Year 11 Enrichment Week

Enrichment Week was split into 2 parts for the Year 11 students.  On Monday they focused on Career and Life Planning with Ms Carol Henderson from Kolbe College.  Carol has a wealth of experience in Careers and provided an insightful workshop that allowed the students to explore their skills and aptitudes.  Tuesday was spent looking at time managemenrt and study skills with Academic Taskforce.  In particular, students investigated their allocation of time to study and schoolwork, revealing that some have an imbalance that needs to be addressed.  Many thanks to Mrs Anita Walmsley for organising the study skill session.

Wednesday to Friday saw the students retreat to Eagle's Nest in Gidgegannup, with a focus on "Dare To Be".  The retreat experience is one where young adults are given the opportunity to look closely at themselves and then how they relate to others, now and into the future. Finally, they have a look at the relationship they have with God. 

Everyone came back energised and buzzing about the experience, and I would like to thank Mr Harry Muller for organising and running the retreat.  I would also like to thank Mrs Sherie Hope, Mrs Jo Di Pino and Mrs Sarah Brown for their assistance on the retreat.

  

Year 8 Curriculum Enrichment Week

My first day of Curriculum Enrichment Week was our Year 8 retreat day at school. We reflected about our journey through life and how problems are like little mountains that we can get over with the help of family and friends. On Tuesday, I completed the 15km hike through John Forrest National Park. It was challenging and difficult especially because of the rain but we persevered on. During the hike we stopped for morning tea and observed the fantastic view of the city and hills from a great advantage spot. 

I arrived early at school on Wednesday morning all excited for the journey ahead of me to New Norcia. After the bus ride we unpacked our bags in the dorms, everybody was surprised to find walls in between the beds. We unpacked our luggage, then we listened to the rules of staying at St Gertrudes by Toni the Education Officer. After lunch we were divided in groups to be toured around the Town and were shown through the Museum. The night was concluded with a camp fire with toasted marshmallows and a scary stories by Miss Reynolds. We also went for a night time cemetery walk and then lay on the basketball courts while Mr. Wilson described to us all the stars in the sky. It was great fun.  

On Thursday I woke up at 5:30am to get ready before everybody else. The morning was spent working on our stories for our historical journals and the source analysis assessment . The afternoon we worked in groups on the advertisement video for the town of New Norcia. We broke up into our groups and toured the town and interviewed a few tourists about why they chose to come to New Norcia for the day. This helped us design a video suited to tourists. 

After dinner on Thursday night ( which was really yummy) we were tested with a quiz night, lollies and prizes which made my night a lot of fun. The night was filled with general knowledge questions and the winning group received a family block of Cadbury Chocolate!

On Friday morning the Year 8's conducted a liturgy based around journey and our schools connection with Dom Salvado. All students had a part to play in the liturgy and it was a great team effort by all year 8's. After a sausage sizzle for lunch we departed on the bus back to school. I didn't want the camp to end so soon. 

All in all I became closer to my friends, my teachers, myself and God. 

Thank you New Norcia for a great experience. 

By Keely Prasalowski          

Whole School Art Exhibition - 21 - 28 October

The arts are alive and well at Holy Cross College with recent highlights including our participation in the prestigious Angelico Exhibition held at Forrest Centre in the City.  

I am delighted to share with you news of our first Whole School Art Exhibition titled this year as ‘Flourishing Arts’ which will be held in Week 2 of Spring Term.  The Opening Night will be held on Monday, 21 October from 6.00 - 7.45pm and 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.  The Opening Night will be a formal event; student prize winners will be required to be in full academic uniform. The event will be catered for by the Food Technology students and staff with supporting music performances through the evening.  

I look forward to the award presentations for each participating year group.  There will also be some work on show from the students' Visual Art Club. Regular updates will appear in this Blog as we get closer to the event.

Please mark this date in your calendar and hope that you can join us at the Opening Night or at some stage during the week long exhibition which will be on display in the Learning Resource Centre. 

Miss Sara O'Neill

Art Teacher

PERFORMING ARTS FESTIVAL FOR CATHOLIC SCHOOLS & COLLEGES

Students of the College participated in this Performing Arts Festival and received many commendations and acknowledgements. The College had, in total, 7 entries in the festival this year. These are the results so far:

Peter Pan: All performers are to be congratulated. Adjudicators made particular mention of Giordarna Rigoli's outstanding performance as Wendy as well as the strong ensemble singing and striking costumes and backdrops. 

Chardonnay Mitchell and Abbey'Lee Quantock (Vocal Duet): Were awarded a Certificate of Merit for their enthusiastic performance and were commended for connecting with their audience.

HCC Contemporary Ensemble: Played with enthusiasm and musicality and presented a confident performance. The interpretation of their two songs was commended. 

Anthony Menegola (Piano Solo): Commended for accuracy and rhythm in a tricky song. Played with confidence and did himself proud.

Angela Gethin and Chardonnay Mitchell (Piano Solo): Were commended by the adjudicators for a beautifully presented performance and worked well together. 

Thank you to all who have supported the festival in some way and to the many parents who assisted with getting to the performances on time.

Chris McRae

Music Teacher