Principal's Post

NEWS UPDATES

St Columba’s Feast Day

• On Tuesday, 9 June, we celebrated the Feast Day of St Columba.
• In previous years we have buddied with St Columba’s School in South Perth to celebrate the day. This year, we will be keeping it simple with a Free Dress Day and provide all our children with an ice-cream after lunch.
• The Free Dress Day will be this Friday 12 June [tomorrow]
• Flyer attached

Why we named our Wellness Dog Donnelly?

• St Columba was from Donegal in Ireland.
• Donnelly is a name that originates out of Donegal.
• Donnelly just loves the kids and is such fun. He brings joy!
• The O’Donnell’s have always been one of the eminent families of Ireland. Their forefather was Niall of the Nine (Irish King) and their principal territory was Donegal. This is why we picked Donnelly. We know that St Columba was the great, great grandson of Niall. O’Donnell also represents bravery and generosity.
• The name comes from the Gaelic name O’Donnghaile. The ‘O’ prefix means ‘grandson of’ or ‘descendent of’. Donnghaile is made up of two Gaelic words – ‘Donn’ which means brown, and would have referred to a person’s hair colour, and ‘gal’ which means valour or bravery.
• They were an important clan in Ulster and were part of the Cenel Eoghain, which was a collection of tribes that held considerable power. The Donnelly’s held territory in Co Donegal. Over the years they migrated east to Co Tyrone where the town of Ballydonnelly is named after them.
• This is the life. I get to have Donnelly fall asleep on my desk and his breathing chills me out. Cannot believe how productive I am when he is with me. Just has this ability to calm everything and frees the mind to get the best out of it. I am seeing this with the kids and staff all day long. His presence is something very special. I know, you are all wishing you had a wellness dog at work. Hard to explain just how good I have it here, but I have it good.

KISS and DRIVE in the Afternoons

• A huge thank you to all our parents and grandparents for your support and patience on the crazy afternoons of Kiss and Drive.
• There have been some amazing afternoons where the traffic has been spread out over the 20 minutes, and then on other days we have backed up cars in all directions.
• This is no one’s fault, but just how it is. Absolute legends for how you go about this.

A few observations:

• You all keep smiling!
• You all understand this is not the easiest process, and you have an acceptance for what is needed from all of us.
• You have listened when we have requested with no U-Turns.
• You get it is all about the safety of our kids and all our families.
• You have spread your arrival time out, not all coming at 2.55 pm, with many families coming around 3.10-3.20 pm. Please know we are out on duty until at least 3.15 pm, so no rush. It is very quiet around 3.10 pm.
• All in all, I reckon we are brilliant at the way we get nearly 350 cars through the area so efficiently.
• Milne Street is also operating magnificently because of our kids and parents taking this responsibility seriously. Simply Fabulous! Reminds me of a TV show.

Parents on School Grounds Letter to Parents

• Please see attached letter from last week.
• An update, and slight amendment, to morning drop-off options for Kindergarten parents with siblings, will be forwarded through your classroom teacher and Seesaw.

Sacramental Program

• No dates have been set for the 2020 Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation.
• All dates placed in the calendar pre-COVID-19, are not current and will be revised over the coming weeks.
• When revised schedules are set, we will forward details to our families in Year 3, 4 and 6.
• Thank you for your understanding with these delays. We appreciate families like to be organised for these very special celebrations.

Uniform Shop Opening On-School Site

• Thank you to all our families for doing their very best as we transition the uniform shop through JFE. They have been outstanding to work with.

Please note the following:

• Uniform Shop on-site will be open on Wednesday mornings from 8.15 am to 9.15 am. Commencing Week 1, Term 3 (Wednesday 22 July).
• Parents will be able to purchase directly from the shop at this time.
• ONLY EFTPOS facilities available for payments [no cash]
• On-line ordering to continue as has been in place this term.
• If orders are placed by 12 noon on the Tuesday, they will be delivered to school on the Wednesday.
• JFE are now providing a Size 2 winter skirt. Previously the smallest size available was Size 4. Thank you for your parent feedback on this item.

I will quickly take this opportunity to thank the parents who have sent me emails, or spoken with me about the Principal Posts I write or sometimes video. I really enjoy writing these for our parents and for all our families and friends. It is such an honour and privilege that so many parents read it and get something from it. To know that some days the messaging might make your day a little bit better than what it may have been, is what my Post is about. Bringing you some sense of calm and peace in your very busy days. Just wanted you to know how much I appreciate the support and gratitude.

You, we are a special bunch at St Col’s, so please keep looking after yourself. You are so valuable to who we are as a school community. Enjoy, and may God’s blessings surround you this week.

Who is the luckiest Principal in the world? Yes, you know it.

Goodness to you

Art

P & F News

Library News

The library has lots of books needing covering.  If you can help out by taking a small number of books home to cover over the holidays, 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

Award Winners

Term 2, Week 6

PP Green – Raghav Bhutani, Davern Laffrey, Lucia O’Toole
PP White – Isabella Goh, Wyatt Palmer

1 Green – Jaike Evangelista, Olivia McShanag, Mia Moore
1 White – Alessia Marrapodi, Grace Masnyk

2 Green – Chloe Bouteloup, Grace Hartus, Alberto Yanez Del Gesso
2 White – Edmond Cavalli, Sam Villamar, Scarlett Dudley

3 Green – Kalani Brammer, Madden Dean, Tayla Green
3 White – Charlotte Armstrong, Hudson Taylor

4 Green – Craig De Mello, Riley Thomas, Alexander Ward
4 White – Lucas Bentley, Hannah Mutsaers, Hannah Pollitt

5 Green – Oliver Bonnett, Matilda Panizza, Xavier Southam
5 White – Anay Bhujbal, Milly Cooper

6 Green – Alla Blatchley, Brody Clark, Leah Purcell
6 White – Luca Lee, Amber Nguyen, Max Wittkowsky

Community Notices

Early in 2020, Mercedes College commenced interviews for 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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Trinity College warmly invites you to attend an Open Day for prospective students on Wednesday, 1 July 2020. Families are welcome to attend the 9:15am or 4:15pm session. Each session will include a welcome by the Principal, followed by student led tours of the College, concluding with light refreshments and a chance to chat with some of our teaching staff and admissions team. Bookings can be made at: https://www.trinity.wa.edu.au/enrolments/college-open-day/.

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