Dear Community of St Columba’s,
This week, our Year 4 students led a respectful and meaningful ANZAC Memorial Service. Through prayers, readings and reflections, they demonstrated a deep understanding of the importance of ANZAC Day and honoured the courage and sacrifice of those who have served our country. We are proud of the reverent way the students conducted the service and thank staff and families who joined us for this special occasion.
Congratulations to our Year 6 Basketball Teams who participated in the School Slam Series last Tuesday. Both teams represented our school with pride, displaying excellent sportsmanship, teamwork and determination throughout the competition. We are thrilled to congratulate our boys’ team on finishing in first place and our girls’ team on achieving a strong fourth-place result. Well done to all players and Mr Banks on a fantastic effort and a wonderful sporting achievement.
A reminder to all families wishing for their child to receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation or First Holy Communion that the Enrolment Mass will be held this weekend at St Columba’s Parish, commencing at 6.00 pm. We encourage all families to attend this important milestone in their child’s sacramental journey.
Upcoming Events
- Thursday 30 April: Interschool Swimming Carnival
- Saturday 2 May: Enrolment Mass for Sacrament of Reconciliation and First Holy Communion
- Friday 8 May: Mother’s Day Breakfast (Gates open at 7.15 am)
- Friday 8 May: Mother’s Day Mass commencing at 9.00 am.
In gratitude
Gina Burns
Principal
Assistant Principal's Updates
ENROLMENT MASS FOR RECONCILIATION AND FIRST HOLY COMMUNION
All students intending to make their First Reconciliation or First Holy Communion this term are required to attend the Enrolment Mass this Saturday night, 6pm at St Columba’s Parish. This is the first step in officially making these sacraments and ALL candidates (and their families) are expected to attend. It is at this Mass that you are to bring your completed enrolment slip and give it to me.
Students sit with their families for the Mass, but will be required to stand at one stage to renew their Baptismal promises and pledge their commitment to making the sacrament. As the projectors in the church are currently being replaced, we will provide students with a hardcopy of this on the night.
If you are unable to attend the 6pm Mass on Saturday night, you will need to attend another Mass at St Columba’s over the weekend and hand your enrolment slip directly to Father Mark.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding this, please contact me directly – Leesa.Vinciullo@cewa.edu.au
We thank you for your commitment to fully preparing your child to make these sacraments.
MASS : IN CELEBRATION OF OUR MOTHER’S
In order to recognise and celebrate our mother’s, we will hold a special Mass at 9am on Friday 8th May. All mother’s, grandmother’s and mother figures are welcome to join us at this Mass. Students from Years 1 – 6 will be in attendance.
FATHER MARK : AVAILABILITY
Father Mark is available Tuesday – Friday mornings 8.30 – 9.00am in the Church Sacristy, to sign any papers, discuss sacraments etc. Please feel free to approach him at this time.
MILNE STREET : AFTERNOON STUDENT COLLECTION
Student pick-up from Milne St alleviates some of the congestion on Roberts Street between 2.50 and 3.00pm and is therefore greatly appreciated. For the safety of all children, parents are encouraged to park in the bays on the school side of Milne St. Parking on the school side also allows for the free flow of traffic along Milne St, which is severely compromised by people parking on the other side of the road.
Please note: while previously we have had a staff member on duty here until 3.15, this supervision will now cease at 3.05pm. Any students still waiting to be collected from Milne St at 3.05pm, will be directed to the Roberts St Kiss and Drive. It has been observed that there are very few students at Milne St at this time, but if there is the potential for you to be arriving after 3.05, please remember to collect your child/ren from the Roberts St Kiss and Drive, which is operational until 3.20pm.
NEW PLAYGROUND ARRANGEMENTS
At the end of last term, we trialled a small change to our playground roster. While “Odds on the Oval” was still in place – where odd year levels are on the oval and on the lower playground on odd weeks / and even year levels are on the basketball court and nature playground – we permitted all year levels on the lower playground and on the nature playground. Ie
Odd Weeks – Odd year levels on the oval / even year levels on the basketball court
Even Weeks – Even year levels on the oval / odd year levels on the basketball court
All Weeks – Students in any year level are permitted to play on either the lower playground or nature playground.
Feedback so far has been positive, so we will continue trialling this for Term 2 and make a final decision about it at the end of term.
JFE SCHOOL UNIFORM ORDERS
Parents, please note that when uniform orders arrive on a Wednesday you will now receive a text message from the school that your order has arrived. All orders must be collected at the front office by a parent or student. Pre primary orders must be collected by a parent.
Mrs Leesa Vinciullo
APRE and Inclusive Education Coordinator
P & F News
Thank you to all those who attended last night’s P&F meeting. More info to come on what was discussed.
Muffins With Mum:
Join us for a special morning as we celebrate Mother’s Day with our wonderful school community.
- Friday 8th May
- From 7:15am
The P&F are kindly donating the muffins for this event. Please register your attendance and let us know how many muffins you require.
Register here: https://www.cognitoforms.com/StColumbasPrimarySchool/_2026MothersDayMuffinWithMum
Dads – we need your help to celebrate our amazing mums!
If you are able to assist, please register here: https://volunteersignup.org/37CBJ
Thanks,
The P&F team x
Library News
The challenge runs from 23 March to 12 June 2026
Join the reading challenge for your chance to win!
Each week, students who log their reading will automatically go in the draw to win a prize. We have more than 200 weekly prizes, which include tech gadgets, book vouchers and e-gift cards.
The weekly prizes celebrate students’ efforts in the challenge and encourage them to continue to improve their literacy skills and enjoyment of reading. The weekly prizes are drawn at random from students who have logged their books.
Some of the 2026 weekly prizes include:
Book vouchers
Kmart vouchers
Cotton On vouchers
Yeti water bottles
Kobos
Australian Geographic vouchers
Rebel Sports vouchers
Ultimate Teen and Kid vouchers
To be in the draw to win weekly prizes:
1. read a book
2. log a book each week
3. go in the draw to win!
It is that easy, and with 12 weeks of the challenge there are plenty of chances to win.
Click the link below to register:
https://www.premiersreadingchallenge.wa.edu.au/
Rita Cuthbert – Library
(Monday, Thursday & Friday)
Pastoral Care
Happy Birthday to:
The following students who will celebrate birthday’s in the coming week.
Stella Pavlovich PPW
Ronan Elliott 1G
Austin Hohnen-MacDonald 1G
Ivy Funston 1G
Lucas Young 1W
Saoirse Stafford 2W
Ayla Bennett 3W
Heaven White 4G
Owen Metherell 5G
Jude Stubbs 5G
Juliana Versaico 5W
Kelvin Quach 6W
Pastoral Care will be holding the annual Mother’s Day Raffle this term.
Tickets on sale from Monday 4 May in front of the library from 8am until the Mother’s Day Muffin with Mum event!
Donations are not necessary this year but are welcomed. You can drop them to our Raffle table.
As always a big thank you for always supporting our raffles. All money raised goes towards supporting those families that need it at this time.
WEEKLY RAFFLE ROSTER
TERM 2
Week 3 – 6 May
Week 4 – 13 May
| Kindy Green | Week 3 – Logan Catellani Week 4 – Macey Co |
| Kindy White | Week 3 – Claudia Dillon Week 4 – Imogen Eden |
| PP Green | Week 3 – Leroy Etheridge Week 4 – Theo Fagionato Dezajacomo |
| PP White | Week 3 – Thomas De Paula Couto Week 4 – Clementine Espie |
| Year 1 Green | Week 3 – Isaac Comber Week 4 – Amelia Easton |
| Year 1 White | Week 3 – Indigo Chin Week 4 – Hugo Di Giallonardo |
| Year 2 Green | Week 3 – Holly Bunko Week 4 – Amelia Congdon |
| Year 2 White | Week 3 – Mia Etheridge Week 4 – Elena Di Giallonardo |
| Year 3 Green | Week 3 – Zara Campbell Week 4 – Alessia Cullura |
| Year 3 White | Week 3 – Zoe Chin Week 4 – Alfred Eden |
| Year 4 Green | Week 3 – Annabelle Cornish Week 4 – Max Dessauvagie |
| Year 4 White | Week 3 – Faye Gallagher Week 4 – Millie Gibson |
| Year 5 Green | Week 3 – Monica Jaramillo Restrepo Week 4 – Michael Congdon |
| Year 5 White | Week 3 – Parker Connell Week 4 – Mathea Co |
| Year 6 Green | Week 3 – Ava Gallagher Week 4 – Maya Katich |
| Year 6 White | Week 3 – Connor Campbell Week 4 – Tommy Gibson |
Award Winners
MERIT CERTIFICATES – Term 2, Week 2
Congratulations to all the recipients of this week’s Merit Certifcates:
PP Green – Lucas Evangelista, Theo Fagionato Dezajacomo, Esther Hart
PP White – Zariah Byrde, Oisin O’Gorman-Smith, Jasper Wallace, Edward Zachar
1 Green – Orlando Folini, Jack Franich, Finn Patten
1 White – Indigo Chin, August Knox, Hannah Linke, Charlie Walker
2 Green – Theodore Billington, Holly Bunko, Ofelia Stenvers Byrne, Liam Wilkey
2 White – Noah Bowker, Harper Bradley, Elena Di Giallonardo,
3 Green – Juliette Cahill, Alessia Cullura, Nicholas Hofmann, Cillian Tierney
3 White – Nathaniel Byrde, Annabel Paulus, Isabella Will
4 Green – Annabel Harper, Aiden Harris, Thea O’Reilly, Harry Whelan
4 White – Bodhi Laffrey, Lorraine McGowan, Orlando Smith, Matilda Stahl
5 Green – Jacob Hofmann, Eleanor Lee, Riley Wilkey
5 White – Alessandra Cahill, Maximo Pizzata, Aston Raynor, Juliana Versaico
6 Green – Alexander Lilleyman, Bianca Milhinch, Wyatt Palmer
6 White – Gianna Krishnan, Luke Magee, Emma North
Class News
From our Kindy Classes
Thank you to our P&F for providing us with funds to buy new sand and water toys to use in our ECE playground.
This new equipment helps us to develop our fine motor skills (digging, pouring, squeezing), cognitive abilities (problem-solving, basic engineering), and social skills (sharing, cooperation).
And most of all we’re having so much fun while playing with it!!
From Our Italian classes
Ciao a tutti! / Hello everyone!
I’m very excited to let you know we will be having an Italian Day on Friday the 15th of May!
Students will be allowed to come to school dressed in Italian theme or colours.
Stay tuned for more details.
Grazie mille
Signora Castro
Community Notices
