24 August 2017

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents and Carers

“I wasn’t going to do anything today and so far I'm right on schedule.”

Author Unknown.

If this statement was made on a Sunday, then God would have smiled fondly at the person who made it, for after six days of creation God had a day off and for many years, society thought that God’s idea was a good one and followed his lead with a day of rest.

Aesop, the famous writer of fables, once set a riddle for his critics who accused him of engaging in frivolous thought as opposed to “real” philosophic thought. The story goes that Aesop picked up a bow, loosened its string and placed it onto the ground and then asked, “What does the unstrung bow imply?”

Nobody was able to answer the riddle in a manner that was satisfactory to Aesop’s purpose; so he provided the answer: “If you keep a bow always bent, it will break eventually. But, if you let it go slack, it will be more fit for use when you want it.”

Nowadays, taking time off or ‘unstringing your bow’, is often seen as being a weakness. In our modern day, you could even argue that society prides itself on being a twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week place. There is some mistaken belief that humans should have a 24/7 capability. This is simply not true. We were created for balance: for working and relaxing; for business and for family; for socialising and for contemplation. When life gets out of balance we pay the price.

It’s possible that we might be of the opinion that we are indispensable, and that our workplace, or even our home, will not be able to function if we are not there all the time beavering away. Well, not even Jesus thought that! In Mark’s gospel we are told that when the Apostles returned from their teaching activities, they were exhausted but people still wanted their time. Jesus was aware of both situations, as Mark records:

“There were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have time to eat. So he said to them, ‘Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will be alone and you can rest awhile’.”

Mark 6:31.

Jesus fully realised that, tired or not, needs are always there. He also realised that you can't do everything; unless you come away and rest awhile, you run the risk of truly coming apart. Everyone, including children, needs to step aside from a busy over-stimulated life and have a break. We all need space and uncommitted time in our life; we all need time for thinking or listening or just being in quietness. It’s when we stop dashing about, that we see our world more clearly. When we stop doing things, we are open to having things done for us and to us by other people.

It is for all of these reasons, and many more, that we make time every school day for our students to stop, and just be. At Holy Cross we incorporate Christian Meditation into our daily schedule, straight after lunch every day. The word meditation comes from the Latin word meditārī, which has a range of meanings including to reflect on, to study and to practice. Christian meditation is the process of deliberately focusing on specific thoughts and reflecting on their meaning in the context of the love of God. Through Christian Meditation, children are afforded an opportunity to be silent and experience God in the silence. It truly is one of my favourite moments of every day.

So, this Sunday, after you have recovered from the excitement of our 30th Anniversary Float, “The Pearl of the Northern Beaches”, please take a moment to put your feet up, wrap your arms around your family, and enjoy the moment.

Wishing you God’s every blessing now and always,

Sarah Hamilton
Principal

APA News

HOLY CROSS SWIMMING TIMETABLE – Term 3, 2017

Dear Parent/Guardian,

In weeks 9 & 10, September 4th – September 13th students in years 4 - 6 will participate in their swimming program for 2017. Please read below for details of the program to assist in your preparation for lessons to begin.

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. We have worked closely with the Smithfield Pool to ensure a participation course of essential Swim and Survive skills. It is not simply swimming laps. Those students who are not well enough to walk over to the pool probably aren’t well enough to be at school either.

• Students must wear hats and shoes when walking to the pool, and they must wear a shirt/rashie with sleeves whilst at the pool and when swimming. Girls are asked to wear a one-piece swim suit. It would be great if students had sun-block at school so that they could apply it before walking to the pool.
• Students are expected to have in school uniform for the commencement of the day and completion, except the first class timetabled.
• 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’.
• Lesson will be primarily in the undercover heated pool to assist with sun safety.

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

Parents Prep to Year 3, your Swimming Program will commence at the beginning of Term 4. Information will be in the next newsletter.

Should you have any questions about the Holy Cross swimming program please speak with your classroom teacher or contact myself.

HOLY CROSS PARENT SATISFACTION SURVEY 2017

As part of our ongoing commitment to continuously improving the school, we believe it is critical to seek each parent and guardian’s opinion on a range of issues relating to Holy Cross. Your feedback is very important to us as we continue to build a successful school and strengthen our reputation as an ‘educator of choice’.

As such, we have engaged the professional services of MYB to undertake a strictly private and confidential School Results Survey on our behalf. The survey should take approximately 10 - 15 minutes and will need to be completed online between Monday 28th August and Monday 11th September. There are no right or wrong answers and we ask that you respond honestly to each statement.

Please note that this survey will be confidential. No member of the leadership team at Holy Cross will have access to your individual responses. We will be provided with a summary of collated results only.

MYP Corp will undertake the following process to ensure anonymity:

1. Parents and guardians will be emailed individual survey logins.
2. Results will be collated externally.
3. A summary of collated results will be provided to the school leadership team.

On the survey start date, survey instructions and a personalised login link will be emailed to all parents. You will continue to send friendly reminders during the survey period until you have submitted the survey.

If you do not receive your survey instructions on the survey start date, please check your spam and junk email folders before contacting mthorpe@cns.catholic.edu.au or administration on 07 40576920.

While we strongly encourage you to participate, the survey is not compulsory. If you decide that you do not want to complete the survey, simply click ‘Unsubscribe’ in the instruction or reminder email.

Thank you for your assistance in helping to shape the future direction of Holy Cross.

EARN AND LEARN

This year we will be participating in the Woolworths Earn & Learn program. Through this program we will be able to get new educational resources for our school/early learning centre – and all we need you to do is shop for your groceries at Woolworths.

From Wednesday 26th July to Tuesday 19th September or while stock lasts, we are collecting Woolworths Earn & Learn Stickers. You will get one Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker for every $10 spent (excluding liquor, tobacco and gift cards). Place the Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker onto a Woolworths Earn & Learn Sticker Sheet and when it’s complete, the Sticker Sheet can be dropped into the Collection Box here at the school or at your local Woolworths. Please remember to write our school name on the sticker sheet.

At the end of the promotion, we’ll be able to get some great new equipment. The range is extensive and offers lots of items ideal for our students – including resources for Maths, English, Science and some fantastic fun supplies for Arts & Craft, Sport and for our library. If you’d like to know more visit the link below:

POSITIVE BEHAVIOUR FOCUS

Holy Cross Heroes

Congratulations to Week 6 Holy Cross Heroes:

Below are a number of key dates for Term 3 2017 to consider:

Many blessings for the week

Brad Henry
Assistant Principal - Administration

APRE News

LITURGICAL LIFE OF THE SCHOOL

It was great to see quite a few Prep, Year One and Year Two families at the Family Mass over the weekend. There will be two other opportunities for families to celebrate liturgically with the school and parish this term. On Sunday 10th September, at 8:30am, we will have a parish Mass to help celebrate our 30th Anniversary. There will be a sausage sizzle following this Mass. On Thursday 14th of September, we will celebrate Holy Cross Day, or Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, at 9am. Bishop James Foley will be in attendance, as will guests from our school community, past and present. Following this, our administration building, Holy Family statue and prayer garden cross will be blessed.

Upcoming liturgies and Masses:

• First Reconciliation Holy Cross Tuesday 5th September at 6.00pm
• 30th Anniversary Parish Mass Sunday 10th September at 8.30am
• Exaltation of the Cross (Feast Day) Mass Thursday 14th September at 9.00am
• Class Masses and Liturgies

         -   Monday 28th August 9:00am Years 2, 3 and 4
         -   Tuesday 4th September 9:30am Years 1 and 5
         -   Tuesday 3rd October 9:30am Year 6
         -   Tuesday 17th October 9:30am Year 3
         -   Tuesday 24th October Prep time TBC
         -   Tuesday 31st October Year 1 time TBC
         -   Tuesday 7th November Year 2 time TBC
         -   Tuesday 14th November 9:30am Year 4
         -   Tuesday 21st November 9:30am Year 5

SECOND STEP SEL PROGRAM

Teachers have been busy implementing the Second Step program in their classrooms. Your children will be, or will have been talking about skills for learning, which align beautifully with our weekly behaviour focuses, or empathy, which flows on from the Catholic Education Week theme of walking in another’s shoes.

Skills for learning: listening, focusing attention, using self-talk to stay on-task, and being assertive when asking for help with a learning task. We will be reminding students of these skills, which help students be successful learners.

Empathy: we will be reminding students to have empathy, identify their own and others’ feelings, notice and respect same and different feelings, and show compassion. Compassion involves saying kind words or doing something helpful to show you care how another person feels. When students can identify, understand, and respond in a caring way to how someone else is feeling, it helps create a positive and accepting school climate.

PARISH SACRAMENTAL PROGRAM

The First Reconciliation candidates are well into the program. They will receive their Sacrament on either Tuesday 5th September at 6:00pm here at Holy Cross, or 5:00pm on Tuesday 12th September at All Saints Chapel, St Andrew’s. All families from Holy Cross are welcome to join our candidates on this special occasion, but in particular, the Year Three families that don’t have a child participating in the program. The candidates would love to have other faces there. There may even be a barbecue afterwards….. stay tuned for further information.

REFLECTION AND PRAYER FOCUS FOR THE WEEK

Escape to Everywhere

Given an unlimited travel ticket, where would you like to go? By the time you rattled off your bucket list, I am sure many more places would have sprung to mind and then you would have dreamed of even more. Why? Because at the base of every human heart, there is the desire to have more. Enough is rarely enough. When we get what we want, we settle for just a little while and then we hanker again. This can be good, it can be bad. It depends where it leads us.

In wanting more we can become selfish…or we can want more and that can feed our interest in other people. That’s right, we are actually made with infinite desires and we cannot fulfil them just within our own self so our desire to see more, experience more leads us to encounter others. This year’s Book Week theme points to the very real encounter we can have with other people and their lives through the medium of books. We may not make it to Afghanistan or Peru or live through war or experience disability or marry royalty but through reading we can ‘go’ to all these places and ‘enter into’ the reality of others’ lives…and as we do our hearts and minds widen and we become rich compassionate people.

And this is what we want our children to become…the type of person you would like to encounter on one of your imaginary or real trips. So start them on that journey, buy them the ticket of books.

Loving God, through story you let me experience the richness of other peoples’ lives. Help me to introduce my children through reading to the amazing lives of people throughout our world. I ask this in Jesus’ name confident that you will hear me.

Sr Kym Harris osb

Jacinta Roberts
APRE Holy Cross

Administration News

Term 3 School Fees

Term 3 school fees were due for payment by the 1st August and are now overdue. Your prompt attention to the outstanding payment would be much appreciated.

If you currently have alternative payment arrangements in place (eg. Periodic Direct Debits, approved repayment plans etc) please ensure your 2017 fees have been updated and are sufficient to finalise your account by 24th November 2017.

The payment of school fees and levies is an important component of the income of the school. The school relies on these payments in order to provide the high quality education enjoyed by your child / children.

In situations where there is genuine financial hardship and if you are struggling to pay school fees, you are encouraged to contact the school for an appointment with the Principal and your circumstances will be treated with the utmost confidence.

2017 Exiting Student Enrolments

As we are beginning preparations for our 2018 year levels we kindly ask that families who are aware that they are relocating to another school to please notify the school office on 4057 6920 or via email to mthorpe@cns.catholic.edu.au. We understand families may be unsure at this stage but ask that when you have received notification that you advise the school as quickly as possible.

As we currently have a waitlist for most year levels for 2018, we would like to confirm our existing enrolments for next year before making offers to new families. Your prompt attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.

Please note a formal exit notification form is required to be completed and an exit interview organised with the School Principal in order to finalise student enrolments.

Should you require an Exit form, they are available for collection from the school office, via email upon request, or click on the link below to download a copy.

2017 Fee Concessions

Tuition Fee Discount Scheme for eligible Means-Tested Health Care Cards/Pension Cards

If you are a holder of an eligible Means-Tested Health Care Card or Pension Concession Card, please present your card to the school office for verification. The school will make a copy of your card and provide a Health Care Card Tuition Fee Discount Scheme Form for you to complete. The fee discount will then be applied to tuition fees on future term invoices.

The discount arrangement will expire on the expiry date of the card or at the end of the school year. Parents and carers receiving the discount have a duty to inform the school of any renewal or change in eligibility for the card.

Unfortunately, due to system requirements we are unable to backdate concession card discounts, so all applications and cards must be presented to the school office prior to the fees being issued for the discount to apply to that term.

School Dental Van Service

Cairns and Hinterland Oral Health Services wishes to advise families that our District is able to continue to offer FREE dental treatment to all children and young people from 0 – 17 years old.

The dental van will be arriving at the school very soon.

Appointments will need to be arranged by contacting our Central Booking Service on 1300 300 850. Appointments for examination can also be made at the Smithfield clinic.

Please note that ALL students will need to have a parent or legal guardian present at the time of the appointment. (Additionally, we are also happy to see high school siblings from Smithfield High school due to the close proximity)

Further treatment required will be carried out at the Smithfield Community Centre, Danbulan Street, Smithfield.

Regards,
Oral Health Services

Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and Health Service

Look What’s Been Going On…

AFL Queensland Schools Cup

Holy Cross Has Got Talent!

Well done to the Holy Cross Grade 5 & 6 AFL team who travelled all the way down to Mackay last week to compete in the AFL Queensland Schools Cup North Queensland Championships. We are all SUPER SUPER proud of these boys.

We needed to win both games to be able to go on to the State Finals. First, we played St Anthony’s Primary school, from Townsville. This was a tough, close game but we came away winners by 7 points. Unfortunately at the very end of this game we lost Harry to an injury.

Our second game against Frenchville State School from Rockhampton, was even tougher. Despite our boys being dispirited after Harry’s injury, they tried really hard, showing great mateship and never gave up. Unfortunately we lost this game by 41 points.

We would like to thank the following people who helped us to make this trip happen: -

• Prime Constructions QLD Pty Ltd
• Holy Cross P & F Association
• Property Shop
• Cooper Norman Security & Electrical
• Michael Trout
• Custy’s Plumbing
• Canine Training
• Centrals Bulldogs Trinity Beach
• Holy Cross Staff
• Holy Cross parents for raffle donations
• Mercy College Mackay
• Steve Turner for coaching
• Andrew, our fantastic bus driver from Pioneer Travel
• Rochelle McMurray for her donation of fruit and breakfast cereals.
• Parents for helping out with training each week
• Tim Cook, Holly Quilty, Kellie Smart and Sam McKinnon for helping on the excursion.
• Mrs Hamilton for giving us the time off school.
• Mr Henry and Mrs Vincent for all of their help behind the scene.

Thank you all!
Mrs Duffy and Miss Van Ewyk

Writing in Prep

We have several authors, journalists and illustrators in Prep whose craft deserves to be published and read by all! After the exciting Book Week Assembly, Prep 0H just couldn't wait to write all about it and we couldn't wait to share their work with you. Remember our Preppies have only been at school for just over 100 days. They are using their letter sound knowledge and trying to include tricky words. They are including correct punctuation. Furthermore, Isabelle is experimenting with humour in her writing. I'm glad she is only joking as parents might not like their children frozen. :-)

The Writers Festival

A few Grade 6 Holy Cross students had the chance to attend the Writers festival at Trinity Bay High School. The writers festival consisted of four authors/illustrators teaching the participants techniques to write and illustrate better. This festival went for 2 days and was a great experience. The guest authors teaching the participants were: Jack Heath, Lili Wilkinson, Nick Earls and guest illustrator was Anne Spudvilas. All four of these authors/illustrators each had their own unique teaching styles and their own lessons. We got several of our Holy Cross Library books signed by the guests. We now have to enter a piece of writing to a couple of competitions. Overall, the 2017 T’Bay Writers Festival was the bomb!

By Matthew F. (6C)

Bedtime Storytime

‘Slurp Slurp’ went the children as they sipped on their Milo whilst relaxing on their pillows and listening to teachers read stories.

As part of Book Week celebrations, we had Bedtime Storytime after school. We got to listen to some great stories including Elephant’s Pyjamas, Dinosaur Dump, Monster Chef and the Legend of Rock Paper Scissors.

My favourite story was the Legend of Rock Paper Scissors. It reveals the epic tale behind everyone’s favourite playground game.

Bedtime Storytime is suitable for all ages, you are never too old to enjoy listening to a good book!

By Ronan B. (5C)

Book Week Competition Winners

Gotcha Points

Congratulations to Petersen our Week 5-6 winners and Class 2S who received the most Gotcha points.

P and F News

Father’s Day Stall – Thursday 31st August

Every year Holy Cross celebrates our Dads and important carers by having a gift stall and raffle. The stall provides the children with an exciting opportunity to secretly choose a fabulous gift for Dad or another carer to open on Father’s Day.

Our stock of gifts will ALL BE PRICED AT $5 PER GIFT

Children may purchase a maximum of 2 gifts each. If you would like more than 2 gifts, we will run the stall again on Friday 1st September at second break only and students can purchase more gifts from left over stock and raffle tickets.

Raffle tickets can be purchased at the stall for $1 each or 3 for $2 and the raffle will be drawn on Friday afternoon.

Any prize donations for our raffle would also be greatly appreciated. You can contact Kymberlee or please leave at the office. Thank you in advance!

CAN YOU HELP?

The stall couldn’t run without our valued volunteers. To help at the stall on the day please contact Kymberlee on 0409 183 332 or come to the stage/undercover area on the stall dates. Any help is appreciated, even if it is only for a short time.

P & F Meeting

The next P & F Meeting will be held on Wednesday 13th September at 6.30pm in the school library. We look forward to seeing you there. Please see the Agenda for the meeting below. If you have any items that you wish to discuss at a P & F meeting, please complete the Agenda Item Request form and email to the P & F President or Secretary indicated on the form, or leave at the school office at least two days prior to the meeting.

P & F Minutes

Please click on the link to view the minutes from the August P & F Meeting.

Entertainment Book Fundraising

Help support our school by buying the NEW 2017 / 2018 Entertainment Booklet. Entertainment Membership provides access to hundreds of valuable offers for everything you love to do, and you’ll be helping our school fundraise at the same time.

Click on the link below to order your book or digital membership now. Books are also available for purchase at the school office for $60 (cash only).

Tuckshop News

Monday Tuckshop Operating Hours

A reminder that the Tuckshop now offers a meal service and over the counter snack purchases for first break only on Mondays. Regular meal services will continue as per normal Tuesday to Friday.

Menu/Price Changes

Please note as of week 1 this term a new menu was released. The changes effect the pricing of some items, as well as changes to the Sushi Menu offered on Tuesdays each week. The new menu is available on the school website; newsletter and hard copies are available from the Tuckshop on request.

EFTPOS Available

Eftpos is now available for the convenience of families and staff to utilise for purchases/payments of $10 and above.

Flexischools

Many thanks to the families and staff utilising the Flexischools Online Ordering Service. Flexischools can be accessed by clicking on the link at the bottom of the School Website below, or directly through the link below that.

Note: In regards to student absences and orders –

If your student is absent or going home unwell, it is necessary to inform the office staff or the Tuckshop directly ASAP so the order can be cancelled and credited back to your online account. In the event that we are not advised, or advised too late and the order has already been prepared – the credit will be forfeited or partially forfeited for the items that must be disposed of. Please advise of order cancellations by contacting the office on 40576920 or directly to the Tuckshop via mobile 0422 712 461.

Volunteers required

As always I am on the lookout for extra hands in the Tuckshop. If you can offer some of your time to help out, please contact me on 0422 712 461.

Also if anyone is a keen baker and would be willing to help out with baking some menu items (can be baked at home, ingredients supplied or reimbursed) please contact me on the mobile number supplied above.

Term 3 Tuckshop Menu

Please click on the link below for the Term 3 Tuckshop Menu.

Christmas Fair Plant Stall

This year I will again be assisting with the convening of the Plant Stall for our annual Christmas Fair, and it is time to start getting organised!! If you have any spare pots/plants/cuttings etc. that you are happy to donate, they can be left at the Tuckshop for collection.

Many thanks,

Belinda Patmore
Convenor - Holy Cross Tuckshop

Music News

Instrumental Lessons

Do you want to join the Holy Cross Band? We have Trumpets, Trombones, Saxophones, Flutes and Clarinets waiting for some keen young musicians. If you are interested in learning to play one of these instruments and to join the Holy Cross Band, then collect a green “Instrumental Lesson Request” form from the main school office and we can start the ball rolling with your enrolment. If you are unsure which instrument is for you, come and see us on Friday mornings in the French room and we can help.

Mr Hurdley and Mrs Mcintyre

Sports News

Rugby

Netball

Cairns Netball Association is holding September school holiday clinics on Wednesday 20th September and Thursday 28th September at the Little Street courts from 9.00am-3.00pm. Click on the link below for further information and registration form.

A junior netball clinic is also being conducted with Geva Mentor, the Sunshine Lightning Captain, MVP and International Superstar netball player at Cairns Netball Association, Little Street, Cairns during the school holidays. Please see the flyer for more information on how to book.

Community Notices

Smithfield State High School Year 7 Information Session

An Enrolment information session will be held on Wednesday 6th September 2017 at 5.30pm in the Smithfield State High School Library for Year 7 2018 applicants. For more information, please contact the Smithfield High School office on 4058 4333, email: office@smithfieldshs.eq.edu.au or click on the flyer for additional information.

Drama Classes

TYC Drama Classes for 5yrs+ (Every Monday from 330pm – 430pm at Trinity Beach State School, New Enrolments Welcome)

Looking for engaging, creative and educational after-school activities? Then come and tread the boards at The Young Company Theatre this term! Your young performer will discover their electrifying creative abilities, super charged social confidence and magnetic idea generation skills as they are nurtured through our powerful youth theatre framework. For more information phone 40414066, email admin@theyoungcompany.com.au, visit our website below, visit us at 169 Bunda St, Cairns City. Classes across the Cairns region.