Principal's Post

It is hard to believe we’re already approaching the end of Term 4. It has been a busy few weeks!

Last night, we gathered for our Annual Community Meeting. Thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to the discussion. My School Performance Report, Principal’s Report, and the reports from our Catholic School Advisory Council, Parents and Friends Executive, and Pastoral Care Team will be available soon on the school website for anyone who would like to read them.

At this stage, we have not received any nominations for the CSAC and P&F vacancies that were advertised. We’ll continue working to fill these positions before the next Annual Community Meeting.

Staffing 2026

Attached to this Donegal, you will find details about our current staffing arrangements for the start of 2026. We are not expecting any changes, but if anything does shift, we will let you know as soon as possible. For EA Special Needs placements, the allocations listed are our starting point for the year. During Term 1, we will review transitions and make adjustments as needed for Term 2 and beyond.

Just a reminder that the deadline for parents to submit requests for exceptional circumstances regarding class placement has now passed, and we are unable to accept any further requests.

I also want to clarify that we cannot accommodate requests for specific teachers. Class composition is carefully considered by teachers, with input from students and parents, while the leadership team determines which teacher will lead each class.

There are many factors we consider to create classes that support every child’s learning and wellbeing. Please trust that our process is thorough and designed to build balanced environments where all children can thrive.

School Fees

The School Fees for 2026 are now on our School Website.

In line with CEWA recommendation the Catholic School Advisory Council have approved a 3% increase on School Fees for 2026.

Please note the Concession Card and Sibling discounts are now also applied to the Amenities and the IT Levy.

Items such as Booklists, Materials Levy, Speech & OT Screening and iPad leases are all included as part of the annual fees and these are passed directly to the third party provider of these.

Upcoming Events

• Tuesday 2 December: Year 6 Final Assembly @ 2.00 pm
• Thursday 4 December: Chisholm Induction Day
• Friday 5 December: Edu Dance Concert commencing at 6.30 pm
• Monday 8 December: Transition Morning @ 10.50 am (meet my new Teacher and Class)

Thank you for your ongoing partnership as we plan for a smooth start to the new year!

In gratitude,
Gina Burns
Principal

Assistant Principal's Updates

KAPTURE PHOTOGRAPHY – Last Chance to order School photos

A reminder,  all photos are currently still available to purchase, but they will be removed from our website at the end of Term 4 in readiness for next year. Please see the Kapture flyer attached to this newsletter for the School code.

ST VINNIES CHRISTMAS APPEAL – (Flyer attached to this newsletter)

We will again be helping out St Vinnies this year with their Christmas Appeal.  Baskets have now been placed in each classroom ready for donations.  Please see flyer attached to this newsletter for suggested items to be donated.  All dontaions to be in by Thursday 4th December 2025.  Thank you for your support.

Mrs Leesa Vinciullo

Assistant Principal

Leesa.Vinciullo@cewa.edu.au

School Counsellor News

SOCIAL MEDIA AGE RESTRICTIONS

Parents, please find attached a link to the esafety social media restrictions webinars for parents.

https://www.esafety.gov.au/about-us/industry-regulation/social-media-age-restrictions/webinars

P & F News

CALL FOR 2026 EXEC AND CLASS REPS NOMINATIONS

The P&F are seeking two new members for the Executive Team in 2026 — a Chairperson and Secretary (nomination form attached to this newsletter). Also, we kindly invite parents to start thinking about whether they’d like to become a Class Rep in 2026. These nominations are called for by the Secretary in mid January. ANYONE can do this role and its great to have fresh faces, ideas and skill sets each year. Its for DADS and MUMS with all interests to take part in volunteering whilst helping the School achieve their fundraising targets and a social community!

Please see a brief description of what this role entails below:

1. Attend 10 x P&F meetings including the ACM.
2. Deliver friendraising/fundraising ideas to the team on behalf of your Classes.
3. Be a communications leader between the P&F and Class; gathering up to date family contact lists, sending P&F news/documentation, providing reminders about general School items, organising Teacher gifts as well as encouraging social catchups amongst your Class groups when required.
4. Manage 1 x whole School P&F fundraiser event during the year, supported strongly by the wider team.
5. Be a kind person, who wants to listen and learn from others and encourage our community to work together in delivering a strong year of fundraising for the benefit of all the students.

Please note, the P&F advertises this on our School Community Facebook page mid January —  If you don’t wish to be a Rep but would like to just attend meetings or play another part in assisting the team, we’d love to hear from you. If you have a business that would like to support us, we would be so lucky to have your assistance.  

REMINDERS

Second Hand Uniform Facebook Group

A new private facebook group has been setup exclusively to buying, selling and swapping second-hand school uniforms online. Please note, this group is separate from the main school community group and is purely for uniform-related posts. Search ‘St Columba’s Bayswater | Second Hand Uniforms’ and join now heading into Term 4 uniform-selling-season!

Help Our School Move Forward — Join ‘Your Move’!

We’re inviting all parents to sign up to the Your Move website and join our school group! Every registration earns points for our school — and the more points we accumulate, the more exciting opportunities we unlock (such as grant funding for bike infrastr. From Connecting Schools Grants to bike education, student leadership labs, and Safe Routes to School guides, Your Move helps us build a more active, connected school community. Whether your child walks, wheels, scoots, or rides, your support helps us inspire healthier habits and access valuable resources. Let’s get moving — sign up today and help our school thrive! https://yourmove.org.au/register

Containers for Change

Get involved with our School yard fundraising by joining the containers for change group. All you have to do is scan the barcode attached to the newsletter with your containers from home — all funds from your deposit goes directly back to fundraising for items that benefit the kids at St Cols.

School Rewards Program — THE ATHLETE’S FOOT Morley Galleria

With $5 from every pair of shoes purchased being donated back to our School, This applies to the whole family across their fantastic range of school, sports, work and casual shoes. Make sure you mention St Col’s.

SAVE THE DATE

Welcome Back School family event / St Col’s 90^th Birthday Party — Friday 6^th February 5-7pm

Library News

The library has lots of new and exciting books needing covering so that our students can read them before the end of the year.  If you can help by taking a small number of books home to cover, please call into the library Monday, Thursday or Friday. Precut covering for books is supplied. Your help is greatly appreciated by students and staff.

Many thanks. 

Rita Cuthbert – Library

(Monday, Thursday & Friday)

Pastoral Care

Class News

From our Kindy Classes 

In Kindy we have been preparing for Christmas. We read the Gingerbread Man story and baked some gingerbread people. Can you believe they tried to run away? Luckily Mrs Harbrow caught them and brought them back to us!

We have also learnt all about the Nativity and that we celebrate baby Jesus being born on Christmas day. 🌟

We’ve been participating in lots of Christmas craft, and we have learnt the importance of giving and being grateful.

We are so excited finishing off our Kindy year learning all about Christmas! 🎄✨

From our Year 4 Classes

In Humanities, our students have been exploring the democratic process by learning how voting works. To bring this to life, they’ve stepped into the shoes of candidates. This was done by designing eye-catching election posters and crafting persuasive speeches to win their classmates’ votes. The process helped students  understand the importance of campaigning, communication, and making informed choices.

Community Notices