Dear parents and friends,

Last week, I was privileged to attend the Diocesan Principal’s Retreat. This is an annual overnight retreat with a different focus each year. Experiencing the Divine was this year’s theme. For me personally, this theme resonated with the many opportunities I have daily to encounter Christ. I feel God’s presence all around me…albeit through the endless interactions I share with students, staff, parents, family and friends and through finding awe in God’s creation. I have always felt this…what I was reminded of during the retreat is that such an ‘awareness’ can be missing in others. Helping others ‘tune in’ to what is already around us is the responsibility of Catholic educators and I feel blessed to have this responsibility at Holy Cross.

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Our visit from Aboriginal education group, Gumaraa, last Friday was a highly valuable learning experience. The day began with a traditional smoking ceremony and ochre ceremony and from that point engagement was high. Our students’ knowledge of Aboriginal history and cultures was deepened and we are very grateful for the P&F for funding this incursion

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Today’s celebration of the Feast of the Holy Cross and Grandparent’s Day was a highlight of the term. Thank you to our very special Grandparents and visitors who were able to join with us today and spend time with their precious grandchildren. Thank you to Father Paul for celebrating mass with us today. Father Paul spoke of us being called by God to be a family and therefore loving each other and forgiving each other is what we are called to do. It was a very special day.

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Thank you to all of our parents and families for your support throughout the term. We have made fantastic progress towards our school’s annual goals, have celebrated Book Week, Literacy & Numeracy Week and Father’s Day, have cheered for the Matildas, introduced new lunchtime clubs and our garden is thriving thanks to our Gardening Club…to name but a few highlights. I wish you all a very safe and enjoyable school holiday break.

Thank you for your continued support,

Kaylene Duffin
Principal

2023 ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Update

Goal 1 

Improve students’ relationship with Jesus through the values of compassion, justice, hope and integrity.

• Miss Costello and Miss Facci participated in a Co-Teaching Cycle that involved planning and teaching a Religious Education lesson in Year 1. This session focussed on the pedagogy of storytelling.
• Staff and students were recently surveyed (as they are towards the end of each term) to gauge the impact our work is having towards this goal. Once again, there is a consistent reference to scripture across all classes and there is a gradual increase of students’ self reporting of their engagement during RE lessons.

Goal 2 

By the end of 2023, all students will have increased their confidence and engagement in Mathematics so that all students achieve growth.

• K-2 teachers participated in a collaborative planning day on Wednesday to continue their work on using the Understanding By Design approach to target the immediate needs of students. This approach is increasingly highlighting the need to challenge our students. 

A Learning Walk was also conducted in the Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 classrooms to evaluate the impact of our teaching.

• Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers have visited each other in the classroom twice in the past fortnight to observe teaching practice, in particular questioning of students and quality assessments.