Dear Parents and Carers,

As we enter into the season of Lent, we are called into a journey of conversion. It is a time to try and turn away from worldly distractions and focus on the simpler, usually more important things, in our lives. Taking time to reflect on how we think and act is pivotal to the Lenten message we instill in our students at this time. 

Our students celebrated the holy day of Ash Wednesday in the Church with Fr Paul. He encouraged all students to listen and act with their hearts during Lent so that they become more aware of the needs of people around us and try to do good deeds for others.

I wish all in our School Community a reflective and peaceful Lent, as together we prepare to celebrate for the great feast of Easter.

Kaylene Duffin
Principal

2021 Caritas, Project Compassion

On Tuesday, Year Five and Six virtually attended the 2021 Caritas, Project Compassion launch. During this launch the classes learnt how Project Compassion is helping those around the world who are less fortunate than ourselves. The Caritas theme this year is BE MORE. This theme comes from the work of St Oscar Romero who reminds us to ‘Aspire not to have more, but to be more.’ 

On Monday each family will receive a Project Compassion box. We are asking that your family donates what they can to help those less fortunate. These boxes can be returned to school in week 10. 

Throughout Lent classes will learn about the stories of a range of people who have benefited from the works of project compassion and our donations. 

Leaders of Faith - Austin, Charlotte, Matilda, Kai, Izzy, Claire and Kitty.

National Apology Day 2021

On Saturday 13th February 2021, Australia commemorated the 13th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. National Apology Day is a day to remember and pray for the children who were taken away from their families and homes and commit to right the wrongs of past injustices and build a bridge of respect between all people.

At Holy Cross, we are committed to walking together with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sisters and brothers in a spirit of reconciliation. One way of expressing this commitment is to acknowledge this apology in our school community which we did together last Friday. Thank you to our Yr 5 leaders who led us so respectfully and all students and staff who participated so reverently. 

AECG Deadly Encouragement Award 2020

Each year the Northern Illawarra Aboriginal Consultative Groups encourage Primary and Secondary schools to nominate a deadly student. In 2020, Year 3 student, James S was nominated for demonstrating outstanding critical and creative thinking skills and problem solving. A big congratulations to James on his achievements and the dedication he applies at school. 

It was very exciting and thrilled to have received this award. I was very surprised. I am very proud because I am an Aboriginal man and this award makes me feel even prouder. James, Yr 3

2021 School Improvement Priorities

Holy Cross is committed to the national school improvement agenda. As such, we have followed a comprehensive framework for school review and improvement that has informed areas of need and a plan for improvement. 

This year we have identified 4 Key Improvement Priorities:

• Educating With a Mission Lens - this is the beginning of a three-year journey in spiritual and professional theology so that staff demonstrate an active engagement in the mission of our work as Catholic educators.
• Social and Emotional Learning - we will continue to develop whole school shared beliefs and understandings of social and emotional learning so that there is a whole school approach to supporting the wellbeing needs of our students. 
• Reading Comprehension in Years 3-6 - teachers in Years 3-6 will participate in an evidence-based course aimed to improve student comprehension of increasingly complex texts 
• Assessment - we will continue to implement Learning Intentions, Success Criteria, Descriptive Feedback, Peer and Self Assessment and Individual Goal Setting into teaching programs so that students achieve growth in their learning

Uniform Policy 2021

Last Thursday, the updated Uniform Policy was shared with parents via Compass. We appreciate parents supporting this policy and ensuring students wear the correct school uniform and appropriate jewellery and haircuts. 

Year 3 iPads

Last Week our Year 3 students received their new iPads. These iPads are part of our new School Managed Program. A program where Apps are distributed to students by the school and screen times can be managed. We look forward to the learning opportunities to come and using iPads to support research and collaborative learning.

Year 6 Leadership Camp

The Year 6 Leadership camp was held last week. What a vibrant, respectful and courageous group of Year 6 Leaders we have this year. The supervising teachers, Mr Whitehall, Mrs Murray, Mrs Jennett, Miss Costello, Mr Body, Mrs Liackman and myself could not have been prouder of these students. On many occasions the staff at The Tops Conference Centre commented on the manners and respect our students showed throughout their stay.

Matilda, Mia and Addison have shared some insights

A Preview of the Exciting Year 6 Camp Adventure

We started our adventure of year 6 camp with Go Karting and we met our amazing camp leader Carissa. She taught us how to use the go-kart and toured us around the track. We finished go-karting by having a race to find a winner. After lunch, we moved on to the 5m rock climbing wall. Even though some people didn’t go up to the top of the 10m wall everyone still had lots of fun and we all agreed that the main lesson of rock climbing was to trust your friends and the people who were holding the rope. We ended our fun and exciting day with a whirlpool and synchronized swimming.

As we moved on to Thursday we started off our full fun day of activities with Abseiling, for bouncing off 5 meter walls and towering 10 meter walls all morning was truly an experience. After lunch, we ventured into the bush, as the red team and blue team tried to survive on a deserted island and face multiple team building challenges to win a free helicopter ride out of there. Our final activity of the day was archery. As we headed out the targets we learned to become one with the bow and one with the arrow.

On we went to our last activity for camp... GOLIATH!

A 27 meter high swing, the biggest in the whole Southern Hemisphere! The ultimate dare devils of this class rose high to the top of Goliath and dropped all the way down until the harness caught us at the last second. 

On this Camp our class experienced sportsmanship, teamwork, encouragement and kindness but everyone would agree that our most favourite part was the FOOD!

Holy Spirit College Year 7 Enrolments 2023 Now Open 

The Holy Spirit College Open Day and Evening will take place on Thursday, February 25 2021.  There are two sessions scheduled for the day.  

The morning session begins with an information session in the Casey Ryder Centre at  8.45am - 9.45am followed by a tour of the College from  9.45am - 11am.  

The evening session will begin with a tour of the College from 5.30pm - 6.45pm followed by the information session in the Casey Ryder Center at 7pm.  

Applications opened for Year 7 2023 on February 1 2021, and will close on Thursday April 1 2021.  Please contact the College for an enrolment package.  Enrolment poster

Is Your Child Ok?

Transitioning to a new school year can be difficult for many children. The busyness of life and restrictions imposed on children and families due to COVID, may impact on your child’s usual activities. Some of these apps may be useful for you in supporting your child’s mental health.

Smiling Mind

Smiling Mind is a unique web and App-based program developed by a team of psychologists with expertise in youth and adolescent therapy, Mindfulness Meditation and web-based wellness programs. Smiling Mind is a free tool that will assist in improving the lives of young Australians, and is available online or as a smartphone App. Smiling Mind’s mission is to provide accessible, life long tools based on mindfulness meditation. Creating happier, healthier, and more compassionate young people.

App — Smiling Mind

Calm

Calm produces meditation products, including guided meditations, a book, narrated Sleep Stories, and health and meditation videos. Their primary product is the meditation app, available on iPhone and Android devices. The app aims to help users sleep better, boost confidence and reduce stress and anxiety, all with the help of guided meditations, soothing music, and bedtime stories.

Calm - for Meditation and Sleep

What can I do if my child is experiencing a problem at school?

By Michael Grose

P&F Annual General Meeting

Holy Cross Canteen

If you have a spare hour on Friday’s from 10am to 11am and would love to be
helping out in the canteen whilst getting paid for it, contact me via email joannedonovan.jd@gmail.com

The help would be much appreciated.

Joanne Donovan, Canteen Manager

Gardening Club – We’re Back!

Rod and I are very excited to announce that Gardening Club is back this term officially starting in Week 4. Gardening Club is generously funded by Peabody’s Metropolitan Mine and runs for three hours on Thursdays. Dr Rod Armistead, aka ‘Rod’, is a qualified ecologist and has been coordinating the program with myself for the past 8 years.

Year 4 – An UnBEElievable Experience

We will be working with Year 4 this term on a discovery about the humble BEE as part of their Geography unit. Year 4 will be learning all about bees and their importance in our world through activities like incursions, data collection, honey tastings, investigation of bee-keeping equipment – so many great activities that you’ll just have to stay tuned to find out more!

Lunchtime Gardening Club

Gardening Club will be on Thursday at Lunch 1 and Lunch 2. This is a voluntary program that promotes inclusiveness through a range of gardening experiences and explores how we can look after our environment. Our ‘headquarters’ is The Patch – a dedicated food producing space of raised garden beds that are located at the side of the infants building. Our club has a dedicated group of student Leaders ranging from Year 3 to Year 6 whose mission is to make decisions around The Patch, peer teach and lead by example in all activities. All students are welcome and from the looks of it, particularly as we have had some good rain, we will have plenty to do!

Stay tuned for what we get up to next.

Mrs Sue Murray, Gardening Club Coordinator

Term Dates - 2021 

• Term 1 – Wednesday 27 January - Thursday 1 April
• Term 2 – Monday 19 April - Friday 25 June
• Term 3 – Monday 12 July - Friday 17 September
• Term 4 – Tuesday 5 October - Friday 17 December
  
  

Confirmed Pupil Free Dates - 2021

Term 2 - Monday, 19 April

Term 4 - Thursday & Friday, 16 & 17 December