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26 September 2008 No. 14 F R O M T H E P R I N C I P A L :
Coming Events - 2008 26 Sept Yr 12 Graduation Mass & Prize Giving Night Term 3 Concludes 13 Oct Term 4 Commences Staff Development Day 14 Oct Students Return—Summer Uniform Trial School Certificate 15 Oct Trial School Certificate 16 Oct MCS Rd 1 Cricket/BBall/Touch HSC Commences
Reflection:
There is no limit to the goals you can attain, or the success you can achieve. Your possibilities are as endless as your dreams.
Whatever it is that you seek in life, whatever your dreams and what you hope to achieve, whatever you try to reach, whatever
you plan… can all be yours – if only you believe you can!
Year12 Graduation Assembly speech by Mr. Williams
Dear parents, students and staff, Year 12 Graduation. This week we farewelled our current Year12 at a school assembly on Wednesday. It was pleasing to see so many family members present to share in the occasion. Year 12 will be presented with Graduation Certificates and awards for academic and sporting excellence at our graduation dinner tonight. At the assembly we wished them every success in the coming HSC exams and thanked them for their many contributions to the College over the last six years. At the assembly we also announced the student leadership team for 2009. They are: College Captain: Marco Tomasello College Vice Captain: Bradley Chalmers Senior Council: Edward Arakelian, Sirag Aroyan, Charlie Auditore, Michael Fairgrieve, Ryan Fonti, Peter Lee, Jack Herd-man, Jarrod Mobbs, Jason Simionato, Jacob Stewart, I would like to congratulate these boys on their election to these positions of responsibility and I am sure they will all make a very positive contribution to the life of the College over the next year. Feast of the Holy Cross. Recently we celebrated the feast day with a Mass. It has become a tradition to present commu-nity service awards to those who helped make our College a more Christian community over the last year during the Mass. The winners this year were: Students; Joshua Thompson, Marco Tomasello, Jack Dawson, Bradley Plug, Ashley Ward Staff: Mr Ryan Acosta Old Boys: Br. Mark Ryan Congratulations to all the award winners and thank you for your contributions to the College. Term 4. Classes will resume for the final term of the year on Tuesday 14th October. Monday will be a staff development day. Students are to return in summer uniform for the new term. The uniform shop is open every Tuesday and Friday morning between 8am and 9.30am for the purchase of items of uniform. Mr G. Williams Principal
From the Assistant Principal In reflecting on the term that is ending, it is significant to note the many events that have marked these ten weeks. Some of these have been:
• World Youth Day.
• Fund raising for Daffodil Day.
• Year 12 donors to the Blood Bank.
• The successful HSC Trials, Preliminary HSC exams and Year 10 exams.
• The organisation and planning of all Year 12 Graduation events.
• The thought and work put towards the subject selection days 2009 for Year 11, Year 9 and Year 8.
• The completion of major works in TAS for the HSC.
• The outstanding performances and displays at the Creative Arts Night.
• The many sporting successes.
• The selection of two Year 12 students, Aaron Woods and Vitale Roqica in the Australian Schoolboys Rugby League team. Add to this brief list the many other curriculum, sporting and community events of the term and all of us, families, students and teachers have much to celebrate at this point of the year. Without a doubt, the Term Three holidays bring a much needed break from the hectic pace of this term. The end of this term also sees the conclusion of classes for Year 12 and the end of the Preliminary HSC course for Year 11 students. The great majority of the students have much to celebrate in their achievements and also the be-ginning of a period of focused study and revision – for Year 11 the commencement of their HSC course of study in Term 4 and for Year 12 the final weeks before the commencement of their HSC. We wish them every success as they enter this new stage of their commitments. With regard to our students in Years 7 – 10, I would encourage parents and guardians to discuss the events of the Term with your child. His successes and challenges would possibly be great topics to raise towards the end of the holiday break, providing the students with an opportunity to refocus their efforts on realistic goals for Term Four.
………………………………………………………………………………………… When the students return after the break, ‘Summer Uniform’ is to be worn. No blazers or ties are required for boys in Years 7 – 10; however if the tie is not worn, the short sleeve shirt with the ‘College Crest’ on the pocket must be worn. Senior students must continue to wear their tie.
………………………………………………………………………………………… During Term 3 I was alarmed at the number of students at the College who failed to comply with simple requests regarding the presentation of their College uniform. It is time for the College to again take a positive stance in this area. The students are the best advertisement in public for the College, the way that they behave and dress is how we are viewed. There will be a zero tolerance to poor personal grooming; students who cannot comply with College policy regarding uniform and haircuts will be sent home. Michael McCormack Assistant Principal
Walkathon results Students have raised approximately $9,544.00. This is a very good result considering the weather on the day. Thank you again to all boys who participated and returned the money as promised. Prize winners for the raffle were: First Prize drawn by West tigers player Bronson Harrison -Chrysostomos Maoudis 8.3 Second prize Drawn by West Tigers player Darren Nicholls - Liam Giblin 7.2 Third prize drawn by West Tigers player Liam Roach - Harrison Campbell 7.1. All West Tigers players are former students of the College and we thank them for taking the time to attend and par-ticipate in the Feast of Holy Cross staff/ students match as well as draw the winning names. Congratulations to these boys. Thanks to all staff, parents and students who helped run the Walkathon. Keith Rugg Administration Coordinator
Year 7 Tennis Competition Last week, Year 7 participated in a charity tennis competition organised by Miss Leopardi and Miss Challita. About 40 students engaged in a week long doubles knockout tournament to raise funds for the “Y B Bluefoundation”. This organisation raises awareness of youth depression and mental health. As Year 7 are investigating this topic in Pas-toral Care classes, it seemed an appropriate local charity to support. The quality of the tennis was second to none and the finals day on Friday saw James Clark and Liam Cormican take out the title over Chris Mather and Kale Bar-ton-Bissaker in a tight game. Players conducted themselves with great sportsmanship and non players also sup-ported the competition enthusiastically from the sidelines. Additional funds were raised through generous dona-tions on the day. The competition was proudly sponsored by the Tennis Ranch at Gladesville who kindly donated two Head racquets valued at $140 each, a sports bag, tennis balls and other fabulous tennis merchandise. We are all grateful for their sense of community and support of a Holy Cross College initiative. I am also very proud of the homeroom staff for their involvement and of course, the boys for their College spirit. Well done Year 7 and Miss Chal-lita and Miss Leopardi! Miss van Domburg Year 7 Coordinator
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Dear Parents and Students of Year 10 It has been a busy term, with Subject Selections for Year 11, 2009 being the focus. I hope that all the information pre-sented at the Parent Information Evening and the Subject Selection Interviews, has assisted all students and parents in making an informed decision on subject choices for Year 11. Moving into term four, we now shift our attention to preparing for and completing Trial School Certificate and School Certificate Examinations. During our Pastoral Care lesson on Thursday 25/9/08, Mrs E. Kooyman from the Board of Studies spoke to the students regarding rules and expectations for the Exams. Mr. Gibney and I also spoke to them about appropriate behaviour and preparation during ther holidays. The students were given an equipment list for the Exams. Please ensure your son is well prepared with his equipment. We also ask that your son makes some time during the holidays for study/revision, so that he will be ready for the Trial School Certificate on the first two days back next term. A reminder also, that the students will be leaving the College and are expected to go straight home after the Exams on these two days. A permission slip is needed to be returned to me for this to occur. Below is a guideline for upcoming events in Weeks 1 and 2, Term Four : Week 1 - Monday 13/8/08 : No student attendance (Staff Development Day). Tuesday 14/8/08 : Trial School Certificate Exams (English and Science). Wednesday 15/8/08 : Trial School Certificate Exams (Mathematics and HSIE). Thursday 16/8/08 : Normal lessons and Sport. Friday 17/8/08 : Normal lessons PLUS PDHPE Exam during class time. Week 2 - Normal Lessons I wish all parents and students a safe and happy holiday. See you in Term 4. Mr Paul Graziani Year 10 Coordinator
Staff Profile: Janice Challinor Janice Challinor has taught at our College for 7 years. She is retiring this year after teaching the fascinating subjects of History, Geography and Legal Studies. She has many superb stories of her travels, spanning over 50 countries. Sadly, she will leave after Week 1 of Term 4 and will be dearly missed. Eager to make good use of this remaining time to hear her stories and cheerful perspectives on teaching, life, politics and current affairs, Crossroads teacher profile talked travel with Janice. Birthplace: Henty, NSW (Southwest of Wagga Wagga) Favourite music: Jazz & Blues Film I most want to see next:" Caramel" If you could go anywhere in the world for a week: Janice would love to explore the Amazon River and the rainforest from the mouth at the Atlantic Ocean to the river's source in the high Andes. Having reached these mountains she would journey on the Inca trail in Peru. As an environmentalist she would like to investigate the rainforest's pure, natural state, and study the impact of human activity on this environment. Turning point in your life: In 1998, Janice did a long-awaited family car trip to the peripheries of our great continent. Visiting Australia's lesser-known sites, she was excited at the beauty of our country. It energized her love for our ge-ography, and it inspired her further to teach geography and take children to different parts of Australia. She drove through the Red Centre, to destinations such as Mount Isa, Kakadu, the Kimberleys, Broome, Karratha, Geraldton and down to Perth. Most memorable trip: In the 1970's Janice went on a two-year working holiday to England. Using London as a base, she embarked on a spectacular eight week overland tour through the Middle East, visiting Iran - then ruled by The Shah - before the 1979 revolution. She went through Afghanistan, Pakistan and into India. It was her first in-depth experience outside the Western world. Visiting Srinigar in the foothills of the Himalayas during a Pakistani-Indian war was, however, a tense experience. Most spectacular site seen on travels: When visiting South Africa she saw the most spectacular scene while climbing the Central Highlands - a U-shaped valley with a high waterfall. We are very grateful to have had Janice as KLA Coordinator in the HSIE Department. Her in depth knowledge and passion for History, Geography and Legal Studies has been inspiring. We wish her a happy retirement blessed with more good travels.
HCC Creative Arts Night
Creative Arts Evening The P&F would like to thank everyone involved in the Arts Evening.
The performers were from Year 7 through to Year 12. They performed a wonderful variety of pieces. Cameron’s (Year 12) piano piece had the audience spellbound also brothers Dean and
Daniel Ferguson’s (Year 9) duet was exceptional.
Year 7 Art Work showed lots of creativity. Year 10 Food TEC Boys Ben and Michael kept every-one supplied with snacks and drinks.
Thank you to Miss Gamma, Miss Tighe, Miss Kanta and Br Mark for their
organisation of the students.
A Fun Night had by all.
Sport News CCC Football The Opens Football team played Newington College on Monday the 15th September in the knockout stage of the all schools knockout. Unfortunately the team went down 1-0 with Newington scoring a lucky goal at the end of the first half. I would like to thank Mr. Kisrwani and Mr. Acosta for all the effort they have put into this season with the team. I would also like to thank all the supporters who went out and watched the game. CCC Athletics The CCC athletics was held on Friday 19th September. We had two students who represented MCS, they were Guiliano Fonte in the 100m Sprint and Bradley Plug in the High Jump. Congratulations to Bradley who won this event jumping 1.70m. He now moves onto the all schools carnival held yesterday and Brad-ley came 4th. MCS Touch Football, Cricket and Basketball Teams are now being finalized for the next MCS sport season, we are still looking for students to represent the school in the Year 9 Opens Cricket and 17’s Touch Football. Please see me if you are interested. The competition starts on first week of next term. All students who made the Cricket teams are to purchase a Holy Cross Cricket shirt from Mr. Chase. The cost of the shirt is $28.00 Thursday Recreational Sport Students have been notified of the sport they are doing in term 4. All students must attend the sport that has been is-sued for the first week. Students will be able to make changes in weeks 2 and 3. After this no student will be allowed to change sports. Students will pay for their chosen sport each week. The cost for the following sports is $5.00 – Weights, Tennis, Indoor Soccer. Boxing is $8.00 per week. If a student doesn’t have the money they will be going to non-sport for the after-noon. Students who go to the wrong sport will receive an after school detention and be banned from sport for two weeks. Students must go to the sport they selected. Teachers will not accept anyone who is not on the sport roll. Damian Chase PDHPE / Sport Coordinator
HCC BUCKETS CUP
Buckets Cup 2008 – Students upset Teachers On the 12th of September; the Feast of Holy Cross, the annual Staff vs Students Oztag match took place – the Buckets Cup. Controversial referee Keith Rugg again was in charge, using a new fan-dangled electric whistle! Drafted in for the Teachers this year were M. Hyland, D. Nicholls, B. Harrison and L. Roach from the Tigers. The match started with strong tagging by the Students, and the first penalty went to the teachers in a controversial offside decision, resulting in the first try by ‘Barrack Obama Acosta’. Two more scoring attempts were made by ‘Raging Bull Rekrut’ and Horner before the Students struck back with their first score before the half time bell rung. Back on the field, the students were now pumped and a Great White mistake lead to another score for the students, who were now running away with the match. Another break and try by the Students now had them a comfortable lead before the final bell sounded. Final score Students 14, Teachers 7
Under 14’s Rugby Union 10a-side
The Under 14s Rugby Union 10 a - side team has enjoyed great success over Term 3. Many of the boys had not played Rugby Union before so their achievements are that much more outstanding. The team went through the first part of the competition undefeated and then encountered Campbelltown in the semi-final. This was a very close game with Holy Cross playing outstanding Rugby in the first half, this had them leading 19 - 0 at half time. The oppo-sition fought back well in the second half but Holy Cross held on to win 19 - 15. The boys faced Blacktown in the grand final and were defeated 17 - 7 by a team which had dominated their side of the competition all term. I would like to thank all the boys for their efforts in displaying great skills and sportsmanship. They are a team of which Holy Cross can be very proud.
Tim Barrett & Simon Mc Lean.
Holy Cross CollegeHoly Cross College
2008 NAPLAN Results2008 NAPLAN Results
The Results of the first National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests were released across Australia last week. ‘For students in Sydney Catholic parish primary and regional secondary systemic schools in the Archdiocese of Sydney (the results) are extremely pleasing.” Br Kelvin Cavanan has congratulated teachers and students on the levels of achievement. “Literacy and numeracy scores in State wide tests have improved every year for the past decade. 2008 is the first time that literacy and numeracy have been assessed nationally. What is pleasing is that NSW as a whole rated very highly when compared to other States, and our parish primary and re-gional secondary Catholic school students achieved above the NSW State average.” In many cases, students re-corded very significant improvements from year to year.
Students from Holy Cross College achieved very solid results in the examinations. Students in Year 7 and 9 under-took national exams in literacy and numeracy, focusing on areas in reading, writing, spelling, grammar and punc-tuation, number, patterns and algebra, measurement and data, and space and geometry. These test results sum-marised below provide valuable information about student achievements in literacy and numeracy. Analysis of these results assists the school planning and is used to support teaching and learning programs. Additionally, the results are used to monitor literacy and numeracy development through Years 7 to 10.
Year 9 2008
BAND RESULTS
The band results tabled below outlines the percentage of students at Holy Cross College that achieved bands 10, 9, 8 in the NAPLAN tests for literacy and numeracy. These bands are the highest bands attainable for Year 9 Students (14 -16 year old) across Australia.
LITERACY
NUMERACY
In Literacy we had 4% of our students achieve a band 5 and in numeracy we had 8% of our students achieve a band 5. This is the lowest band achievable for 14 -16 year old students.
School Numeracy
Performance Bands
Numbers, Patterns &
Algebra
Measurement & Data
Space & Ge-ometry
Overall Numeracy
10, 9, 8 48% 46% 55% 50%
School Literacy
Performance Bands
Reading Writing Spelling Grammar & Punctuation
Overall Literacy
10, 9, 8 40% 36% 30% 37% 51%
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS ABOVE NATIONAL BENCHMARKS
The Federal Government sets national minimum benchmarks for all students in the key areas of literacy and nu-meracy development at particular ages. The table below clearly outlines the percentage of students at Holy Cross College that meet these minimum benchmarks or are above the benchmarks.
LITERACY
NUMERACY
24% of our students achieve a score of 600 or above, which equates to these students achieving results, which were a minimum of 30 points or more above the state average of 569 for boys in literacy. With the highest achiev-ing student scoring above 750.
In the numeracy test we had 26% of our students achieve a score of 620 or above, which also equates to these students achieving results, which were a minimum of 27 points or more above the state average of 593 in nu-meracy. With the highest achieving student scoring above 740.
Congratulation must go to the 20 Year 9 students that achieved a band 10 in one or more focus areas and to the students that achieved well above the state average in the Year 9 2008 NAPLAN examinations.
Focus Area Percentage
Reading 96%
Writing 90%
Spelling 95%
Grammar & Punctuation 89%
Overall Literacy 96%
Focus Area Percentage
Numbers, Patterns & Algebra 90%
Measurement & Data 88%
Space & Geometry 96%
Overall Numeracy 93%
Year 7 2008 BAND RESULTS
The band results tabled below outlines the percentage of students at Holy Cross College that achieved bands 9, 8, 7 in the NAPLAN tests for literacy and numeracy. These bands are the highest bands attainable for Year 7 Students (12 -14 year old) across Australia.
LITERACY
NUMERACY
In comparison to this we only had 2% of our students achieve a band 4 in literacy and 0% of our students achieved a band 4 in numeracy. This is the lowest band achievable for 12 -14 year old students and an outstanding result.
PERCENTAGE OF STUDENTS ABOVE NATIONAL BENCHMARKS
The Federal Government sets national minimum benchmarks for all students in the key areas of literacy and nu-meracy development at particular ages. The table below clearly outlines the percentage of students at Holy Cross College that meet these minimum benchmarks or are above the benchmarks.
LITERACY
NUMERACY
School Literacy
Performance Bands
Reading Writing Spelling Grammar & Punctuation
Overall Literacy
9, 8, 7 42% 37% 70% 43% 43%
School Numeracy
Performance Bands
Numbers, Patterns &
Algebra
Measurement & Data
Space & Ge-ometry
Overall Numeracy
9, 8, 7 67% 67% 71% 66%
Focus Area Percentage
Reading 100%
Writing 96%
Spelling 96%
Grammar & Punctuation 94%
Overall Literacy 98%
Focus Area Percentage
Numbers, Patterns & Algebra 100%
Measurement & Data 94%
Space & Geometry 100%
Overall Numeracy 100%
Some 28% of our students achieve a score of 550 or above in literacy, which equates to these students achieving results, which were a minimum of 20 points or more above the state average of 531 for boys. With the highest achieving student scoring above 600.
In numeracy 36% of our students achieve a score of 600 or above, which also equated to these students achieving results, which were a minimum of 40 points or more above the state average of 560. With the highest achieving stu-dent scoring above 750.
Congratulations must go to the 34 Year 7 students who achieved a band 9 in one or more focus areas and to the students that achieved results well above the state average in the Year 7 2008 NAPLAN examinations. In summary the Year 7 and 9 students have achieved some excellent results in the 2008 NAPLAN examinations, which they should be congratulated on. These results also clearly provides the College with data that will enable the teaching staff of the College to identify specific areas of need in literacy and numeracy that require further develop-ment. The staff will be able to develop during term 4, 2008 appropriate teaching and learning strategies that can be implemented in 2009 for both the current Year 7 and 9 students. These results also demonstrate as a school that we continue to map the progression of each cohort through all Year groups to ensure we continue to meet the needs of each particular Year group. These strategies will be used to address the areas of need and place clear focus on im-proving the literacy and numeracy skills of the students at Holy Cross College.
Phillip Gibney
Curriculum Coordinator
C R O S S R O A D S
HCC BRONZE AWARDS Congratulations to the following students who have recently received
Bronze Awards.
Student Name Year
HCC UNIFORM SHOP Opening Times
Tuesdays: 8.00am—9.30am Fridays: 8.00am—9.30am Enquiries: 9449 9777 Email: [email protected] Fax: 9440 8931
CANTEEN ROSTER 2008 Group 3
14—17 Oct 2008
Group 4 20—24 Oct 2008
M O N
Staff
Development Day
Josephine Co-lasuonno Marina Spina Cathy Nardo Norma Sciara
T U E S
Stephen Fonti Veronica Anthony Rita Sciancalepore
Alison Coombs Helen Burton HELP NEEDED
W E D
Donna Chalmers Mary Cox HELP NEEDED
Helen Clark HELP NEEDED
T H U R
Carol Jarvis Sally Frison Sharon Stephens
Sharon Calabro Jo-anne Plug
F R I
Keith Kerr Linda Miller
Alyson Mitchell Sharon Towers HELP NEEDED
CrossRoads Newsletters
are available for viewing on the school website: www.holycrosscollege.org
CANTEEN SPECIAL
Crumbed Fish in Wrap with Lettuce & Mayo
$3.00
Must be ordered.
SECOND HAND
UNIFORM SHOP
Donations of uniforms especially Senior Blaz-ers is greatly appreci-
ated. All money raised will be donated back
to the school.
_______________
The P&F is looking for volunteers to help
with the uniform shop once a month. Inter-ested people to con-tact the front office.
As you can see our Canteen Roster has changed due to our Year 12 parents leav-ing also other parents work commitments
. We need your help PLEASE.
If you can spare sometime call Lorraine on 9808-1033 ext 120.
Alessandro Blassanato 7
Bradley Denlow 7
Luke Johnston 7
Luke Johnston 7
Daniel Kasif 7
Jason Salter 8
Jason Salter 8
Jason Salter 8
Nishant Sundaram 9
Keelan Mogan 10
HCC SILVER AWARDS Congratulations to the
following students who have recently received Silver Awards.
Student Name
Year
Drew Manley 7 Christopher Mather 7
St Ambrose Church, Concord West Pre Higher School Certificate Mass will be held at
St Ambrose Church, Concord West
on Saturday 11 October commencing at 6.00pm.
Please phone Maryann Walsh on 0411 546 206 for further details.
