4 February 2016

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Holy Cross parents, carers and members of the wider community.

It brings me such joy to be writing to you for the first time as your newly appointed Principal. I have had the most wonderful start to the year, and have been overwhelmed by the welcome I have received. Holy Cross has often been referred to in the Diocese as ‘the pearl on the beaches’; now I have first-hand experience of the unique nature of this wonderful school, I have to agree, Holy Cross truly is something to be cherished and nurtured. I am very excited about the years ahead and working together with every member of the Holy Cross community to continue to make this beautiful school shine and grow.

I am not alone in being invited to join the Holy Cross community. It also gives me great pleasure to welcome Mrs Veronica Sandall (Holy Cross Counsellor), Mr Ayton Russell (Health and Physical Education) and Mr Michael Doherty (Teacher Librarian) to the Holy Cross team. Please join me in making them feel welcome.

On the Pupil Free Day on Monday 25th January, I was invited to share my vision for 2016 with the staff of Holy Cross. My vision is quite simple, and I share it with you also now…..

As simplistic as this picture may seem, I believe it to be very powerful. Holy Cross is already happily travelling along a road, following the path laid out by the newly created Strategic Plan, and the hopes and vision of the Parish and the Church. It would be remise of me not to acknowledge the work of my predecessors, and to develop a firm appreciation of the factors that make Holy Cross shine so brightly. I intend to spend this year getting to know the heartbeat of Holy Cross, and I invite you to assist me in meeting my goal. Please approach me for a chat when you see me out and about, and share your family’s journey at Holy Cross. I intend to spend as much time as possible walking the pathways before and after school each day as I strive to get to know the students; come and introduce yourself and bear with me as I struggle to learn the names of everyone.

Another part of our Monday PD included our Staff Opening Mass. Father Neil spoke with those gathered about his visit to Rome last year and a message he received from His Holiness, Pope Francis during an address. Father Neil informed us that the essence of Pope Francis’s address was quite simple - for Catholic Schools to focus its efforts on ensuring that every person who walks through its doors, regardless of their culture or religious beliefs, is nurtured, cherished, and provided with as many opportunities as possible to experience God’s love, thus ensuring that upon their departure, they leave fully equipped to be the best possible person they can be in life. Even in the short time that I have spent within the Holy Cross community, I can see that this is very much a focus and part of the culture of this beautiful school.

With this in mind, each week Mr Henry shares a Positive Behaviour Focus with the students, encouraging them to improve themselves and our community one step at a time helping students to become the best possible person they can be. I thought I would follow this fine example and set a parental focus in each Newsletter. I often find as a parent of two children myself that in our busy world too much information can become a little overwhelming, so am hoping that by selecting just one focus each fortnight, making fine adjustments to improve aspects of our school will be more manageable for all.

So, my focus for the next two weeks concerns uniforms. The link below will take you to the Holy Cross Parent Handbook which on page 20 has quite extensive information about uniform expectations.

As fickle as this may sound, it is important that we encourage our students to take pride in their appearance as it shows they have respect for themselves which, in turn, disseminates into the wider community. With only three days under our belt, it saddened me to hear that staff have already spoken to a number of students who have been coming to school wearing incorrectly coloured socks, and inappropriate footwear. In addition, many students have been asked to remove items of jewellery and non-compliant earrings. I ask you to assist by doing a quick spot check over the next two weeks and remind your child should they be leaving home with incorrect attire. I thank you for your assistance with this matter.

Before I conclude, I would like to thank all the families who were able to join students and staff at the Beginning of Year Mass where the 2016 School Leaders were blessed and commissioned.

If you were not able to join us, we would love to welcome you next Wednesday 10th February at 9am when we join together once again in the Holy Cross Church for our Ash Wednesday Mass.

Wishing you God’s blessings always,

Sarah Hamilton
Principal

APRE News

Welcome back to all Holy Cross families, for 2016. A very special welcome to all the families who are new to Holy Cross. I know there are many students helping to make new students feel happy, comfortable and welcome. The beginning of the year is a time of relationship and friendship building, of new experiences and of positive beginnings. What are your hopes and dreams for 2016?

Michael Grose, through his blog, gives 2 key tips for parents, at the beginning of the school year:

The single most important step you can take to help your child learn is to be an active participant in your child’s education.

Active participation includes: talking to your child about their day, hearing young learners read, helping with homework and making sure kids go to school happy, healthy and with plenty of sleep.

The second step is to become involved in your child’s school.

For the full blog entry, see:

I look forward to networking with you, as parents, through a variety of activities this year.

LITURGICAL LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

Next week, we will enter the season of Lent, in our liturgical calendar. It is a time of reflection and a time for focus on personal and communal prayer. It begins with Ash Wednesday, when we receive ashes on our foreheads as a sign of our own mortality, but also as a sign to others that we are a follower of Christ.

Lent calendar

Did you know that you can download a Lent Calendar for your smart phone, or use the web version and set it as your homepage, to ‘Learn More’ and ‘Create Change’ this Lent?

Use the calendar to deepen your spirituality this Lent and learn about Caritas Australia's work in six countries across the globe. Explore Project Compassion, meet inspiring people and reflect on the Lenten period through daily readings, prayers and social justice actions.

A children’s version is available online also; reflect together as a class, whole school, family and parish!

View or download at: www.caritas.org.au/projectcompassion/lent-calendar

Upcoming Liturgies and Masses

• Ash Wednesday Mass 9am Wednesday 10th February
• 1st March Year 4 Reconciliation
• 2nd March Year 4 Class Mass
• 8th March Year 5 Reconciliation
• 9th March Year 5 Class Mass
• 15th March Year 6 Reconciliation
• 16th March Year 6 Class Mass

FUNDRAISING

Project Compassion

The main fundraiser for Lent in most Catholic schools, is Project Compassion, which raises money for Caritas. There will be a number of opportunities to participate in some fundraising, starting with pancakes on Shrove Tuesday; a day we traditionally eat rich foods in preparation for a time of fasting, abstinence and penance. The custom of eating pancakes and other rich foods came about as people emptied their cupboards of the foods they would not be eating during Lent.

Next Tuesday, 9th February, we ask that families bring in a small plate of pancakes to sell from the tuckshop area during breaks. The Justice Squad and School Captains will help to sell these, as part of our fundraising efforts for Project Compassion. The pancakes can be delivered to the tuckshop area before school on Tuesday. Pancakes will be sold for 50 cents each.

REFLECTION AND PRAYER FOCUS FOR THE WEEK

The Action:

We need to treat all people with love, respect, and dignity. Every moment is an opportunity for personal conversion. Now is the time to change the way we act toward our sisters and brothers.

The Prayer:

Lord, open my heart to your mercy, kindness, and forgiveness.
Show me how to respond to the needs of my sisters and brothers
with these precious gifts.
Amen.

Parish Mass Times

Jacinta Roberts
APRE Holy Cross
jroberts1@cns.catholic.edu.au

APA News

Welcome to 2016

A very warm welcome to 2016, it is great to be back. Last week was a busy first week and it was wonderful see many familiar faces ready for another year, and to welcome so many new faces to the Holy Cross community. I hope you have settled in well and wish you many happy memories ahead. To those returning to Holy Cross I trust you were blessed with a wonderful Christmas and New Year break and were able to enjoy the company of family. I look forward over the coming weeks to catch up on those stories. It has been a smooth start to the term, with students settling into routines, teachers beginning to implement great learning plans and reintroducing students to our ‘Positive Behaviour’ expectations as well as planning for a number of important school events upon us. Below is a snapshot of some of the important events to be aware of :

Parent Information Nights – Next Tuesday and Thursday, 9th and 11th of February we are hosting our very important Parent Information evenings. These evenings are great opportunities to meet classroom teachers if you have not done so already, to understand and hear how your child’s class will operate, and begin to build a common understanding between school and home to create the best learning environments for our children. Should you be unable to attend these sessions we encourage you to make an alternative time with classroom teachers as the three-way relationship between students, teachers and parents is vital. Please check below for the specific times of your year levels.

Grip Leadership – nformation will be coming home to our student leaders this week regarding the student leadership conference ‘Grip Leadership’, to be held next Friday 12th February at Pullman Reef Hotel Casino. This exciting conference is a great way to inspire our young leaders as they embark on the year and to allow them the opportunity to work with other young leaders across the Diocese. I have been impressed over the past week by the standard of all our Year 6 students as leaders at Holy Cross.

Swimming Years 4-6 - Commencing this week, students in Years 4 - 6 have begun their swimming program for 2016. Please read below for details of the program to assist in your preparation for lessons.

Swimming is a recognized part of the curriculum offered at Holy Cross. It is expected that all students in Years 4 - 6 will participate in this program during Weeks 2 - 9 of this term.

• Students must wear hats and shoes when walking to the pool, and they must wear a shirt with sleeves when swimming. It would be great if students had sun-block at school so that they could apply it before walking to the pool.
• Long hair must be tied back.
• The instructors have asked that each child wears goggles for their lessons. These are available for $10 from the pool, as a ‘school special’.

Students who are well enough but are not swimming will walk to the pool and read quietly while the class is swimming. Those who are not well enough to walk over to the pool probably aren’t well enough to be at school either.

Parent helpers are required to walk to and from the pool with EVERY CLASS. If you’re available, could you please contact your class’ teacher as soon as possible. It would be greatly appreciated!

Note: NO swimming for Year 6 on Monday 15th Feburary (Week 4).
Make up day on Friday 19th February (Week 4)

NO swimming for Year 4 on Wednesday 10th Feburary (Week 3).
Make up day on Friday 26th February (Week 5)

If you have any queries regarding any of these events I encourage you to make contact with classroom teachers or Administration.

Many blessings for the week

Brad Henry
Assistant Principal - Administration

Curriculum News

The best way you can help your child be a better reader is make reading a shared experience, no matter their age or reading ability.

Parents and guardians are children’s first teachers. As author Emilie Buchwald quoted, “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”

Fostering a love of reading is not simply reading the words on the page. Its through engaging conversations with your children about what they are reading that they will develop a positive, healthy association with reading, develop expression, fluency and extend understanding, which in turn builds their confidence and instils a love of reading.

Reading is a highly complex cognitive process and encompasses all areas of the curriculum. So working together as a united education community will help our students build a gamut of language skills such as:

• oral language development and phonological awareness
• using visual different print concepts – pictures, tables as well as words
• decoding – how to pronounce words
• fluency – reading with expression
• extend vocabulary knowledge and grammar understanding
• comprehension
  - literal – what the author actually says
  - inferential - reading between the lines
  - evaluative – putting 2 and 2 together and making judgements
• broaden horizons and experience different places, people, emotions and things

At Holy Cross, we are working towards redefining reading homework across the school. There will be more information over the next coming weeks.

Jo Neil
Curriculum Support

Library News

Book Club

We are very excited to offer Scholastic Book Club in Terms 1, 2 and 4. We will be holding our annual Book Fair during Holy Cross Book Week in Term 3.

Scholastic now has a new catalogue - it is now one magazine with books for all ages.

Issue 1 of Book Club has been sent home. There is no obligation to purchase, however, each purchase entitles our library to a commission, which we will use to buy new books to add to our library collection.

Order forms and payment to be returned by 16th February 2016.

If you’d like to make a purchase, this is the way this works :

1. Fill in your order form with Name of Student and Class.
2. Payment by cash, cheque or pay on line by filling out the section provided with Receipt Number etc.
3. Put order form and money in envelope and clearly mark the front of envelope with the following information:

Book Club – Name of Student – Class of Student

This envelope is to be given to your child’s class teacher or left at the Front Office. Your child’s books will be ordered by the school and given to your child once they arrive; about two weeks after due date.

Reading has never been more fun!
From the Holy Cross Library Team.

School Notices

Skoolbag Smartphone App

The School App for iPhone and Android smartphones provides Alerts, Calendar Events, School News and lots of information for parents. Please follow the instructions in this PDF to download the Skoolbag App.

Tuckshop News

Welcome, returning and new Holy Cross families for the 2016 school year.

The Holy Cross Tuckshop will be operational and ready to take lunch orders from Wednesday 3rd February, offering morning tea and lunch orders on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

At Holy Cross Tuckshop, we endeavour to provide a healthy and affordable range of menu items for our students and staff members, with many of our menu options made onsite. We have adopted the ‘healthy schools’ ethos in our tuckshop and provide some gluten free items on the menu also.

We have a range of everyday items available on the menu, as well as some products available on select days as outlined in the attached Menu.

Some points to remember:

• When ordering meals for your child, please clearly label your order with your child’s name, class, meal break required (1st or 2nd) and menu item/s.
• Pre-ordered drinks/icy-poles/frozen yoghurts etc. are not placed into the class tuckshop baskets for collection with meals due to hot food in the baskets and drinks going warm. The students will receive a laminated ticket to bring to the tuckshop to redeem their pre-ordered drink. Students do not have to wait until the play bell goes to redeem (10 minutes into break time) and are instead welcome to get their drinks/frozen products from tuckshop at the start of the lunch break.
• Drinks and snacks can be purchased at both 1st and 2nd breaks over the counter. Lunch orders however, must be pre-ordered in the morning as lunches are made to order only. We do not prepare extra hot food, sandwiches etc. for over the counter orders during breaks.
• Available for purchase - ‘Stickybeaks’ insulated lunch bags. These bags are fantastic for keeping hot foods warm and cold foods cool. They are easy to wipe clean and feature a plastic pocket for easy identification of students name and class, as well as a zippered pocket for order and money, keeping coins/notes hygienically separate from the food. The ‘Stickybeaks’ insulated bags are available from the tuckshop at $10 ea. Discounts apply for multiple purchases.
• Paper lunch bags are acceptable for placing orders, if ordering for both breaks please provide a bag for each break. Plastic sandwich bags or envelopes are discouraged, as plastic bags will melt when placed in the warmer and envelopes are generally not large enough to hold your child’s meal for distribution.
• Please provide adequate funds to cover your child’s meal order. In the instance of shortages in lunch orders, a record will be kept and invoices sent out at end of term for payment.

Holy Cross Tuckshop is operated on a not-for-profit basis, so we endeavour to keep our prices affordable covering only our operational expenses. Any additional profit is expected to be fed back into our school community via programs and works driven by our P & F. You can help in our school community by volunteering your time and skills to the tuckshop. Offers of help will be appreciated.

Currently we are in the process of creating an updated menu. We are very open to feedback, positive or negative, and suggestions on what you’d like to see on our menu will be appreciated and considered.

To volunteer your time or provide feedback, please email tuckshop.trinitypk@cns.catholic.edu.au or come and see us in the Tuckshop.

Kind Regards, Belinda Patmore and Janelle Bradridge – Convenors

The Arts News

Dance Drama Music

Hi Holy Cross Community!

I am super excited to be back and have planned a great program for your children this year. I hope the children have as much fun doing the program as I had putting it together!

This year I will be focusing on Dance and Drama in Terms 1 and 2, and Music in Terms 3 and 4. Each year level will have their own program which will be linked to Science, Humanities or Health topics being taught in their classroom. This way I am using The Arts to support classroom learning and help cover concepts in more diverse ways.

I am attempting to build the whole school Arts program even more this year by re-introducing some old favourites like “Holy Cross Has Got Talent”and continuing with our General and Liturgy Choirs (Years 2-6).

I will also be trialling a “Recorder Club” for Years 3/4 and a “Ukulele Club” for Years 5/6 during some afternoon lunch breaks. If you think your child will be interested in any of these activities, please see the next newsletter for a more detailed explanation. Please be patient as it will take a full term to set up and finalise student numbers for these activities.

I am really looking forward to catching up with you all and meeting our new families.

Christina Wight
Dance Drama Music (DDM) Teacher

Music Tuition

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC LESSONS IN 2016

All places have now been filled for students wishing to learn a brass, woodwind or percussion instrument in 2016. All students who requested to learn an instrument this year should have now received the appropriate paperwork to complete and return in order to begin lessons. Lessons for new students will commence in Week 3, and will run every Tuesday on a rotation timetable.

If you would like your child to be placed on the waiting list for Instrumental Music lessons, please complete a green Music form, available at the front office.

Lessons for continuing students have already started, and Band (for continuing students) will commence in Week 4, running every Tuesday from 7:45am to 8:30am.

I look forward to welcoming the 20 new students, joining our 15 continuing students in what looks to be the biggest year of Music yet!

Julia Christo
Instrumental Music Teacher

Drums/Percussion

Are you interested in playing the drums or learning a percussion instrument?

For more information contact our friendly drum/percussion instructor Jen Fengler on ph: 0431461812 or email: jenfengler@hotmail.com

Piano

If you are interested in piano lessons please contact: Paul Brimstone on ph: 40551105

Guitar

If you are interested in guitar lessons please contact: Peter Drazic on email: pjd.guitar@bigpond.com

Language Notices

Bonjour Holy Cross!

I am really looking forward to introducing the students to French language and culture this year.

We will kick off the year by learning about Mardi Gras which is French for ‘Fat Tuesday’. The equivalent of Shrove Tuesday, it is the day before Lent begins where all of the ‘fatty (yummy)’ things were eaten which has become a much larger-than-life carnival celebration around the world. Later in the year, students will celebrate other well-known French celebrations such as Bastille Day and Victory Day. We will also start a French Club for keen students using the online software LanguageNut. Please click on the link below to view the Semester 1 Overview

A plus tard...
Madame Weterkamp
French (LOTE) Teacher

Sports Notices

Greetings and salutations Holy Cross!

It is an absolute pleasure and honour to be part of this great learning community. I am looking forward to getting to know all the students and work with them to achieve their best in Physical Education. I am also fortunate to be able to take on the Health subject for Prep and Year 1 and can’t wait to get moving and shaking on topics such as safety, nutrition, community awareness and forming positive relationships and attitudes.

Physical Education will take in a range of concepts across the year levels, focussing on fitness, working in teams, setting personal goals and game-sense. Through a range of contexts, including modified games, established sports and explicit skill development sessions, students have the opportunity to learn, increase their fitness and have fun at the same time.

The big Term 1 event looming on the horizon is Cross Country, which will be held towards the end of the term. More details about the carnival will follow shortly but in the meantime feel free to knock the dust (or mud) off those running shoes, brave the humidity and start training.

Keep an eye out in newsletters and on bulletin boards for information about upcoming exciting afterschool sports programs as well as club signings for a number of different sport and activity groups.

We are blessed to have such a special staff here at Holy Cross and likewise, a wonderful parent body who already do a tremendous amount of volunteer work in a range of sport and recreational activities. If you are able to assist in any way further, or wish to pass on news of successful sporting endeavours, please leave a message with the awesome Front Office staff.

All the best for a happy and healthy year ahead.

Ayton Russell
Health & Physical Education (HPE) Teacher

After School Soccer Club

Come and train straight after school with our brilliant qualified coaches, learning new skills, making new friends and having LOTS of fun!

Venue: Holy Cross
When: Every Thursday starting from the 18th February for 6 weeks
Time: Directly after school from 3pm to 4pm
Cost: $50 per child for 6 weeks [or total of 6 sessions depending on cancellations and school holidays].
What to bring: Playing Kit [T-shirt, shorts, socks], soccer boots or trainers, and water bottle
What’s on: Skills, Shooting, Dribbling, Tricks & Techniques, Fun games, Competitions & FUN
Every child that completes the course will receive a certificate and the chance to win prizes!
If you are interested in booking your child for the 6 week course, please click on the link below to obtain the consent form. Please fill out and return the form and hand it into school reception ASAP, with either cash or cheque made payable to Jamie Gosling Football Academy. Any questions or info, contact Jamie via email at jamie@jgfa.com.au or call 0450 181 626.

After School NetFun Program

Cairns Netball will once again be running the NetFun Netball Skills program for students 5-10 years of age on Thursday afternoons from 3.05pm – 4.05pm in the Multi-Purpose area commencing this week. Please click on the link below for information and registration form. Copies are also available from the school office.

Cairns Netball Sign On

Community Notices

Triple P Positive Parenting Program

Please click on the link below for information regarding a free parenting seminar that is being held in Cairns on the 29th February, 6.30pm at the Edge Hill State School, 254 Pease Street, Edge Hill. This program is targeted at parents with children under the age of 12 years.

St Monica’s College Year 7 2017 Interviews

St Monica's College will be conducting interviews for Year 7 2017 from early March. If parents have not already submitted an application and would like to obtain a Prospectus, please phone the College on 4042 4800 to have this mailed out to you.

It is not an automatic process of progression for students who have siblings already at the College. An application form needs to be submitted for every student by the closing date of 24 March 2016.

Well Women’s Clinics (available to Medicare eligible clients)

Service includes Pap Smears, Sexual Health Screening, Breast Awareness, also info on Contraception, Continence, Menopause, Lifestyle Issues, Bowel Health, Domestic Violence, etc. All services are provided by a specially trained Women’s Health Nurse.

James Cook University (JCU) Thursday 18th February Ph: 4226 4812
Smithfield Community Health Friday 19th February Ph: 4226 4800