Welcome

Dear Holy Cross College Community

Finally, I can welcome you to the 2021 school year.

We have had the most unusual start to the year, complying with the directions around COVID, as well as dealing with the implications of the devasting bushfire. I realise that there are quite a number of students who had to evacuate their homes, and who would have been very worried during this time. Some of you may know of others that are going through a difficult time. Please know that we are here to support you.

I thank our Grounds staff for ensuring our school was ready for us to return and the grounds look fantastic. I see there is a lot of pride in the school and care for the environment.

New HHC Community Members

We have many new families that have joined the Holy Cross College (HCC) community as well as seventeen new staff members.  I wish all our new community members a positive experience of the HCC tradition. Personally, I certainly have had a very welcoming and productive start.

Salutation	First Name	Family Name	House	Role
Ms	Julie	Hornby	Ozanam	Principal
Mrs	Shevanthy	Aaron-Perera	McCormack	SWD Education Assistant
Mrs	Angela	Chamberlain	McCormack	Junior School Teacher
Ms	Valeria	Campos Chavez	McCormack	JS Education Assistant
Ms	Kaye	Elsum	Frayne	Junior School Teacher
Mr	Alan	Chan	Ozanam	Maths Teacher
Ms	Patricia	Dadd	McCormack	Maths/Science Teacher
Ms	Patricia	Green	McCormack	English/HASS Teacher
Mr	Daniel	Gevaux	Ozanam	Media Teacher
Ms	Brooklyn	Goddard	Frayne	AFL Sports Ready Trainee
Ms	Louise	Kane	Ozanam	Social Worker
Mrs	Donna	McConville	Frayne	Administration Assistant
Ms	Fiona	Murray	Ozanam	Junior School Teacher
Ms	Ariana	Rosso	Salvado	Junior School Teacher
Mr	Jake	Rowlands	Frayne	Science Teacher
Mrs	Tracey	Trist	McCormack	Maths/Science Teacher
Mrs	Carol	Wincott-Whyte	Ozanam	SWD Education Assistant

Strategic Compass

The College staff have been busy preparing and planning the lessons for the term and they have also been working collaboratively on the development of our strategic goals for 2021.

Our strategic goals from our Strategic Compass for 2021 are:

Lent

Lent is the 40 day period of fasting, penitence, and sorrow, leading up to the feast of Easter, recalling Jesus’ 40-day fast in the wilderness. Lent begins with Ash Wednesday on the 17 February.

Lent offers us all a very special opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and to deepen our commitment to a way of life, rooted in our baptism.  In our busy world, Lent provides us with an opportunity to reflect upon our patterns, to pray more deeply, experience sorrow for what we’ve done and failed to do, and to be generous to those in need.

I have already observed much of this generosity through our College community.

Mother Ursula Frayne

At the Gratitude Mass at the end of last year HCC celebrated the life of Sister Irene McCormack and welcomed our patron focus for 2021 – Mother Ursula Frayne.  This year, we celebrate 175 years of Mother Ursula Frayne’s legacy.  Arriving in 1846, she established the first convent school in Western Australia – the Convent of the Holy Cross, together with a free school for girls, marking the beginning of Mercy Education in Australia. Irene McCormack, in fact, was educated by the Sisters of Mercy, during which time she realised her calling to the religious life.

As a Sister of Mercy and teacher, Mother Ursula Frayne embodied a love of learning, a love for her students and love of God. We honour her as a woman who challenged each person to achieve their personal best, in an environment that valued the respect and dignity of each person. She put her trust in God’s providence when facing challenges and epitomised resiliency, perseverance and courage. 

Capital Development – LIMA

The Gymnasium building, named LIMA, is now accessible. Lima is the Peruvian city where Sister Irene McCormack first worked as a Missionary in 1987. She served the poor and oppressed in slums of the city, before moving to Huasahuasi, 200km away in the Andes Mountains to supervise the distribution of Emergency goods supplied by Caritas.

The main feature of the landscaping currently under construction surrounding our Lima Centre, is a replica of ‘The Eye that Cries’ Labyrinth found in the city of Lima, which ties the building and its surrounds to both Irene McCormack’s story and our rich culture of pilgrimage. At the centre of our Labyrinth will be a setting of bricks which were part of the original McCormack family homestead that once stood on a farm just outside of the town of Trayning. Our Labyrinth has been aptly named: ‘The Eye of Justice and Service’ in honour of the values we associate with Irene’s life.

In 2005, a local initiative in Lima funded the construction of a memorial labyrinth, named ‘The Eye that Cries’, designed to honour the thousands of victims of terrorism in Peru, including Irene McCormack’s murder in 1991. A labyrinth is a winding single path, often circular in shape, which leads into the centre. They have been used by Christians since the 4th Century as a means of reflection, meditation and prayer. During the Middle Ages, labyrinths were often built inside, or in the grounds of Cathedrals to provide Christians who could not embark on long pilgrimages to sacred sites, an opportunity to complete a symbolic pilgrimage by walking the path of the labyrinth.

I am looking forward to the events of the year, and in particular, getting to know the students and families of the Holy Cross College Community.

Mrs Julie Hornby

PRINCIPAL