Dear Friends,

This weekend marks Social Justice Sunday, with the theme : ‘TO LIVE LIFE TO THE FULL – MENTAL HEALTH IN AUSTRALIA TODAY’. It encourages faith communities, governments and each one of us to make mental health a priority. It is timely message in the context of the pandemic. Rather than being distributed as in past years, the Statement can be downloaded free on the link below:

https://socialjustice.catholic.org.au/2020/07/03/social-justice-statement-2020-21/

This week we welcome to our Holy Trinity community two new families-  Anastasia Goode (Kinder ) and Jubal (2 Green) and Georgia Everett (Kinder Green).  We have also accepted over 60 Kindergarten enrolments for 2021, and we look forward to meeting these children and their families at Orientation next term. Included in the enrolment application this year, parents have been asked to sign a formal enrolment agreement, which solidifies discussions and commitments made during the enrolment interview.  The School Board at our last meeting, suggested it might be worthwhile to share this document with all families to read.

Next term when we meet at Orientation Day, our new parents will also be given a coy of our Volunteer Policy, recently written and edited by our School Board.  This will also be available for all parents volunteering in our school (once COVID restrictions are lifted) to sign. 

Congratulations to our Term 3 Week 5 Award winners below who received these last Friday.  I look forward to being able to share such occassions again in the future with both our parents and school community present.  

Whilst we navigate our way through the 'COVID normal', we are still being highly vigilant with regard to hygiene, cleaning and continuing only to have essential adults within the school building. Thank you again for your patience around pick up time, especially on the few rainy days we have had.

It is still really important that children who are unwell (runny nose, cough, headaches, temperature etc) stay home. Any child who presents as unwell, will need to go home. As a parent, I know this can be extremely frustrating with work and other commitments, however, these are COVID times and we all must follow the guidelines to ensure we do not go backwards. 

A reminder, when visiting NSW, please check the NSW Health Website for COVID Hotspots and follow the advice. Again, this is really important. 

Just to clarify for school restrictions, if a student or staff member are being tested for COVID-19, other members of their family are not required to isolate while waiting for test results (where they are not a close contact of a positive case). So, when a child or parent who is unwell and goes to be tested, other family members are not required to self-isolate until the results come back. Only the person being tested is. This is different where you are a close contact of a positive case.

Those who are tested for flu like symptoms are able to return to school after a negative test result. They are not required to isolate for 14 days or be retested after 10 to 12 days. This is where there is no connection to a positive case and are likely to be most cases. Where you are a close contact of a positive case you are required to isolate for 14 days and be retested. If you have any questions at anytime, please reach out to the school to ask. We are in this together and we need to support each other while we adapt to these 'COVID normal' times. 

May your burdens and your feet be a little lighter this week, especially as we move into some warmer and sunnier weather!  Take care of yourselves and others,  and thank you again for your constant support of our community.

Philippa

Sacrament of Confirmation

Many of our Year 6 students and their families have begun the journey towards Confirmation. We all join in praying for them as they prepare for the Sacrament to be held at the end of this term.

All parents of candidates should have been emailed a link to a Google Doc  that will allow them to book a spot for their families at one of the Confirmation Masses.

Also, please ensure that the Parish Office have a copy of your child's baptism certificate. 

Holy Trinity Retreat Day

Next Tuesday, 1st September, ALL Year 6 students will participate in a mini retreat day at Holy Trinity. The day will complete the preparation for the Sacrament of Confirmation. In the afternoon, candidates will have the oppourtunity to make their stoles that they will be required to wear on the night of their Sacrament.

ALL Year 6 students are welcome to wear free dress and are required to bring their own lunch. Due to current restrictions students will be unable to have a shared morning tea, as we would have previously done on the Retreat Day.

Global School Partners

In week 4 students participated in a Crazy Hair Day! We raised just over $300 which is a fantastic effort. This week students are welcome to participate in our “Lolly Jar Competition”. It is a gold coin per guess and the winners will be announced tomorrow!

Check out some of the CRAZY hair styles from week 4.

Emily Capper

Religious Education Coordinator

School Holiday Program

The ELC will be running a school holiday program for Preschoolers, Kinder and Year One children and their siblings. The holidays are from 28 September - 9 October. The daily rate is $81 less CCS (depending on eligibility). For bookings please click here. Places are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Before School Care & After School Care in the ELC

The ELC currently has vacancies in the BSC and ASC programs. If you would like to enrol your child, please contact the ELC office elc.holytrinity@cg.catholic.edu.au

Father's Day

The ELC will be 'hosting' a prayer celebration to acknowledge the dads and significant men in our community. Due to our current restrictions, the prayer celebration will be filmed and sent to the Holy Trinity community electronically on Friday 4 September. The ELC classes would like to include photos of all our dads and significant men. Could you please email us a photo by TOMORROW FRIDAY 28 AUGUST to be included in the prayer celebration. elc.holytrinity@cg.catholic.edu.au

Dog Handling in the ELC

Relaxed Covid-19 measures have meant that the preschoolers have been back out exploring 'beyond the fence' in Curtin's green spaces. Dogs and dog's off-leads have been a common occurrence in the walks, so the teachers decided to teach the children about dog behaviour and how to approach dogs safely. Kate Winchester, who is trained in recognising dog behaviours, visited with her beautiful dog, Jude. The visit was successful with all the Ground Parrot class happily enjoying Jude's visit. Thanks Kate and Jude!

Stay and Play

Stay and Play is for pre-preschoolers and their families on Wednesday mornings from 9am-10.30am in the ELC Playground (weather permitting). Parents, grandparents, carers and children are all very welcome. We ask families to sign in the register on arrival and wash/sanitise hands to remain C19 safe.

Lost Property

We have some lost items in the ELC looking for their forever homes. If this umbrella or watch belong to you please pop into the ELC office to pick up.

(Source: ParentingIdeas.com.au)

The Chief Minister’s Reading Challenge has finished up for 2020.

Each child was challenged to read 30 age-appropriate books over a set period of time.
30 books was a lot of reading but schools were also allowed for work completed about a book to count as another bookJ. As a result, all classes from the ELC – Year 4 completed the challenge.

Forms have been sent off to the Chief Minister’s office and we have been notified that grades ELC – Year 4 officially completed the CMRC for 2020. Holy Trinity was one of only three Catholic schools in the ACT to complete the challenge for 2020 – go us.

Each child will receive a participation certificate and as a school we will also receive vouchers from Paperchain Book Shop in Manuka.
There will not be an official award ceremony for 2020 L.

We also had some very clever children who completed the challenge individually. A special congratulations to them!

As individual children completed the challenge and handed in their forms they received a raffle ticket. The prizes included gift vouchers from Redgum Book Club and a chocolate or two.

The 2020 CMRC Raffle winners were…

5/6                                          3/4                             ELC- Year 2

Sara W                                   Ella P                         Angel A
                                                Reuban R                 Alyssa P
                                                Orlando P                 Belle C

Happy reading.

Kate  x

This is a reminder to help our children understand the importance of stranger safety and the need to report any unusual incidents or approaches to staff immediately.

If you become aware of an incident or notice anyone acting suspiciously around a school or child contact police immediately on 131 444. In the case of an emergency, call 000. If you witness an incident or if you have any information that could assist police, you can contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. Information can be provided anonymously.

Please support us to keep our children safe by having conversations with your child about moving safely around the community and what to do if they ever feel unsafe. You may wish to visit the Australian Federal Police website that contains child safety information. In addition, Safety4Kids is a non-government website that has useful information and links. The Constable Kenny website also has a number of child safety tips for parents.

Catholic Education will continue to work with ACT Policing on issues of child safety.

Just a reminder we can't hold our usual Stall this year. The P&F have bought enough gifts for all the Dads and the Year 6 Leadership Group will deliver to classrooms next week.

You are more than welcome to donate money for a gift via Qkr, but it's not expected. Thank you so much to the families that have already donated. The money you give will not only pay for the gifts, but will go towards our contribution to our charities at the end of the year. 

Cath Day

PnF President 

It is with great excitement that we share with you some of the wonderful things that have been occuring in our tuckshop over the last few weeks.

KITCHEN GARDEN TO TUCKSHOP 

In addition to providing delicious tasting, nutrious food to our community, Alicia has been working closely with Cailtin Meany (KG) and our delightful Kitchen Garden volunteer, Moya. These wonderful ladies, along with our Sustainablity Leaders and students from our weekly Kitchen Garden Club have been learning about what produce is best to grow, and when.  They caring for the crops, then harvest and give the food items back to Alicia to include in our tuckshop menu. 

Whilst not all the vegetables and herbs can be grown in our Kitchen Garden, Alicia has kindly adapted the menu to include special items on the menu for a short time when things are available, for example, we have used beetroot in our beetroot and chocolate cupcakes. 

Below are some pictures to show how the broccoli from the garden has been used. Most of it, including the stalks, went into the vegetable curry and some went into the sausage rolls. Thank you for the broccoli!!

Each Tuckshop day, our senses are being tantilised by the delicious armoas that waft out of the tuckshop. If you have not checked out the delicious treats available, please go to Qkr!

P&F FUNDRAISING 

During this challenging time of Covid  the P&F have ceased nearly all fundraising in our community. Our Tuckshop and Clothing Pool are an exception to this. Each term, proceeds from the tuckshop are donated back to the P& F.  So those both purchasing and volunteering with Alicia,  are also helping to fund raise money for our school! 

To date this money has been used to purchase new literature for our classrooms. Every student benefits from this. 

THANK YOU.

Thanks also to everyone who has signed up to help in the tuck shop so far. We still have spaces available so if you are able to assist please click this link.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/9040a45adac2ea3fe3-tuck

Regards,
Philippa Brearley                   Scott Pearsal                               Cath Day 
Principal                              Chair of School Board                P&F President 

The Athlete’s Foot Canberra, Woden and Tuggeranong recently handed over a donation to our school that reflects our involvement in their schools rewards program. That is, for every pair of school shoes one of our students purchases from their store, we receive $5 back from them. This year (our efforts from 2019-2020) we received a huge $1,000 from the generous team. To continue this relationship and ongoing donation, make sure you mention you are from Holy Trinity Primary when you and your family shop at The Athlete’s Foot!