Columba Catholic Primary School Acknowledges the Bunurong Peoples’ of the Kulin Nation as Traditional Owners and Custodians and pay respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging.  

Columba acknowledges the Bunurong’s continuing relationship to the land and waterways and respects that their connection and spiritual identity are maintained through ancient ceremonies, songlines, dance, art, and living culture.

We pay tribute to the invaluable contributions of the Bunurong and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Elders who have guided and continue to guide our work.

The artwork represents the Aboriginal community all coming together under the Catholic Church, represented by the cross above them. This cross then branches out linking in with our spiritual ancestors, while the coolamon is there to cradle our community and bring our culture to the Catholic Church.

Artwork by Reanna Bono, Wiradjuri and Wemba Wemba.

Dear Families,

I need to acknowledge how busy school world is at the moment. Sports Days, Crazy Hair, Book Week, Drumming, Crazy Socks, the list goes on. Thank you to all families for supporting us with these events. As a parent of three, I know how much thought needs to go into these days, our want as parents being we want our kids to be happy and be part of the fun.

I just want to remind everyone of the purpose of these events. The purpose is to teach children the importance of giving, generosity and thinking of others. One of our school values and house colour is GENEROSITY, which is names after Fred Hollows.

Fred Hollows restored sight to thousands of people around the world and trained countless eye doctors to do the same. He believed everyone, rich or poor, has the right to quality, affordable eye care. His work lives on today through The Fred Hollows Foundation.

Like Fred, the mission of the Catholic Church is to help those in need. To stand up for those that cannot stand up for themselves. Through all our fundraising for many wonderful causes, we know we are helping our students and community continue to think of others and help those in need. To think of people beyond ourselves and our own family.

“An authentic faith – which is never comfortable or completely personal – always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better than we found it.”

(Pope Francis, Evangelii Gaudium)

One of the fundraisers thorugh which we have the opportunity to give and think of others is our footy fundraiser. For the rest of this term, Columba is holding a footy fundraiser to raise monies for the school and nominated charities. Students may bring any loose change to contribute to their footy team's collection.

*Please note: we do not want students bringing in their pocket money. Instead, you may decide to negotiate for a small job to be done at home for your child's donation eg, children might set the dinner table, clean up toys, walk the dog etc.

In the last week of term, we will hold a footy day where students can wear their football team's colours. We will tally up the monies raised for each team and announce which team has raised the most! Parents are welcome to come along and cheer on your team. This will be on Friday 15th September 9:15am GO SAINTS!

Take care

Andrew Greco

Principal

Important iPad Information

Change for 2024 BYOD

Currently, Columba facilitates a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) iPad program for students in grades 3-6. While this has worked for many years, we have identified that this model is not a sustainable moving forward.

In 2024, Columba will no longer require grade 3 (current grade 2) students to purchase and bring their own device to school. The school will purchase and supply each child with a device for use at school, that will exclusively be their own and only be used by them from grades 3-6. The device will stay at school and be managed by the school.

After consultation with staff, the decision has been made to use Chrome Books as the device of choice, which is a change from iPads. This will ONLY affect the 2024 grade 3 students and will not affect the 2024 grade 4-6 students, who will continue to use their own iPads in the classroom. By 2027 however, all students in grades 3-6 at Columba will be using Chromebooks, which will be managed by the school and remain at school.

I am hopeful that this is a welcome change for families, being that it means our current grade 2 families will not need to purchase an iPad for the 2024 year for use at school. It also means that the school can further enhance the security of our systems, while allowing students to continue to develop their skills and knowledge in the on-line and tech world.

If you have questions or feedback on this change, please contact me by phone or email.

principal@bunyip.catholic.edu.au

Middles & Prep Mass 9:15 am

Multi-Purpose Room

Wednesday 30th August

Parents and Parishioners are welcome to join us!

2023 Children's Sacrament Dates

CONFIRMATION

Confirmation Learning Mass - 27th August at Iona

Confirmation Workshop - 30th August at Columba

Confirmation Sacrament - 9th September at Iona

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Catholic Women's League

The Catholic Women's League (CWL) are having a 'Cake and Bake' sale after Mass on August 27th. They are looking for donations for this event, please. If you can bake or have homemade perserves or jams please let Kelly Lucas know, either at school or via klucas@bunyip.catholic.edu.au

NEXT Assembly

Friday 1st September 2:20pm

3/4H on Prayer

Multi-Purpose Room - All Families Welcome

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CELEBRATING OUR STUDENTS

This Fortnight's Awards

Perseverance

Each fortnight we focus on one of our school values: Respect, Fairness, Generosity, Inspiration, Perseverance. We model and look for opportunties to teach our students values which underpin the way we believe we should live and interact with others and with our world.

Perseverance is shown when we don't give up. It is persistence and tenacity, the effort required to do something and keep doing it till the end, even if it's hard.

Jesus is a great model of persistence; he never gave up on anyone, even if they did the wrong thing. He worked hard to show many people that what he was saying could help them be better people.

Next assembly we will award students who have shown Inspiration.

This is the value of Freeman House named after Cathy Freeman.

Cathy inspired and continues to inspire us all with her never give up attitude and amazing efforts with her running.

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On Friday 18th August we had our Crazy Hair Day!

Thank you to all families who donated to our St. Vincent De Paul appeal. The donations were very much appreciated and will go a long way to helping many families in need.

We invite all Dads and exceptional men to our Liturgy on Thursday for a 9:15 am start. After the liturgy, we will have Open Classrooms and students will invite our visitors to look through the school and their classrooms. A free hot drink will be available for all adults at our coffee van

We look forward to seeing you there!

https://bunyip.cdfpay.org.au/monitoronline/Account/AddToMyCart/19?itemType=3

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Footy Fundraiser 2023

For the rest of this term, Columba is holding a footy fundraiser to raise monies for the school. Students may bring any loose change to contribute to their footy team's collection.

*Please note: we do not want students bringing in their pocket money. Instead, you may decide to negotiate for a small job to be done at home for your child's donation eg, children might set the dinner table, clean up toys, walk the dog etc.

On Friday 15th September (Last day of term), we will hold a footy day where students can wear their football team's colours. We will tally up the monies raised for each team and announce which team has raised the most! Parents are welcome to come along and cheer on your team. The parade will begin at 9:15am on the basketball courts.

DONATIONS NEEDED

Donations for Father's Day presents (value approx. $5 and $10) will be gratefully accepted.

Please drop them off at the office.

columbapandf@gmail.com

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This year National Child Protection Week will continue to champion the message ‘Every child in every community needs a fair go’.

This message captures the essence of National Child Protection Week which aims to promote a safe and supported life for every child, now and into the future.

The Community Jigsaw that has been used during National Child Protection Week is based on research by Dr Sharon Bessell, Australian National University from the Children Communities and Social Capital Report.

When all the pieces are in place, a community is strong and supportive of children. The more pieces that are removed, the less supportive the community is for children.

More information can be found at https://www.napcan.org.au/ncpw-theme/

National Child Protection Week

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Be SunSmart

Hats are back!

We ask that all students wear hats next week. As the UV Index is back to being very high, we will start to ask students to wear hats starting Monday.

On Friday 1st September, all students MUST have a hat to play outside. If they don't, they can only play in our shaded area until they have a hat.

Hats can be purchased at BELEZA (our uniform shop) in Warragul. Please label your child's hat as soon as you purchase it so we can return it to them if it is lost.

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Pupil Free Days - NO STUDENTS 2023

Thursday - 19th October

Monday - 6th November

2023 Dates

Wednesday 30th August - Preps & Middles Mass 9:15 am MP Room

Thursday 31st August - Father's Day Event and stall for 5-6

Friday 1st September - Father's Day stall for P-4

Friday 1st September - Round Robin Sports Day 5/6

Wednesday 6th September - Confirmation Reflection Day

Saturday 9th September - Confirmation Sacrament

Friday 15th September - Footy Dress Up Celebration Day

Friday 15th September - End of Term 3 (Early finish 2:15 pm)

Monday 2nd October - First Day Back Term 4 - Monday 2nd October

Thursday 19th October - Pupil Free Day

Friday 27th October - Grandparents Day

Monday 6th November - Pupil Free Day

Tuesday 7th November - Cup Day Public Holiday

Tuesday 12th December - Grade 6 Big Day Out Gumbya World

Tuesday 12th December - Grade 6 Graduation

Monday 11th December - Whole School Transition Day (find out grades for 2024)

Wednesday 13th December - Whole School End of year Mass at Iona Church

Friday 15th December - Last Day Students 2023

Pupil Free Days - NO STUDENTS 2024

2024 Dates

2023.08.09_Warragul_Store_Notice_of_Winter_Trading_Hours.pdf

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SCHOOL FEES FOR

TERM 3 are NOW OVERDUE

Please contact the school if you are having trouble paying your school fees.

School fees are not an option and should be paid by families who have made a commitment to Columba. If you facing financial hardship or need support with your fees, we are here to help.

Your school fees are like a normal bill or debt. The debt will accumulate and become overwhelming if not addressed. Please do not ignore the fees and work with us to get it sorted.

Please email or call finance@bunyip.edu.au or speak with the

principal principal@bunyip.catholic.edu.au

Both can be reached at 03 56295933