Dear parents and friends of Holy Cross,

Welcome to Term 3! Thank you for having your children so well prepared for their return to school and the beginning of Semester Two. 

Term 3 is always a busy term with our celebrations of Book Week, Science Week, Literacy and Numeracy Week and the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross which will also include our Grandparents Day celebrations. The Sacrament of Confirmation will also be received by many of our Year 6 students this term and of course our Family Fun Day will be held on Saturday 6 August.

Please read our fortnightly newsletters (Thursdays, odd weeks during the term) which are sent to parents via email and Compass and can also be found on our school website, to keep updated with the many events happening throughout the term. These fortnightly newsletters are the official means of communicating with parents and therefore I encourage everyone to read them. 

I am very pleased to share that the external works to the administration building were completed this week and the internal works will be completed early next week. This means that Camp Australia will be able to return to their original space, the Music room will be operational once again and the staff will be able to return to the Staffroom. The water damage occurred on 1st March and I thank all of the staff and Camp Australia staff for their patience, understanding and flexibility during these four months.

God Bless,

Kaylene

Welcome back everyone to Term Three. This term the school Religion calendar is jam packed. Some of the Religious events occuring in Term 3 include the Year Four Religious Literacy Test, 1 August; Year Six Mass with Bishop Brian, 3 August; Feast Of Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop and Mass, 9:15am 8 August; The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Mass, 9:15am 15 August; World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and Liturgy, 1 September; Feast of the Holy Cross and Grandparent Day, 14 September; Year Six Confirmation, 14 September; and class parish masses. Parents and friends will be invited to all of these special celebrations. 

Additionally, each fortnight as a school we explore a Scripture passage and focus on the messages that we can learn from these passages. This fortnight's scripture reminds us that we are all God’s children and we do what is right for the good of all. 

1 Thessalonians 5:5, 11, 15-18, 28

5 You are all children of the light and children of the day. 11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

28 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. 

Emily Costello
Religious Education Coordinator

Assemblies

Our school assemblies in Term 3 will be held fortnightly on Thursday afternoons beginning at 2.30pm. Any change to the time will be communicated to parents via Compass. Our first school assembly for Term 3 will be held on Thursday 28 July at 2.30pm.

Mufti Day and Chocolate Donations

Tomorrow, Friday 22 July, students are welcome to wear appropriate mufti clothing (clothed in shoes for Sport and casual clothes) for bringing in a donation for the upcoming CHOCOLATE TOSS stall at the Family Fun Day.  

Students are asked to bring in items suitable for the chocolate toss game. This could be a block or box of chocolate, share packs, single bars etc. If you are unable to purchase these items, just send in a $2 DONATION and we chocolates will be purchased on your behalf. 

Uniform Update

Following a very lengthy tender process to acquire a contract with a uniform provider, we are pleased to announce that Claudine Schoolwear was successful in this process. Claudines will provide the following new services as part of this contract:

• any items purchased online over $30.00 via the Claudines website, will be delivered to the school once per week. This service will begin tomorrow, 22 July, 2022. Orders made before COB each Tuesday will be delivered free of charge to the school on the following Thursday. Parents are still welcome to purchase in-store or pay the delivery charge to have items sent to their home address
• Claudines will provide a ‘pop-up’ shop at the school twice per year; the Kindergarten Orientation Day in Term 4 and the end of Term 1 prior to the change to winter uniform, so that items may be tried on and purchased

As you would be aware, in 2023, girls will have the option to wear trousers in winter and culottes in summer.  This decision aims to promote confidence to participate in physical activity and to provide warmth in winter. This winter, girls have been given the option to wear grey trousers with the blue peter-pan collar as an interim measure. After consultation with a parent group and school staff, we have now formalised such changes to the School Uniform Policy which will begin in 2023.

• To begin the 2023 school year, girls will have the option of wearing grey culottes with a blue short sleeve shirt. This shirt will be the same shirt as the current boy’s summer shirt. These culottes will be available to look at in Term 3 and ready for ordering in Term 4 ready for the 2023 school year. There is no obligation for girls to purchase the culottes as the summer dress will remain an official uniform item. There will be no change to the boy’s summer uniform.
• In 2023, girls will also have the official option of wearing grey trousers. There will be two styles to choose from: the current boy’s elasticised trouser or the new trouser with zip and button. If any girl chooses to wear either trouser, they will be required to wear the long school tie, the same tie as the boys currently wear. They will also be required to wear the blue long sleeve, pointed collar shirt, the same as the boys currently wear. There will be no change to the boy’s winter uniform.

As part of the consultation process, it was deemed necessary to ensure an element of consistency of the colours of the uniform. Therefore, the girls culotte and the girls trousers will be made in the same colour as the current boys shorts/trousers. Similarly, it was decided to move to a long term change in the colour of the girl’s long sleeve winter shirt. Currently, the girls wear a light blue, long sleeve shirt with a peter-pan collar under their winter tunic. This is a different blue to the current boy’s long sleeve shirt with a pointed collar. Therefore, girls who choose to wear trousers will wear the same long sleeve shirt with a pointed collar and will also be required to wear this same shirt under their winter tunic by 2025. Thus the light blue, long sleeve shirt with peter-pan collar will be phased out over the next 2 and half years.

We will continue to communicate these uniform options and changes to parents throughout the year.

Canteen News

Our Canteen is open each Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for Breakfast and Lunch. Any changes to these opening days will be communicated via Compass. Please find the Canteen Menu here. A reminder that ‘Sticky Beak’ reusable lunch bags can be purchased from the school office.

NSWPSSA - NSW All Schools Cross Country Championships

Good luck to Eddie and Jesse tomorrow who are representing MacKillop at the NSWPSSA - NSW All Schools Cross Country Championships. Both of these boys have been training so very hard and we wish them all the very best!

Term 3 P&F General Meeting

Our next P&F Meeting will be held on Tuesday 9 August at 7pm at the Helensburgh Pub in the upstairs meeting room. At this meeting, we are required to ratify the P&F Constitution. The P&F Constitution can be found below

Stanwell Park Craft Club