Dear Parents and Carers

What a lovely celebration of Father’s Day we had last week.  I hope everyone made the most of the beautiful day and the special family time.

This week I had the privilege of watching the Regional Public Speaking Finals.  I’m always amazed at the confidence and ability of the children cross the grades, especially as someone who wouldn’t have had that confidence when I was at school.  Congratulations and well done to all students who put themselves forward for this competition.

Year 6 have a busy week with the Trinity sports day yesterday and the Discovery Day at the university tomorrow.  They’re proving to be great representative of our school whenever they’re off site.  Well done Year 6 and have a great day at the uni tomorrow.

Jenny Howard

Positive Behaviour for Learning

For the remainder of the term, our PB4L focus is all about being in the right place at the right time. This includes being prepared for learning, responding promptly to bells, and using play spaces appropriately during break times. When students follow these routines, they show respect for their teachers, classmates, and the school environment, setting themselves up for success.

Families can support this focus by establishing consistent routines at home and helping children prepare what they need for each school day, whether it’s packing a bag the night before or practising how to transition calmly between activities.

Grow Your Mind

Our current Grow Your Mind focus is Respect, a character strength that helps us build strong, positive relationships. Respect means treating others the way we’d like to be treated, listening to different perspectives, and valuing how others feel and what they have to say.

At school, this might look like using kind words, taking turns to speak, or showing care for shared spaces. Families can support this strength at home by modelling respectful conversations and encouraging children to think about how their actions affect others.

Taylor Stokes   

Acting Assistant Principal

In our Church tradition.... Sacramental Program Information / Parish Mass / Children’s Liturgy

Dates for the Sacrament of Eucharist:

• Ceremony at Weekend Mass (one): 21^st September-Adamstown 8am; 20^th September-Kotara 5pm or 21^st September-Cardiff 9:30pm

CLASS MASS: Please see dates below for Class Mass for Term 3. Parents are very welcome to attend. Children will be participating in readings and the offertory during these Masses. 

WEEKEND MASS TIMES FOR ST COLUMBA’S: It is always lovely for children and their families to attend Mass in our Parish. Currently Mass is celebrated each Sunday at 8:00am.

CHILDREN’S LITURGY: We have Children's Liturgy at St Columba’s Church in Adamstown at the 8:00AM Mass and Kotara at the 5:00PM Mass. You are encouraged to bring your children along each week to help strengthen their faith.

In our Community.... Save the Date - Father’s Day Liturgy, Lunch and Activities and Mission Fun Day (Socktober)

MISSION FUN DAY: Friday 26^th September (Week 10). On this day students are encouraged to come in their ‘Footy Colours’ for a gold coin donation. Stalls and activities will be set up during the middle session to raise money for Catholic Mission / Socktober, with a focus on Zambia. Your donations for this day are always appreciated. Thank you to our Mercy Committee for helping to organise this day and to our Year 6 students who will be running the stalls. We look forward to a wonderful event!

More information about the cause can be found here: https://www.socktober.org.au/

Donations Appreciated from all classes:

To run this day, we are asking each class to donate goods to ensure that every dollar made goes straight to Catholic Mission. Items for donation have been delegated among the classes. Please refer below for details. Your generosity is very much appreciated. 

• Kindergarten: small packets of chips or biscuits **nut free (bought in beforehand or on the day)
• Year 1: water ice blocks (to come in frozen on the day)
• Year 2: cupcakes or slices **nut free (to come in on the day)
• Year 3: lollies for lolly guessing competition and 2 large jars (brought in before the day)
• Year 4: lollies, lollypops, chocolate snack size and zip-lock snack bags (brought in before the day so that we can make up some lolly bags)
• Year 5 and 6: Novelty prizes for novelty games to use as prizes (bought in beforehand or on the day)
• Year 6: Coloured hair spray, nail polish, face paint (bought in beforehand or on the day)

In our Curriculum.... Module in Focus: Year 3 – Encountering God’s Forgiveness and Healing

This term, Year 3 has been learning about God’s unconditional love and how our choices can affect our relationships with others and with God. They have explored the meaning of forgiveness and how the Sacrament of Reconciliation helps us to heal and grow. Students also learnt how prayer and special celebrations like Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick continue Jesus’ work of love and care in our world.

To demonstrate their learning, children in Year 3 used loose parts and their imagination to retell the story of Zacchaeus and reflected on how his encounter with Jesus teaches us about forgiveness. Well done Year 3, this looks fabulous!

Building Faith Together: Conversations for Parents and Kids

This section provides conversation starters to help parents engage with their child’s Religious Education and deepen their understanding together.

Conversation Starter 1:

• What happens when we make choices that hurt others?
• Prompt: Talk about how saying sorry and asking for forgiveness helps heal relationships.

Conversation Starter 2:

• Why do people go to Reconciliation?
• Prompt: Discuss how it helps people reconnect with God and others.

Have a lovely week and may God bless you always,

Amie Harry and Emma McCulloch

Religious Education Coordinators

Action is required for students with BYOD Windows 10 devices as Windows 10 will soon no longer be supported by Microsoft.

To ensure your student device security you should upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as possible.

Microsoft has announced that support for Windows 10 will end on 14 October 2025, meaning it will no longer receive critical security updates.

To stay protected and ensure optimal performance, it is strongly recommended that all students with BYOD Windows 10 devices follow Microsoft’s instructions and upgrade to Windows 11 as soon as possible. There is no charge for this upgrade.

Why this matters:

• Microsoft will stop supporting Windows 10 from 15 October 2025.
• Upgrading to Windows 11 helps reduce security risks.
• Student Work Protection: Staying current helps safeguard assignments, projects, and personal data.

Ways to install Windows 11 - Microsoft Support

Upgrade to Windows 11: FAQ - Microsoft Support

Read our FAQs for more support:

How do I check what version of Windows am I running?

Select Start > Settings > System, then select About. You then see Edition, Version, and OS Build information.

We encourage all families with Student Windows 10 computers to begin the upgrade process now to avoid last-minute disruptions. If you need assistance or have questions about upgrading, please reach out to the IT support team in our school.

What if my device can’t upgrade?

If a Student’s BYOD laptop is running Windows 10 and can’t be upgraded to Windows 11 (usually due to older hardware), Microsoft is offering a free security update program to help keep the device safe for one more year.

The Windows 10 Extended Security Updates (ESU) program is designed to keep your current Windows 10 PC protected after support ends, helping you stay secure during the transition.

How to Join Microsoft’s ESU Program

Microsoft has made it easy to enrol directly from the laptop:

• On eligible computers, a setup wizard will appear in Settings > Windows Update.
• There are three ways to enrol:

1. Free – Sync your settings to the cloud using Windows Backup. You must be logged in as administrator and with a Microsoft account.
2. Free – Use 1,000 Microsoft Rewards points.
3. Paid – Buy a one-year license for $30 USD (families cover this cost).

Extended Security Updates (ESU) program for Windows 10 | Microsoft Learn

Our PEG for this term will be an informal gathering on the evening of our Kinder 2026 Welcome night on September 22nd. Parents are invited to come along to this evening to welcome any new parents, and parents of siblings, as well as to just have a chat with staff. I will also be there and available for any questions you might have, especially if you would like a less formal opportunity to speak with me. You might just like to come along to help with welcoming our 2026 Kinder parents. Staff, other than Kinder teachers, and I will be in the Year 1 room from 6:30pm and the gathering with the 2026 Kindergarten parents will be in the Year 2 classroom at 7pm. Kindergarten teachers will be speaking with parents of the 2026 class from 6:15pm.

As part of our commitment to continuous improvement, each year our school identifies a list of priorities. These priorities are carefully considered to ensure we are using resources wisely to best support student learning, wellbeing and school operations.

Examples of school expenditure priority areas that have made a significant impact in our school community in recent years include - the installation of updated interactive screens in classrooms, and  the purchase of Ipads and laptops to allow more access to devices for learning, upgrades to playground spaces, classroom resources and resources to support our wellbeing and PB4L goals.

As valued partners in our school community, I would like to invite you to complete a short survey, which will help us to ascertain our 2026 priorities. Alternatively, we would be happy to hear from you with your ideas at our PEG on September 22nd.  The survey will be distributed next week via Compass.

Congratulations to the children who were so amazing in their public Speaking Regional Finals on Monday.  Even bigger congratulations to Charlie Thomson an Evelyn Leard who will both be going on to the Diocesan Finals on September 22^nd.

Congratulations to Miller Austin on her amazing achievement of second place in the Cross Country National event this week.  She also achieved a first place as a member of the NSW team.

Parent Handbook 

https://www.adamstownsc.catholic.edu.au/for-parents/parent-handbook/

Volunteering

Please see the link below if you wish to complete the process to volunteer at St Columba's, please note this can take 2-6 weeks. You still need to complete this process if you are the holder of a working with children check.

https://www.mn.catholic.edu.au/families-communities/volunteers/

Uniform ordering

Below is due to transitioning from BME Uniforms to Yeronga

BME - 1st option 

https://scpsuniformshop.bigcartel.com/?fbclid=IwAR2fp08x9txkjn_M_gojY1clV-EFrH80Wuj9_JUrUzbqcxd-a6Au9gHCuMw

If there are items that are no longer available through BME you can visit the Yeronga Uniforms web site. We are in the process of moving over to this supplier. Link below. Some items not yet available.

Yeronga Uniforms

https://www.yerongauniforms.com/product-category/schools/st-columbas-adamstown/

Application for leave

If your child is going to be away for more than 10 school days (consecutive) the leave needs to be applied for and approved by the school principal. This form is available on Compass under School Documentation.

Adding attendance note to Compass

Full day absence can be added via Compass but partial abesence is to be entered by the parent/carer at the school office on the Compass Kiosk (late arrival/early leave). You can also put in a date range for more than one day.

A reminder that if there is a change to arrangements for your child in the afternoon, please contact the office prior to 1.30pm when possible so the note can go via the note basket, this way we are not interrupting the class learning time with phone calls.

Parents and carers are the most important educators in their child’s life. To assist you in this important role, a list of upcoming webinars provided by reputable providers, free of charge, has been compiled and is available on the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle’s Catholic Schools webpage.