Dear Parents and Friends,

This week, and over the next few days, we find ourselves in the most important time of our Catholic faith. It’s like a “grand final” in a way. Holy Week and the Easter Triduum are the way in which, through the liturgy of these three days, we as a Church remember that Christ suffered and died, but that he also came to life. The Triduum is the celebration of the Church’s salvation through Christ. 

'Triduum' is a Latin term (meaning three days) used by the Catholic Church to denote the three days that trace the final days of Jesus' life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead. The Easter Triduum begins with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper and ends after evening prayers at sunset on Easter Day. The meaning of the Easter Triduum: Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.

I wish all of our staff, students and families every Easter blessing. May the hope and saving grace of Jesus’ resurrection be yours. 

Prioritising the core work of teaching

This year’s CEDoW Education Mass provided an opportunity to formally launch the system’s collaboratively developed understanding of the Core Work of Teaching, by our Director of Schools Peter Hill.

This describes the five elements central to the work of teaching in a CEDoW school and is a critical prerequisite to delivering on the outcomes in our Lighting the Way focus area: System support for the core work of teaching. Click here to view the full core work of teaching document.

Professional Learning

Research tells us that the quality of the teacher is the greatest in-school influence on student achievement. Therefore high quality professional learning for teachers must be a priority to ensure improved teacher practice that leads to improved student growth. Recent professional learning undertaken or other professional commitments by our staff this fortnight includes:

Staff Update

After a repeated recruitment process, I am pleased to be able to inform you that we have appointed a teacher for Year 5, for the remainder of this 2024 school year. Mrs Louise Sprod has commenced at Holy Cross this week, and we warmly welcome her to our community. She is looking forward to settling in and getting to know our fabulous Year 5 students.

NAPLAN 2024

Congratulations to all of our Year 3 and 5 students who sat NAPLAN this year in the past two weeks. We are extremely proud of you for showing a calm, positive and confident approach. 

We thank Mr Bõdy and Mrs Jennett for the coordination of NAPLAN, and to Mrs Rowles, Mrs Barbuto, Mrs Sevenoaks, Mrs Baker and Mrs Mitrevski for their support of the Year 3 and Year 5 classes this year.

Proud of our students!

I encourage you to read this week’s Student Learning Spotlight, Captain’s Corner, and Library Warriors sections. These are wonderful opportunities for our students to find their voice and show us their passions, interests, engagement with their faith and proudly share their learning achievements. I am so very proud of the way in which our students, in many different ways, engage with real world issues, and are able to talk and write about these confidently. We love bringing their voice to you, so look out for these and more every fortnight! Enjoy!

Every Blessing,

Milena Colussi
Principal