From little things big things grow!

Pre-Primary

In Pre-Primary, the children may be little but their brain power is growing bigger all the time! They are now taking home reading books with sight words to learn and applying their knowledge at school. Everyday they are writing sentences and adding it to their Sight Word Wall.

The children have all jumped into the magical world of Australian author Mem Fox. So far they have learnt about Mem Fox’s biography and read her story ‘Koala Lou'. Each week the children will continue to learn about a different Mem Fox story.

The concept of Time, such as Days of the Week, Seasons and Months is being explored. The children have also been building on their addition skills by solving word problems; "Two girls found three boys to play with at the park. How many are there all together?"

I am delighted to report that we have a new addition to our Pre-Primary class, Ella. The Pre-Primary children continue to demonstrate their eagerness to learn and their kindness to each other. 

Miss Pritchard

Class Teacher

Year Two

What a HUGE week we have just had! We are learning lots of really cool things!

In Science we are discovering different life cycles. We have planted sunflower seeds and they are already germinating, which is extremely exciting! We are anxiously awaiting the hatching of our silkworm eggs so we can observe what will happen to them.

On Tuesday some of our parents participated in a workshop with the iPads.  The video promises made will remind us of positive ways to use our devices. We then learnt about cyber safety and what we need to think about when we go online. We are making a 30 second presentation for the Year One and Pre-Primary students to teach them about cyber safety.

In Physical Education we have started a unit on dance with Mrs Davini. She is teaching us about all of the different exercises we can do. Who knew dance would be so tiring!

Mrs Ryan
Class Teacher

OTHER NEWS

Coffee and Conversation Session

Thank you to the mums who attended the first of many Coffee and Conversations with the College Social Worker, Mrs Jo Betti on Friday 24 October. It was an informal morning spent getting to know a little more about each other and discussing ideas for future conversations. Please keep an eye on the Wellbeing Blog for updates and Parentingideas information.

Annual Celebration Evening

Junior School families are not required to attend the Celebration Evening, although are most welcome. Students who are receiving an award have been given a letter of invitation. 

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

26 October 2014

Return to Spring Term

Week One in Year One

Holidays have been and gone and we’re straight back to business in Year One. 

We have been flat out this week learning about the structure of narratives. The children began by reading a narrative and discussing the characters, setting, problem and resolution. We then worked in groups to create different characters and settings. Following, I modelled how to write a narrative, using all the children's creative ideas. Some of our kind characters included a train called Mat Man, a butterfly called Sparkles and a boy called Jaxon.

Also this week we have linked our Reading and Design Technology programme by looking at the character of Mr McGee. Children have analysed Mr McGee’s features and looked at the high frequency words in the text. The class each stitched a high frequency word. They all did a marvellous job! For Design Technology we have looked closely at his hat. He wears a bowler hat. We studied the history behind the hat and its materials. The bowler hat was then recreated using newspaper and masking tape. They were a little tricky, but we all had fun! 

God’s creation is our Religious Education focus for the next few weeks. The students wondered about the different things in creation which need light to survive. They developed poems in small groups which focused on their favourite colours. 

It has been a fabulous start to the term and the children are all well rested and eager to go. 

I can not believe I only have nine more weeks with this FANTASTIC bunch of kids.

Miss Behiels

Class Teacher

Kindergarten

Welcome to Term 4. It has been so pleasing to see the children’s excited faces upon their return to school. We had lots of fun and fascinating things to share that we did while on our holidays. Since the Kindergarten children are so clever, they wrote about their favourite thing that happened during the break.

This week we have been busily practising for our assembly. Not only have we been “huffing and puffing” with the big bad wolf, we have also been making houses out of bricks, sticks and straw. We hope you enjoy our performance.

On Thursday we launched our new question for “Big Ideas”. We will be investigating the topic, “Can I make a difference?” We hope to immerse the students in a range of activities that will inspire them to think about who makes a difference in their lives and in return how they can make a difference in the lives of others.

Mrs Tucker
Class Teacher

OTHER NEWS

The second stage of the nature playground is complete. The Year One and Two students have spent the first week testing out all of the exciting equipment including the mine shaft, dinobars, whale frame, and much more. 

With the weather warming up ice-cream sales are increasing. To assist with streamlining the purchase of such treats students are asked to include the details on a lunch order bag. Ice-creams will be stored in the ELC freezer until it is time for to eat them.

Families are reminded to apply suncream on their children in the morning before school. Additional suncream is available for the students throughout the day.

The Pre-Primary students have been busy exploring literature. In Week Seven they will be hosting a Book Swap Fundraising event. They are seeking donations of children's story books. Donations can be dropped off in the Early Learning Centre.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Kindergarten students will host their second assembly on Monday 20 October at 2:15pm in the ELC. We look forward to seeing families and friends there.

The Year Two parents have been invited to attend a workshop with their children on Tuesday 21 October at 9:00am. Please see the correspondence from Week One for details.

Mrs Jo Betti, College Social Worker, will be hosting coffee and a chat on Friday 24 October after the Gospel Reflection. Parents are welcome to join us for Gospel before heading to the Cafe.

We look forward to seeing you all in the College this week.

Miss Croswell

Head of Junior School

19 October 2014

Year 10 River Cruise

Year 10 students had their River Cruise last Friday. The ship cruised up and down the Swan River while the students danced the night away! A special thanks to Mrs Pastorelli for organising the evening.

Paul Murphy
Assistant Deputy Principal
19/10/2014

Reports

Year 9 final Reports were published in the Coneqt portal last Friday 17 October. Year 10 and 11 reports will be published on Monday of week 4.

Learning Conversations for Year 10, 11 and 12 (new year levels) will also be happening on Monday of week 4. This will be an opportunity for parents, students and Learning Advisors to have a look at past performance and talk about goals for the new academic year.

Paul Murphy
Assistant Deputy Principal
19/10/2014

Holy Cross Arts Night

 The opening night will be held on Monday, 20 October from 6.00 - 8.15pm in the LRC and all parents/guardians are invited to attend. This year the Arts Showcase has been expanded to integrate all Arts disciplines - Music, Drama, Dance and Visual Arts. The opening night is set to dazzle with a diverse array of colour, texture, shape and pattern in a range of stunning artworks from painting, printmaking, ceramics, textiles and sculpture put together by myself as well as with a night of celebration of our students’ talents through dance routines, music performances, drama monologues arranged by Mr McRae (Music/Drama) and Mrs Davini (Dance). There will also be some work on show from students in the Visual Art Club.

Paul Murphy
Assistant Deputy Principal
19/10/2014