Dear Families of St Columba’s,
Today our students attended Mass for Ash Wednesday. This marks the beginning of the Liturgical Season of Lent. During Mass, Fr Andrew explained to the children three ways we can grow closer to God during Lent, fasting, prayer and almsgiving or charity.
These next 40 days can be challenging. It’s hard to give up some of the comforts and luxuries we have become so used to needing. Practising saying no to things we want but don’t really need, taking action for those less fortunate than ourselves and making the time for extra prayer all helps to bring about a sense of spiritual fulfillment, or in other words, a closeness to God.
Apology for our phones
Recently our phones have been changed to align with all other CEWA Schools. Our phones are now compatible with TEAMS, however we are experiencing some teething problems with these. We have escalated the issue. I apologise to anyone who has been cut off when trying to contact us. Thank you for being patient with us and the process.
I thank you in advance for your co-operation and support of our Before and After School Supervision Procedures.
In gratitude,
Gina Burns
Principal
Before and After School Supervision Procedures
Before school duty commences at 8.15 am. We request students be dropped off no earlier than 8.15 am. The School Operates their own before school care program. Should you need supervision before this time, please contact Jess at oshc@stcolsbays.wa.edu.au or 9208 2723
Play allowed during before and after school supervision is modified to take into consideration the space, extra visitors on site and staff available for duty.
Games involving large balls such as soccer, basketball and football are not permitted before or after school.
Playgrounds are not supervised by staff before and after school. We strongly encourage parents to not allow their child to play on the playgrounds without staff supervision.
Play provides our students opportunities to make important decisions about how to take safe risks and keep themselves safe. Our staff are aware of the various hazards on our playgrounds and are highly vigilant on duty to remind children about risk and making safe choices during play. Staff move around constantly and keep their eyes on the playground at all times.
Parents if you choose to allow your child on the playground please note:
The playground is not designed for children below Year One;
There are uneven and sharp surfaces that students need to balance on and;
There are places for children to drop that are higher than 60 cm.
Staff are unavailable for playground supervision or incidences that occur as a result of children on the playground;
You should supervise your child in the same manner our staff do whilst on duty at recess and lunch time i.e. constantly observing and educating them on safe choices and the risks involved such as falling, scraps, bumps and bruises.
P & F News
Thank you to all those attended our first meeting this week. It was wonderful to see some new faces as well as those that have helped before. We are finalising our calendar and will have a list of dates for everyone to put in their diary next week.
Please note that any item for the agenda should be bought to your class representative by the Friday before the meeting. Any items that are bought forward after this will carry over to the following meeting. I am happy for people to email agenda items to me or post them on the parent Facebook page if you are not able to contact your class rep.
We would like to take the opportunity to remind everyone that class representatives are the representative of the class to the P&F. The P&F is about Friend Raising and Fund Raising and helping the school community. Your class teacher should still be the first port of call for any issues that involve the school rather than the P&F.
The minutes from each meeting will be published in the newsletter as well as posted by class reps to make sure that there are multiple ways of accessing this information.
Entertainment Memberships
Online memberships are available again this year. Memberships can be purchased online.
https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/83589g
The next meeting is on Tuesday 14 March at 7pm.
Any questions or queries, I can be contacted via email gtarmstrong@iinet.net.au
Tanya Armstrong
President P&F
Library News
Library 2023
Dear Parent, Carers and Students
The library is open every morning before school:
PP – Year 6 : 8:15am – 8:30 am
PreKindy & Kindy : 8:15am – 8:45am
(accompanied by Parent/Carers)
The library is a calming and quiet place, making it the perfect spot for students to have a smooth and calming transitions in the morning.
Students may also like to return and borrow books before school.
Looking forward to seeing you the library.
Reading and activities in the LIBRARY
LUNCHTIMES
Students may also use this time to exchange their library book.
Homework/Library Bag
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 $12.
Parents please order via the school Uniform Shop.
Rita Cuthbert – Library Officer – Library - the original search engine
This week’s ‘Class of the Week’ is…
Pre Primary Green
Congratulations!
Pastoral Care
Happy Birthday to:
To the following students who will be celebrating this coming week:
Kai Loong KW
Samuel Kootje 1G
Ella Aldworth 1W
Tristan Goh 2W
Xavier Balm 3W
Luca Scagnetti 4W
Quinn Wolters 6G
Jack Gilbert 6G
Pastoral Care is up and running again. As a group we support and assist families and individuals in our school community during both difficult times and more joyous occasions, such as the birth of a child.
The WEDNESDAY class raffles are starting up again in Week 5 this Term.
Tickets are 20c each (maximum of 3 tickets per child).
Term rosters are placed on the classroom door and printed in the weekly newsletter for you to check when your child/children are due to donate the prize (one prize donated per child a year) for their class. The idea is to provide a small gift (eg book, puzzle, pencils etc) to the maximum value of $5.
The child rostered to donate a prize is kindly asked to hand the prize to the class teacher before the morning of their roster.
We cannot do what we do for the community without your generosity and participation.
Thank you greatly from the Pastoral Care Team!
TERM 1
Week 5 – 1 March
Week 6 – 8 March
| Kindy Green | Week 5 – Maxwell Bateman Week 6 – Remington Bennett |
| Kindy White | Week 5 – Theodore Billington Week 6 – Hugh Murphy Grace |
| PP Green | Week 5 – Blake Darcy Week 6 – Paige Booth |
| PP White | Week 5 – Hugo Allison Week 6 – Bodhi Chipperfield |
| Year 1 Green | Week 5 – Aurora Cameron Week 6 – Ciara Carruthers |
| Year 1 White | Week 5 – Charlie Bateman Week 6 – Elliott Bonnett |
| Year 2 Green | Week 5 – Aimee Alexander Week 6 – Amelia Booth |
| Year 2 White | Week 5 – Elliot Lumsden Week 6 – Mathea Co |
| Year 3 Green | Week 5 – Leo Cameron Week 6 – Max Nguyen |
| Year 3 White | Week 5 – Jude Allison Week 6 – Sajad Aljabry |
| Year 4 Green | Week 5 – Raffaele Parker Week 6 – Michael Baldwin |
| Year 4 White | Week 5 – Miranda Ahn Week 6 – Shishir Berigai |
| Year 5 Green | Week 5 – Harry Blake Week 6 – Braelyn Carruthers |
| Year 5 White | Week 5 – Edmond Cavalli Week 6 – Bianca Balla |
| Year 6 Green | Week 5 – Zara Bell Week 6 – Olivia Cotellessa |
| Year 6 White | Week 5 – Justin Ahn Week 6 – Harrison Bull |
Religious Education and Curriculum News
From our Year 3’s
This term in Religious Education, Year Three have been learning about how Mary, the Mother of Jesus has a special place in the Church community. Students recalled the events of the Annunciation and enjoyed creating their Stain glass picture of Mary and Jesus.
On Tuesday, students at St Columba’s were lucky to enjoy a delicious pancake for Shrove Tuesday. We celebrated this special occasion as we prepare for the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday.
From our Year 4’s
In Maths this week, the Year 4s have been exploring mental addition strategies to solve addition problems involving two-, three-, four- and five-digit numbers.
Some of the strategies we have been exploring are the split strategy, jump strategy and rearranging numbers to make addition questions easier to solve.
Community Notices
Hello and welcome to 2023
As advertised last year, Father Andrew and I are organising a community Baptism event for this term. We have had a wonderful response from a number of families expressing interest in participating in this event.
We now have dates for you to pop in your calendars, and these are also on the school website.
Thursday 2 March :
Baptism information evening 6.30pm church hall
Father and I will be providing information about the upcoming Baptism event and will assist you in your preparations. ALL families who have indicated that they would like to participate, will need to attend this event. If you have not registered your interest at this stage – it is not too late.
We ask that everyone planning to attend please RSVP to Leesa.Vinciullo@cewa.edu.au by Friday 24 February.
Thursday 16 March :
Community Baptism Event 6.30pm St Columba’s Church
Information about the ceremony will be provided at the information night. Participants are welcome to invite family and friends along to join in the celebration.
Looking forward to sharing this celebration with members of our St Columba’s community. Please don’t hesitate to contact me about this events or with any other queries you may have.
With thanks and best wishes
Leesa Vinciullo
Religious Education and Events Coordinator
—
Mercedes College is hosting its Open Day on Tuesday 14 March.
This will be an immersive experience which will include a student-led tour of the College visiting specialised learning areas where prospective families will have the opportunity to meeting the various Heads of Learning.
Two sessions are available: 8.30am and 11am, and registrations are required in order for places to be secured:
https://www.mercedes.wa.edu.au/enrolments/open-morning/
Further Information about the College is available at https://www.mercedes.wa.edu.au/
Classifieds
School Counsellor News
School Counsellor days for 2023 are every Monday and Tuesday and every second Wednesday commencing week 2.
Nicole Leach
School Counsellor