News
Principal's Report
Dear community,
We end another big week here at St Columba’s and I wanted to give you an update on a few initiatives that are humming along in the background.
Week 10 Assembly
In Week 10, on Wednesday the 30th of June we will be having a special assembly. This assembly will be initially led by the Receptions before moving into an assembly to pay tribute to Mrs Wilkey.
Mrs Wilkey is a humble person. She will be horrified when she reads this as I've slipped this into the newsletter without her seeing it. She doesn't want to be the centre of attention of an event so the assembly will be low key but a refleciton of a person who has given so much to our community.
This assembly will begin at 1:45pm. I'd love to see as many of our community attend, including old scholars you may be in contact with. There will be afternoon tea following the assembly.
Regional Schools Pathway Project
We are nearing the end of an almost two year process to determine whether our school will be restructured to R-6 at the end of 2024, or whether we will be able to take our first lot of Year 8’s at that time. I wanted to answer a few questions that have popped up from our community about this process:
- When will we know?
The process should be completed by the end July at the very latest. We will then communicate with our families the result of this decision, and what the impact will be moving forward. This will allow us to proceed with the first stage of our Building Plan early next year.
- If the Middle School proceeds will it involve new facilities?
Yes. As part of the Business Plan proposal it will involve a new 7-9 facility, that will house new facilities for subjects such as Home Economics, Science and Technologies. There are examples of this type of structure being built at various Catholic Schools across Regional South Australia currently including Wallaroo, Peterborough, Murray Bridge and Clare.
- Will the current site expand?
Expanding to a Year 7-9 will most likely mean that we use purchase, or reutilize existing properties owned by the school or parish.
- What were the results of the survey?
Although individual responses I haven’t seen, the leader of the Business Plan at Catholic Education indicated that there were over 70 responses that indicated a strong demand for the school to expand to a Year 7-9 school in 2021. This was a great indicator of support from people inside and outside of our community.
Camps
Today you will receive some correspondence around our planned Camp offerings from Year 1-7. All camps will be held in Term 4. Over the past few weeks I have worked alongside the teachers and our Business Manager Margaret in looking for the best ways to make Camps tie into our educational programs, while at the same time being manageable for families. These camps will be subsidized heavily by the school to support families, as well as through fundraising opportunites including the upcoming Gather and Grow Trivia Night.
Retreat
Our Retreat down to Penola was beautiful. As you may have seen through Facebook updates we had some insightful and thought provoking speakers in Father Christopher and Father Michael Romeo who led us through the History of the Church, and also the History of one of our most significant Saints, St. Joseph.
We are a proud Josephite School. I offered a short reflection last year on what that meant for our community. Here is an excerpt from that.
Being part of a Josephite Tradition means that as a community we support people who are poor and marginalized. St. Mary MacKillop was an extraordinary woman of action and her response and that of her sister was a practical one. Small acts upon small acts. St. Mary was an ordinary person who through prioritising the needy did wonderful things for all.
Today in our school community, we teach children to care for those who are needy. To grow into people who have a sense of the common good in our society. Our community freezer exists to support those who are in times of need, while our Mini Vinnies group work as an outreach program for those in need.
The Little Collies program and the Mothers Group that are ran on our grounds and staffed by people in our school, support families all around the peninsula.
Being part of a Josephite Tradition is about serving others. St. Mary MacKillop believed the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples as an act of service. Consequently, St. Mary MacKillop and the Sisters were the first order of Sisters who did not live behind the walls of a convent. Instead they lived in groups of 3 or 4 in small houses and lived amongst their community, establishing schools and moving to communities that needed support. Everything that St. Mary MacKillop did was to benefit others.
God Bless,
Scott March