Dear Families

Another amazing fortnight at Columba! Please enjoy this newsletter and marvel in all that we continue to achieve as a learning community.

A big thank you to all families for engaging in our first week of our Footy Fundraiser. More information about the this is below. The generous donations, which all go to Parents and Friends and then to enhancing our school for our students, have been amazing this week. Thank you.

As the term concludes, I ask all families to please take time to recover and rest as the last month has been a tough slog. The weather isn't great, many of us have been ill or looking after others that are unwell. Please continue to monitor your and your familie's well-being and put in place actiones that will give you and your family a chance to calm your body and calm your mind.

This week, we also had our board meeting and will have a Parents and Firends Meeting on Wednesday 14th September. Can I please challenge the entire community to get involved and reconnect. There are many events planned for the next 13 weeks of school. In the want to try and reconnect our community, the School, the School Board and Parents and Friends have organised events such as

Father Day Celebration
Footy Day and Parade
School Sports Day (Term 4)
Comedy Night
Colour Run

All these events are opportunities to reconnect with each other and the school. The amazing turn out at our Mother's Day event and the Book Week Dress up day, lets us know loud and clear that our community enjoys coming together to celebrate. So book a ticket to the Comedy Night in November now. Commit to the night and have a laugh!

comedyforacause.net/CCPS

If you are able, join us for the Father's Day and Footy Day events, and put the Colour Run date in your calendars (Friday 18th November).

SPECIAL REPORT: The Wellbeing Barometer

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE SPECIAL REPORT ON SCHOOL TV

Irrespective of whether your community has experienced many lockdowns or not, the pandemic has touched all of us and impacted families everywhere in some way. Whether it is our ability to participate in special celebrations or travel to visit loved ones, it has proven to be a difficult time - for some more than others.

During this period, SchoolTV has provided families and schools with much needed guidance and information to help support young people. However, the social, economic and psychological impacts over the coming months remain uncertain. Mental health concerns are on the rise, and it is evident that many young people may need some extra support.

To assist your school, we are seeking participation in a short anonymous & aggregated survey. It is intended to act as a barometer on the wellbeing of young people within your community. Since the start of the pandemic, many students have faced adversities and been challenged on many levels. Some parents have reported that their child’s mental health had changed or worsened due to the effects of the pandemic. However, ensuring the mental health and wellbeing of our young people is important for many reasons, one of which is the direct impact it has on educational outcomes.

We encourage all parents and carers to complete the survey below. The information gathered will help your school gauge the state of student wellbeing and enable them to discover where further assistance may be required by focussing on some of the key issues.

COMPLETE SURVEY HERE

Take care everyone

Andrew Greco

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New Recycling Hub for Columba Families

TIME TO RECYCLE

Columba's Recycling Hub will be open to all Columba Families.

To start, we have 5 things that you can send to school to get recycled

Eye Glasses

Oral Care Products

Mobile Phones

Electric Toothbrushes

Batteries

Columba has partnered with SpecSavers, Bunnings, Woolworths and Terracycle who will support us to recycle your items once our HUB fills up. As the year progresses, we will add more options for recycling to our HUB.

The Recycling HUB will live in our Multipurpose Room. You can send your items to school with your children who can drop them into the Multipurpose Room at the beginning of the school day.

The Columba recycling HUB was funded through a $1000 Junior Landcare Grant that the school secured earlier in the year. Thank you to Woolworths for the grant, to JB for building the hub and to Darren for painting it! What a community effort!

Assembly

Friday 2nd September

Our next assembly will be on

Friday 2nd September.

It will be held in our new Learning Centre.

Assembly will begin at 2:20pm.

All families and friends are welcome to attend.

PERSEVERANCE AWARDS

Well done to all our Perseverance Award Winners at our last Assembly. This award was for showing perseverance while at school. This award is named after Dylan Alcott who through his success in tennis, has shown everyone what can happen if you persevere and try your hardest.

NEXT SCHOOL CLOSURES

Monday 31st October

Wednesday 9th November

FOOTY FUNDRAISER

Columba's Footy Fundraiser has already begun!

As part of our yearly fundraising for the school, we have begun a FOOTY FUNDRAISER starting Monday 22nd August and finishing on Thursday 15th September.

In each of our 10 classrooms, we have 18 containers labelled with each of the AFL football teams. Students are asked to bring in small donations over the next four weeks to put in the container of their favourite team/s. Each week we will tally which team is in the lead with the most money and announce it to the students as an ongoing tally.

The winning AFL team will be the team that raises the most money over the four weeks of collection.

Footy Parade

On Thursday 15th September, the whole school will have a Footy Dress up day where students are encouraged to wear their team colours. At 11:30 we will have a parade on the basketball courts (Parents are welcome to attend). During the parade, the winners will be announced from least to most raised. The winning AFL team with the most money will get 4 laps instead of 2! Walking to their team’s anthem in true GLORY. All teams will get two laps in celebration of the day.

Please note that teachers have been instructed to talk with their students about bringing in SMALL donations, 5c-$2. Students have been discouraged to bring any money from their money boxes or their pocket money. Please remember that primary school students are still grasping with the concept of money value, so please take this as an opportunity to teach them what is and isn't appropriate for donations and giving to fundraising.

All money raised will go into our Parents and Friends account as a fundraiser for the school, so all donations however big or small are welcome from families. If you would like to give a substantial donation to your favourite football team and do not want to send it in with your child, please give the cash to Belinda in the office who will add the amount to your favourite footy team.

Thank you to all families for your support with our ongoing fundraising efforts.

Regards,
Columba Admin

Come and Celebrate

Father’s Day

Father’s Day Liturgy at Columba

All of our dads and special men are invited to a liturgy celebration at school on Thursday September 1st, at 9:20am in the Junior Learning Centre (1/2 classrooms). After the liturgy, please feel free to accompany your children to their classrooms to be part of their ‘school world’ for a short time.

A free coffee will be gifted to all dads and special friends who attend.

The Men's Night previous advertised for the 2nd September will not go ahead in 2022.

We will be sure to lock this event into our 2023 calendar and actively search for those that can help make this event an 'every year' event.

SCHOOL UNIFORM

HATS ARE BACK

A reminder to all families that hats will be compulsory for students when playingoutside starting Monday 5th September. All students must have a school hat which can be purchased from our uniform shop in Warragul - Beleza.

SEE COLUMBA UNIFORM INFORMATION HERE

We must wear hats in September due to higher levels of UV rays that arrive with September. Being a SunSmart accredited school, we ask that all parents support us in raising awareness of the dangers of over exposure to sun and why it is important to wear a hat when we are outside and playing, even when it is cloudy.

Columba PULSE SURVEY - Term 3 2022

Each Term, we will send out a parent survey, with the aim to get 'the pulse' of how our parent community are going in regards to their connection and perceptions of Columba. The surveys will aim to be as short as possible and will support our school in creating the best possible learning environment for your children.

Term 1 - Pulse Survey (all families)

Term 2 - INSIGHT SRC Survey (select families)

Term 3 - Pulse Survey (all families)

Term 4 - Pulse Survey (all families)

This survey is CONFIDENTIAL and no names or email addresses will be collected unless you provide them for us. The school will not contact you personally to discuss your responses. Your responses will continue to shape the future planning of the school and help us to consider things that we may not have considered without your input.

I ask that this survey be completed by Friday 26th August for review by the leadership team.

COMPLETE SURVEY HERE

https://forms.gle/7fyh7sTG354cVnW28

RAT Tests

Another box of RAT tests will be coming home with your child in the next few days. Please use these as needed especially if your child is showing symptoms of COVID.

Thank you to all parents for your amazing efforts in stopping the COVID spread. We have only had 1-2 cases in the last 5-6 weeks and that is mostly due to you all keeping your children away if they are unwell.

iPads 2023

2023 iPad Parent Letter - Purchasing Support and Information

We encourage all families to visit the school's eLearning Lounge. It is best viewed on a pc however it will work on a mobile device.

The E-Learning Lounge has resources for

General iPad and iPad case information
Child Safety
Learning Resources and App information
Parent Information to help setup iPads

You are able to visit our eLearning Lounge from our school website, or using the direct link. Both are provided below.

School Website - https://columbacpsbunyip.schoolzineplus.com/digital-technologies-dtcafe

Direct Link - https://columbahome.wixsite.com/dtcafe

This term we are able to welcome Father Avinash, parishioners and families to school to celebrate Mass with us. The times and location are below.

Columba Multipurpose Room 9:15am

Wednesday 14th September 'Foundation level Mass'

All parents and friends are welcome.

SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION UPDATE

IMPORTANT DATES TO REMEMBER:

The Sacrament of Confirmation will be celebrated on Saturday 29th October at the St James Nar Nar Goon Church.

We ask all families with students making their Confirmation to attend the Commitment Mass on Sunday September 11th at the Iona Church.

The Confirmation Workshop which is compulsory for all students making their confirmation will be on Wednesday 19th October at 7pm in the Columba Multi-purpose Room.

We are very much looking forwarded to sharing this next special step in your child’s faith journey.

We ask our school communities to please keep these children and families in your prayers as they continue their faith journey together.

DATES TO REMEMBER

Confirmation Commitment Mass - Sunday 11th September at 11:00am in the Iona Church.
Confirmation Workshop - Wednesday 19th October at 7pm in the Columba Multi-purpose Room.
Confirmation Sacrament - Saturday 29th October at 6pm at the St James Narv Nar Goon Church.