St. Columba's Primary School
NEWSLETTER | TERM 2 WEEK 1 | 2 MAY 2019
"Believe in the whisperings of God to your own heart."
St. Mary of the Cross MacKillop
Message from the Principal
Dear Parents and Carers
We have had a wonderful start to Term 2 and I thank everyone for their patience with the introduction and issues with the new school uniform. We hope to have everything sorted in the near future. We have a very busy term ahead however, I am sure that the term will fly by very quickly.
The Strategic Plan Committee would like to thank the school community for completing the Strategic Plan survey. We received a response from 95 families, in addition to our teachers and Year 5 and 6 students.
The Committee is in the process of collating and analysing the results across these groups and will disseminate key findings in due course. There will over the next few weeks be some explanation of some common myths that came through from parents and carers. There was also some great information provided for our Strategic Plan.
We are really looking forward to a great turnout for the Mother’s Day Breakfast. No doubt it will be another great community event for St Columba’s.
Please keep our Year 4 and 6 students in thoughts and prayers as they prepare to make the Sacraments Eucharist and Confirmation this term.
The true cost of schooling in Australia is much higher than most people realise; the Federal Government estimates the basic cost in 2019 at $11,343 per primary student and $14,254 per secondary student. Most families could not afford this cost, especially if they have two or more children.
State and federal governments recognise the importance of education and provide some funding to all not-for-profit schools so that most can be affordable and accessible to Australian families. Because of this support, 93% of Catholic schools can provide families with a quality education while keeping fees below $6,000 per student per year (73% charge less than $3,000 per year). The base fee for each school is set by the government, CEWA and the school.
In 2017, government schools received almost $2,000 per student (or 17.1%) more in government funding than Catholic schools received. Government schools received $13,411 per student in combined federal and state/territory government funding, compared with $11,451 per Catholic school student and $9,530 per independent school student.
Kiss and Drive will be closed next Friday, 10 May, due to the Mothers' Day celebration in the morning.
God bless.
Allen McMahon
Principal
What a Week!
Welcome Back!
ANZAC Day Prayer Service on Friday at 9am
Making Rainbows in Kindy
Important Dates
Friday 3 May
- ANZAC Day Prayer Service at 9am
Monday 6 May
- First Holy Communion Parent Meeting at 6pm
Tuesday 7 May
- Confirmation Parent Meeting at 6pm
Wednesday 8 May
- Year 4 Reconciliation at 9am
Thursday 9 May
- Confirmation Retreat Day
Friday 10 May
- Mothers Day Breakfast from 7:45am to 8:45am
- Kindy O Mothers' Day Morning
Term 2 Calendar
Below is our Term 2 School Calendar. Please note that dates and times are subject to change due to unforeseen circumstances. Any changes to the Term Calendar will be published in the newsletter.
Merit Awards
Merit Award Recipients - Friday 10 May Assembly
Year 1B: Darcey H
Year 1O: Valentina
Year 2C: Alessandro C and Annabelle C
Year 2F: Charlotte C, Theo L
Year 3B: Alexander K and Ivy D
Year 3P: Chikamuso, William and Francesco
Year 4: Scarlett H
Year 5: Celeste M
Year 6: Guinevere A
Code of Conduct
This week we will look at Statement 6 of our Code of Conduct:
‘You treat personal information about members of the school community as private and confidential.’
This statement pertains to our ethical and legal obligation to treat personal information as confidential. We protect the privacy of each member of the school community by treating the information gained in the relationship as confidential.
Examples of a breach of this statement would include but are not limited to:
- Staff: A staff member disclosing contact details of parents or staff to other parents or staff. A staff member using social media to connect with students.
- Students: A student taking photographs, videos or audio of people or property and disseminating this information without permission.
- Parents: A parent disclosing personal information about staff. A parent discussing a situation and exposing the personal information of others.
Caritas Project Compassion - 100% Hope
Project Compassion boxes are due back to the school office tomorrow.
Your donations will be very much appreciated by Caritas Australia and their beneficiaries. Through your generosity during Project Compassion this year, you are empowering communities with hope and helping those in great need to shape a better future for themselves, their families and their communities.
Thank you for your continued support of this important project.
Kindy News
Our Kindy classes have enjoyed the chicken hatchery in the classroom! We watched as the chicks hatched out of the eggs, all tired and slimy in the incubator, eventually getting stronger and fluffier. We learnt about the life cycle of a chick and finally all had a turn at holding the chicks.
St Columba's is now accepting Kindy applications for new families for 2021 - please help to spread the word!
Year One Excursion to Fremantle
At the end of last term, the Year One students visited Fremantle to go on an excursion to the Shipwreck Museum as part of the History Curriculum. At the Shipwreck Museum the students were put into small groups and were given a bag of modern-day items and they had to hunt through the museum to find the old version. The children were particularly amazed by the skeleton and the stern of the Batavia. It was great to see the team work when searching for the items.
As part of the tour the students were taken to the ‘Olden Days Classroom’. The children had to dress up in Olden Days clothes and were taken into the classroom where they experienced what it was like for children in the past. They were particularly nervous about the cane the teacher was holding but they were amazed that when Mr McMahon was at school the cane was really used! The children were then taken through to a hall where they got to experience doing chores using ‘appliances’ of the past. They all thought it was fun to wash clothes using the washing board.
We concluded our day with a delicious lunch at Cicerellos and a play at the park. A very big thank you to all the parent helpers for helping us on the day.
Sports News - No Cross Country Training Next Friday
Please be aware that Cross Country training has been cancelled for next Friday 10 May due to the Mothers’ Day Breakfast.
Leigh Chatt
Physical Education Specialist
Choir News
The School Choir has been been invited to perform at the Mothers’ Day morning tea next Friday, 10 May. Please meet Mrs McDonald in the Music Room at 8am on the morning.
Students are to wear their normal sports uniform please.
Mrs Louise McDonald
Music Specialist
Catholic Performing Arts Festival 2019 - Sole and Duet Performances
This is the last call for Performing Arts Solo and Duet entries. All forms along with the entry fee are to be received by the school office by Monday, 6 May.
Parents Volunteers for Costume Making
Many of our classes will require a costume for their performance in Term 3. If you are able to help out with costume making please let me know as we will need to get started on these this term.
Louise McDonald
Music Specialist
Artist of the Week
The Artist of the Week is Audrey from Year One. Audrey was chosen because of her incredibly detailed line drawing of a bear in a sweater. She used sharpies and textas to draw and colour her artwork. Audrey likes the heart pattern in her work. She loves drawing, especially drawing puppies. Audrey loves art and is looking forward to doing more.
Skyla and Layla
Year 6 Art Ministers
Library Roster
Monday 6 May - Louise Deshon
Wednesday 7 May - Nicole Baroni
Sandra Malarkey and Alice Shaw
News from our Waste Wise Team
St Columba's students are well and truly underway at collecting oral care waste products for the Colgate Community Garden Challenge.
In case you missed it, the Waste Wise team have entered our school into the competition where our Oral Care Waste is being collected at school at our recycling station. This waste would usually go into landfill damaging our environment but now our collected waste will be re-purposed through this competition.
You can find our new station in the undercover area with the brightly coloured boxes and bulletin board. Look for the Colgate Community Garden Challenge signs to win for our school recycled garden sets to grow veggies.
Please visit this website with your family to learn more about how we can reduce our plastic waste: https://www.terracycle.com/en-AU/brigades/colgategarden.
Tennis Lessons
Tennis lessons are offered to students from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 on Thursday at lunchtimes by Marshall's Tennis Academy. The information / enrolment forms have been sent home with students this week. Should your child/ren wish to participate, please complete the form and return with payment to THE TENNIS COACH on the first session next Thursday, 9 May. Further details available via the Marshall's Tennis Academy website.
PARENTS AND FRIENDS
Order Your Honey Now - P&F Fundraiser
LAST CHANCE - orders close tomorrow (Friday, 3 May)
Cold extracted honey straight from hive to jar!
Selling for $40, every South West Honey Favourites Pack sold raises $10 for the St Columba’s P&F. (RRP $42.95)
Please return your slip and payment to the school office.
Mother's Day Breakfast
The P&F will be holding a breakfast for our school Mums and Carers before class starts on Friday 10 May beginning at 7.45am.
Pre-Primary dads : let us know if you can help!
There will be a raffle on the morning. Please bring along gold coins to purchase your ticket to go in the draw for the opportunity to win one of the amazing prizes up for grabs!
Mother's Day Gift Stall Donations
Next Wednesday, 8 May, the P&F will be running the Mother's Day stall for all students to purchase a special gift to give their mum on Mother's Day.
For this we would love if each child from Kindergarten to Year 6 could bring in a small present donation. All donations can be placed in a bucket that will be in each classroom until Monday 6 May. Gifts are to be new/unused - small token gifts for example chocolates, tea, soaps, candles, hand creams, travel mugs, jewellery, photo frames etc. Please leave the gifts unwrapped so that the children can select a gift they would like to give to their Mother.
One gift per student can be purchased from the stall for a gold coin donation. The children were very excited last year to be able to select a special gift for their mum's!
P&F Before School Exercise Activity - Commencing Next Week
The P&F Before School Exercise Activity will be starting next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday's. We are looking forward to see you all on the school's top oval Monday morning! Please note there will be no session due to Mothers' Day Morning Tea next Friday.
We still need parent volunteers for any of these days. Time is from 8.25am to 8.40am. If you would like to volunteer and go on the roster, please email Lara Tulett on ltulett@hotmail.com with your name, contact details and what mornings you are available to assist. Thank you.
DOSC's 2019 Footy Tipping Competition
After a couple of tough tipping rounds over the holidays Round 6 saw 6 tipsters achieve the magic 9 for a perfect round. Matthew C has taken a strong 4 tip lead with a strong pack chasing with 32 and 31 points.
Winners over the holiday rounds were:
Round 4: Brodie and Carlos- Bridie C with 6 correct tips and margin of 15 points.
Round 5: Binns Clan - David B with 6 correct tips and margin of 28 points.
Round 6: Goal Sneak - Todd D with 9 correct tips and margin of 7 points.
Top 10:
1. MC The Best - Matthew C - 36
2. The Mighty De’s - Neilsen D - 32
3. The Palermo’s - Davide P - 32
4. Iuliano Family - Paul I -32
5. Scarymans - Mark S - 31
6. Kennedy17- Christian P - 31
7. Lorraine J - Lorraine J - 31
8. Goal Sneak - Todd D - 31
9. Binns Clan - David B - 30
10. Team McKenzie - Josh M - 30
Todd Dawson
Footy Tipping Coordinator
Entertainment Books 2019/20
The Entertainment Books ($70) have arrived for purchase from the school office. The P&F receives $14 commission for each book sold. To order a digital book please click here for the Online Order Page.
Families who placed an order online for the hard copy of the Entertainment Book, please collect your book from the office.
COMMUNITY NOTICES
Trinity College Open Day
Trinity College warmly invites you to attend an Open Day for prospective students on Wednesday, 22 May 2019. Families can book the 9:30am, 12:00pm or 4:15pm session. Each session will have 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. Bookings can be made via the colleges website.
Relationships Australia - Parenting Programs for May 2019
For further details about the courses and workshops that are offered by Relationships Australia please contact 616402369 or visit the website.
Bricks4Kidz at St Columba's
Bricks4Kidz after school enrichment classes will commence at at St Columba's commencing next Wednesday, 8 May to 26 June from 3:30pm. Please follow the the link for the After School Enrolment Page.
The sessions will be held in the library.
2019 Phillip Pendal Young Heritage Award - Calls for Entries
The City of South Perth Historical Society Inc are now taking entries for this years Phillip Pendal Young Heritage Award, Written and Photographic Years 1 to 12. Open to all students who live and/or attend Primary or Secondary school within the City of South Perth.
Entries close on Friday 24 May 2019. Please see the attached information flyer for all the details. Entry Form and Conditions of Entry available via the website.
St Columba's Catholic Primary School
Email: admin@stcolumbassp.wa.edu.au
Website: https://www.stcolumbassp.wa.edu.au/
Location: 30 York Street, South Perth WA 6151, Australia
Phone: (08) 6436 9500
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Education/St-Columbas-Catholic-Primary-School-South-Perth-173160579973945/