Hello families,

We're well and truly into the swing of 2023 with parent/teacher chats taking place throughout this week, along with our Welcome Picnic last Friday. Thank you to everyone who was able to join us for this family event. It was lovely to gather together to share some food and experience our first ever Welcome to Country and Smoking ceremony alongside Uncle Bill Nicholson. Our PFA team kept everyone well supplied with a bbq, thank you to everyone who helped to prepare, cook and serve!

Professional Development - a snapshot

As a school we are committed to the professional development of our staff. Last week Kate J, Luke and Kate M attended a STEM Aviation Project session where they were immersed in building and flying model aircraft. They are looking forward to further learning in this area before working with the children on our own aviation project here at Holy Cross.

Our entire staff will be taking part in two full days of professional development linked to the religious education curriculum this year. Please note that the first date for this faith learning experience is: Tuesday 14th March. This date will be a school closure day for children. SchoolsOut will be operating a full day of care for any families who need this service.

Our Year 3/4 team, along with our Learning & Teaching team will be taking part in an intensive literacy project, focused on improving writing. We are excited to be part of this initiative as the learning will be invaluable for our entire teaching team as the project will be embedded into our practice across the school.

Learning never stops and we are keen to model for our children that as adults we continue to reflect on our own skills and refine them as we experience new ideas and ways of working.

Swimming trials

This event is always a mammoth effort as it comes so soon at the start of the year. Thank you to Casey for organising the day, along with Leonie and Kate J to support. Parent volunteers are much appreciated on the day with many tasks to undertake, thank you for helping us to make this day an enjoyable one for our children.

Birthdays/sharing of food

As we settle into a new year it's timely to mention that due to a number of children having food allergies we aim to limit food sharing. Some families like to send in a treat for the children to share if it's a birthday, in this case we send the treat home at the end of the day so that families can decide when/if their child can eat the food item.

Maintenance Committee - we need you!

We would very much appreciate some volunteers to join our maintenance committee this year. Our committee meets just once per term, for a maximum of an hour. We discuss short term projects such as working bee tasks and set longer term goals on the general maintenance of our spaces. Being a member of this committee does not mean that you need to attend all of our working bees - we would just appreciate some expertise from anyone who has skills in this area. Our Term 1 meeting is this Monday 20th February at 6pm in the staff room - ALL welcome ;-)

Sacrament of Reconciliation

Please pray for our Year 3 children who are preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation later this term. Next weekend there are commitment Masses being held in our parish churches for these children and their families.

PREP 2024 - SCHOOL TOURS

Yes, you read that correctly! We are already hosting school tours for any families who are interested in enrolling at Holy Cross next year. We have advertising boards going up in our local area soon and also ads on Facebook/Instagram. Please share this information far and wide as we would like to ensure our school is thriving for years to come.

UNITED NETBALL CLUB

United Netball Club is looking for all interested netballers for the upcoming MRNA Netball 2023 Winter Netball season. Net Set Go 23/2/23 – 30/3/23 Thursday 3.45pm - 4.30pm MRNA courts

Games are played Saturdays at the MRNA netball courts in New Gisborne. Please see flyer in the Community News section of this newsletter for more information and registration links.

Special visitors...

We will be having some very special visitors to Holy Cross in a few weeks time. Hint - they will be connected to our outdoor ed area! Look out for more information via Operoo in the coming week.

Wishing everyone a happy and peaceful weekend.

Aoife

Happy Birthday!