COLUMBA CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

Transcription

1 COLUMBA CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL Hope Street Phone Bunyip 3815 Fax Website 27 November 10 December Dear Columba Families, I hope you enjoyed the School Christmas Concert as much as the staff! We were so proud of the students, not only for their enthusiasm but also for their patience, creativity and helpfulness. The Concert highlighted the many Arts activities in which students are involved throughout their time at Columba and these are designed to challenge students to try new experiences and learn in different ways. I sincerely thank Rose Ahrens, Kelly Lucas and Nathan Power for their amazing contribution to this year s Christmas Concert and Caz Websdale for her assistance to the Grade Six students to enable them to host the concert. Of course, the whole staff worked together to ensure it s success and I thank each and every staff member for their contribution and dedication to the school. What a great team!! A huge thank you to all our parents for the wonderful costumes and to the members of the School Board and Parents & Friends for their kind words and support of the school community. Finally, many congratulations to the recipients of the Grade Six Awards presented at the Christmas Carols. RSL Community Award: Will Papley & Xavier Kinder Rotary Citzenship Award: Ethan Miller & Zali Elliott Columba Sports Award: Vanessa Gooden & Natalia Dijkstra Columba Arts Award: Willow Denny Parents & Friends Academic Award: Jake Stewart We will continue to acknowledge the Grade Six students and celebrate their time at Columba through a: Special Buddy Assembly (Friday 5th December 2:30 pm) Graduation Mass (Sunday 7th December, Iona 11:00 am) Vic Market Excursion (Friday 12th December) End of Year Mass Tuesday 16 December IONA-MARYKNOLL & KOO WEE RUP CATHOLIC PARISHES IN PARTNERSHIP Including the communities of St Joseph s, Iona; St James, Nar Nar Goon; Holy Family, Maryknoll; St John s, Koo Wee Rup and St Mary s, Lang Lang. Administrator Fr. Dom Hilarion Fernando OSB Parish Deacon Rev. Tony Aspinall Parish office, St James 60 Nar Nar Goon Rd Nar Nar Goon 3812 Phone ionaparish@dcsi.net.au Sacramental Co-ordinator Sr Patricia Hickey sgs WEEKEND MASS TIMES: St Joseph s, Iona Sunday 11am Holy Family, Maryknoll 2nd Sunday 8am St James, Nar Nar Goon Saturday 6pm St John s, Koo Wee Rup Sunday 9.30am St Mary s, Lang Lang 3rd Sunday 8am Reconciliation: Refer to Parish Office

2 School Bank The final Columba School Bank Day is WEDNESDAY 10th December. Many thanks to Tracey Horne for managing the bank this year. Congratulations to Bronson, Greta, Ethan and Vanessa who have been selected as school leaders for the next fortnight. I am sure they will continue to set a great example for all our School leaders to follow. Thank you to Jake, Ben, Josh and Joseph, who were school leaders for the last fortnight. Our outgoing leaders used their initiative to make sure their responsibilities were efficiently completed. Well done! Our amazing students Vanessa Gooden Congratulations Vanessa, another outstanding effort to win second place at the BMX State Championships last Weekend. An extraordinary effort, well done! Assembly The next and final Assembly for 2014 is scheduled for Friday 5th December at 2:30 pm. The Prayer will be lead by students from Prep who would like to especially acknowledge their Grade 6 Buddies and present them with a small memento of their time together. Please come along and help celebrate the achievements of the students. All families are welcome to attend each Assembly! Congratulations Award Recipients Cheer Leading! Very best of luck to Billea Kerr and Olivia Squires who are competing in the National Cheer Leading Championships on the Gold Coast in Queensland. School Fees 2015 In consultation with Fr Hilarion and the Columba School Board the decision was taken at the October Meeting to increase the School Fees to $1,100 per family per annum. The Levies were also increased by $10 dollars to cover expenses with incursions and excursions. These changes will be effective from the beginning of the 2015 school year. Please note: If the payment of fees creates financial difficulties for your family please do not hesitate to contact Fr Hilarion or myself for an appointment. No child will be denied a place at Columba Catholic School for financial reasons.

3 Parents & Friends BRANDY CREEK WINERY CHRISTMAS PARTY Come along to the Parents & Friends Christmas Party on Friday the 12th December at 6:30pm. Enjoy a night out with Flamenco dancers and a Paella feast for $68pp. Booking forms are included in this newsletter. Please send in your payment and confirmation by Wednesday, 3rd December. (Bus is yet to be confirmed as depends on numbers) Ultimate Indulgence Orders for Ultimate Indulgence products need to be returned by tomorrow. There are more order forms in the Office if you need another. Many thanks to Michelle Grimstead for providing this opportunity for families to purchase hand-made gifts! Jake s Final Sports Report It has been a privilege to be the first Sports Captain at Columba, I ve really enjoyed writing in the newsletter, organizing sports days and speaking at Assembly. We are very lucky to have a great sports program at Columba and one of the reasons is that we have had an amazing sports teacher that helps all the kids to achieve their personal best. I want to say a big thank you to Bron Wallace for teaching me skills, especially in High Jump, coaching us in football and teaching us lots of new games in Blluearth. Bron is always kind, and enthusiastic but also wants everyone to have a go. Bron will be missed at Columba and I wish her the best of luck at her new school. My message for all the students at Columba is; not to worry about who s the best at sport or if you don t think you re very good, just always try your best and don t give up. That s all folks! By Jake Stewart Sports Leader Last Canteen Day! Monday 8th December. The last day for Canteen will be Monday 8th December. There will be no Canteen in the last week of school to enable the Canteen Crew to do a clean-up before the end of the year. Once again many thanks to Kim Delosa and Kate Herman- Ashe for their work this year as Canteen Co-ordinators. They have both done a superb job with the able assistance of the tireless Canteen Crew. BINGO NAR NAR GOON BINGO Our dates for bingo for 2015 are: 5th February 9th April 13th August 17th December Christmas Bingo Because the first date is at the very beginning of next year, we would be grateful to have some parents volunteer this year to make sure we have enough people. Either contact Kate Herman-Ashe or the school office. Please find attached to the newsletter a flyer for the Christmas Bingo for this year. The Columba Parents & Friends have kindly donated a hamper to be raffled at Bingo on Thursday 18th December. Blue Day Congratulations Columba you raised $282 for research into Juvenile Diabetes on Blue Day!

4 Skip Counting with Grade One. We are skip counting by 4s. The numbers are always even. We are skip counting a by 5s. The numbers in the ones place are always a 0 then a 5. We are skip counting by 10s starting at 6 The numbers in the ones place always end in a 6. We are skip counting by 3s. The numbers always go even, odd, even, odd. We are skip counting by 10s. The number on the ones place is We are skip counting by 2s. The numbers are always even and go always a 0. 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. We love to skip count in Grade One! We are skip counting by 5s starting at 3. The numbers in the ones place are always 3, 8, 3, 8.

5 Parents and Friends AGM Last Friday the Annual General Meeting of the Parents & Friends was held and provided the ideal opportunity to acknowledge the amazing work of the 2014 Committee and thank them for their efforts on behalf of the school. At the Meeting we particularly acknowledged: Jo Kelly our Fundraising Vice-President for 2014 who ensured that the various stalls had exciting items to tempt the students. Kim Delosa, one of our Canteen Co-ordinators who has done an amazing job in the past years both with Monday lunches and the many special occasions when refreshments have been provided. Michelle Gooden as the outgoing Pastoral Vice - President who for several years has ensured that our school families have been supported in times of need. Michelle has also been a past member of the School Board. This year the Parents & Friends donated over $10,000 dollars to the school through the loan repayment for the Adventure Playground, $4000 in reading books for classrooms and various other small donations and gifts. A job very well done! The new Executive for 2015 is: President: Jodie Pullin Treasurer: Megan Mathiesen Secretary: Fiona Bow V P Fundraising: Kim Caldwell V-P Pastoral Care: Fiona Bow School Board Rep: Donna Schreurs Other Positions: Uniform Co-ord: Canteen: Fete Co-ord: Playgroup Rep: Sharon Harris/Tracey Puncheon Kate Herman-Ashe Andrea Williams Gael Carlsen Many thanks and congratulations to these marvellous people who provide such support and leadership for the school. We are still searching for a Vice-President Social if you or anyone you know is interested! At the meeting, a vote was taken to amend the constitution and change the time of Parents & Friends Meetings. The new time for meetings in 2015 will be 2:30 pm until 3:20 pm every third Friday of the month. (In the event that there is a clash with Assembly, the meeting will be held on the following Friday.) Lucky Bottles Christmas Theme Our final Lucky Bottles Day takes place on Friday 5th December and has a Christmas Theme. Students can wear a touch of Christmas or even their costumes from the Christmas Concert. Please note: We cannot accept perishable items which may be past their used-by date by the Fete. Jars and bottles filled with novelties, hair accessories and arts & crafts are always very popular! SCHOLASTIC BOOKCLUB Our last Book Club for the year is due back this Friday the 28th November. Make sure you get some great Christmas pressies. Thank you to everyone for all your support with Book Club this year - we have raised over $500 for the school library!! Fete News We had a very productive Fete Meeting last week and are now just looking for two stall co-ordinators: 1) Gift Baskets 2) Plants Please let the office know if you would like to volunteer for one of these positions. The theme for next year s Fete is a Spooky theme because the Fete falls on Friday 13th March. All the rides are booked and we will again have Fireworks, weather permitting. Dates to sell Raffle tickets at IGA are: Thursday 5th Feb Thursday 12th Feb Thursday 19th Feb Thursday 26th Feb Thursday 5th March Thursday 12th March All times for above dates are 9am 2pm and can be shared between two or three volunteers..

6 IONA-MARYKNOLL PARISH 60 Nar Nar Goon Road, Nar Nar Goon 3812, Vic., Australia, 3815 Or PO BOX 1, Koo Wee Rup, 3981 Telephone: (03) Sacramental Program 2015 A tremendous thank you to all families who have returned their child s blue enrolment forms, for our Parish Sacramental Program next year. If you know of any students, who do not attend any of our Parish schools, who may be eligible to receive any of the Sacraments, please encourage them to contact us here at Columba or Sr Patricia Hickey our Parish Sacramental Co-ordinator on For your information in 2015, the Sacrament of Reconciliation is celebrated by students in Grade 3, First Eucharist in Grade 4 and Confirmation in Grade 6. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any further queries or concerns. SCHOOL LITURGIES Parish Mass will be held in the Multipurpose Room each Tuesday Morning (except the second Tuesday of each month) unless otherwise specified. Masses begin at 9:30 am and parents, friends and parishioners are most welcome to attend. Next Mass: 2nd December: - Grade 1 & Grade 2 7th December: - Graduation Mass (Iona 11.00am) 9th December: - Hillview Hostel 16th December: - End of School Mass (Iona) A Permission form is attached to the newsletter for this Mass, only one Permission Form necessary for the whole family. Christmas in a Shoebox. Thank you for such a wonderful and generous response to our Christmas in a Shoebox appeal. Gifts appear mysteriously each day, to add to our Advent display in the foyer. Advent is truly a season of preparation and hope; for ourselves and for others, and especially for those in need in our local community. The response to this appeal has been truly social justice in action-in giving of ourselves through your generous donations. It is not too late if you would still like to be involved. Forms are still available at the Office. All gifts will be presented to a member of our local St Vincent de Paul group, at our final Assembly on Friday 5 th December (not our final Mass as in previous years). Gifts will be distributed to families within our Parish and local area. I continue to be proud of our school community who generously opens its heart to assist those in need. Your ongoing support is greatly appreciated. Leonie Hester R.E.L

7 December Tuesday 2 Mass prepared by Gr 1 & Gr 2 Wednesday 3 Combined P & F and School Board Dinner Friday 5 Lucky Bottle Day Christmas Theme Friday 5 Assembly Prayer: Buddies Sunday 7 Graduation Mass Thursday11 Newsletter Friday 12 Grade 6 Excursion Friday 12 Bunyip Community Carols Monday 15 Transition Day Monday 15 Reports sent home Tuesday16 End of Year Mass Tuesday 16 Final newsletter Wednesday 17 Last Day of Term (1:00 pm finish) Upcoming Excursions: Friday 12th December Grade 6 Vic Market Tuesday 16th December Whole School Mass at Iona Sick Bay Linen 28th November Elliot Family 5th December Brown Family 12th December Payne Family Tan Bark 29th/30th November Squires Family 6th/7th December Adams Family 13th/14th December Anderson Family GOAL: To ensure there is a consistent and even coverage of Tan Bark throughout the adventure playground. You will need to bring a rake with you. This task can be completed anytime between 3:30pm Friday and 8:00am Monday. With kindest regards, Jan Gubbins Principal GOAL: To ensure that the sick bay linen is clean and hygienic. TASK: Stripping the sick bay bed of linen and making it up again with fresh linen, which is usually done on a Friday. The linen from the bed needs to be laundered and returned by the following Thursday. Website Please make sure you have a look at the school website which can be accessed at;

8 Columba School Christmas Concert