Dear Parents and Carers,

Hope that you are well and have enjoyed your week.

There is been much to celebrate as a school community over the past couple of weeks. Our students have enjoyed a variety of events which have included Socktober, Year 6 Cookie and Cake Fundraiser, and Cameron Brown's - Learning to Lead student workshop for Year 5.

During this time we have welcomed our new Kindergarten students and their families to St Columbkille's through our Kinder Orientation and the first of eight Transition to School Playgroup sessions.  Grandparents Day was an amazing success, starting with a beautiful liturgy organised by Mrs Herring and Mrs Runko, visits to classrooms and an outstanding morning tea coordinated by Mrs Pascoe, Ms Howard and Mrs Perre. The event highlighted a wonderful sense of spirit, belonging and connection. Thank you to our many grandparents who were able to attend and celebrate a most significant day in the life of our school.

Have a sensational Week 5 and 6. Look after yourself and each other.

Take care

Brad Colquhoun - Principal

Grandparents Day

Last Friday was a wonderful morning for our staff, students, Grandparents and special elderly friends. Our Liturgy was a celebration of love for our Grandparents and grandchildren, with reflections from students from all grades K-6, as well as our special guests Ayla and Ari King and their nan Mrs Imber. Open classrooms were very exciting and the morning tea was a lovely event organised by Mrs Pascoe and Ms Howard. Thank you to everyone involved, especially Mrs Amy Runko for her organisation.

All Saints Day / All Souls Day

These solemnities were marked on Tuesday and Wednesday at St Columbkilles Church. Our students from Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 attended these special masses with our parish community. Father George celebrated with us in acknowledging and praying for our saints and faithful departed.

Remembrance Day

A short acknowledgement for Remembrance Day will be held next Friday morning at school. Our students will meet at approximately 11 o'clock to remember the signing of the armistice, which marked the end of World War 1. May we continue to pray for peace in our world, especially for the people in the Ukraine.

First Holy Communion

This special sacrament for our students is almost here. We continue to pray for these students as they prepare to receive the body of Christ for the first time. An email was sent by Kelly Glen, our Sacramental Coordinator, in regards to the Retreat Day being held on Thursday 17th November and specifics about First Holy Communion. If you have any questions please contact the school.

Crazy Sock Day /Missions

A huge thank you to our students and their families for supporting our annual World Mission Day. Your gold coin donations for wearing crazy socks helped us raise just over $407. Thanks also to our Mini Vinnies team who organised and led this fundraiser for the people of need in Ethiopia. Don't forget the "Brownies in a Jar" mission fundraiser which closes shortly.

Parish / School Mass

A reminder that our Parish Community Mass is this Sunday 6th November at 9.30am. At the conclusion of Mass there will be morning tea and the children's playground next to the parish centre will be opened for families to enjoy. Please bring a plate to share and we look forward to sharing this morning with all members of our faith community.

Joanne Herring - Religious Education Coordinator 

A Time to Remember, Heal and Grow

At the beginning of November, we acknowledge two significant days in our Church calendar, both All Saints Day and All Souls Day. These are days when we are able to remember those who have gone before us. 

There is a wonderful saying, “Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future.” This succinctly reminds us of our common humanity. We would be misguided to think that the Saints all lived idyllic lives infused with constant prayer and commitment. Saints are those who have fallen down but continue to get up. They came to deeply trust in God often through a lifetime of challenges and turmoil. 

A few years ago Fr Richard Leonard SJ spoke to our Diocese about the importance and value of reclaiming the stories of our Saints. As we come to know some of their stories of struggle, anxiety, doubt, fears and fumbling we begin to see that their stories are not far from our own. Their example however can provide us with much needed guidance, inspiration, courage or hope and we call on this as we pray to them. 

All Saints Day is also about taking some time to acknowledge the many “anonymous saints” in our lives. These are the people who touched our lives but their story did not receive the same profile as other Saints. They are the people of hope, in spite of what happened. They seemed to be able to connect into the love of God and the joy of God, even in the messiness of life. Whilst they were here on earth, their story and authenticity gave us strength and comfort and as we pray to them, we can continue to draw on this. 

On All Souls Day, we reconnect with our loved ones who have died. We keep the “faithful departed” in our memory and ask them to keep us in their sight, as they come to see God. Ronald Rolheiser commented, “We and they can still feel each other, know each other, love each other, console each other, and influence each other. Our lives are still joined. Hence we pray for the dead in order to remain in contact with them.”

Whilst we would love things to be different when someone dies, there can be feelings of regret or deep sadness due to things that have not been said or resolved. Rolheiser compassionately expresses that, “To believe in the communion of saints is to believe that we can still tend to unfinished business in our relationships, even after death. We can still talk to those who have died and we can, even now, say the words of love, forgiveness, gratitude, and regret.” 

So as we reflect on All Saints Day we are invited to join the Communion of Saints and to reconnect with those well known and unknown saints who inspire or guide us. And on All Souls Day we have an opportunity to reach out yet again to those who have gone before us and to experience the healing and growth we so long for. 

Congratulations to all of our students who participated in the UNSW Global Writing ICAS Assessment for 2022. A special mention to the following students for their outstanding results: 

Writing:

Merit: Ciara Pons and Lauren Foster

Credit: Arav Gaday, Livinia McLuskey and Alissa Bishop

Distinction: Dylan Fang

Spotlight 2022 ran Thursday 27 and Friday 28 October. It was a fantastic 2-day event capturing the amazing things happening in schools in the Technology, STEM, and Innovation space. 

Keynote speakers, Erica Southgate and Sarah Howard delivered insights into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its impacts on education and the world. The good news is that teachers will not be replaced, however, we can learn to work with AI to get the most out of its benefits for teaching and learning.

There were inspirational presentations from Google for Education, Apple Education, Young Change Agents, ClickView, and JAMF. Exploring the latest updates to support teachers. Some of our talented teachers from across the Diocese also shared their learning journey and classroom experiences with 3D Printing, CAD Design, Pages Journals, StorySchool, and VEX Robotics. Some terrific ideas for others to use and we thank them for sharing these with attendees. 

There was also an opportunity to help our neighbours in Papua New Guinea as we built solar lights that will be sent to them as part of the Solar Buddy initiative. We also announced the 2022 STEM MAD winners. All these entries can be found on the STEM MAD website.  

Two jam-packed days of sharing and inspiration. One that benefited attendees as they heard about innovative ways to enhance students learning and get the most out of the technology that is in our schools. 

As part of the Spotlight event, we also announced the winners of our Student Competition. There were over 70 entries from over ⅓ of our schools. Students did an amazing job producing these and are congratulated on their efforts. Among this list we congratulate:

Best Infant Awareness Video - Ciara Pons - St Columbkille’s Catholic Primary School, Corrimal

All these winners can be viewed on the Spotlight 2022 website 

Earlier this year Livinia McLuskey (5G) entered the Poem Forest Competition. From over 5000 entries, Livinia’s poem has been shortlisted and on Thursday 17th Year 5 will watch the online event to hear the announcement of the winners and highly commended poems. Shortlisted poets are in the running for $5,000 worth of prizes including $500 cash for each category, book packs from Magabala Books, Pantera Press and Wonderground Journal, Garden tours, plants and a special Threatened Species Prize. Congratulations to Livinia for taking up this opportunity to showcase her writing skills.

Guardina Angel

by Livinia

On Friday the 11^th of November a number of our students will be receiving medallions at the annual CDF Sport Awards at St Marys College. There are two categories of awards. The Wollongong Diocese Sports Council Medallion are for those students who have been successful in gaining selection in at least two Diocesan Teams. The following students will be receiving this medallion:

Harry Esteves (4 Gold)

Ryder Bighetti (5 Gold)

Amelia Rutledge (6 Gold)

Bailey Mitchell (6 Blue)

The second award is the Wollongong Diocese Sports Council Red (Medal). This is presented to students who have gained selection in at least two Mackillop teams. This will be presented to:

Sonny O’Brien (5 Blue)

A huge congratulations to all five students who have represented our school not only at Diocesan and Mackillop level, but also across a number of sports throughout the year. A very well-deserved reward for all of their dedication and training.

Mrs Colleen Kipp - Leader of Sport

Student academic reports for Semester Two will be distributed via Compass on Thursday 1 December. The Semester Two Report, assesses all Key Learning Areas taught using the A to E scale.  Students Kindergarten to Year 6 will receive a Semester Two Report. 

Optional Learning Conversations will follow during Week 9 and 10.  Should you require a Learning Conversation with your child's class teacher, please contact the teacher via email or through the School Office.   

Maria Disbio - Assiatant Principal 

On Friday 11 November students, staff and parents of St Columbkille’s will represent our school at the Corrimal RSL Remembrance Day Service at ANZAC Grove Corrimal. Thank you to our Year 5 and Year 6 students for taking the time to represent our school and pay their respects to our Service men and women past and present. 

Lest we forget.   

Our Year 5 2023 students will require to Bring their Own Device for iPad for Learning from Thursday Week 2 (2 February 2023). This device needs to be an Apple iPad.  

If your child currently has an iPad for their exclusive use at school, then that iPad would be fine. Please note that in 2023 your child will do the NAPLAN tests on their iPad which needs to be an iPad Air 3 or later (those sold in the last 5 years). If you need to purchase a new iPad, the latest iPad is Generation 10, however this device is quite expensive and also does not have a headphone jack.  Considering this the iPad (9^thGeneration) can be purchased for school prices through EduComIT . Alternatively, you may wish to shop around for a more competative price.  

The iPad Mini does NOT meet the minimum size requirements for NAPLAN Online testing, and so, should not be purchased for your child’s use. We also recommend that the iPad is WiFi only — not Cellular. This means there are no additional internet usage charges, and your child will only be connected to the internet when WiFi is available (at school for example).

We highly recommend purchasing a survivor type case for the ipad as this type of case provides greater protection when carrying the iPad in school bags.  Your child will not require a bluetooth keyboard or an Apple pen.  

The attached booklet will provide further information about the rollout.  Should you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me via email for via the school office.  

Maria Disibio - Assistant Principal and Technology Leader 

Our final P&F Disco for 2022 will be held on Thursday 10^th November 2022.  $5 entry per child (only current St Columbkille’s students permitted).

• Infants (K-2) 5pm to 6:30pm
• Primary (3-6) 7pm to 8:30pm

We can’t wait to see everyone and celebrate!

On behalf of the P&F.

We recommend not taking your child on holidays during the school term in order for your child to receive the most out of their schooling.

Any parent requesting leave for their child for (5) or more consecutive days is required to complete an Application for Extended Leave Form.

The form is available at the School Office or can be downloaded from the school website.

To ensure approval before the leave takes place, we require the completed form lodged at Student Services a minimum of 2 weeks before the Leave commences. 

Thank you.