IONA 4

Lenten Reflections
I shared the graphic below with you as we were entering the Lenten Season. As we move into the final weeks of Lent we are encouraged to commit to a Fast from Silence – a fast from not speaking out and not actively contributing our voices to speak out on behalf of the vulnerable, and especially our vulnerable planet, our common home.

Our student leaders have a special passion for how St Columba’s College can become a more sustainable community, and in doing so, protect this small patch of our common home. While we can’t solve all of the problems of the world, small acts, when they come together can make an enormous difference. Think about the individual water droplets that make up a rushing river, or a torrential waterfall – individually those drops may seem inconsequential, but collectively they create a force of nature that over time leaves its mark. I encourage each one of us to think about our Lenten Commitment this week, as a small contribution joining other small contributions, inspired by our faith, and in time making a difference as we care for our common home.

Email Policies
The College has developed an Email Policy that aims to establish clear expectations regarding electronic communication across the College community. This policy for students and families can be located on the College website or within Knowledge Banks on PAM. Students are to read this policy within the context of our Digital Citizenship Expectations, which can also be located on PAM.

Parent Engagement Committee (PEC)
The Year 7 Parents’ Meet and Greet, hosted by the Parent Engagement Committee (PEC) on Friday. 12 March, was a huge success. Strong numbers, vibrant conversations and building connections flavoured the evening. I would like to extend my gratitude to James Williams, President of the PEC, and the members of the PEC whose contributions made the night such a success. The PEC does a tremendous job in supporting the College in its work of engaging and connecting families with the College community. We look forward to their next event, the Father/Male Mentor and Daughter Evening scheduled for Tuesday, 18 May. I encourage families to keep this date free in their calendars.

Conversations with the Leadership Team

Thank you to the parents who engaged with us either on site or online – for our first session in 2021, we decided to run a blended model to allow parents more choice about the way in which they connect with us.

Our new Instructional Leaders, Fiona Hili, Suzanne Krajcer, Susan Valenzuela and Kerri McKiterick presented the College’s new Instructional Model for learning. Parents can access this document via PAM in the Learning and Teaching folder. We also provided updates about new initiatives – the Bronntanais o Dhia and Columba’s Coaches Programs as well as about the College’s Master Plan.

Parents also had the opportunity to ask questions about things of concern or interest to them.

Early next term, parents will be asked to provide some feedback about the best times to run future sessions of Conversations with the Leadership Team as well as topics of interest for discussion. We look forward to receiving your views.

Our next session will be held on Friday 14 May – we hope to see you there!

Messages via email

A few parents have asked if it is possible to have email correspondence sent to both parents rather than the first contact only. Should you wish this to occur, please contact Front Reception to make this request.

Mothers’ Day High Tea

After having to cancel our Mothers’ Day High Tea last year, we are exited to announce that this event will be going ahead this year on Saturday 8 May. An invite will be sent out on Monday 29 March. Please look out for it. We look forward to celebrating the mothers in our community next term.

Year 7 Transition Survey

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuously improving the school, we believe it is critical to seek each parent and student’s opinion on a range of issues relating to St. Columba’s College. This feedback is very important to us as we continue to build a successful school and strengthen our reputation as an ‘educator of choice’.

As such, we have engaged the professional services of MYP Corporation (MYPCorp) to undertake a strictly private and confidential School Results Survey on our behalf. It will need to be completed online between 17 March and 31 March.

Thank you, in advance, to all the students and parents who take the time to participate in the survey.

Our Opening School Mass was celebrated by Auxiliary Bishop Terry Curtin on March 11th after a false start that fell during our Covid 19 lockdown in February. On Thursday we gathered with a sense of great purpose as we recalled our Catholic story. We heard about our College theme of Hope and acknowledged the great contribution of the Sisters of Charity who were in the process of electing their new congregational leader. As we listened to the Gospel of Luke and heard about Jesus reading the scrolls in the Synagogue as was his custom, we were reminded that “scripture was fulfilled in our listening.” Being able to hear the Word of God as a community once more was a special gift we have been given in these turbulent times.

Gathering together was a welcomed experience and the girls were marvellous in behaviour and contribution to this sacred event. Students from all year levels volunteered to lead elements of the service from setting up the sacred space, serving, reading, playing music and managing backstage requirements. We have a generous community and I thank the girls for marking the opening year Eucharist with grace and Hope.

This year to raise money for Caritas Australia we have decided to organise a Hot Cross Bun Drive in partnership with Bakers Delight (Essendon). Caritas Australia is a Catholic relief, development and social service organization operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. Collectively, their missions are to work to build a better world, especially for the poor and oppressed.

Orders are already open and will close on the 24th of March. We will be handing out orders on Wednesday 31st of March during recess and lunchtime at Gayip-biik (the last day of Term 1). For Year 7 students and parents, you can collect your order from the Buckley Street gate, once the girls arrive back from camp.

Each pack comes of 6 Hot Cross Buns is $8, with three flavours on offer; 

• Chocolate
• Fruit
• Apple and Cinnamon

You can place your order via the College Shop (instructions attached if needed). The link for the online shop is on the top right hand corner of the school website. Alternatively, you can place your order via the paper form handed out to students during homeroom with cash. Paper forms and cash will need to be submitted to Front Reception in a sealed envelope.

We thank you for your support;

Caritas Ambassadors

The Parents Engagement Committee successfully hosted the Year 7 Parent’s Meet and Greet event last Friday, 12th March. It was fantastic to have so many attend and take advantage of the opportunity to meet other new parents and share their experience of having a ‘Year 7’ at the College. Parents also had an opportunity to meet the Leadership Team and chat with the committee members.

The atmosphere was just as amazing with the weather being a warm 25deg throughout the evening and full catering provided by Benny and Me.

Much thanks as always to the College Leadership Team for their support of the event. And thanks for the amazing work of the PEC members who hosted the event, making sure that the Parents had a wonderful night.

Keep an eye out for any Parent Engagement Committee news throughout the year via Iona or the College social websites. Our next upcoming event will be the Father/Male Mentor Daughter Night to be held on Tuesday, 18th May…..so save the date!!

If you have any questions about the Parent Engagement Committee or would like to get involved, please contact us via parents@columba.vic.edu.au

In our physics unit this semester, the year 10 students participated in an excursion to ‘Road to Zero’. ‘Road to zero’ is a campaign developed by young individuals to tackle our acceptance of death and injury on our roads. It is a world first education centre providing us students with an engaging and personalised learning experience about road safety. The successful aim of ‘Road to Zero’ is to reduce road trauma by building knowledge and awareness that will empower young road users or pre-learner drivers to make safe decisions on our roads by associating it with one’s understanding of physics.

During this particular excursion, we first participated in the ‘Road to Zero’ Experience Space. This space allowed us to explore a range of interactive exhibits at our own pace. A Zerocard enabled us to interact with the exhibits and record their experiences. As we discovered the principles of Towards Zero, we were encouraged to consider a future free of death and serious injury on our roads and how we might achieve this. An example of this was when we engaged ourselves in interactive activities such as the crash forces elevator experience which demonstrated and educated us on the impact that different speeds on the road can have on our bodies. Following the Experience Space, we took part in a physics experiment that allowed us to explore the impacts of speed and friction on stopping distances. This was completed by applying our learning to real-world problems in the physics challenge and working in team based challenges to examine the roles of setting speed limits and the effects of implementing road safety. Through this, we were able to gain insights into the impacts of speed and an understanding of the notion of inertia as described in Newton’s first law of motion.

Overall, this excursion was not only enjoyable, but also educational. It provided me with a first-hand understanding of the science of motion and how by building forgiving roads, matching travel speeds to the vulnerability of our bodies and sharing a commitment to safety, zero is possible.

Blind Date with a Book wrap-up!

To celebrate Library Lovers’ Day, Sophia Library once again ran their Blind Date with a Book event throughout February!

Once again, it was a huge success, and Library staff were thrilled to have so many students be involved. Check out the following infographic for the stats!

Thanks to all who took a chance on an unknown book – keep an eye out for the event again in the future!

On Tuesday, the House Representatives and Student Executives got together and had a training day, we learnt about how to work as a team and many skills that will help us make your ideas come to life. It was a super-effective day because we got to learn more about our own house colour saints, learned about the STC Bronntanais o Dhia Program and got to know about our school’s theme which is “HOPE”. 

All of the girls had so much fun with the yLead team Amy and Shaun as they encouraged us to not only talk to our own year level but how to be a leader in everyday life. A quote I love from yLead was “being a leader does not mean having a badge, it is about how you show your actions to others” We got to do many fun activities about the “10 steps to success” which was one of my favourite activities. The day overall was so exciting and I made so many new friends.

On Wednesday night 11th March, 30 of St Columba’s best swimmers and divers competed in the SCSA Swimming competition at MSAC – And what a night it was!  The night was filled with excitement and was overall a great night for St Columba’s College.  We were the overall winners in all categories for swimming and diving in our division and we were awarded 1st place in the overall competition for division 3!  

A big congratulations to all swimmers and divers for their hard work and dedication.  The entire team competed with enthusiasm and demonstrated the St Columba’s spirit.  Such fantastic results throughout the night and it really was a great way to start the year for our first SCSA competition.

A big thank you to all the year 12’s in their last SCSA swimming competition. The group of dedicated girls demonstrated great leadership and encouragement to all of our girls participating.  

The team would like to say a special thank you to the coaches Mr Mercieca, Ms Marusic, Ms Krajcer and Ms Robinson for their commitment to the team over the past 5 weeks.  Thank you for sharing your expertise, advice and motivation.

Once again congratulations girls!

On Thursday 11th of March, the SCSA Tennis Division 2 competition was held at Boroondara Tennis Centre.  A successful day for all schools and a big thanks for all who participated and helped throughout the day.  St Columba’s College competed extremely well but unfortunately didn’t bring home an award this time round.  Our juniors came 2nd place, intermediates came in at 3rd place and our Seniors also came 2nd place.  Great achievement by all and you should be very proud.

The Careers Newsletter topics this week include:

• Australian Defence Force – Gap Year Program now open
• Electrical Careers – pre apprenticeship test
• William Angliss – learn about careers in the food, events, hospitality and tourism industries
• The Hotel School Melbourne – learn about careers in hotel management
• Motorsports courses
• Join the Year13 website and explore your future pathway options
• Focus on engineering courses and careers
• Health and medical sciences at The University of Melbourne and
• Monash University
• Apprenticeships and Traineeships
• Dates for your diary

Access the newsletter here.

Visit the Pathways website here.