“God, help us navigate whatever challenges we encounter this day.

Be our comfort and our rock.

Guide us to do Your will and be an instrument of your peace today and each day. Amen.”

Dear Parents and Carers,

This week, the Parish will begin preparation for the 2025 Sacraments of Reconciliation, Eucharist and Confirmation, with celebrating the Parish Sacramental Enrolment Mass. All children making one of these Sacraments for the first time should be in attendance. Please keep all these children in your thoughts and prayers during their preparation.

Due to a CEWA commitment I will be unable to attend and Mr Yock will be there representing me.

Naplan testing started this week and I would like to thank Mr Yock and the staff for being so well prepared. At this stage everything has progressed very smoothly. Parents should always keep in mind that the results are only a snapshot of a child’s school life. For a more thorough insight into your child/rens educational progress, teacher meetings and the school reporting process will provide more comprehensive information.

A huge thank you to the P&F for organising the Movie Night. It was an outstanding success and the children had a great evening. Just a reminder at these types of events that the supervision of the children is the responsibility of the families.

A great effort by our Yr 4-6 students with coming third at the interschool swimming carnival. Many thanks to Mr Chatt for organising.

Parking is an issue at the moment and unfortunately, I am only able to deal with issues that are directly on the school grounds. There are a number of families walking through the Kiss and Drive entry. Please be aware that this is not an entry for pedestrians. Families entering on foot near the Church must enter through the Church pedestrian pathway not the Kiss and Drive car entry. There are also families dropping students off in the Church car park and then exiting against the traffic flow. In the interests of our students’ safety please follow the school drop off and pick up protocols.

God Bless and keep safe.

Allen McMahon

Principal

Friday 14 March

• Canteen closed

Saturday 15 March

• Sacramental Enrolment Mass - 6pm

Monday 17 March

• SAC Meeting

Wednesday 19 March

• Canteen closed
• St Joseph's Day
• St Joseph's Liturgy (Y1-6) - 2pm

Friday 21 March

• Harmony Day - Free dress

The life of St. Joseph reminds us that God’s promises are fulfilled. Let us remember the life of St. Joseph and his response to God’s call.

St. Joseph was the husband of Mary. He was a faithful and prayerful man who loved and trusted God very much. He is honoured and respected as a saint, for he responded to the call of God in the unfolding plan of salvation for all humankind.

The entire Church of God remembers and reflects upon the humble and empowering gifts St. Joseph’s life teaches us.

On Wednesday, 19 March at 2pm our Year 1-6 classes will celebrate with a Liturgy, led by our Year 4 students.

Harmony Week celebrates Australia’s cultural diversity. It focusses on inclusiveness, respect and a sense of belonging for everyone. The theme is EVERYONE BELONGS. St Columba’s will be celebrating this important week on Friday, 21 March, with each class participating in their own activities. On Friday, 21 March, students may wear cultural dress. As orange is the official Harmony Week colour, students may also wear an orange t-shirt if they have one, and/or suitable orange accessories. We look forward to celebrating the wonderful cultures and diversity that makes our school so special.

We welcome all parents in PP - Year 6 to attend the Edu-dance Performance Concert on Thursday, 10 April, commencing at 2:15pm. Book this date in your diaries!

The Concert will take place on the top oval (next to the drive through) with specific sections for students/staff and parents.

Please see the information below regarding costume requirements for the Concert.

We ask students to bring their costume to school for their Week 9 Edu-dance lesson on either Wednesday, 2 April or Thursday, 3 April to allow for a full performance run-through before the actual concert date.

Students are required to bring their Edu-dance costume to school on the Concert Performance Day (Thursday, 10 April) and will have time in class to change into their outfits.

At the conclusion of the concert all classes will return to their classrooms where parents will have the option of collecting their child early from school if they wish.

The drive through will be closed on this afternoon due to the event.

We look forward to a memorable experience.

Please see your classroom teacher if you have any questions.

The Sacramental Program for 2025 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 2025, the Sacramental Enrolment Mass will be offered on Saturday 15th March at 6pm.

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

The Sacramental Enrolment form below has been sent home as a hard copy with your child. These are due back to the classroom teacher by Friday, 14 March.

We began the season of Lent last Wednesday, 5 March. A time for examining our lives and how we treat one another in preparation for Easter - Jesus' death and resurrection. We prepare for Easter by praying, giving to others and fasting - giving up things that cut into our relationship with God.

During Lent, Caritas Australia also promotes Project Compassion - a fundraising drive to work towards making the lives of others better around 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 – Friday 11 April.

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.

Click the button below to view a video about one of the 2025 CARITAS Project Compassion stories.

NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3 & 5 sit in March.

The NAPLAN Online test window begins on Wednesday, 12 March and finishes on Monday, 24 March 2025.

All students in Years 3 & 5 were involved in a practice test on Tuesday, 4 March 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 is below:

Please note all tests are online except for the Year 3 Writing Test.

Students who are absent on a particular testing day are still able to complete the test when they return to school. The NAPLAN testing window is open until Monday, 24 March, giving us time to complete any catch-up testing needed. Please note the writing tests must be completed by Friday, 14 March.

NAPLAN assesses fundamental skills in literacy and numeracy that are developed over time through the school curriculum, rather than specific content. It is not a pass-or-fail type test, for which students can study or drill, but rather shows how students are progressing in numeracy and literacy skills against national standards for all Australian children. It also provides information that allows schools and governments to better target efforts to help all students achieve their potential and acquire the basic skills to help them build successful lives.

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.

DOSC is looking forward to seeing you all at the Dads Campout!

Camp Out Details as follows:

Date: 29, March 2024

Time: Setup from 3pm.

Cost: $35 per family

What’s included:

Fruit & snack on arrival.

Dinner: Sausage and bun, juice and zooper dooper.

Breakfast: Bacon and egg roll, Milo, Coffee, Tea and Juice.

Coffee Van planned from 7am on the 30th for those who want to purchase coffees and other items.

Items to bring:

Camping Equipment: Tent, Mattress, pillows & sleeping bags/blankets.

Camping Chairs and Torches.

Warm clothes & spare clothes if needed.

Water bottles.

Additional food, snacks and drinks as required. Please not nuts or products containing nuts.

Please check the weather on the day and pack accordingly.

There is a power point at the bottom of the oval, available for pumping up air beds. Please bring your own pumps.

Registrations close on 24, March, please follow instructions below to register and pay.

Three registration forms to be completed below:

• Register & pay
• Complete the Working With Children Declaration form. If you're the parent attending, please select first option "Yes - Parent Volunteer Exemption"
  You do not require a WWC card
• Complete the volunteer form, please select a task/s you can help with, we need volunteers for the event to go ahead.

Please note, the camp out is only for children currently attending St Columba's. Dads, father figures, carers and Mums are welcome.

If you require any further information please contact Alan on 0423 840 411.

Footy tipping kicks off next week!

Time to lock in your tips and get amongst the banter. If you haven’t joined yet, there's still time!

Join Here

Comp Code: 5WHXJC5U

The battle for the DOSCA Footy Tipping Trophy starts Round 2 Thursday, 20 March, so don’t miss out!

Back your footy knowledge (or just take a wild guess) and enjoy the ride.

Any questions, feel free to reach out at doscafootytipping6151@gmail.com or call me (Santhosh) on 0411 253 951

Cheers, Santhosh

Hi everyone,

It was lovely to see so many families come and join us for our movie night last Friday night. I want to give a big shout out to our amazing Year 6 students (and their parents) for running the very popular lolly store. They did a fantastic job and should be very proud of themselves. A very special thank you must go to Renee Methorst for being the driving force behind this event.

For those of you who are super organised and are reading the calendar for the next few weeks, you are correct, there is another P&F event coming up.

St Vinnies Easter Hat Parade - Monday, 7 April, 9:00am - Basketball Courts (top oval)

St Columba's is committed to fostering opportunities where we can support our local community. The P&F Easter Parade is an opportunity to bring joy and happiness to those families and children that are vulnerable and experiencing hardship, who would be going without this Easter. We will be collecting Easter Eggs from our St Columba's community and donating these eggs to St Vinnies (whilst having a bit of fun in the process with our Easter Hat parade).

What do families/children need to do?

1. Families are asked to bring in an Easter Egg to donate. These eggs can be dropped off to the classroom or to front reception by Friday, 4 April. We prefer you to bring these in the week of the 31st of March to avoid them from melting/going missing.

2. Children are asked to get crafty and to make an Easter Hat at home. The children will be parading their hats on the morning of Monday, 7 April. A representative from St Vinnies will be picking 4 winners (yes there will be prizes).

Attendance is optional for parents if they really want to come.

At the Easter Parade, the Year 6 students will then give St Vinnies all the Easter Egg donations for the children to see.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to your class rep.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Hayley Mitchell

P&F President

Issue 2 has been sent home - Orders are due by Thursday, 20 March.

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.

Term 1: Wednesday 5 February - Friday 11 April

Term 2: Monday 28 April - Friday 4 July

Term 3: Tuesday 22 July - Thursday 25 September

Term 4: Monday 13 October - Friday 12 December

Term 1: Monday 3 February, Tuesday 4 February

Term 2: Monday 12 May, Friday 30 May

Term 3: Monday 21 July, Friday 26 September

Term 4: Monday 27 October

Sacramental Program Enrolment Mass: Saturday, 15 March at 6pm

Confirmation: Saturday, 7 June at 6pm, Saturday, 14 June at 6pm

Eucharist: Sunday, 17 August, Sunday, 24 August, Sunday, 31 August at 9.30am

Reconciliation: Saturday, 15 November at 10am