COLUMBA CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL 28-38 Hope Street Phone 5629 5933 Bunyip 3815 Fax 5629 5851 Email principal@bunyip.catholic.edu.au Website www.bunyip.catholic.edu.au 5th May 18th May Dear Families, Because Sunday is Mother s Day, I have included this very special prayer as a tribute to all the wonderful mums and special women in the lives of the children at Columba. Have a fantastic and richly deserved day and God Bless you all! Loving Father in heaven, we thank you for the love of the mothers you have given us, whose love is so precious that it can never be measured in dollars and cents, whose time does not seem to be measured in the hours they put in per week, whose patience seems to have no end and can even seem to stretch past breaking point. May we see your loving hand behind them and guiding them. We pray for those mothers who fear they will run out of love time or patience and ask you to bless them with your own special love. And we pray for families, that they may appreciate, love and support their mothers and wives. We ask this in the name of Jesus who showed us how to love and care for Mothers. Amen We pray for the following students who have committed to preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation; Josh Ahrens, Amy Corrone, Chris Gooden, Riley Harris, Darcie Hower, Sam Interlandi, Trent Jaymaha, Ryan Jeffers, Miranda Knight, Matt O Halloran, Chloe Papley, Beth Quadara, Ben Stewart, Aaron Tynan, Molly Winters, Kellie & Jack Wouters. 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. Parish Priest: Fr Thomas Mannakulath 1215 Bunyip River Road Iona 3815 Phone 5629 2220 Fax 5629 1237 Email: ionapaish@dcsi.net.au Sister Rose Wood RSJ, Koo Wee Rup Phone: 5997 1510 WEEKEND MASS TIMES: St Joseph s, Iona Sunday 11am Holy Family, Maryknoll 4th & 5th Sunday 9am St James, Nar Nar Goon 1st & 3rd Sunday 9am St John s, Koo Wee Rup Saturday 7pm St Mary s, Lang Lang 2nd Sunday 9am & 4th Saturday 5:30 pm Reconciliation: Every Saturday 9:30am at Iona and 6:30pm at Koo Wee Rup. Alternatively, upon request.
Last week Vanessa Gooden competed in the Australian BMX Championships held in Canberra. Vanessa finished 5th in her age group which is an outstanding achievement. Congratulations Vanessa!! Congratulations to Riley, Ben, Sam & Chloe who have been selected as school leaders for an extended period of time due to the holidays & camp. I am sure they will continue to set a great example for others to follow! Well done Aaron, Arran, Beth & Abbey for your efforts in the last few weeks before the holidays. In other exciting news, Columba s Spin King, Riley Harris, has reached the next level of selection for the Victorian Primary Schools Cricket Team. Riley is now a member of a squad of 43 students which will be further reduced to 26 at the next stage. Congratulations Riley on a very fine achievement considering the hundreds of students who initially tried out for the selection. Assembly The next Assembly is scheduled for Friday 13th May at 2:30 pm. The Prayer will be lead by students from Grade 2/3. Please come along and help celebrate the achievements of the students. All families are welcome to attend each Assembly. Uniform Shop Tammy Stewart will be available on Monday & Friday Mornings from 8:50 am 9:15 am to assist with Uniform purchases, sizing and any queries. We thank Tammy for all her work and for most generously giving her time to support the School. National Anthem We would be grateful if parents could join in the singing of the National Anthem on Monday mornings at Assembly. The words of Advance Australia Fair will be available to assist parents. Please collect a copy from a School Leader prior to the beginning of Assembly. Zone Championships Columba was well represented at the Zone Athletics Championships today at Newborough with 18 students competing. Many thanks to Bron Wallace for her preparation of the students over the past two months. Thank you to all staff and parents who helped to make our PIP s (Parishes in Partnership) Junior Sports Day a great success. Despite the cloudy and cool weather the students had a terrific day and enjoyed all the activities. Our Pip s days are a great opportunity for students to get to know children from other schools. We find as the students progress through school they make great friendships with children from St James & St John s and often catch up again during weekend sport, Sacramental preparation and at secondary school.
The Annual General Meeting of the School Board will take place next Wednesday the 11 th of May at 5:00 pm and all Columba parents are welcome to attend. (Board Meetings are held on the 2 nd Wednesday of each month.) Our Board consists of four parent representatives, a representative of the P&F, a staff representative, the Principal and the Parish Priest. Many, many thanks to students and families who attended the Garfield and Bunyip ANZAC Day services last week. Even though ANZAC Day fell in the holidays, Columba was well represented by students in their scout, cubs & school uniforms. Both services were very moving and we felt privileged to join the official march to the Bunyip Hall at the end of the ceremony. Three positions for parent representatives were available for election this year. In accordance with the Constitution of the School Board we have undertaken the election process during the last part of term one and whilst several recommendations were made, only three people were able to accept nomination for the School Board. I thank all those parents who took the time to send back a nomination form; it confirms that we have many capable people within our community. I congratulate Michelle Gooden & Keli Fox on accepting the nomination for a second term and welcome them back as members of the 2011/12 School Board. Cathy Tynan has also accepted the nomination as an elected Parent Representative and therefore a new Parents & Friends Rep will be elected at the next P&F Meeting to replace Cathy. We thank all members, for their dedication and willingness, to continue to give their time and collective wisdom for the benefit of us all. Our grateful appreciation is extended to Luke Talbot as our outgoing Board Member. I thank him for his enthusiasm and commitment to the school. Luke should be very proud of his achievements as a Board Member and this contribution to the school community has been invaluable. I m sure he will continue to share his leadership skills within the school community. New Website Columba has a new website which will be officially launched at the School Board AGM next Wednesday and should be online the following week. The new website looks terrific and I thank Belinda Fawkner for the many hours of hard work involved in its development. We will continue to add to the website across the year and introduce features which will enable families to have greater information and access to the school. Enrolments are now open for the 2012 school year. Please contact the office for an Information Booklet and a Prep enrolment interview. These interviews will be conducted throughout the term. Parents & Friends Mother s Day Raffle Don t forget to return all Mother s Day Raffle Tickets tomorrow. The Raffle will be drawn at 9:00 am during Morning Assembly.
This week is Catholic Education Week. During this week we celebrate our wonderful primary and secondary schools throughout the Diocese of Sale. Catholic education has a long and distinguished history both in the Sale Diocese and throughout Australia, catering for all learning needs, abilities and talents. As a system, we take pride in our faith, diversity, tolerance and service within our parishes and communities. Catholic Education Week will be celebrated at Columba with our PIP s sports days and Mother s Day Morning Tea. The grade 5 & 6 students are to be congratulated on a terrific camp at Forest Edge last week. We were very proud of their behaviour, enthusiasm and attitude throughout the three days. The staff particularly admired all those students who bravely faced new challenges and experiences such as the Flying Fox, Rock Wall and Initiative Games. Thank you to those families who have already returned their Project Compassion boxes to school. We would be grateful if all contributions could be returned to school by Friday 20th May, in order to finalise your donations and forward a collective cheque to Caritas on your behalf. Thank you in anticipation of your generous response. Respect for our School Uniform We wear our uniform with honour and pride when we; Always wear our hats correctly in Term 1 & Term 4 according to SunSmart Policy. Always wear correct Summer, Winter or Sports uniform. Wear correct shoes and socks with our Summer or Winter uniform, according to Columba Uniform Policy Wear necklaces or bracelets with religious or charitable significance under clothing. Tie back our shoulder length hair. Only wear sleepers or studs. Thank you to the staff, Janine (camp co-ordinator), Bron, Donna & Kelly for all their extra work to ensure the success of camp. We were also delighted to have Anthony Naus attend camp, the students enjoyed his company and it was rather special to have a past student return as an assistant!
May Thursday 5th Zone Sports Day Friday 5th Senior PIP s Sports Day (NNG) Sunday 8th Mother s Day Tuesday 10th NAPLAN begins Wednesday 11th School Board AGM Thursday 12th NAPLAN finishes Thursday 12th Responsible Pet Ownership Incursion (Prep & Grade 1) Friday 13th Bunyip Animal Rescue Network Incursion (Grade 2/3) Friday 13th Assembly Prayer: Grade 2/3 Tuesday 17th School Photos Tuesday 17th Confirmation Workshop Thursday 19th Newsletter Friday 20th Parents & Friends Meeting Tuesday 24th Numeracy Open Morning Friday 27th Assembly Prayer: Prep June Thursday 2nd Newsletter Tuesday 7th Confirmation Workshop Wednesday 8th School Board Meeting Thursday 9th Columba Day Friday 10th Assembly Prayer: Grade 6 Monday 13th Queens Birthday Public Holiday Thursday 16 Newsletter Friday 17th Parents & Friends Friday 24th Assembly Prayer: Grade 5 Sunday 26th Sacrament of Confirmation Thursday 30th Reports sent home July Friday 1st End of Term Two (1:00 pm finish) Sick Bay Linen 6th May Miller Family 13th May Dijkstra Family Tan Bark 7th/8th May Hatley-Smith Family 14th/15th May Capizzi Family With kindest regards, Jan Gubbins Principal