Welcome to our fifth edition of SHINE.

Here at Holy Trinity, we are committed to working together in partnership with parents, teachers, and community members, to create an educational experience that fosters, strengthens, and enhances a variety of learning experiences for your child. 

Throughout the years gone by we have held numerous Parent Information Sessions. These sessions have been designed to support the journey of parents/ carers as they negotiate the education of their child. Last term, we began sharing significant aspects of learning at Holy Trinity though our SHINE platform fortnightly. This term our SHINE editions will continue to give us opportunity to connect with our parent community; by communicating about learning at school and  sharing strategies and suggestions for how parents/carers can further assist their child/ren at home. 

We hope this week you discover useful information about Religious Education at Holy Trinity. In particular, more information about our school theme for 2022 and the learning currently happening in our classrooms, ELC through to Year 6. 

After a wonderful week of school camps, I though it fitting to focus prayer this week on gratitude.  We are so thankful at Holy Trinity for the committed staff who work together with our families to give the best  experiences to our children daily.  

Loving Lord,
As I express my gratitude to you in prayer, may it be a pleasing, joyful sound to you.
Thank you, Lord, for your love. It brings me acceptance and significance.
Thank you, Lord, for your truth. It brings me guidance and direction.
Thank you, Lord, for your mercy. It brings me help and comfort.
Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. It brings me stability and strength.
Thank you, Lord, for your beauty displayed in the earth. It brings me joy and delight.
Thank you, Lord, for the gift of family and community. They bring me constant love and joy.

Amen 

Day for Daniel

This year Holy Trinity will be participating in Day for Daniel on Friday 28^th October. Day for Daniel is the Daniel Morcombe Foundation’s national day of action for child safety awareness and education.

Wear Red, Educate, Donate is the theme for Day for Daniel as we strive to take action and conduct child safety activities in our local community to help in ‘Keeping Kids Safe’. Children are educated about their personal safety to empower them to Recognise, React and Report if they ever feel unsafe, or that something is not right.

Rather than a donation we are asking students to wear a red piece of clothing (T-Shirt, socks, hair ribbon etc). However, if you wish to make a donation please head to the Day for Daniel webpage.

At Holy Trinity we aim for the children to be nurtured in the Catholic faith and tradition within a Catholic Christian community. Catholic values drive our school culture and students are consistently provided with opportunities to learn about as well as experience the Catholic Faith. Religious Education programming is based upon the Brisbane Curriculum and is taught through a conceptual inquiry lens, that fosters collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, evaluation of information and evidence, and alignment with our practices as an International Baccalaureate school. This allows our students to engage authentically and make connections between learning in Religious Education and other curriculum areas, including the Primary Years Programme (PYP).

Our school’s scriptural theme for this year is from Matthew’s Gospel, ”Let your Light Shine.” The fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew’s Gospel, where we can find this line of scripture, are devoted to describing the elements of Christian faith. At the start of the fifth chapter, we have the Beatitudes that tell us that the presence of God can be discovered in all of life’s situations. It reminds us that we can find God wherever we want to, and in all situations. If we are to ‘Let our Light Shine’ we are to use our gifts to do all we can to glorify God, not ourselves. With this in mind, we can be the ones who put their hands up and step forward to speak for, work for and act for those who are the least in this world.

ELC

Our ELC students start each day gathering in prayer. The children set their sacred space by bringing up different items and sharing what they mean…

• Prayer Mat: To remind us that we gather as a community
• Bible: We listen to different stories and learn from them
• Cross: To remind us how much Jesus loved us
• Candle/Lantern: To remind us that Jesus is here with us now
• Clapping Sticks: To remind us that we are gathering on Sacred Land – Ngunnawal

KINDER

This term our Kinder students are focusing on prayer. They will be inquiring into both formal, and informal prayers, with a focus on ‘Our Father’, ‘Hail Mary’ and ‘Glory Be’.

They already have a lot of burning questions.

What we want to know...

• Why do we pray? James
• How do you know God is listening? - Fredrick
• What time do we pray? Can we pick the time? - George
• Why are there so many different prayers? Charlotte

What we already know...

• I know we pray to God, Jesus and Mary -Cion
• When I can't sleep at night, I pray to God - Charlotte
• I know prayers for thanksgiving - Kinder Red
• I know we start prayers with the Sign of the Cross - Sierra
• We sing our prayers - Kinder Red

YEAR 1

Our Year 1 students have been inquiring into how humans care for the plants and animals they share the world with. They explored Gods presences in creation and their responsibility to care for it.

They spent time discussing how the world would look like with and without our their care and then chose one action they can take to look after the natural creation at home or at school.

YEAR 2

This term year 2 are inquiring into how Jesus’ story is passed down through traditions.

Students will know:

• The Jewish people have a covenant connection with God through Jesus. 
• There are some key people and places in the world that Jesus lived in. 
• There are important traditions in our church that have been passed down from the time of Jesus.

Word Inquiry – Covenant

Students Labelled and discussed the landscape of the map. They spoke about how Walking around would have been hard because of terrain

YEAR 3/4

In 3/4 the students have been learning about how their choices impact on their relationship with God, others and God’s creation. Sin is those choices that take us away from loving relationships. We used ‘Choice Boards’ to begin thinking about the impact of our actions on our relationships. During the unit, we will consider how we can repair ourselves from sin through Reconciliation, taking responsibility for our actions, apologising and making loving changes.

YEAR 5

The students in Year 5 have been inquiring into how did the experiences of the Psalmists influenced their self-expression in their writing? 

• Life experiences of some of the Psalmists and how this is communicated in the Psalms including the relationship between the Psalmists and God. 
• There are three main types of Psalms - Psalms of lament, thanksgiving and praise. 
• How Psalms can provide a model for communal and personal prayer.

YEAR 6

Year 6 inquired into identifing key elements of the High Holy Days (e.g. themes, messages, rituals) and making connections between the practices of the High Holy Days and the faith life of believers (e.g. atoning for sin, remembering key stories, reflecting on past actions).

PARISH DINNER

You are invited to the Parish Centre on Sat., 5 Nov., 6.30pm for 7.00pm to enjoy the company of other parishioners and to support the work of Kate Cleary at ‘The Farm’, Galong, between Yass and Harden. Kate and her supporters, including the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn, are using the former aged care facility to assist women looking for a fresh start after prostitution/drug abuse/domestic violence. Tickets $40 each; cash to the parish office or via Qkr! app. Main course, dessert and tea/coffee provided, BYO. Book early as numbers are limited. An initiative of your Parish Pastoral Council.

PARISH PASTORAL COUNCIL RENEWAL

You are invited to consider being a member of your Parish Pastoral Council.  Come along for 7pm, this Thurs, 27 Oct  in the Parish Centre to discern whether you might want to join and further the pastoral good of your parish.

Monsignor John Woods