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Dear parents and friends of Holy Cross,
Next week, we begin the final phase of our 2023 Kindergarten Transition program. Our 2023 Transition to School Playgroup will be held each Tuesday and Thursday morning during weeks 4-8. On behalf of our entire school community, I welcome each Kindergarten student and their families. We look very forward to working in partnership with all parents with the ultimate goal of providing a safe, caring and nurturing environment that provides excellence in learning and growth in faith for each student.
We are thrilled to welcome our new students and families into our community. Our Year 4 students who will become the ‘Buddies’ of these students, are also excited and will play a big part in the upcoming Transition to School Playgroup.
Thank you for your support of our school.
God Bless,
Kaylene
Scripture Focus
This fortnight our scripture focus comes from one of the four Gospels. The Gospels are reports of the life of Jesus Christ. This week we look at the story of The Widow’s Offering from Mark’s Gospel. In this story the widow gave all she could. This reminds us all to be the best people we can be in all we do including following the four school rules of; be respectful, responsible, safe and kind.
Mark 12:41-44
The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts.
42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.
44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
All Saints Day Mass
Next Tuesday, 1 November is All Saints Day. The School and the Parish will celebrate this special feast with mass at 9:15am. All are invited to attend.
Catholic Mission Month
October is Catholic Mission Month, which is when we as a school community support the work of Catholic Mission through learning about the organisation and raising funds. On Monday Year Six hosted a bake sale as a fundraising initiative. The creations were not only delicious but raised over $250. Congratulations to Year Six for an amazing sale and your dedicated baking.
Additionally, yesterday was Crazy Sock Day to support Socktober for Catholic Mission. Thank you for supporting this great initiative with your donations. The school also joined together to pray a mission rosary and watch Year Six and their sockball shootout.
Miss Emily Costello
Religious Education Coordinator
Recent Staff Professional Learning
"Research tells us that the quality of the teacher is the greatest in-school influence on student achievement. Therefore high quality professional learning for teachers must be a priority to ensure improved teacher practice that leads to improved student growth. Recent professional learning undertaken by our staff this fortnight includes”
17 October
Religious Education Data Analysis
Miss Costello
20 October
2023 Kindergarten Transition - Pre School Visits
Mrs McEntee
21 October
Learning For Leadership course
Miss Costello
24 October
Reporting Committee Meeting
Mrs Jennett
27 October
SPOTLIGHT on Technology
Mrs Mitrevski, Mr Body, Mrs Barbuto
28 October
SPOTLIGHT on Technology
Mrs Mitrevski & Mr Whitehall
31 October
Strategic Planning Colloquium
Mrs Duffin and Mrs Jennett
2 November
K-2 Syllabus Workshops (Half Day)
Mrs McEntee, Miss Facci, Mrs Hennock
3 November
Religious Education Network Meeting
Miss Costello
Diocesan Public Speaking Competition
Congratulations to Patti - 2022 Deadly Encouragement Award
The Northern Illawarra local AECG Deadly Encouragement Awards are presented annually to recognise and reward Aboriginal students who have over the past year demonstrated a commitment to improve over a range of mediums. This year, the Holy Cross recipient is Patti in Year 2. Patti demonstrates resilience and patience in a range of situations including with her learning in the classroom and in personal and social situations. Patti gives 100% effort in everything she does and as a result she is a wonderful role model to other students. Well done, Patti! We are very proud of you.
Students’ Messaging Parents at School
If students need to contact parents for any reason whilst at school, including in instances where a student feels unwell, students MUST go to the school office where office staff will arrange contact. Students MUST NOT message parents on iPads, phones or smart watches without a teachers’ permission whilst at school. Students remain under the school’s duty of care whilst at school. We thank you for your support with this.
Assemblies
Our next school assembly will be held on Tuesday 8 November at 8.50am. Everyone is welcome.
Girls School Uniform
Claudine’s have delivered a range of the girls’ culottes to the school office for sizing. If you would like to have a look at them and perhaps allow your daughter to try them on, please visit the office.
Gardening Club
We are continuing to ask our Gardening Club leaders what inspires them about their leadership roles in the Gardening Club. This is what makes our Year 5 students so passionate:
Gardening is like a video game…you learn how to do it, then you get addicted to it! Just knowing that people will cheer a team on to pull out a giant weed is just enough to keep me going there!! - Keira
I like Gardening Club because we work in a team and have a whole heap of fun - Alice
I think Gardening Club is amazing because it is mindful and calming. I joined Gardening Club because I knew I would enjoy it. I love gardening, especially with my friends and I would like to thank Suz and the teachers who have helped in Gardening Club - Stella
I think Gardening Club is very good because I can make friends and learn about the garden and the plants. I would like to thank the all the teachers who have helped me at Gardening Club - James
I like Gardening Club because it is fun to teach the younger students how to garden. - Ella
UNIFORM SHOP
Monday, 7 November 8.45am - 9.30am
All second hand uniforms are $5 each (Cash Only)
Important Term 4 Dates
In addition to this Term 4’s pertinent events which were advertised in last fortnight’s newsletter, and also found on the HCH Parent Calendar , https://www.hchdow.catholic.edu.au/news-and-events/ we can confirm the following events:
Friday 9 December - Whole School Swimming Carnival at Helensburgh Pool (K-6)
Monday 12 and Tuesday 13 December - HCH’s Got Talent Show (specific date for families will be sent asap)
Book Fair Update
All the generous donations have now been covered and loaned out to the students who donated them. Last Friday we received the backorders and these have also been handed out. Thank you once again for your generous support to our Library – the students have shown a lot of excitement around the new books with many titles having quite long reservation lists!
Library Christmas Raffle
It’s on again! As of Week 1 this term, every student who returns their Library books
Scholastic Book Club – Issue 7
Just a reminder that Book Club orders must be in by 27 October 2022.
Library Bag Reminder
Just a reminder that every student must bring a Library Bag in on Fridays. If your child’s Holy Cross Library Bag has gone missing, a waterproof bag can be used.
Library Leaders – Feeling Very Grateful!
Since my return in Term 3, students ranging from Kinder to Year 6 volunteer and give up their Lunch 2 playtime to assist with Library tasks such as putting books away and organising the shelves. With anywhere from 10 to 20 students showing up, this assistance is invaluable – and it is something I am most grateful for. However there is a core group of students that have not missed a week and have since been charged with a particular Collection to be responsible for – these are the Library Leaders. Over the coming newsletters, I would like to introduce you to each of them. As Mary MacKillop famously said, “never see a need without doing something about it” – and all these volunteers are definitely doing that.
Happy reading everyone!
Mrs Sue Murray
Library Coordinator
If you have a spare hour on Friday’s from 10am to 11am and would love to help out in the canteen whilst getting paid, I would love to hear from you.
Your help would really be appreciated.
Thanks Jo
Congratulations Bella!
During the school holidays, Bella attended the Short Statured People of Australia (SSPA) National Convention at Alexandra Headland and won 4 ribbons for Basketball, Soccer, Oztag and a running race. She was also awarded the gold medal for Sportsmanship. This was for participating in all the activities and helping everyone along the way. Congratulations Bella. Everyone at Holy Cross is so proud of you!
Junior Oztag Australian Championships
The OzTag Junior Australian Championships were held in Coffs Harbour 14-16 October. Lachie and Nate played for U9s Sutherland Shire Stingrays and their team made the quarterfinals. Ruby played for U11s Sutherland Shire Stingrays and her team placed 3rd.
Well done to these students on an outstanding achievement!
NSW PSSA Athletics Championships
The NSWPSSA State Athletics Carnival was held last week, 19-20 October at Sydney Olympic Park Athletic Centre. Jesse and Eddie represented the MacKillop team and both had outstanding performances in their events.
Jesse ran in the Junior (8,9,10 Yrs) 1500m and placed 27th overall.
Eddie made 3 finals (earning himself 3 finalist badges) and placed 6th in 100m, 7th in 800m, 8th in Discus and 7th in Shot Put.
Well done boys!
Term 4 P&F General Meeting
The P&F meeting for Term 4 will be held on Tuesday 8 November at 7pm at Helensburgh Hotel in the upstairs meeting room.
There will also be a repeat of the Respectful Relationships, Child Safety and Human Sexuality Workshops that were facilitated at school today, before the meeting from 6.30pm - 7.00pm. We hope you can join us.
