Congratulations!

Congratulations to Michaela Maynard and Cian Guest who won Gold and Silver medals respectively at the ACC Cross-country carnival today.  Well done to all Holy Cross College competitors for their great spirit of participation.  Cian has been selected to compete in the Nationals in August for his terrific performance in the State event last week.

'Choose Life'

On Wednesday, 21 May we celebrated the McCormack House Feast Day.  Irene McCormack was a Sister of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, the same order as Mary McKillop.  A West Australian, she taught in Catholic Schools in WA and in her last post was principal of Kearnan College in Manjimup.  In 1987, when  Sr Irene made the decision to travel to Peru to work  with the poor and marginalised, she said 'I choose life'.  In Huasa Huasi a poor village in the mountains she carried out her ministry - making library books available to poor children to complete their homework and doing parish work.  In 1991 she was executed by the Shining Path terrorists - her crime, giving out Caritas food parcels.  In our liturgy on Wednesday we remembered the life of Irene McCormack and reflected on the way in which she is a role model for us in her commitment to living out the Gospel message of justice and service.

WA ALL SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY

Congratulations to Cian Guest who on Thursday won the silver medial in the WA All School Cross-country Championships.  This places Cian second in the state for this event - a fantastic effort!  Michaela  Maynard (11th place) and Yugusuk Soka (14th place) also ran very well.  Congratulations to all students who participated.  Thanks to Mr Elliott for his work in coaching the squad and to Mrs  Davini for her support. We look forward to the ACC cross-country carnival next week.

EARLY LEARNING CENTRE CENTRE. ASSEMBLY

Thank you to the Year 2 class for hosting the first Early Learning Centre Assembly on Monday.  The students spoke beautifully and it was wonderful to see some of the work they had done in class.  Their Bible  story imovie was fantastic and I really enjoyed their Italian song with actions.  It was great to see so many parents in attendance.  

STAFF PROFESSIONAL LEARNING DAY

Staff will be involved in professional learning on Friday, 30 May.  There will be no classes for students on this day or on Tuesday, 3 June when the school will be closed for our 'Catholic Day'.  These days are a good opportunity for students to study, particularly Senior School Students, and also to complete their hours for 'Giving Life', our Christian Service Learning programme.  The office will be closed on 30 May and 3 June.

BON CAMINO

Our pilgrimage group returned at the beginning of term from our journey to Italy and Spain.  It was a wonderful trip in which we journeyed in the footsteps of Bishop Rosendo Salvado to commemorate his 200th anniversary.  We met the Mayor of Subiaco in Italy and visited the Subiaco monasteries of San Spirito and San Scholastica.  We went to St Paul's Outside the Walls and saw the Benedictine Monastery where Salvado died.  Our Camino commenced in Tui where Salvado was born and we were fortunate to be there for the Palm Sunday celebrations. From Tui we walked over a 120 kilometres to Santiago de Compostella.  The weather was kind to us and we walked in sunshine through countryside where the spring flowers were blossoming.  We arrived in Compostella on a Easter Saturday.  On Easter Sunday and Monday we were very fortunate to see the swinging of the Botamufumeiro, the great incense burner in the Cathedral.  The highlights of our time in Barcelona were La Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's Cathedral, and the roller coasters of Port Aventura Theme Park.  The students were fine ambassadors of the College on a very special journey.  Thanks to Mr Muller, Mrs Walmsley and Singora Amatulli for their assistance in organising the Camino tour.

WELCOME

We have welcomed Fr Bonaventura as our new Parish priest.  Fr Bona, as we call him, has joined staff for morning tea and also been part of our Mothers' Day liturgy.  We look forward to working with him.

CELEBRATING MOTHERS

It was wonderful to see the large number of mothers and grandmothers who joined us for our Mothers' Day Liturgy and breakfast.  The liturgy celebrated the gifts mothers bring to all of us and finished with a blessing for all mothers present.  Thanks to Mr Harry Muller and ms Danielle Hodgson for organising the liturgy.  Thanks also to Mrs  Cathie Lewis for preparing a delicious breakfast and to all staff and students who assisted.  Kindergarten students had their own special celebrations with their mothers and grandmothers on Thursday.

PRE-KINDERGARTEN

Our  pre-kindergarten programme has commenced and each Wednesday we welcome the littlest children in our College.  It is delightful to see them engaged in activities prepared by Mrs Tucker and interacting with each other. 

LEARNING CONVERSATIONS

Thanks to parents who participated in the Senior School Learning Conversations last week.  These are important opportunities for students to reflect on their learning with their parents and teachers and to set goals for the second semester of their Senior School year.

CROSS-COUNTRY CARNIVAL

Our first K -12 Cross-country carnival was a great College event with ELC shuttle event running alongside the competitive and fun runs.   Ozanam were the winners of the Junior School section and Salvado the victors for Middle and Senior School.  Thanks to Mrs DaVini for all her work in organising the carnival and for staff and parents who assisted.