News
Senior Primary
This term in the year 5/6/7 class, the focus within our HASS and Science lessons revolves around the key ideas and messages in the 2019 documentary ‘2040’. The students have watched the documentary in class and will now explore what the future would look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream. These units have been designed to allow students to explore climate change and its causes by looking at a range of real-world solutions such as making transport more sustainable, improving food security, making education available to everyone and implementing alternative energy sources.
RE News
Hello!
Welcome to Term 4 😊
Next week we have two important feast days. On November 1 it is the Feast day of All Saints when we remember all those who have attained Heaven and on November 2 we commemorate All Souls Day when we remember and pray for all those who have died. For the Feast of All Saints Day we will be having a whole school mass on Thursday, November 3 at 9:15am. We would love to have you join us. If you ever have any questions about the Mass or any curiosities, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I am more than happy to help answer them or discuss further. 😊
These two feast days are celebrated in many ways around the world but one tradition that I think is beautiful is that of visiting a cemetery on the feast of All Souls Day and praying for those who have died. Reading the names of on the gravestones and remembering these people, even if we never knew them, but saying their names and recognising their lives is a powerful way to feel the communion of saints and also to remember our own mortality. There is an old Catholic practice of meditating on one’s death called ‘Momento Mori’ a Latin phrase meaning, “remember your death.” – find out more HERE. This practice helps us to remember that we will one day die (“You are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen 3:19)) so we need to use each day to do the best we can to do good, to love well and to seek God in all things. This may seem all a bit morbid, but its purpose is actually the opposite; to truly understand our mortality and so to live well, to live intentionally. So I invite you to take the time next Wednesday to head out to the cemetery, alone or as a family, to walk through the graves and say the names of those who lie there and offer a prayer for them. May we be encouraged to live well.
God Bless,
Miriam Honner, APRIM
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Library News
We have a busy time in the library this term as we are installing a new library system. The children will be able to borrow extra books as there will be no borrowing in Week 4 and 5 whilst this is happening.
Could all Issue 7 Book Club orders please be in by Friday 28 th of October.
How exciting! Our "Buy One Get One Free" Book Fair is commencing on the 28th of October and will be running until the 9th of November. A great opportunity to get some Christmas shopping done.
Thankyou
Julie Anderson
Spanish News
A very famous Spanish painter is Pablo Diego Jose Francisco De Paula Juan Nepomuceno Crispin Crispiniano Maria Remedios de La Santisima Trinidad Ruiz Picasso. That is the name of just one painter and he is better known as Pablo Picasso. He became one of the most influential artists of the 20th century with many other artists changing their style as a result of his works. He was an excellent drawer from a very early age and his mother said his first sentence that he spoke was to ask for a pencil to draw.
He often drew people in small chunks, from several angles, simultaneously. And then reassembled the different pieces, so that his portraits were not meant to be realistic, but a collection of different views of the one person.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson.
SunSmart reminder for Term 4
The average daily UV Index during October is 5 in South Australia, so as we jump into Term 4 it’s very important that we are reminding and encouraging staff, families, students and children to use a combination of sun protection measures during all outdoor activities whenever the UV is 3 and above.
Now that daylight savings has begun, sun protection times have changed and extended. Remember, you can access local daily sun protection times using the SunSmart app, to help determine when you should protect your skin in five ways—slip, slop, slap, seek and slide.
Download the SunSmart app here.. SunSmart app - Cancer Council (cancersa.org.au)
Thanks!
Amy Kennedy
WHS Officer
Senior Primary News
This week our school hosted its first Learning Expo. Students from the Upper Primary class invited their family and special friends to walk through an exhibition, showcasing their work from this semester. Part of this exhibition was an oral performance, where they presented a soliloquy on a distinguished individual they'd been researching. Students got into character by coming dressed as the individual, using costumes made from recycled materials. We are so proud of the way the students were able to embrace this task and push through the complexities of script writing and performance.
Literacy Coaching - Year 5/6/7
A group of Senior Students works with me 2 mornings a week, during our school Spelling Time. Our goal in this 15 minute slot, is to explore Descriptive Writing and practise various techniques that will make our writing more vivid and alive. We have brainstormed how we already attempt to do this and each week we are adding a new strategy. We have discussed HYPERBOLE, and how the exaggeration is not meant to be taken literally, but rather to stress a point that the writer wants to make. An example we examined stated that the writer felt so elated and surreal on top of the mountain, that he felt he could touch heaven.
We are currently examining the Noun Group, and how knowing what features it contains, allows us to expand our own writing to make what we are describing move from the mundane into becoming ‘alive’ for the reader. Here is the example we worked on together.
The noun, ‘dog” becomes: His muddy, lonely, kelpie dog, with the black patch over his right eye, and a determination to endear himself to anyone foolish enough to stand still…………. Once we recognise that we can expand a simple noun with a POINTER (His), DESCRIBER (muddy), QUANTIFIER (lonely), CLASSIFIER (Kelpie), and the longest component, QUALIFIER (with the patch………...to stand still), our writing takes on a great deal of polish.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson, Literacy Coach.
Senior Primary News
In HASS this term the 5/6/7 students have been learning about WWI and Australia’s involvement in the war. Students have been learning about how the war started, how Australia became involved and significant events that occurred throughout the war.
A significant part of their learning has been around the Gallipoli Campaign, where many lives were lost. Lots of the lives lost were those of Australian soldiers, forming a major part of our history. Students have learnt about the ANZACS, who they are and why we celebrate them each year on ANZAC Day. This has been an important part of the unit of work, as the students are able to connect their learning to their own lives and events that they participate in each year.
The students have engaged extremely well with the unit and have been able to ask meaningful questions that require deep thinking. It has been fantastic to see students reflect on the events that have occurred and respect the challenges that people before them have been through.
To summarise the unit of work and the learning that has occurred, students were asked to present a newspaper article on WWI. This was part of their assessment task and each student has worked very hard to create their own unique article. Below is a picture of some of our students holding their assessment piece.
Senior Primary News
Within our science lessons, students have been learning about potential and kinetic energy. Using the knowledge they have acquired over the past few weeks, they worked in groups to create a model using recycled materials that demonstrated how such energy is produced. We were very impressed with their unique designs and each group found success.
Senior Primary News
The 5/6/7 class has had a fantastic start to the school year. We’ve had a mixture of in class and home learners, all striving to achieve their best. It has been wonderful to see all our learners dedicated to their learning and pushing through challenges with a growth mindset.
This week we have welcomed all our year seven students back on site and presented them with their ‘Successful Leaders’ certificate. We trust that our student leaders will have a positive influence on their peers and be supportive role models in the yard for all students. We have faith in our leaders and trust that they will have a lasting impact on the entire school community. We wish Skye, Isabella, Lylah, Hayley, Riley and Tait all the best as they begin their final year at St Columba’s Memorial School.
Successful Leaders
Are positive people
A committed
Accept Challenges
Encourage others
Are considerate
Respect everyone
Are honest
Are organised
Accept differences
Strive to achieve
Are responsible
Use their time wisely
Know how to influence others positively
Have a lasting impact
Literacy End of Year Handover
At the end of each academic year, teachers have a time together at school, after students have left for their summer holidays. During this time, teachers exchange very valuable insights which they have gained over the year, from teaching their pupils. The information is passed on to the teacher who will be guiding this particular student in the new year. The information might include general reports, spelling levels, reading levels, maths capabilities. Teachers also engage in 1:1 discussions about individual student predispositions to learning and any individual adjustments that have been made in the past.
All teachers will spend time in the first couple of weeks in the new year, testing the students in their new class, to verify exactly where students are with their learning so that the teacher recognises where lessons in each subject need to be directed. But the information gained in these ‘Hand-over Sessions’ at the end of the year, ensure that the teacher is starting from a position of knowledge, rather than tackling the undefined.
For the Literacy Coach, this means handing each class teacher a copy of student Reading Levels, with insights about any difficulties, such as comprehension challenges, reading strategies still needing to develop, and oral reading strengths.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Catholic Athletics
With an early start to Thursday 4th November a team of students gathered at SCMS ready to tackle other Catholic schools at Santos Stadium in Adelaide.
For the students that haven’t attended before they gasped walking in saying “oh wow! This is like a real Olympic Stadium”, with nerves rattling a few as the day went on and students achieving fantastic results the nerves soon disappeared.
The encouragement shown by our students was incredible, parents and siblings all cheering SCMS on.
We were extremely proud of a few students who moved out of their comfort zone and represented SCMS in events they weren’t completely confident in. These students have shown great courage, growth mindset and resilience in doing so.
St Columba’s had the most successful day ever at Catholic Interschool with Sam Phasey awarded the champion Year 5 boy out of all 6 schools. Our year 5 boys achieving champion year level.
The girls achieving 5th place overall and the boys 3rd.
It was great to see all students achieve some personal bests and even students comment at the end of the day saying “I was nervous and scared but I am so glad I did my event.”
I do have a couple of favourite comments:
Lukas Rowe who competed in the open boys 1500m say “the past 2 years I have came 4th and 3rd and my goal is 2nd this year” Well congratulation Lukas you achieved your goal.
Riley Smith who completed shot put – “My goal is to get a no fouls and a place as last year I got all fouls.” Congratulations Riley NO fouls and you were awarded 2nd place this is because of all the practise you did a lunch time.
A big thankyou to Anna and Robyn for helping transport the students on the day and all the parents that helped be an official.
I know each child went home very happy tired but most of all happy with their results they achieved.
Congratulations SCMS team 2021 we are all very proud of you.
Spanish News
This term students have been working on describing people, and some classes have covered Face Shapes. We have learnt how to draw a face using light guide-lines to make our face drawing symmetrical. Then we have focused on 4 main face types, small (pequena), big (grande), long (larga) and round (redonda). Adding this knowledge to our other work on eye colour and hair shades, the students will be armed with the skills to describe themselves in detail.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Performing Arts
Term four is always a busy, yet very fun and exciting term. Our Upper and Senior Primary classes have been working very hard to perfect all aspects of our school performance ‘Aladdin Trouble’, having taken on a lot of the lead roles for the concert.
Performing Arts, is a vital element of our curriculum as it teaches students skills that will help them in all aspects of their future development.
Through our Performing Arts program, we have been able to see our students improve their self-confidence, self-motivation and expression, anxieties around public speaking, memory skills, cooperation and team work skills.
The support and encouragement that our students have been showing each other has been fantastic. We look forward to you seeing all the students' hard work and dedication, come together next Thursday at Light Church.
Combined Recorder Students Rehearsing for Concert
All Recorder students from Years 4/5/6/7 have learnt the same 2 pieces for the Concert, in their individual Recorder classes. We have worked on memorizing the pieces to free us up as musicians, in order to focus on the musicality of performing. Our aim has been not only to play accurately with regard to the melody, but to listen to the backing music and to each other. By doing this, we ensure we play as a team, and not a collection of separate performers.
We have also worked on finer details, such as a light touch with staccato notes, and feeling the music, as indicated by the lyrics. We have worked out how best to set ourselves up before our performance, so that we can move efficiently into position, with everyone knowing their role. For the chorus of one piece, we have devised group movements while we join in the singing, before we ready ourselves to accompany the singers for the next verse.
As with all performances, we are aware that a polished presentation prepares musicians to bow and exit gracefully, as part of the audience experience. Our work in the combined school rehearsals will be the first time the Recorder students have worked together as a unified, large group. During these whole school rehearsals, we will begin to appreciate the polishing that musicians need to apply to produce a worthwhile performance.
We hope you enjoy.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Middle and Upper Primary News
Year 3/4/5 Camp
Attending a school camp is an important milestone, and we are very proud of the enthusiastic approach our Year 3/4/5 students have shown over the past week. It had been a long time coming for these students, who have been awaiting a school camp for nearly two years. During the camp, all students had to adopt a Growth Mindset in their approach to new physical challenges. The students developed a strong sense of responsibility when they had to help clean tables, pack up dishes and keep their room tidy.
Throughout the camp, students were all excited to share all the new activities they were able to experience. Every student became risktakers and tried knee boarding, caving, kayaking and experimented with new tricks in the gymnasium. Most importantly, the students expressed gratitude towards the staff at Illawonga at mealtimes, during activities and respected the campsite rules. All the students looked happy, fresh faced and ready to tackle challenges, in activities they were not used to doing.
As staff members, we were amazed by the beauty of creation when we drove into the Swan Reach area, and the landscape of the river lived up to all our expectations. We are both very grateful that the parent volunteers and the Illawonga staff, ensured that the camps activities were filled with laughter and joy. This camp will be a highlight of many of these students’ school experience and will certainly be remembered by all.
Amy McPhail and Angela Grigoras-Oates
Middle and Upper Primary Teachers
Junior Primary News
The Junior Primary and Reception classes, along with most of the other schools and Kindy's in the district, had a wonderful time attending the Peter Coombe concert, held recently at Warooka Primary School. Peter was a fantastic entertainer, singing classics such as 'Newspaper Mama', 'Spaghetti Bolognaise' and the ultimate favourite...'Mr Clickity Cane'. A highlight of the trip was seeing Mrs Hughes' very excited reaction when the song 'Tadpole Blues' began...her all-time favourite Peter Coombe song and a fitting song for the Reception class as we have been observing our tadpoles morph into frogs. Thanks very much to Warooka Primary School for inviting us.
Middle Primary News
“When we plant trees, we plant the seeds of peace, and seeds of hope.”
On a very windy Monday the 20th of September the Middle Primary Class travelled to Lake Fowler to plant trees in our local bushfire affected area. The students travelled in the school vans to the council land surrounding Lake Fowler to plant a variety of native trees in their revegetation area. Students worked in groups of three to plant trees, install tree guards and water each plant. The students were set the challenge of planting over 150 hundred trees in under 2 hours!
All students reflected positively on the day and were very grateful to be given the opportunity to plant new trees in a bushfire affected area. It was particularly special for the Year 4 students to see the growth from the trees that they planted last year. Many of the students are excited to go back and visit the site in years to come, to see the future growth.
Literacy News
This year all Year 1 students in our state have been required to sit a new, Phonics Screening Test. This is a requirement for all schools, whether they be Education Department, Religious or Independent. The purpose of this test is for teachers to gauge how students are progressing with their Phonics Learning, what sounds need to be revised, and whether some students may need individual assistance. The test contains 40 words; some are real words like “shed”, “long”, “soil”; while some are nonsense words like, “fip”, “pon”, “hab”. The thinking behind this, is that real words can be memorized, and students who rely only on memory cannot decode an unknown word, such as a person’s name, if they have no decoding strategies. The real words may test their memory or their strategies; it’s impossible to tell. But the nonsense words require the students to use all of the strategies which are explicitly taught in our InitiaLit Phonics lessons, at St. Columba’s.
Teachers have now completed these tests, and will register the results with the State Department responsible for this project. Then the data will be carefully examined by our teachers, and lessons will be planned accordingly, to give students the best opportunity to fully develop their phonics skills.
We employ several tests for our students, from Running Records, PAT testing, weekly InitiaLit tests, to name but a few. This Phonics Screening Test is another that will give us important data, which allows us to provide the exact help that your child requires to succeed, with Phonics Learning.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Junior Primary News - 1/2 Class
The year 1/2 Class have been learning about measurement in Maths over the past couple of weeks. The have looked at length, mass, capacity, volume and area. Who knew that there were so many different components to explore when learning about measurement. They have enjoyed measuring the length of different objects in the classroom, comparing the weight of different items and exploring the capacity of various containers with water in our schools outdoor learning space.
The year 1/2s have also been busy revising their phonics knowledge by completing lots of hands on activities in literacy rotations.
RU OK?
Today we have been supporting "RU OK?" Day. Reminding everyone that everyday is a good day to check in on those around us.
RUOK? Day Nominations:
Madison M:
- She helps me.
- She is kind.
- She is so nice and caring and she is a great friend to all her peers.
Lara:
- She plays with me.
- She always lets me play her games and she is nice.
- She helps me when I feel sad.
- She is always there when I need it.
- She always helps me when I have a problem.
Archie P:
- He is kind and loving.
- He has been a good friend to me for a long time.
- He lets me join in games.
Lexi:
- She hugs me.
- Her laugh makes me laugh.
- She has been a very nice friend to me.
Jada:
- She is the kindest person I know, she has a heart of gold.
- She is always there when I feel sad or depressed and asks if I am ok. She is caring and funny.
- She sticks with me no matter what.
Sam:
- He is always looking after the little receptions.
- He looks out for his friends.
- He always lets me play football with the 5/6/7’s.
Kaitlen:
- She is so caring and nice to me and my friends.
- She is always there for me and extremely kind.
- She always understands me and is very caring, she helps everyone.
- She is a beautiful person with a heart of gold. She always asks if I am ok. She makes me happy.
Mrs Redman:
- She is always kind, caring, fun to be around, nice and amazing.
- She is a superstar that shines in the dark. She fixes student injuries and I enjoy her company.
- She is very nice. I am glad she works at our school.
Suzie:
- She is so caring and thoughtful when someone is challenged. She is proactive.
- She is caring.
- She is very kind and nice to me. She helps me when I am sad.
Miss Honner:
- She is kind and the best teacher in the world.
- She is kind and caring.
- She helps me if I get hurt.
Mrs Rowe:
- Because she is kind.
- She is always looking out for me.
- She is always nice. I don’t want to leave this school because I will miss her.
Gabi
- She is very supportive and nice.
- She is always loving and caring.
- She has a graceful heart.
Upper and Senior Primary News
We are formulating and practicing dance choreography for the school concert! All Senior and Upper Primary students have been learning a combined dance that will look amazing on the big night! Other group dance will continue to be taught throughout the term.
The 5/6/7 classes are also involved in the final rehearsals for their performance at the Catholic Schools Music Festival on Thursday the 23rd of September.
We can't wait to perform at the Entertainment Centre in Adelaide!
Middle Primary News
Over the past couple of weeks, the Year 3/4 Class have been learning about 2D and 3D shapes in the world around us. The class was able to search the school looking for various shapes and sort and classify them into various groups. Following on from our previous work on angles, students were able to identify the types of angles within a 2D shape.
Students were set the challenge of creating their own 3D shapes using their new knowledge of nets. Students worked in groups to create nets that could effectively be converted into a 3D shape. The class was very excited when they managed to work as a group to create their own icosahedron (polyhedron with 20 faces).
Junior Primary News
In the Year 1/2 Class we have been learning about money. We have looked at the Australian coins and which picture is on the back of each of them. We have learnt to order them based on their value and have started adding small collections of coins. Soon we will be looking at Australian notes and how to work out how to give change after purchasing an item.
Reception News
Week 5 was Science Week in the Reception class with many wonderful science activities and investigations taking place. We had tadpoles which we are watching grow, fossils to excavate and flowers to study. We did colour experiments with skittles and tye dye, and we made colourful rain. Such a big week for our Reception Scientists!
Book Week Parade
Wednesday we had a fantastic celebration of Book Week. We started our day with a parade with each child taking to the catwalk with parents and visitors watching on from the footpath in a Covid Safe manner. We then ventured out into the streets of Yorketown to complete our Book Week celebrations.
Recorder Students Preparing for Concert
Recorder students from Year 4-7 are currently working on pieces for our End Of Year Concert. There are many challenges in doing this. Firstly, of course, we need to become familiar with the songs which we are playing. That procedure involves being so confident with the music that we can all play well, at the speed of the backing music, which will guide our performances. Next, because moving music stands and sheet music is an added burden when students are performing on stage before a large audience, we have chosen to memorize these songs. So that is an extra challenge for us. These pressures of performing are not expected of Year 3 students in their first year of learning Recorder.
We start with a positive mindset, that we are capable of the challenge, and a sense of steady as we go; small steps upon which we can build.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson
Principal's Report
It's nice to be back into the swing of things here with the restrictions easing to the point where normal life at school can resume.
We are missing the interactions in the mornings and evenings with parents.
Over the next few weeks, the staff will be making phone calls, sending emails or Seesaw messages to each family to ensure we can stay connected. It seems in the short term at least these restrictions on adults on site will continue, so we want to ensure that we keep those connections strong during this time.
Basketball Carnival/Choir Rehearsal
Next week is a hugely busy week with the revised SAPSASA Basketball Carnival being held at Minlaton on Wednesday and the 5/6/7 students travelling to Loreto College on Thursday to practise with other schools who will be sharing the stage with us in Week 10 in Adelaide. At this time of writing, we have been asked
Details on tickets and travel arrangements for the Week 10 performance on the 23rd of September will be released shortly, as they are currently finalising tickets due to COVID arrangements.
Home Learning Review
Last week in our Home Learning Review we brought together the feedback from teachers, students and parents and tried to synthesise our approach moving forward. It was a lively session as we worked through what it could look like moving forward. We are still putting together the finishing touches on a modified version of our Learning @ Home document. This tries to encompass the myriad of possibilities that may exist over the duration of the year.
Staffing
We are excited to share that Molly Flanagan will be joining our staff family for the next few months as she completes her placement. Molly is studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts specialising in Dance and Movement. We are so excited about the range of skills Molly will be able to offer our students, and how she can link in with both our work in preparing the concert and using dance and movement to help students emotionally regulate at school.
Here is a little bit from Molly about her previous experience:
I grew up near Meningie and the Coorong and then lived on the Fleurieu Peninsula, I have only recently moved to the Yorke Peninsula. My experience caring for and working with children began as the eldest of four and developed through my work as a Dance Teacher and Childcare Worker. I studied Psychological Science at Flinders University, travelled as much as I could and then worked for Centacare as a Youth Support Worker in homelessness and parenting support and for Anglicare as a Dance Worker in parent-infant attachment groups. This has all led to my current studies where I am learning how to best combine my love for dance and art making with my skills in psychology and community work. I have a special interest in emotional literacy and regulation as pathways to strong relationships and wellbeing. I work using dance as a really easy way to let the body and brain find and practice these skills.
Other Staffing News
This term we have also welcomed Jorja Warwick to our school as an ESO. Jorja has joined us on a short-term contract while Deb Walford takes some personal leave from our school. Jorja is currently nearing the end of her teaching degree and has been welcomed by the staff and students here.
I'd also like to take the opportunity to personally congratulate Dane and Amy on their wonderful news that they will be expecting a new addition to their family next year. It's an incredibly special time to share this journey with them both. Amy will take leave from the end of the school year.
This combined with Brittany's departure to St Pius X next year has left an incomplete staffing jigsaw puzzle for 2022.
After a few moments of stress, I was reminded as we celebrated St Mary Mackillop's Feast Day on Sunday of one of her most beautiful quotes 'Remember, we are but travellers here'. Both Amy and Brittany have made exceptional contributions to our school over the past four years. While Amy will continue to make these upon her return from leave, we have new opportunities for new travellers, old travellers or return travellers to be with us in 2022.
We will be advertising shortly for some school positions so if you have people in your network who you think would be suited to joining our family here, please let them get in touch with me.
God Bless,
Scott
Middle Primary News
The Middle Primary Class has spent the past three weeks looking into the history of the Olympics. The class began looking into the first Ancient Olympic Games held in Olympia, Greece in 776BC. In 1896, Athens hosted the first Modern Olympics. Since then, the class have been looking at the various countries who have hosted both the Summer and Winter Olympic Games over the past 125 years.
Throughout our unit of inquiry, students have started developing a greater understanding of the core values that the Olympics has. The founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin was a massive fan of sport. He believed sport could help people excel and also bring them together in ways that could help them better understand each other. It was from here, that the beliefs were forged to create the core Olympic values of friendship, respect and excellence.
One of the most significant pieces of information that the students came across was that the Olympic rings were designed with the five competing continents in mind. At least one colour from the national flag of every country competing at the time was included. The continents are now represented by the following colours: Africa (yellow), the Americas (red), Asia (green), Europe (black), and Oceania (blue). To symbolise athletes from all over the world coming together for the games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin designed the rings to be linking.
Reflecting on the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the class discussed how important mindset really is. We discussed the resilience shown by Cate Campbell as she showed great determination in her swimming events after experiencing disappointment in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Emma McKeon was another stand out for the class, as she took home seven medals, consisting of four gold and three bronze. Jessica Fox’s determination to win gold in the female canoe slalom and perseverance she displayed throughout her previous Olympic journeys was one to be highly commended.
As the Tokyo Olympics Games have drawn to a close, the students continue to ask questions and reflect on the success that not only Australian athletes experienced but the success of their competitors. The Olympic encompasses much more than just a world-wide sporting event, it teaches us to value honesty, determination, hard work, self-discipline, and the importance of an individual’s mindset. These are all important values that we as a class continue to develop amongst one another daily.
Senior Primary News
Throughout the last 6 weeks, students have studied more complex ideas within the topic of measurement. This involved students learning about volume, capacity and the area and perimeter of a variety of shapes. Students enjoyed being able to use hands-on approaches to their learning which included using technology to measure objects around the school and even calculate the area of their own feet!
For the final assessment of the topic, students created their own dream bedroom. They had to use a scale to draw accurate designs of their room and how everything would fit within it. They recorded these measurements in a table and showed their mathematical understanding by also converting units of measurement and calculating the perimeter and area of what they purchased. This assessment was a great success and I believe students enjoyed it thoroughly.
R.E. News
Hello!
Last Friday we celebrated the Feast day of St Mary of the Cross McKillop with a fun day of rotations. All the students were split into 4 different groups that included Receptions through to year 7’s. Each class teacher chose an activity that related to St Mary and each group rotated so that they all got to complete each activity. The students all enjoyed the day and learnt something new about this amazing Saint. See below for some picutres J
Next week our Year 4 students will be completing ReLAT (Religious Literacy Assessment Tool). Religious Education (RE) is a core Learning Area in all Catholic schools. It is a foundation for all learning and is integrated into the life of the school through prayer, liturgy and social justice programs. The assessment is not a measure of a child’s faith nor their participation in the broader life of the Catholic community. The data from the ReLAT assessment will be collated and used by the school to inform whole-of-school professional learning needs and the continuous improvement of teaching in Religious Education.
On Thursday, August 26, we are having a whole school mass with a focus on the Elderly. As we are now back to the 3 persons per 4m2 we can welcome not only our parishioners back but parents too. If you are new to Mass or still not sure what’s going on, please don’t let that stop you! We understand that it may be a bit confusing or you may not always know the responses or when to sit, kneel or stand, but that’s ok. You are always very welcome. Later in the year, I am hoping to run a short presentation on the Mass with a brief explanation of the different parts and reasons for why we do what we do. Watch this space!
Have a great couple of weeks.
God Bless,
Miriam Honner
Book Week
Dear Parents Term 3 is a busy and exciting time in the library. Below are some dates for up and coming events. . August the 9th we have a book fair held in the library. . August 21st - 27th Book Week . The theme this year is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other worlds. . Wednesday 25th August we will be celebrating Book Week by having a costume parade at 9am in the hall. This is a fun day with the children dressing up as their favourite book character. Also could all issue 5 Book club orders be in by Friday 13th . Thank you.Dear Parents Term 3 is a busy and exciting time in the library. Below are some dates for up and coming events. . August the 9th we have a book fair held in the library. . August 21st - 27th Book Week . The theme this year is ‘Old Worlds, New Worlds, Other worlds. . Wednesday 25th August we will be celebrating Book Week by having a costume parade at 9am in the hall. This is a fun day with the children dressing up as their favourite book character. Also could all issue 5 Book club orders be in by Friday 13th . Thank you.
Mini Vinnies
Last term our mini Vinnies fundraised for Love Your Sister, a charity committed to vanquishing cancer.
Each Friday students donated 5 cent coins. We are proud to announce we raised $200, which has been donated to Love Your Sister. Thanks to those that contributed silver coins to our love heart!
Literacy Coaching in Year 6/7
Every Monday after lunch, the Year 6/7 class is taking part in an in-depth series of GRAMMAR explorations. Last term we looked at the five categories of verbs and how excellent writers employ verbs from all of these different groupings of Action, Saying, Sensing, Relating, & Existing. To prove the point, we examined a piece of literature by Michael Morpurgo, the author of the very successful novel ‘War Horse’. We are choosing to model ourselves on experienced writers and through examining the skills they employ, make our own writing more polished.
This term we are investigating nouns and how, by using the seven categories of the noun group, we will be able to expand our writing to create something more exciting and descriptive. Here is an example of what we have worked on. Students were experimenting with analysing the seven categories of the Noun Group, from Pointer (e.g. these), Classifier (e.g. sponge), Describer (e.g. delicious), Intensifier (e.g. extremely), Quantifier (few), Qualifier (e.g. extra information, ‘that sat so temptingly on the delicately patterned plate’), and the Noun itself (e.g. cakes)
instead of the flat example of : The cakes………..
We now have: These few, extremely delicious sponge cakes that sat so temptingly on the delicately patterned plate…..This is what recognised writers do. Our plan is to use these strategies throughout our creative writing, in imitation of excellent role models, to produce writing that evokes a very clear descriptive image in the minds of our readers.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson, Literacy Coach
RE News
Welcome back.. from holidays and from lockdown!
How quickly things can turn around, but if last year taught us anything, it’s to expect the unexpected!
Next week on Thursday, we will be holding our first school mass for the term. Unfortunately, with restrictions as they are, we are unable to invite our parents to join us. We will however let you know if anything changes between now and then. The mass will be celebrating St Mary of the Cross MacKillop whose feast day is on August 8th. I am particularly looking forward to this feast day after our retreat last term and learning more about her and her work. One thing that struck me the most was her ability to accept God’s will in all things. Below is what she wrote about it and I think I have included this before in a previous newsletter, but it seems relevant to what is happening in our world at the moment. If you want to hear this in song form follow the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPcpHaetyOw
“Oh, Father, I cannot tell you what a beautiful thing the will of God seems to me. For some years past, my Communions, my prayers, my intentions have all been for God's will to be done. I can never pray for a particular intention, a particular person, or anything particular about our own Institute, but in God's loved will, that is - whilst I desire with all my heart to pray for these, I cannot help at the same time desiring that He only use my prayers for the intention that His own will most desires at this time. Thus I feel a joy when things go well, for I see His will in this, and an equal joy when they seem to go wrong or against our natural desire, for there again I see His will, and am satisfied that He has accepted my prayers and those of many more for some other object at the time nearer to His adorable will.
To me, the will of God is a dear book which I am never tired of reading, which has always some new charm for me. Nothing is too little to be noticed there, but yet my littleness and nothingness has often dared to oppose it, and I am painfully conscious that in many ways I still in my tepidity offend against it without perceiving what I am doing. But such dear lessons as you gave me the other evening then come to my aid and encourage me, for the love of my sweet Jesus is too strong, too beautiful, and His merits too great, for me not to cling to Him.”
God willing, we will be easing out of these restrictions sooner rather than later and we can see you back here at school to join with us for Masses and Assemblies and other such occasions.
God Bless,
Miriam
Principal's Report
Dear Families,
After a whirlwind week and a half we will have an abridged version of the newsletter this week, with a Principal’s and APRIM update.
Reflection on the Past Week
While there are many things I could write about the past week, the most pertinent is to offer a quick reflection about the partnership between a Catholic School and a family.
As we moved through the week of Remote Learning, each family's circumstance was different. Some families were working or working from home. Some had siblings in secondary school attached to different programs. Many had students in various year levels at our school.
What we already knew but became clear through Remote Learning was that the partnership between our school and families is vitally important.
At a Catholic School, we believe parents to the first educators of their children. Parents and carers know their children better than anyone – they can help the teacher to understand their children better, which can assist the teacher in enhancing their children’s learning outcomes. We appreciate all you did over the past week to support your child’s learning, as well as the constant communication with us. It’s greatly appreciated.
Our role in the process when the students are at home is to provide experiences and learning, while touching base with children and families to ensure they feel supported. It was so comforting to hear some very positive feedback from parents, but equally important, were the challenges that families faced and how we as a school can support families.
That partnership between home and school is so vital.
We hope we don’t enter the space of Remote Learning again however, we understand the challenges that are being faced interstate currently, and that we may need to again enter a lockdown space.
Over the next two weeks as a staff we will review our procedures regarding home learning. This will involve some feedback from our parent community who assisted in delivering the learning to their children at home. There will be a link to a short survey that I’d like as many of our parents to complete as possible which will assist in us refining our approach.
Fee Remissions
From talking to many parents, we are aware of the challenges that the most recent lockdown has placed on families, through loss of business and loss of shifts. We also understand even the current restrictions will lead to a downturn in some local businesses.
The school can offer fee remissions to families if they have been impacted by the recent COVID lockdowns. Please book a time to see Margaret and we can work with each family on a case by case basis.
Upcoming Events
As we move forward with caution given the daily changes to restrictions, I’ll provide an update on some events over the next few weeks:
SAPSASA Basketball Carnival – This event was postponed from last Friday. Currently SAPSASA sports are unable to be played, however we are working with SAPSASA and the other schools in our area to reschedule. This is likely to occur in Week 5
School Mass – School Mass will proceed next Thursday but there will be restrictions on who can attend. Currently, it is likely that only one class (5/6/7’s) will be able to attend the Mass due to density restrictions in the church.
Mrs Wilkey Assembly – We are aiming for a 3rd time lucky approach with this celebration. I will speak to Mrs Wilkey over the next few weeks and find a time as a school where we can gather with our whole community. That is likely to be later in the term.
Camps – Our camps scheduled for Term 4 we are still pushing ahead with. Our philosophy as a school over the past 18 months is always to plan for the best, knowing that restrictions may force us to be flexible later. A detailed Year 6/7 note has gone home this afternoon about our planned camp to Kangaroo Island.
Prayer
Through the challenges of the past week one thing I have leant on most is my faith. I thought I would share one of my favourite prayers this afternoon, which is commonly known as the Prayer of St Francis. Although it’s unlikely that St Francis of Assisi authored the prayer, it has long been attributed to him and been widely used as a prayer for peace over the past century.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
God bless,
Scott
Current Restrictions
Masks
As our school is a Primary School, students will not be required to wear masks. From tomorrow, staff will now be required to wear masks when in the Staff Room, but not while teaching or outside.
Parents on Site
Parents and volunteers are encouraged not to enter school grounds when children and staff are on site. If your child is having a tough morning, please walk them to your classroom then leave as soon as they are settled. Please use the QR Codes if you are entering the school site and wear a mask.
Assemblies/Excursions/Camps
Assemblies, Performances and Events over the next week will be cancelled or postponed. The only exception is a walk to local park or single class assemblies with no parents or other students.
P.E Lessons
P.E lessons will continue as normal.
Mode of Delivery
We expect all students to be on site and as such our staff will be focusing on that as their mode of delivery for learning. Online learning will not be offered.
Middle Primary News
Library News
The children have loved exploring the Pig the Pug series by Aaron Blabey which has developed into the children’s love for sharing stories about their beloved dogs at home. Our Library display has now expanded to include pictures of children’s family dogs. It never ceases to amaze me the impact a tiny display can have and the richness of involvement.
Junior Primary News
R.E. News
Hello! And we are half way through the year.. wow.
I thought I’d finish of this term with a few notices for next term. We have already confirmed our three masses for next term, August 5, August 26 and September 16. All masses are at 9:15am and you are all very welcome to attend. We will also be looking at running some information sessions on the mass for those of you who wish to know or understand a bit more about it. If you are interested in this, can you please let me know what time/day would suit and I will organise around what works for most.
Every so often I get the chance to head into the classrooms and spend some time with the students discussing the RE that they are learning. This is always a precious and loved time for me. I am always amazed at the questions I get, the wonderings they have, the simple joy they show. I am learning quickly what Jesus meant when he said, ‘And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them, and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”’ (Matthew 18:2-4). These kids show such humility in their search for answers and truth. They don’t let fear or preconceived ideas get in the way of their endeavour to know what is good, true, and beautiful. They are seeking Him who is truth and that is beautiful to witness, “Anyone who seeks truth, seeks God, whether or not he realises it” St Edith Stein.
Have a beautiful break from the hustle and bustle of school life. I hope you have time as a family to recoup and rest and I look forward to seeing you all in Term 3.
God Bless,
Miriam
Upper Primary News
This term the students have begun a Science unit on circuits and switches.
Circuits and switches provides students with hands-on opportunities to:
- construct and represent simple circuits
- investigate how changing the components of a simple circuits affects how it works
- explore different sources of energy that may generate electricity
- examine the role of switches in a simple circuit
Spanish News
In each of the five Spanish classes, students have a prayer to learn and recite in Spanish, each week. We remain with the same prayer until students feel quite comfortable reciting it. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, students are able to become very familiar with the frequently repeated Spanish phrases. Next, they come to use this language in context, speaking as native Spanish speakers might pray. In addition they appreciate that peoples around the world from different countries, with different languages and cultures, can share many aspects, religion being one of them.
Currently we are praying to Saint Joseph as this year has been nominated as the Year of St. Joseph.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson.
Gardening News
This week Terri along with Willowmiena have been harvesting some of the veggies from the garden.
Along with Bok Choy, Lettuces, some herbs were Heirloom carrots. A heirloom carrot is a variety of carrot that has been passed down from generation to generation, another name for these type of carrots are 'rainbow' carrots as they come in different colours for the normal modern carrots.
Student Awards
Congratulations to the following students:
Madison Matthias for being a great teacher helper and her outstanding work in Literacy and Maths.
Georgia Braine for showing improvement in her concentration skills during mat time and being a helpful member of the class.
Drey Towers for making great progress with his reading skills. Drey has been using his phonics knowledge to read unfamiliar texts fluently.
Willowmiena Chircop for working very hard to improve her number skills in Maths. Willowmiena recognises the numbers to 50 and is working towards her goal of recognising the numbers to 100.
Coby Short for whowing great levels of perseverance when confronted with challenges in his learning. Coby is working hard in Mathematics to improve his measurement skills.
Gabriela Taheny for showing great dedication towars all her learning. Gabriela always adopts a positive mindset when taking on challenges and works effeciently to complete all learning tasks.
Max Johnson for applying himself to all tasks and approaching all of his learning with a positive attitude.
Lylah Minks for being a positive and happy learner within the class. This students makes the classroom a fun space to be and is working hard to understans challenging topics.
Sarah McConnell for representing the school exceptionally well at the Cross Country carnival in horrendous conditions and excelling in all learning areas.
Principal's Report
Dear community,
We end another big week here at St Columba’s and I wanted to give you an update on a few initiatives that are humming along in the background.
Week 10 Assembly
In Week 10, on Wednesday the 30th of June we will be having a special assembly. This assembly will be initially led by the Receptions before moving into an assembly to pay tribute to Mrs Wilkey.
Mrs Wilkey is a humble person. She will be horrified when she reads this as I've slipped this into the newsletter without her seeing it. She doesn't want to be the centre of attention of an event so the assembly will be low key but a refleciton of a person who has given so much to our community.
This assembly will begin at 1:45pm. I'd love to see as many of our community attend, including old scholars you may be in contact with. There will be afternoon tea following the assembly.
Regional Schools Pathway Project
We are nearing the end of an almost two year process to determine whether our school will be restructured to R-6 at the end of 2024, or whether we will be able to take our first lot of Year 8’s at that time. I wanted to answer a few questions that have popped up from our community about this process:
- When will we know?
The process should be completed by the end July at the very latest. We will then communicate with our families the result of this decision, and what the impact will be moving forward. This will allow us to proceed with the first stage of our Building Plan early next year.
- If the Middle School proceeds will it involve new facilities?
Yes. As part of the Business Plan proposal it will involve a new 7-9 facility, that will house new facilities for subjects such as Home Economics, Science and Technologies. There are examples of this type of structure being built at various Catholic Schools across Regional South Australia currently including Wallaroo, Peterborough, Murray Bridge and Clare.
- Will the current site expand?
Expanding to a Year 7-9 will most likely mean that we use purchase, or reutilize existing properties owned by the school or parish.
- What were the results of the survey?
Although individual responses I haven’t seen, the leader of the Business Plan at Catholic Education indicated that there were over 70 responses that indicated a strong demand for the school to expand to a Year 7-9 school in 2021. This was a great indicator of support from people inside and outside of our community.
Camps
Today you will receive some correspondence around our planned Camp offerings from Year 1-7. All camps will be held in Term 4. Over the past few weeks I have worked alongside the teachers and our Business Manager Margaret in looking for the best ways to make Camps tie into our educational programs, while at the same time being manageable for families. These camps will be subsidized heavily by the school to support families, as well as through fundraising opportunites including the upcoming Gather and Grow Trivia Night.
Retreat
Our Retreat down to Penola was beautiful. As you may have seen through Facebook updates we had some insightful and thought provoking speakers in Father Christopher and Father Michael Romeo who led us through the History of the Church, and also the History of one of our most significant Saints, St. Joseph.
We are a proud Josephite School. I offered a short reflection last year on what that meant for our community. Here is an excerpt from that.
Being part of a Josephite Tradition means that as a community we support people who are poor and marginalized. St. Mary MacKillop was an extraordinary woman of action and her response and that of her sister was a practical one. Small acts upon small acts. St. Mary was an ordinary person who through prioritising the needy did wonderful things for all.
Today in our school community, we teach children to care for those who are needy. To grow into people who have a sense of the common good in our society. Our community freezer exists to support those who are in times of need, while our Mini Vinnies group work as an outreach program for those in need.
The Little Collies program and the Mothers Group that are ran on our grounds and staffed by people in our school, support families all around the peninsula.
Being part of a Josephite Tradition is about serving others. St. Mary MacKillop believed the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples as an act of service. Consequently, St. Mary MacKillop and the Sisters were the first order of Sisters who did not live behind the walls of a convent. Instead they lived in groups of 3 or 4 in small houses and lived amongst their community, establishing schools and moving to communities that needed support. Everything that St. Mary MacKillop did was to benefit others.
God Bless,
Scott March
R.E News - Retreat
We were very fortunate to have Fr Christopher Matala (some of you will remember him fondly as our parish priest here 4 ½ years ago now) and Fr Michael Romeo, the parish priest at Penola, to lead us for our retreat. Friday morning entailed a talk by Fr Christopher in the Naracoorte church, walking us through the history of the Catholic Church from Christ through to present day, explaining significant dates, schisms from the church, and Saints who helped steer the Church forward. It was very informative and insightful.
We then drove to Penola (a very pretty drive at that!) and had morning tea with the volunteers of the St Mary MacKillop centre and Fr Michael. It was here that we met Marie, the director of the centre, who welcomed us and gave us a short introduction to the centre. One thing we all noted about her, is the peace and joy she radiated and her passion and love for the place. We spent time walking around the displays, the old school house and grounds, having moments to quietly reflect by ourselves and also discuss with each other the things we found poignant or remarkable.
Following this, we celebrated a beautiful mass with Fr Michael, which was coincidentally for the Feast Day of the Sacred Heart (the sisters St Mary founded were the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart – we were meant to be there that day!). We shared lunch after this and then had Fr Michael for a session. Fr Michael spoke to us about 10 traits or examples of St Joseph’s life that we can follow and also bring into our classroom. One that struck me, was St Joseph’s silence and how, in a busy, loud, jam-packed world, we can bring moments of silence for our students (and ourselves) to hear God and to be truly present in the moment.
We spent the final part of the afternoon exploring Penola, including the Stable park where the original Stable school was located, and also the local Catholic primary school, Mary MacKillop Primary School. Again, it was full of inspiration and contemplation and helped us to keep ticking over ideas and inspirations for what we can do better or what new concepts and ideas we can introduce to our teaching and our own lives.
This retreat, for me, was possibly one of the best I have been on. There’s something about making a pilgrimage to somewhere with a group of people to experience something together. I realise more now the importance of retreats but also pilgrimage’s… the journey to a place of religious significance. Not only was Friday fruitful and jam packed, but the journey there and back in the car was unifying and also significant. Building relationships, especially with people you work with is so important and helps with future interactions between staff and also helps to build a more cohesive staff unit.
I would like to thank the board and the broader parent community for backing us and allowing us as a staff to do this. As a parent myself, with no family support around, I understand the implications and strain student free days can sometimes put on parents. So I just want to reiterate and really communicate just how important this was for our staff for their faith development, and also to help them help your child/ren at school. The knock on from this retreat will be felt! The idea of a parent/family retreat to Penola is something we feel may be a great thing to do.. so stay tuned!
God Bless,
Miriam
Junior Primary News
Library News
Where would we be without our wonderful volunteers at our school. We are so lucky in our Library to have Julie Tonkin, she is in the library ready to put books away at 7.30 am each week. The library loves you Julie.
Book Club: Could all Issue 4 Book Club orders be finalised by this Friday, June 18th.
Thank you
Julie Anderson
Middle Primary News
Amy McPhail
Middle Primary Teacher
New Recorder Students
These happy students in Year 3 & 4, have just received a brand new, shiny recorder, provided free of charge, by the school.
At St. Columba’s students begin learning a musical instrument in Year 3, when they can count, deal with fractions, and their hands are sufficiently developed to manage a
recorder.
In music lessons we work towards correct technique, playing in time, keeping together as a group and playing musically.
Recorder allows us the joy and discipline of reading music and performing, with an instrument that is small, portable, strong and relatively inexpensive.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson.
Student Awards
Emmett Dickson for being a kind member of our class and for working independently to develop his literacy learning.
Nate Mason for becoming more independent in his learning tasks and taking on challenges in his literacy learning.
Shelley Bishop for making great progress with her spelling and writing skills. Shelley has been using her phonics knowledge to spell words correctly.
Everlyn Warren for working very hard to improve her reading skills.
Eliza Johnson for showing great levels of perserverance when learning new concepts in Mathematics. Eliza has continued to ask questions and challenge herself to complete all her set tasks.
Patrick Johnson for taking on great challenges in Mathematics with a positive attitude. Patrick is always willing to challenge himself and share his new knowledge with his peers.
Jade Player Congratulations on your amazing efforts in your HASS Assignment! You are doing a wonderful job interpreting and applying information to present a fantastic piece of creative work!
Lily Thompson you are to be commended in your servie to our classroom learning environment! Congratulations on your foresight and initiative in acting out and problem solving what needs to be done and achieved! Keep up the great work!
Kaitlen Dickson for adjusting well to her transition to St Columba's and beginning to show leadership qualities as a Year 7 student. Kaitlen is continuing to grow as a strong learner.
Joseph Honner for representing the school positively at co-curricular events and being a diligent Alter Server at the Parish Masses. Joe has worked hard this semester to learn new ideas and not swing on his chair.
RE News
Principal's Report
Dear SCMS family,
Kids in Sport
Last Friday I travelled to Pt Pirie, to meet with other country Principals around how we can improve our practice as a system. The day was heavy in content, and much of what we learnt was delivered over Zoom or Teams, rather than Face to Face. It was a good day, but an exhausting day and in a lot of ways devoid of human connection.
Leaving at 4pm as I travelled back to Yorketown, listening to various podcasts ( I have been fortunate enough to have some recommendations from parents which made the travelling aspect of my job more bearable), I traversed through Minlaton at around 6:30pm.
I dropped in at the Minlaton Basketball Centre and saw some of our students in action at local netball.
It was exactly what I needed.
A chance to see some of these students outside of uniform and engaging in local sport. We talk about regularly around being ‘others focused’ at our school. What I love about Team Sport is it puts children (and adults) in situations where they must be others focused. To get the ball they need the help of their teammates. To shoot a goal in netball you must rely on more than one person. A coach’s job is to make others better.
Team Sport teaches many great lessons and it is so pleasing to see our community so heavily involved in it.
SAPSASA Football
I am so proud that some of our students are involved at a representative level at SAPSASA Football this week. It has been great to hear positive reports about how they have carried themselves as part of a team, knowing that their actions off the field, are equally as important as their skills on it.
Uniform
Our school uniform is a signficant part of our culture.
It reinforces a sense of pride as well as establishing patterns of discipline.
It allows there to be no sense of teasing or bullying about choice of clothing.
Next week I will be communicating aspects of our uniform in various ways. Pictures, Tables that indicate what days are Sport Days and which days are Formal uniform days. I will communicate these systems and diagrams that you can use or put on your fridge to support your student owning which uniform they should be in on which day.
Our communication up to this point has been only OK. On our end as a school, I want to make it better.
In short - I would like our communities support in working together to improve our adherence to uniform at our school.
Student Free Days
A reminder that next week on the 10th and 11th of June (Thursday and Friday) we have two student free days. The extra student free day replaces a student free day in Term 3.
Growth Mindset Challenge
It has been great to see some early engagement in our Growth Mindset Challenge. Next week I will be asking people involved in the challenge (students, staff, parents) to post a short video introducing themselves and their challenge.
I will send out a note on Monday that will provide details of how to submit these videos.
Some of the challenges the children have set themselves are amazing.
Cooking a 3 course dinner for their family. Climbing a ‘virtual’mountain by monitoring their hill climbs on their bike rides. Creating an Art Journal.
It is inspiring stuff.
God Bless,
Scott
Junior Primary News
This term in science we have been looking at chemical changes. We have completed lots of experiments to find if the changes were reversible or irreversible. Last week we found out what happens when you mix baking soda, detergent and vinegar. We are looking forward to finding out what happens when you mix different materials over the next few weeks.
Library News
Choir News
My voice is amazing! I am beginning to hit the high notes! Tanja
My choreography is getting good! I nearly know all of the moves. Catalina
My moves are getting groovy! Edwin
My favourite choir song is “Africa” because it is fast and has great harmony. Jada
My favourite choir song is “Like A Singing Bird” because it has a lovely tune and I know it well. Lily
My favourite choir song is “One Moment In Time” because it was a theme song for the Seoul Olympics. Angus
The best part of the choir is learning the choreography. It is fun. Max
I am looking forward to performing on the big stage at the Entertainment Centre with my friends. Jade
I have improved in choir by remembering more of the songs. Riley
I can now sing high in harmony. Chloe
My singing continues to improve really well. Lexi
You are going to love the fun parts of our choreography! Jordan.
I love singing with all of the children in the Five, Six and Seven class. Brock
The fun part of the choir is doing the choreography to “Fa La La”! It will surprise you and make you laugh! Sam
Middle Primary News
Literacy
Computers vs Hand Written
Why don’t Primary School children use computers all the time in class?
This is a very sensible question since computers are an indispensable part of modern life. We see computers being used at our local Foodland checkout, and by farmers working during Seeding to put crops in. Why doesn’t school mirror society, and let students work from computers exclusively, if the world is so dependent upon them?
Well, there is respected, detailed research from Princeton University, to indicate that “Writing by hand encourages positivity and improves creativity, comprehension and information recall.” These researchers found that students who hand-wrote notes outperformed exclusive computer users. How exciting, that by teaching students to develop and use their handwriting means that they will be more creative when thinking and composing new work. These same students will also have greater understanding and insight into information that they have written by pen rather that with a keyboard. A better ability to recall and accurately remember facts also is an outcome of handwriting.
So what might have appeared as an old-fashioned approach, using handwriting, is in fact a means of benefiting students greatly, and is supported by the most recent research. Rest assured that at Saint Columba’s Memorial School, all staff work consistently to provide the very best educational approach for your child, based on sound research.
Why don’t students use computers exclusively in class? The answer is, we have found a much better way to move forward. We will be using computers certainly, as the modern world requires, but we continue to develop your child’s ability to write by hand, because we want all the advantages that writing brings.
Regards,
Mandy Thompson, Literacy Coach.
Amy Honner talks about Calm, Confident Communicators
With thanks to the Federation of Catholic School Parent Communities SA, Parents in Education funding for their ongoing support.
RE News
Hello!
Last week we held our first Mass back for term 2, celebrating Mary during this month of May which is traditionally held as her month. It was also another chance for us to reflect on motherhood and our mums.
Thank you to the Year 5/6/7 class who ran the Mass for us, they did a great job. Our next whole school Mass will be on Thursday, June 3rd and will be run by the Year 3/4 class. We would love to see you there.
This Sunday is a very special feast day, Pentecost. We remember when God sent his Holy Spirit on Mary and the Apostles, filling them with the gifts of the Holy Spirit and empowering them to go out to all the ends of the earth proclaiming the Good News, that is that Jesus died for us, for our sins and calls us to Him. I hope on this special day that the Holy Spirit comes to each one of us in a special way so that we can know His love and be, especially at this time, instruments of His peace.
God Bless,
Miriam
Principal's Report
Dear Community,
As I finish typing this report around 35 of our students are completing the last of the NAPLAN tests, with Numeracy on the menu this morning.
Our kids have been exceptional in the way they have approached each test with a sense of what I could only describe as ‘begrudging enthusiasm’
In more simple language that could be described as
‘ I know I have to do this. I know some parts of it are going to be challenging. I know some parts I will be hard. I know it’s important. I know I have to do my best.’
Part of NAPLAN is an endurance test for the children. The Year 7 reading test is 65 minutes long. To ask anyone to concentrate for that long is a challenge, let alone a 12 or 13 year old child.
I have been impressed with our school’s preparation and how the children have left the test feeling accomplished.
When the results come (Usually sometime towards the end of Term 3) they form part of a bigger picture of data for each child that includes assessments that we conduct as part of units of work, other standardised tests.
How do we us all this data?
To understand exactly what a student currently knows. To understand what they do not know. And most importantly, to understand what we can do as teachers to fix that.
School Photos
Our School photo day is next Friday the 28th of May.
Students are required to wear their formal school uniform, for the day.
For your reference this is:
Boys:
Navy/Gold Polo Top with Emblem
Navy School Shorts or Trousers (No Cargo or Track Pants)
Black School Shoes or Boots (No Sports Shoes) Or Black or Brown Sandals
Navy and Gold Polar Fleece Jumper with Emblem (will be removed for photo)
Girls:
Summer Dress, Skorts, Navy School Shorts or Navy School Pants
Navy Gold Polo Top with Emblem
White or Navy Socks that cover ankle
Black school shoes or boots Or Black/Brown Sandals
Navy Blue leggings or tights
Navy/Gold Polar fleece jumper with emblem (will be removed for photo)
Student Free Days
At its most recent meeting the School Board approved Student Free Days for:
Thursday the 10th of June, and Friday the 11th of June.
The extra student Free Day this term will replace the Student Free day in Term 3.
The reasoning behind this decision is to facilitate a staff professional development/retreat opportunity on the 10th and 11th of June in Penola. Staff will use the Thursday to travel to Penola, to hold their annual retreat.
St Mary Mackillop established the first Catholic School in Penola in 1866, becoming the first Catholic School in our state. Staff visiting Penola will visit the Mary Mackillop Centre, receive presentations from two current Catholic Priests, and visit St Mary Mackillop School in Penola to tour the grounds and meet with the staff.
A staff retreat is mandated by the Catholic Education Office and forms an important part of our staff spiritual and wellbeing program.
Kind Regards,
Scott March
MiniLit Program
Library News
MiniLit is an evidence-based, explicit, and effective early literacy intervention program for teaching sounds and reading skills to children.
Each year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries and many other places around the country. Our children were excited to have their picture taken in our very own St. Columba’s Rocket.
Junior Primary News
This week the Junior Primary classes have been busy preparing for the National Simultaneous Storytime.
The children loved hearing the story Give me some Space knowing that other children across Australia were reading or listening at the same time. They created and decorated some fantastic Rockets, and the highlight of the day was having a photo taken looking through our own library rocket. The children had such a blast!
Senior and Upper Primary News
This term our Upper and Senior Primary classes will be engaging in a variety of cooking experiences. They will be participating in a five week cooking block, where they will be learning a variety essential life skills.
Our students will be learning about nutrition, food safety and allergy awareness within the kitchen. On top of those skills, students will also be building on their maths, science, literacy and fine motor skills. We aim to encourage students interest and excitement in healthy foods, by teaching them how to cook safely, on a moderate budget.
The most exciting aspect of this unit of work, will be working alongside students to help give back to our community. Each week the children will be able to taste a sample of their cooking and then together, help package up any left over food for the schools community freezer. A freezer that gives back to those in need. Our students will be learning first hand why it is important to give back to our community, and will be able to feel a great sense of purpose when doing so.
If you know of someone within the community who may be doing it tough and would appreciate a few meals, please reach out to the school. Please note, we are happy for the person to remain anonymous, we are just happy to help where we can.
Middle Primary News
NAPLAN TESTING
The Year 3 students have spent the past two weeks undergoing their first NAPLAN tests, where they have completed the NAPLAN Writing, Reading, Conventions of Language and Numeracy Tests. The students were required to write a narrative using the NAPLAN prompt of ‘following footprints or a track’. The students applied their knowledge from the Seven Steps to Writing Program which has been implemented across Years 3-7 to structure their texts in a creative and engaging way.
All students used their new knowledge of the brain and applied their Growth Mindsets to tackle these new challenges. They found themselves reflecting after about how they kept using positive affirmations in their heads to encourage themselves to keep persevering. Students found themselves using various strategies to climb out of the Learning Pit to achieve success. The students should be extremely proud of themselves and be commended on all their hard work, dedication, and effort.
QR Code Check In
Police will also ensure businesses, which includes schools are doing the right thing by displaying a QR code and providing a secure hard copy check-in option.
You may have seen in the media that SA Police have launched Operation ‘Trace’, using plain clothes police officers to ensure that people are checking in when they enter a business or attend a public activity.
Reminder to all adults, which includes staff and parents, that we are expected to COVID Safe Check In when entering the school site. The benefit of the check in system is that it enables SA Health to quickly and accurately respond to new COVID cases.
If you do not have a smart phone with a QR scanner, you will need to manually sign into the school.
Thank you for your continued support of these important measures.
School Photos May 28th
School Photo Day is May 28th 2021
Have your child’s school memories captured forever!
Do not seal envelopes inside each other. You can pay for all your children’s photos in one envelope.
However, each child needs to have their own envelope.
Blank family envelopes are available at the school office, please see Gay or Margaret if you require one.
Please enclosed correct money into the envelope as no change is given.
Online orders (using credit card) can be made via http://orders.msp.com.au you will require the unique shootkey displayed on each order envelope.
Order envelopes can be returned to the school for safe keeping.
ALL envelopes need to be returned even if you are not ordering any photos.
Principal's Report
It has been a decent effort to get it to this point, but we hope that it brings you into the classrooms a little bit more. As the term progresses, we are going to add picture galleries, and videos that will help add to the reading/viewing of the piece.
You will be able to find our newsletter each fortnight by clicking the News section of our website and clicking the enewsletter section.
NAPLAN
This year our school will complete the 2021 NAPLAN tests online. Over a 2-week period from Tuesday 11 May until Thursday 20 May, our Year 3 and 5 students will be participating in NAPLAN. It is important for all our students to understand that NAPLAN is not a pass or fail type of test. It is about assessing student progress. As a school, we use this data to assist with improving our teaching and learning programs. As the tests are online this year, we hopefully will receive the results much faster than in previous years.
The timetable for the tests is below:
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Tuesday 11th May -
9:00am Year 3's Writing - Written Test
11:00am Year 7's Writing - Online
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Wednesday 12th of May
9:00am Year 5's Writing - Online
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Thursday the 13th of May
9:00am - Year 3's, 5's and 7's Reading - Online
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Monday 17th May -
9:00am Conventions of Language - Year 3s, 5s, and 7s - Online
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Thursday 20th of May
9:00am- Numeracy - Year 3/5/7
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Friday the 21st of May
9:00am - Catch up day
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Catholic Education Week is this week from May 3 – 9, 2021. It is a great opportunity for families to explore the benefits of a Catholic Education. This year, our focus is on promoting our free mid-year intake for Reception students.
We will conclude Catholic Education Week with our Mother’s Day Liturgy, and an afternoon tea for these amazing women with open classrooms until the end of the day.
Mid-Year Reception Intake
One of many initiatives announced by the South Australian Commission for Catholic Schools (SACCS) is to reduce the financial burden on families.
All Diocesan schools, including St Columba’s will offer the 2021 Term 3 Reception intake, to parents free of charge. The free intake includes tuition fees excluding uniforms and extra-curricular costs.
Scott March
Principal
Cross Country 2021
The event was held at Yorketown Area School with a 2km track set up for the Under 10's while the Under 11's, 12's and 13s.
As this was the first time in many, many years that they had held an interschool event in the SYP, our students were recording their personal bests for the first time.
Our goal for the day was for each student to finish the race which we were able to achieve.
Many of our students finished in the top 6 in their age group, which makes them eligible to compete in the State finals in Oakbank later this term.
I was so proud of this group of children.
Scott
Last Day of School - Casual Day and Sausage Sizzle
On the last day of school for the term (9th of April) the Gather and Grow team will be conducting a Sausage Sizzle.
Students are able to wear casual clothes for the day.
To cover the cost of the sausages, and make a small donation to Project Compassion a gold coin donation per child would be appreciated.
Community Consultation
St Columba's currently has an exemption to keep its Year 7's until 2024.
The survey forms a crucial role in the decision on whether to pursue a Secondary Education model at this time.
It takes two minutes.
The survey is available at this link:
https://www.cesa.catholic.edu.au/about/our-strategy/have-your-say-yorketown
The survey closes on the 9th of April.
Thank you in advance.
Scott March
