May the strength of God pilot us, may the wisdom of God instruct us, may the hand of God protect us, may the word of God direct us. Be always ours this day and for evermore.

St Patrick

Dear Parents and Friends,

Our School Fete was a wonderful community event which demonstrated the true spirit of working together for the benefit of all. The time, effort, organisation, show of service, genuine enjoyment and fun was very visible on the faces of parents, staff and students. Despite some drizzly and gusty weather, our many families and visitors enjoyed the rides, entertainment, food and gifts on offer. It was lovely to have our local Helensburgh RFS and local community stallholders with us to add variety to the day too. There are many photos of the day posted on our facebook page for you to enjoy!

Diocesan Education Mass 

Last week,  I had the honour of attending the Diocesan Education Mass with our staff and senior student leaders Isabella Eyles and Amelia Richards accompanied by Amelia’s mother Laura. This Mass is a very special opportunity for all 38 schools in the Diocese of Wollongong and CEDoW staff to celebrate everything that is special about quality Catholic education in the Diocese of Wollongong. During this mass, I was commissioned to be Principal by Bishop Brian Mascord. Whilst I am not new to the role, my welcome to both the diocese and here at Holy Cross has by far been one of the most humbling and touching of my leadership journey. I love teaching and leading, and it is truly one of the richest and most rewarding of vocations to be called to. I am deeply grateful to you, the Holy Cross Community, for your welcome and support. 

2024 Annual School Improvement Plan 

Our improvement focus and actions in the past two weeks have continued to be centred around Goal 3: Excellence in Teaching: By 2027 all students will be engaged, challenged and have maximised their learning growth.

In 2024, we will develop alignment between curriculum teaching, learning and assessment in English and Mathematics.

• Our teachers have all engaged in collaborative conversation meetings around their student assessment and observation of learning data. This has helped to identify where they can further plan their teaching in English and/or Mathematics, to meet the varying needs of students in their class, and what further screening, adjustments, differentiation and support can be actioned. This work reflects our goal around alignment.
• Our ‘Learning Walks’  for the writing component of the English Block in K-6 has provided evidence and affirmation of past teacher professional learning being maintained and embedded in classroom practice. Examples of these:
• 100% of students who were asked during the Learning Walks “How are you going with your writing?” and “Where do you go for help with your writing?” could answer these questions, stating that the classroom “Bump it up Walls” help them to improve their writing. “It helps me choose great words which make my narrative more exciting to read”  or “... to convince the reader”
• The older students we asked (Yr 2 and up) were able to talk about what they were learning about  and why, and how/ what they may improve. “We are learning to write Persuasive texts so that we can convince others to do or think about something”
• The Learning Walks also identified strategies to further refine the way we continue to support student learning. For example, further modelling the use of evaluative words which students can use to describe how they know they are going well, linking back more explicitly to our visible learning intentions and success criteria.
• Our leadership team staff have attended significant professional learning days around the Primary English and Mathematics syllabus in the past two weeks. These are informing the design of our Staff Development Days for Mathematics (coming up 2nd April- Pupil Free Day) and English (Term 2) as well as the focus for collaborative learning and planning which our teachers will all receive system funded release time for the implementation of the English and Mathematics Syllabus over the next few terms.
  
  

Help with K-2 Readers Book Covering

We sincerely thank the parents who have picked up our newest sets of reading books to be covered. We are well on the way, and still have sets ready for pick up from the office! If you have time, and would prefer to cover some in the company of another parent, our Library space is free to use on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays (mornings or last hour of the day). Just bring a coffee and see us at the office! 

Emergency Lockdown & Evacuation Drills

As part of every school’s Work Health and Safety procedures, we conduct evacuation and lockdown practice drills.Today we practised a lockdown, and next Thursday we will practise an evacuation practice. We encourage you to speak with your child about the importance of these practices in keeping them and us all knowledgeable and safe, should a real life event occur.

Homework Review

Thank you to the many parents who, via the Meet & Greet “Getting to know your child” surveys, commented on the Homework question. We had 120 returned! This was valuable information for teachers, as well as a great reflective way for you as parents to think about your child and their learning. 

There were a wide variety of parental viewpoints around the place of, need for and nature of homework:

• Daily reading of books K-6 was seen as very important. As educators, we agree! This practice and expectation will continue.
• Many of you stated that homework is a great way to see what your child is learning about, to see their abilities and growth over time.
• Many parents recognised the importance of homework helping students, over time and depending on age, to establish a routine, good study habits, and a positive learning mind sets (perseverance, time management and preparation for highschool to enable greater independence and self responsibility for our older students)
• The need to keep things simple and balanced (again, dependant on age), have the essentials in place (Reading, some opportunity to be able to either revise, consolidate as needed, or for some as a choice, a challenge).  
• It can be, for many families, a challenge for a variety of reasons- the preference for family time, working parent commitments, after school activities, and being able to support their child when there is reluctance) 
• Some parents commented on flexibility in completing homework

Next step? These comments, along with staff feedback, will inform an update on the school’s Homework Policy (last reviewed 2022) and communicated in the coming week via COMPASS. 

See Saw Use update

This is a wonderful tool through which you as parents can see an aspect of your child’s and their class’s learning each week. Many of you commented on the value of this tool in our recent Meet & Greet “Getting to know your child” surveys. Of course, teaching and learning in our classrooms is our key focus, and the use of See Saw will always be balanced. So that we as teachers, and for you as parents, are on the same page around the expected use of See Saw, we share these key guidelines:

Seesaw K-6 Practices-   

• All of our classes use a class Seesaw page. Year Six may use Google Classroom as a way to share their learnings.
• The learning captured will be a mix around English, Mathematics, and other focus areas the class is learning that week.
• Teachers, and our students as they learn how to,  can share English/ Mathematics learning tasks and other items relating to current learning. A weekly post is usual, sometimes a couple extra may be shared. 
• A description of the photo/ work will accompany the file uploaded, whether it be a recording or written description by the teacher or student
• Capturing what the students are proud of is paramount
• Provide a variety of Seesaw options for sharing ie. photo or work, recording, text, videos

• Teachers will only use the message box to communicate whole class messages to parents, eg, reminders to bring/wear something, about a class event. 

Parent Use Guidelines : Importantly, please note the expectations for parent use of See Saw:

• Parents are invited and encouraged to comment on their child’s work samples
• Parents should not contact their child’s teacher via seesaw messages about an individual student matter relating to health, wellbeing or questions about learning or progress etc. 
• Any important information or a request to speak or meet with should be communicated via the office email or if urgent, phonecall.

If you need to communicate a message or speak to your child’s teacher, we ask that you do this by:

• phoning the school office and asking that your child's teacher return your call; or
• contacting the teacher via our school office email at info@hchdow.catholic.edu.au  to arrange a time to talk, or to have a message passed on to them.

If the matter is urgent please contact the school office on (02) 4294 1588.

We ask for your patience in response to your request as schools are busy places and the main priority and responsibility of staff is the education, safety and wellbeing of the students in their care during school hours. Requests by parents for information and meetings will be responded to as quickly as possible.

Information for Parents and Families - Parent Talk Newsletter

Parent Talk newsletter aims to provide parents and carers with relevant and timely information about parenting, education, wellbeing, upcoming Council of Catholic School Parents (CCSP) events and webinars for parents, and significant Catholic news and events.

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT represents all parents and carers of students in our Catholic schools. We value and promote the critical role that parents play in the education of their children, and provide leadership, advocacy and support for parents and carers of children in almost 600 Catholic schools. Parents and carers are invited to subscribe to CCSP’s Parent Talk newsletter to receive future editions and keep up to date with how our Council supports Catholic school parents to support their children’s wellbeing, faith journey and academic outcomes. Click here to subscribe.

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT Survey

The Council of Catholic School Parents NSW/ACT is conducting a survey to gauge parental involvement in their child's school including their learning. They are looking to receive feedback on areas that are really important to parents. Participants have the option to receive a 2024 Faith Diary as a token of appreciation by providing their name, address, and mobile phone number at the end of the survey. The survey link is provided: CCSP Survey.

Every blessing,

Milena Colussi
Principal