Dear Parents and Carers,

Yesterday we celebrated Ash Wednesday with Mass, one of the most important holy days in the liturgical calendar. Ash Wednesday opens Lent, a season of fasting and prayer. On Shrove Tuesday, or Pancake Tuesday, our students enjoyed making pancakes in class.

Caritas Project Compassion also launched this week; boxes were distributed to classrooms in PP-Y6 to go home with all students.

Our very popular Dads and Kids' camp out will be taking place early in Term 2; the date will be confirmed soon.

St Columba's has a Little Library coming soon. Our sincere thanks to Giovanni and Lara Iozzi from Timbacraft Furniture for the beautiful custom-built unit. We will let you know when it is up and running.

Next week is Wellness Week. Students may wear sports uniform for the week and there is no homework. The school has arranged a coffee van for next Friday - we hope you will take the opportunity to say hello to other parents.

God bless and keep safe.

Allen McMahon

Principal

Friday 24 February - Assembly - 3G

Monday 27 February - Wellness Week begins

Thursday 2 March - CAPSS Swimming Carnival

Friday 3 March - Wellness Week Coffee Van

Monday 6 March - Labour Day

Year 1G - Vincent, Ava

Year 1W - Chloe, Lily

Year 2G - James, Ava

Year 2W - Charlotte, Judsen

Year 3G - Thomas, Alexis, Wesley

Year 3W - Iris

Year 4G - Dohyun, Amelia

Year 4W - April, Kyle

Year 5G - Orlando

Year 5W - Max, Martin

Year 6G - Sofia, William

Year 6W - Carmen, Tiana

Spanning across the 6 weeks of Lent each year, Project Compassion brings thousands of Australian schools, parishes and supporters together to raise funds for people living in some of the most vulnerable communities across the world.

Caritas Project Compassion boxes were distributed to classrooms in PP-Y6 to go home with all students.

Students are encouraged to collect any amount of money for this important cause and bring back their Project Compassion boxes with the collected money by the end of Term 1 – Wednesday, 5 April 2023.

Students are asked to bring back their CARITAS boxes before the end of term, with any amount of money, to their classroom or the front office.

We look forward to a Guest Speaker from CARITAS joining us at assembly later this term to answer student questions and provide further information about how the money raised contributes towards improving the lives of those less fortunate.

There is much to pray for this Lent, and we hope our support will contribute to changing the lives of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

Further information, including teacher resources and stories can be found at https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion/

Payment option forms are due back from all families by Monday, 27 February 2023.

School fees are due by 31 March 2023 if paying in full, otherwise a payment plan needs to be selected.

If you have any queries regarding your fees please contact our Finance Officer, Narelle Foster

Week 5 will see our staff and students enter Wellness Week for Term 1. This week (Mon 27/2 – Fri 3/3) will see our students explore different aspects of their wellbeing (physical, mental, social/emotional and spiritual) as well as providing opportunities to practise some self-care habits.

Students will not have set homework during Week 5 and may wear their sports uniform for the week. Parents are asked to only book meetings with teachers for urgent matters.

Parents are also welcome to purchase from the Coffee Van that will be parked in the Staff Carpark on York Street from 7:30-9:00am on Friday, 3 March. Who doesn’t like a coffee to start their morning on the right note!

We look forward to exploring our wellbeing and building our knowledge and skills in this space.

The Sacramental Program for 2023 is offered to students in Years 3, 4 and 6.

Please note the Sacraments are Parish-based and not school-based and decisions surrounding the Sacraments are made by the Parish Priest in consultation with the school.

Attendance at the St Columba’s Parish Sacramental Enrolment Mass is expected for all students who wish to receive the Sacraments this year.

In 2023, the Sacramental Enrolment Mass will be offered on Saturday, 25 March at 6pm.

At least one parent and student candidates are asked to attend the Enrolment Mass.

The Sacramental Enrolment form below will be sent home as a hard copy this week with your child. These are due back to the classroom teacher by Friday, 17 March.

Please also see below the St Columba’s Parish Sacramental Overview for 2023, including key dates and events.

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3 & 5 sit in March (this has been changed from May in previous years).

The NAPLAN Online test window begins on Wednesday, 15 March and finishes on Monday, 27 March 2023.

All students will be involved in a coordinated practice test in Week 5 this term to experience the platform and the different test formats.

The school has begun extensive School Readiness Testing procedures to ensure our devices and networks can support the online assessment.

Our school NAPLAN testing schedule will be released in Week 5.

A public demonstration site is available for parents and students to access. The link below provides access to the NAPLAN Online Demonstration site which provides examples of the different types of question formats as well as practice questions across all 4 testing areas.

Public Demonstration Site Link

More information is available at www.nap.edu.au

We invite you to speak with your child’s classroom teacher if you have any concerns regarding the NAPLAN assessment.

An application form must be completed to enrol younger siblings for Kindy and to be eligible for Pre-Kindy. Our online application form can be found on the Enrolment page of our website. If the younger sibling was included as a second child on the application form, then no further action is required.

Hi Everyone,

I am excited to announce your P&F Class Reps for 2023.

Pre-Kindy: Sarah Harvey-Arandiga

Kindy: Felicia Lee Kiely, Kristen Mamo and Laura Noonan-Crowe

Pre-Primary: Giovanni Iozzi and Maree Ferguson

Year 1: Tori Filby and Kristen Mamo

Year 2: Jorge Davila and Dan Daynes

Year 3: Hayley Mitchell and Gemma Bristow

Year 4: No reps

Year 5: Catherine Rogers, Michelle Weldon and Louise Valerio

Year 6: Kellie Binns, Sarah Mann, Kym Banes and Catherine Higgins

Thank you to each and every one of you for putting your hand up to take on this role.

We held our first P&F meeting this week. It was a wonderful introduction for the year and gave us a good opportunity to discuss the year ahead. As we are working to a new constitution, we are in a great position to try out new ways of doing things this year.

Your reps will be reaching out over the next couple of weeks with information that came out of the meeting. We have also locked in our events and activities for the year so watch this space!

Minutes for this meeting will be updated to the March 24, February newsletter.

If anyone has any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Hayley Mitchell

P&F President

The year starts from the date of purchase of your Entertainment Book.

Cash payments are no longer accepted. Payments can be made by credit card - Visit scholastic.com.au/LOOP or download the LOOP app. Your order will be electronically linked to the rest of your school's order. You do not need to complete the order form.

Term 1: Wednesday, 1 February to Wednesday, 5 April 2023

Term 2: Wednesday, 26 April to Friday, 30 June 2023

Term 3: Monday, 17 July to Friday, 21 September 2023

Term 4: Monday, 9 October to Friday, 8 December 2023

Term 1: Thursday 6 April

Term 2: Monday 24 April, Monday 15 May and Friday 2 June

Term 3: Friday 22 September

Term 4: None

Sacramental Program Enrolment Mass: Saturday, 25 March at 6pm

Confirmation: Saturday, 27 May at 6pm

Eucharist: Sunday, 7 May at 9:30am

Reconciliation: Saturday, 11 November at 10am

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/