Principal Message – Term 1

Welcome back to what will be a very exciting year for our school.

I hope despite the challenges we faced with COVID-19 over the summer break, you have been able to spend quality time with your families and are feeling refreshed and ready for the 2022 school year.

It has been a wonderful calm and settled start for the children. However, the return to school has not come without some challenges, mainly logistical, and I am very grateful to the staff who have put enormous energy into ensuring this first week has been a time of reconnection. These first few weeks of school are very important for establishing routines, expectations, making friends and getting to know teachers. This is particularly important for our junior students who have spent very little time physically at school over the past two years.

To support this transition back to school each year we begin the with Wellbeing Week. The focus this year has been on our school theme for the year which is ‘JOY’, developing relationships and building a strong sense of connectedness and community spirit. At St Columba’s we place a great emphasis on the development of children’s Social and Emotional skills. Our Wellbeing weeks are specifically designed to reinforce skills of resilience, empathy, relationships, positive emotions, mindfulness, and gratitude. These skills all help to create a greater sense of connection and belonging. They are foundational to and underpin the key building blocks of the learning process for each child. For we know when children are settled and happy, they have the confidence and courage to pursue learning.

Current restrictions prohibit us from mixing between levels, but an important part of our flexible structure is that class groups within a level come together on multiple occasions to learn and socialize across the day and week. An important feature of our school is that every child knows all the other children in the school and each staff member knows each child by name so as soon as conditions allow we will bring back our very successful St Columba’s Kids wellbeing program. This is designed to give children the opportunity to get to know children from other year levels and helps forge friendships beyond a level cohort and develop a stronger sense of belonging and connectedness to peers and the school.

I thank you for your understanding and support over the past two years and I ask once again for your patience as we deal with the current restrictions and challenges over the next four weeks. We were extremely lucky last year, and I believe the measures we have in place have held our community in good stead. The children have adjusted quickly to the mask wearing, hygiene procedures and distancing measures we have in place.

As information and advice changes almost daily in our current setting below is a quick guide to where you can find information:

Websitehttps://www.stcolumbasprimary.org/ - the PARENT tab is for current families. Under this tab you will find school uniform, policy, term dates, staff contacts (classroom teacher emails), FAQs (an A-Z of all information pertaining to the school and answers all those frequently asked questions. The school newsletter can also be found under the NEWS AND EVENTS tab along with other blog posts about what’s happening at school
Skoolbag this is our main way of communicating information such as COVID updates, school newsletter, level information from classroom teachers, term class letters. Please ensure you have this installed on your phone and you have joined your child’s current year level for 2022
Email is used for communicating your school fees and certain information only pertaining to your child
Operoo is where you record your child’s medical and personal details. This is used in particular for camps and excursions. YOU need to update it with your child’s current medical information. Paperless permission for attendance on excursions, camps, events etc are given by you via Operoo. You need to respond to the request.
Seesaw is used by classroom teachers to communicate classroom learning for each child. It is effectively a digital portfolio and allows you to connect with your child’s learning. It is also the platform we will use if forced into remote learning and to support your child should they need to isolate. Please use the QR code provided by your classroom teacher to connect to this platform.

As you can appreciate it can sometimes be difficult to get information out immediately when you have procedures, privacy and protocols to adhere to. However, we will endeavor to deliver all information in a timely manner via the means above.

In the next few days, you will receive an introductory video from classroom teachers. This will be posted onto Seesaw. You will also receive a class newsletter at the start of each term which gives a curriculum overview for English, Maths, RE-Inquiry, homework and highlights significant dates and expectations for the level. The wellbeing of each student is important to us and if you become aware of an issue that is affecting the health and wellbeing of your child please contact your classroom teacher first. Often through working together these issues can be resolved quickly.

Classroom teachers are as follows:

Prep

Gemma Canalini gcanalini@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

Sophie Champion schampion@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

1/2W

Jenna Wynd jwynd@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

1/2H

Sarah Hobbins shobbins@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

3/4RS

Rachael Bulcock rbulcock@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

Yang Song ysong@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

3/4D

Jane Dixon jdixon@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

3/4P

Liane Pimenta lpimenta@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

5/6M

Conor Markey cmarkey@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

5/6L

Danielle Looney dlooney@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

Whilst we have had to carefully consider events for term one and especially the first four weeks, we are really hoping that all other planned activities will go ahead unhindered especially our school musical which we had to postpone last year. Already there is a sense of anticipation and excitement around the school and rehearsals will start in term 2.

Events for Term One

Beginning of the School Year Mass

To mark the beginning of the school year we will celebrate as a school Mass on the morning of Friday 4 February at 9:00am. This will be held outdoors. If you wish to attend, please feel free to do so. All COVID safe practices will apply. Masks do no need to be worn outside but are highly recommended in this setting.

Interschool District Swimming

The Interschool Swimming sports will go ahead on Friday 18 th February at Oakleigh Swim Centre. A team to represent our school will be selected from Grade 3-6. A letter has been sent home containing the details regarding participation in this event. At this time, we do not have information regarding spectators at Oakleigh, but we will keep you informed as these details become available. If you have any queries please email Sharelle Braithwaite sbraithwaite@scelwood.catholic.edu.au

School Photos

School photos will take place on 21 February. Children are to be in correct summer uniform including school shoes. Information regarding orders will be sent home shortly.

School Closure Day

Please note that the first of our school closure days will be the Friday prior to the long weekend Friday 11 March. On this day staff will be involved in professional development in line with our Annual Action Plan and we will be focusing on Mathematics.

Parent Teacher Interviews

This year we will have parent teacher interviews during the week starting 14 March. More information will be made available as the date approaches. We are hoping to have the option of face to face and or zoom available.

School Sports Day

This is much earlier this year, and we will be holding the sports day on Friday 25 March.

Assemblies

Assembly is held at 9:00am on Friday mornings and will be held outside weather permitting. Parents are welcome to attend. All COVID safe practices will apply. Masks do no need to be worn outside but are highly recommended in this setting.

At assembly each year level has a chance to share their learning. Class awards and birthdays will be celebrated at each assembly.

Listed is the schedule:

Feb 25 – 3/4 , Mar 3 – 5/6 , Apr 1 – Prep, Apr 8 – 1/2 and Easter liturgy

Sacraments

This term the Year 4 children will be receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation which they were unable to do last year.

The sacrament of Reconciliation will be held on Saturday 19 March 10:00am and 4:30pm and Monday 21 March 5:00pm

Further details will follow.

Parish Level Mass and BBQ Year 3-6

The year 3-6 children and their families will have their Parish Mass followed by a BBQ in the school grounds on Saturday 26 March at 6:00pm. We invite all families to attend this celebration and BBQ.

We warmly welcome our new families and staff to St Columba’s, and I hope that 2022 is a wonderful year of community spirit and learning for all in our community.

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