Student Executive Leaders 2019

Developing the leaders of tomorrow is an important part of the schooling process. There are many ways students can offer leadership; often simply by showing initiative and actively participating in the LIFE of the College is a good demonstration of leadership. More formal opportunities for student leadership are offered through the appointment of Captains and House and LIFE Leaders. The Student Executive Leaders were announced at the Annual Celebration Evening held in October and have already been busy assisting with College functions and planning events for the coming year. The Captains lead a team of LIFE Leaders and House representatives building College spirit and giving student voice to many aspects of College life. We wish them well in their endeavours in 2019.

Junior School Staffing 2019

What a buzz! This morning saw all of our new and current students for Pre-primary to Year 7 for 2019 gather as one for the first time. After a quick morning assembly, students moved to classes with their new teachers to participate in some fun activities for the morning. 

We are happy to announce the following staffing for 2019 in the Junior School. 

Pre-kindergarten – Mrs Sharper and Mrs Gorton

Kindergarten – Mrs Borg, Mrs Pecherczyk, Mrs Gorton, Mrs Mathews, Mrs D’Andrea and Mrs Hilton

Pre-primary – Miss Sibbald, Miss Rowlands and Ms Cooke (Final Education Assistant is currently advertised).

Year 1 – Miss Keating, Mrs O’Hanlon and Mrs Hasleby

Year 2 – Miss George and Miss Barron

Year 3 – Mrs McKinnon and Miss Edwards

Year 4 – Miss DeLeon and Miss Russo

Year 5 – Miss Water (4 days)/Miss Dunstan (1 day) and Mrs Sheppard

Year 6 – Miss Hickey and Mrs Knapton

We are farewelling Miss Armenti and Mrs Wright.

Mr Davis will take six months Long Service Leave and return to HCC in Semester 2.

Kindergarten Orientation will take place on Friday, 16 November, 9:30am -10:30am.

Pre-kindergarten parent sessions will be held on Friday, 23 November at either 9am or 4pm.

Mrs Vanja Basell and Mrs Kylie Day

Assistant Principals, Junior School

Christmas Appeal 2018

Next week, the College is launching its annual Christmas Appeal. Each classroom and House Tutor Group will be collecting non-perishable food items for the appeal this year. These food items will be distributed into the local community by the St Vincent de Paul volunteers at St Helena’s of the Holy Cross Parish, Ellenbrook. 

Donations will be collected on Friday, 7 December.

In order for the food to be appropriate for the Vinnies to distribute, please consider the following criteria:

• We respectfully ask that you please check expiry dates of the products you are donating. 

• Non-perishable food items only.

• To uphold the dignity of people receiving hampers, Vinnies is unable to accept pre-opened packaged items or second-hand items.

• Items that are Christmas orientated are encouraged.

• Examples may include: tinned tuna, tinned fruit, fruit mince pies, Christmas cake, lollies, vegemite, honey, pasta sauce, sweet/savoury biscuits, cereal, jam, orange juice, cake mixes, milo etc

In advance, I would like to thank all families for their previous support and I look forward to another successful year.

Mr Ryan Shelton

Director of Faith

Junior Drama Club Set To Capture Festive Spirit

The Holy Cross College Junior Drama Club will be presenting a Reader's Theatre performance of the classic Charles Dickens tale 'A Christmas Carol'. Reader's Theatre is a style of performance which does not rely on set, props or even line memorisation but instead on vocal expression and delivery, making it a combination in fluent reading and performance.

Scrooge is given a slightly modern twist and all the characters you know and love will be present as the story of Scrooge's lesson at Christmas is brought to life through the spoken word.

The performance presentation will take place on Thursday 29 November commencing at 4:00pm in the New Norcia Building and free tickets can be booked at www.trybooking.com/406427

Mr Chris McRae
Learning Area Coordinator (The Arts)

Senior School Parent Information Night

SENIOR SCHOOL PARENT INFORMATION NIGHT OCTOBER 2018

It was great to see such wonderful attendance to our parent/ student workshops held on Tuesday 30 October. The evening started with an introduction to senior school and the new academic year by Mr Peter Collins and Ms Mandy Connor. Setting the scene for the challenges ahead and the importance of each and every student engaging in College activities to the full was emphasised. 

Important information regarding Senior School courses, OLNA and Graduation requirements, possible pathways available for students and expectations for the new academic year were presented in specific year level workshops. 

The College is excited about the numerous pathways now offered to our senior school students. From an ATAR pathway, General pathway, Curtin Uni Ready, VET, Onsite, TAFE, VISN, Work Placement and Certificate 2, the College has an array of different options now available. 

If you missed the night please refer to the documents below:

• Setting the Scene in Senior School 2018/ 2019
• Year 10 PDF 
• Year 11 & 12 General Pathway
• Year 11 & 12 ATAR Pathway

Thanks Ms Kelly Bond 

CPSSA Interschool Athletics Carnival

Athletes from Years 3 - 6 represented Holy Cross College at the CPSSA's B Division Interschool Athletics Carnival on Friday, 26 October. 

Student participation, behaviour and sportsmanship was exceptional throughout the day.  Team Captains, Jamie Perry and Angelique Pugliese as well as Vice Captains, Ethan Bellomo and Courtney Banda ensured that the team cheered loudly in support for the competitors throughout the day and Holy Cross placed as highly as fourth at various stages.  

Special mentions go to Charley Huata, Oscar Forbes, Lucas Davini, Adier Deng and Xavia Mbuyi, each placing in the top four across multiple events.  Peter Thuch led by example, stepping in and competing in several events when others were unable, giving it his all in every event. 

Thank you to the staff involved in training sessions and organisation in the lead up to the day as well as playing crucial roles during the event.  Days like these are not possible without the support of the parents as well so a very big thank you to those who volunteered on the day.   

The hard work students had put into their training and their efforts on the day resulted in the girls and boys both finishing in sixth place and the College came in at seventh place, one place higher than last year.  

We look forward to sending another group of athletes to represent the College in 2019.

Mr Brendan Buckley
Sports Coordinator

Wellness Days Yrs 9, 10 and 11

Senior School students participated in a range of activities and were treated to wonderful guest speakers during the Wellness Days as part of Transition Week. Wellness Days @ HCC are devoted to boosting the physical and mental wellbeing of students and cover a range of topics including positive mental health, relaxation, healthy eating and nutrition, exercise, drug and alcohol education. We look forward to more opportunities like these to build individual student resilience and strengthen relationships within the senior school. Here's some stories and pics from the days ...

Yr 9 Wellness Day: Guest dance instructor Rita led a Cultural Dance workshop, Mrs Lewis & Mrs Rossetti helped students make healthy parfaits & smoothies and Ms Reynolds taught a relaxing Yoga class. Youth Focus presented a suicide prevention workshop called “Having a Conversation about Mental Health”. It was an interactive, enjoyable and fulfilling day for students. Courtney Tassell, Grace Ryan and Sophie Medcraft won the competition to create original recipes for parfaits and smoothies – their creations will be featured on the school menu so head down to the College Café to try them out!

Most of the Yr 10 Wellness Day was spent with Adam from “Armed for Life” who addressed many aspects of physical and mental health. He was accompanied by local hip-hop artist Marskman Lloyd who dazzled the crowd with his awesome impromptu rapping (somehow he found a way to rap about snotty tissues, headphones and basketballs!) and then shared an enthralling story about his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Both Adam and Marksman Lloyd emphasised the importance of resilience, having strong supports, being true to yourself, working hard and having courage in life – messages well received by our students.

The theme for the Yr 11 Wellness Day was strengthening connections and relationships and thus the students worked together to create a shared lunch with Mrs Murphy, tapped into their creative side with a group art project with Ms O’Neil, and had lots of laughs during the social dance lessons with Ms Pratt. Ms Betti & Ms Hay screened an emotive video clip from Dr. Gabor Mate, and demonstrated how important human connections, support and healthy relationships are in combatting addiction. Students brainstormed some ways to create a “Rat Park” in their own lives. After lunch students were fortunate enough to have 4 HCC Alumni students share their memories, stories, wisdom and great tips for getting through Yr. 12. These students were a great reminder that anything is possible with a bit of hard work, of the many pathways available to students, the importance of sleep and balancing work-study-life, and that you are certainly not defined by your ATAR results!

Jo Betti
College Social Worker

Junior School Update

Pre-Primary

Our Pre-Primary students have been working very hard with their writing and reading. We cannot believe their progress this year. Children have been pointing out sight words during our big book reading and have been spelling these words during activity time.

During Religious Education, we have been thanking God for our feelings. We discussed how Jesus had happy and unhappy feelings and how he came to help people express their feelings in loving ways. This week, children identified many different ways to show love, compassion and care towards others.

During Big Ideas, we have been investigating the question ‘How do we get from A to Z?”. We explored this concept by using Bee-bots. We absolutely loved playing with the Bee-bots and using our digital technologies and coding skills to move the robot. We also worked on our communication skills by completing an obstacle course tied to one of our friends. We absolutely loved this activity and made it through with lots of smiles and giggles!

Finally, we would just like to thank our wonderful families for their constant support with parent help, play dough, washing, changing books and sight word homework. We cannot thank you enough. 

Miss Abbey Rowlands, Mrs Caroline Hilton, Mrs Jo Wright and Mrs Helen Cooke 

Pre-Primary Team

Year 5 Italian Excursion

On Wednesday 17 October, the Year 5 students were fortunate enough to participate in an Italian excursion. The students travelled to the city to Visit Lake Vasto and the Italian monument dedicated to Italian migrants who came to Australia from Perth’s sister City: La Citta` di Vasto”, in  Abruzzo region in the centre of Italy. Students had the opportunity to learn about the Italian migration to Western Australia.

Students also learned about Italian culture at the Laguna Bocce Club in Dianella. The Laguna Bocce Club represents the Region of Veneto in North of Italy. The members of the Club taught students and teachers how to play Italian Bocce. Everyone really enjoyed the challenge and the experience. It was so much fun! All the members of the Laguna Club were amazing! They made us feel very welcome.

           

After, the students enjoyed a delicious Italian home-made lunch provided by the Club. The students engaged in discussions about the history of the club and how challenging it was to migrate to Australia. Students had the opportunity to practice their Italian in an authentic and meaningful way.

Mrs Natascia Morlotti, Mr Richard Smiroldo and Mrs  Anna Amatulli.

Italian teachers