Principal's Update - 17th November

Welcome

Dear Families, 

As the term continues to tick by at such a fast pace, we are conscious that we still have a number of pieces in the puzzle to finalise. 

As you know, we have been working diligently on our class groupings and staffing arrangements for 2024, which has been a huge undertaking this year. With that being said, we now feel well-placed to make the following announcements.

Staffing Notices

We are both excited and saddened to announce some changes to our staffing lineup for the 2024 school year.

As you may be aware, we will be farewelling Mrs Cleta Forrest at the end of the year as she embarks on her next chapter, entering a well-deserved retirement after a stellar career. Cleta has been an incredible staff member for our St Columba’s Community over the years and has contributed much to Education over 45 years and Catholic Education over the past 33 years.

We also farewell Miss Elyse McGennisken and Mr Nick Johns, who plan to travel around Australia and teach abroad. We thank both Elyse and Nick for their contributions to our school over the past years and wish them every blessing in their future endeavours.

We also farewell some of our amazing Learning Support Officers who will commence a new chapter in their lives. Mrs Maryanne McKenzie, who is taking a year off to travel and spend time with her family; Mr Lachie Greenfield, who has been appointed to a full-time position at Emmaus Primary School in Mount Helen; and Ms Marge Crosier, who will transition to retirement after seven years of wonderful service to our school.  We thank each of these valued staff members for their contributions to our community over the years and wish them all the best and every blessing moving forward.

We also bid farewell to Mrs Megan Bourke, who has just accepted a new role at Ballarat Grammar School commencing next year. Megan has been at St Columba’s in a wide range of roles since 2010, and we know that this was not an easy decision for her. However, we know that she will continue to show her care for students and support them on their education journey.

We are also delighted to announce that we have appointed two new classroom teachers for 2024. We welcome Olivia Kent and Madelyn Mc Morrow to our team.

Olivia joins us, having had previous experience as a classroom teacher at St James Sebastopol and is currently working at CEEd (Grammar) as a Kindergarten Coordinator. Olivia impressed us with her passion for student relationships and her depth of knowledge related to student development and early years learning. 

Maddy is currently teaching in the UK (London), where she is the Year 5 Lead Teacher as well as the Religious Education and Environmental subject Lead Teacher. Maddy also impressed us with her depth of knowledge related to student learning, engagement and ability to create a calm, supportive learning environment. Maddy is returning to Australia after eight years of teaching abroad. 

A strong point of both Maddy and Olivia’s interview was their discussion around and connection to the school’s Vision, and they are both incredibly excited to be a part of our community.

We look forward to them joining our fantastic team and know you will all make them feel very welcome.

We also welcome Mrs Nicole Brightly, who will commence as Learning Diversity Leader(LDL) in 2024, taking over from Sally Latchford, who will be returning to a classroom role next year. We take this opportunity to thank Sally for her contributions to the role over the past four years and know that she will continue to support the families in our community. We will be working with families for the remainder of this year and early next year as we transition Nicole into this new role. Nicole currently works as the LDL and a classroom teacher in Ballan.

Parent Teacher Interviews

This term, we are providing an opportunity for Parent / Teacher Interviews on Tuesday 28th & Wednesday 29th of November. These are optional end-of-year Interviews and not an expectation for all families to attend.  

Please log into your PAM account to access interview times and make a booking.

Digital Technology Transformation & Invite to Information Evening

As mentioned in our last letter we have been reviewing and investigating best practice initiatives related to digital technology use in schools. As part of this work, we are moving away from Chromebooks as our preferred digital tool and moving to iPads for their greater personalisation, ease of use, and creative capacity.

We will be partnering with Apple Education in 2024 and beyond to support the implementation of this, as well as working with Mr Coby Reynold’s. Coby has recently returned to Australia after teaching and working internationally for the last few years in the area of digital implementation.

As part of our rollout, we will be hosting an information session with Coby on Tuesday, 12th December, to showcase some of the opportunities iPads offer and unpack our road ahead. This is a great opportunity for families to learn more about technology use within the school as well as tips and tricks for supporting your child/ren at home. To give a rough indication of numbers, we ask that families register via the link here to assist us in planning the night.

Straight Grades

As part of a number of changes happening over the next few years at St Columba’s, as we work to bring our review goals to action, and complete the next stages of our building project, we are moving away from multi age groupings for homerooms to straight year levels. This is largely an operational shift for the school in terms of student grouping. This allows us a bit more flexibility during the building project with where classes are located next year as well as supporting our move to a structured literacy model over time. Where possible during, and post building project, students will still work in community spaces across year levels and will continue to be taught at their point of need. Straight levels allow us to better target student needs as part of our phonics and spelling programs as well as timetabling of interventions and extension programs. From the outside, there will be little obvious change other than the makeup of homeroom groups being one year level instead of two. We will have a listing of all staff/teachers, once we confirm appointments, out to families in the next two weeks.

Christmas Carols

This year, our School Community will celebrate the end of the 2023 school year with an afternoon of Christmas Carols on Thursday, 7th December. 

Each year level has been invited to perform a few Christmas Carols to delight our audience, along with some festive songs also sung by our amazing school choir.

The afternoon will commence at 2:30 p.m. and conclude at 5:30 p.m. At this stage, we are planning to have a few refreshment vendors and a stall to sell Christmas Cards designed by our students, along with a raffle.

Thunderstorm Asthma & Allergies

With the change of seasons, the prevalence of thunderstorm asthma is on the rise. As a school, we will continue to monitor the weather forecast daily for possible risks and adjust accordingly. The Vic Emergency App is also a great guide in these circumstances. It is advised to avoid being outdoors during any thunderstorm, especially during the winds that precede them. Students are asked to take their preventative medication as directed, even if symptom-free. Please ensure that student asthma plans are updated, and children are reminded to seek support if they develop symptoms.

Important Dates for Term 4

Kind regards,

Bambi Afford & Shaun Mohr
Co-Principals