Dear Parents and Friends of Holy Cross,

We are already well settled into the new school year at Holy Cross! It has been so lovely to reconnect with you and your children, and to see the genuine excitement and readiness to begin a new year of engaging in faith, learning and wellbeing opportunities. Our staff are also enthused  and looking forward to the year ahead of facilitating your children’s learning growth and success, and supporting their wellbeing, happiness and sense of belonging here at Holy Cross. 

Our beautiful kindergarten students have transitioned so well into the routines of big school, and we are so very proud of the way they are adjusting to their “Big School” days at Holy Cross, supported by their teacher Ms Connor Young, and our team of support staff. Thank you to you as parents especially, for entrusting your child to us, and enabling their smooth transitions in the mornings and afternoons. We know you will enjoy being a valued member of our Holy Cross community. Enjoy our Kindergarten’s First Day video (shared via our Facebook page). 

At the older end of our school, our Year Six students had us feeling super proud of their wonderful sense of genuine engagement, respect and enjoyment of each others’ company, and in experiencing resilience and trust in challenging themselves, and in working as a team in a range of outdoor activities, whilst at their camp these last two days! 

From their first days to their last year, we count ourselves very blessed to be a part of each child’s journey. We value the strong partnerships we have with our families and look forward to working with you to ensure Holy Cross provides a supportive and welcoming environment with rich learning opportunities that will allow your children to improve in their learning and grow in their faith. 

May the peace of Christ be with you,

Milena Colussi
Principal

2025 Jubilee Year - “Pilgrims of Hope”

Welcome to 2025!

2025 is a Jubilee Year in the Catholic Church. A Jubilee Year is celebrated every 25 years as a time to reflect on our faith and focus on our spiritual life. This year, we have been invited by Pope Francis to become ‘Pilgrims of Hope,” - to embark on a journey filled with hope that is felt by us, recognised by others and spreads throughout our world. 

The Jubilee 2025 logo

The most striking part of the logo for this jubilee is the cross: bending towards

humanity and forming an anchor, it depicts the cross as something to cling to, especially in rough seas. It is a contemporary ‘riff’ on an old biblical image. The letter to the Hebrews describes the hope we have in Jesus as ‘an anchor of the soul, as sure as it is firm’ (6:19). The cross is not a dead symbol from the past. It is a living sign of God’s unfathomable love, and one that carries us together in pilgrimage towards heaven. The word ‘Jubilee’ comes from the Hebrew word for a ram’s horn, which was blown to announce the start of a Jubilee year in the Bible. The Logo shows four stylized figures to indicate all of humanity from the four corners of the earth. They are each embracing another, indicating the solidarity and brotherhood that must unite peoples. It should be noted that the first figure is clinging to the cross. The underlying waves are choppy to indicate that the pilgrimage of life is not always on calm waters. Oftentimes personal circumstances and world events call for a greater sense of hope. It should be noted that the image shows how the pilgrim's journey is not individual, but rather communal.

Let us embrace this special Jubilee Year as Pilgrims of Hope.

Opening School Year Mass

This morning we celebrated our Opening School Year Mass focusing on the theme of, “Pilgrims of Hope.”

Directly following the Mass we commissioned our 2025 School and Vice Captains had a special blessing for our new Kinder students. Thank you to those parents who were able to attend.

First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion 

A note was sent out via compass to our Year 3 parents to advise of the enrolment processes for the Sacraments of First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion. Please enrol as soon as possible using the QR code provided on the form. 

Dates for Workshops

Upcoming Masses

Thursday 20 February GRADE PARISH MASS: Yr 6 and 1 (9am)

Wednesday 5 March WHOLE SCHOOL ASH WEDNESDAY MASS 11:30 am

Thursday 20 March GRADE PARISH MASS: 2,3,4 (9am) 

Thursday 27 March GRADE PARISH MASS: Yr 5 and Kinder (9am) 

Thursday 10 April WHOLE SCHOOL HOLY WEEK Liturgy (Time to be advised)

In Peace,

Mrs Debbie Turton 
Religious Education Coordinator

2026 Kindergarten Enrolments

On Monday 3rd March, we will be opening our school gates for our annual Open

School Twilight to prospective families seeking enrolment at Holy Cross, especially for Kindergarten 2026! If you know of families looking to enrol, please pass on the date, and invite them to visit us! 

Our Year Six, as they do each year, will be wonderful tour guides as well.

All enrolments are now submitted via an online platform called Funnel, removing the use of all paper forms. Please take note, particularly for sibling applications. The online application form will be accessible from the home page of our school website. https://www.hchdow.catholic.edu.au/enrol/

Parent - Teacher Meet and Greets

Working in partnership with parents in support of their child’s learning, wellbeing and faith development is a great privilege. Building strong relationships between teachers and parents is vital and at Holy Cross, we offer Meet and Greet meetings to begin the development of this relationship.  

Meet and Greet appointments (10 minutes) will be offered during Week 5. Further information via Compass will be sent out about booking a time in the coming days.  We also provide you with the opportunity to reflect and write down a few important things about your child, “Getting to know your child” prior to the Meet and Greet time. A hard copy will be sent home with your child tomorrow.

Holy Cross Student Leadership in 2025

As part of our broader student voice and engagement improvement goal, we have introduced a range of student leadership roles this year. 

Last week, Years 1 to 5 completed SRC nominations and voting. We congratulate the following students who will form the SRC for Semester 1, with our School Captains and Vice Captains leading:

We will also have finalised our Mini Vinnies Team and Year 5 WEN Leaders by next week.

Important Reminders

Afternoon Dismissal Procedure

To ensure safety for all students, and ease for you as parents at pick up time, afternoon dismissal is from the top cola playground. This allows for:

• allow for ample space for our students to line up and be ready to find you, 
• allow for you as parents to be able to find your children in the one place (especially if you have children across K-6),
• minimise crowding around our main entry gate, and
• ensure that our students catching buses or walking to the Parkes Rd Crossing have a meeting point to be supervised by teachers.

Thank you for your patience in allowing our Kinder parents to first find their child for their first week or so, before we ask the rest of our students to stand when they see you. Classes move up between 2:55-3pm. The main entry gate will open for parents and carers from 3pm (end of the school day). Please be mindful that your child’s teacher has an important duty of care and supervision during this afternoon dismissal time. A quick hello and wave is always welcomed of course, any further communication can be made via email, or a phone call to the office to arrange a time to meet. We thank you for your support in this.

Food Allergies at School

We have a number of students who are severely allergic to certain foods. To ensure all students are kept safe, we ask that you DO NOT send any of the following food items to school with your child:

• Any foods with nuts - this includes, but is not limited to, any bars that contain nuts, nutella, peanut butter. 
  
• Whole eggs
• Fish products
  

Sending in Treats to Celebrate Birthdays

Some families choose to send in a small treat for their child’s classmates to celebrate their child’s birthday. If parents choose to send in a small treat to share with classmates, we ask that these be limited to Freddo Frogs or Snake lollies only.

School Uniform Policy and Reminders 

Please ensure that your child is wearing our school summer and sports uniforms with a sense of responsibility for their smart appearance as learners and pride connected to being a student of our wonderful school community! We thank you for your support in this. Whilst we recognise the start of the year may bring updates to sizes and new items such as sport shoes to be purchased, please ensure that your child has the correct summer and Sport uniform items by Week 5. A short note to explain a missing uniform item on the odd occasion is acceptable to inform your child’s teacher, who holds the responsibility of checking and reminding students. 

Summer and Winter Uniform is Worn:

Key items to note:

• This year marks the WINTER UNIFORM change to the girls uniform: all girls are to wear the school blue long sleeve shirt with pointed collar under the winter tunic. This will include the current tab-tie and current white socks.

HAIR

All students are required to wear their hair in a neat and tidy manner.

• Hair is to be its natural colour and styles; no added colour or dye.
• Patterns shaved/cut into hair, mullets, skullets, mohawks and variations of these are not acceptable.
• Hair below shoulder length or hair that hangs across students’ faces is to be tied back using a blue or gold hair elastic, scrunchie or ribbon. Navy blue or gold clips or headbands may be worn.

JEWELLERY

Jewellery should be kept to a minimum:

• Watches, chains with religious symbols are to be worn under the uniform
• One pair of small earrings (studs or sleepers) in each ear lobe – no multiple earrings to be worn.
   

SHOES AND SOCKS

• Students are required to wear black leather school shoes.
• Shoes should be cleaned and polished.
• Sports shoes should be predominantly white or blue in colour.
• Sports socks must be white socks i.e. covering the ankle. ‘Sockettes’ or ‘no show’ ankle socks are not appropriate for school wear.

ALL ITEMS OF UNIFORM MUST BE CLEARLY MARKED WITH THE CHILD’S NAME

Please find our school uniform policy for your reference.

Award Assemblies

Our school assemblies in Term 1 will be held fortnightly on Monday afternoons beginning at 2:30pm. Any change to the time will be communicated to parents via Compass. Our first school assembly for Term 1 will be held next Monday 17th February at 2:30pm on the top cola (due to the need to postpone due to adverse weather conditions earlier this week. This year, each class will share their learning focus with us at one assembly.

• Week 4: Monday 17th February - Class awards, Presentation of SRC students
• Wk 5: Monday 24 February - Year 4   Class Sharing
• Wk 7: Monday 10 March - Class & Principal Awards, Student Leadership badges presented (Sport House captains, Mini Vinnies Leaders, Environmental & WEN leaders, SRC Yrs 1-5)
• Wk 9: Monday 24 March- Year 6 Class sharing
• Wk 11: Monday 7 April- Principal Awards
  
  

Newsletters 2025

Newsletters will be published every odd week fortnight this term on Thursdays. This

is our formal mode of communication and I strongly encourage all parents to read these newsletters. You can refer to these for information throughout the fortnight, and they can be found, including past archived newsletters on SCHOOL ZINE via our school’s website under News & Events.

Compass Communication

We use Compass to communicate messages throughout the year about events, important information and reminders. Teachers may also communicate via compass, or post short reminder messages and share photos of class learning via SeeSaw.

Communicating with your child’s teacher

We value our partnership with you in supporting your child’s faith, learning and wellbeing. Respectful, informed and open communication is vital in our work together, and can be both formal and informal throughout the year. Generally, at Holy Cross, communication looks like this:

• Meet & Greet- this is a formal scheduled opportunity for you as parents to talk about your child’s strengths, needs, interests and your aspirations for their learning.
• Parent Teacher Interviews- this is a formal scheduled time mid year to discuss and share your child’s learning successes and growth.  
• See Saw or google classroom- these platforms are used by our teachers to predominantly share learning and key messages about classroom events. A guideline around the do's and don'ts of See Saw is attached here  

We also want to ensure that our teaching time with your children is maximised during the day, and so:

• To request a time to meet with your child’s teacher, please email or call the school office. This will be passed on to the teacher, and a mutually suitable time will be made.
• To communicate non urgent matters, please email or call the school office, and it will be passed on and responded to in a timely manner.
• An urgent matter- please call the school office.

Finally, please be mindful that your child’s teacher has an important duty of care and supervision of their class during morning lines and moving to class and at afternoon dismissal times. A quick hello and wave is always welcomed, any further communication can be made via the above channels. We thank you for your support in this.

School Website - https://www.hchdow.catholic.edu.au/

Our Holy Cross School website includes great information for families, including:

• All Newsletters, current and archived
• Key Dates via the Parent Calendar
• Enrolment packages- Enrolments for Kindergarten 2025 are now open!
• Policies
• Cyber Safety information
  

SCHOOL ATTENDANCE MATTERS

An updated Attendance Policy and Procedures are in effect as of 31 January 2025. 

Please read these important FACT sheets about the updates and expectations around student attendance at school. Over the term, we will continue to share further information and guides via COMPASS and our newsletter. COMPULSORY SCHOOL ATTENDANCE 

Important Dates

HOLY CROSS P&F FETE- SATURDAY 15th MARCH

2025 School Photos
School photos will be held in Week 11 of this term on MONDAY 7th April. 

Parent Calendar and School Dates

All school dates and events can be viewed on our School Website under the News and Events tab https://www.hchdow.catholic.edu.au/news-and-events/

Please click on View More Upcoming Events to see further events.

To view the 2025 School Calendar, please click on View Our School Calendar under the Upcoming Events section. From here, events can be added to your own calendar.

NEW: Term 1 2024 Parent Planner 

This is a 2 page handy parent calendar for your fridge or home noticeboard! Simply print and and have it handy for your day to day reference. Any updates and changes will be posted either via Compass or the website calendar.

Whole School Sport Carnival Dates 2025

Please find below a reminder of these dates, they are also on the Parent Calendar.

Cross Country - Tuesday 11 March @ Rex Jackson Oval, K-6 

Athletics Carnival - Thursday, 29 May Barden Ridge K-6

Swimming Carnival - in Term 4 Date to be confirmed

WELCOME TO 2025!

At Holy Cross, we believe in the transformative power of reading and are committed to fostering a love for books. Our library is a treasure trove of diverse books that cater to every interest, age, and reading level, ensuring that each one of our students can find something that resonates with them.

Our Library plays an integral role in promoting a culture of reading with each class having a dedicated Library time on Fridays. This allows our students the time to explore our collections and make choices based on their interests.

Therefore, our school expectations are that every child borrows each week (or reborrows if they haven’t finished their book).

START OF YEAR REMINDERS…

• Library day is FRIDAY for all students.
• Students are expected to bring their Holy Cross Library Bag every Friday –
  
  these bags are designed to be sturdy and waterproof to protect our books (particularly from leaky drink bottles!). If your child has misplaced their Library Bag, they may bring an alternative bag.
• If a book is damaged, it is important that it is returned to the school. In some cases, books can be repaired. However, if badly damaged there is a mandatory auditing process I must go through to write books off.
  
  

SCHOLASTIC BOOK CLUB

At Holy Cross, we promote the Scholastic Book Club. Each term, your child will bring home a Book Club catalogue. Book Club is a great way for parents to provide their children with popular literature in a variety of genres which aids in encouraging children to read. And they also make great gifts!

Book Club Issue 1 catalogues have been sent home last week. These orders will be due by 24 February 2024.

Instructions:

* jump online to order: https://bookclubs.scholastic.com.au/

* if your order is a gift, you can nominate it online as ‘gift’.

* once the orders arrive, all parents are given a courtesy call.

PLEASE NOTE: all orders are done online, the school does not collect cash or cheques.

BOOK COVERERS WANTED!

If you enjoy covering books in contact (or find it therapeutic), I would love to hear from you.

I am compiling an email list of parents who can cover books in contact and/or plastic. If you are able to assist, please email me at hchlibrary@dow.catholic.edu.au .

Any assistance in this area is very much appreciated – it enables us to get Library Books and Readers to our students quickly.

Happy reading everyone!

Sue Murray
Library Coordinator

The Holy Cross Parish Bulletin is emailed to our families via COMPASS, but it is easily accessible on the Parish website: https://www.helensburghcatholic.org.au/bulletins

An Invitation to Sunday Mass

Holy Cross Parish would like to extend a warm invitation to all our beloved school families to join us for Mass on Sunday mornings at 8:30am. 

Attending Mass as a family is not only a wonderful opportunity to strengthen and nurture our faith but also a chance to deepen the bonds that unite us as a parish, school and a wider community. 

Some things you may not know:

• Sunday Mass goes for one hour, 8:30 - 9:30am. 
• We regularly gather for morning tea and a catch up afterwards. 

We look forward to welcoming you and your family at our next Mass as we come together to celebrate the gift of faith and the joy of community.