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Columba Catholic College Newsletter Volume 25 No. 6 - 28 April 2022

A MESSAGE FROM THE PRINCIPAL

Dear Columba Families,

Welcome back to Term 2. A very special welcome to new students, staff and families joining Columba this term.

2022 is certainly a year for celebration. As we draw closer to June 3-5 I warmly invite you to join us across this weekend to engage in a raft of activities and celebrations to mark 140 years of St Mary’s and 120 years of Mt Carmel. We will be encouraging our students to volunteer to support events across the weekend as this is a special time in their story, our history and our tradition. Your support is appreciated and we encourage you to join us.

As a part of our celebrations the Papal Ambassador for Australia, the Apostolic Nuncio, will be joining us at our celebrations. We are delighted and blessed to have the Most Reverend Archbishop Charles Balvo joining the Columba community whilst on his visit to Australia. The Nuncio is a diplomat for the Pope and for our Catholic community in Australia. We look forward to welcoming Archbishop Balvo, Bishop Timothy Harris and members of our past and present clergy to our community in June. Further information in relation to the program for the weekend including ticketing and merchandise can be found here.

The term has certainly got off to a flying start. We have hosted a wide range of activities including Parent Teacher Interviews, MAS Careers discussions, Year 7 Camp at Echo Creek, the Year 1 Excursion to Zara Clark Museum, Primary Interschool Cross Country, ANZAC Day liturgies and the community Dawn Service and ANZAC Day March. Our students have settled back into classes smoothly and the welcomed rain has provided a sense of hope and growth. These experiences provide for a well rounded educational experience. Our core focus and work as a college is centered around providing a high quality Catholic education for our students. Reflections on the academic, behavioural and work attitudes of our students across the college indicate continued positive growth. I encourage our students to do their best and to be their best. The staff at Columba want to work in partnership with you to build wrap-around support for our learners so they continue to grow and thrive.

Reflections on ANZAC Day: I could not help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride as I marched alongside our students and staff to pay our respects and give thanks for the contributions of those men and women who have served in times of war and peace as members of the armed forces. Special thanks to the families who attended the Dawn Service and the ANZAC Day March. Your commitment and support of your children helps us shine as a community. United as one, Columba continues to be a place of hope, peace and strength. Thank you for your contribution to our community. May we also continue to pray for those communities around the world who do not experience the same freedoms as we do.

This term we formally welcome two new staff to the Mt Carmel Campus. Mr Brett Leadbetter joins us from the Toowoomba Diocese where he has provided extensive support to education in the realm of Positive Behaviour for Learning. Brett will be working with our community to lead in this space. We also welcome Ms Nicole Brumby and her family to Columba. Nicole joins us from Tasmania and is an experienced Mathematics and Science Teacher. We wish Brett and Nicole the best on their personal and professional journeys.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of Rosie Jarvis who has recently retired from the College. The students formally farewell Rosie this week at the assembly at Mt Carmel. We wish Rosie all the very best for her retirement and give thanks for her contribution to Columba over the last 18 years as an active member of our household team.

We also say farewell to Mr Jerry Cakau and Mrs Irene Venter who ended their contracts at the close of Term 1. We thank both Jerry and Irene for their contribution to the College and wish them well in their new pathways.

As we head into the Charters Towers Country Music Festival weekend I encourage each of you to join us to support this great community event. On Friday Columba will be joining the parade and our float will reflect 150 years of Charters Towers. Special thanks to Mr Stuart Whitby and all involved in preparing for tomorrow. Students and staff will also host our school based Country Music Concerts at both St Mary’s Campus and Mt Carmel Campus throughout the day. We look forward to a great day of entertainment and community spirit.

All the best for the fortnight ahead.

Many blessings,

Melissa Turner
PRINCIPAL

FROM THE DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - ST. MARY'S CAMPUS

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

A warm welcome back to Term 2 for returning families and a special welcome to our new families who have joined the College this term. As the weather turns to cooler days this term, I would like to remind families of the uniform requirements during winter. When wearing the day uniform boys and girls are required to wear either the College pullover / vest or plain navy pullover or windcheater. Navy tights may be worn with the girls’ day uniform. With the sport uniform, boys and girls can wear a plain navy or school track suit.

On Thursday 24th March students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participated in online NAPLAN practice tests. Students completed these tests to familiarise themselves with the tests and the online platform. Students in Year 3 complete a paper version of the Writing Test and it is the only test not delivered in an online platform. NAPLAN is a point-in-time assessment that allows parents to see how their child is progressing in literacy and numeracy against the national standard and compared with their peers throughout Australia. At the classroom level, NAPLAN provides additional information to support teachers’ professional judgment about student progress. The 2022 NAPLAN online test window starts on the 10th May and finishes for Columba students on Monday 16th May. All students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 are expected to participate in NAPLAN tests and it is important they attend school on these days.

ANZAC Day services were well represented by the students on the St. Mary’s campus this year. Even with the rainy weather, it was great to see so many of our students and families participate in both the Dawn Service, street parade and cenotaph service. Keeping the ANZAC spirit alive, many of our students proudly wore the service medals of their relatives and marched in remembrance of both current and past serving defence forces. We remembered the ANZAC tradition in last week’s liturgy and students participated in a range of activities in their classes, including the Year 2 article this week that shares student thought on Anzac Day. Mrs Smith’s library lessons this week included Anzac stories and activities.

On Tuesday, students participated in the RACQ’s Streets Ahead Road Safety Program. This program delivers age-appropriate lessons on passenger, pedestrian and bicycle safety. The important message to students is learning correct road safety behaviours including crossing the road safely and using safety equipment, like helmets and seatbelts for protection when on the road. Student feedback was very positive and our Prep - Yr 2 students really enjoyed participating in the road mat activity to practice their road safety behaviours.

Excitement is mounting for the Country Western Music festival this Friday. Students will get their best western outfits on for the fancy dress parade on Friday morning. Music festival committee members will once again join our parade to choose best dressed boy and girl in each year level. After our parade, classes will perform in a concert. Students have been practiSing their line dance moves in preparation for a wonderful morning of participation and country music fun. Parents are very welcome to join for both activities on Friday morning. In the afternoon the school will join the Charters Towers community in the street parade. This year’s theme is Charters Towers - 150 years and we have a wonderful float representing the history of the founders of our Gold and Beef cattle industries. Once again, parents are very welcome to join the float procession.

Our assembly on Thursday 5th May will recognise and celebrate all our mothers and those that act as mothers to our students. Our morning will commence with a liturgy followed by classroom activities and rotation activities that include a morning tea. Please RSVP to the recent communication sent home to families. Year 5 will lead our assembly and we are very excited to recognise and celebrate the wonderful mothers in our community.

Later in the term, Ryan Catholic College Instrumental choirs will be visiting the St. Mary’s campus on Wednesday 25th May as a part of their 2022 Instrumental Music Western Tour. They will bring a Choir, Concert Band, Stage Band, String Orchestra and a Guitar ensemble. These groups will perform and showcase their instruments in a one hour performance. They will bring 100 students from grade 6 - 12 to perform in the various ensembles. We thank the organisers at Ryan Catholic college for including us in this tour.

Following the Ryan musical performance, at 11.00am on Wednesday 25 May, students will participate in the National Simultaneous Story time with the book Family Tree. National Simultaneous Storytime is an important annual campaign that aims to encourage young children to read and enjoy books as well as teach them the value of literacy. Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around Australia, New Zealand and the world. Thank you to Mrs Smith for organising this event for us again in 2022.

This term we also have a team competing in the Readers' Cup challenge. Our team, comprised of Year 5 & 6 students, have been reading their way through the six novels that will be showcased in the challenge on Tuesday 14th June. Mrs Smith meets with the students weekly to conduct Book Club style discussions for all the books in the competition. We wish all the students the best in their preparation for this competition and again thanks Mrs Smith for organising and mentoring the Readers’ Cup 2022 team.

Last term the CSPA launched two major fundraisers across the College. The CSPA cookbook has been whole-heartedly supported by our community and I would like to thank all those that contributed by providing recipes and/or sponsorship. Congratulations to Isabelle Pilcher in Year 3 who was the winner of the colouring competition and will see her picture on the front page of the cookbook. The cookbook is on its way to the publisher and we hope to receive our copies in early June. The Cookie Dough fundraiser has also recently been launched with families. Information to families was sent home last week. If you would like to order your cookie dough follow the link @ https://australianfundraising.com.au/ to place an order. This year our Year 6 students will travel to Canberra in Term 3 for their major excursion. Year 6 families will be launching a number of fundraising initiatives to assist with the costs of the excursion. Please support our Year 6 families with these initiatives that include number boards, raffles and disco’s.

Sport and PE this term moves to touch football and athletics. Season 2 sport commences on Friday 13th May and concludes on Friday 10th June. Students in Years 5 & 6 will try out for their respective touch teams in the next week. PE lessons will include skills associated with athletics training and continue through to competition at our Inter-House carnival on Friday of the last week of term.

A reminder that our Breakfast Club continues this term on Tuesday mornings at 7.50am. If you are able to contribute any spreads, Milo or long life milk this term, please deliver it to your classroom teacher. Gold coin donations are always welcome.

Blessings for a happy, healthy and safe Term 2.

Joanne Andrews
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - ST. MARY'S CAMPUS

ST. MARY'S CAMPUS AWARDS

Term 2 Week 1- Being considerate of the feelings of others.

Prep: Mia Cooper
Year 1: Annabelle Sproat
Year 2: Emmi-belle Emerson
Year 3: Zoe Dyball
Year 3/4: Adeline MacMahon
Year 5: Charli Gundersen
Year 6: Mikayla Gleeson

Term 2 Week 2 - Using good manners and appopriate language

Prep: Ava Bailey
Year 1: Sophie Bailey
Year 2: Jaymee Gundersen
Year 3: Dom Gray
Year 3/4: Eden-Rose Naughton
Year 4: Lane McCabe
Year 5: Lilly Lavery
Year 6: Kyler-Jane Walsh

MT. CARMEL CAMPUS NOTABLE MENTIONS

Congratulations to the following students who received certificates at Assembly on Tuesday 26th April.

Respect for Learning: Outstanding application to work during Term 1

Year 7 – Baylee Kerr
Year 8 – Caleb Fagan
Year 9 – Zyanne Bartlett
Year 10 – Brianna Spurdle
Year 11 – Jed Fuller
Year 12 – Hayley Zadow

CURRICULUM NEWS

YEAR 12 COMMON INTERNAL ASSESSMENT: ESSENTIAL ENGLISH AND ESSENTIAL MATHEMATICS

A student’s exit result in Essential English and Essential Mathematics is based on their achievement in four Internal assessment instruments across Units 3 and 4. Schools develop three of these assessments. The fourth assessment – the Common Internal Assessment (CIA) – is developed by the Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority and marked by schools.

Students at Columba Catholic College enrolled in Essential English and Essential Mathematics will complete their Common Internal Assessment during Phase 2 which runs from Friday 22 April until Friday 13^th May 2022.

The Essential English Assessment will be administered on Monday 9^th May 2022 during Lessons 1, 2 and 3. The Essential Mathematics Assessment will be administered on Tuesday 10^th May 2022 during Lessons 2 and 3.

NAPLAN 2022

Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 students will complete the NAPLAN Online Tests on Tuesday 10^th May, Wednesday 11^th May, Thursday 12^th and Friday 13^th May 2022. It is essential that students attend school on these days to complete these tests. Please refer to the test schedules below.

For further information about what NAPLAN is, and how students can prepare and participate in NAPLAN can be found via the following link. Parents should take the time to read and become familiar with the following documents:

Maria Peck
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - ADMINISTRATION

YEAR TWO NEWS

As we arrive safely back to school for another term, Year 2 have stopped to reflect upon what Anzac Day means to us in 2022.

We thoroughly enjoyed reading ‘ANZAC Ted’, a story about a battered teddy that, with a whole lot of courage and love, helped to bring our soldiers home. Through this story, we learned about the ANZAC Spirit. We can show this spirit in our lives, by always working hard, even when it just feels too difficult, and helping to keep our friends safe.

Together, we created pictures of the soldiers standing in the sunset, and reflected upon how they would have been feeling during the time of war. We continued our reflection at the March on Monday. Well done to those students who participated.

Year 2 would like to share with you what ANZAC Day means to them, as we say thank you to our strong and courageous heroes.

Season - I will remember them by marching on Monday.

Audrey - This day makes me remember the brave people who fought and it makes me sad because some of them died.
Makenzee - I will remember them by making ANZAC biscuits.
Emmi-belle - I will make and wear a poppy to remember them.
Lanah - ANZAC Day makes me feel sad.
Lochlan - Reading ANZAC Ted made me feel happy because Ted came home alright.
Jaymee - ANZAC Day makes me feel proud because they went to war for us.
Alyssa - This day makes me feel sad because my Mum’s Dad was in the war and he died.
Ada - I will wear a poppy on ANZAC Day to remember them.
Summer - I feel sad because they went to war for us.
Jack - Reading ANZAC Ted made me feel sad because Ted was hurt.
Alexiis - The soldiers were brave and stepped up to go to war.
Jayde - Reading about ANZAC Day makes me want to be brave.
Eliza - Reading ANZAC Ted made me sad because Ted came home with one eye.
Grace - This day makes me feel proud because they went to fight for our country.
Maicey - I feel sad for the people that died.
Hamish - I will be praying for the people who died.
Harry - This day makes me feel lucky because we are still alive.
Summer-Rose - I feel sad because some people died.

Toni Pilcher
YEAR TWO TEACHER

YEAR FIVE NEWS

A big welcome back to Term 2 from the team in Year 5! The beginning of the term has been a great time for us to reflect on all of the wonderful things we have achieved and all of the things we look forward to accomplishing in the weeks to come.

A big highlight of Term One was our HASS Unit all about the Victorian Gold Rush. In particular, we travelled to Ravenswood today where we took a step back in time to explore life in a historic mining town. Students learned plenty about the experiences of miners in the past by examining old Mining Shafts and Battery Stamps, we also looked into Ravenswood’s current mining industry at the Sarsfield Pit Lookout. One of our favourite stops was the Butler’s Cottage where Mr Butler lived with a family of 19 children in a one-bedroom, dirt-floored shack. The cottage allowed us to compare the lives of people in the 1800s with our own. We’re so lucky to have the comforts of today!

After our excursion, we showed off our learning in a culminating project about the Gold Rush in an event we called the Living Gold Exhibition. Students transformed into wax figures, museum staff and performers, as they retold the events of the past. We especially loved getting to teach some special visitors all about the things they have learned. A big thanks to Mrs Turner, Mr O’Connor, Mrs Andrews and our family and friends for coming to see our hard work in action.

This term we’ve welcomed back our friend Alexis, as well as introduced Dekota and Indi to our class. We’re so thankful for their friendship and look forward to showing them what being a Columba Kid is all about. We’re expecting a real highlight of this term to be our Science Unit, where we are going to learn all about our place in space. So far, Year 5 have really enjoyed learning their dance for the Country Music Festival to kickstart the term and can’t wait to show you all our performance!

We hope that everyone has a fantastic Term 2 and can’t wait to report back with all we have achieved this term.

Jessica Allison
YEAR FIVE TEACHER

ANZAC DAY 2022

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SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

St Columba’s Parish is extending an invitation to students in Years 4 and above to enter into the Sacramental Program for 2022. Students are invited to experience the sacraments of Reconciliation, Confirmation and Eucharist. This program is open to all students that have been baptised. Mrs Brandis and Mrs Foot from the Parish work with me to deliver preparatory sessions after 9:00am Sunday Mass in the lead up to each sacrament. The first session is on Sunday, 15th May with Reconciliation to be held on Thursday, 2nd June and the Sacramental Mass scheduled for Sunday, 7th August. Please e-mail me at roconnor@columba.catholic.edu.au if you have any questions or would like more information.

Ryan O'Connor
ASSISTANT TO THE PRINCIPAL - RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
YEAR TWO TEACHER

FROM THE HEALTH CENTRE

The School Dental Van will be coming to the Mt. Carmel Campus in Term 2. For students on the Mt. Carmel Campus, day students will be bringing an "Offer of Dental Treatment" consent form home and for boarding students. The same document has been emailed home. Students from the St. Mary's Campus received their consent forms last term.

If you would like your child to attend the School Dental Van, please complete and return the consent form to the College administration office at your earliest convenience. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the College Nurse, Terrina Muston on 0407165583.

RESIDENTIAL NEWS

Dear Parents, Caregivers, staff and students,

The term has started off relatively well for both the residential boys and girls. The students seemed to have settled back into the routines of communal living and appear happy. Of course, as part of boarding school life there are minor bouts of homesickness and from my experience, Term 2 is a period when students tend to feel it most. This is a natural process and with appropriate support and time, the frequency and duration of homesickness generally subsides. Being involved in many aspects of College life is critical for effectively transitioning into the boarding space.

As we are now approaching the busy part of the term, procrastination is something to be avoided if students are to reach their academic potential. Students will often procrastinate for a number of reasons including a lack of self-confidence in completing a particular task, paying too much attention to detail, fear of failure, distracted by technology and lack of intrinsic motivation. The eminent perils associated with procrastination can be largely avoided by adopting a few simple strategies including;

Making and working through a list of ‘what’ must be done and what ‘should’ be done each day;
Setting realistic deadlines to complete tasks;
Avoiding the skipping effect – that is bouncing from one task to another without completing any of them;
Using time allocated to study productively – quality mental engagement is more productive than quantity of study;
And using positive self-talk. That is having the attitude of “I’ve got this”.

Pending the successful tender, the refurbishment of the Comerford residence will commence later on this year. The anticipated refurbishment is well overdue and we eagerly await the final product. The residence will have a modern look which will be aesthetically pleasing and more conducive to communal living which will cater for the needs of our junior boys.

In regard to staffing, Mrs Caroline Jarmey will be acting as the Boys’ Residential Leader this term. Mrs Quinn Carr has also commenced her role as a Houseparent at the Good Samaritan Residence and is enjoying her time with the girls. I wish them both every success in their new roles.

National Boarding Week is from 15-21 May. This is an important week as we celebrate everything boarding across the country. There will be several planned activities that will be posted on social media throughout the week for our boarding parents to see. The Formal dinner will no doubt be the highlight for students and staff alike.

Regards

Dan Kyle
DEPUTY PRINCIPAL - PASTORAL/RESIDENTIAL

2022 CELEBRATIONS

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