Principal's Update - 3rd August 2022

Welcome

Dear Families,

Welcome to Week 4! We take this opportunity to thank you all for your support two weeks ago with the school closure day, which enabled our staff to gather as a team and attend Professional Learning facilitated by the Corwin Institute on the topic of Visible Learning. The Thursday was a fabulous day that enthused our staff and will enable us to continue the work we commenced several years ago but could not continue due to COVID. 

We are grateful for the flexibility of families to support this day and appreciate the efforts families went to make this happen, mainly as this day was a Thursday. With this in mind, we offer a gentle reminder regarding the upcoming ‘Circuit Breaker’ weekend issued by Catholic Education Ballarat, set for Friday 12th August and Monday 15th August. This weekend will be a blessing for our tired little concert performers and offer a well-deserved rest after the build-up to the concert over these past months.

Congratulations

We offer congratulations to two of our St Columba’s parents who have recently been appointed as Principals to two of our Central Zone Schools. Ethan Corfee to Emmaus Primary School and Emily Clarke to St Alipius Primary School. We wish them every blessing as they continue this important leadership journey in their respective schools.

School Concert - Thursday 11th August

A reminder that concert tickets are now available for collection from the office. There are still some tickets available for purchase. If you require more tickets (in addition to the initial allocations), you can now purchase these via QuickCliq.

Please note that children from F - 2 may be taken home after 11.30am to rest before the evening performance. This is, however, just a suggestion and has been made with the best interest of the children at heart to ensure they are rested and ready for the night time performance. A modified program will remain in place for the afternoon to accommodate rehearsals and those students from junior classes who are staying at school.

• Children should arrive at the theatre dressed in the main part of their costume (or their entire costume if they have no accessories/headpieces). The only exception to this is the choir children, who will perform at the start of the concert in their full winter school uniform (they will need to bring their costumes in a labelled plastic bag). Your child may choose to wear a dressing gown over the top of their costume to keep warm and protect their costume.
  
  
• Children are encouraged to wear some basic makeup/foundation on their faces if they would like.
  
  
• Children will need to bring a named plastic bag containing something to wear home. This should be something easy to put on, like a dressing gown or tracksuit. It would be helpful if all clothing items were labelled. Costumes will be left at the theatre.
  
  
• Children whose family name is from A - M should arrive at the theatre foyer by 6 pm. Children whose family name is from M - Z should arrive at the theatre foyer by 6.15 pm.
  
  
• Staff will direct children where to meet their classes from here. To ease congestion, after ‘drop off’, we encourage parents to avoid waiting in the foyer before the start of the concert.
  
  
• The concert starts at 7 pm. There will be no intermission, and it will run for approximately   1 ¾ hours.
  
  
• Masks are strongly encouraged but not mandatory. Hand sanitiser will be available.
  
  
• A program listing the order of items will be handed out to audience members on arrival.
  
  
• Please ensure that phones are turned off during the evening and there is no flash photography or filming allowed. A recording will be available for sale in the weeks following the concert.
  
  
• At the conclusion of the concert, directions will be given regarding the safe and orderly collection of children. Class teachers will check off names as children leave with a known adult.

COVID Safety

We ask that children continue to follow strong hygiene regimes, using hand sanitiser and washing their hands regularly. Facemasks are being strongly encouraged for both staff and students and will be available upon request. We ask that any child who is unwell or displaying symptoms to please stay at home to recover. Your support is appreciated to help keep our community safe and healthy.

Posi Socks

At St Columba's, we aim to put the well-being of our children at the forefront of our thinking and planning. The Posi Schools’ program is a fantastic initiative designed to provide students with valuable skills to kickstart positive habits for life!

St Columba’s will be participating in the program this year to support our students in developing positive routines. The Posi Socks program aims to set children up for a successful future whilst also providing support directly to the broader community!

Putting socks on in the morning is one of our most common routines. By combining this with positive reinforcement written on the socks, we hope to help our students explore new habits and develop a routine to start each day positively. 

The students will also be participating in 21 days of lessons and activities to keep their mindsets positive.

To develop this routine, our students will purchase a pair of Posi socks, and on top of that, for each pair of socks purchased,  a pair of socks will also be donated to someone in need within our community. 

For every participating student, $1 will be donated to the St Vincent de Paul Society. We ask each child to pay $10 for the program's cost, their socks, and the socks to be donated. This program will start at the beginning of Term 4.

Cover up gear for muddy surfaces

You may have noticed your child’s uniform coming home a little worse for wear this winter due to the muddy state of our surfaces. We suggest students who intend to play on the top courts bring along some old tracksuit pants and tops to wear over the top of their clothes at break times and a plastic bag to store them in their school bags. We will trial this until the end of the term to see how that goes. With that said, we are looking for donations of second-hand uniforms, sizes 8-12, particularly sports pants and long trousers to cater for these wet weather days.

Important Dates for Term Three

Kind regards,

Bambi Afford & Shaun Mohr
Co-Principals