1 September 2016

COLUMBA CATHOLIC PRIMARY SCHOOL

28-38 Hope Street Phone 5629 5933

Bunyip 3815 Fax 5629 5851

Email principal@bunyip.catholic.edu.au

Website www.bunyip.catholic.edu.au

IONA-MARYKNOLL & KOO WEE RUP CATHOLIC PARISHES IN PARTNERSHIP Including the communities of St Joseph’s, Iona; St James, Nar Nar Goon; Holy Family, Maryknoll; St John’s, Koo Wee Rup and St Mary’s, Lang Lang. Parish Priest

Very Rev. Peter Kooloos EV

Parish Deacon

Rev. Tony Aspinall Parish office, St James 60 Nar Nar Goon Rd Nar Nar Goon 3812 Phone 5942 5293 Email:ionaparish@dcsi.net.au Sacramental

Co-ordinator

Sr Cathy Dean WEEKEND MASS TIMES:

St Joseph’s, Iona Sunday 11am Holy Family, Maryknoll 2nd Sunday 8am St James, Nar Nar Goon Saturday 6pm St John’s, Koo Wee Rup Sunday 9.30am St Mary’s, Lang Lang 3rd Sunday 8am Reconciliation:

Refer to Parish Office

Dear Columba Families, At Columba great significance is placed on the Arts as a means of developing student’s critical thinking skills, self-discipline and empowering them to reach their full learning potential. During their time at Columba, students have the opportunity to participate in Performing Arts, Visual Arts and Music Lessons as well as becoming a member of the school choir or dance crew or learning to play the ukulele and guitar. In past years, annual arts events have included a Circus, Musical and a Cabaret, all enabling students to design, experiment, explore and create. The benefits of the Arts in education are indisputable. In the article, ‘Why the Arts are Important’, Dr Neryl Jeanneret (Associate Professor, University of Melbourne) states that the Arts are not so much a result of inspiration and talent but rather a person’s capacity for creative thinking and imagining, problem solving and creative judgement. Dr Jeanneret argues that from creativity and imagination the solutions to problems and social difficulties will come. Dr Jeanneret emphasizes that teachers know that children understand more than they can verbalise and their understanding can be observed in activities other than verbal or written responses. The Arts provide multiple ways for people to express ideas and feelings and develop their understanding of cultures and traditions.

(Educational Horizons Vol.10 No. 5, 2009)

The staff of Columba believe that Arts education complements learning in all other curriculum areas and enables the students to experience joy and delight in self-expression. This term, Columba students have been preparing, with great excitement, for the 2016 Columba Arts Festival. Planning is underway for exhibitions, performances, digital displays and the participation of staff and families in a community collaboration. The Arts Festival will showcase the work completed throughout the year and celebrate Columba students as collaborative, resilient, creative and reflective learners.

The patterns in music and all the arts are the keys to learning - Plato

Arts Festival Timetable attached!

Reminder

September 16 Final Day of Term.

1:00 pm finish

Assembly The next Assembly is scheduled for Friday 9 September at 2:30 pm. The Prayer will be led by students from Prep. Please come along and help celebrate the achievements of the students. All families are welcome to attend each Assembly.

School Emergency Mobile Phone The School has a Mobile Phone Number which is only used during an emergency. The number is: 0457 411 546. Parents will be notified via the Skoolbag App if the phone is in use, For example when the power is out and the landline is down. The phone will not be used or checked on a daily basis.

Child Safety

As part on our ongoing review of Child Safety policies and procedures at Columba, we have been including information and reminders in each newsletter. This newsletter, reminds parents of the procedure for visiting our school. If you are entering the school beyond a ‘quick visit’ to the office, you are asked to sign in and collect a visitor’s pass and sign out and return the pass upon leaving. The students have been educated about this procedure and will expect to see all visitors wearing a tag. A further reminder relates to absences from school. If your child is unwell please contact the office or class teacher to notify the school of the absence and follow-up with a written letter of explanation. We are sure that parents understand these procedures are in place for the wellbeing and safety of children and staff.

School Board Wednesday 7 Sept.

5:00 pm

Family Conferences Family Conferences will be held over until Term Four due to the Arts Festival. Conferences will be held Tuesday 11 October between 4:00 pm – 5:30 pm. These conferences are optional and may be organized as requested by the Teacher or as a Parent Request. If your child’s teacher requires an interview, a note will be sent home early next week. Teachers generally request an interview to acknowledge excellence or a great improvement in work or attitude and also to discuss progress and behavior. If you would like to request an interview, please phone the office for an appointment time from Monday 5 September. Teachers greatly value all opportunities to work with parents to support their child’s education and the October Conferences are generally an opportunity to celebrate improvement and success!

Learning Journals

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COLUMBA WRITING COMPETITION

Congratulations: Senior Winner: Jemma Collins Middle Winner: Taylah Grundy

Junior Winner: Aude Grigglestone Prep Winner: Jade Grundy

Grade Winners: GRADE HIGHLY COMMENDED WINNER Prep Eilish O’Hara Jade Grundy 1/2CH Kashya Saunders Aude Grigglestone 1/2 F Sophie Reid Ruby Pace 3/4 B Samuel Hughes Amelia Millis 3/4 H Lucy Reid Taylah Grundy 3/4 WP Eilish Pepping Diesel Ashe 5/6H Maddy A’herne Jemma Collins 5/6K Michala Doherty Daniel Pepping

Overall Winner: Jemma Collins

Congratulations to Ben T, Matthew I, Mia & Pandora who have been selected as school leaders for the next fortnight. I am sure they will set a great example for all our senior students to follow. Many thanks to Ally S, Artur, Shelby and Ben B for an excellent effort as School Leaders. Well done to you all, a very efficient and reliable team.

Upcoming :

CAMP

Monday 3 October Sovereign Hill (Grade 5 & 6)

CAMP

Tuesday 18 October Phillip Island

(Grade 4)

FRIDAY NIGHT DANCING

Classes will resume as normal on September 2nd. Our last class for the term will be September 9th.

Thank you everyone and again,

I’m sorry for the inconvenience.

Ms Lucas

Father’s Day This week the children have all enjoyed sharing stories about their dads and other father-figures in preparation for Father’s Day. Many children have also drawn pictures of their Dads and these are on display in the Multi-purpose Room. We honour and thank God for the gifts of Fathers and other men who are like fathers to us, Grandfathers, Godfathers, older brothers and family friends. On this Father’s Day we also remember in a special way the fathers of those in our community who have died or are separated from their children.

Father's Day Prayer

Lord, please bless our fathers,

these men who mean so much to us,

who are greatly responsible

for who we are and who we are becoming.

Bless them for having the courage

to do what's necessary to keep us out of trouble,

for making us do the right thing,

for helping us build our character;

and bless them for pushing us to do our best.

Bless our fathers for being our protectors,

for leading us through stormy times to safety,

for making us believe that everything will be all right

and for making it so.

Bless our fathers for quietly making a living

to provide for those they love most,

for giving us food, clothing, shelter

and other necessary and not so necessary material things,

for unselfishly investing time and money in us.

Bless our fathers, Lord,

for saving some energy for fun,

for leading us on adventures

for making us laugh,

for being our playmates and our pals.

Bless them for holding on tight to us...until it's time to let us go.

Lord, bless these men we look up to,

our role models, our heroes,

our fathers.

In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

By Joanna Fuchs

This term the Preps have been learning about communities and different jobs that people

do. On Thursday 25th August the Prep class were allowed to dress up as what they

wanted to be when they grew up and were lucky enough to listen to some policemen

from Bunyip Police and some parents talk about their occupations.

We had all sorts of occupations represented in

the classroom. James wants to be a race car

driver, Eilish a kindergarten teacher and Chad a

brain surgeon. We also had midwives, vets,

farmers, hairdressers and lots more!

Book Week

5H/5K read “Siri’s Wall” and

“Mr. Huff”

On the 30th of August the whole school had Book Week. All the Grade 6’s had to make up a

book activity for all the other grades. We also had a play in the afternoon, in the Learning

Centre by Meerkat Productions. They presented the award winning Book of 2016 “Mr. Huff”.

We thought the play was really good and was very inventive.

By Abbey Hatherall and Kirralee Morgan

3/4B read “Piranhas Don’t Eat

Bananas” and “Siri’s Wall.”

Preps read “Go To Sleep Jessie” and

“Piranhas Don’t Eat Bananas.”

IONA-MARYKNOLL PARISH 60 Nar Nar Goon Road, Nar Nar Goon 3812, Vic., Australia, 3815

Or PO BOX 1, Koo Wee Rup, 3981 Telephone: (03) 5942 5293 E-mail: ionaparish@dcsi.net.au

After 11am Mass this Sunday 4th September at Iona the Catholic

Womens League will be holding a cake stall for Father's Day.

The Sacrament of Eucharist Congratulations to the following students on receiving their First Holy Communion last weekend. They are a credit to their families, parish and school. Well done to you all; Chloe A’Herne, Abbey Ashe, Hayden Callinan, Trent Capizzi, Holly Carlsen, Brodie Collins, Isabella Doherty, Hayley Eeltink, Taylah Grundy, Ethan Marson, Amelia Millis, Lincoln Morehu, Brianna O’Connor, Damon Osborne, Phoebe Pepping, Korey Puncheon, Max Spry, Olivia Tynan and Jesse Wouters. A big thank you to the families and staff who attended the First Eucharist Mass in support of the Grade 4 students. We also thank Sr. Cathy, Fr. Peter, Mary Sayers and our musicians and all who helped in any way on the day. Your contributions were greatly appreciated.

September Wednesday 7 School Board Meeting Friday 9 Assembly Prayer: Prep Friday 9 Grade Three Sleepover Monday 12 Columba Arts Festival begins (details attached!!)

Thursday 15 Newsletter Focus: Music & Performing Arts Thursday 15 School Disco Friday 16 Parents & Friends (9:30 am) Friday 16 End of Term (1:00 pm finish)

October Monday 3 Term Four begins Monday 3 Senior Camp (Sovereign Hill) Friday 7 Assembly Prayer: Grade 3/4 WP Wednesday 12 School Board Thursday 13 Newsletter Focus: Grade 3/4 H Friday 14 Grandparent’s Day Tuesday 18 Grade 4 Camp (Phillip Island)

PLAY GROUP

THURSDAY

MORNINGS

9.00am - 11.00am

ALL WELCOME !

Education breeds

confidence,

Confidence breeds

hope,

Hope breeds peace!

Confucius

Tan Bark Roster

3rd/4th September Millis Family

10th/11th September A’Herne Family

1st/2nd October Pepping Family

GOAL: To ensure there is plenty of bark placed under any drop areas (i.e. beneath the monkey bars). You will need to bring a rake with you. This task can be completed anytime between 3:30pm Friday and 8:00am Monday.

Congratulations to the Warragul

Gymnastics Club, Victorian squad 3

state pennant winners !

A network of coding clubs for Aussie kids

Saturday: 30th July, 13th August, 27th August, 10th September Columba will be hosting a computer Code Club once a fortnight on Saturday afternoons from 2 til 4pm, attendance is free, and access to a Lap top will be provided by the school

Code club Australia is part of Code Club world, with the aim of providing opportunities for kids to have free access to Computer coding opportunities in Scratch, HTML and Python.

The club is to be facilitated by Simone Waterman, and will take place in the Learning centre at Columba. To ensure each child receives appropriate learning opportunities, numbers will be limited. If you know anyone who would be willing to assist with teaching at Code Club, please email Simone (Working with Children check is required) To book, either complete the form below and return to school, or email this information to: exceptionalkids@bigpond.com

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Code Club

with

Simone Waterman

Child’s name…………………………………………..

Level of computer skill: beginning or intermediate

Contact name/Parent: ………………………………….

Email: …………………………………………………...

Phone: …………………………………………………...

Thursday 1 September.

Learning Journals Dear Columba Families, We are delighted to send home your child’s Learning Journal after an exciting and action packed three terms at Columba. Of course Grade Three & Four students have an eLearning Journal recorded on their iPad!

The Learning Journal consists of work samples, assessments and activities to demonstrate your child’s learning this year. The Learning Journal is not a complete record of all that has taken place within the classroom, rather, it is a snap shot of learning experiences containing items selected by both teachers and students.

Many students sat with their dads or grandads today, as part of our Father’s Day activities, to share the learning outlined in their Learning Journal. It is hoped that at home, parents will sit with their child and together discuss the contents of the Learning Journal. We would be grateful if you could then discuss and help your child formulate his/her learning goals for Term Four, ensuring that we work hard right up until the end of the year.

Parents & children could set goals in the areas of:

Personal Learning (being organised to learn, developing strategies to aid learning, developing characteristics of good learners…) Academic (select a curriculum focus which may be an aspect of Religious Education, Literacy or Numeracy) Extra-curricula (a goal for music, guitar, sport, ELMS, EMU, Literacy Support, Social Justice, Italian, Bluearth, Art….) The students are encouraged to think about areas of challenge in which they would like to improve and also areas in which they have many skills and could further excel! You may like to write down your child’s goals, the teachers would love to see this feedback from families!! The teachers will then sit down with each child and review these goals when the Learning Journals are returned to school and therefore it is essential that the Learning Journal is back to school by Friday 9 September. (First Grade with all Learning Journals returned receives a special reward!!)

The purpose of sending home the Learning Journal is to enable families to be: able to fully share in the educational partnership between home and school better informed about the innovative learning experiences taking place at Columba

We hope that sharing the Learning Journal is a positive educational experience for your family and we welcome feedback. The Columba Staff