Dear Parents

Welcome back to Term Three. It is amazing how fast the school year is flying by. Throughout this term your children will continue to learn about Australia’s first saint, Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Mary, was born in Victoria, January 1842 to Scottish parents. As a child it was obvious that Mary had a desire to always help and support those in need. Mary, along with Tenison Woods started the Sisters of St Joseph, an order of Nuns who set out to educate those who could not afford an education. Many of our Catholic Schools in Australia and NZ, were born from the Josephite’s hard work or based on their tradition and beliefs. Holy Cross Helensburgh, is a proud Josephite school and we continue to celebrate and live out their Charism, in particular, reaching out to the marginalised and those in need.

Ever generous God,
You inspired Saint Mary MacKillop
To live her life faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
and constant in bringing hope and encouragement
to those who were disheartened, lonely or needy.
We ask that our faith and hope be fired afresh by the Holy Spirit
so that we too, like Mary MacKillop, may live with courage, trust and openness.
Ever generous God hear our prayer.
We ask this through Jesus Christ. Amen.

Reading to your children is a crucial element in their literacy development. It not only helps them to enjoy books but it will also strengthen their knowledge and understanding of texts, build on their vocabulary and in general support their reading and writing development. Reading with and to your children will have a lasting, positive impact and is actually great fun!

Social Skills and Issues

As parents we all love our children and want to see them happy at school. If there are social issues your child is involved in please make a time to come and see their class teacher or myself. As teachers we deal with these issues on a daily basis and it is a balance between teaching different children skills to interact in a positive way and also to teach some students to develop resilience. Teaching these social skills and resilience takes time, a level of patience and definitely practice. Most times these social issues tend to be resolved relatively quickly if handled by the teachers. At times when parents contact each other, relationships between families can become strained. My experience working in school leadership for 17 years has taught me that when parents get involved with other parents surrounding social matters, the outcome is rarely positive, generally because as parents we love and want to advocate for our children which is normal behaviour. Ask us to help, take the pressure off yourself!

If your child wants to tell you the things that went wrong at school today as soon as you see them in the afternoon, let them know that they have to tell you three positive things about their day before any negatives. It’s amazing how quickly their mindset can shift. Think about the questions you ask about their day. Are they framed in the positive? The question ‘how did things go at school today?’, can be changed to ‘tell me the best thing about school today?’. Children need to be able to express their concerns but we also need to encourage a positive mindset and look for the good in the day and for the good in those around us.

Fete Coordinator/s

At our last P&F there was quite a bit of discussion if the fete should go ahead next year or move to a bi-annual event. It was decided that we would attempt to run the fete in 2020 as there were many store holders willing to run the same stores next year. Most of the stall holder positions for the 2020 fete are filled but we are still in need of a small team of fete coordinators to take charge of the event. If you are willing to step into this role, please come and see me and we can discuss what it entails. A lot of the hard work has been done by filling the stall leaders and now it is more a managerial effort of pulling everything together.

School Uniform

A big thank you to the families who are sending their children dressed in their full school uniform each day. Please be aware that children must be in their full school uniform each day at school. If for some reason your child cannot be in their full uniform please contact the school to explain why. A reminder that black runners are not part of the school uniform.

Beauty and the Beast

Yesterday Year 3 and Year 4 students attended a production of Beauty and the Beast at Holy Spirit College. The children thoroughly enjoyed the show and sausage sizzle afterwards. A huge thank you and congratulations to Holy Spirit College for putting on such a professional and entertaining show.

Gala Days

Today, most of our Year 3, 4, 5 & 6 students participated in soccer gala days at Woonona and Unanderra. In our next newsletter we will hear about their day and how each team went.

Father’s Day Breakfast

Dads (and mums), save the date. Our annual Father’s Day breakfast will take place on Friday 30 August from 8am. Come along, share a sausage, tea or coffee and then stay around for open classrooms from 9am – 10am. It’s not always easy to organise the time but I know that your kids love seeing dad in their classroom and are dying to show you what they do each day at school.

Term Calendar

Please find attached the term 3 calendar. We will attempt to make sure that all events go on as planned throughout the term. Please add any important dates to your diary.

Brendan Dickinson
Principal

LIBRARY BOOKS

Make sure that all Library books are returned on Library day.  A reminder that all books need to be returned before a new book can be borrowed.  Many thanks for your support.

SECOND HAND UNIFORMS

Students have until the end of this year before the old sports uniform, jackets and school jumpers will be completely phased out.  All clean, old uniform donations would be greatly accepted at the school, we will bundle them up and send them to less fortunate school children in Africa.  Ms Morrison (Jed & Leni's mum) has generously organised this through the UOW.  Donations of student uniforms, shorts and shirts etc, are always welcome to sell in our second hand uniform shop, all items can be dropped into the office at any time.

NATIONAL TREE DAY

ST MARY OF THE CROSS MACKILLOP FEAST DAY - THURSDAY 8 AUGUST

Next Thursday, 8 August, we will be celebrating the feast of St Mary MacKillop. Mary MacKillop and the sisters of St Joseph played a vital role in the formation of Holy Cross School. To celebrate the day we will be having a whole school liturgy at 9:15am followed by a morning tea. All are invited to join in the celebrations. 

CONFIRMATION - SUNDAY 11 AUGUST

Next Sunday, 11 August,  the Year 6 students with receive the Sacrament of Confirmation during the parish Mass. We ask that you keep these students in your prayers as they prepare for this very special celebration.

Miss Emily Costello
Religious Education Co-ordinator