Pilgrimage to Australian Catholic Youth Festival in Sydney

To get the chance to explore and deepen your faith is a chance that anyone should reach out and take in their lifetime. To be able to take that opportunity with 19,000 other students, teachers, priests, nuns and bishops from around the country in Sydney is something that we will be grateful for forever.

To be able to hear our faith through wonderfully vibrant music was something that we were pleasantly surprised by at the start of the conference, opening our eyes to new ways we can express our faith in the school and parish community. It was uplifting to hear from bishops and priests that the church has full faith that the youth can, and will, bring the church out of its current hardships and through to a joyful, vibrant and proud horizon. In particular, the messages of Sr Hilda Scott and Archbishop Christopher Prowse (of the archdiocese of Canberra and Gouldburn) rang in our ears with their reassurance that God is with us and with His help, we can achieve great things.

A meet up with La Salle College and Trinity College for a photo op with Archbishop Timothy Costelloe was a heartwarming experience. Sharing food and incredible faith experiences with students and teachers from these schools enriched our sense of communion and spirituality with our Perth contingent.

We received many opportunities to see sights around Sydney that were both important to our faith and the Australian culture. Being able to kneel at the tomb of Saint Mary MacKillop was both a sight that all Australians should see and an experience that they should feel as it was so moving to kneel at the sight of Australia's first Saint. Being able to walk through Luna Park and then pilgrimage along the Sydney Harbour bridge gave us a great sense of gratitude to be able to see these great Australian icons, while also giving us a sense of perspective on what a wonderful country God has given us to be stewards of.

It is to be awed at that this short trip had the ability to humble us and make us cry and then bring us to our knees in fits of laughter. It is these experiences that have definitely the changed the way we look at our faith and God for the better, and it is through these experiences that God has called us to be active members of his church in all that we do. God Bless.

ACYF Holy Cross Pilgrims

Christmas Mini Market

Come along to the market this afternoon to support the Year 2 & 3 students as well as the Senior School Business students with their Christmas Mini Market!

You will be able to purchase Christmas crafts, decorations and food as well as have some fun with themed photo booth images.  Prices start at 50c.

The market will be held in the Boulevard area near Fitzroy and will be open to students from 2:20pm and to families from 2:40pm until 3:30pm (or until sold out).

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Beauty is a Beast!

The fairytale world was turned on its head last week as the Junior Drama Club took to the stage to perform the short play 'Beauty Is A Beast' for an audience of family, friends and staff last week. This performance was the culmination of the year's work in the Drama Club which has run after school on Tuesday's since March.

The story followed Beauty (Isabel Davies), a spoilt princess from the Kingdom of Callentine who is taught the importance of inner beauty from her Fairy Godmother (Jasmine Okello) along with the down to earth Nick (Bailey Fry) and his humble family. The messages of love, respect and 'not judging a book by its cover' were on display as Beauty learnt the importance of showing kindness to all.

The students in the Junior Drama Club did an absolutely fantastic job and performed with confidence and energy. Both parents and staff were very impressed with the level of performance demonstrated by the Year 4-6 students. Our Junior students were also lucky enough to be supported by our dedicated Year 11 and 12 Drama students who acted in backstage roles during final rehearsals and on the performance day.

Congratulations to the following students who were involved in the show: Isabel Davies

Thomas Jacklin, Vanshita Bhatia, Abby Bolger, Jarrad Webb, Tinotenda Matsokotere, Addison Delaunay, Geah Kot, Chloe Martin, Caitlyn Jarman, Luke Riedel, Finn Dorst, Cara Weik, Bailey Fry, Jasmine Okello, Mia-Mae Vella, Amelie Fewell, Elijah Feszczur, Grace Locke-McLean, Katelyn Smink, Ava Smink, Erin Butterworth, Jesse Sokol, Achol Ajang, Paige Bolton

Christian Tenaglia, Kiera Perks, Mbako Gwakuba, Mia Yeatman and Perez Vishnu.

Special thanks to the Drama Club staff of Mrs Dorota Fretwell and Mrs Emma Pring for their hard work throughout the year. Also thanks to Mrs Vanja Basell and Mrs Kylie Henderson along with the Senior Leadership Team for their support of the club. 

We now look forward to what the Drama Club holds for the Junior School students in 2018!

Mr Chris McRae
Drama Teacher

2017 Inter House Swimming Carnival

Friday December 1 saw Years 7-12 descend upon HBF Arena Joondalup for the 2017 Inter House Swimming Carnival. After a fantastic 2016 campaign, Ozanam arrived fully determined to defend their title with Frayne, Salvado and McCormack equally determined create their own piece of history.

The carnival was competed in brilliant spirit, with the students from all Houses showing the willingness to compete and give their best effort.

Several records were broken on the day which indicates that the standard of competition was also very high. The students ability to compete against each other but then celebrate each other’s success was consistent throughout the carnival.

The Champion and Runner-Up Swimmers for each Year Group were as follows;

Year 7

Champion

Starr Lee

Lachlan Nethercote

Runner Up

Leah Frisina

Ethan Armstrong

Year 8

Champion

Beth Rankin and Grace Ryan (Joint Champions)

Carl Viljoen

Runner Up

Zoe Karpewycz

Patrick Andrews

Year 10

Champion

Jade Stewart

Adam Gage

Runner Up

Melody Day

Tyler Boyle

Year 11

Champion

Megan Gorton

Alex Rankin

Runner Up

Aimee Sorensen

Max Catlin

Year 12

Champion

Chelsea Wallis

Alfie Turrell

Runner Up

Hannah Schnell

Matthew Warner

The final leaderboard, after being tight all day, showed McCormack recording an impressive victory. 

McCormack 1516

Ozanam 1296

Salvado 924

Frayne 868

Equally as impressive was the House Spirit, atmosphere and overall participation from all students. The data from this carnival will be used to select the initial training squad for the ACC Swim Team, which will be announced early next year.

Finally a big thank you to the HCC staff for filling the various roles that make a carnival successful and to the parents for their fantastic support and assistance on the day.

This closes the chapter on Carnivals at HCC for 2017. We are looking forward to starting again in 2018.

Advent Message from the Catholic Mission

This Advent, “Let us love, not with words, but with deeds.” (1Jn 3:18).   Why not make this line from Holy Scripture a reality by joining us on Thursday 14 December, 7pm at The Basilica of St Patrick, Fremantle for a captivating and beautiful evening of sacred music, readings and congregational carols to highlight the true meaning of the Christmas Gospel in our world today. Emeritus Bishop Justin Bianchini will be giving the reflection. Music from Eva-Marie Middleton (soprano), Paul Wright (violin), Dominic Perissinotto (organ) and The Basilica Choir.  Proceeds will go to Catholic Mission’s work in support of maternal and child health in Uganda. Tickets $30, Concessions $20, 12 year olds and under are free.  Add another ticket to your booking for just $10 and we will give that ticket to a homeless or refugee person so they too can share in the beauty of Christmas with us and enjoy a nice supper beforehand.  On-line bookings atwww.trybooking.com/SWMO or pay at the door.

Emergency Preparedness Session

The Christmas Appeal will be launched this week. Baskets will appear in all HTG rooms and classrooms and we hope that they will be filled with lots of goodies for the families in need to be distributed by the Ellenbrook Parish St Vincent de Paul group. A Christmas tree will appear in the Front Office on the first day of December but labels for you to use in helping to choose gifts to go under the tree will be available in the front office at the end of the week. There is a need for gifts for children from age 8 - 10.

So that the gifts and foods will be easy and appropriate for the Society to use please consider the following criteria from them.

• Vinnies can only distribute non-perishable food items. 
• To uphold the dignity of people receiving hampers, Vinnies is unable to accept pre-opened packaged items or second hand items. Please also ensure that all food items have a long expiry/ best before date. 
• For safety reasons, please do not gift wrap any items. 
• Supermarket gift cards are always a great idea! This means families can experience the joy of purchasing their own food items for Christmas day. 
• We don’t encourage gift / toy donations however should this be what you are looking to donate please consider a toy store gift card so parents can experience the joy of purchasing their children a personalised gift they have been asking for. 
• Financial donations are also acceptable and are tax deductable should they be over $2.

In advance, I would like to thank all families for their previous support and hope that this year will have even stronger support.

God Bless
Harry Muller
(Coordinator of Ministry)

SAVE OUR SURROUNDINGS: Year 7 Big Ideas Makes A Difference!

Over the last two terms, the Year Sevens have been working on Project SOS: Save Our Surroundings. They have explored a range of environmental issues and worked diligently to create campaigns around issues of their choice.

Their work culminated on Thursday of week six, with a Sustainabilty Fair. The Fair showcased the election campaigns for the new ‘City of Swan’ council and incorporated STEM principles to exhibit the work on a giant map of the area. The students’ families were invited to view the work, enjoy a sausage sizzle and to cast their vote for the new council! 

The map was designed and created by the ‘Map Squad,’ and featured models of the Ellenbrook area, Swan Valley, Whiteman Park and hills area. The Map Squad, overseen by Mr Hughes spent many hours up to their elbows in papier-mâché and the result was spectacular.

Special thanks to Mr Smythe for his help with laser cutting some of the signs and for use of the Design and Technology facilities! 

The map encompassed drop points that exhibited QR codes. The codes were scanned and led to the campaign videos crafted by sixteen different groups of students.

Visitors to the Sustainability Fair watched the videos, then used a token to vote for the ‘Council’ that presented the most effective platform. All the money raised through the sausage sizzle and the sale of products made by the students will then be used by the Council elect to purchase a sustainability initiative for Holy Cross.

We were thrilled to see most families attend and the atmosphere at the event was wonderful. The students have worked very hard on their projects and they should be congratulated on their display of Collaboration and Citizenship. We hope that their learning around Sustainability this semester has provided them with the foundation required to become responsible and proactive leaders of the future.

Miss Emilie Reynolds

Year Seven Innovator 

Junior School Orientation and Transition Day

A wonderful day was had by all today with new and existing students meeting each other and spending time in their year levels for next year.

The teachers and education assistants for each year level in 2018 are as follows:
Kindergarten H: Mrs Borg, Mrs Hasleby and Mrs D'Andrea
Kindergarten C: Mrs Pecherczyk, Ms Mathews and Mrs Gorton
PrePrimary H: Mrs Wright and Ms Cooke
PrePrimary C: Miss Rowlands and Mrs Hilton
Year 1H: Miss Sibbald
Year 1C: Miss Keating
Year 2H: Mrs Sheppard
Year 2C: Miss Barron
Year 3H: Mrs McKinnon
Year 3C: Miss Edwards
Year 4H: Miss Russo
Year 4C: Miss Dunstan
Year 5H: Miss Armenti
Year 5C: Mr Davis
Year 6H: Miss Hickey
Year 6C: Miss Brown

Learning Enrichment Team (across the College)
Ms Lennon
Ms McMahon
Mrs Ryan
Mrs Fretwell
Miss Ravenscroft
Mrs Bowden
Mrs McCarthy

We farewell Mrs Bloxsom who is moving on next year.

Teachers will contact families over the holidays to indicate which classes students will be in.  We look forward to an exciting year next year!

Mrs Vanja Basell
Assistant Principal, Junior School

Junior School Update

Pre-Kindergarten

This term in Pre-Kindergarten we farewelled Mrs. Pring who commenced maternity leave and welcomed Miss Edwards in her place. The children have enjoyed having a new face in the classroom. Welcome also to the new families joining us at Holy Cross College this term, we are excited to have you!

We have had a strong focus on learning the familiar nursery rhymes, Humpty Dumpty, Incy Wincy Spider and Baa Baa Black Sheep. The children have enjoyed singing and learning the matching actions to go along with these. Please continue to practise the words to these songs at home as they are full of rhyming, rhythm and repetition. By singing songs containing these core elements it is helping boost children’s language, communication and literacy development.

The children have been practicing identifying their name and developing their independence skills is preparation for Kindergarten next year. We have also been exploring our inquiry skills through a range of experiments. The Children enjoyed predicting and reflecting on the results.

We are looking forward to the rest of the term and would like to thank all parents for their support. Keep an eye on Seesaw for further snapshots of your Child’s learning and also for some very important events coming up very soon.

Amy Edwards and Natalie Pecherczyk

Pre-Kindergarten Teachers

Pre-Primary

Wow! What a wonderful year we have had in Pre-Primary.

In English, students have been working very hard on their sight words, reading and sentence writing. We absolutely love the confidence students have gained in their ability to read and write sentences. This week we have started exploring how to write sentences on the iPads. We definitely have some technology experts in Pre-Primary. Everyone loved learning how to add capital letters and full stops to their writing.

In Big Ideas this term, students have been exploring the question ‘How do you get from A to Z?’. We started exploring this question by challenging students to move through an obstacle course tied to a partner. This task challenged students to use their communication and collaboration skills. Students have also explored movement through constructing different paths for marbles, ping pong balls and cars. Constructing different paths encouraged children to be creative and innovative. 

Finally, we would just like to say a big thank you to our wonderful families for your consistent help and support throughout this term.

Mrs. Dorota Fretwell, Miss Abbey Rowlands and Mrs. Natalie Pecherczyk.

Pre-Primary Teachers

Junior School Update

Kindergarten

The Kindergarten students have been very busy over the last few weeks investigating the question, ‘How do things work?’ Every Thursday morning, Mr. Gerber comes in and shows us amazing science experiments and explains why things happen. We couldn’t believe what was happening before our own eyes with the elephant toothpaste, explosions, fizzing and popping!

We have also been enjoying the Spring weather with lots of music, dancing and dress ups. Last week we even had our very first Rock Concert performed with some children on the maracas, drums, tambourines, triangle and bells. The band even had their own dancers who enjoyed twirling, spinning, jumping and moving with their colourful scarves and ribbons to the music. 

Kindergarten is definitely the place to be if you would like some extra colour, laughter and fun in your life!

Mrs. Jo Borg and Mrs. Emma Pring

Kindergarten Teachers