Year 11s investigate the Geography of Fire in the Perth Hills

The year 11 Geography ATAR group visited the Perth Hills Discovery centre in order to carry out fieldwork on the topic of the Geography of Fire.
The fieldwork involved data collection at the site of a prescribed burn and the site of a wildfire.
We were able to tour around Parkerville and Stoneville to gain a better understanding of how topography and weather conditions impact upon fire conditions.
Our guide for the day was a volunteer firefighter, so some of the students had a chance to experience the kit and equipment they use while fighting a fire. Upon our arrival back at school, students were able to write up their findings in the form of a Geographical report.

Junior School & Year 7 Swimming Carnival

   

Friday February 19 saw our Year 4-6 students participate in the first Inter House Junior School Swimming Carnival at the Chisholm College Aquatic Centre. The students were in excellent spirits as they competed against their peers in other houses within the same age group in 25 metre, 50 metre and Novelty events.

With a high focus on participation and House spirit, the students were brilliant in their willingness to attempt all events to try and gain points for their house.

Frayne were the winners on the day with a convincing overall win. At the end of the Carnival, the leader board read:

Frayne 728

Ozanam 592

Salavdo 548

McCormack 376

It was fantastic to see a great number of parents supporting their children with special thanks to several parents who volunteered and performed official roles on the day. Your support is greatly appreciated and helped give the Carnival a great atmosphere.

Thank you also to the Holy Cross staff who worked together to provide a safe and fun Carnival for the students.

We look forward to this event next year and will keep a keen eye on some great performers that we hope will progress to our ACC Swimming squad in Year 7.

Year 7 Inter House Swimming Carnival

Following the Junior School Carnival on Friday 19 February, the Year 7’s ventured to the Chisholm College Aquatic Centre to contest the Year 7 Inter House Swimming Carnival. McCormack were installed as favourites following a strong 2015 and some impressive work from some of their Year 7’s at ACC Swimming training.

Over the course of the day, there were some outstanding performances but what shone just as brightly, was the enthusiasm from the students to support their House and attempt all events. This, combined with wonderful parent support from the viewing area meant for a Carnival with fantastic House spirit.

The leader board was very tight all day with each House spending some time at the top before the Houses started to separate. After the exciting relays were finished, the final tally read:

Frayne 748

McCormack 710

Ozanam 638

Salvado 567

Congratulations to Frayne on a fantastic performance.

Over the course of the day, we saw some excellent individual performances and we’d like to congratulate our Champion’s and Runner’s Up;

Girls

Champion: Grace Ryan

Runner Up: Beth Rankin

Boys

Champion: Carl Viljoen

Runner Up: Barnaby Turrell-Knight

Some students will be selected from this carnival to be a part of the College’s ACC Swim Team and further information will be posted regarding that.

Thanks to the parents for their support and particularly those who assisted in an official role.

Thanks also to the Holy Cross staff who worked extremely well together to facilitate a fantastic experience for the students.

Mr James Parsons

Learning Area Coordinator - Health & Physical Education

Year 10 Business & Finance Excursion

Year 10 Business and Finance students, spent an afternoon visiting The Maze, home of Outback Splash to learn about their marketing and branding strategy and the plans for the upcoming new $70 million water park that is in development.   The students have now undertaken research and are in the process of producing a marketing report, detailing their proposals, the marketing and branding of the new Water Park, which they will present to the park Social Media Manager, Chloe Dixon later this term.

Mrs Karren Dennett

Business Education Teacher

26 February 2016

Career Notices & Events

Notre Dame University

Mrs Susan Wilson
Careers & Transition Coordinator
26 February 2016

Online Literacy & Numeracy Assessment (OLNA)

OLNA assessments for students Years 10-12 are taking place on the following dates. Students that need to take the assessment should have brought home a letter indicating the assessment/s they need to complete and the date and time. Students need to successfully complete all three assessments (by the end of Year 12) in order to meet the requirements for WA Secondary Graduation.

Writing - 9 March
Reading - 11 March
Numeracy 14 March

Mr Paul Murphy
Deputy Principal
26 February 2016

Junior School Update

Year Four 

We have had a fantastic start to 2016 in Year Four. We have proudly named ourselves, “Team 32,” which represents the wonderful students who are ready to learn and work collaboratively.

We are currently working on writing an adventure narrative. Students have shared the many adventures and journeys they have been on, some of which have been a source of inspiration for our narrative pieces. To begin our writing, we have been trying to hook the reader by creating an interesting and exciting first sentence.

Some examples include:

• Bang! The hammer smashed into a million pieces. (Jesse Sokol)
• Zoom, zoom! Sonic was trying out his new ice-skates. (Keely Pether)
• A big, blue wave crashed on the shore at the seaside. (Denae Wallace)

As a class, we have also been busy exploring the properties of odd and even numbers. From water bomb games to creating Mythbuster movies, we have been extremely busy!

We look forward to keeping you updated throughout the term!

Miss George and Team 32

Kindergarten

We have had an amazing start to the year in Kindergarten! Over the last few weeks we have been busy making new friendships with the children in both classes, learning new routines and exploring all of our play spaces. Our rock and roll stage has been a huge hit, with daily concerts being provided by the budding musicians in our class. Our Big Ideas question this term is, “Who am I?” We have started our investigations by sharing our interests, learning about our families and exploring features of our body. Last week, we created a graph to investigate which eye colour is the most common in our class. Some of our amazing artwork has been placed around the classroom, so feel free to come in and check it out!

Mrs Tucker

Kindergarten H Teacher

Year 6

The amazing start to Year 6! 

I have loved being in Year 6 at Holy Cross, it is the best thing that ever happened to me. On the first day my heart was thumping, I was so excited and nervous at the same time. I have had so much fun so far in Miss Henderson's class room. I have made so many new friends like Leah, Ryleigh, Mia and Jorja.

Year 6 has been using the iPad for lots of different things. I have enjoyed using the iPads to do tests and make movies. I love using the iPad because last year I didn’t, so I am very, very happy that I have been given the chance to use my iPad for learning.

Year 6’s have being learning about a thing called Growth mindset. Growth mindset is about changing your words and doing challenging things, and when you do that your brain will get stronger, even if you do not get everything correct! We think of your brain as a muscle so if your train your brain, it will grow.

By Hannah McKeown

The Awesome start to Year 6!

Walking in on the first day, I was a nervous wreck.

I was shaking with fear, and I felt like I was going to cry.

But, that all changed when I met Miss Henderson.

Miss Henderson was kind, caring, and most important, organised and very welcoming.  

When we were all settled, we organised our stationery, and we did a class meet and greet bingo. With the bingo there were different things, like find someone who was born in April, and we had to find someone with that thing.

After the first week, the iPads were set up, so we were allowed to use them. We use an app called Google Classroom to see the learning tasks the teacher has put on there, and notes that the teacher has made.

We use the iPads a lot at HCC, and it is very fun to learn this way.

In Year 6 we are also learning about a thing called Growth Mindset. 

We are learning about how the brain works, and changing our words from I can't do this, to I can't do this yet. Thank you for reading the Year 6's blog, and we hope you enjoyed learning about our first few weeks at Holy Cross.

By Leah Maccione

Year 8 Big Ideas: What Price for Paradise?

The Year 8 students have begun Summer Term by investigating the question 'What Price for Paradise?' This topic involves the various ways that humans are negatively impacting the earth in pursuit of money. With this in mind, the students have completed a series of rotations focusing on areas of environmental damage - from mining in the Grand Canyon, to pollution on the Great Barrier Reef, to hunting big game animals in Africa.

The students have been using iTunesU to strengthen their capacity for independent learning and their ICT skills.

Next week, the Year 8's will be asked to evaluate what they have learned by producing a podcast countdown of the environmental issues they have studied. They will need to evaluate the extent of human damage in each case and make judgements about the short and long term impacts that these issues may have.

This term is a challenging one as the students are required to 'step up' their critical thinking and discover how Big Ideas works for them as a Year 8 student. We are sure that this will be a stimulating and engaging year for the Year 8's in Big Ideas.

Miss Emilie Reynolds

Year 8 Innovator

Year 9 Big Ideas Excursion

On Thursday, 18 February, Year 9 students attended an excursion to the Aviation Heritage Museum and Army Museum of WA. 2016 marks the centenary of some key events and brutal battles of World War One and especially marks the involvement of Australians at the Western Front. The excursion gave students the opportunity to develop their understanding of the nature of the warfare in World War 1 and the involvement of Australians in this war and in military campaigns since. Students engaged with a range of primary and secondary historical sources and learned many stories of courag and mateship amongst the Anzacs.

This knowledge will serve the students well as they continue their journey into their Big Ideas project for this term - considering the values of the Anzacs and how they themselves can assume these values to make a difference in one of the 'Great Wars' of today.

Ms Karen Taylor

Year 9 Innovator - 22 February 2016

Year 10 Geography Field Trip

On Friday, 12 February, Year 10 students attended Perth Zoo as part of their inquiry into land environments and the environmental issues leading to the endangerment of species both in Australia and around the world. As part of their inquiry, students have selected two examples of endangered species on which to focus. The trip to Perth Zoo gave students the opportunity to observe and learn about their chosen species and practice their field work skills in a controlled environment. 

As part of the day, student also participated in the Perth Zoo educational program called 'The Danger Games'. In this program, they considered a range of natural and human related changes to local land environments and considered how different characteristics and adaptations influenced the likely survival or extinction of species over time.

Upon their return to school, students have utilised the data collected from Perth Zoo to answer inquiry questions and present their findings.

Ms Karen Taylor

Learning Area Coordinator - Humanities and Social Sciences

Junior School Update

Year Three

The Year Threes have had a wonderful start to the year. Our five new classmates have been warmly welcomed by the Holy Cross community spirit within our class. 

We have been learning about persuasive writing and students have presented some interesting arguments on topics including, whether school uniforms should be banned and whether books are better than movies. We have been learning all the tricks of the trade and how to be more persuasive in our arguments. Watch out parents, they may even try their debating skills on you!

In Mathematics, we have been exploring the concept of place value, using hands-on activities. We have been developing strategies for how to create the largest four-digit number by rolling a dice and deciding on what place value the digit should hold. We have also been getting really clever at reading numbers to the tens of thousands.

We are looking forward to further exploring our Big Ideas unit on “Spinning, spinning, spinning, but what if we stop?” to learn more about the concept of day and night. Watch this space for future blog updates! 

Miss Ravenscroft

Year Three Teacher

Pre-Kindergarten

Welcome to Pre-Kindergarten for 2016. We have had a wonderful start to the year, with the children busily getting to know each other, the staff and their new environment. The children are beginning to follow some of the routines of Pre-Kindergarten with the focus on helping them to peacefully transition from home to school in the morning and to feel safe and happy at school. 

For the next few weeks we will continue to learn more about each other, as the children participate in a range of activities based around, 'All About Me'. We will also explore the concept of family and would love for everyone to bring in a family photo that we can share as a class. 

Our fruit cutting and playdough rosters have already commenced and our parent helper roster will commence in Week 5. A reminder that the Junior School Parent Information session will be held on Wednesday, 24 February, followed by a Welcome BBQ. I look forward to a wonderful year ahead!

Mrs Fretwell

Pre-Kindergarten Teacher

Pre-Primary H: Let’s play, learn and grow together

This year, we are delighted to have a double stream of the Pre-Primary cohort. Both, Mrs Hayley Sheppard and I are delighted to collaborate together to provide learning opportunities for the students. 

It has been wonderful to witness the gorgeous little characters entering Pre-Primary H. Thank you for your promptness with drop-offs and pick-ups, the effort has been greatly appreciated. The students have started settling into their class routines and are also excited to embark on many learning experiences with the Pre-Primary C students.

Our Pre-Primary team motto is "We all belong" along with our focus words: 

      CONNECTION...   LOVE...  RESPONSIBILITY...  RESPECT...

This being the year of MERCY, we will be focusing on how we can bring more understanding of this word in our playing and learning opportunities. 

The students have been exploring letter recognition activities. Recently, the students pretended to be Detectives searching for the letters of the alphabet. They were able to wear novelty glasses and use lolly pop pens. The students were so engaged in their search and were confident when sharing their findings. Other tasks included matching lower case and upper case letters, identifying initial sounds when playing Snap and rainbow tracing letters on chalkboards.

The students have been involved in problem solving activities, such as making patterns, practising numeral formation, finding different ways of making the number 6 and creating unifix towers with the challenge of counting all of the blocks used.

Next Wednesday, 24 February, at 4:30pm and 5:00pm Mrs Sheppard and myself will outline the Pre-Primary programme at the Parent Information Sessions. We look forward to seeing all of you there.

I would also like to extend a thank you to the parents who have volunteered to assist with classroom activities or preparation of tasks. Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Miss Pritchard

Pre-Primary H Teacher

Inter House Swimming Carnival

Year 4 - 7 students will be competing in the Inter House Swimming Carnival at Chisholm College on Friday, 19 February. We are looking forward to cheering on the Year 4-6 students at their first swimming carnival in the morning and the Year 7 students in the afternoon. Please refer to the letter provided by Mr Parsons, Head of Heath and Physical Education, for further details. 

Please ensure permission slips have been returned to the College and students wear the correct swimwear on the day.

Mrs Bonatto
Head of Junior School

Optional Sessions at Welcome BBQ and Parents Evening 24 Feb

As you know, the 24 February sees our welcome BBQ and parents evening. At this evening, there are 4 workshops running which you can choose to attend. Below is a brief outline of these to help you make your choices.

1. Supporting Literacy Development at Home

This session will explore things that you can do to support the growth of your child's literacy at home. We will look at some of the strategies we use in the College that can also be applied at home. The session will be hands on and you will get the most out of it if you are able to bring your child's iPad.

2. Supporting Numeracy Development at Home

This session will explore ways you can support the development of your child's numeracy at home. Staff will show you some of the apps and programmes that they are using in school time and guide you with some important strategies. Again, this session will require you to have an iPad.

3.  Getting to know your iPad

This session will be exploratory. We will look at some of the key apps your children are using and will give you an opportunity to have a play with these. Mrs Rosman will be running this session. There will also be time to explore iTunes U which is being used quite significantly across the College now. You will need to bring an iPad to this session - your child's iPad will work well.

4. Transitioning to Secondary School

This session is run by Mrs Betti, our College Counsellor. She will be looking at ways we can support the social and emotional health of our young people as they transition into Secondary school. Please note, this session is aimed for parents of Year 7 students only.

Ms O'Donohue

Deputy Principal Learning

16 February

FRIENDS OF HOLY CROSS

Welcome to The Holy Cross College Community for a new and exciting school year. On behalf of the Friends of Holy Cross we welcome all new and returning students and families to Holy Cross and we look forward to a wonderful year ahead. A special welcome to our many new families to our College.

The Friends of Holy Cross held their first meeting for 2016 last week and it was wonderful to see so many new faces, as well as previous ones, at this meeting. I am delighted to advise that the following positions have been filled for the Friends of Holy Cross.

President:	Susan Sorensen
Vice President:	Danine Powell
Treasurer:	Fiona Schneider
Secretary:	Louise Breadsell
Learning Council Coordinator:	Jo Davies
Enrichment Council Coordinator:	Marjana Davis
Faith Council Coordinator:	Tiffany Bray
Enrichment Council Coordinator:	Michelle Francis and Sarah Dye

The Friends of Holy Cross will be operating within the four LIFE pillars of the school - Learning, Inter-relationships, Faith and Enrichment.  To do this we are seeking parents to join the four LIFE Councils to enable us to provide an array of activities.

A letter from Friends of Holy Cross is being sent home with students seeking your further involvement – please consider contributing to the College community.  There are many ways that people can be involved:  participating in the LIFE Councils: assisting with catering, sausage sizzles, and fundraising events; attending College open days and orientation days to represent the parents of the College and to provide a welcoming face.  If we all contribute a little then we can achieve a lot all for the benefit of our students, our families, and all involved in the College community.

Please return the reply slip attached to the letter back to the office ASAP.

We have many exciting events coming up this year including a Hot Cross bun drive, Mothers’ Day raffle, Fathers’ Day raffle, a Quiz Night, parent Camino-Salvado pilgrimage walks, wine and cheese night, and a College Christmas Carols night.  As always, we will be supporting the College in their many exciting events including the College Family Welcome BBQ Night, College open day tours and orientation days, College Production, College athletic carnivals, and the College Annual Celebration Evening.

The Friends Of Holy Cross are very excited about the coming year and we would like to thank you for your support and contribution in advance for the coming year.

Yours Sincerely – God Bless

Susan Sorensen

President