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