Enrichment

Encouraging each person to receive the gifts of God with gratitude, cultivate them responsibly and share them lovingly with others.

Our Catholic faith calls us to be stewards of the gifts that God has given us. These gifts are not simply material resources; they include faith, hope, love, joy, family, relationships, intelligence, talents, skills, imagination, vision, compassion and creation in all its splendour. Students will be encouraged to develop their gifts, to pursue their interests and ‘to have a go’ through a range of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities at the College. External learning experiences through travel and exploring our own community gives students the encouragement to get out into the world, learn from it and contribute to it.

All students are involved in a week of curriculum enrichment activities during the year. Each year level will have a cross-curricular focus centred around a Big Ideas question. LIFE Week is held in Winter Term and all students are required to attend the various activities planned.

Students spend the week engaged in authentic learning experiences. They interact with the community through excursions and incursions. Learning is brought to life through real-life connections and partnerships. LIFE Week encompasses all elements of the College’s LIFE Pillars (Learning, Inter-relationships, Faith, Enrichment) to foster a wholistic approach to learning.

Throughout the week, students participate in various pilgrimages connected to the Faith Story of the College. Students in Kindergarten to Year Three embark on pilgrimages around the College, based on their year-level patron. Year Four students deepen their understanding of pilgrimage through a Camino experience in Walyunga National Park, whilst Year Five students travel to Fremantle to follow in the footsteps of Ursula Frayne. Furthermore, students in Middle and Senior School complete a number of sections of the Camino Salvado. 

To further deepen students’ connection to the Catholic faith, the College provides single-day retreat experiences for students in Year Eight and Year Ten during LIFE Week. In Year Eleven and Year Twelve, this retreat experience extends across three days. These retreats allow students to enrich their understanding of themselves, God, others and creation.

In addition, LIFE Week also encompasses overnight camps to further strengthen connection between students’ development within the Inter-relationships Pillar. Students in Year Six travel to Rottnest Island and students in Year Eight travel to New Norcia.

Year Nine students participate in a city experience.  For a week the city becomes their classroom as they explore a Big Ideas question.   Students have the option of participating in the Perth experience or applying to participate in the Melbourne/Canberra experience.  The groups explore a Big Ideas question as they explore and engage with  these capital cities. Together, each of these camps foster a greater sense of compassion and connection.

In Year Nine, students explore the broad theme of Expanding Horizons. This theme underpins the Winter Term Big Ideas project and the City Experience during LIFE Week. Each year, the College offers Year Nine students the opportunity to travel to Melbourne and Canberra, including a two-day skiing experience in The Snowy Mountains.   There is a strong link between the Perth Experience and the Melbourne-Canberra tour, with all students exploring the Expanding Horizons theme through a term-long project in which they investigate a big question related to Australian capital cities.

This trip coincides with the Perth activities during LIFE Week.  The eight night trip departs Perth on Friday.  Highlights include visiting the old and new Parliament Houses, the Australian War Memorial, the National Archives and the Australian Institute of Sport.  The group also celebrates Sunday Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral, Melbourne.

The Camino de Santiago is a network of ancient pilgrimage routes in Europe, leading to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. One of these routes passes through Tui, where Dom Rosendo Salvado was born. Salvado trained as a Benedictine monk at San Martin’s, the Benedictine monastery In Santiago de Compostela. In 2014 and 2017, a group of staff and students embarked on a pilgrimage in Spain, walking 120 kilometres on the Camino de Santiago from Tui to Santiago de Compostela. We hope to offer the opportunity to Senior School students every three years.

Holy Cross College offers a varied sporting programme with a focus on participation, as well as the opportunity for students to compete at a range of levels. Lightning carnivals and Inter-House competitions provide opportunities for high levels of participation in a range of sports.

Middle and Senior School students are able to participate in afterschool sport through the College NEAS (North Eastern Associated Schools) sports programme. Students can play against other schools in basketball, netball, frisbee and soccer.

All students participate in Inter-House sporting carnivals in swimming, cross-country and athletics.  From these events, squads are selected to represent the College by participating in inter-school competitions at the Catholic Primary Schools Sporting Association (CPSSA) for Junior School students, Associated and Catholic Colleges (ACC) carnivals and the WA All Schools Cross-country Carnival for Middle and Senior School students.   

Holy Cross College offers a variety of Arts subjects, including Visual Arts, Dance, Drama and Music from Pre-primary through to Senior School.  Students in Pre-primary to Year Six visit specialist spaces, alternating between Visual and Performing Arts each semester. Students in Middle and Senior School enrol in Drama, Media, Visual Arts and Dance classes up to the ATAR level with a Year 12 Graduate being accepted in WAAPA for 2020. Holy Cross College has won consecutive Drama Shield awards at the Catholic Performing Arts Festival. Adding to these awards is the recent Junior School Award in the Angelico Exhibition for 2019.

Students have the opportunity to be involved in a range of extra-curricular activities in The Arts throughout their time at the College:

• Instrumental music tuition is available for students who wish to explore their interests and talents in this programme, and students have opportunities to join the choir or one of the ensemble groups.

• The College Production is a major highlight of the year. Opportunities for students to audition and perform, or be part of helping to create the magic by being part of the crew, are available across Junior, Middle and Senior Schools. The focus for each yearly performance rotates across genres to include comedy, drama and musicals.

• The Visual Arts are also popular, with students developing their skills in a variety of art forms, from paint to sculpture to textiles.

• Art Clubs, Media Clubs and Drama Clubs are on offer in Junior, Middle and Senior Schools, running either before or after school.  

Students involved in The Arts at the College are provided with many opportunities to showcase their talents.  These opportunities include (but are not limited to):

• The Catholic Schools Performing Arts Festival.
• Angelico Exhibition.
• Arts Showcase.
• Carols by Candlelight.

The encyclical letter by Pope Francis, Lautato Si: On the Care of Our Common Home, reminds us of our responsibilities as stewards of creation.  As one of the principles of Catholic social teaching, stewardship calls each person to care for creation and in doing so, demonstrating gratitude, sharing their unique skills and talents, being accountable for their actions and living as a disciple of Christ. Each student at Holy Cross College is challenged to be a responsible steward of the environment through the development of responsible habits in their daily lives and through environmental projects at the College and in the community.   Students will be expected to be active in the responsible management of College resources to enhance the quality of education for all students.