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Dear Partners
“Happy New Year!” Last weekend we began a ‘new’ liturgical year with the start of the season of Advent, a time of expectation and preparation. The liturgical colour for this season is purple and it seems that even the natural world is keen to reflect the beginning of this new liturgical season, by the beauty of the jacaranda trees and agapanthus plants that are blooming and heralding it’s beginning. Advent provides an opportunity to reflect as we await the joy that Christmas brings. As the year is coming to an end, we look back with gratitude on the lives that we lead. Gratitude is the virtue of being able to receive and give thanks. Gratitude is something that helps to define goodness. It also helps us to develop in maturity of our faith. Theologian Ron Rolheiser writes about gratitude. He describes gratitude as an element that leads us to mature discipleship. He goes on to describe the essential components that we should be recognising as we mature in our discipleship. Rolheiser suggests we need to “Live in Gratitude”. To be a saint is to be powered by gratitude. We need to be gracious always. By being at peace with God, by praying and by recognising the holiness in others we live in gratitude.
At Holy Cross we can be grateful for the contribution of our community to the learning and faith journey of our students. I am in awe of the professionalism of our staff as they strive to meet the needs of all students and their commitment to making a difference in students’ lives. To every mother, father and carer, thank you for entrusting us in this partnership to support your child’s faith and learning journey. You are the first and greatest educators of your children and it is our privilege to share the journey with you.
Every best wish,
Mrs Kerrin Cronin
Acting Principal
Vinnies Christmas Appeal
Thank you to those families who have already generously donated food items for our Christmas hampers and gifts for the Giving Tree. Food donations and Giving Tree donations will still be collected over Week 9.
The below is a list of items for each class. Gift tags for the Giving Tree can be found in the school office foyer.
Kindergarten- Spreads –vegemite, peanut butter jam, honey
Year 1- Spreads: Tinned fruit, custard, summer desserts, Christmas cakes/ puddings
Year 2- Soft drinks, cordial
Year 3- Salad Mixers – mayonnaise, salad dressing, beetroot, tinned vegetables, pasta, rice
Year 4- Tea, coffee, milo, poppers,
Year 5- Sweet biscuits, shortbread, lollies/chocolates
Year 6- Savoury biscuits, chips, nuts
End of Year Thanksgiving Mass
On Tuesday 17 December the school community will come together at 9:15am for an End of Year Thanksgiving Mass. At this Mass we celebrate the 2019 school year, wish all the best to our leaving Year 6 students and staff and acknowledge the achievement of Year 6. We would love for you and your family to come along and join in this celebration.
Miss Costello, Religious Education Coordinator
STUDENT REPORTS
All student reports from Kindergarten to Year 6 will be accessible via the parent portal on COMPASS on Monday 9 December. Please make contact with your child's Class Teacher if you wish to discuss the Student Report.
Reading the Student Academic Report
When reading the student report, it is important to celebrate your child’s Learning Gains - the areas where your child has shown improvement. This section uses syllabus text to capture the new learning the student has demonstrated in the reporting period. It’s important to note that because of the specific nature of syllabus text, it is not uncommon that the same comment will appear on students’ reports from the same stage of learning. The Areas for Growth section identifies areas where your child may still be working towards. The comments in this section also uses syllabus text to capture the new learning the student will encounter as the ‘next step’ on their learning path. The final comment is written by the teacher and may cover a range of academic and non-academic areas and attitude to learning/work habits. If you need any clarification after reading your child’s report, please do not hesitate to contact your child’s class teacher.
SCHOOL CAPTAINS AND VICE-CAPTAINS 2020
Recently, students who nominated for the role of 2019 School Captains and Vice Captains delivered their speeches to students and staff. Congratulations to the following students on their formal leadership roles for next year:
School Captains: Tiahna Ross & Jarvis Chaplin
Vice-Captains: Elsie Clare & Kurt Canavan
The greatest responsibility of any leader is to serve. We wish our 2020 School Captains and Vice-Captains every success as they lead in the service of our school community.
SCHOOL DATES
School concludes for all students on Wednesday 18 December and resumes for students in Year 1 to Year 6 on Wednesday 29 January 2020. Kindergarten 2020 students will attend their individual Best Start dates and then start together on Thursday 6 February.
STAFFING 2020
Staffing for 2020 will be finalised ready to be shared with our community in our last school bulletin on Monday 16 December.
TALENT QUEST
Holy Cross will again hold a talent quest this term. This will take place throughout next week from 2pm-3pm, note change of date for Year 1 due to so many participants!
Monday 9 December: Year 3 & Year 4
Tuesday 10 December: Year 2 & Year 5
Thursday 12 December: Year 1, Kinder & Year 6
We look forward to seeing the many talents that the children of Holy Cross have on display.
CHRISTMAS CONCERT & HOT DOG LUNCH - WEDNESDAY 18 DECEMBER
Our concert will take place under the COLA on Wednesday 18 December at 10am followed by a hotdog lunch for all. The children have been practising for the concert during their weekly music and dance lessons with Mrs Sommerville and Mrs Boyle. Make sure you save the date and come along to celebrate with family and friends.
BOTTLE TOP COLLECTION - FINISHED NOW
Your support for collecting bottle tops has been overwhelming, thanks everyone. We have now stopped collecting the bottle tops at school and wish to thank Mrs Swanson and Charlie for this great initiative. Thanks Holy Cross.
PARISH NEWS AND CHRISTMAS TIMETABLE 2019
Wednesday, 18 December 7:30pm: 2nd Rite of Reconciliation
Tuesday, 24 December 6pm: Christmas Vigil Mass
Wednesdy, 25 December 8:30am: CHRISTMAS DAY - Christmas Mass
Raffle Winners
Thank you for supporting our recent Parish raffle, see below our winners:
1st Prize - Ester Marks; 2nd Prize - Julie Ninness; 3rd Prize - "Midge" Oldfield
LIBRARY UPDATE
Library Books
A reminder that all library books need to be returned for our end of year stocktake, please return all outstanding books now (no questions asked!).
Premier's Reading Challenge
Holy Cross had a record number of students who completed the challenge this year, a total of 158 which was FANTASTIC! Congratulations and well done to the following students who received the Premier’s special awards.
Gold Certificate – for completing 4 years in a row
Year 6 – Lucy
Year 4 – Mia, Lenny, Jed, Amelia, Jacob, Kitty
Year 3 – Nate, Nate, Madeleine, Jeremy, Isabella, Lara, Joel, May, Eva, Ripley
Platinum Certificate - for completing 7 years
Sommer and Hugo
TOP PLAYGROUND UPDATE
Following on from the parent consultation in October, we have been exploring options for the top playground surface. Soil testing on the top field has been completed and a plan prepared to resurface and irrigate the space. Quotes have been sought to undertake this work, and we hope a plan will be in place in the near future. We are excited to see things moving along well and we are grateful to Mr Jeff Bŏdy and Mr Greg Amadio for their work on this project.
REMINDER
The older style school uniform will be phased out at the end of this year. Working with Aussie Books for Zim, we are collecting the old uniforms to donate to a rural disadvantaged school in Zimbabwe. If you have any items from the old sports uniform, jumpers, or jackets, please drop them into the office. You can check out the great work Aussie Books for Zim do at their website, or on their Facebook page.
https://aussiebooksforzim.org/