Dear Parents and Carers,

I hope that you are well.

Week 10 has been a sensational cumulation of events, celebrations and activities that our school community should be most proud of and have collectively enjoyed.

On Monday evening our Christmas Liturgy and concert was a tremendous celebration of our faith, spirit and joy. Thank you to Ms Finlay-Joseph and her team who did an outstanding job in organising such a special event wonderfully supported by our school, Parish, Holy Spirit College and Corrimal communities. Thank you again to our sponsors and donations given to our Church's new data projector.

Last night, we formally acknowledged Year 6 and their families at the Graduation and Awards evening in the MD Hall. This special event is a time of gratitude and a celebration of our students and their families.

Thank you to Father Anthony, Mrs Herring, Ms Patton, Mrs Disibio. Mrs Gaffney, Mrs Tirchett and Mrs Stephenson for their organisation and preparation. Team Parents headed by Lisa Murphy, thank you for your work and support, along with Fred and Layla Fluery for creating and publishing the Year 6 Gradation Book, Tracey Huggins for the 2022 Graduation cake, Erryn Sims for the Year 6 Christmas decorations, Nicky Bishop and the P&F for acknowledging our leaving families and Miss Scura for the outstanding Year 6 movie. It was an outstanding collective effort for a most memorable night.

Congratulations to the following students received our Year 6 Graduation Awards:

• Monsignor Downey Faith Award – Emily Spiers
• Anthony Devlin Citizenship Award – Bailey Mitchell
• Ebony Giraldi Learning Award – Lauren Foster
• Keira Leadership Award – Zaria Nguyen

There are a number of families who will be leaving our school community. Thank you for your contributions during your time at St Columbkille’s. I hope that you take with you many fond memories and I wish you  every happiness and success for the journey that lies ahead. YUo will always have a place here at St Columbkille's, Corrimal.

We acknowledge the following families who are leaving our school: Bartzos, Bortolozzo, Brown, Campbell, Chambers, Da Silva, Dyer, Fahey, Fielding, Gaday, Galaxidis, Gallo, Heaton, Huggins, Hukins-Ellis, Jenkins, Logue, Malcolm, Mitchell, Muller, Richardson, Rohoseink, Rosengren, Rutledge, Sharman, Smith, Spiers, Srbinoski, Tasca, Tramacco and Wilder.

We would like to announce the retirement of Mrs Paula Russo from our school after 37 years of service to the St Columbkille’s school community – a remarkable 43 years of Catholic education in the Diocese of Wollongong. Mrs Russo began her teaching career in 1978 at St John’s Dapto before moving to St Columbkille’s in 1985. During this time, Mrs Russo has primarily worked as a Teacher Librarian. She loved her work in this space and this was evident in her love of reading books, knowledge of authors and texts, wonderful story-telling and support in resourcing our staff in the effective implementation of their lessons. Mrs Russo was also the catalyst for the refurbishing of our Library space and was both innovative and proactive in the area of environmental stewardship and sustainability. We are going to miss Mrs Russo for her expertise, passion and energy.  We wish Paula and her family all the very best moving into the future.

Once again, we wish Mrs Gaffney every success and happiness moving into her new role at St John's, Bosco. We will miss both Jen and Paula, and they will always have a special place at St Columbkille's.

We welcome Mrs Lattimore (Dance/Drama) to St Columbkille's and welcome back Mrs Tyrell and Mrs Barrett. It is great to have Kiara, Libbie and Alyssa part of our teaching staff and school community moving into 2023.

Thank you to Nicky Bishop and the P&F Team for their support of the SCC Christmas Parade this morning. Our students looked amazing in their Christmas outfits and thoroughly enjoyed themselves. The P&F also supplied 'Snow Cones' for each our students after the parade. 

After the Christmas parade we enjoyed our annual Staff V Students game. Thank you for Ms Finlay-Joseph and Mrs Kipp for umpiring and scoring a competitve game. It was lots of fun and played in good spirits.

Thank you once again to our staff, parents and grandparents for the support, dedication and genuine care that you have shown for our St Columbkille's school community throughout 2022. We should be very proud our collective work and the studetns that we care for each day.

Wishing you a very 'Merry Christmas' with family and friends. Enjoy the holiday break.

Take care

 Mr Brad Colquhoun - Principal

"May the Christmas Season bring only happiness and joy to you and your family."

Another wonderful year has nearly run its course! It has been a year in which many blessings have been bestowed on us all and for this we can be eternally grateful. In 2022 each of the students at St Columbkille’s have had a chance to learn more about their Catholic religion and traditions, by immersion in class and grade teaching and learning opportunities. These students have also learnt what it means to be a faith-filled person by being involved in a number of out of class/school/parish opportunities. Both aspects are related and are equally important for the development of the whole child. Thank you to everyone who has helped with and/or been involved in our liturgies/celebrations, parish events/sacraments and fundraising initiatives. We look forward to working with you again in 2023 by living out the gospel values of Jesus promoted at St Columbkille's Catholic School- Respect, Responsibility, Learning, Community, Celebration and Faith.  God bless and have a peaceful, happy and safe Christmas!

Advent

This weekend marks the fourth and final week of Advent. We meditate on the peace that Jesus brings our hearts and our world. This final candle, the “Angel's Candle,” symbolizes peace. It reminds us of the message of the angels: “Peace on Earth, Good Will Toward Men.” 

Christmas Concert

Our Christmas Liturgy and Concert held on Monday evening was spectacular. This huge celebration, mainly due to Ms Finlay-Joseph's vision, was not only entertaining but filled with the true meaning of Christmas. That being - the birth of God's Son – Jesus, who came to give us love, hope and joy. Thank you to everyone for playing their part, in whatever capacity, as it truly was a community event with the students, staff, parents and parishioners involved. We are truly blessed in building strong collaborative partnerships.

Christmas Hampers

Our St Vincent de Paul Christmas hampers once again showed the generosity of our school community. The local chapter of Vinnies were overwhelmed by the number of donations which will certainly put a smile on many families faces this Christmas. Thanks again from the bottom of our hearts.

Year 6 Graduation

Year 6 graduation is always a special celebration filled with excitment for the future, yet sadness in saying goodbye to friends we have known for the past 7 years. Congratulations to our award winners and to all these students for completing their primary years of learning. They have been wonderful ambassadors for St Columbkille’s and we look forward to seeing what their future holds.

St Columbkille's Mass Times

Alpha is coming to Corrimal and Bulli Parishes!

A growing number of parishes are offering Alpha in the diocese. Over the past few months Fr Patrick and a team from both parishes have been working towards bringing the Alpha experience to our Parishes.

What is Alpha?

Alpha is an opportunity to explore life, faith, and God in a friendly, open, and informal environment.

Who is Alpha for?

Alpha is for everyone! It is not so much a course but an experience! We will gather once a week over several weeks. Alpha brings people from all walks of life together. We will share a meal together; we will listen to a talk and then gather in small groups to discuss. Whether you are an atheist, an agnostic, or a lifelong believer or unsure of your faith – everyone is welcome!

We are now looking for Facilitators who would like to be part of the team that leads small group discussions. A Pilot program will start on Wednesday 1st February at St Columbkille’s Parish Centre

If you are interested in being a facilitator, please contact Anna on 0432 592 031 or Millie: 0409 999 196

If you would like to know more about Alpha and what it means for our parish communities click here. https://www.alpha.org.au/basics

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Mrs Jo Herring

The Holiday Reading Challenge is back for another year, but in a way that is environmentally friendly and easy to access for all interested students.  

The Holiday Reading Challenge will be available via the Google Classroom platform. Here you can elect to print a copy of the booklet or complete the booklet online.  

Students need to simply log into their student Google accounts and join the Holiday Reading Challenge Classroom using the class code: f4p3aco or via the invitation link:https://classroom.google.com/c/NDI5MzQyMjMwOTQ2?cjc=f4p3aco

The Challenge starts on the first day of the school break (19th December) and will end on the last day of the school break (3rd February).  

Further information is contained within the Google Classroom and booklets.  

Mrs Christine Perre - Acting Assistant Principal 

Earlier this year, the Mini Vinnie’s made a pledge. Part of the pledge was to make a positive difference in the world.

Over the last few month, the Mini Vinnie’s have been working hard promoting and selling our ‘Brownie’s in a Jar’ to raise money for St Vincent de Paul.  We were hoping to sell 10 jars and donate $100, however we are excited to announce we sold 110 JARS!

We’d like to thank everybody who bought a jar of brownies. We hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed preparing them for you all.

We’d also like to say a huge thank you to Kmart and Coles who gave us gift vouchers to help us pay for the ingredients. But the biggest thank you goes to Woolworths who donated over $300 worth of products. We are very grateful for your generosity.

We were so excited to present a total of $866 to St Vincent de Paul at last weeks assembly. We hope the money will assist them in providing food and clothing for the underprivileged, especially over the Christmas season.

Some items of our new SCC Uniform are available and can be purchased from Poppets Direct.

Please only purchase new items on a needs basis. We are working towards the full implementation of both summer and winter uniforms by the end of 2024.

Demolition work on the Midgley St property adjacent to the Paddock is now taking place on January 10 though to January 20. Surveying and additional planning for the site will take place after the demolition with the support of Catholic Education, Dioceses of Wollongong with a view to assessing the space mid to late Term 1.