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Dear Friends,
The easing of COVID-19 restrictions has seen the opening of Holy Trinity Church (from 9am each day) for personal prayer limited to no more than ten persons at a time. Please use the sanitiser provided in the front foyer. While Mass is permissible for a congregation of up to ten, Fr John decided not to take up the option to celebrate public Masses (which ten and why?) until the congregation ceiling is far higher or removed. The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference during their recent online entrusted Australia during the COVID-19 pandemic to Mary, Mother of God and our mother. Archbishop Christopher will dedicate our archdiocese to Mary under the title of ‘Our Lady Help of Christians’ at the 11am, Sunday 24 May Cathedral chapel Mass. The entrustmentt prayer endorsed by the bishops is”:
O Immaculate Mary, Help of Christians, Queen of heaven and earth, and tender mother of humanity, at this time when a pandemic threatens all your children, we entrust to you our nation, Australia, and all who live in this country.
We commit to your intercession all members of our community, beginning with the weakest ones, from the unborn to the sick, the disabled and the elderly.
We commit to you our families, our young and old, and all who are vulnerable, those who are quarantined or anxious.
We entrust to your Immaculate Heart those who have lost their livelihood or employment, our pastors and other essential service workers, and our leaders at this time.
We implore your intercession especially for the protection of doctors and nurses and those who minister to the contagious sick in this crisis.
Reign over us Mother of God and teach us how to make the Heart of Jesus reign in triumph in us and around us, as it has reigned and triumphed in you!
St Joseph, Pray for us
Thank you to everyone for your trust in us, and cooperation with, the new safety measures we have put in place at school. Last week, I had the opportunity to sit in a Zoom meeting with the Assistant to the Chief Heath Officer, Dr Vanessa Johnston, who presented us with many assurances around children's return to school in Canberra. ACT Education has provided a video resource from the ACT Chief Health Officer, DrKerrynn Coleman and Deputy Health Officer, Dr Vanessa Johnston that you can view here:
Safety message for Parents with children as children return to school
I know that drop off and pick up can be a bit challenging at the moment, however I appreciate your patience with this. We hope that this may be able to ease over the coming weeks. Next Monday after an extensive early morning clean, the play escarpments will be open again for the children. We will continue with regular cleans of this and constant reminders about hand washing after play. Much focus this week has been on our students' well-being and teachers have completed activities with each class to help transition them back with face to face teaching again. I know many students are so happy to be reunited with their friends and community (as am I!). I have also begun this week interviewing our potential Kindergarten students for 2021- this is one of my favourite task as a Principal, as I love talking to the children and their parents about themselves and of course, about our wonderful school. Recently we had added some more information and a video in our enrolment and teaching and learning sections of the website. Our latest video is below:
Last week I finished the opening page of the newsletter with a video of our students' talents developed throughout remote learning at home. It is exciting to share today some news of another talented student at our school, Gwen Osborne, whose choir has selected her to be a part of the Opera Australia Children's Chorus this year in the Touring Production of Carmen (following in Evie’s footsteps a few years back). Rehearsals for now are on Zoom. Congratulations Gwen!
Please keep Asha and Lila Willer-Wagstafff and their family and in your prayers as their grandfather recently passed away also. As I have mentioned before, such a difficult time, but even more so with funeral attendance restrictions.
With every best wish for a holy and peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families,
Philippa
Philippa Brearley
Email: philippa.brearley@cg.catholic.edu.au
Welcome Back!
A very warm welcome back to all of our students this week, it is so wonderful to be together again, we have missed you all very much. Our kinder students made welcome back hugs, which have been hung around the school to welcome everyone back!
Easter Raffle
Tomorrow we will have our annual Easter Egg Raffle! As we were not able to fundraise for the raffle this year, each student from the ELC to Year 6 has been entered into the draw. We have over 20 prizes to be won. Thank you to our Year 3/4 families for donating the eggs!
First place this year will also win a subscription for an Entertainment Book, which has been kindly donated by Jo Hamilton. Thank you!
The draw will be videoed live to all students tomorrow afternoon. We will post the winners next week!
Religious Education Website - Transfiguration Parish
Although we are no longer Remote Learning, the “Parish of Transfiguration” website is still being updated weekly and features the Sunday Gospel of the coming week, as well as reflection questions, and other resources and ideas for families who want to grow in faith together. This week, we look at the practice of Lectio Divina, and how this can be done with kids. We hope the site will be engaging and enriching for the families in our communities of Holy Trinity and Saints Peter and Paul.
Fr John has uploaded a video for our families, and the Parish Youth Ministers, Maddie and Grace have added content to the site also, so I encourage you to take a look.
Below is a link to the site for this week.
http://parishoftransfiguration.weebly.com/week-4.html
Our Youth Ministers have also created a Facebook page. Please check it out and 'like' it to support young people in our Parish ( @NorthWodenParishTrasfiguaration ).
Emily Capper
Religious Education Coordinator
It is wonderful to have almost all of our preschoolers back at school this week. I am unsure who is happiest; children, parents or teachers? Everyone has had had a fabulous week returning to friends, play, social engagement and deep learning.
The Unit of Inquiry for Term 2 is How we Express Ourselves, Expression requires consideration of self. There will involve exploration of emotions and feelings, how we express them, how we read others' expression, how we can regulate ourselves and tools for doing so. This is building the children emotional intelligence, teaches empathy and healthy expression of feelings - a perfect curriculum for 4 year olds (and any age).
Thank you to all families continuing to observe physical distancing, patience with temperature taking on arrival (which will be reviewed this week) and keeping children home when sick.
Stay and Play will continue to be postponed until further notice. We are now welcoming some visitors into the ELC to provide incursions to the children in the absence or excursions. Larry Brandy, aboriginal story teller will visit all classes during Reconciliation Week, Healthy Harold will come later in the term.
Catholic School’s enrolment period ends this week. All preschoolers need to be enrolled into Kindergarten, an enrolment at the ELC does not continue into primary school.
After a much longer period than anyone expected, I am pleased to say the Tuck Shop will be opening in Week 6. It is going to look a bit different to the original plan, but the aim is still to provide healthy, nutritious lunches and snack options for the HTPS community on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Our Tuck Shop food will now be made in an offsite commercial kitchen by the Efficiently Nutritious team and supplied to the Tuck Shop.
‘Efficiently Nutritious (EN) as a food supplier is a Canberra based business with a focus on growing and cooking nourishing food for our local community. We source high quality Australian food products that have been grown and cared for in a way that is respectful to the environment. Most of our fresh produce comes from small farms and market gardens in the Canberra region. This provides us with fresh and seasonal produce all year round. We source many of our dry ingredients from a not for profit, community owned bulk grocery store in Canberra. We use these ingredients to make simple, nourishing, home cooked meals and snacks with a focus on minimising food waste and maximising affordability.’
I am calling for volunteers to help run the Tuck Shop between 9-12 for those days. There will not be any food preparation required so anyone can do this. In an attempt to attract more volunteers, I have created some flexibility within each shift. If you click on the link below you will find the shifts that need filling for the remainder of Term 2. If your availability does not align exactly with a shift but you would still love to help, please just let me know and we will work around what you can do. I am excited to volunteer my time and give back to our wonderful school community and I hope that we can form a great group of tuck shop volunteers to help provide this service.
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040A45ADAC2EA3FE3-tuck
Next week I will share the menu and a few other changes we have made around ordering.
Alicia La Brooy - Efficiently Nutritious
Email: alicia@efficientlynutritious.com.au
Charting a new course for kids post COVID-19
While we’ve been denied access during the COVID-19 pandemic to activities such as playing group sport, spending time in a café or meeting with friends, there’s been plenty of upside too.
Discussions with friends reveal that family life has been a big beneficiary from the physical distancing measures. Comments such as “It’s so good to slow down,” “I cherish the time I’m spending with my children,” and “I’m discovering the joy of having real conversations with my teenager” point to the positive side of getting off the family roundabout many of us have been on.
Though the restrictions placed on society are of course challenging, the imposed period of social isolation has provided an opportunity for parents to forge new habits that have potential to bring more joy and less stress to their children’s lives once the threat has subsided. Here are some ideas to consider while charting a new course for kids post COVID-19.
Significant personal hobbies
Our previous reliance on organised, adult-initiated activity to keep kids busy came at the expense of child-initiated hobbies and interests. The rise of personal digital entertainment and communication technology in recent years has also contributed to the demise of hands-on hobbies such as collecting, crafts and music.
The Scandinavians have long valued the positive impact of hobbies on a person’s wellbeing and quality of life. In turn they encourage (and in Sweden’s case heavily subsidise) the uptake of hobbies and personal interests from a very young age.
Personal learning centres
Experts agree that the future of work will be characterised by constant change, requiring workers to continually learn and upskill if they are to adapt. Our children will need to see themselves as continuous learners if they are to succeed in this uncertain future.
The home is a great place to plant this concept in young minds and there’s no better way to do this than establishing their own personal learning centre. Start small with a bean bag, a small book shelf and build from there. It’s the idea rather than the physical setting where the learning significance lays.
Mental health practices
This period in isolation has offered an opportunity to embed good mental health practices in children and young people. Three key health practices to continue include healthy eating, plenty of exercise and good sleep patterns. Add regular mindfulness practice, deep breathing and the opportunity to spend plenty of time in nature and you’ll be establishing a strong mental health and wellbeing framework for life.
Mix of alone and group activities
Life in social isolation has meant family members have had to compromise. Extroverts who love to be surrounded by people have had to give parents and siblings the space they need. Introverts who prefer their own company have been sharing their time, space and company with other family members. Post COVID-19, consider encouraging kids to experience a mixture of alone time, allowing for personal reflection and family time, which promotes family connection. Both are essential for healthy wellbeing.
Deep eldership connection
Increased one-on-one time between parents and kids has been a positive side effect of life in social isolation. The opportunity for parents to connect with children and young people with greater depth and meaning is a return to eldership, practised by past generations. Eldership, where parents shared their wisdom and their vulnerabilities with young people, when combined with healthy rites of passage is a time-honoured way of preparing young people for adulthood.
This period of social isolation has provided a rare opportunity for parents to renew and refresh their children’s lifestyles, and in some circumstances, reboot family lives as well. It would be a waste to climb back on the busy roundabout of life once the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, without making some positive changes to the way we live.
(Source: Parentingideas.com.au)
Heidi White
Email: Heidi.white@cg.catholic.edu.au
Order Online and Earn Rewards for your School
All orders home delivered!
New Catalogue Features new releases from all over the globe PLUS new books from award winning authors and emerging talent.
www.redgumbookclub.com.au
Next Wednesday, 27th May, Holy Trinity will once again participate in the National Simultaneous Storytime. This year the book is about two chickens who sneak off to a night club and secretly perform each night.
Holy Trinity will be viewing the book with 1 000 000 other children. Due to COVID 19 all viewing will be in individual classrooms.
To make it more fun, please send your child or children to school with something fun to wear - tiaras, a feather boa, something with sequin, some groovy glasses or even a stuffed toy chicken.
It will be big fun.
Kate Mertz
Email: kate.mertz@cg.catholic.edu.au
Amazing ICT Skills in Kinder White
The kindergarten students have been writing observation reports about all different topics. Mr Feerick thought he could make these reports even jazzier by using technology such as a green screen. These images were able to support each child's report when presenting their observations. Here are the amazing results:
TECHNO-TANTRUMS
As we slowly return to normal from the COVID-19 isolation period, we are attempting to reduce our children's screen time at home. This can sometimes lead to stress in families and cause 'techno-tantrums' particularly at night-time. Please see the flyer attached for a free webinar with the award-winning speaker and bestselling author, Dr. Kristy Goodwin. (Some of you may remember the 'Be the Pilot' parent session she hosted in our hall a few years ago!)
Our school has a membership with Parenting Ideas, and as part of this membership, all the parents at Holy Trinity can attend some fantastic webinars in 2020 at no cost.
Key learning and discussion points include:
- The science behind why kids and teens have techno tantrums and find it challenging to switch off screens
- How to establish and enforce firm guidelines and boundaries
- How to be the pilot of the digital plane
- Researched based, realistic strategies to help develop healthy digital behaviours so that screen time doesn’t always end in ‘scream time'
Please find all instructions on how to access this FREE webinar in the flyer attached.
Kind regards,
Rebecca Casey
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Students celebrating their birthdays this week: Liam W, Celine T, Stella W, Sophie W, Alice Mc |
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