 October: Welcome and Orientation 1:00pm – 3:00pm (Parents and Carers only)
Parents and carers are invited to attend the Welcome and Orientation in the Monsignor Downey Hall. Just parents need to attend.
Monday 31 October: Kinder 2023 Transition to School Playgound 2:00pm – 3:00pm
You and your child are invited to attend the St Columbkille’s Transition to School Playgroup.
It is a great opportunity for your child to:
- Get to know the school
- Meet their teachers
- Learn through play
- Make new friends: students and parents
- Prepare for school: faith, learning and well-being
Pre-school aged brothers and sisters are welcome. A parent, other family member or carer are asked to attend with their child/ren for the duration of the playgroup
Families are encouraged to try and have their child attend as many playgroup dates as possible to help them prepare for school. While the children play parents/carers will have opportunities for information, questions and meeting staff.
New carpet has been laid in the Year 2 classrooms, with the Year 3 classroom to be re-carpeting during the Term 3 holidays. All of Level One, will then have uniformed carpet. We look forward to refreshing the carpet on Level Two in 2023.
Friday 27 September will be a pupil free day, as staff will be participating in their annual Spirituality Day. These annual days add to the growth in faith and spiritual reflection of all our staff members.
Monday 14 October will also be a pupil free day, as staff will be participating in a Staff Development Day.
These days coincide with the beginning and end of the upcoming school break. Students Kindergarten through to Year 6 will resume school for Term 4 on Tuesday 15 October.
If your child has a health related concern, that the class teacher needs to be aware of, please email the office staff or call the office staff and give them the information. These concerns may include: an extra dose of Ventolin on a given day or medication details. The office staff will inform the class teacher. Thank you for your support in this matter.
Mrs Pauline Leonard - Leader of Diverse Learning
Year 7 Orientation Day
Year 7 2023 Orientation Day is on Friday 11 November. The day runs from 8.30am - 2.30pm. Parents/Carers will be asked to drop their child off at the gate. College staff and students will be at the gates to meet Year 6 students as they arrive.
Enrolment Year 2024
Year 5 students know to submit an application as soon as possibleshould they wish their child to attend the College in 2024. We are unable to guarantee students from our Catholic feeder schools a position at the College if they submit an application after Term 1 2023.
As you can see from the photo below, our lost property basket if over flowing with jackets, pants and hats! All these items have no names or no name of current students. If you think your child's jacket, hat or pants could be in this basket, please come in and search through it. The lost property is housed in the Basement.
