Dear parents and friends,

I trust your family enjoyed the school holiday period. Thank you for having your children so well prepared for Term 3. Term 3 is always busy with celebrations for Book Week, Literacy and Numeracy Week, Father’s Day, Grandparent’s Day, Feast of St Mary MacKillop, Feast of Holy Cross and the Sacrament of Confirmation to name but a few!

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Yesterday, we gathered as a school community to celebrate NAIDOC Week which actually fell during the school holiday period. Yesterday’s celebration was absolutely beautiful. We began our day with a Liturgy and a visit  from Ella Kosta who is a proud Aboriginal woman, playing her first NRLW game for the St George Illawarra Dragons this Saturday. It was a privilege to hear Ella’s story and to recognise and celebrate her many sporting achievements. I think Ella has gained a few fans from Holy Cross! A big thank you to Gavan Lennon for organising Ella’s visit. 

Our students then participated in six activities each focused on an aspect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and culture. A sincere thank you to family members who gave their time today to facilitate these activities - Meryn Murray, Cate and Cara Baillie, Emiily Johnson, her mother Donna and sister Gemma. On behalf of our school community, I would like to express my gratitude to these ladies for sharing their stories, knowledge and culture with all of us. Learning from the wisdom of our families is authentic school-partnership building and is very much valued.

Creator God,

You have blessed our Indigenous peoples with great respect for their Elders.

Increase in us the ability to appreciate and treasure those who have given us life.

Make us aware of the history, the gifts, and life-experience that they offer.

May we learn from our Indigenous brothers and sisters to treat all life as sacred.

We ask this prayer through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Amen

Thank you for your continued support,

Kaylene Duffin
Principal

2023 ANNUAL IMPROVEMENT PLAN Update

This term, we will continue to work towards meeting our school improvement goals. Throughout the term, teachers will participate in eight Collaborative Professionalism Team meetings focused on increasing students’ growth in Mathematics and five Staff Meetings focused predominantly on developing knowledge of the revised K-6 Mathematics Syllabus and Religious Education and faith formation. Evidence will continue to be collected to monitor the impact of our work on student learning growth.

Professional learning to develop teacher’s content knowledge, instruction and use of assessment data to drive instruction is crucial in achieving our school goals and ensuring we continue to provide the highest quality of education for our students. This often requires teachers to attend professional learning sessions during the school day. Please be assured that in all cases, class teachers will continue to plan lessons for casual teachers to teach on these days.

Within each fortnightly newsletter the most recent strategies employed to achieve our goals will be shared. Please don’t hesitate to contact your child’s teacher or members of the Leadership Team should you have any queries about our school’s improvement journey.

Goal 1 

Improve students’ relationship with Jesus through the values of compassion, justice, hope and integrity.

Goal 2 

By the end of 2023, all students will have increased their confidence and engagement in Mathematics so that all students achieve growth.

Year Six Mass with the Bishop

Our Year Six students had a memorable experience attending Mass with Bishop Brian Mascord, joining other students from different schools within our diocese. It was a joyous occasion where they celebrated their faith together and received an inspiring message from Bishop Mascord about living out their beliefs. They also had the opportunity to connect with students from other schools, fostering new friendships and a sense of unity within our diocesan community.

Our Year Six students demonstrated remarkable engagement and enthusiasm throughout the event, actively participating in the liturgy and embracing the spirit of community.

Have you ever considered having your child Baptised?

If your child is not Baptised and you have been considering this or you would like to find out more about the process, please don’t hesitate to contact a member of the leadership team via the school office for a chat, we would love to hear from you.

Assemblies

School assemblies will take place fortnightly, on Thursdays at 2.35pm  beginning next week. Our first assembly for Term 3 will be held on Thursday, 27 July at 2.35pm. 

Professional Learning

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:

20 July 2023

Curriculum Focus Day - Mr Body

Safety Interventions Training - Mrs Duffin & Miss Costello

Upcoming TERM 3 Dates

Please find pertinent dates for Term 3. All pertinent dates can be found on our parent Calendar.

https://www.hchdow.catholic.edu.au/news-and-events/events/

Library News

WELCOME TO TERM 3 – SOME FRIENDLY REMINDERS

• Library borrowing for ALL STUDENTS is Friday.
• All students MUST HAVE A LIBRARY BAG to borrow. If a student has misplaced their Holy Cross Library Bag, a waterproof bag may be used.
• All Overdue Notices are emailed to the respective parent/carer.

PREMIER’S READING CHALLENGE (PRC)

Our PRC Champions for this fortnight are:

Year 3 – Elise, Zoe, Phoebe, Layla, Patti, Taeya

Year 5 – Evie, Grace, Eddie, Aiden, Isabel, Joshua, Amos, Maya, Hannah, Jimmy, Kaiden, Riley

CONGRATULATIONS to you all for completing the challenge!

NEW BOOKS NOW AVAILABLE…

I have been able to acquire from Scholastic some ‘student requests’ to add to our collection - we have been able to use our Scholastic Rewards to purchase them. They are:

Diary of a Roblox Pro – Zombie Invasion  (Fiction Series)

Kingdom Hearts No. 1  (Graphic Novel)

Kid Youtuber 3 – The Struggle Is Real  (Fiction)

How To Speak Dog  (Non Fiction)

The Hunt For Morrigan Crow  - Hollowpox  (Senior Fiction Series)

I would like to express my sincere thanks to all our parents who buy from Scholastic Book Club – our school receives reward points with each order which I use to purchase titles requested by our students. And of course thank you to our wonderful parents who cover the books!

Stayed tuned for more titles…

LIBRARY WARRIOR

Introducing…Evie (Year 5)

What section are you responsible for?

Any, I just go where help is needed with Indi.

What is your favourite book?

My favourite book is from the Twisted Tale series, specifically the Rapunzel one.

What do you love about being a Library Warrior?

I love interacting with everyone and everytime I come I always have fun.

What is your favourite Library task?

I love finding the ‘YES please NO thankyou’ books and I always have fun.

(‘Yes Please No Thankyou’ books are books that students reserve. When the book becomes available, it is offered in their Library lesson where the student responds with a “Yes Please” if they still want it or “No Thankyou” if they no longer want it.)

Thank you - Helensburgh Lions Club 

We were excited today to receive a very generous donation of $1,200 from Helensburgh Lions Club from their Brick Fair held last month. We are so grateful for their support.

Our school canteen run by Mrs Donovan, is opened three days each week, Wednesday & Thursday breakfast & lunch 1 and Friday Breakfast lunch 1 & 2 serving yummy treats and hot food. And don't forget homemade pizza's on 
Wednesday's!

Canteen Menu 2023.pdf

Canteen Menu 2023 _pdf 92.51 KB