Principal Message – Week 5 Term 1

The weeks are flying by very quickly and here we are already at the end of week 5.

It has been a wonderful start to the new school year, and everyone has settled back into familiar routines. Our first week was dedicated to developing relationships and building a strong sense of connectedness to peers and school through our wellbeing week. As the year progresses there will be many opportunities, as well as challenges for our children. Being able to navigate these moments and to be able to take them in their stride, will provide valuable life lessons for them, and in the long term, will be instrumental in building their social and emotional capital.

Inclusion = comfort. When we are comfortable in our surroundings, when we know the rules, when we know the expectations, we begin to feel at ease and at home. It means we feel comfortable, and we know how things work and how we fit into the bigger picture. At the beginning of the school year this is so important, and that is why we place such an emphasis on relationships, connection to school and peers, on setting up expectations and on co creating Classroom Essential Agreements. We want everyone in our community, our staff, our children and our families to feel they belong and are welcome.

It has always been clear to me that our school is unique. Our size gives us an advantage.

We pride ourselves on knowing all the children in the school – ‘Where everyone knows my name, and I would like to go one step further and add, and me. And by this, I mean ‘Me’ as a unique individual, as a learner and as a member of our community. At St Columba’s we have always held the child at the centre of all that we do. It is our purpose and our goal to equip all learners with the skills, dispositions and attributes that will genuinely enable every learner at St Columba’s, to step with confidence, not only into the future, but also into the now.

“Children are always throwing out sparks of knowledge, curiosity, and inquiry and adults must be ready to catch those sparks. When the children are investigating and researching….this is what is like, little tiny sparks. You have to be ready to catch them as a teacher and blow on them to encourage them to grow bigger and ignite them further.”

Annalisa Rabotti, an educator in Reggio Emilia

As we head into the second half of this term, we invite you to share in your child’s journey at St Columba’s. Tomorrow we will host the first of our Open Learning Mornings, after assembly, with a special focus on Maths. We hope that you can join us.

We welcome the opportunity to share with you, the many diverse experiences your child encounters each time they come to school. If you can’t make it tomorrow there are many ways to keep in touch – assembly each Friday, open learning mornings each term, special events, sports days and don’t forget to regularly touch base online via Seesaw.

Year 1 News