Principal's Post

Dear Parents

Hope you are all traveling okay and enjoying your week. The quote for this week sits nicely with where my thinking is at this moment in time. As I was sitting in our Year 3 First Reconciliation celebration on Tuesday, it was so obvious how powerful forgiveness is, and what a gift it is for us as humans. We all mess up. It is the beauty of being human. Life is filled with ‘stuff’ that happens to us that brings joy, but also ‘stuff’ that brings us hurt or upset, a sense of the uncomfortable. Life is filled with relationships that bring great happiness, but also filled with times that are far tougher than we want them to be. It can be in single moments of time, or it can be times that linger.

It is why the whole idea of forgiveness can bring us ‘untold peace’. The thing is, we are not in control of everything. Now, I have learned this more and more as I get older, not saying I am wiser, but definitely learning all the time. There are things I hold on to for whatever reason, probably reasons I cannot even explain. What I need to get better at, and I think I am getting better at this, is to continue to find ways to be gentle on others and myself when things go south, when things are not comfortable, when things are not in flow, when relationships are strained. I always find that when I can find gentleness for others, and have that front and centre, then I do find this untold peace. My anxiety about the challenging conversations we all have in our life, the challenging moments and situations, always dissipates when I find myself in this frame of mind.

There is nothing simple with any of this. All I can say is that when I sat in the Year 3 Reconciliation on Tuesday, I was finding peace just by being with the kids as they brought their relationship with God to a deeper level. A deeper connection with God through forgiveness and gentleness. This is the wonderful thing about forgiveness, we feel a weight lifted, we feel a sense of everything will be okay. My wish for us is that we can all continue to, ‘cut others some slack’, when things are not in sync or flow.

So, all this forgiveness going on does make life pretty special, and that is where we then find gratefulness. I mean, we do have it good here at St Col’s. We are surrounded by good people and good things. This is why this quote is one on my all-time favourites. I have spoken about this before and just love the idea of what gratitude brings us.

I mean, let’s just think about this. Forgiveness of others and self brings us this untold inner peace, but how about the link to gratitude. Gratitude turns what we have in our life into enough. Is this not what our two themes over the last couple of years connect with? I just love this. Ikigai and Ubuntu, smack on with this. Totally aligned. Remember, ikigai, is all about the grass being greener on my side of the fence, so we stop chasing everything and stop comparing ourselves to everyone else, and Ubuntu, is all about I am because of you and you are because of me. It does not get any better.

The challenge is how do we keep this at the forefront of our thinking and our days. It is always easy to align with being grateful when things are going well. It is the toughness in the day that we all have in our lives that makes it not always that easy to be grateful. Know this is okay. It is part of the deal. As good as I have it here as Principal of the most wonderful people, there are still times where I am challenged to maintain my own positivity and gratitude. I know, crazy hey. I mean I love this joint, but even I can find things tough. Yes, hard to believe but true. I mean, just think of the reminders I get in the K and D about North Melbourne. Have to say, everyone is pretty kind regarding my Kangaroos. There is always going to be stuff I reckon. How do we embrace this imperfection of life?

This is why acceptance is so important. Acceptance of self, acceptance of others, all ties into forgiveness and gratitude. Nothing easy about acceptance either. Just think about how hard it is to accept how things are at times. Not just for ourselves, but think about others you have in your life and the things they need to accept at this time in their life. Like I said, nothing easy with the concept of acceptance, but it will make things a little lighter for us. As I write this I am struggling with the thought of acceptance myself, so the challenge is how hard to I want to fight to find it. Let’s see how we all go with this. I know I will be better for it. We will all be better for it. Just not that easy.

Things that are happening at St Col’s

SACRAMENT of RECONCILIATION:

To all our children who are making their first Reconciliation this week, thank you for teaching us about the importance of forgiveness and how it helps us to build positive things in our life. Being present with you as you have received this sacrament is something very special. Special thanks to our teachers, Penny and Mitch, along with Megan who assisted with the preparation of the children. Special thanks also to our parents and families who prepared their children as part of the home program activities. Thank you also to Fr Andrew who always makes our connection to our church and our sacraments as something that creates this sense of belonging.

YEAR 4 ASSEMBLY THIS FRIDAY

Our school assemblies return this Friday, tomorrow, at 8.45 am. Please remember we can only have parents of Year 4 students attend, along with parents of merit award winners this week. Parents must follow the 1.5 m social distancing at our assembly. I will give a reminder at the assembly. Thank you for your support with these new measures, as breaches will lead to us having to cancel future assemblies.

NATIONAL SCIENCE WEEK

It is National Science Week during Week 5 (15 – 23 August) with the theme being, ‘Deep Blue: Innovation for the future of our oceans’. To celebrate, on Wednesday 19 August students have the option to ADD something ‘Science-like’ to their school uniform. Examples could be a crazy wig, glasses, bow tie or a white shirt (lab coat!). This is just for a bit of fun and to turn our focus to Science Week. We cannot wait to see some crazy scientists on the day! Please keep it very simple. Find something the kids may have in their toy box, something already in your house.

Mrs Dawson and Mrs Bolton

YEAR 6 CAMP

Our Year 6s are off to camp next Wednesday. We are off to Forest Edge Outdoor Rec Camp in Waroona. It is such an exciting few days. The kids just love it, and although staff have a lack of sleep over the three days, we love it too. I will be away on the camp for the three days, so if there is anything you need, Deb Klatt and Megan Dwyer are here for you.

SOCIAL WORKER

Our new social worker, Nicole Leach, commences next Wednesday and Thursday. Over the first week, Nicole will settle into our school community, getting to meet our kids and staff. We look forward to welcoming Nicole to St Columba’s. I know you will make Nicole feel a part of our family.

ALLERGY AWARE

Being an allergy aware school, I just wanted to remind parents to ensure students do not have nut products at school. Other allergies such as eggs and shellfish, also need to be considered when making student lunches. We appreciate the support our parents and kids continue to offer with being allergy aware.

PARENTS and FRIENDS Fundraiser

Our Parents and Friends are holding a fundraiser for any parents who wish to partake. In 2019, we ran this wine fundraiser, and have decided to offer this again in 2020. Details will be sent out to families tomorrow or on Monday next week.

As we head into the next week, I wish you many blessings. Look after yourself and thank you for your continued support of our staff, each other and our St Col’s kids.

Take care

Art

P & F News

Library News

Good news! CBCA Book Week 2020 will now be held in October on the following dates: OCTOBER 17-23 2020

These later dates will apply in 2020 only, recognising the exceptional circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The library has lots of books needing covering.  If you can help out by taking a small number of books home to cover, please call into the library. Your help is greatly appreciated by staff and students.

If any families have Children’s Magazines that they no longer need, the students would enjoy reading them.

Please note:

 ALL students require a 

‘St Columba’s Homework/Library bag’ 

to borrow library books.

Students without the St Columba’s bag will be unable to borrow from the beginning of Term 3

Just a reminder that students require the school green ‘Homework and Library Bag’ in order to borrow from the Library.

Many students will already have the green school ’Homework and Library Bag’ from previous years.

‘Homework and Library Bags’ can be purchased from the Uniform Shop at a cost of $10.

Parents please order via the link on the Uniform Shop page of the school website.

Rita Cuthbert – Library Officer – Library - the original search engine

Pastoral Care

School Banking

School Banking is back.

School Banking is back.  School Banking Day will be THURSDAY 8:15-8:30AM, in the CANTEEN commencing on 6^TH AUGUST 2020.

All school banking contacts will be run in line with WA Government regulations regarding COVID19 including cleaning of all surfaces prior to banking starting, hand sanitising for all students and parents, and social distancing for all students. All prizes are individually wrapped and sealed.

School Banking is a fun, interactive and engaging way to help young Australians learn about money and practice good savings habits. For each weekly deposit made at school, students will receive a token. Once they collect 10 tokens, they can redeem them for a School Banking reward.

Exciting news for TERM 3 is that CommBank will be rewarding all bankers who deposited in Term 1 with the option of an EXTRA prize. Come down and speak with your School Banking Coordinator Ariane Mazurak on Thursday morning about what is on offer.

If your child has lost their deposit wallet, please contact your School Banking Co-ordinator Ariane Mazurak for a replacement via the school office.

If you would like to know more about School Banking, please ask for a 2020 School Banking program parent guide from the school office or visit www.commbank.com.au/schoolbanking

Community Notices

MERCEDES COLLEGE – ENROLMENT INFORMATION

Early in 2020, Mercedes College will commence interviewing Year 4 & Year 5 students who are due to start Year 7 in 2022 & 2023 respectively. If you are considering enrolling your daughter and have not yet requested a Prospectus, please contact Mrs Julie Lamb on 9323 1340 as soon as possible. Enquiries are also welcome for places in Year 7 for 2020 and 2021. For more information please refer to the College website, www.mercedes.wa.edu.au.

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Classifieds