Dear friends,

As we come to the end of Week 6, let us continue to pray for our students preparing for the Sacrament of First Eucharist.  Last weekend saw the first of our families celebrate this special occasion and during the week, all candidates attended the Retreat Day here together. Photos of these two occasions are below in the RE News. 

Last we week acknowledged and celebrated students once again, who have achieved recognition awards for significant growth in learning, outstanding academic achievement or personal growth and care for others.  The children who received these are as follows: 

This learning space also has a rich history and many of our families, past and present are represented in some of the pavers , and in particular a family that have had an incredible 44 years association with Holy Trinity School- the Eldridge family, of which this kitchen garden was dedicated to.  We discovered this sign as we were refurbishing and I then did some digging into the history of this dedication.  Robyn and John Eldridge had 9 children who all attended Holy Trinity Primary School. Their eldest child, Damien, started Kindergarten at Holy Trinity in 1976. He was the first of their nine children to attend Holy Trinity followed by Lana, Mark, James, Luke, Mikaela, Ashleigh, Marissa and Zac. Zac, their youngest child, had his last year at Holy Trinity in 2008. There was at least one Eldridge child at the school for 33 consecutive years. Then with a one-year break, Huon their eldest grandchild started school at Holy Trinity in 2010, with all four Apps boys - Huon, Noah, Finn and Liam attending since, from 2010 to 2020 - another 10 years of grandchildren attending Holy Trinity.  Noah Apps was in the first group to attend the Holy Trinity ELC the year it opened in 2011, followed by his younger brothers.

John worked on the cleaning roster for the thirty-three years, as well as being treasurer for the PTA for a few years. For many of those years Robyn worked on the canteen, as well as helping in the classroom as a parent helper. Robyn worked for two weeks as a relief LSA at Holy Trinity, which then led to Robyn taking a new career path, and she has worked as an LSA ever since. There were many years of being involved in selling Art Union tickets, working on the school fete and the steak sandwich stall at the Canberra show. These were all major fundraising events for Holy Trinity. Robyn and John remember the days when the Sisters of Charity nuns taught at Holy Trinity. Sister Pauline was the principal when Damien began school in 1976. Other sisters they remember while their children were here, are Sister Margaret and Sister Marina.

Lana also reminded me that this garden area used to be an "Animal Learning Centre" and the school had a pet cockatoo in here during her time at HT. She also reminded me of the tradition of having a Kindergarten Ball (like a mini debut ball) where the girls wore white dresses and the boys mini suits/tux!   

I cannot begin to tell you all here how proud I am of this school because of its incredible community, represented at the opening by the Eldridge family and also how grateful I am to be part of such a supportive and inclusive community. All our community, present, past and into the future, are significant members of our family here, and their contributions, whether openly recognised, or achieved quietly and consistently, are certainly appreciated and acknowledged today and always.

With every best wish for a holy and peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families,

Philippa