IONA 16

Welcome Back

It was with great delight that we welcomed back the Year 7, 10 and 11 students onsite on Friday, 22 October, with all of the concomitant noise, excitement and energy that young people bring.  We look forward to what the remainder of Term 4 has in store for us as we plan for face to face lessons, exams and transition to our 2022 program.

Thank you to all of our families for your support and encouragement during remote learning.  I would especially like to acknowledge our teachers, who worked through fluctuating levels of energy and motivation as the monotony of lockdown took its toll.  I am very proud of the learning program that our teachers were able to deliver during this time.

Year 12 Celebrations

I would like to congratulate all of our Year 12 students for the way they entered into the spirit of the celebrations as they commemorated the formal end of their secondary education.  They celebrated with joy and gratitude, and it was heart-warming to be with them.  I offer all my best to the VCE students as they prepare for the upcoming VCAA written examination period which commences on Wednesday, 27 October, and I look forward to celebrating the achievements of the Year 12 VCAL students in this coming week.

To Love

Lord, You walked on the earth,
understood the broken world,
yet also rose from death into resurrected life.

I pray for my loved ones that they will be held at this time in your loving arms.
Bless the work of all people in our community,
and bring the power of your resurrection life into their body.

We thank you for the wonderful gift of our love
which You have generously granted us
and which allows us to build a true communion between us.

Make us generous in giving and humble in receiving.
Enable us to communicate to one another all our joys, sufferings, and desires
and all our hopes, sorrows, and difficulties.

Fill my loved ones from top to toe with your restorative Spirit.
May your resurrection life bring healing and wellness into their being.
May your grace carry them through this hard time into a new season filled with love.

Amen

This year our new recognition program entitled, Bronntanais o Dhia was launched. This is a Gaelic phrase which translates to “gifts from God”. We feel it is a very apt name for our program as it celebrates the practise and development of the gifts and talents of our students for the good of our College community.

In a normal school year, achieving a Learn, Connect or Engage badge in any given semester or year, will require some effort and active participation. This year, it has been made even more challenging due to COVID and the resultant cancellation of so many of our co-curricular activities.

We are very proud of the students who have met the criteria to apply for a badge. Students have been reminded to check their commendations record and, should they wish, to submit their application by Wednesday 24 November.

The cost of an award badge (embroidery on the pocket of their college blazer arranged by Noone Imagewear) is $34.50. This includes dry cleaning cost, removal and reattachment of the pocket with one award image. If the blazer is already dry cleaned (with tag attached), deduct $9.50 from the overall cost. For each additional award at the same time of submission, there is another $8.00 per award image.

Students who are successful in their application for a badge will be acknowledged at the end of term Assembly on Thursday 2 December – this is the final day of the school year.

School holidays commence on Friday 3 December.

In 2021, St Columba’s College is participating in Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys (MACSSIS). MACSSIS is an annual process whereby schools listen to the thoughts and feelings students, families and staff have about how their school can improve.

We have invited all students, staff and families to complete these surveys. Families will have received an email with their individual PIN. Thank you to the families who have completed their surveys already, we encourage as many families as possible to complete the survey before 28^th October, it should take about 10 minutes. As a college, we will review the feedback provided in these surveys and it will help us to do more of what families want and less of what they don’t want to provide a better school for our community.

Click here for more information

At St Columba’s, Year 11 students are given the opportunity to volunteer for the Edmund Rice Tutoring Program. This program is a homework club where secondary school students from different schools around Melbourne are given the opportunity to engage with younger students from the program and assist them with any homework they may have. 

Every Wednesday after school St Columba’s girls travel to the St Albans Community Centre where they help students with their homework as well as play some games. 

As of late, due to Covid-19, the leaders of the tutoring program had to get creative and think of a way for the program to continue online, so these after school sessions have now been moved to Zoom, where we are able to have fun with the students and help them learn. Running this program on Zoom is just as fun and fulfilling as it is in person as we all join together as one big group and do a check-in and play a game and then we move into breakout rooms where we start off by helping the students with any homework, or if they don’t have any homework we play some educational games to help promote a love of learning. 

On Wednesday the 13th of October, we were lucky enough to have The Australian Ballet join us for some fun. They taught us some ballet moves and we all danced together on Zoom. At the Edmund Rice Tutoring Program, these sorts of fun activities are running all of the time. Wednesday the 19th of October was Cultural Day. On Zoom, all of the students and tutors were encouraged to change their background to the flag of their culture.

This program is extremely fun and rewarding for St Columba’s students. It gives us the opportunity to interact with students who are younger than us, and they always know how to make us laugh!