At the time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?".  Jesus called a child, whom he put among them, and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.  Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me. ( Matthew 18:1-5).

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2023!  I have chosen our prayer above to begin as our school is centred and always focussed on the children in our care and their families.  It has been wonderful  welcoming  all our families to our school and  ELC this week and watching the excitement that new beginnings bring!  

• Prue Sheargold Assistant Principal who will begin in week 6-   a HUGE thank you to Emily Capper who is our AP until Prue arrives
• Tom O'Rourke,  our new PYP coordinator and 6 Red teacher
• Carlee Tonkin Kindergarten Red
• Candace Goffin Year 1 Red
• Michael Prosper Year 2 Green 
• Holly Shaw Year 4 Green 
• Courtney Nelson 6 Green (2 days)
• Rachel Gallacher 3R and 2R 
• Anastasia Kalokarinos Classroom Support Assistant.

I also thank Rose Lee who has taken on the role of Classroom Support Teacher and Lisa Binutti-Wilson, who is our Religious Education coordinator, whilst Emily is AP. 

A HUGE congratulations to the Andracchio family (Ava) on the birth of baby Harper and the Noja family (Amaya and Xavier) on the birth of Zachariah.  What beautiful Christmas  holidays gifts! 

At the end of the Christmas break, our staff meet together for four days of Professional learning.  The first day focussed on our school theme for 2023, "Walking Together" (See RE News below) and the staff reflected on the Emmaus story from Luke's Gospel. 

The next two days involved an IB Workshop on transdisciplinary learning, with presenters from New Zealand. These two days of professional learning  highlighted the interrelatedness of knowledge that gives students opportunities to construct, internalise and transfer meaning and understanding.  Staff were given opportunity to explore the relationships and shared concepts of disciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary learning. We also engaged in activities that synthesise concepts related to ways of knowing while learning how to develop central understandings that encourage learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be.

The final day encompassed all staff across every school in our Archdiocese learning together at the Convention Centre, at a conference titled "Faith In Learning".  Much about this day has been widely covered in local and national news throughout this week. 

As well as an important focus on learning, Holy Trinity values positive relationships with all in our community.  We look forward to welcoming you all with our P and F next Friday 10th february, at our welcome BBQ.  We also value the opportunity to meet with parents at a "Parent Partnership" meeting in Week 3. This meeting enables parents and carers to talk to the teachers about their children-  please note that a survey will be sent to you to be completed and emailed back to help support this conversation and important information.  The link to book a time in with your child/ren's teacher will be available on Compass next Monday. 

Vital information will also be sent home next week via Compass, firstly through the newsletter on Thursday and then, each individual student's family will receive the first Unit Overview.  In each of these overviews, will be a detailed explanation about your child's learning and other important dates and information pertinent to your child's year level. 

We are still finalising dates in our School calendar and will publish each week in the newsletter term dates.  Please refer to our school website calendar for all the 2023  events.  Please note this is constantly monitored and updated.

I also encourage you to read carefully the P and F news in the article below.  There is important information about events happening in the next couple of weeks and opportunities to further your engagement with our community.  Speaking of the P and F, words cannot express our thanks to Ginny, Katie and all our Uniform shop volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure our families had uniforms ready to begin the 2023 school year.  

The Year of Walking Together 2023 

SYNODALITY is a Church word for inclusive leadership, listening to the faithful and rejecting autocratic and patriarchal decision-making. Pope Francis has called a Synod on Synodality in Rome in 2023 and 2024. Pope Francis says that - Synodality is about walking together in a shared search for Christ in scripture, prayer, and common life.​ This year we journey together being guided by Christ, just as the disciples were on the road to Emmaus in Luke’s Gospel. I invite you to walk with Jesus in your life and feel his presence through the Holy Trinity community in 2023.  

Sacrament of Reconciliation 

Registration for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is now open. Please see the letter below from Fr John.

Please remember that the Reconciliation Parent Information night is Tuesday, 7th February @ 6pm via Zoom https://cgcatholic.zoom.us/j/62462138021 

Opening School Mass 

We warmly invite our Year 6 Parents to our Opening School Mass and Leadership Ceremony.

Lisa Binutti-Wilson 

Acting Religious Education Coordinator 

Welcome to the ELC

Our new preschoolers have had a fantastic start to their preschool year. Thanks to all our families for the efforts in making the transition a smooth one. 

The ELC opens from 7.45am-5.45pm and for those children enrolled in the Preschool Plus program, you are able to drop off and pick up anytime in this period. Those children in the Preschool program (9am-3pm) are to unpack, support your child in applying sunscreen, sign in and you may enter the classroom at 9am.

If your child is experiencing difficulty separating from you, please do a handover directly with a staff member. In this instance, give a kiss and cuddle goodbye, remind them you will see them in the afternoon at pick-up and leave quickly. Prolonged farewells can be difficult and emotional for both children and parents. If you are concerned about leaving your child upset please phone the ELC to check in - we are very happy to take these calls.

You may notice some different behaviours and/or regression in your little one in the next few weeks. It is not unusual for children's appetites to decrease or increase while at school, experience toileting accidents, require earlier bedtimes or an afternoon nap. They are working hard at school to remember face and names, new routines and environments. They may have tantrums once they are at home (or even on the way to the carpark!), as they save their best behaviour for school and tend to fall apart once they are in their familiar environment with the ones who love them most. 

We love to connect with you and share what's happening, please check in via phone, email or at drop-off/pick-up's.

Stay and Play 

Stay and Play will start again in Week 5 (1 March, 2023), to allow our preschoolers to settle in to their new year. We look forward to welcoming pre-preschoolers, toddlers and babies with their parent or carers for this community playgroup.

Hello and on behalf of the P&F we warmly welcome you to our wonderful Holy Trinity community. Whether you are new to our community, or have been with us for a while we really look forward to sharing some great social events, fundraising activities and school events with you over the course of the year.

As it is the first newsletter for the year, please read on and find out what the P&F here at Holy Trinity do and how you can be involved.

We hope to see you at our drinks and AGM on the 15th February and even sooner at our Welcome BBQ on the 10th.

Have a great week!

The P&F Team

htpspfpresident@gmail.com

Holy Trinity P&F! Who are you? What do you do?

The P&F has two main roles:

• To raise funds for the school, students and/or charities/causes aligned to the Catholic ethos.
• To foster and facilitate a strong community identity for our school.

P&F in 2023 - we have two priorities - community building and fundraising!

Did you know that over the past decade, the P&F - through generous contributions and fundraising by parents, students and sponsors - has provided over $490,000 for projects. 

Major projects in recent years have included:

• 2019 - Refurbishment of Kinder courtyard ($50,000) 
• 2018 - Basketball courts refurbishment ($40,000) and school readers ($4000)
• 2017 - Tuckshop refurbishment ($90,000),
• 2016 - ELC playground ($18,000) and school readers/Reading Eggs licences ($5000)

The Holy Trinity P&F Executive consists of four Office Bearer roles (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer), two Ex-Officio Members (Principal and Parish Priest) and a number of Coordinators who take responsibility for the coordination of the relevant committee or activity (e.g. Uniform Shop). All positions are ‘spilled and filled’ every year at the Annual General Meeting (AGM). 

The 2023 AGM will be held on Wednesday 15 February at 7:30, with welcome/introduction drinks from 7:00pm.

In 2022, the P&F reviewed the structure and in 2023, the P&F will seek to fill the following positions:

Office Bearers

• President (currently vacant)
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer

Coordinators

• Communications and Engagement
• Events 
• Fundraising and Donations 
• Uniform Shop
• Fete
• School Community Services

If you have questions about what is involved in any of the roles please email htpspfpresident@gmail.com

How do I get involved with the P&F?

Along with the Office Bearer and Coordinator roles, we have many ways you can be involved - working bees, making a meal for the casserole bank, a shift at the Uniform Shop, cooking on the BBQ and so many other ways you can help.You don’t have to give up hours of time to be involved.

You can register your interest to volunteer for any P&F activity during 2023 by filling in the form at the following link https://forms.gle/rxcAkh7m2DNeSZKdA.

Want an easy way to subscribe to the school calendar?

We recommend subscribing to the school calendar through your preferred platform/device. A basic internet search on adding a web calendar to the platform/device of your choosing will help you do this.

webcal://www.holytrinity.act.edu.au/calendar/subscribe-calendar-events?calendar_id=1&cal_type=undefined

A list of events the P&F are holding this year (think fete, trivia night, bbqs, working bees and more!) will be distributed in the coming weeks. These will be included in the school calendar, along with the in-store shopping times for the Uniform Shop

We are also working on updating the P&F page on the school website. Watch this space!

Events

Welcome BBQ

The Holy Trinity Welcome BBQ will be hosted by the P&F

Date: Friday 10th February (Week 2) 

Time: 5:00-7:00pm

Location: Basketball courts at Holy Trinity

Details: The P&F will provide a FREE sausage sizzle to all students and families.

BYO other food, all drinks, picnic chairs, blankets.

To help with catering please rsvp here: https://forms.gle/myHU71nn6kuPQzbQ9

We really hope you can come along to a wonderful social gathering to start the school year. Kids can play on the playground and families can mingle and chat. New to the school? Don’t know many people? We have you covered - our year coordinators will be in touch to suggest a meeting point so that you can meet other families in your year group.

P&F Meeting

The first P&F meeting of 2023 will be our AGM (including meet n’ greet drinks).

Date: Wednesday 15th February (Week 3, Wednesday)

Time: 7:00-7:30pm - informal drinks followed by the AGM 7:30-8:30pm

Our drinks and meeting will be held at the school in the staffroom/library and if you can’t make it on the night but would like to be involved please link into the MS Teams linvite below: 

Join on your computer, mobile app or room device

Click here to join the meeting

Meeting ID: 493 829 464 638
Passcode: oR5fvu

Download Teams | Join on the web

Join with a video conferencing device

110277181@teams.bjn.vc

Video Conference ID: 137 003 749 3

Alternate VTC instructions

Or call in (audio only)

+61 2 9158 7141,,285444763#   Australia, Sydney

Phone Conference ID: 285 444 763#

Find a local number | Reset PIN

Learn More | Meeting options

Uniform Shop

The Holy Trinity Uniform Shop is entirely run by parent volunteers and is the biggest ongoing revenue stream for the P&F. We sell new and an extensive range of second hand items at significantly reduced cost.

There are two ways to purchase uniforms during the school term. You can come during our open times or place an online order for delivery to your child’s class. Deliveries are made the same days we are open. Second hand items are only available for purchase in-store.

All transactions are processed through Qkr! There is no alternative funds transfer at point of sale and cash is not accepted.

During Term 1, the Uniform Shop will be open on a Tuesday morning from 8:30-9 odd weeks of term commencing in Week 3.

Students at Holy Trinity wear the winter uniform during Terms 2 and 3. From Week 7, the second hand summer items will be packed away and the winter items will be placed out onto the sized racks. We have an abundance of second hand items in a size 8 so if your child is moving into this size, we encourage you to come and take a look. 

Katie & Ginny

Uniform Shop Coordinators

holytrinityuniformshop@gmail.com