Principal's Post

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Dear Parents/Caregivers,

It would be wrong of me not to open up this week’s newsletter with the news that Alistair Clarkson was appointed to the senior coaching position at North Melbourne last Friday. It has been a tough few years, so this news on Friday was super exciting for us North supporters. There is a ripping good article a parent sent me on how the recruitment of Clarko played out over the last month. It was clear that Sonja Hood, the President of North, was focused on the relationship with Clarko rather than going in and trying to entice him with a massive contract. To be true, he was always going to be offered big $$$ from North, GWS or Essendon, but it was his connection and his relationship he had formed in a short time with Sonja Hood, and with those at the club way back in the late ‘80s, that pulled at the heart strings and he found where he was meant to be. It is how life rolls, you end up where you are meant to be.

Here is one of Clarko’s statements from last Friday at the Press Conference:

He said he was grateful to the people who recruited him to the Kangaroos in the late ’80s at a difficult time in his life following the death of his brother.

“I needed some support in my life in that time. This club gave it to me. The shoe is on the other foot right now, perhaps this club needs some support,” Clarkson said.

At 8.45am on Friday, the players were told Clarkson would be their coach.

If you have seen any of the footage this week of Clarko at North and with the players, he is beaming. You can see his enthusiasm and his excitement in the decision to be at Arden Street. Yesterday Clarko popped into the club to speak and meet with the players on the final day before they were going on their break. Now, as a North supporter, this thread of hope we sense when we read the article about Clarko’s decision, and see all the vision from the week, it is amazing how confidence builds. You can see the confidence in the players faces. The whole demeanour of the club has lifted with the appointment. Having finished at the bottom of the ladder for the last two years, it is funny how hopeful everyone is at North right at this moment. I know, it is a sugar hit, but it will get us through the summer.

From all of this, hope is something we can all take into our own lives. It is interesting just how powerful choosing hope can be. There are many opportunities in the day to find a thread of hope. It is easy when things are going well, much more difficult when we are faced with challenging situations. If we are willing to change our mindset to see the threads of hope in our day, we will find the joy. I have been writing a lot about finding gentleness for self and others, living with gratitude and working hard to stop comparing ourselves to others. Hope adds value to all of this. Think about the things in your day, the challenging moments. Where is the thread of hope, that little glimmer of light in the moment? This will take some of the fear away that we have at these times of challenge.

Life is complex. Life is not always bliss and filled with hope. That is what we are not about everything having to be perfect. It is not about being flawless, it is about knowing life can have its flaws. Hope is what allows us a peacefulness within, a gentleness. All of this is easy for me to write, not so easy to action at times. We just need to make sure we know it is okay. Funny how simple it can be, the words, ‘it is going to be okay’, but it does help feeling better about things. I have found that even though I am in the best space for a long time as a principal, there are still moments where I will internalise too much, begin to worry, that sneaky little thing called self-doubt will pop into my head, but with the thread of hope and choosing to be ‘ikigai’ [that is grateful and feeling blessed] I can turn the worry around in seconds. The brain is an amazing thing. There is the saying ‘fear disappears when we are grateful’. This is so true. Become fearless, I say.

Being hopeful will change lives and others will come along for the ride. It is everything I spoke about in the early Donegal posts this term. I always love words from other languages. The quote above regarding hope is in Latin. It keeps it really simple. While I breathe, I hope. Imagine being true to this. I am making it my focus during the good and not so good times this week and into the future. Hope is something I know you will see throughout your days. Just spend a moment watching your kids. There is hope aplenty. You know it. You see it all the time. The thing is, you are so flat out with life and your day, seeing the moments fly by, and you miss them. It is the life of parents with little kids. You are so needed, and so relied upon. Keep up the wonderful and inspiring work you do as parents, just continue to find kindness and gentleness. Remember, it starts with being kind to self. You know you get blessings in abundance being a parent. Embrace this.

Just quickly, for the Carlton supporters out there, yep, I had a tear watching that. I was thinking of the parents I see in the Kiss and Drive who are Carlton through and through. One dad needed a hug yesterday. He was pretty emotional about the whole thing. He should be right in a couple of months. Another dad has not driven through Kiss and Drive until yesterday. He finds it hard to even look up right now. His little guy has been inspiring, trying to put on a smile the other day when I said how sad I was for him. Just on that, one of the kids of the dad I hugged wants to change his name to Patrick Charlie, after the great Patrick Cripps and Charlie Curnow. Now, that made dad proud.

My life is so good to be true. As you may know, my other club I support with passion is the Penrith Panthers. Have followed them since the 80s when the NRL was randomly on the television for the finals and grand finals. Well, young Hugo, is also a mad Penrith lad. He informed me the other day he has recruited another mate of his from school to go for Penrith. Inspiring. I let him know he still has work to do. Now is the time to get more kids on board as we are top of the ladder, a ripping good young team, good blokes, and finals are coming up. He was all over it. Talk about fired up. Warmed my heart.

Another highlight this week was doing some equivalent fractions with some Year 3s. Man, some of our kids are so much quicker than me with their numbers and times-tables application. Seriously, natural gifts in the area of Mathematics. Now, because we have so much talent in this school, I do have a couple of things I need assistance with. Please see below:

Blu-Tack on walls: If anyone would like to write down a solution for how we can remove the blu-tack successfully, that would make my day. Feel free to write it down on a piece of paper, with instructions, and have your child bring it to me. It would be so good to resolve this.

Pots and pans etc: If anyone has any old pots and pans they would like to recycle, we would love them for the play areas. Feel free to drop them outside my office. Finding recycled pots etc is not as easy as it used to be. Much appreciated.

Book Week Parade: Book Week Parade is on tomorrow. This is always an exciting and fun day for the kids. The parade starts around 8.45 am in the Greg Martin Pavilion. We know it takes effort and organisation to get prepped for Book Week, so please keep it simple and be kind to yourself. It is all about celebrating books and how much kids love them.

Father’s Day Breakfast and Mass:  Next Friday the Father’s Day Breakfast and Mass will be held. Breakfast starts at 7.30 am in the Greg Martin Pavilion. Thank you to our Pastoral Care Team of parents and all others that will be involved in organising the breakfast. Mass commences around 9.00 am for any dads or granddads wishing to attend. Please remember, dads, stepdads, uncles & granddads are welcome to the breakfast and Mass. Please see further details in the Pastoral Care section of this newsletter regarding the breakfast.

Enjoy your week ahead and keep an eye out for the threads of hope out there in your day.

In gratitude

Art

Whatley Crescent-King William Street Intersection 

The Whatley Crescent-King William Street intersection will temporarily close between 9pm Friday 2 September to 5am Monday 5 September to facilitate work on the elevated rail bridges.

Parent Survey

Attached to this newsletter is a survey that is used to find out about the climate of THIS school. The survey provides an opportunity for you as parents to tell the school staff how things are going for you and your child/children. We value your feedback and ask for some of your precious time to complete this survey. This Survey is designed to capture parent impressions and therefore there are no wrong or right answers.

Niall Kehoe
Assistant Principal

P & F News

Now that the school oval is looking fantastic it is time to move on to a new fundraising focus. A group of Year 4 students have been working on a design for a new senior playground to replace the old equipment currently downstairs. They have been doing a great job talking to the students and working with staff to come up with a design that will have lots of new and challenging elements. Our fundraising efforts will be going towards the new play equipment with the aim to have it installed over the Christmas Holidays.

We have a full fundraising calendar planned so get out your diaries!

• Thursday 15^th September – Cake stall and Sausage sizzle at the Athletics carnival. Please remember no fresh cream or any ingredients that require refrigeration. Volunteer roster will be set up.
• Monday 19^th September – Subway lunch. The students (and Staff) will have the opportunity to order lunch from Subway! This will be an online order system through Quikcliq with a portion from each lunch going towards our fundraising.
• Friday 14^th October – School Disco
• Friday 28^th October – Sausage Sizzle at Swimming carnival for years 4-6
• Friday 4^th November – Italian night on the oval. We will be selling pasta for dinner and are looking at having a Gelato cart and coffee van. Come an enjoy an evening on our new Oval!
• Christmas Raffle – to be drawn at the end of year concert

We will be tracking our progress on a Fundraising Thermometer, keep an eye on our progress.

Entertainment Memberships

Online memberships are available again this year.  Memberships can be purchased online

https://www.entertainment.com.au/orderbooks/83589g

We have had queries from families who would like to make a contribution to the CSPWA without being involved in purchasing items. This is incredibly generous, and we are always grateful for any donations in whatever form they take.

The CSPWA bank details are below and can be used at anytime to pay online for fundraisers or for contributions. We ask that you include a family name in the description so that we can allocate funds coming into the account

Name – The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Perth, St Columba’s P&F Association

BSB – 086 006

ACC – 679360271

The next meeting is on Tuesday 20 September at 7.00pm.

Any questions or queries, I can be contacted via email gtarmstrong@iinet.net.au

Tanya Armstrong

President CSPWA

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Together we’re making a difference

At Pharmacy 777, your support makes a difference to your school.
We understand how much your school means to you, that’s why at Pharmacy 777, we’re passionate about making a difference. Our Community Spirit Program makes giving back to your school easier. As a Community Spirit member, for every transaction you make at Pharmacy 777 Bayswater and Maylands, they will give part proceeds back to the school. This contribution accumulates over time and funds raised support causes at the heart of your school. We would encourage all school community members to visit Pharmacy 777 Bayswater and Maylands and join up.

Library News

Library 2022

A warm invitiation is extended to ALL families to visit the library from 8:15am in the mornings Monday – Friday.  

(If Mrs Cuthbert is unavailable, the library will be closed) 

Pre-primary, Kindy & Pre-Kindy families take advantage and come and read all our fabulous picture books with your little ones till 8:45am. 

The library is a calming and quiet place, making it the perfect spot for students to have a smooth and calming transition in the morning.

Students may like to return and borrow books before school.

Looking forward to seeing you the library.

Reading and activities in the LIBRARY

At LUNCHTIMES

Students may also use this time to exchange their library book.

2022 CBCA Book Week
Dreaming with eye open…

20 – 26 August 2022

Dress Up Parade (Kindy – Year 6)
Friday 26 August 2022
8.45am

All students in Kindy to Year 6 are invited to come to school dressed as their favourite book character. The purpose of this event is to celebrate Book Week, therefore the focus is on participation rather than the costume.

Why no recycle a costume, or put together something from home!
Please keep it simple and stress free 🙂

Please note: Costumes are not restricted to the Book Week theme.

Book Week Events

Friday 26 August – Dress up Parade & Photobooth
Bookmark for each student

Colouring Competition
FREE Entry
Prize: $20 Gift Voucher for a student in each class

Rita Cuthbert – Library Officer – Library - the original search engine

Pastoral Care

Religious Education and Curriculum News

From our Year 2’s

This week in Religion we are learning that people show love when they want what is good for others.

We watched ‘Joy and Heron’. It’s about a pesky Heron who tries to steal all the worms meant for a fishing trip. Little Joy tries to scare it away without rocking the boat and scaring away the fish, too. It is a short, animated video that celebrates kindness and understanding.

We then identified the needs of each character at the start of the film and then explore how each character’s needs were met by someone else showing them love.

From our Year 4’s

The Year 4s have been busy learning about Number Sentences, Number Patterns and Balancing Equations! The first thing we learnt was that whatever you do, you MUST keep your equation balanced! It is truly the number one factor in solving equations!

Community Notices

THURSDAY 8 September 5.30-8.30pm – Post Plenary Perceptions

The Council for Catholic Women Perth warmly invites you to hear Perth’s women members share their experience of the second assembly of the Plenary Council.

There will be an opportunity for questions and discussion. All welcome.

Venue : James Nestor Hall ,Catholic Education Office 50 Ruislip St West Leederville

When: Thursday 8 September, 5.30pm – 8.30pm (Light refreshments served 5.30pm – 6pm)

RSVP by Tuesday 6 September to kerrymacfarlane2@gmail.com or mob 0400 886 835

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Classifieds