6 May 2015

Newsletter Articles

From the Principal

Dear Parents,

On Friday last week, our Holy Cross team did a wonderful job at the Barron River Cross Country Carnival at St Andrew’s under the watchful guidance of Mrs Henderson-Crofts, Ms Judd and Mr Henry. Congratulations to our Team for their collective efforts and the achievement of an overall third placing, for which we are very proud! Well done everyone on the team!! Particular congratulations go to six of our students who were placed and will now head to Peninsula. We wish all these students well with their training which will continue so that they can achieve their best personal results at this next carnival.

Our classes continue to visit the Life Education Van which is with us again this week. I was fortunate to join a parent group last week to listen to Gemma outline her program. The concepts of Life Education are designed to assist children to understand the importance of looking after themselves and leading a healthy lifestyle. The program sits within the Health Education Programme.

Please consider joining us on Friday for our Mother’s Day Mass commencing at 9.00 am. Parents who come along are very welcome to join their children for a picnic morning tea afterwards under a shady tree in our school grounds.

Thank you to those parents who are helping out by utilising our Stop Drop and Go zone correctly. The area does seem though to have been moving fairly well in recent weeks most of the time. We continue to hear regular ‘not so nice’ reports though about particular drivers and specific cars that are either not being courteous or following the rules of the area.

A few reminders for all parents:

• When using the Stop Drop and Go zone, particularly during peak periods, all students should have bags and belongings with them in the car ready to gather once the car pulls up in this zone. If students require bags or larger items from the boot or are in particular need of longer goodbye’s and important cuddles, then the car parking area is the best place to set down children. This allows drop off to be less stressful for your child and it keeps the Stop Drop and Go zone moving nicely.
• AT NO TIME during peak line-up times should parents get out and leave their car to find children. If children are not within site or appear to have not arrived yet, please, either do a go-around and come back, or park in the carpark and come to ask a member of staff who is in the parent pick up area for assistance.
• Under no circumstances should parents encourage children to cross in the Stop Drop and Go zone to dangerously get into a car on the other side of the road.
• Please remember to be courteous at the Give Way sign at the exit to the carpark, particularly if there is congestion in the area. Always look left to see if the pick-up zone is full before heading out, if it is empty, please wait and give way to allow traffic moving into the zone to fill up the spaces so that the cars lined up on the roadway to enter can keep moving.
• Teachers on parent pick up duty try to ensure that exiting traffic do get priority when all bays are full and do not intentionally hold up cars coming out longer than necessary.
• Please attach your provided family name label to your visor to assist teachers in calling children to get ready for collection.

I hope to see you around the school this week,

Blessings

Wendy

RE Newsletter

Dear Parents,

It was nice to see lots of prep families at our first family Mass for the year. The preps sang, “One Family” as a thanksgiving hymn and shared morning tea after Mass.

Mothers’ Day Liturgy & Picnic

For any mothers, grandmothers or female carers, we have our Mothers’ Day liturgy in the church this coming Friday at 9:30am. All are welcome. We will follow the liturgy with a picnic in the shade, including all students. Please bring a blanket.

We will also be presenting a slideshow during our Liturgy. Anyone wishing to submit photos of mums, grandmas or female carers, please send to my email address jroberts1@cns.catholic.edu.au by this Thursday, 7th May 2015.

Enhancing Catholic Identity Project

PLEASE HELP….

Last week you received a letter inviting you to participate in the, “Enhancing Catholic Identity Project”, by completing some online surveys. Please consider being part of this worthwhile process. You will have until the end of this week to complete them. For those parents who don’t have access to a computer, the media lab will be available Tuesday and Friday this week and Tuesday next week, from 8:05-8:30am. Staff will be on morning duty to supervise any school age children. Toddlers would have to be kept with you. Don’t forget that you go into the draw to win a $50 voucher for Chill Café in Palm Cove, as well as earning gotcha points for your child’s house. We need at least 57 responses to make the data worthwhile.

Up Coming Events

Parent Information Night - Confirmation & Holy Communion – Tuesday 5th May
Mothers’ Day Liturgy & picnic – Friday 8th May – 9.30am
Confirmation – Thursday 23rd July – 7.00pm, St Monica’s Cathedral
First Holy Communion – Masses over the weekend of Saturday 25th & Sunday 26th July, Holy Cross Church or All Saints’ Chapel
Parent Information Night – Reconciliation – Tuesday 28th July
First Reconciliation – Tuesday 8th September – 12pm, Holy Cross Church

Parish Mass Times

Saturday Holy Cross, Trinity Park 6:00pm Sunday Sacred Heart, Freshwater 7:00am Holy Cross, Trinity Park 8:30am St Augustine’s, Stratford 10:30am All Saints Chapel, St Andrew’s Redlynch 5:30pm

A Family Prayer

Children	Adults
Praise be to God	who made us a family.
Praise be to God	for the love that we share.
Praise be to God	for sending us Jesus.
Praise be to God	for teaching us to care.
Help us, Lord Jesus	fill our lives with your Spirit.
Help us, Lord Jesus	teach us how to forgive.
Help us, Lord Jesus	grant us wisdom and patience.
Help us, Lord Jesus	in your grace may we live.
Come, Holy Spirit	fill our lives with your gifts.
Come, Holy Spirit	help us serve other’s needs.
Come, Holy Spirit	teach us faith, hope, and love.
Come, Holy Spirit	guide our thoughts and our deeds.
Be with us, God	we ask Mary to help us.
Be with us, God	we look to Joseph for aid.
Be with us, God	may we respect one another.
Be with us, God	may our hope never fade.
Hear us, Lord Jesus	watch over our family.
Hear us, Lord Jesus	help our faith to grow strong.
Hear us, Lord Jesus	come and dwell in our hearts.
Hear us, Lord Jesus	to you we belong.
Spirit, we praise you	you invite us to know you.
Spirit, we praise you	may we walk in your light.
Spirit, we praise you	may we find you in all things.
Spirit, we praise you	all day and all night.

Yours faithfully,

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

News from the APA Desk

Dear Parents, please note that school photos take place this Thursday 7th May. Please ensure that all students arrive to school on time and are dressed in full school uniform. Hair should be tied back as usual with correct school coloured hair ties.

NAPLAN

Our Year 3 and 5 students are now busily preparing for NAPLAN Testing which is fast approaching. Students will test from May 12th -14th. Testing can be stressful time for students. We encourage kids to simply try their best with testing and not to feel anxious around results. If you are concerned about your child’s ‘stress’ or have any other questions about NAPLAN Testing, I encourage you to speak with teachers so we can work together to support them. Below are a few helpful tips.

NAPLAN Guidelines

Teachers will help students become familiar with testing by:

• Ensuring ‘Test Literacy’ with all students so they are familiar with testing and different test formats
• Teach clear and simple procedure (timing, seating, equipment etc)
• Providing some opportunities to practise and revise content
• Let students know how they will be marked and help to them to become familiar with marking rubrics
• Simply encourage students to try their best.

What teachers will not be doing:

• Extensive testing and or teaching to tests
• Spending a disproportionate amount of time on NAPLAN areas, thus neglecting the day to day curriculum

At Home:

• Encourage your child to simply try their best
• Don’t set extensive NAPLAN homework or over purchase commercialised books
• The best preparation for NAPLAN Tests a parent can provide, is to ensure their child has a good night’s sleep of between 10-11 hours and a healthy breakfast on the morning of the testing.

Many blessings for the week

Brad Henry
Assistant Principal – Administration
bhenry2@cns.catholic.edu.au

Coming Events

DATE	EVENT
05.05.15	Parent Information Night – Confirmation & Holy Communion – 6pm
07.05.15	School Photos
08.05.15	Term 2 School Fees Payment Due
08.05.15	Mothers’ Day Liturgy 9am & Picnic
08.05.15	Mothers’ Day Stall
12.05.15	Book Club Orders Due
12 – 14.05.15	NAPAN Testing Year 3 & 5
13.05.15	Year 6 Mass
13.05.15	P & F Meeting – Commencing with Special General Meeting 7pm
15.05.15	School Disco
08.06.15	QUEEN’S BIRTHDAY PUBLIC HOLIDAY
18.06.15	Year 4 Orator’s Night
19.06.15	Holy Cross Sports Carnival
26.06.15	NAIDOC Activities

Curriculum News

EVERY DAY COUNTS

Student attendance is absolutely vital to the attainment of the best possible learning outcomes. When your child is absent or late they miss schoolwork and regular absences or lateness can have an extremely detrimental impact upon their progress. It is a school requirement to have every student absence explained. Therefore, we ask that you contact the school and inform us if your child is going to be away from school for any reason. If your child is genuinely ill they should not be at school.

ABSENCES

Absence notification to:

Email: secretary.trinitypk@cns.catholic.edu.au
(Subject Line - ‘student absence’ with your child’s name)
Office: (07) 4057 6920

The bell to start class rings at 8.25 a.m. Students should arrive at school from 8.10 a.m. so that they are adequately prepared to commence learning at 8.30 a.m.

• Absences longer than ten days must be submitted formally in writing to our Principal, Wendy Manners prior to students leaving. The information will be passed onto your child’s teacher.

The preferred method of contact is via emailing secretary.trinitypk@cns.catholic.edu.au with your child’s name, class, dates of known absence and reason. Alternative methods include:

• telephone, leaving a message if it is after hours
• Holy Cross Skoolbag app

If the school has not been informed of a student absence, we will alert the child’s main contact via text message and prompt them to contact the school to explain their child’s absence. This is important as we do not want a situation where you assume that your child is here when they are not.

LATE ARRIVAL

Late arrival for all students is processed through the school office. Students arriving late to school are required to come to the office with an adult who is to sign them in, giving the reason for the late arrival. A late pass will be issued to students for presentation to their classroom teacher.

EARLY DEPARTURE

We understand that specialist and medical appointments cannot be made outside of school hours. If a student is required to leave school during the day, a listed contact adult must present at the school office to sign the child out. The office staff will then telephone the classroom and request that the child come to the office with their belongings ready for collection. For legal and safety reasons, adults not listed as an emergency contact do not have authority to collect students. It is important to ensure that your emergency contacts are current.

RECORD OF PARTIAL DAYS ABSENT

Arrival to school after 10.30 a.m. and departure before 1.00 p.m., is considered a half day absence and will be recorded as such on a student’s report card.

Jo Neil
Curriculum Support
jneil@cns.catholic.edu.au

School Notices

Term 2 School Fees

Term 2 School Fees were sent out via email on 24th April. Payments are due by 8th May 2015.

Should you be experiencing financial difficulty and are unable to meet your financial obligations please contact the school to make an appointment with our School Principal, Mrs Wendy Manners. A reminder that all fees are to be paid in full (unless direct debit arrangements are in place) in order for reports to be issued at the end of this term.

EFT Transfer Customers

If you currently use this method of payment please check that you are using our NEW bank details and reference number as shown on the Term invoice to ensure your funds are receipted to the correct account. See below:-

BSB: 084-352
A/C #: 000017443
YOUR REF: 963000 _ _ _ _

Currently there are a number of families who have not included a reference number and are using the incorrect bank details.

Prep 2016 Enrolments

Prep interviews for the 2016 intake have begun and will be conducted throughout this term. All sibling applications should now have been finalised. A gentle reminder to families with siblings who may have neglected to submit an enrolment application, to do so as a matter of importance in order to secure your child’s placement in Prep next year! Please note that interviews for Prep siblings will not be required unless there is a specific request due to learning needs.

GOTCHA Points

	DILLON	MALLON	PETERSEN	ROBINSON
Term 2, Week 1/2	493	551	449	575

Bike Bus

Holy Cross Bike Bus will commence next week, Wednesday 13th May.

P & F News

Our New President

Introducing our new P & F President for 2015, Damian Martin-Blakey. Damian is looking forward to working with his new executive; Kymberlee Jackson, Deb English & Joe Dobson. If you see Damian around be sure to introduce yourself.

P & F Meeting

Notification of Special General Meeting to occur immediately prior to P & F Meeting

Wednesday 13 May, 2015 at 7.00pm in the school library

EVERYONE is invited and welcome to attend the Special General Meeting

where we will vote to change our P & F Constitution by law regarding sporting grants.

Our Constitution by law states that “Any Holy Cross student who becomes a member of a Peninsula Primary School sports team competing at a Queensland Primary School Championship is eligible to receive financial assistance from the P & F Association to the amount of $120.00”

After discussion at our first P & F Meeting it is was proposed that this grant funding be reduced to $50.00. It was discussed by the committee and members attending the meeting that it would more beneficial for P & F funds to be directed to include all students for example the funding of an author visit. Discussion also included the fact that there are government funding grants that can be applied for in these particular sporting pursuits.

A copy of the P & F Constitution can be found via a link on the school website or a copy will be left at the school office for viewing.

Business of the Week

Tuckshop News

TUCKSHOP ROSTER
WEEK 4		PARENT HELPER	SLINKY HELPER
WED	6 May	HELP REQUIRED	Charlie Y-R 5C
			Lily N 5C
THU	7 May	HELP REQUIRED	Charleigh W 4H
			Holly M 4H
FRI	8 May	Tracey Cook 8.30am-11.30am	Leia C 5S
		HELP REQUIRED	Chloe M 5S
WEEK 5
WED	13 May	HELP REQUIRED	Ebony D 5H
			Phoebe A 5H
THU	14 May	HELP REQUIRED	Leia C 5S
			Scarlett C 5H
FRI	15 May	Tracey Cook 8.30am-11.30am	Chloe M 5S
			Hannah C 5S

Secondhand Uniforms

Secondhand uniforms are available for purchase at the tuckshop for $5.00 each.

If you can assist in the tuckshop we would love to hear from you. Please contact the Tuckshop Convenor, Kylie Gowlett on 0439 933 980, email: kgowlett@cns.catholic.edu.au or leave your number at the office.

MOTHERS’ DAY STALL – FRIDAY 8TH MAY

SCHOOL DISCO – FRIDAY MAY 15TH

Music Notices

Music Tuition

Brass/Woodwind

If you are interested in learning a brass or woodwind instrument (including trumpet, trombone, flute, clarinet or saxophone), please contact Julia Russell via email: julia.russell@standrewscc.qld.edu.au

A reminder that instrumental tuition & hire contract agreements state a 4 week’s written notice period is required if your child wishes to cease lessons. In the event of cancellation the full amount of the term fee will remain due and payable for that notice period. All instrumental fees should remain paid in advance.

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

We are currently seeking a strings teacher for our violin lessons. Please contact the school office if interested.

Sport Notices

Barron River Cross Country

Congratulations to all our Holy Cross competitors for their tenacity and commitment to training. Thank you to all parents and caregivers who organized their children to be here in the mornings, it was greatly appreciated.

As the students trained I tried to instill in them self -belief that they are more than capable of being competitive at a Barron River competition. This year I have been overwhelmed by the commitment to training, as I know we all live busy lives. After Friday’s performances the self- belief and strength were most evident!

I was proud of all our Cross Country students, their support for each other and their personal performances. There were a number of positive comments made about the way Holy Cross School supports with great spirit, GO HOLY CROSS!

So many students achieved goals today and did personal best times. There were a number of top ten finishers too and that result is amazing. Congratulations to all those who competed on Friday, we think you are STARS!

We would like to wish all the following students the very best for qualifying for the Peninsula trials representing the Barron River district.

Holy Cross XCountry Team

Holy Cross Results

AGE GROUP	PLACING	NAME
10 YR Girls	1st	Trinity W
	3rd	Kiara V
10 YR Boys	4th	Joshua T
11 YR Boys	2nd	Michael P
	5th	Kai Mc - reserve
12 YR Girls	2nd	Erin B

Medal Winners – Kiara V 3rd, Trinity 1st, Michael P 2nd

School Placings

1.	Redlynch State College	148 points
2.	St Andrew’s Catholic College	137 points
3.	Holy Cross School	121 points

Overall our school was placed third out of 10 schools, what a fantastic effort!

10 YR Girls 1st Place – Trinity W

10YR Girls 3rd Place – Kiara V

11YR Boys 4th Place – Josh T

11YR Boys

11YR Girls

12YR Boys

Futsal News

2015 FNQ SCHOOL FUTSAL TITLES

Dear Parents, Caregivers and fellow ‘Futsalistas’

This year, Holy Cross is again participating at the Far North Queensland School Futsal Titles.

Over the last few weeks, coaches and teachers have been very busy holding trials and selecting players. A huge THANK YOU to all our coaches and students who gave their best at the trials. We have a large number of talented soccer and futsal players at our school therefore we have decided to field a grand total of 10 teams!

Your child has been given a permission slip, money envelope and a letter informing you about procedures on the game days. Please return signed forms and money to the office.

Good luck to all our teams – I am very confident that we will do very well again this year!

Sporty greetings

Tilmann Dunn-Oswald

Over the next three weeks, we’re conducting training sessions during the following times:

Community Notices