Dear Community of St Columba’s,
Welcome to Term Two! We’ve had a fantastic beginning to the term, and I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to families and teachers for helping the children smoothly transition back into their routines, allowing them to fully engage in their learning.
Interschool Breakfast
Today (Wednesday) we had some wonderful parent helpers that generously gave up their time to make breakfast for our Interschool Swimming team. To those parents, a sincere thank you for supporting our children and their sporting achievements. I would like to congratulate all the students that will be competing in the Interschool Swimming Carnival on Thursday 8 May and wish them the best of luck and a day filled with fun!
Mother’s Day
As we approach Mother’s Day this Sunday, I would like to take a moment to recognise all the mums and mother figures out there – wishing you all a Happy Mother’s Day! Your endless love, unwavering support, and boundless strength make the world a better place every single day. May your day be filled with joy, relaxation, and all the love you so richly deserve. Thank you for being the heart of our families! 💖
This Friday we have the pleasure of celebrating our mums and mother figures in our community at our Mother’s Day Breakfast. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful P&F that have organised this event for us.
Election Day
On Saturday 3 May, St Columba’s School had approximately TWO THOUSAND people vote at the school. Our wonderful P&F were extremely busy serving hot and cold food and having a chat with community members as they came to vote. I would like to sincerely thank the amazing P&F members who organised the day, the parents who donated their time on the day (cooking, selling, socialising) and those who delivered delicious baked goods for the cake stall. It was a huge team effort and a very successful event with the P&F raising just over $4000.
Community Mass
We warmly invite you to join us for a special Community Mass this Saturday at 6pm at St Columba’s Parish. This Mass is particularly significant as it marks the enrolment of our students who will be participating in the Sacrament of Penance and First Holy Communion later this term. Your presence and support will mean so much to the children as they take this important step in their faith journey. We look forward to celebrating this joyous occasion with you and our parish community.
Other upcoming events:
Please be sure to check out the school calendar on our website to stay informed of dates and events for Term 2.
- Thursday 8 May: Interschool Swimming Carnival
- Friday 9 May: Mother’s Day Breakfast and Mass
- Saturday 10 May: Community Mass at 6pm
- Tuesday 13 May: Year 5 Assembly/recognising our interschool Swim team
- Wednesday 14 May: Neurodivergent Conference at 6:30pm
- Friday 16 May: Italian day
- Monday 19 May: Year 6 Winter Carnival
Kind regards
Niall Kehoe
Acting Prinicpal
Assistant Principal's Updates
Community Enrolment Mass
A reminder that those students making their First Penance or First Communion this term are required to attend Mass with their families this Saturday night 6pm. Students are to bring their enrolment details with them and hand them to their teacher or another staff member on the night.
Families who are unable to attend Mass Saturday night, are asked to attend another Mass over the weekend and give Father Andrew their enrolment information.
WINTER UNIFORM
As we move into the cooler months, a reminder from Week 3 all students need to be in full winter uniform. This is also a good time to ensure all grooming requirements are being adhered to – especially regarding hair and jewellery. Please note that JFE have advised that scarves and rain jackets won’t be available until further notice.
Please click here for the school’s uniform policy:
If you are waiting on items from the Uniform Shop to arrive, please provide classroom teachers with a note outlining this.
We appreciate parents supporting us with maintaining these standards.
NOTE: Students attending Columba Runners after school are permitted to wear their sport uniform to school on those days.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the school uniform, please contact the school.
Mrs Leesa Vinciullo
Assistant Principal
__
Ciao a tutti! / Hello everyone!
I’m very excited to let you know we will be having an Italian Day on Friday the 16th of May!
During the day, an authentic Italian pizza incursion and tasting has been organised for the fabulous students of St Col’s. Delizioso!!!
A gluten free option will be available. If you don’t wish for your child to eat the pizza, please let your classroom teacher know.
Grazie mille
Signora Castro
P & F News
THANK YOU ELECTION DAY SUBCOMMITTEE, VOLUNTEERS & COMMUNITY
WOW – the team totally out did themselves last week at the Election Day Bake and BBQ sale. You should all be so proud of the enormous amount of time you put into the preparation for the day and the running of the event last Saturday. What a fantastic turn out by the community as well, from voting attendance to purchasing goods; everything sold from your generous (and delicious) donations across the bake sale table and we even had to do a mid-day dash for more BBQ items to cook! Such a massive fundraising success for the kids of St Cols — thank you for all the baked goods that were dropped off, the parents and friends volunteering and your team effort as a community — well done everyone!
TERM 2 FUNDRAISING EVENTS
Mother’s Day Breakfast Friday 9th May (See flyer attached to this newsletter)
We invite all mothers and grandmothers in our community to the St Columba’s School Mother’s Day Breakfast Celebration on Friday 9th May from 7.30-8.10am. Breakfast orders have now closed but please JOIN THE MORNING — there will be a coffee van onsite, limited brekky items for on day purchase, music and an activity for the kids! TWO SPOTS LEFT DADS to help volunteer at the Breakfast this year. Please sign up to help out for a short time here: https://volunteersignup.org/Y4R9Q?fbclid=IwY2xjawJ9vr5leHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETE5ME53NnB3eTdFRGNrNHE4AR6PJkArTRtQXpGFTdy10C8wU9jxqpNfxX1RIop5c-C71PTyUSgisT477qR50A_aem_raXpKIotFZwQlLyhkqiEkw.
SAVE THE DATE — Mercy Mission Day Colour Run! (See flyer attached to this newsletter)
Its happening (Week 6, Friday 6th June) and we couldn’t be more thrilled! With the traditional Mercy Day celebrations in the first half of the day, the P&F will be running a Colour Run in the afternoon over at the Baysie Primary Oval to burn off the treats and carry on with the exciting day! Check out the flyer attached for some general information, with booklets being sent home end of next week. We are looking for 2 parent helpers per year group to volunteer on our Subcommittee which is being lead by Rebecca Wilkey. If you’d like to be involved, please email Bec directly: rebecca.wilkey@hotmail.com.
REMINDERS
Containers for Change is back!
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!
CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS
Please email your Class Representative any agenda items to be included for the next meeting on Tuesday 27th May at 6:30pm in the School Library. We encourage you to put forward any new ideas or feedback and join in on the conversations around friendraising and fundraising at St Cols.
DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
9th May – Mother’s Day Breakfast 7:30-8:10am
27th May – P&F Meeting in School Library 6:30-7:30pm
6th June – Mercy Mission Day Colour Run (PM time)
Month of June – Mid Year Raffle
Library News
DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF READING
Register your child for the Premier’s Reading Challenge! From 7 April to 27 June 2025, students from Kindergarten to Year 12 can discover the joy of reading and log their progress for a chance to win weekly prizes.
Visit https://www.premiersreadingchallenge.wa.edu.au for more information.
PLEASE REMEMBER TO REGISTER AS
ST COLUMBA’S SCHOOL BAYSWATER
Pastoral Care
Happy Birthday to:
The following students who will celebrate birthday’s in the coming week:
Edward Kourtesis – KG
Izak De Vries – KW
Ivy Funston – PPG
Austin Hohnen-MacDonald – PPW
Declan McGowan – Y1W
Zara Campbell – Y2G
Ayla Bennett – Y2W
Francis Masek – Y2W
Harper Raven – Y2W
Felix Halls – Y3W
Savannah Aung Than – Y4G
Juliana Versaico – Y4W
Owen Metherell – Y4W
Darcey Poulsen – Y4W
Henry Webb – Y5W
Bianca Milhinch – Y5W
Agnes Zoou – Y6G
Eli Felt – Y6W
Emmanuel Wai – Y6W
PASTORAL CARE MOTHER’S DAY RAFFLE
Pastoral Care will be holding the annual Mother’s Day Raffle this term. Tickets on sale from Monday 5 May in front of the library from 8.15am until Mother’s Day Breakfast! Donations are not necessary this year but are welcomed. You can drop them to our Raffle table.
Don’t forget to get your Mother’s Day Breakfast orders in too!
Would you like to Volunteer with us?
We are always looking for Volunteers to join the Pastoral Care Team. If you can spare a little time on a Wednesday morning after drop off, you can find us in the Church meeting room just as you enter from the basketball court entrance. Come say Hi and see what we are all about or please feel free to reach out to us by leaving a message with Lisa or Kylie in Administration and one of our amazing volunteers will talk you through volunteering with us.
WEEKLY RAFFLE ROSTER
TERM 2
Week 3 – 14 May
Week 4 – 21 May
| Kindy Green | Week 3 – Sophia Ward Week 4 – Jasper Wallace |
| Kindy White | Week 3 – Liz Vassallo Martins Week 4 – Orla Tierney |
| PP Green | Week 3 – Hadley Winrow Week 4 – Greta Williams |
| PP White | Week 3 – Jasmine Shii Week 4 – Finn Patten |
| Year 1 Green | Week 3 – Siena Winspear Week 4 – Liam Wilkey |
| Year 1 White | Week 3 – Kieran Vernon Week 4 – Spencer Verma |
| Year 2 Green | Week 3 – Georgia Whelan Week 4 – Sebastian Setzinger |
| Year 2 White | Week 3 – Frankie Wilson Week 4 – Cillian Tierney |
| Year 3 Green | Week 3 – Harry Whelan Week 4 – Marcus Tang |
| Year 3 White | Week 3 – Matilda Stahl Week 4 – Hazel Scarvaci |
| Year 4 Green | Week 3 – Maria Wai Week 4 – Reuben Williams |
| Year 4 White | Week 3 – Lily Vernon Week 4 – Thea Setzinger |
| Year 5 Green | Week 3 – Tom Ross Week 4 – Amelia Wilkey |
| Year 5 White | Week 3 – Cherubim Vu Week 4 – Henry Webb |
| Year 6 Green | Week 3 – Agnes Zoou Week 4 – Harriet Webb |
| Year 6 White | Week 3 – Kirana Stahl Week 4 – Shylo Verma |
Religious Education and Curriculum News
From our Year 6 Classes:
The Year 6 students explored late Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’, reflecting on the importance of caring for our common home. They examined various ways individuals can contribute to a more sustainable world and discussed simple, practical actions they can take in their daily lives to support a healthier school and community environment.
From our GATE classes:
This term in GATE, our Year 4 and Year 5 students have been exploring Micro:bits—small programmable devices that introduce key coding and computational thinking skills. These hands-on tools have sparked curiosity and encouraged students to think creatively, logically, and with perseverance. Students are now applying what they’ve learned in an exciting group project, using their Micro:bit coding knowledge to create their own milk carton robots.
This term, our Year 6 GATE students are taking part in the Cluedunnit Kids competition, an engaging initiative run by the Law Society of Western Australia. We have two groups entering this year, and students have begun investigating a fictional criminal offence using the 2025 Brief of Evidence, Charges and Sentencing Options, and Student Guide. They’ve reflected on last year’s experience and are already thinking critically about how to improve their approach. Throughout the project, students will apply their research, reasoning, and teamwork skills as they work to identify the prime suspect and present their case. Their submissions will be judged by a prestigious panel, including members of the judiciary, WA Police, and legal professionals. We’re excited to see their creativity, logic, and collaboration come to life.
Community Notices
School Counsellor News
Catholic School Parents WA are delighted to present Dr Justin Coulson – founder of happyfamilies.com.au and co-host and parenting expert on Channel 9’s ‘Parental Guidance’. Justin will be presenting two separate sessions and the details are as follows:
Date: 29 May 2025
Times: 10.30 – 12 noon Anxiety: Helping your Child Navigate a World of Worry
7.00 – 8.30pm Parental Guidance
Venue: Ursula Frayne Catholic College
15 Duncan Street, Victoria Park
Please see Dr Justin Coulson’s attached flyer to this Newsletter with the booking links.