News
Middle Primary News
To kickstart the final term of the 2023 school year, the Middle Primary Class travelled to Adelaide for their class camp at AFL Max. The students were buzzing with excitement early on Monday morning, eager to board the vans to travel to Adelaide for their overnight stay.
AFL Max offered such a variety of activities, focusing on living a healthy lifestyle. The students engaged with fitness based activities, nutrition based learning experiences as well as team bonding challenges. The highlights of AFL Max included the Aerial Zone- which consisted of various trampolines and a giant airbag, as well as the inflatable wipeout and relay zones.
The following morning, the class visited the Maritime Museum in Port Adelaide to visit the First Fleet Exhibition. This was a great opportunity for the students to consolidate all their HASS learning over the year.
School Fees
Welcome to Term 4. It would be appreciated if all outstanding school fees could be paid by the end of November 2023 (unless you are on a direct debit plan or have other arrangement with the school). If you will be unable to have your fees paid, please contact me. We have many options available to families who are struggling due to the cost of living increases or other concerns.
It is not too late to apply for School Card. If you think you may be eligible, application forms are available from the school – just drop in or give me a call. Please visit www.sa.gov.au and search ‘school card scheme’ to learn more about School Card.
Regards,
Margaret Grainger - Bursar
Sun Smart Reminder
With the recent warm weather, this is a timely reminder that students must wear a hat at recess and lunch time or will need to play in the shade. We have had numerous children come to the office this week requesting a spare hat so can you please ensure your child brings their hat to school.
There is sunscreen available for students to apply before break times however can you please also apply sunscreen in the morning before coming to school.
Mini Vinnies
On Tuesday our Mini Vinnies travelled to Maitland Vinnies. Jo and the Vinnies volunteers took us for a tour of their new store, conference rooms (private space to assist those in need), food and essentials pantry, donations shed and sorting spaces.
It was fantastic to learn behind the scenes and see the work that goes into sorting and presenting donations for sale. We discussed the importance of sustainable practices and re-using items rather than sending them to landfill. While this is an important message, it is equally important to donate quality goods - otherwise charities like Vinnies bear the cost of disposing of broken and stained goods that cannot be re-used.
The SYP Community Hub in Yorketown has partnered with Vinnies. They now offer emergency food packs, Foodland and Chemist Medication vouchers with thanks to Vinnies, to help those who may need short term emergency financial assistance.
Thanks to Maitland Vinnies for making us feel so welcome, we have some fantastic new ideas about how we may be able to help in the lead up to Christmas.
Reception News
On Tuesday, the Reception class went into the garden with Jo and got their hands dirty! We discussed the garden being one of our special places and that it belongs to ALL of us, which means that it is part of our responsibility to care for and nurture the area. To do this, we planted some flowers and watered the plants and vegetables to help them grow. The Receptions love being in the Green Space; they all have green thumbs!!
RE News
Hello!
The last few weeks have been extremely busy for our school filled with amazing events and soul filling experiences. One of these events was the staff retreat held at Sevenhill Retreat centre on Friday August 25th. I always enjoy this annual event, taking time as a staff to come together and have a moment to pause and reflect on our faith and the Catholic identity of our school. This retreat came at a good time in the lead up to our school concert which is always busy, time consuming and at times stressful. We were able to focus in on what our purpose is as a school, what’s important and how we can work together better. If you have never been to Sevenhill, I strongly encourage you to visit. You don’t have to be doing a retreat there, anyone is very welcome to visit and walk the grounds. The heritage walk includes some beautiful landmarks as well as stunning nature of huge gum trees, birds and vines. We were blessed with great weather and came back refreshed and full of ideas for RE going forward.
Last Sunday we had another big occasion for our Parish and school. Two of our students, Angus Slade and Leo Honner were confirmed by Fr Dean Marin, the Vicar General, alongside 10 other children from the Yorke Peninsula Catholic Parish. This sacrament is the final sacrament of Initiation into the Church, and it was a beautiful mass filled with a lot of joy. We congratulate Angus and Leo and hope that now, filled with the Holy Spirit, they will use their gifts and talents to continue to build a community of love and peace here at St Columba’s and throughout the wider community.
Next week we will have our final whole school mass for the term on Thursday September 21 at 9:15am. Our year 3/4 class will be leading us for it, and we will be celebrating the Feast of St Matthew the Evangelist. You are all very welcome to attend and we will be holding a morning tea after as well as the chance to have a look through the new building and refurbished rooms. We look forward to seeing you then.
Have a great weekend, and good luck to Scott as he coaches his B grade football team in the local YPFL Grand Final and also to our D2 netballers. Go Eagles!
God Bless,
Miriam
Principal's Report
Last week was an incredibly powerful week for our school and community as we carried out one of our largest ever school productions. What a show it was.
I have never been more proud of the children in our school for how they performed and carried themselves across the rehearsal and the performances. The turnout was beyond our wildest expectation and for these children to act, sing and dance in front of that amount of people gives them skills beyond simply the performing arts. They have skills now in managing their own nerves and anxiety. Skills in understanding and supporting each other and being others-focussed. Skills in understanding that to create things that are incredible, it’s impossible to do alone.
What has been relayed to me so often is how wonderful our leads were in supporting our younger students on stage. It is the real strength of a primary school to allow this servant leadership to take place; our older students involved in the upbringing and education of the younger students.
Finally I honestly believe the climate of our staff allowed for such a performance. We have seen recently across various sectors industrial action and strike action as teacher workload has become incredibly politicised and topical. In this same climate we had all our staff volunteer their time to make the performance the success it was, going out of their way to be involved in props, costuming, hair, makeup and the supervising of children backstage for the events. They are an incredible bunch.
Capital Works
As Henry the narrator said in the production … As one door closes another opens! The world has continued around our performance and our Year 3-7s have now settled into their brand new classrooms and we are utilising the breakout space for quiet student work as well as our intervention programs.
The area outside the Year 5 and Year 6/7 classes has loosely been called the ‘Study Space’ by the children; a place where they can work in comfort and peace on assignments or classwork. It’s a great privilege for them to have this space available for them. Our Year 7 leaders this year are also able to access the hall kitchen to heat their lunches. This privilege will extend to our Year 6 and Year 7 leaders next year as we graduate two groups.
We expect the entrance and the remainder of the landscaping works to be completed by Mid-October ready for an official opening in November.
Staffing
We are getting closer to finalising our class structure for 2023. A reminder that if you have any information that the school should have in relation to your student’s enrolment for 2024 please contact the school as soon as possible. We’ve had strong interest on the back of our new facilities so it’s exciting times ahead.
Within the next two weeks we would expect an update on SCMS’s next principal. Stay tuned.
Scott
Junior Primary News
Year 1/2 students have been exploring the local environment around Yorke Peninsula in their HASS and Home Ec learning time. They've learned about native ingredients and even planted their own herb garden, which they'll continue to care for and monitor. The unit has consisted of them making pizza scrolls with oregano, wattle seed vanilla biscuits and saltbush damper. It's been an educational journey they've enjoyed!
Upper Primary News
In Design and Technologies the Year 5's have been improving their skills using the online platform Canva. As a small project students designed multiple covers for the Peter Pan Musical program. Pictured is a combined cover featuring multiple students designs. Elements are either from Canva or are original artworks that have been scanned and added onto the design.
Year 5 students are also busy working through their Measurement Assignments pictured below. The Zoo plans are almost complete ready for Grand Openings!
