FAREWELL BROTHER PAT

This week we were saddened by the news that Brother Pat Kelly passed away last Friday night.  Brother Pat has been a member of the Holy Cross College Board for four years.   He has made a wonderful contribution to our young College and will be sadly missed.  Brother Pat gave generously of his time and wisdom to Catholic education over many years and will be remembered as  man of great integrity and compassion.  Please keep Bro Pat and the Christian Brothers' community in your prayers. 

CELEBRATING ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT

On Wednesday night I was privileged to attend the School Curriculum and Standards Authority Awards Presentation Ceremony at Government House. This ceremony recognised the  highest level of achievement by 2015 Year 12 students.  James Evans, Holy Cross College Dux 2015, was presented with a General Exhibition for his outstanding achievement of being ranked 26th in the state.  In addition he received a Certificate of Distinction for Physics and a Certificate of Commendation.  It was a special evening for James, his family and Holy Cross. 

YEAR 7 TEAM BUILDING

Year 7 students spent a day at Ern Halliday Recreational Camp last week.  This day of team building was an opportunity for the students to get to know each other and to learn skills in working together.  They had a great time kayaking, crate climbing and trying out the big swing and flying fox. Thanks to the House Coordinators for organising this day and to other staff who assisted.

SWIMMING CARNIVALS

On Friday we had our first Junior School Swimming Carnival followed by the Year 7 Carnival.  Students had opportunities to be involved in competitive races and fun team events. Thanks to Mr James Parsons, Health and Physical Education Coordinator, and his team for organising these events.

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS

I look forward to seeing you all at the Junior and Middle School Parent Information Sessions on  Wednesday afternoon and evening.  Details were sent home in a letter and are also available of the LIFE@HCC blog.   https://www.holycross.wa.edu.au/news/lifeblog.php

COMMUNICATION WITH THE COLLEGE

Our first week of term was a busy one with many new students commencing at the College, the commencement of our first Year 5 and 6 students, Year 7 Transition, a College Opening Assembly and Breakfast and the College Ball.

I would like to thank the staff for their work in ensuring that we had a good start to the year and also the Student Leaders who assisted  with the transition of new students on their first day.  

PARENT INFORMATION SESSIONS AND FAMILY BBQ

Information sessions for parents of students in the Junior and Middle Schools will be held on Wednesday, 24 February.  All parents are expected to attend the Information Session for their child’s year level.  Middle School students are required to attend with a parent.  A letter regarding these sessions will be sent out this week.  The Friends of Holy Cross will be holding a Welcome BBQ at 5:30pm on this evening.  This will give you a chance to meet other parents and staff and will also alleviate the need for you to feed your children when you get home!    

COMMUNICATION

The College will communicate with parents this year in a variety of ways.

SMS messages will be sent at 10.30am each day regarding student absence where parents have not notified the College of their child’s absence. Please refer to the Parent Information Handbook for more information if your child is to be absent or arrive late/leave early.  SMS messages are also used to remind parents of upcoming events at the College. Please ensure your mobile number record is kept up to date with the College Office.

Emails - will be sent to advise details of events. Please ensure your email address is kept up to date with the College Office and that you check your emails regularly.

Parent Coneqt – Direct Messages in Parent Coneqt may be used between parents and teaching staff.  If you do not have a log on to Parent Coneqt, have lost your log-on or are unsure how to use it, please contact the College Office.

Website - www.holycross.wa.edu.au   The College website has a number of blogs (under the news tab) which are updated on a regular basis. The purpose of these blogs s to keep parents up to date with key developments and upcoming events and also to share information and photos about recent events.

• Principal’s Blog
• LIFE@HCC
• Wellness Blog

The blogs replace the traditional newsletter - allowing us to post information and photos on a regular basis.

The College Calendar can be found under the News tab on the website under Calendar and Upcoming Events. Please check this regularly so you are aware of upcoming events or student home study days.  2016 Term Dates also lists the student home study days for the year.

Facebook - The College Facebook page is used to alert people to upcoming events and also to celebrate what is happening in the school through photos and information.  People must request to join the Facebook page and the College is able to block anyone who uses the page inappropriately.  We do request that people do not tag photos with student names, including your own children.

A reminder that our Privacy Collection Notice, which parents receive at the time of enrolment, includes:

Each year visual imagery (photographs and videos) are taken of students which are used in various media outlets such as College publications (College newsletters, Year Book, website etc), student files, newspapers, community magazines and others.  Visual imagery may be used for the promotion of the College, College public relations, documentation and the recognition of student achievement.  If you have any concerns, please contact the College Office.

Communication with staff

Parents may use Parent Coneqt to email teaching staff or may make an appointment via the College Office.  A reminder that a Coneqt message will not receive an immediate response as staff will only attend to this when they are not teaching. Email contact to Admin Staff should be via the admin@holycross.wa.edu.au email and not directly to the staff member.

Parents should deal with concerns with the people who work most closely with their child - in Junior School - the class teacher and in Middle and Senior School - the House Tutor or Subject Teacher.  More serious concerns may be referred to the Cluster Coordinator in Junior School, House Coordinator, Learning Area Coordinator, Head of Junior School and Deputy Principals as appropriate.

Communication with the Principal should be via the admin email - admin@holycross.wa.edu.au  Communication with the Vice Principal, Mr Collins should be through collins.peter@cathednet.wa.edu.au.  Please do not use Parent Coneqt to contact the Principal and Vice Principal.

Check out https://web.holycross.wa.edu.au/news/principalblog.php for information about the past week, coming events and development of buildings and grounds.

  

I look forward to seeing you on 24 February.

Yours sincerely 

Ms Mandy Connor

CELEBRATING THE BEGINNING OF A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

WThe school year has started well.  We have a significant growth in enrolments with the addition of Years 4, 5 and 6, as well as two classes each in Kindergarten and Pre-Primary and four classes  of Year 7’s.  It was great to see all of the new students arriving at school on Monday. Thank you to Student Leaders who assisted on the first day.

 

ASSEMBLY

On Wednesday we had a College Assembly and Breakfast.  We welcomed new staff and students and also celebrated achievements of the Class of 2015.  James Evans and Cameron Miles were presented with awards from the College acknowledging their outstanding ATAR results.  James received an ATAR of 99.85and was ranked 26th in the state. Cameron received a score of 98.65, placing him in the top 2% of students in WA.  James is going to study a Bachelor pf Philosophy at UWA majoring in Mathematics and Physics.  This is a very competitive course which accepts only 30 students each year.  Cameron will study a double degree in Chemistry and Chemical  Engineering at Curtin and has also been awarded a scholarship from the University.  

 

Each year Edith Cowan University awards a Personal Excellence Award to two students from each school  who have completed Year 11 and Year 12.  These awards recognise academic endeavour and commitment to ECU’s core values of Integrity, respect, rational inquiry and personal excellence.  At the assembly we presented the ECU Personal Excellence Awards to Abbey Claytonwho completed Year 12 and Lauren Fordwho completed Year 11.  Lauren is one of our College Captains and Abbey graduated from the College last year. Abbey will study Nursing at Edith Cowan University.  

 

ASH WEDNESDAY AND OPENING SCHOOL MASS

The College will gather to celebrate Mass at 9:00am on Wednesday, 10 February.  The Mass will commemorate Ash Wednesday and will be our opening Mass for the beginning of the school year.  Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent.  The College has now outgrown the Church, so Mass will be celebrated in the undercover area beneath San Salvador.  Parents are welcome to join us.

 

OVALS AND PLAY AREAS

The work on the ovals is being finalised and we hope to have access to them in a couple of weeks.  We are a bit restricted on outdoor space at the moment, but students will have some great areas for sport and break time recreation once we have the ovals.  A playground for Years 3 – 6   will be installed next term.   I understand it is frustrating that students are restricted in their play at break times but the situation with the ovals  should be resolved in the next couple of weeks.  I am sure you appreciate we are in a rapid stage of growth and there are some inconveniences as buildings and grounds are completed.  If we can be patient during this time, we will have access to some great outdoor spaces very soon.

BUILDING PROGRAMME

Our building programme is progressing well.  The Media and Design rooms on the lower floor of Dublin will be complete later next week.  These were temporary change rooms for 12 months and have been transformed into excellent specialist learning spaces.  We hope to have handover of the new change rooms and the four learning studios above them by Easter.   The new Middle School building should be completed for Semester Two.  We will go to tender in March for Stage 5 of our Capital Development Plan – a Junior School Learning Centre and Performing Arts facilities.

 

STAFF 2016

At the beginning of the new school year we welcomed Mrs Christina Davini (Frayne House Coordinator) and Mrs Emma Doherty (Kindergarten Education Assistant) back from Maternity Leave.  We also welcomed the following new staff:

 

Miss Jessica Armenti - Teacher - Year 5

Ms Rochelle Carter - Teacher- Middle School English and JS Art

Mrs Helen Cooke - Education Assistant 

Miss Courtney George - Teacher - Year 4 

Mr Jamie Gotti -  Teacher - Middle School

Mrs Caroline Hilton - Education  Assistant

Ms Jenny Lennon - Learning Enrichment  Coordinator K - 12

Mrs Tara McCarthy - Education  Assistant (Special Needs)

Ms Margaret - McMahon - Junior and Middle School Teacher – Literacy Enrichment

Mrs Natascia Morlotti -Junior and Middle School Teacher -Italian

Mr James Parsons - Learning Area Cooridinator - Health and Physical Education - K - 12

Miss Antonia Ravenscroft - Teacher -Year 3

Mr Jonathan Ripley - Design & Technology Technician

Mrs Hayley Sheppard -  Teacher  - Pre-Primary 

Miss Hannah Sibbald - Teacher - Year 1

 

The following staff have taken on new positions in 2016

Mrs Sarah Brown - Associate House Coordinator

Miss Kylie Henderson - Junior School Cluster Coordinator (Years 3 - 6)

Mrs Toni Strong - Learning Area Coordinator - English

Mrs Jacinta Tucker - Junior School Cluster Coordinator (Pre-Kindergarten - Year 2)

Mrs Susan Wilson - Careers and Transition Coordinator