LIFE Summer Term Week Five

Mon 4 March Labour Day Public Holiday – College Closed
Tue 5 March Home Study Day – College and Uniform Shop Closed
NEAS to be rescheduled
Shrove Tuesday
Wed 6 March Ash Wednesday
NEAS Yr 10 to Yr 12 vs La Salle
OLNA Writing - First Round
Thu 7 March NEAS Swim Meet at La Salle
 2:00pm to 5:00pm
OLNA Writing - First Round

Parents please use Parent Coneqt for SEQTA Engage via this link for current letters and excursion information. SEQTA Engage


PRODUCTION WEEK 2017

Production week has arrived for 2017! Students and staff spent all day yesterday perfecting the show in preparations for four performances later this week. The highly physical and comedic nature of the show became apparent as students ran the full show close to three times over six hours with some frenetic energy and the comedy building each time. A behind the scenes trailer will be released in the next couple of days in anticipation of this year's performances.

"What I wouldn't give to fly"
Tilly (Chloe Ryan) and Samson (John Botha)

'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance' will be performed by the Holy Cross College Senior School Drama students over three days this week in the New Norcia Performing Arts Building. An opening matinee on Thursday will presented for residents from Aegis Aged Care Ellenbrook and students from Swan Valley Anglican Community School before three public evening shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday commencing at 6:30pm.

"I thought I smelled something amateurish" 
Svetlana Gustarfson (Zophia Paluszak) and Samson (John Botha)

Limited tickets for Friday and Saturday are still available as well as good seats for Thursday from www.trybooking.com/260404

"I've been working on my own show"
Bob (Calvin Thiel)

We look forward to presenting this madcap comedy to the College Community in 2017!

"I'm an unstoppable zombie" 
Delilah (Brianna Armstrong), Tilly (Chloe Ryan) and Audrey (Laila Davies)


Mr Chris McRae
Production Director

Junior School Update

Pre-Primary

Wow, it is the end of Week 8 already!  

Our Pre-Primary students have been working very hard with their writing and reading. We can not believe their progress this term. Children have been pointing out sight words during our big book reading time and have been spelling these words with paint, chalk and shaving cream. This week children were also very excited to get their take home readers to practise at home.

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, the children identified many different ways to show love, compassion and care towards others.

Last Friday afternoon we had some time to practise for the Athletics Carnival coming up on Thursday, 22 July. Children absolutely loved racing each other on the big oval. We think we may even have some future Olympic stars in Pre-Primary! 

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 can not thank you enough. 

We hope to see you all at the Athletics Carnival and may the best House win!

Mrs. Dorota Fretwell, Mrs. Jacinta Tucker and Miss Abbey Rowlands.

Pre-Primary Teachers.

Unspeakable Triumph Hits The Advocate

With just over a week until the Senior Production takes to the stage, the cast has been featured in this week's Ellenbrook Advocate. Tickets available for all shows from www.trybooking.com/260404


Junior School Update

Year 3

The Year 3 students have been working collaboratively to create digital advertisements on a neighbouring country of Australia. Students have explored ways to entice an audience to come and visit their country. We will celebrate our learning at the end of the term by inviting parents to share in traditional dishes from these countries.

In Mathematics, students have been exploring a range of strategies they can use when adding and subtracting numbers, including the jump, split and vertical methods. It is interesting to see which strategy individual students prefer.

In Health, we have moved onto the topic of Keeping Safe which looks at protective behaviours students can adopt to keep themselves safe. This includes identifying their personal warning signs when they feel uncomfortable, as well as having a network of people they feel they can confide in.

Miss Antonia Ravenscroft

Year 3 Teacher

LifeLink Sleepout

On the 8 June the Junior School Sleepout activities were held to raise money and awareness about the lifestyle of the less fortunate. On the night we had a soup kitchen, made bunting and played games where we heard real stories about homeless people. It was a great experience to have people like Vincent come and talk to us about how he helps the homeless and poor in our local community.

As well as the Junior School activities, eighteen Year 5 and 6 students had the opportunity to sleep out in the New Norcia building for the night. They made finger-knitted bracelets and hampers to help the poor. All who took part  thought it was a great experience.





 
We hope to see you there next year.

Mini Vinnies Students.



Year 8: Big Ideas Expo


This term, in Big Ideas, Year Eight students were posed with the question: East versus West; Where is best? This was a very broad question, as students were given the choice of focusing on a topic of their choice for the term. They could choose from animals, food, sport, technology, music, the arts and celebrations. 

Students have been guided through an inquiry process. At first, they were assisted through a six-step process of creating their own focus question. They also completed a masterclass in high quality research using Google. Students were then given a master class in note making and referencing; skills which are important in any subject. 

Students have spent several weeks investigating their own question, at a range of scales. This week in Big Ideas, students will be creating a display to share their findings. This will need to be completed at home, ready for display at the year 8 Big Ideas expo in week 9. Parents and Guardians are invited to explore the expo and share in their sons and daughters learning. 

The expo will be held in the Victoria Square Da Vinci space, from 10am to 12pm on Thursday 22nd June. We look forward to seeing you there. 

ACC Cross Country

Thursday June 1 saw Holy Cross compete in the ACC Cross Country Carnival. This is the largest carnival run by the ACC with 70 schools all competing at Aldebury Reserve in Floreat on the 3km track for the Girls and 4km track for the Boys.

The effort in the preparation phase, particularly from the Middle School students, had been fantastic with excellent attendance at the 7am training sessions on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at College, despite some testing weather. This level of effort transferred to Carnival day with all students representing the College and themselves briliantly.

As a team we were able to qualify for the Combined Aggregate, which demonstrates a fantastic amount of competitors and qualifying finishing times in every age group and gender category. Being able to do this when competing against such estabilished and accomplished schools indicates that not only are our students displaying fantastic competitve spirit but that we are developing a strong, sustainable culture within our ACC involvement. The students are doing a great job of preparing themselves for these events and for the students who will participate in these events in the future.

There were some pleasing results across the day with the standout being Cian Guest (Yr 11) who finished 4th in the Open Division with a time 13.02 for 4km. With a limited preparation compared to previous years, this was a great result for Cian as he will enter Year 12 next year with his eyes set on the prize of taking out the Open Division in 2018.

Overall, we finished 35th which places us exactly in the middle of the 70 competing schools. This is something to be happy with but also something we can build upon as we hope to once again improve for 2018.

Thanks to Mr Falcone, Mrs Billington, Mr Pisano, Miss White and Mrs Pastorelli for their fantastic work with either coaching the team or preparing breakfast for the team after their testing training sessions.

Unspeakable Triumph Feature in Swan Magazine

Local actor, director and all round community theatre expert Douglas Sutherland-Bruce was kind enough to feature HCC's Senior Production of 'An Unspeakable Triumph of Supreme Brilliance' in the June issue of The Swan Magazine with a fantastic write up! The show takes to the stage next week at Holy Cross with shows on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 6:30pm in the New Norcia Performing Arts building. Tickets are still available from www.trybooking.com/260404

Mr Chris McRae
Production Director


Frayne House Mass & Celebration

This year we are celebrating we celebrated Frayne Feast day on 7 June, at the College. Our house patron Sister Ursula Frayne. Sister Ursula Frayne dedicated so much of her life being “Merciful like the Father”, making courageous choices and decisions. As Frayne House members we acknowledge the link between the Sisters of Mercy and follow Ursula Frayne’s beliefs, challenging each person to achieve their personal best in an environment which values the respect and dignity of each person.

During the mass we presented large letters which have been created by all the HTG’s and Junior School. Each letter contained words associated with this letter and Ursula Frayne
F letter created by Frayne 1. With the F we remember that Ursula Frayne set up the first school in WA.
R letter created by Frayne 2. With the R we remember that Ursula Frayne was a respected educator who answered a requestto come to WA and later Victoria.
A letter created by Frayne 3. With the A we think of the Sisters arrival in Australia and how apprehensivethey much have been.
Y letter created by Frayne 4. With the Y we celebrate the legacyleft by the Sisters of Mercy in WA.
N letter created by Frayne 5. With the N we think of the compassionate way that Ursula Frayne answered the needs of other people.
E letter created by Junior School. With the E we remember the enduring legacy of evangelisation and educationleft by Ursula Frayne
We also offer the money we have raised as a House for the MercyWorks. We hope that this can help continue their good work with the most vulnerable people across Australia, New Zealand and in East Timor.
Following mass, the celebrations continued with our House lunch. Both the Junior and Senior School enjoyed some Italian homemade style pizza and a drink with an integrated seating arrangement in New Norcia Amphitheater.

Mrs Christina Davini
Frayne House Coordinator

Year 7 Big Ideas: The Battle Begins!

On Thursday 8 June, the Year Seven students welcomed community groups, parent visitors, staff and students to their Big Ideas exhibition 'Battle of the Giants: Making a Better World.'



The students prepared a museum exhibit based on a person of their choice, identifying how this person changed the world.


Visitors were given five tokens to award to those students who best proved their case.



Several hundred visitors came though the exhibition over the course of the morning and the Year Sevens did a wonderful job of hosting their visitors and enjoyed discussing the importance of their chosen figure.



The standard of the students' work was exceptional and they should be very proud of the effort that they put in to their work.

The exhibition was a wonderful experience for all involved and we are very grateful to all the visitors who took time out of their day to attend.


At the end of this term, the students will use the tokens they collected to 'battle' their giants in the Big Ideas arena - and the ultimate victor will be determined!



The students who have been chosen to enter their exhibition into the National History Challenge will be announced shortly. The exhibits will be available to view during Middle School Learning Conversations in Week Ten of Autumn Term.

Well done to the students for their outstanding work!

Miss Emilie Reynolds
Year 7 Innovator


Year 10 into Year 11 Subject Selection

A career expo starting at 5pm will be held in the Victoria Square building at the College, please see flyer below for more information. The expo will be followed by an information evening regarding subject selection for Year 11, information about a achieving a WACE and tertiary pathways after Senior School.

Subject Selection Events

Wednesday 14 June
Career Expo - 5-6:20pm
Information Evening for 2018 Year 11 students and parents 6:30pm.

Monday 26 June
Individual appointments with College staff between 12-7pm.

Mr Paul Murphy
Deputy Principal
7 June 2017
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