Being Creative With Our Hands and Minds!

Kindergarten H

We have been very busy with our learning in Kindergarten. Last week, we were so lucky to be visited by Kelsey, from Bunnings in Ellenbrook, to help us further investigate our “big ideas” question. We created our own trucks from wood by using lots of construction tools to hammer in nails and screw all the parts together. On Tuesday morning, we were all very excited as we got a taste for what Pre-Primary life would be like. The children met their class teachers for next year and also the students who will be new to the College in 2016. This brief encounter has everyone feeling very keen for next year to begin. This week, we will move into a new topic for our Religious Education programme. We will learn about the importance of Advent as a time to prepare for the coming of Jesus at Christmas and what we can do to make a difference in the lives of others during this time. One way can help is to provide care for those in need. We have a basket in our classroom to collect non-perishable food items for the St Vincent de Paul Christmas Appeal. Any donations will be greatly received and appreciated. 

Mrs Tucker

Kindergarten H Teacher

Year One

Swimming is completed now and the kids' goggle marks have finally gone away! This fortnight has been very busy for the Year Ones. We had our Assembly on Tuesday and our Liturgy on Wednesday. Our Liturgy focused on how we grow and change. The scripture story was from Matthew and was about the Parable of the Sower. In class, the children created a recount of the story. They discussed the message in the story and shared their pieces of work with others. Father Bona shared the need to try and be better people by listening to our parents. He discussed the importance of being a good friend and always trying our best. During our Liturgy, we also reflected on the Year 3 students as they received their First Reconciliation. It was lovely to have so many of our parents come and celebrate with us too.

   

Within our writing we have been learning new types of poetry. Last week we wrote some haiku poetry and this week, cinquain poetry. A haiku poem uses syllables. The first line needs 5 syllables, the second needs 7 and the third line needs 5 syllables. Enjoy a couple of the student examples.

Emily

MY FAVOURITE ANIMAL

I have black and white

I can slide on my tummy

My tummy is really white

[Penguin]

Seth

SUMMER

At the beach it’s hot.

The ice-cream is cold today. 

The sun is so hot!

Ella

SUMMER

The sun is so hot. 

The sunset is coming up. 

I drive to the beach!

A cinquain poem uses a mixture of nouns, adjectives and phrases. We are currently in the process of developing our shark cinquains. They will be up in our room shortly!

On Tuesday this week, we also had our Transition morning. The children were very excited about going to Mrs Ryan’s room for Year Two next year!

We have continued developing our dance during Physical Education and we are hoping to showcase our moves in the last week of term. 

Ms Behiels

Year One Teacher

Other Important Dates

The Pre-Kindergarten students will host their Christmas Concerts on Monday, 30 November and Friday, 4 December at 2pm in San Salvador. Family and friends are most welcome to attend. 

The Final Junior School Assembly will be hosted by the Pre-Primary students on Tuesday, 1 December at 2:15pm in San Salvador. 

The remainder of the Junior School will host their Christmas Concert on Tuesday, 8 December in San Salvador at 9:30am. We look forward to seeing families come along and join in the singing. 

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

27 November 2015

Year 7 students get creative to give a gift

This week in Big Ideas, the year 7 students were lucky enough to be visited by Sister Frances. She came in to talk to the students about the work that she does in Peru, and also about Irene McCormack. She made sure that she discussed various aspects of life in Peru, to ensure that the students realised how lucky they were to live in a country with such abundant gifts, when others around the world have so very little.
With this in mind, the students set about making Christmas stockings. They were working in pairs to decorate both sides of the stocking, which they then sewed together using blanket stitch. These stockings will be donated to the Vinnie's Christmas appeal, along with the other kind donations students are bringing in from home.

Sacrament of Reconciliation - Year 3

The Year Three children have had a very special week, with 21 students receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Below is a recount of the event written by students Jasmine Okello and Kiera Perks.

On Tuesday night, at 6pm at the Church, twenty-one Year Three’s made their First Reconciliation with 6 priests.

Most children were excited, but a little nervous too! First we had a Liturgy, then when the Liturgy finished we had the individual confessions. First we bowed to the Tabernacle, told the priest our name, sat down and made the Sign of the Cross. We then said, "I am sorry for the times I have not followed Jesus by….”, we then recited the Prayer of Sorrow and had a chat with father, some of us might have got a penance. Then we said “thank you father”, bowed and walked towards the sheep we made at the Year Three Retreat Day. They were outside the paddock. We had to pick it up and put it inside (this was a sign of being welcomed into God’s family again, free from sin). Then we knelt down and said a prayer before sitting back up with our parents. Afterwards we felt cured and happy. At the end we had a class photo and then went home.

Jasmine and Kiera

26 November 2015

  

Elevate - Study Skills

Year 7 and Year 8 students will be welcoming Elevate over the next few weeks to input in the area of study skills as they approach Year 8 and Year 9.  We have had fantastic feedback from our students around the benefits of their approach and look forward to hearing their presentation. Year 7 and Year 8 will also benefit from their input in 2016.

Past Comments from students

"This is a great program. I'd love to do more of them"

"I would give the session 10/10. It was very informative and answered questions that I needed to know"

"5 star. Very good and entertaining"

Exploring Week 6

Pre-Kindergarten

Wow, I can't believe it is nearly the end of the year! The children are still very busy forming friendships and learning new skills. The Kindergarten transition was an exciting time for the children and they got to meet lots of new friends for next year. 

The past few weeks have seen the children become more confident when counting to 10 and even beyond this when we count all of the children in the class together. Listening and comprehension skills are developing well as the children are listening very well during story time and beginning to answer more questions about texts, such as: what happened in the story? and what might happen next? We borrowed some magnets from the Science Department and the children enjoyed exploring things that are attracted to the magnets and things that are not.

Finally, a reminder that our Christmas concerts will be held on Monday, 30 November and Friday, 4 December at 2:00pm. We have had such a wonderful response, that the new venue will now be San Salvador (the LRC). Please dress your child in Christmas colours on these days. If you have not yet returned your RSVP, could you please do so as soon as possible so that we know how many people to expect. We can't wait to see you there! 

Mrs Fretwell

Pre-Kindergarten Teacher 

Kindergarten C

To coincide with our Big Ideas topic of 'How Things Work', we had the most wonderful visit from Kelsey from Ellenbrook Bunnings this week. Kelsey came with tool boxes filled with wood, wheels, screws, screwdrivers, hammers, nails, glue and brushes and taught us how to make our very own trucks. We used all of the equipment very carefully, followed the instructions step by step and had so much fun in the process. Once our trucks were dry, we started to paint and decorate them ready for

Christmas.

This week we also started talking about the true meaning of Christmas. We are enjoying learning all about the night that baby Jesus was born and all of the visitors that came to see Him. We even had a special visit from Kobe¹s new baby sister who was only five days old. It is amazing to think that not so long ago we were as little as she isŠ and now we are nearly big Pre-Primary children.

We are having so much fun in Kindergarten and are learning so much!

Mrs Borg

Kindergarten C Teacher

Pre-Primary

The Pre-Primary students have been very impressive in their learning over the last few weeks. The students have extended their awareness of digraphs and are becoming confident writers.

In Religious Education, the students have been learning about how special Mary, mother of Jesus, is and have been praying the “Hail Mary”.

In Mathematics, the students have been learning to identify numbers that make the value of ten. The students have been selecting these numbers out of a pack of cards. Two children wanted to take this a step further and write down the friends of ten, twenty, thirty, forty and fifty. It is equally impressive that students have been practicing this at home!

Keep it up my little Mathematicians!

I love to see the students engagement and deep inquiry into learning tasks.

Miss Pritchard

Pre-Primary Teacher

Year Two

The last two weeks have flown by in Year Two. The children have very excitedly participated in swimming lessons each day and it has been wonderful to see the improvement in their confidence and skills. 

The children have been investigating the UV index and how to use it to help protect their skin from the sun. It has been heartwarming to see them making sure they put T-shirts and sunscreen on before they go to pay at lunchtime. 

We are also investigating the map of Australia. We are learning the names of the states and the territories of Australia as well as the capital cities. We completed large puzzles of Australia and had to use some maps to match up where the states and cities go. 

In Mathematics we are revising how to tell the time using an analogue clock. We are discussing what the terms quarter to, quarter past, half past and o’clock mean and how they appear on the clock. 

Mrs Ryan

Year Two Teacher

St Vincent de Paul Society Christmas Appeal 2015

Spring term each year has, as its fund raising focus, the Christmas Appeal for the St Vincent de Paul Society. We are starting the appeal earlier this year due to the tight timeline given to us by the Society. We will, however, continue to take donations right up to the last few days of school this term but will need to give the Society some of our donations before December and Advent starts.

There are two main ways to donate again this year.

• each HTG and class in Junior school has been given a family to donate to. We would appreciate a Christmas theme with students being able to select an item to bring in from a list which has been provided to each HTG/class. Items must be non perishable. Coles vouchers can also be donated.
• we will have a Christmas tree set up in the foyer from 31 November. There will be tags on the tree with the description of a person for whom you may like to buy a present. Please bring in the item (unwrapped) and place it under the tree at any time during the day. Tags will be available at reception from Friday 20 November.

Thank you in advance for your support of this important charity and our focus on helping families who rely on the Society to give them a happy and bright Christmas.

Harry Muller
Ministry Coordinator

 We have received a letter from Archbishop Costelloe SDB and Bishop Don Sproxton thanking all members of the College community for the support given to this year's LifeLink fundraising efforts. Schools in the Archdiocese have collectively donated a record amount of $115,499.59.

Senior School Learning Conversations

This week saw Learning Conversations across the Senior School. These were very successful. Thanks to our parent body who overwhelmingly made this night a priority. The impact on students of this kind of support for learning cannot be overstated. Students who have yet to have their appointment, need to make these with their learning advisor as soon as possible.

Anita Walmsley
Assistant Deputy Learning

Senior School Student Leaders for 2016

The Student Executive Leaders and Senior School LIFE Leaders were announced at the College Annual Celebration Evening.

Our College Mission calls us to be a future focused school, developing visionary young people who embrace their changing world with confidence and optimism.   Leadership opportunities at Holy Cross College will challenge students to be confident and optimistic in sharing their gifts with others to build a caring, compassionate, welcoming and connected community.  Holy Cross College considers all leadership to be that which emulates from Jesus Christ’s model of ‘servant leadership’ - “Whoever would be first among you must be servant of all”  (Mk 10:42-44) By serving others, students not only develop their own leadership but also show others how to lead.

Holy Cross College gives students a diverse range of opportunities for leadership in all areas of LIFE.  All students, regardless of year level are encouraged to lead others in a positive and encouraging way.  Leadership skills are taught and students are encouraged to exercise these skills in a variety of ways, both formal and informal.  The Student Leadership Team, led by the Student Executive, give students a collective voice to discuss aspects of school life and a means of contributing to decision-making in relevant areas.  Student Leaders work closely with, and for, the school community encouraging an ethos of service and commitment.  Student Leaders provide leadership in all areas of the College LIFE pillars.

A rigorous selection process was undertaken to select the Executive Student Leaders and Senior School LIFE Leaders that included a written submission, an interview with College Senior staff, and student and staff voting. The Executive Student Leaders and Senior School LIFE leaders for 2016 are listed below:

College Captains

 

Lauren Ford                                                                             Max Hughes

The Junior School and Middle School LIFE Leaders and House Representatives for 2016 will be elected at the beginning of the 2016 school year.

Mr Peter Collins

Vice Principal

Junior School takes a splash!

Year One

I’m not sure if you have heard but the Year 1’s started SWIMMING this week and are just slightly excited! We have enjoyed splashing around in the pool for week one of swimming. The students are becoming more independent when getting ready for their lessons and love the bus trip to and from the pool.

During Mathematics this fortnight we have been focusing on counting collections to 100 by partitioning numbers using knowledge of place value. We have been building numbers into groups of tens then identifying how many tens and ones form the number. We have continued developing our skip counting skills too. As a class, we recognise that our confidence to count backwards needs to improve so we have made that our focus in Mathematics also.

Our fitness lessons have involved using our bodies to move things. We have been trying to build our upper body strength by crawling on all fours and tapping a spiky ball. We have also worked on our coordination by doing figure eights with spiky balls through our legs. It was tricky but we were able to have a laugh while we tried!

 

Our whole class spelling focus last week was the inflected endings ‘ed’ and ‘ing’. We searched in books throughout the week to try and build a large repertoire. This week we have investigated the word families –uck, -ick, -ock and –ack. We have continued sorting our words in small groups and have begun using the application Word Cloud to help concrete our learning of our sounds. 

Ms Behiels

Year One Teacher

Year Three

The Year 3 students have definitely made a SPLASH both in and out of the classroom this week! We have begun swimming lessons at State Swim and the children are enjoying the opportunity to practise and improve their swimming skills.

In English, the children have been exploring poetry. We have learned all about similes, personification and onomatopoeia. We wrote some wonderful poetry using the words such as BOOM, SPLASH and BANG. We have also begun looking at limericks and the importance of not only rhyming words but the number of syllables. On Wednesday, it was Remembrance Day and we used this as our topic for our very first limerick! Below are some examples of our wonderful work:

Gallipoli

Gallipoli is a sad place,

It was war they had to face.

It was very sad,

It was very bad.

We will remember them at that place.

By Jasmine Okello

Remembrance Day

There was lots of death and no fun,

Everyone tried to hide and run.

It was not fun at all,

They even had to crawl!

On the eleventh it was all done.

By Madison Breadsell

Miss Henderson

Year Three Teacher

Kindergarten H

In Kindergarten we have been continuing our exploration of how things work by learning about the water cycle. The children have spent some time exploring what happens when water is heated through a few experiments. One was by looking at how long it would take for their water paintings on the pavement to disappear on a sunny day and another was observing what happens to the escaping steam from a boiling kettle. We also made a comparison to the rain clouds in the sky by looking at what happens when a sponge soaked in water can no longer hold any more fluids. The students have made some beautiful art pieces to represent the water cycle, these are hanging in our classroom. The children have also had fun making music with bananas and play dough! Using the Makey Makey devices, the students used conductible materials to complete a circuit of wiring, which was then connected to a virtual musical instrument on a laptop. The students became very proficient at independently troubleshooting whenever a connection came loose. We have very clever and creative Kindergarten children at Holy Cross College!

Other News

Thank you to the parents and families for your support in ensuring the children have the correct equipment for swimming lessons. A reminder that there is still one week to go, concluding on Friday, 20 November. 

The Junior School 2016 Transition Day for PP-Year 4 classes will be held on Tuesday, 24 November. We look forward to welcoming the new students to the College and the opportunity for new friendships to be formed. 

The next Junior School Assembly will be held in Week 7, Tuesday 24 November. 

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

12 November 2015

Maths Club has taken off in the Junior School

Over the last three weeks students from Kindergarten to Year 3 have been attending Maths Club on Monday afternoons 3:00pm - 4:00pm. A number of staff and parents have been on hand to challenge the students to visualise, strategise, and think mathematically.
A number of questions were posed that you might like to have a go of yourself:

PUZZLE ME THIS!

The seven symbols below look like some kind of ancient writing. There is, however, a meaning for each symbol, and if you can puzzle it out, you should have no trouble drawing the next character!

YOUR NUMBER IS UP!

Arrange 6 twos to equal 1. 

You need to consider all mathematical operations and the concept of fractions.

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

8 November 2015

Adam Deans, World Champion wheelchair basketball player visits Year 7 Big Ideas

This term in Big Ideas, the Year 7 students are answering the big question, 'What is the Greatest Gift in the World?'

This has seen them review their definition of the word 'gift,' and visit workshops centred around food, water, education and health.

This week, we were lucky enough to be joined by Adam Deans, a current World Champion wheelchair basketball player for Australia. He spent an hour talking to the Year 7 students, and sharing his inspiring story. The Year 7 students had lots of questions for him, and were fascinated by his prosthetic leg.

Adam left the group with the message that we should be grateful for what we have in life, and that we should make the most of our gifts everyday.

The Year 7 students have all created a website to show what they have learned this term. This will be regularly updated, and currently contains a blog post explaining what they have found out from their workshops. 

 

Week 4 is as busy as ever!

Pre-Kindergarten

The last few weeks have seen the children continue their exploration of cultures around the world. We focused particularly on Australia and the Aboriginal culture, with the children decorating their own flags using a range of materials and techniques. I also brought in some traditional games from Poland which the children really enjoyed playing with me in small groups, with some wonderful sharing and turn-taking occurring. 

The children have also started learning a few songs for the Pre-Kindergarten Christmas Concert.  Mrs Gorton and I have been amazed with how well the children have picked up the songs and we can't wait for you all to join us to see them perform for you. 

Many thanks again to all of the parents who have been making playdough, cutting up fruit and coming in as parent helpers. We have been very lucky to have so much support this year and the children absolutely love having parents come in, they are especially proud when they get to show off their mums and dads to their friends. Finally, a reminder that if you haven't recently checked Parent CONEQT, please do so, as I sent a picture collage during the school holidays of your child's Winter Term memories.  

Mrs Fretwell

Pre-Kindergarten Teacher 

Pre-Primary

The Pre-Primary students have been dabbling with Digraphs. This week the students have learnt to identify and write “sh” and “ch” words. In the collage you will see a chicken with a collection of eggs and Shady the shark.

With a Spring-y step, the Pre-Primary students have been retelling main characters and key events in both Narrative and Gospel stories. Their reflections are becoming quite detailed and they should be commended on their efforts to include correct punctuation such as capital letters, finger spaces and full stops.

Number fluency is improving as the students practise recognising numbers to twenty, counting strategies and problem solving when calculating more and less. They are also learning to record and compare the data such as their favourite learning areas and vegetables.

On a final note, our class robin now has babies! We have seen her feeding her little ones outside the doors to our classroom!

Miss Pritchard

Pre-Primary Teacher

Year Two

The students this week presented their assembly item ‘Sunsmart Countdown’ to their parents and friends. This song is an introduction to our Big Ideas investigation. They were really excited and performed admirably. All the students are now beginning an investigation into sun smart playgrounds. 

As a part of our Big Ideas and Literacy learning the students are learning how to create Persuasive Texts. They are discovering connectives, fact and opinion, paragraphing and how to explain their opinion in greater detail. 

The students have written letters to their parents about their favourite meal and why they should have it for dinner, why they believe the Big Bad Wolf is guilty or not guilty and are now creating a text about playground equipment. 

In Mathematics we are discovering coordinates in maps and are continuing to develop our understanding of multiplication and division. The students are working with arrays, repeated addition and materials to model and represent their understanding. The understanding of the links between multiplication and division are also beginning to develop. The students are still enthusiastically exploring word problems and are also beginning to create their own. 

Mrs Ryan

Year Two Teacher

KINDERGARTEN C

We have continued to have so much fun in Kindergarten developing our fine motor and gross motor skills. Building castles by sticking foam blocks together with shaving cream was very messy and lots of fun. We also enjoyed practising monkey walking, kicking goals, balancing, going over and under hurdles and swinging on the ropes.

In Big Ideas, we have been investigating how things work. So far we have pulled apart electronic appliances, played with wind up toys, looked at batteries and enjoyed provocations with magnets. Next week we are going to investigate wind and air to see how they can make things work.

There is never a dull moment in Kindergarten!

Mrs Borg

Kindergarten C Teacher

Other News

The Years 1-3 students will commence swimming lessons on Monday, 9 November. Please remember to pack your child's swimming equipment and label all of their items. Please follow the swimming requirements - Girls: one piece and/or rashie, Boys: jammers or speedos and/or rashie. Board shorts are not to be worn. 

We welcomed new families to the College on Friday, 6 November during the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Orientation sessions. All families who have students commencing at the College for the first time in 2016 are required to attend the Information Session on Tuesday, 10 November either at 1pm or 6pm. Please RSVP to Administration if you have not already done so.

Melissa Croswell

Head of Junior School

6 November 2015

Senior School Learning Conversations

Senior School will be participating in Learning Conversations next Wednesday 11 November in the College LRC. At this time students and parents will meet with the Learning Advisor to look at the recent report, which will be published on the morning of the 11th November.  It is essential that this is attended. Letters with PTO logons were sent home with students last week.

Homework club will not run on this day.

Anita Walmlsey
Assistant Deputy Learning

Senior School Transition

Over the last two weeks, our 2016 Year 10’s have been involved in Senior School transition. A major part of this transition has been focusing on learning and the challenges and opportunities that Senior School will bring. Students participated in a morning workshop run by Elevate Education. They were taken through two sessions called Memory Nemonic's and also, Junior Time Management. The feedback from these sessions was very pleasing with the majority of students stating that the input they received here was useful and well timed. Students will continue to receive this kind of intentional input so that can be successful at both in their organisation and with their study techniques.

Students also had short immersions into learning areas where staff ran activities around how to achieve success in their learning area as a Senior School student.

Year 11 and 12 students will participate in workshops this Thursday with Elevate and the focus here will be on setting goals for the new year and starting with a strong focus.





We wish all new Senior School students a fantastic start to their 2016 courses and hope start as they mean to go on, with sound study skills and organisation that will help them succeed.

Anita Walmsley
Assistant Deputy - Learning

Road Safety Around Our School

Traffic flow and management around schools is a perennial issue and Holy Cross College is no exception. The main College car park is excellent along with the Kiss-n-Drive, but we must be mindful of making best use of both our facilities and opportunities. The safety of our children is the highest priority when we are travelling to and from school, and parking around the streets or in the car parks.

A new car park of around 54 bays will be available off Westgrove Drive at the completion of the Stage 4 building program.

The College has been working with the Ellen Stirling Primary School Parents and Citizen's Association to improve the safety of our children through a number of road safety initiatives. 

1. Type A-B Children's Crossing.

The Department of Education Children's Crossing and Road Safety Committee is undertaking surveys along Strathmore Parkway with the view to installing a Type A-B Children's Crossing on Strathmore Parkway near Cardowan Drive. Students are encouraged to utilise this location so that a true picture of the school's needs can be gathered and a Children's' Crossing be installed with an attendant (Lollypop Person).

2. Parking Along Strathmore Parkway

Parents are urged to park in marked bays only and avoid parking on the verge. Parking on the verge is dangerous and impairs the view of both motorists and pedestrians. Council Rangers visit the area regularly and may issue fines to drivers parking illegally. 

3. Walking to School

Students who reside within a 2-4 minute cycle or 8-15 minute walk are encouraged to do so and keep a healthy lifestyle and to alleviate the traffic congestion, especially as the schools grow. If you live within the circle below you should consider walking or riding a bike.

Remember

Drive to survive and model the correct behaviour on the road for our kids, the next generation of motorists.

P Collins

Vice Principal

Ultimate Frisbee

Last week the Year Ten students had a visit from Ultimate Frisbee WA. Kyal and Sam taught us the forehand throw, backhand throw and the hammer. People had some interesting techniques at the start and we had discs flying everywhere but as the session went on we could see a lot more accuracy and less discs hitting the ground. We finished off the session by putting our new skills to the test with some games. Everyone was very competitive, and there were some great intercepts as well as dives to save the discs. This session has helped us to learn the basics of this sport for our upcoming SEPEP season of ultimate!

Year Ten Student: Aleisha Uren