“Our Heavenly Father, inspire us to distinguish between what is important and what is not,

and open our minds and hearts that we may always be people of good will

who bring life and joy to others. Amen.”

Dear Parents and Carers,

Congratulations to our Year 3 students who made their First Reconciliation last weekend.

They were well prepared by Mrs Poole and Miss Mercer, and I thank them for this. I would

like to thank Fr Nino for organising the priests who provided help on Saturday morning.

Saturday night's Night in White event, hosted by the P&F, had over 180 people across all year groups attending, for a wonderful community event. The school oval looked amazing all lit up, and the view of the city across the river helped to set the scene.

Staffing is almost finalised and staff placements will be advised in the Week 8 newsletter.

Our Year 6 students have their final assembly tomorrow and I know that they are very excited. Unfortunately, I have a Catholic Education Commitment that I must attend. However, I will be watching the video of their item and I am sure that Mrs Manfredi will also let me know how well the item went.

The School Advisory Council (SAC) held its ACM on Monday evening. Congratulations to Phil Horner, Hayley Roseby and Chloe Gavalas who were elected to the School Advisory Council. Thanks go to Esmeralda Soliano-Wood who has completed her time on the SAC. Esmeralda has had a long association with the SAC and P&F and is to be thanked for her work and time with both groups. I am very much looking forward to working with the SAC over the next two years.

The P&F held their AGM on Monday evening. Congratulations to Hayley Mitchell, Gemma Bristow, Mathew Smith and Renee Methorst who were elected to the Executive. I am very much looking forward to working with them over the next two years. I would like to thank the P&F, both Executive and parents, for all the work and help they have provided to the various events over the course of the year. It has made our school a very enviable school to be involved with.

Our Leadership speeches will be held next Monday and I know that Mrs Crugnale and Mrs Brine have prepared them well with their speeches. The students will be advised of their leadership roles in Week 8 and will be officially recognised by the school community at the Thanksgiving Mass.

Reports will be available online from Wednesday, December 4.

Please find todays Parenting Issues article: Four Parenting Priorities.

The Carol’s night will be held on Friday, 29 November - please find more information below in the newsletter.

Families, please note that you are asked to adhere to the school parking policy and the street verge parking signage. Parking is not permitted in ‘no standing or parking ‘zones, or the Church carpark. Cars that do not follow the street and verge signage face a possible fine from the Ranger. Your help in this matter will be very much appreciated.

The end of the school year is fast approaching. A reminder that if students are finishing school prior to Friday, 6 December, please advise the school in writing.

God bless and keep safe.

Allen McMahon

Principal

Friday 15 November

• Year 6 Assembly - 9am

Monday 18 November

• Leadership speeches

Wednesday 20 November

• Step Up Transition for Kindy/PP and PP/Y1

Friday 22 November

• Vinnies' Christmas hamper appeal ends

SAVE THE DATE

Tuesday 26 November

• Kindy White Nativity 9am
• Year 6 Graduation 6pm

Thursday 28 November

• Kindy Green Nativity 9am

Friday 29 November

• Carols Evening 5.45pm

The Annual St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal is about to begin, and St Columba’s Primary School is excited to be involved once again.

What is the Vinnies Christmas Appeal?

For many people, Christmas is a joyful time of year however, the sad reality is that 13.3% of Australians are living in poverty. Of these, 731,300 are children who may not get their Christmas wish. Your support can make a difference.

Our generosity through the Vinnies Christmas Appeal can provide urgent relief for a family who’s doing it tough this Christmas and give them hope for a better future.

How does St Columba’s get involved?

St Columba’s is participating in the Vinnie’s Christmas Appeal. We are looking for families to donate non-perishable food items to the baskets in each classroom, which will be used to make up Christmas hampers for those in need.

The Carols Evening will be held on Friday 29th November (Week 8) on the school bottom oval. It is a requirement that students from PP - Year 6 attend, as each class will be singing a carol.

It is optional for Kindy to attend. They will have the option of singing a class carol, and at the end of their carol will be allowed to sit with their family. The carol singing for all classes should take approximately an hour.

• The evening will begin with the Choir singing from 5:45pm and the classes from 6:00pm.
• PP- Year 6 students are required to meet their classroom teacher in their classroom at 5:20pm. Kindy students need to meet their class teacher on the bottom oval at this time.
• PP – Y6 classes will commence walking down to the bottom oval from 5:30pm.

Students are encouraged to wear a Christmas t-shirt / clothing in the Christmas colours. Christmas headpieces are optional. Footwear must be worn.

Families are able to bring a picnic if they wish.

Please note, at the end of the Carols, children will be dismissed to families by their class teachers and the school will not be responsible for supervising the students.

The beauty of Advent is that it is a season, not a day. Preparing for Advent as Catholics means that we can enjoy the richness of our faith which helps us to prepare our hearts and minds for celebrating the coming of the Christ child on Christmas.

What is the Advent season in the Catholic Church?

Advent is a four-week spiritual preparation for celebrating Jesus’ birth. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas day. We have four weeks of Mass readings and prayers to help us focus on Jesus and what He has done for us. The First Sunday of Advent is Sunday, 1st December.

What does Advent prepare us for?

Advent is a gift to us. The four weeks of Advent help us to prepare us to truly celebrate Christmas, to contemplate and understand (as much as we are humanly able) the great reality of God becoming man for our sakes because of His great love for each of us.

Advent gives us the opportunity to reflect more on the truths about Jesus and our Catholic faith so we can spiritually prepare our hearts for celebrating Jesus’ birth on Christmas.

How do we prepare for Advent?

Advent itself is a time of preparation. We do not necessarily need to prepare for Advent itself but use the time of Advent to prepare for Christ’s coming on Christmas.

Here are some ideas of things you can do with your family to help prepare during Advent for Christmas.

· Pray more

· Go to Mass

· Go to Reconciliation

· Have an Advent wreath - An Advent wreath is a wreath with four candles.

(Three purple candles and one pink candle. Each Sunday in Advent, one new candle is lit.)

· Practice Advent traditions each year

There are many ways during Advent that we can prepare our hearts and minds for celebrating Jesus’ birth at Christmas.

Congratulations to our Year 6 students, Francesca and Valentina who recently competed at the 2024 WA Junior Gymnastics State Championship in Women’s Artistic Gymnastics held in October.

Representing their clubs, the girls competed alongside 120 gymnasts from across the state, all of whom qualified after two qualifying competitions. Their dedication and hard work this season truly paid off, as they achieved personal best in various routines and an array of well-deserved individual and all-around State awards in their respective age divisions. Well done!

Semester 2 Reports for Pre-Primary to Year 6 students will be made available on Wednesday, 4 December at 3:30 pm. Reports will be provisioned online this semester through the SEQTA Engage portal.

Reports for Kindergarten students only will be sent home as a hard copy on Wednesday, 4 December.

All parents with children in Pre-Primary to Year 6, who have received their child’s report online previously, have been provisioned with a SEQTA Engage account.

The SEQTA Engage web address is https://stcolumbassp.coneqt-p.cathednet.wa.edu.au/

Please note there is also a ‘Reports – SEQTA Engage’ tab on the FAMILIES page of the school website that links directly to the above link.

Please ensure you can log into your account so that you can receive your child's Semester 2 report.

If you are unable to locate your login information, please follow these steps:

• Click on the Forgot your password? link
• Enter your email address into the relevant box and click on Reset my password
• Go to your email box and reset your password according to the instructions in the email.
• The password reset email will expire after 1 hour of being generated.

Parents who are new to St Columba’s this semester or who have not previously been provisioned with a SEQTA Engage account will receive an email shortly inviting them to create one.

Please contact the front office if you have any issues logging into your SEQTA Engage account.

ISSUE 8 has been sent home today. Book orders are due on Wednesday, 20 November.

Issue 7 Book Club delivery has been delayed and are expected next week. Apologies for the delay.

Did you know that every purchase you make on Book Club earns our school 15% of the order value in Scholastic Rewards? We use these to purchase more books and educational resources for the school. It all helps!

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.

Hi Everyone,

Happy Thursday!

What can I say, WOW. Thank you to everyone who came along last Saturday night to our adults only Night in White Event. We had over 180 people across all year groups on our beautiful school grounds, enjoying the magical evening under the stars. It was amazing to see all our wonderful parents and friends getting to know each other and celebrating us as a community. Thank you to my amazing volunteers Mat, Brandon, Jason, Jasper, Ben, Troy, Bree, Amelia, Kylie, Gemma and Renee for all your help with setup and support for this event.

As we race to the finish, the P&F exec is starting to switch to planning for Term 1 (crazy I know). We look forward to sharing what we have on offer over the next few weeks. For now, I wish you all an amazing last couple of weeks. It is going to fly by.

Hayley Mitchell

P&F President

Sessions will take place on the bottom oval at lunchtime and cover a range of sports and skills. Funded by P&F.

• Tuesday Lunchtime: Years 1-3
• Wednesday Lunchtime: Years 4-6

• Location: Bottom School Oval
• Duration (number of weeks): Eight
• Cost: P&F Funded Initiative
• Method to register / join: No action required. Students choice to participate on the day

Extra-curricular technology club kindly arranged by our P&F:

• Year groups: Year 4 - Year 6
  
• Location: School Library
• Days and times: Monday's after school
• Start date: Monday 14 October (except 21 Oct pupil-free day)
• Duration (number of weeks): Seven
• End date: Monday 2 December
• Cost: Full cost to parents $175.00
• Method to register / join: Join via the link below

Extra-curricular soccer club kindly arranged by our P&F:

• Provider / Organisation: Pro Football Training
• Year groups: Year 1 to Year 6
• Location: Weeks 2 - 3: on the tennis courts and Weeks 4 - 9: on the oval
• Days and times: Wednesday and Friday Mornings at 7:30am
• Start date: Wednesday 16 October and Friday 18 October
• Duration (number of weeks): Eight
• End date: Wednesday 4 December and Friday 6 December
• Cost: Full cost to parents $149.00
• Method to register / join: Join via the link below

Bricks 4 Kidz has been running after school from our library for a number of years:

• Provider / Organisation: Bricks 4 Kidz
• Contact person from provider: Rachel Koo / 0415 829 511 / rachel.koo@bricks4kidz.au
• Year groups: Various classes, starting from 5 years and up
• Location: St Columba's Library
• Days and times: Fridays after school
• Start date: Friday 18 October
• Duration (number of weeks): 8 weeks
• End date: Friday 6 December
• Cost: See further information in link below
• Method to register / join: Join via link below

Term 4: Monday 7 October - Friday 6 December