IONA 15

Welcome back to Term 4! As we enter the final stretch of the school year, we are excited for the many opportunities ahead for our students. This term will be filled with academic challenges, personal growth, and community engagement, as we continue to support each student’s journey. We encourage parents to stay connected with us, as your partnership is vital in helping our young people thrive. Let’s work together to make this term a successful and memorable one!

Families will have received a letter from Rita last Monday 7 October. Please ensure you read it carefully and if parents would like to sign up to a trial of Stop It, there is a form that you can register with there.

Staff Integral Ecology Retreat

A small group of our staff took time during their school holidays to participate in an Integral Ecology Retreat, a reflective and enriching experience inspired by the principles of Laudato Si’. The retreat focused on deepening our connection to the environment, fostering a sense of care for creation, and integrating these values into our teaching and community life. It was a time for staff to reflect on how we can nurture ecological awareness in our students and promote sustainable practices within our school.

The following is one of the prayers used in the Retreat:

“A Prayer for Our Earth” 

All powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace.

(Laudato Si’, n. 246)

GRADUATING CLASS OF 2024

Best wishes to our Year 12 students who are finishing formal classes this week. To date this term, the cohort has been really settled and working towards their final days of classes and their exams. This week, our aim is to celebrate them and their 6 year journeys. We look forward to celebrating their Graduation with them on Monday 21 October.

PARENT ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE (PEC)

Every parent in our community is a member of the PEC and we welcome your involvement. If anyone is interested in joining the PEC or learning more about what we do you can join us in person or online – 7.30pm – meet.google.com/fij-hziu-ymk). Here are the PEC meeting dates and events planned for 2024:

• 15 October
• Friday 15 November 2025 Yr 7 Parents’ Welcome
• 19 November

If you have any questions or feedback for the PEC, please contact us at parents@columba.vic.edu.au

ALUMNAE COMMITTEE

Our Alumnae Committee meet once per term on a Wednesday night between 7:00pm and 8:00pm. They are working hard to build the College’s connections to our former students so that our alumnae are able to remain in touch with each other and with the college, improving engagement with our staff and students, fostering lifelong relationships and a sense of belonging. 

If you are an alumna and would like to become a member of the Alumnae Committee, please contact alumnae@columba.vic.edu.au. Our next meeting, held onsite at the College, is on Wednesday 23 October commencing at 7:00pm.

Dear Divine Creator,

We pray with pride for our Year 12 students at St Columba’s College. As they stand on the cusp of their final exams and graduation, we are filled with awe at their growth, resilience, and achievements.

In this year dedicated to Compassion, our students have shone brightly, embodying this virtue in ways that have inspired us all. We’ve watched them nurture empathy, extend kindness, and champion understanding – not just within these walls, but in the wider community.

We lift our voices in gratitude for the compassionate leaders they’ve become. May the empathy they’ve cultivated here continue to guide them as they venture into the world beyond St Columba’s. We are confident that their compassionate hearts will light the way, not only for themselves but for all those whose lives they touch.

With hearts full of hope, we ask for Your blessing upon these remarkable young people. Grant them clarity of mind and calmness of spirit as they face their exams. Instil in them the courage to chase their dreams and the wisdom to navigate the path ahead.

We are immensely proud of how they’ve embraced the legacy of Mary Aikenhead and the Sisters of Charity. Their commitment to selfless service and compassion fills us with joy and optimism for the future they will help shape.

May they always remember that they carry our love, support, and immense pride with them wherever they go. We ask for Your blessings upon each of them as they face the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. Grant them the strength to persevere, the wisdom to make sound choices, and the courage to follow their dreams.

May they always know that they are welcome here, that our doors and hearts remain open to them, and that they carry a piece of St. Columba’s College with them wherever they go.

Amen

On the 2nd of September, the Year 12 VCE VM girls organised an event at the College where each student of the class had the opportunity to bring someone special in as a way to show what they mean to us.

We hosted many activities on the day with our special people including an opening talk in the chapel, some short games of bingo that everyone really enjoyed and a bit of time to talk, have something to eat and open letters that each student wrote to their special person. Overall, we think this was a great opportunity for everyone to appreciate the people that mean the most to them.

St Columba’s College is entering into a partnership with Stop IT Enterprises. Stop IT offers an advanced technological platform designed to assist schools in managing students’ mobile phones, promoting better focus and a more conducive learning environment.

One key benefit of this partnership is that parents can also use this platform at home without any additional charges, making it a seamless solution both in and out of school, click the link to learn more.

If your family is interested in being a part of this pilot please fill in this form. If you agree to be a part of this trial, we will provide further instructions early in Term 4 about the setup of the technology. We will be asking for your feedback towards the end of the term to plan appropriately for 2025.

To showcase our Everyday Heroes in our own community we will interview someone for each Iona issue to highlight how blessed we are to belong to a community inspired by the life of Mary Aikenhead. We aspire to carry on her legacy of service to the poor and vulnerable and alleviating poverty in all its forms in society today.

Bahay Tuluyan Philippines Australia

St Columba’s College Alumnae, Catherine Scerri, has been living in the Philippines and working with Bahay Tuluyan since 2003. Bahay Tuluyan is an organisation which works to support the protection and enhancement of children’s rights in the Philippines. She saw the enormous need and put out a call to her family and friends in Australia to support Bahay Tuluyan. Since then, countless Australian volunteers have worked with Bahay Tuluyan in the Philippines. They are proud to be 100% volunteer run, with almost no administrative costs and high levels of reporting and accountability. The impact of their fundraising efforts are obvious in the Philippines.

“Having worked with Bahay Tuluyan for 20 years, I can say with absolute certainty that the support BTPA has provided over the years has not only changed, but also saved many young peoples lives.  We absolutely could not do what we do without this support.” – Catherine Scerri, Director of Bahay Tuluyan

St Columba’s College Annual Bike Ride is pleased to support this wonderful organisation that makes such a huge difference. This year our Bike Ride will occur on Friday 1 November and as it has for the past 20 years students and teachers will be riding from Essendon to Williamstown.

If you would like to help support such a incredibly worthy cause you can go to their website https://www.btpa.org.au or alternatively, place an order for their fundraiser and buy some delicious mangoes direct from the farm, 7kg boxes for just $30 https://shoutforgood.com/embed/lightbox?client_token=ce3413c3-573a-49e9-88a9-84462af1e6df

Le mardi 17 septembre (Tuesday 17th of September) the year eight cohort of French students went on an excursion into Melbourne’s CBD to watch the famous Astérix aux Jeux Olympiques film. 

To start off the day we walked to la gare de Essendon (train station) and caught the train throughout the city before arriving at la gare deFlinders St (train station). From there the year eight walked to Federation Square where the movie would be held. Once seated in the theatre we learned a lot about France’s history like the renowned comic culture within the country.  We also learned about their attendance at the Olympic Games. We were surprised to hear that France is one of the 5 countries that has been to all. Finally, we learned about the Asterix bandes dessinées (comic) collection. There are over trente-cinq (thirty-five) comics to choose from all including the famous Asterix and his buddy Obelix. Many of them are even related to historical events from around the world. This comic series in particular has had a massive impact in France and plays an important role in their comic culture. 

Since the film was in French, it allowed us to expand our vocabulary and listen to the words spoken faster and in real world scenarios. We observed how French humour is very different from how we perceive things in Australia. The movie was a great lesson on how they did the Olympics with a splash of their magic very early when they introduced the Olympics. 

The film featured several cameos by real-life sports stars, most prominently by Michael Schumacher as Schumix, but also Jean Todt, Zinedine Zidane, Tony Parker and Amélie Mauresmo.

To finish a great day we had a fun surprise visit to 7/11 a great little treat and a fantastic way to end an enjoyable time in the city. 

Au revoir!

Monday 21 October – Year 12 Graduation

Tuesday 29 October – VCAA Written Exams Commence

Monday 4 November – Student Free Day

Tuesday 12 November – Junior Performing Arts Concert

Friday 15 November – 2025 Year 7 Parents’ Welcome