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
Year 8 LIFE week - students enjoy the landscapes of New Norcia.
Last Monday, 115 excited year 8 students boarded three buses, heading for New Norcia. The Year 8 students have a focus on 'stewardship of our gifts.' New Norcia is Australia's only monastic town. It was originally set up by Dom Salvado, who was seen as a friend to the Aboriginal people of the area.
This year, the year 8 students were to answer the question, 'How do we create our own landscapes?' All students completed seven workshops while at New Norcia. They were encouraged to take photographs as evidence to use in their movies, which would be created back at school in Big Ideas.
One of the rotation activities was Aboriginal tool making and Maya-Maya building. The students learned how the local Aboriginal population sustainably used the landscape of the area. They were then able to create their own Maya-Mayas.
Students also learned about the symbolism in Aboriginal dot paintings. They were asked to paint a boomerang, as long as it told a story using the symbols they had just been shown.
Students also completed a graveyard study, an art and architecture tour and a heritage town tour of New Norcia. We were lucky enough to find out about the European Space Agency's work also.
On Thursday and Friday of LIFE week, Year 8 students completed a retreat at school and walked a section of the Camino Salvado, from Bells Rapids to Shady Hills. Students are to be commended on their attitude and behaviour throughout LIFE week.
This year, the year 8 students were to answer the question, 'How do we create our own landscapes?' All students completed seven workshops while at New Norcia. They were encouraged to take photographs as evidence to use in their movies, which would be created back at school in Big Ideas.
Students also learned about the symbolism in Aboriginal dot paintings. They were asked to paint a boomerang, as long as it told a story using the symbols they had just been shown.
Students also completed a graveyard study, an art and architecture tour and a heritage town tour of New Norcia. We were lucky enough to find out about the European Space Agency's work also.
On Thursday and Friday of LIFE week, Year 8 students completed a retreat at school and walked a section of the Camino Salvado, from Bells Rapids to Shady Hills. Students are to be commended on their attitude and behaviour throughout LIFE week.
Year 11 Geographers explore the Swan Valley
As part of their studies into Global Networks and Interconnections, Year 11 Geography ATAR students recently completed fieldwork into the diffusion of tourism in the Swan Valley. Students counted the number of visitors and vehicles at each site, before being given a tour or a talk from the owners or managers of each venue.
The day was a great success, with each student collecting lots of useful data for their studies.
The day was a great success, with each student collecting lots of useful data for their studies.
Year 9 LIFE Week: Melbourne Canberra Tour
YEAR 9 LIFE WEEK 2017: MELBOURNE-CANBERRA TOUR
Year 9 LIFE Week is based on the theme of Expanding Horizons and provides students with the opportunity to spend a week in Australian cities, engaging with all aspects of the LIFE Curriculum in a real-world setting. This Year a group of 23 students accompanied by Ms Bond, Mr McRae and myself travelled to the cities of Melbourne and Canberra before heading to the ski fields at Smiggin Holes. Melbourne proved to be a highly accessible city and we were able to move between venues using trams and by foot. Highlights of our Saturday in Melbourne included exploring the iconic Queen Victoria Markets, the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and a self-guided tour of the Immigration Museum where students gained significant insight into the history of Melbourne and the contributions of a range of migrant groups. On Saturday afternoon, students visited the Melbourne Cricket Ground to watch a match between Geelong and Collingwood, where Mr McRae cheered loudly for his team.
On Sunday, students took in some more of Melbourne’s iconic locations including the Royal Exhibition Building, The Old Melbourne Gaol and the State Library of Victoria where Ned Kelly’s original armour and Jerilderie letter are housed. Students then had some time for shopping in the Melbourne CBD before flying to Canberra.
While in Canberra, students visited many of the key venues of the Nation’s capital, including the Australian War Memorial, Federal Parliament House, Old Parliament House, the Australian Institute of Sport, the National Museum and Questacon. Students gained some significant insight into how the nation’s capital preserves the legacies of many groups in Australia, making close connections to their Big Ideas project. On the final leg of the journey, the tour was joined by Mrs De Courcier to lead the snow experience. Students and staff travelled to Smiggin Holes where they spent one and a half days enjoying the snow and experiencing either skiing or snowboarding.
Our tour of Australia’s national capital – Canberra – has provided students with the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy. The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $240.00 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards these costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.
Ms Karen Taylor
Learning Area Coordinator – HASS and Year 9 Innovator
28 August 2017
Catholic Performing Arts Festival Award Winners
2017 has seen Holy Cross College enjoy its most successful Festival to date and we are pleased to announce that the following items have been selected as award recipients in the 2017 Festival:
THE STORY OF OSCAR ROMERO (CHRISTIAN DRAMA)
- Ron Dullard Perpetual Shield Winner for Christian Drama
- Outstanding Performance Award
ZOPHIA PALUSZAK (SECONDARY SOLO DRAMA)
- Outstanding Performance Award
SENIOR BAND (CONTEMPORARY BAND)
- Outstanding Performance Award
AN UNSPEAKABLE TRIUMPH OF SUPREME BRILLIANCE (DRAMA PRODUCTION)
- Excellence Award
TIARA D'LIMA (SECONDARY PIANO SOLO)
- Excellence Award
JUNIOR CHOIR (PRIMARY SACRED CHORAL)
- Merit Award
A big congratulations to our award winners. The Perpetual Shield will be presented at the Festival Concert at the Perth Concert Hall in Week 9 and the other awards will be presented at the Winter Term Assembly in Week 10.
Mr Chris McRae
Performing Arts Teacher
THE STORY OF OSCAR ROMERO (CHRISTIAN DRAMA)
- Ron Dullard Perpetual Shield Winner for Christian Drama
- Outstanding Performance Award
ZOPHIA PALUSZAK (SECONDARY SOLO DRAMA)
- Outstanding Performance Award
SENIOR BAND (CONTEMPORARY BAND)
- Outstanding Performance Award
AN UNSPEAKABLE TRIUMPH OF SUPREME BRILLIANCE (DRAMA PRODUCTION)
- Excellence Award
TIARA D'LIMA (SECONDARY PIANO SOLO)
- Excellence Award
JUNIOR CHOIR (PRIMARY SACRED CHORAL)
- Merit Award
A big congratulations to our award winners. The Perpetual Shield will be presented at the Festival Concert at the Perth Concert Hall in Week 9 and the other awards will be presented at the Winter Term Assembly in Week 10.
Mr Chris McRae
Performing Arts Teacher
Year 11 Retreat - LIFE Week
The Year 11's concluded their 2017 LIFE Week with a 3-day Retreat in Serpentine. The students are to be commended on their maturity, vulnerability, and courage to engage in all of the experiences that Retreat had to offer.
The Retreat was centred around the Year 11 theme "Living life in all it's fullness" and allowed the students to reflect on their individual journey's and consider how they can live life, with God, in all of its fullness.
This proved to be a memorable time of reflecting, relaxing, and finding God and each other in the stillness of solitude. Highlight moments included pilgrimaging to a lookout over Serpentine where we could see from the city to Bunbury and all along the coast, an activity that involved one hour of complete silence, a bonfire, small groups and many other great memories.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Smyth, Mrs Thompson, and Mrs D'Lima for their contribution to making this experience so memorable.
Ryan Shelton
Religious Education Coordinator
The Retreat was centred around the Year 11 theme "Living life in all it's fullness" and allowed the students to reflect on their individual journey's and consider how they can live life, with God, in all of its fullness.
This proved to be a memorable time of reflecting, relaxing, and finding God and each other in the stillness of solitude. Highlight moments included pilgrimaging to a lookout over Serpentine where we could see from the city to Bunbury and all along the coast, an activity that involved one hour of complete silence, a bonfire, small groups and many other great memories.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Mr Smyth, Mrs Thompson, and Mrs D'Lima for their contribution to making this experience so memorable.
Ryan Shelton
Religious Education Coordinator
Junior School Update
Pre-Kindergarten
During LIFE week, the Pre-Kindergarten children went on their first Pilgrimage to the San Salvador Building. They learned how to line up in pairs, follow instructions outside of the classroom and explore a different building within their school. In the San Salvador Building, the children were read a story by Mrs. Pring and had an opportunity to look at some other picture books. This really was a very exciting adventure for our littlies!
Mrs. Emma Pring and Mrs. Natalie Pecherczyk
Pre-Kindergarten Teachers
Junior School Update
Year 2
Week 5 was filled with lots of big moments in Year 2!
Throughout the week, each student had the opportunity to present to the class about a culture important to them. It was so wonderful to learn more about each other and where our families have come from! We have learned so many new and interesting things about lots of different cultures, and we all did an amazing job speaking in front of the class (which we all know isn’t always an easy thing to do!)
In Mathematics, we have started learning about division. We discovered that dividing is all about sharing things out. We also learned that when you are sharing or dividing it is important to have a fair share. In our maths rotations, we have been sharing counters and unifix cubes into cups. This is helping us to understand the process of division. We have also explored how to problem solve in multiplication. We used beads on string and acting as a way of demonstrating our problem. In English, the Year 2’s have been immersed in stretching sentences to make them more interesting. We have really enjoyed experimenting with adjectives, adverbs and the five question words to extend our sentences. We’ve created some “WOW” sentences!
Mrs. Hayley Sheppard
Year 2 Teacher
Friends of Holy Cross Quiz Night - Friday 8 September 2017
Caritas City to Surf Appeal
Catholic Performing Arts Christian Drama Shield Winners
In a first for Holy Cross College, an entry in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival has been selected as the shield winner for the category. 'The Story of Oscar Romero', a dramatisation performed by Middle and Senior School Drama students has won the Ron Dullard Shield for Christian Drama. Student and staff representatives will now attend the Festival Concert at the Perth Concert Hall to be presented with the shield and the performance item may be selected to feature at the concert. This is the icing on the cake for the students involved in this performance, which received 'Excellent' rankings in every category and also received an Outstanding Performance Award.
This is a huge achievement for Holy Cross College Performing Arts as it is the first time an entry has been selected as a shield winner and HCC has only participated in the festival for six short years. A big congratulations to the students involved. It is also fitting that this performance has won the shield with this week marking 100 years since the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero.
Mr Chris McRae
Performing Arts Teacher
This is a huge achievement for Holy Cross College Performing Arts as it is the first time an entry has been selected as a shield winner and HCC has only participated in the festival for six short years. A big congratulations to the students involved. It is also fitting that this performance has won the shield with this week marking 100 years since the birth of Blessed Oscar Romero.
Performing Arts Teacher