Thank-You
Hi Everyone,
Thank-you all from the bottom of my heart for all that you have shared with me in your child’s 2017 school journey. I have loved being your children’s Pre-Primary teacher and feel incredibly blessed to have been a part of their wonderful early years adventures. It has been amazing to get to know you all over the year and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of our conversations, the shared stories and hearing all about your family through yourselves and the children. Thank-you all for your generosity in gifts and kindness. I will treasure the memories and continue to pray for you all.
Have a very blessed Christmas and a happy new year,
Love and God bless you all,
Anni Schelfhout
Week 9 Oh my!!!
Dear Parents
The Pre-Primary children are very excited about the various activities they will be involved in over the next few weeks.
Please take careful note of the following dates.
End of Year Thanksgiving Mass, Nativity, Morning Tea and Open Classrooms: Friday 1st December 9am
The Pre-Primary children will be participating in the Mass by acting out the Nativity. The costumes will be provided, and we will dress the students. Please ensure your child is at Pre-Primary by 8:15am on Friday 1st December to give ample preparation time. For the program of events please refer to the End of Year Thanksgiving Mass and Morning Tea Flyer located on the school website.
Transition to Year One: Monday 4th December
The class lists for 2018 will be displayed in the breezeway outside the canteen. Then, as a whole school, all children will be attending a transition session later that day. Children will move into their class for 2018, with their 2018 teacher, and have a look at the new classroom, chat and complete activities for an hour. Education assistants will also be present to get to know students.
Pre-Primary Christmas Party and Graduation: Thursday 7th December 10am
Both Pre-Primary classes will combine to celebrate the end of the year with our traditional Christmas class party. The students will be presented with a gift and their graduation certificate by a very special guest. Students are allowed to wear Christmas party clothes, Santa hats, reindeer ears, tinsel etc. This will be followed by a shared morning tea. A list for party food will be placed on the notice board. Please remember to pack your child’s normal lunch as the party food is for morning tea only.
Last day of term is Friday 8th December
We will be attending a special incursion the ‘Christmas Tree Fairy Show’.Thank you for your continued support and we wish you a very Happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year!
Kind regards,
Pamela Holloway and Anni Schelfhout
Week 7
Hi Everyone,
Can you believe that it is week 7! We still have a lot to do, so hold on tight as we race through the next few weeks.
To assist the Pre-Primary children with their transition to Year One, we will be spending our lunch time in the “Big School”.
From Tuesday 21st November until Friday 1st December, the children will be eating lunch with the Year Ones. They will be learning the rules of their new play areas, including where the toilets are, where the drink fountains are and all those important things about Year One!!!
Our learning intentions this week:
English: I can write a letter to Santa
Maths: I can write my numbers from 0- 20
Religion: I know the story of Jesus’ birth.
Also you may hear whispers from your children about our ‘elf’ cams 🙂 They have been cleaned and Santa and his helpers are watching us. You may also like to know that I am a relative of the elf family. It’s even in my name: Mrs Sch ‘elf’ hout. So you may hear your children talking about this interesting fact about their teacher.
Wishing you a wonderful week,
God Bless,
Mrs #Elfie Schelfhout
Week 6
Hi Everyone,
What amazing work the children have done while I was away! I heard that the children were very good at learning all about waiting- I was so proud of them and hope that they enjoyed their gifts, from all accounts they certainly deserved it.
This week we will be talking, reading, role-playing, writing and living the Nativity. We will be looking at various stories about Jesus’ Birth and continue with the exciting waiting period of Christmas. We will be working hard at writing our numbers correctly from 0-20, taking time to correctly form our numbers and write them neatly.
Our learning intentions for this week are:
- Literacy: I can read a small book.
- Mathematics: I can write my numbers from 0-20.
- Religion: I know the story of Jesus’ Birth.
Have a wonderful week and God bless,
Anni Schelfhout
Waiting
Hi everyone,
This week is bound to be fun as the children experience what waiting is all about. It is the beginning of our preparations for the coming of baby Jesus.
The learning intentions this week are;
English: I can read a small book.
Maths: I can measure and compare.
Religion: I know that God is with me while I wait.
Have a wonderful week,
God Bless,
Anni Schelfhout
Reminder: The P and F fundraiser: don’t forget you can order those special one of a kind, memory keepers: bring your cash and fill in your orders from tomorrow.
Fundraiser Pictures
Hi Parents,
On Monday your children’s artwork and order forms will be available to see and you may purchase items on the list. Items to choose from are: Calendars, sketch pads, mouse mats, diaries and sketch pads. Please bring cash or checks. The checks are made payable to St. Columba’s Bayswater. Prices begin from $14.00 up to $18:00
Art Calendars: $14
Cards: $15
Diaries: $18
Mouse mats: $16
Sketch Pads: $15
Not only will you have beautiful memories of your children but will be supporting our school fundraising.
Have a great weekend,
Thanks,
Anni Schelfhout
End Of Year Concert
Fourth Term Fun
October 2017
Dear Parents
Welcome back! We hope you enjoyed a relaxing holiday and are ready for our busy and exciting last term together.
Pre-Primary Sports Morning
This will be held on Thursday 19th October beginning at 9am on the school oval. The Pre-Primary students will take part in a 50m running race, 50m relay race and various team games. Please ensure your child is wearing their school sports uniform (faction polo t-shirt), school hat and sunscreen. We kindly ask you stay in the allocated parent area during the sports morning. Following the sports morning you and your family are invited to return with your child to the ECE playground to share morning recess with them.
WA State Library Excursion
We will be visiting the WA State Library on Thursday 26th October to view the exhibition “The Life and Times of Scarface Claw” from Dame Lynley Dodd’s latest book “Scarface Claw, Hold Tight!” from her Hairy Maclary and Friends series. We will be leaving school at 9.30 am on hired buses and returning at approximately 1pm. Your child will need to wear their school sports uniform (faction polo t-shirt) and school hat. We will be having morning tea at the venue, please pack your child’s morning tea and a water bottle in a disposable plastic bag clearly labelled with their name. We will not be taking school bags with us. We require three parent helpers per class and you wil need to provide your own transporation. If interested please let us know. Please sign the attached permission slip and return promptly.
Stay and Play
Our Stay and Play roster will begin in Week Two. We welcome Mums, Dads, Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles to spend a few hours in our class. Please add your name to the roster displayed on our communication board, at a date that is convenient for you.
Dates for your calendar:
More information will be sent home closer to the dates.
• Term 4 Community Mass Sunday 22nd October 9:30am
• Whole School Mass All Saints Day Wednesday 1st November 9am
• End of year concert Friday 17th November
• Christmas Mass including Nativity and Pre-Primary Graduation Friday 1st December at 9am
• Pre-Primary Christmas Party Thursday 7th December at 10am
• Last day of school Friday 8th December
Kind regards
Pamela Holloway and Anni Schelfhout
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
WA State Library Excursion 2017
I, ______________________________ give permission for my child, ___________________________,
to visit the WA State Library on Thursday 26th October at 25 Francis St, Perth.
I understand my child will be travelling by bus to and from this excursion.
Signed______________________________________________
Early Childhood News
Early Years in Education Society Tour
On October 3rd, the Early Years in Education Society group toured three schools in the metropolitan area that were examples of quality early childhood education with play based pedagogies. These schools were chosen as they were outstanding examples of excellent philosophies, creative and intentional indoor and outdoor learning environments and demonstrated a commitment to learning with the child at the centre of all planning.
St Columba’s was very proud to be chosen!
The bus tour arrived at 2:30pm, with 60 teachers hearing about our ongoing building program, philosophy and changes we have made along the journey. They were then free to peruse the Kindy, Pre-Primary and Year One classrooms, along with our ECE playground. Our staff answered questions and assisted in explaining how our learning centres catered for different learning styles and aligned with the Early Years Learning Framework. All participants then joined for afternoon tea in our library, with time for further discussion and networking.
The feedback was amazing. Several staff commented that they would love to be a student in our classes! They all tried the different activities and photographed the ideas. Notes were made, questions flew and our teachers were given lots of praise about our pedagogy and environments. It has been fantastic to hear those teachers then going back to school and making similar changes to their own classrooms as they felt so inspired.
A big thank you to Mrs Marinella Fasolo, Mrs Pamela Holloway and Mrs Anni Schelfhout who, along with Mrs Chelsea De Luca, spent many hours planning, cleaning, setting up and programming the classrooms and playground in preparation for the tour – most of the time in the holidays!
Thank you Mrs Laura Dawson and Mrs Vesna Gillians, who worked hard to get their new furniture assembled so that the tour group may see the changes we are making in year one.
Thank you Mr Greg Martin, our principal, for supporting this endeavour and ensuring all maintenance was up to date. Kindy White even had major renovations in the few days before the tour! Our maintenance and cleaning team worked constantly to help prepare the classrooms along with the teachers.
Well done everyone! Great to see St Columba’s ECE leading the way!
Mrs Chelsea De Luca
Short Term Assistant Principal (ECE)