Dear Holy Trinity Community,

FIRST WEEK OF LENT 

As disciples of Christ, we are called during Lent to dedicate ourselves to prayer and Scripture, service (also called alms giving), and sacrifice in the form of self-examination and fasting.

Dear God,

May my Lenten journey bear much fruit and bring me closer to Our Lord, and may I be a bright lamp (Matthew 5:14-16) for my family and our community.

We also keep in our prayers all those in Australia and indeed beyond who are experiencing challenging times at present. May the Lord guide them and keep them safe. 
Amen 

Congratulations  to the following students who received awards at our first Awards Assembly for 2022 last Friday. It is wonderful to acknowledge and celebrate the academic progress, excellence and the students' emulating our Christian values, of FAITH, HOPE and LOVE as acknowledged in our school motto. 

Year 3-6 Award Recipients

2022 School Board

2022 School Board 56.15 KB

We are still seeking to fill the very important role of P&F President and Vice President. If this is a role that appeals to you, and you would like to make a valuable contribution to our community, please email Philippa. 

Following on from this weekend's Canberra Day long weekend, our Term 1 2022 Interim Reports will be sent home. Unlike our End of Semester Reports, this report will not be on COMPASS. 

There are a number of different forms of communication with parents, that we share about their child's progress, achievement of learning and areas for growth. The Interim Report plays a key role in this communication, as it focuses on 3 elements of our Approaches to Learning and also contains your child's Term 1 goal.

Approaches to learning (ATL) are an integral part of an IB education and complement the learner profile, knowledge, conceptual understanding and inquiry.

These skills are grounded in the belief that learning how to learn is fundamental to a student’s education. Five categories of interrelated skills aim to support students of all ages to become self-regulated learners who know how to ask good questions, set effective goals and pursue their aspirations with the determination to achieve them. These skills also help to support students’ sense of agency, encouraging them to see their learning as an active and dynamic process 

You are encouraged to take the time to reflect with your child on their goal and discuss ways you can support this growth both at home and at school. 

Wishing you all a rejuvenating and safe long weekend. 

Katie  

Project Compassion

This year Caritas Australia's Project Compassion theme is For All Future Generations. It comes from one of the great moments in scripture: after the flood has receded in the book of Genesis, God puts a rainbow in the sky as a sign that the earth will never again suffer in such a way. God makes a promise with the human family and the whole of creation for all future generations. This theme challenges us to venture into a new experience of compassion: one full of hope in God's promise.

This Lent we are encouraged to make simple lifestyle changes and act for social and environmental justice. Our challenge is to respond with hope and love, now and for all future generations. As a school community, we are currently raising money for Project Compassion. Each class has a Project Compassion box in their classroom and our Christian Outreach leaders have been promoting this worthwhile cause across the school. Project Compassion works with local communities around the world to alleviate poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice. Please consider sending a small donation into school with your child.

Reconciliation

We have a number of students across Years 3 & 4 who have been preparing for their Sacrament of Reconciliation. They have all been participating in weekly homegroup sessions and engaging lessons in their classrooms about the importance of acknowledging their sins and seeking forgiveness. Please continue to keep our Reconciliation candidates and their families in your prayers.

Important Dates:

Saturday, 19th March & Sunday 20th March: Reconciliation Presentation Masses

Friday, 25th March: Reconciliation Retreat for Year 3 students

Saturday, 26th March: Sacrament of Reconciliation commences

Covid Update

A reminder for families that if you have a COVID case in your family, to please notify me via email  - cushla.sheehan@cg.catholic.edu.au

This applies to both Preschool families and families whose children attend Before and After School Care.

ELC children affected by Covid-19 through either sickness or required quarantine, will continue to have the gap fee waived on the family account. This fee waiver is applied retrospectively, so will not appear on you statement until the next fortnight.

School Holiday Program

Preschool finishes on Friday 8 April 2022 and will resume on WEDNESDAY 27 APRIL (due to ANZAC Day Public Holiday 25 April, Staff Professional Learning day Tuesday 26 April) but the ELC will remain open for the School Holiday Program on 11-26 April.

The aim is to provide a relaxed atmosphere where the children will be able to play, participate in a variety of fun activities and interact with their peers in a safe and supportive environment. The holiday program will operate from the ELC but also make use of our local environment too.

Bookings must be made before the ELC office by Wednesday 6 April. Cost is $110 per day. Children will need to bring morning tea, lunch, hat and water. The ELC will provide afternoon tea. The ELC opens 8am-5.45pm in school holidays.

Spaces are limited and priority is given to current ELC families, please book early to avoid missing out.

If you would like to book your Preschooler, Kinder or Year One child please click here.

Term 1 School Fees Due This Friday

Term 1 family fee accounts are due to be paid in full by this Friday, 11 March 2022, unless you have established an approved progressive payment plan.

Regardless of your chosen payment method, all family fee accounts are due to be paid in full for the 2022 school year no later than 1st December as listed in the 2022 Fee Schedule provided to all families at the begining of the school year.

Our preferred methods for fee payment is via BPay however fee payments can be made on the Qkr App. We would prefer no cash payments at this point in time due to COVID-19.

Red Cross Trauma Bears

Thank you to the wonderful Red Cross Volunteers in our community who kindly donated 2 trauma bears for the sick bay for children to hug. Our new little friends have already been helping us in the sick bay bring smiles to our students.

Late Arrivals - Compass

Please be aware when students arrive late or have an appointment in the morning, do not fill in the absentee form on Compass, the front office staff will sign them in on arrival. When you complete an absentee on Compass we are actually not able to sign in the children. We have to delete your absentee before the student can be signed in.

Masks

As per the ACT Health guidelines, all adults, regardless of vaccination status, must wear a mask when entering school buildings.  Parents at this point in time are still not allowed in school buildings.

Cold and Flu Symptoms

Please do not send children to school who are displaying any cold and flu symptoms. This is as per ACT Health guidelines that anyone displaying cold and flu symptoms have been asked to stay at home. Many children are being sent to the front office by their classroom teacher as early as 9.15am to be sent home, as they should not have been sent to school as they are sick.

Drop Off

A reminder that parking cars in drive through, is not permitted at any time between the hours of 8.30am and 4.00pm. If you need to walk your child to or from the ELC, we ask you to park in the designated parking areas and walk them in. By parking in drive through you are holding up the line and making it dangerous for others using the drive through correctly. 

Of an afternoon, please be patient with one another and use manners when using and entering the drive through line. Please do not cut the queue, simply join the end of the queue. Cars trying to cut in to the front ring road queue are then causing issues with the flow of traffic on Theodore street. This is  then causing cars to park across our children crossing area resulting in safety concerns.

Also please remember to not queue across our neighbours (Pinocchio's and Fred Ward Gardens) driveways when waiting in the drive through line. Clients of these businesses still need to be able to access their driveways.

If you do not like waiting in the line, please just come down a little later. If you came down at 3.15pm most of the traffic is gone by then and there are still staff rostered on supervising your child.

We continue to have very minimal cases of COVID in our community and I once again thank you all for your cooperation and support with regular RAT testing and  keeping children at home when sick. 

NAPLAN assesses literacy and numeracy – important skills that each child needs to succeed in school and life. The NAPLAN tests are designed to help us make sure students are on track with their literacy and numeracy development. Students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 participate in NAPLAN tests for reading, writing, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

On Thursday 24th March our school will participate in NAPLAN Practice Tests, which are designed to give students, teachers and systems an opportunity to practice administering and participating in the online testing environment. The practice tests consist of a Writing Test and an Omnibus Test (a combination of reading, conventions of language and numeracy) for Years 3 and 5. As this is intended to practice participation, the questions are not equivalent to NAPLAN testing in May, and no results are available from the Practice Tests.

Please ensure you have downloaded the NAP LOCKDOWNBROWSER on your child's device. 

Due to precautions around coronavirus, please ensure that each student has their own headphones to undertake the test. 

To see the types of interactive features of NAPLAN Online, visit the public demonstration site.

If you have any questions about NAPLAN Online, please contact your child’s teacher.

For more info:

• How to support your child during NAPLAN
• Subscribe to ACARA’s monthly parent newsletter, Parent Update