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Dear Parents and Carers,
It is with much pride that I have accepted the permanent position of Principal at Holy Cross. I discovered very early on in my caretaker role this year, how very special this community is. It truly is a Vibrant and Caring community.
As Principal, I am committed to leading a community that provides quality Catholic education for all. This vision is two dimensional. Firstly, it is Quality Catholic and secondly, Quality Education.
To be Quality Catholic, we will be committed to creating, what Pope Francis calls, a ‘community of missionary disciples’ - a mission culture - where all of us, students, parents, staff and Parish, understand that service to others will make present God’s kingdom of love, justice, mercy and reconciliation. Quality Catholic refers to the way we provide wellbeing and Pastoral Care, the quality of our relationships and most importantly the emphasis we place on making our faith relevant to our students.
Quality Education is building a culture of effective teaching that is committed to student learning growth - at least one year of growth, for one year of school - regardless of your starting point.
I am looking forward to building on the strong relationships I have already formed this year with staff, students and parents. I believe quality relationships are pivotal in developing trust and ensuring an authentic partnership between home and school.
There is much to be excited about as we work in partnership to provide our students with a quality Catholic education.
Bushfire Management Plan
Over the past few weeks, we have been in the process of updating our Bushfire Management Plan.
This is done with rigorous consultation with the Rural Fire Service. We have met with RFS personnel on numerous occasions on site as well as many phone conversations. A significant component of our consultation process involves liaising with Helensburgh Public School to ensure our plans complement each other in the event there is an immediate threat in the Helensburgh area.
The next step in our process is to consult with our parent community. On Monday, we facilitated a parent information session via Zoom to share our Bushfire Management Plan and provide opportunities for questions and clarification. Below is a document that highlights the key points of our Bushfire Emergency Plan. We encourage all parents to read this document carefully.
We have captured the following main points from the Zoom session on Monday, from Rural Service Inspector, Micheal Gray:
- In the event of a Bushfire two options for action are available:
Option 1: School Closure Procedure
Option 2: Shelter in Place Procedure
- The Rural Fire Service has used the events of past bushfires (NSW and Interstate) to make the decision to Shelter In Place rather than evacuate in the event there is an immediate fire risk when students are at school
- Parents are encouraged to develop their personal bushfire plans for when they receive notification via SMS from CEDoW to inform them the school has invoked a Shelter in Place
- A Shelter In Place could potentially go for many hours and into the night
- The school will remain open when students are onsite, despite a Shelter In Place having ended but parents are unable to collect their children
To ensure the CEDoW has accurate mobile phone numbers, it is crucial that parents inform the school office whenever mobile phone numbers have been changed.
Yesterday, we held a Shelter In Place drill for all students and staff. This is an important part of our Bushfire Management Plan and provides opportunities for us to reflect on and practice our procedures.
Pupil Free Day
Monday, 23 November 2020.
Staff will participate in a Spirituality Day. There will be no school for students on this day.
Mrs Kaylene Duffin
Principal
Steptember Gala Day
Being online during the school holidays
The holidays can often mean that children have more time to play on their devices than what they do during the school terms. This may be a good time to reestablish your expectations as parents as to what you deem to be appropriate use of electronic devices.
The https://www.esafety.gov.
The https://www.esafety.gov.
Mrs Kate Jennett, Assistant Principal
Year 6 Virtual Mass With the Bishop
School Resumes
All students to return to school Monday, 12 October.
New School Phone System
The school telephone system has recently been upgraded, please contact the school using Ph: 4294 1588. If your call is not answered directly, you can leave your details and it will be sent to a message bank and you will be called back. Let the office know if you have any issues contacting this phone number at any time.
Student Drink Bottles
A reminder for all students to bring in a drink bottle full of water each day, especially during these warmer months, this is very important as the bubblers are out of use due to COVID.
Year 6 Fun Photo & School Captains Photo
If you would like to order a copy of either of these photographs, orders can be made online at www.theschoolphotographer.com.au - use the online order code:
20S1643VT39H
Gardening Club
Plant Fibre, Animal Skins and Molluscs!
Kindergarten
In Week 8 our Kinders investigated all things fibre and skin by examining different items and trying to guess which animal it came from. There were some tricky items too like a silk scarf (silkworms), an Akubra hat (rabbit pelt) and no one guessed that my bag was made from goat hide with Kinder’s finding it hilarious that I called it my ‘Goat Bag’! We then looked at what someone in a cold climate would wear compared to a hot climate, I think the photo of Pippin and Abbie below says it all!
Week 9 was where Gardening Club met Maths. Kinders graphed their Taste and Sniff results to find out what the top four items will be for The Great Taste and Sniff Off (to be conducted in Week 10). Mandarins, raspberries, cucumbers and strawberries were the final four, which fruit will reign supreme? Results in the next newsletter!
Lunchtime Gardening Club
Due to it raining in Week 8, our illustrious leaders met in the Library at Lunch 1 to update our display. Lunch 2 they spied my fibre and skin items from our Kinder session and all, very enthusiastically, wanted to play the game we played with Kinder all I will say is that they faired no better than our Kinders!
Beautiful sunny weather was Week 9 and yes, we were still mulching! Some of our members decided it was time to pull out our winter veg which we’d finished harvesting and to the delight of our ‘snail hunters’, there were stacks of those sneaky molluscs which were well hidden, very well fed and of course, needed to be relocated.
Stay tuned to see what we get up to next!
Mrs Sue Murray, Gardening Club
Canteen Menu - Term 4
Plants For Sale
A number of plants which are left over from our 2020 Holy Cross Fete are available for sale for $2 and $5.
Plants include a range of succulents, bromeliads, liriopes, variegated society garlic, salvias, begonias, plus others. To purchase please ring Merilyn on 0414 819 742 to arrange a time to visit my house.
