The key message that aligned beautifully with the fundamental principal of both Lent and Project Compassion was wee have a responsibility to acknowledge, pray, support and serve those in greatest of need. That through a collective sense of  compassion, hope, care and generosity, we can truly make a difference for this generation and those to come.

I was exceptionally proud of the organisation and support of the SCC Team, in making the Caritas: Project Compass launch such a success. Our visitors were highly complimentary of our school, staff and students.

Thank you to our staff - Mrs Herring, Mrs Disibio, Mrs Perre, Ms Patton, Ms Finlay-Joseph, Ms Howard, Mrs Pascoe and Mrs Sumner and to our students Livinia McLuskey, Claude Vincent, Alyssa Bishop, Dominic Raschilla, Vogue Catlin, Sabina/Isobel Santillan and the SCC Choir for their parts in the Liturgy and Launch.

Last Friday our Student Leadership Presentation was celebrated with Year 6 and their families. It is a great opportunity to come have lunch together, then celebrate our students receiving their leadership badges. Please find below a list of our 2023 Student Leadership Teams.

School Captains – Livinia McLuskey and Claude Vincent

Vice Captains – Alissa Bishop and Dominik Raschilla  

Sports Captains

Downey: Sonny O’Brien and Hugo Immens  Joseph: Ruby Franco and Luca Calmasini 

McCabe: Ryder Bighetti and Eadie Nelson     MacKillop: Clover Duggan and Taj Bloom

Student Representative Council – Anastasia Auld, Ashton Cooper, Christina Vu,   Juliet Ritz, Kaitlin Cram, Nathan Noonan, Lorella Tadros, Noah Bell, Vogue Catlin and Zali Munoz-Letham

Leaders of Community - Ethan Akhurst, Indira Lozenkovski, Indiana Whitton, Rodrigo Minogue, Cruz Tropea, Joseph Molina, Joshua Potter, Matthew Munn, Brody Karhof

Leaders of Faith - Oliver O’Rourke-Bocking, John Tadros, Sam Dorney, Riley Dorin, Zara Zikic, Daisy Smith, Millie Dalton, Bronte Ireland, Georgia Doherty

Leaders of Learning - Rhys Nightingale, Massimo Casarotto, Ilueka Gale, Sunny Barry, Mae Cameron, Natalie Harris, Noah Cotterell, Thomas Docherty

Leaders of Celebration - Maddie Nightingale, Nikhita Hira, Alex Mamouris, Ben Niew, Laura Mannion, Leah Petch, Alexander Welch, Olivia Ryan, Willow Russell, Randy O’Brien

Enviro Ninjas - Alex Mamouris, Joshua Potter, Joseph Molina, Ashton Cooper, Nathan Noonan, Juliet Ritz, Ruby Franco, Natalie Harris, Nikhita Hira, Livinia McLuskey, Alissa Bishop, Daisy Smith, Rhys Nightingale, Millie Dalton, Thomas Docherty, Rodrigo Minogue, Vogue Catlin, Massimo Casarotto,Bronte Ireland, Sam Dorney, Mae Cameron, Alexander Welch, Riley Dorin, Sunny Barry, Laura Mannion, Cruz Tropea, Luca Calmasini, Christina Vu, Oliver O’Rourke-Bocking

Positive Behaviours for Learning (PB4L) - Randy O’Brien, Clover Duggan, Matthew Munn, Kaitlin Cram, Dominik Raschilla, Willow Russell, Zali Munoz-Letham, Indira Lozenkovski, Indian Whitton, Leah Petch, Anastasia Auld, Lorella Tadros, Claude Vincent, Ethan Akhurst, Zara Zikic, Olivia Ryan, Taj Bloom, Eadie Nelson, Hugo Immens, Ben Niew

ALPHA

Project Compassion Launch

On Tuesday 21st February St Columbkille's hosted the annual Project Compassion launch in making a difference this Lent. Schools from the Wollongong Diocese were reminded by Bishop Brian to be the "face of Christ" during Lent in our thoughts, words and actions. Emily Hickman, Philanthropy and Fundraising Associate Director from Caritas Australia, addressed the gathering and was extrememly grateful to the many schools who give so generously to the Project Compassion Boxes.

Jesus brought the promise of hope to all people so that we may, “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10). As we live into that fullness, may we also be challenged to act with love and hope, now and for all future generations.

Thank you to all those staff and studdnts involved in the preparation of our celebration and helping on the day. Many comments were made about the reverence shown and the welcoming nature of our school, so thank you one and all.

Ash Wednesday

On Wednesday 22nd February our school community celebrated the beginning of Lent with Ash Wednesday celebrations. A liturgy for Kindergarten to Year 4 was held in the Monsignor Downey Hall and Years 4 & 5 attended the parish Mass. Thank you to all those who have started their Lenten journey with us. May you come to know and love Jesus more through this time of reflection, prayer, fasting and alms-giving.

Lent

Lent is a special time of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Through prayer, we come closer to God so that we are better able to realise the promises made for us at our baptism, to live justly as Jesus teaches us. Fasting joins us in solidarity with people experiencing poverty who often have no choice but to go without the basic human needs. Sharing what we have, or ‘almsgiving’, is a sign of our commitment to justice and our thanks for all that God has given us.

You may like to work through this Lenten Environmental Calendar as you journey through Lent. The pdf - Screen_Shot_2023_02_21_at_2.55.54_pm.png

Caritas

This week, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today extends to impact the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in support of Project Compassion. Each family will receive a Project Compassion box and/or a set of envelopes for their donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

We begin our annual Lenten Project Compassion journey by learning about Laxmi, a 16-year-old girl living in Jajarkot, a remote district in Nepal where almost half of the population live below the poverty line.  Tragedy struck when Laxmi was 10 years old and her father passed away. Her father worked hard to pay for his children's education and, after losing him, Laxmi was at risk of falling further into extreme poverty.

With the support of our partner Caritas Nepal, Laxmi joined a child's club at her school where she was encouraged to resume her education. Through the child’s club, Laxmi developed the skills and confidence to become a leader, advocating for clean water taps at her school. 

Laxmi is now excelling in her studies and working towards her dream of becoming a civil engineer. She continues to be involved in the child's club, serving as an advisor and mentoring the next generation of young leaders at her old school.   

Watch a short film about Laxmi’s story here.

Please support Project Compassion: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion.

Clean Up Australia Day

Our annual schools Clean Up Australia Day will be held next Friday 3rd March. Grades will be assigned specific areas in helping to be "stewards of creation." One of St Columbkille's new mission statements includes " Committing ourselves to ecological sustainability and a common care for creation". We all do our bit for the future of the earth and our future generations.

Jo Herring - Religious Education Coordinator

Lent is a time for both reflection and action.

Swimming Carnival

St Columbkille’s swimming trials were held last week at Corrimal pool during challenging conditions. They were a great success with an enormous display of school spirit from our SCC swimmers. Despite the rain, the students tried their best across all of the swimming events and enjoyed a great morning. Thank you very much to our parent volunteers. Your help during our sporting events is greatly appreciated! 

Congratulations to our Age Champions.

                 Junior Boy: Lennox Elliott                   Junior Girl: Stella Howell

                11 years Boy: Nate Elliott                    11 years Girl: Isabella Masters

                Senior Boy: Alexander Mamouris           Senior Girl: Laura Mannion

                                        Sport House Winners: MacKillop

Congratulations to the St Columbille’s Swimming team who will represent our school community at the Diocesan South Coast Trials in March. 

Milla BH, Ariah Blue C, Sophie C, Ella D, Ella H, Stella H, Jett H, Laura M, Isabella M, Maddie N, Mackenzie S, Abigail V, Theia V, Kade B, Taj B, Jack C, Lennox E, Nate E, Finn G, Alexander M, Cooper M, Randy O, Sonny O, Henry S, Ollie S. 

Good luck Team SCC.

Carla Olima - Leader of Sport

Diocesan Selection Trials and MacKillop Sport

Touch On the 15th of February Sonny and Randy O'Brien went to Yass as a part of the MacKillop selection process. Unfortunately on this occasion the boys were not selected for the MacKillop team.  Well done boys for your strong playing, it was stiff competition.  St Columbkille’s is proud of your effort. 

AFL - Congratulations to Hugo Immens who attended the trials for AFL and was selected to be a part of the MacKillop team. Hugo is off to Wagga Wagga next month as a part of the team. Well done Hugo.

Upcoming Trials

Good Luck  to the following students who have upcoming Trials to be selected for the MacKillop team in their sport:

Basketball  24th of February Claude Vincent, Sam Dorney and Dylan Fang.  

Rugby League  3rd of March Taj Bloom, Sam Dorney, Ashton Cooper, Hugo Immens, Sonny O’Brien, Randy O’Brien, Ryder Bighetti and Hudson Bennett. 

Soccer 8th of March  Harrison Esteves, Talon Mayo and Kynan Merola. 

Rugby Union 28th of April Ryder Bighetti.

Claude Vincent, Sam Dorney and Dylan Fang

NSW Country Swimming Competition

Congratulations to Alex Mamoris (6B) who competed in the NSW Country Swimming competition. Alex was part of two relay teams - The 4 x 50 metre freestyle team and as the breaststroke swimmer for the 4 x 50 metre medley. Well done Alex!

Sam Dorney,  Ashton Cooper, Hugo Immens and Oliver Park will be competing in the Mountain Bike Interschools competition representing St Columbkille’s.  The race series goes for 4 days from Sunday 5th March to Wednesday 8th March. We wish the boys all the very best in this competition. Race well and enjoy.

Oz Tag Juniour State Cup

Hudson Bennett, Kade Bloom and Nixon Breakspear are representing the Wollongong Redbacks at the Junior State Cup Oz Tag Competition in Coffs Harbour. We wish the boys all the very best in this competition over the next 3 days. Enjoy.

Adelaide O'Connor - Leader of Sport

Borrowing

Library borrowing days for classes are as follows:

If possible please remind your child to bring their library books in their library bags on these days. Books can be returned on any day during the week but can only be borrowed from the library on the above days. Reminder notes will be emailed at the end of each term if a student has not returned their borrowed books. These are gentle reminders asking if you can prompt your child to have a look at home or in their classroom for their borrowed book.

All Year 5 & 6 students have been taught how to borrow books from our online library, SORA. This is an application that can be accessed at any time via the ‘Oliver’ library website (Oliver is the library software we use) - https://oliver1.dow.catholic.edu.au/oliver/home/news

Students require their school login details which have been given to them. SORA has a very large collection of online books and magazines as well as audiobooks. 

Maintenance

We have collection maintenance underway where I’m working on our Non-Fiction section to ensure it’s up to date, relevant as well as enticing to students.  This has come after much analysis of our collection including what has been borrowed by students over the last decade. Once the Non-Fiction collection has been addressed the Fiction collection will be assessed. As such, we ask for book donations to wait until we have our collection maintenance complete. 

The NSW Premier's Reading Challenge begins on Monday 27th February and closes on Friday 18th August. Please keep an eye out for your child's login details in the coming weeks. This will be sent home either as a note or via an email.

We are going to be encouraging all students to take part in this wonderful initiative as it’s achievable for every one of them. The aim of the challenge is to encourage a love of reading for pleasure whilst experiencing quality literature.

Below is a table displaying the number of books students need to read and log to complete the challenge.

PRC book lists can be found on the PRC website - https://online.det.nsw.edu.au/prc/home.html 

For Kindergarten to Year 2 students, books can be read to them. 

PRC listed books may be read by teachers in the K-2 years. I will ask teachers to notify me if so and I will put these in the newsletter so parents can check if their child has logged the book in their individual reading record. (Please do not worry if you are not able to do this).

Our library books which are on the PRC lists are labelled to aid selection and I will also be putting tubs of books together for easy access. We need to make this reading challenge as accessible as we can to our students.

Our collaborative challenge is getting students to log into the PRC site to complete their reading record. I will be giving regular reminders in the newsletter as well as discussing supportive strategies for students with teachers.

Please see the PRC website for books lists, tips and further details.

If you have any queries please contact me direct on

scclibrary@dow.catholic.edu.au

Katrina Carroll - Library Administrator

To celebrate our learning and successful start to the school year, we will hold Open Classroom evenings.  These evenings will allow students to showcase their learning environments, celebrate the learning already achieved and will be an opportunity for parents and carers to be introduced to their child’s teacher/s.  Our students will be your guide for the evening.  

The evenings will be as follows:

• Stage 3 (Yr 5&6) - Monday 27 February 5:30pm to 6:30pm

• Stage 2 (Yr 3&4) - Wednesday 1 March 5:30pm to 6:30pm

• Stage 1 (Yr 1&2) - Monday 6 March 5:30pm to 6:30pm

•  Early Stage 1 (Kindergarten) - All parents/carers will have the opportunity to meet with their child/ren's class teacher/s to discuss Best Start Assessment results and general information about how your child/ren has settled into Kindergarten.  

We look forward to seeing you. 

Mrs Maria Disibio - Assistant Principal 

Due to the nature of the school day, teachers and staff are not generally available to meet with parents/caregivers without a prior appointment. Should a parent have any concerns/issues regarding their child, please phone the teacher or Stage Leader (ES1: Mrs Herring, Stage 1: Mrs Disibio, Stage 2: Mrs Perre and Stage 3:Mrs O'Connor) via the Administration office and they will endeavour to get back to you as soon as possible.  

Parents who need to speak with a staff member directly are asked to make an appointment via the school office to find a mutually acceptable time.

Vegetable Week starts at the end of Term 1 – from Monday 27 to Friday 31 March 2023 – with The Big Vegie Crunch on at 10 am on Thursday 30 March. If you can’t crunch at that time, choose an alternative time over Vegetable Week.

Schools that register receive ready-to-go resources to help you:

• plan and prepare for the event
• teach your students about vegetables
• encourage students and their families to eat more vegetables
• promote your Big Vegie Crunch activities to parents, carers, and the wider school community.

Congratulations to Mrs Smyth for securing a $75 grant to be used during Vegetable Week.

On Friday 17th February, representatives from Holy Spirit College came to talk to us about how they ran their school, their expectations for us and all the unique things about their high school. Two teachers came along with six year ten’s to speak with us. The teachers' names were Mrs Fennell and Mrs Webber, the students' names were Macie, Dakota, Emy, Luke, Lilly and Charlotte these are some of the things they talked about:

EXPECTATIONS

These are the school’s expectations.

R - Resilience

I - Integrity

S - Spirit

E - Excellence 

RISE

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

They also have multiple extra curricular activities and clubs including spearfishing and diving,choir, college production, photography, and sports like soccer, touch footy, league tag/oztag, tennis, basketball, volleyball and surfing.

SCHOOL HOUSES

Holy Spirit  has eight school houses where you earn points by participating in school events like the Swimming, Gala or Cross Country, you can even get points for your house by getting a merit award. The school houses are named after mountains, some of the houses are Sublime, Keira, Kembla and Sandon.

CAMP AND ACTIVITY DAYS

The activity day is a fun day for the school to enjoy, they do things like climb through pipes with rising water and crawl through muddy surfaces. They also go on a massive slide. For camps they usually go to Stanwell Tops and go on a massive swing called Goliath that overlooks a cliff. You can go high, medium, or small; you go up to the top and then they let go and you swing over the cliff face with no one holding you.

ENROLMENTS

The open day is on the 2nd of March. Enrolments are open now and close April 6 2023 for year 7 2024. Interviews are open from March to June with the principal Mr Agnew and a tour around the school.

OUR OPINION 

Overall Holy Spirit College seems like a great school to go to and we love the opportunities. This is our first step to choosing a high school for 2025.

Ciara and Abbie - Year 5 Students 

Addiitonal infomration can be located on the Holy Spirit College website 

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.