Dear parents and friends,

At our first Whole School Assembly last Thursday morning, I referenced the importance of our Holy Cross School community. Students, Parents and Families, Staff and the Holy Cross Parish together, make up this community. Building strong connections and partnerships across all of these groups is essential for a thriving school community. Recent examples of building such connections include our Meet and Greets, Beginning of the Year School Mass and presentation of Year 6 Leaders, Open School Twilight event and yesterday's Ash Wednesday Mass. 

Additionally, last Sunday’s Parish Mass was a wonderful opportunity for many staff members to join with school families and parishioners. Father Paul provided a blessing for staff for the year ahead and reinforced the importance of the unique link between school and parish. The staff present were thrilled to see so many of our students at Mass.

CONTINUOUS CATHOLIC SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Next week, Catholic Education, Diocese of Wollongong (CEDoW), is launching its strategic plan, Lighting The Way 2023+. The foundation of this plan is based on high quality, school-driven improvement that focuses on the integration of faith, learning and wellbeing.

As part of CEDoW’s revised strategic plan, Holy Cross will take part in a Year of Renewal this year that involves participation in a School Cyclic Inquiry (SCI). This process usually takes place every four years and is a unique opportunity for our school community to reflect and celebrate our improvement and growth journey and to identify the major strategic priorities that will further enhance improvement and growth into the future.

SCI is a highly collaborative, school-led inquiry and review process that will require input from all stakeholders including students, parents and parish. Analysis of data and discernment will be crucial in this process and as such we have planned a Staff Development Day on Thursday 6 April. Parents and our community will be kept updated with details of this process throughout this Semester.

2023 ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Update

Goal 1  By the end of 2023, all students will have deepened their knowledge and understanding of our school’s Catholic values through their increased engagement in scripture and prayer life so that they actively live their faith and live life to the full.

• • Our Staff Meeting this week, focussed on developing shared beliefs and understandings of our Catholic values embedded within scripture. We explored our newly purchased Bibles and increased our knowledge of the background and contexts of the four Gospels

Goal 2   By the end of 2023, all students will achieve learning growth and increased confidence and engagement in Mathematics.

• • Students in Years 2-6 completed the Maths Progressive Achievement Test. This assessment data will be used to identify starting points for learning, target teaching and monitor student learning growth. 

• • A group of five teachers conducted a ‘Learning Walk’ during a Mathematics lesson in K-6 classrooms to collect data on how students were understanding their Maths lesson. A number of students in each class were asked the following questions:

• • What are you learning? Why?

• • How are you going?

• • How do you know?

• • How can you improve?

• • Where do you go if you need help?   

This data will inform future professional learning sessions so that teacher practice is explicit and students are supported.

The Importance of Professional Learning 

Crucial to the impact that our Annual Improvement Plan has on improving students’ faith, learning and wellbeing is rigorous professional learning for our staff. Professional learning that leads to effective teaching that in turn results in improved student learning outcomes is crucial. We have a highly effective professional learning plan for our teachers including staff meetings after school and before school, Staff Development Days, onsite professional learning (half days and whole days) as well as offsite professional learning days. 

I am very conscious that teachers’ participation in professional learning will require them to be away from face to face teaching. I want to stress that continuity of learning for students will remain regardless of who is teaching them. When teachers attend professional learning, they plan the day's work and communicate with the casual teacher regarding the needs of students. With research confirming that teacher quality is the biggest in-school factor responsible for improved student outcomes, professional learning is not a choice. The Professional learning opportunities that staff attended willI continue to be included in each fortnightly newsletter. 

P&F AGM

On Tuesday evening, our 2023 Annual General Meeting P&F meeting was held. Thank you to the parents who attended. At this meeting, the 2023 P&F Executive Committee members were voted in. I am extremely grateful to these parents for their willingness to support our school in this capacity.

President: Mrs Jenny Amadio

Vice President: Mr Chris Eyles

Treasurer: Mrs Melissa McCallum

Secretary: Mrs Merryn Murray

Thank you for your support,

Kaylene Duffin