Dear Friends,

Yesterday marks Ash Wednesday and the beginning of our Lenten season. It is a time of prayer, fasting and giving to others.  When we pray, we strengthen our relationship with God and we are better able to realise out baptismal promise to live justly as Jesus teaches us.  Fasting helps us remember the needs of the poor, who often have no choice but to go without basic needs such as food, water and shelter. Giving to the poor, or alms giving is a sign of our commitment to justice. 

Yesterday, all students at Holy Trinity  either attended 9:30am Parish Mass (Year 5 and 6) or a School prayer service in the hall.  The marking of ashes on the forehead, distributed at these liturgies is an expression of our faith and is a sign that we seeking God for forgiveness.

On Monday 6 Green shared with us our first prayer celebration for the year, focussing on the concept of GRATITUDE. 

The students broke open the Gospel about this and the key understanding around the importance of showing gratitude. With gratitude we demonstrate that we are paying attention to others and we notice what they do. By being grateful you are more sensitive to the goodness in the world and this can lift you up. When we see kindness in action, we are more likely to be kind ourselves.

Gratitude is…

• when we are thankful and take care of what we have. We can also show our family and friends that we appreciate them when we are grateful.
• more than just ‘having good manners’. It is a practice that requires acknowledging someone else's gesture towards us or the things that are going well in our lives.The more we practise, the easier it becomes to see things from a more positive point of view, coming from a place of being grateful—but practice is the key. 

With gratitude we demonstrate that we are paying attention to others and we notice what they do. By being grateful you are more sensitive to the goodness in the world and this can lift you up. When we see kindness in action, we are more likely to be kind ourselves.

This week we also presented some ideas and strategies to many of our Year 1 and Kindergarten parents to support Literacy learning at home.  We were incredibly grateful for the attendance, however also realise this time of day can be difficult for families.  For those who missed the presentation or handout please see links below: 

Parent_Reading_Workshop_Booklet_2023.pdf

Parent_Literacy_Meeting_2023.pdf 

Yesterday we were also privileged to have a school performance by the San Gemini group of flag throwers that have travelled from the Umbria region in Italy for the multi-cultural festival.  The children just loved the interactive experience!  A HUGE thank you to Jess Galeotti for organising this special visit for our community. 

Thank you again to our P and F and all the planning that is already under way for 2023-  please see more information about this in our first P and F news in this newsletter edition. Thank you also for your understanding with our very short notice for wet weather pick up on Tuesday.  A reminder that we when it is raining all children are to be picked up from the hall- children cannot be waiting outside in the rain and lightening for cars. Families are welcome to park in both the ring road and car park for wet weather pick up from 3pm.   

Have a wonderful weekend and a peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families. Thank you again for a wonderful start to 2023!

Philippa 

Ash Wednesday

This week the students received a mark on their forehead in the shape of a cross. It symbolises that each person belongs to Jesus Christ. Students either went to a mass or attended a liturgy in the hall. It symbolised the beginning session of Lent.

Lent - Project Compassion

Project Compassion launched on Shrove Tuesday, marking the beginning of the season of kindness and compassion towards communities who need it most. Both the parish and school discuss stories from Caritas Australia and how we can make a difference to the loves of those who need it most.

This week, the season of Lent begins with Ash Wednesday, which also marks the beginning of the annual Caritas Australia Project Compassion Appeal. Donations to Project Compassion allow Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to end poverty, promote justice and uphold dignity.

The theme of Project Compassion 2023 is ‘For All Future Generations’ and reminds us that the good we do today impacts the lives of generations to come. It invites us to make the world a better place by working together now and finding long-term solutions to global issues.  We encourage you to put your compassion into action this Lent through prayer, fasting and almsgiving in support of Project Compassion. Each family can send coins in to put in the class Project Compassion box, receive a Project Compassion box and/or a set of envelopes for donations at mass or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Gratitude

On Monday, Year 6 Green presented a prayer assembly about Gratitude. In terms of helping our students become more resilient, gratitude is the most important skill to master. We can grow in our schools and homes with gratitude and other skills that will set our children up for life. A Gratitude Lucky Dip game was handed out to each class during assembly. This is a fun way to practise gratitude and other positive habits. Try setting some time aside in your family to be grateful.

The assembly on Gratitude was a mix of humorous dance and song and well as unique clothing. They sang a song about gratitude and how they are thankful for simple things like food and water. It made us wonder how we take things for granted when we have them every day. This term we will help others so that they can enjoy the simple things in life as well as ourselves.

 (Charlotte and Quentin 6R)

Lisa Binutti-Wilson

Acting Religious Education Coordinator

Before and After School Care

The ELC currently has available places in the Preschool Plus/Before School Care and After School Care programs. If you would like to enrol your child, either casually or permanently, please email elc.holytrinity@cg.catholic.edu.au.

Updated Immunisation Records

If your child has had their 4 year old immunisations since enrolment period last year, can you please email the ELC the updated Medicare Immunisation History Statement. We are required to maintain up to date records of student immunisation data. 

Stay and Play

Stay and Play is a playgroup for pre-preschoolers and their carer each Wednesday in school term 9am-10am in the ELC Adventure Garden (weather permitting). Stay and Play will resume NEXT WEEK. All families and the broader community are welcome to attend.

Recently Henry was selected to play in the U9’s ACT Cougars Oztag team.
He competed in Sydney over the weekend playing 8 games in 2 days in extreme heat. 
His team finished up 7th out of 32 teams.   Congratulations Henry!!! 

Let's get to Yes: Voice Week of Action

The Holy Trinity Primary School and ELC's Reconciliation Action Plan, strategically takes meaningful action to advance reconciliation. Reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians.

18 - 24 February is the Week of Action, to share information and show support for a referendum on a First Nations Voice to Parliament. To read more about the Voice to Parliament, please click here.

Our school is now subscribed to the Happy Families School Membership! Owned and run by Dr Justin Coulson, one of Australia’s leading parenting experts, the membership offers a wealth of parenting education and resources.

We will regularly share resources available through our membership with you, including Insight Articles and Live Webinars. You can also access your resources at any time using the below URL (unique to our school) and password.

URL & PASSWORD

https://schools.happyfamilies.com.au/login/htps 

happyhtps 

We recommend bookmarking this link. You should only need to put the password in once and the site will remember you.  

INSIGHTS ARTICLES 

A new Insights article is released weekly during the term and we will include these with the school newsletter. Insights articles are written by Dr Justin Coulson and other leading experts and provide parenting education and support for a wide variety of traditional and contemporary parenting challenges. You can also access 300+ previous Insights articles on our school’s URL.

PARENT WEBINARS

You have access to 4 live webinars a year (one per term). We will announce upcoming webinar details in the Insights articles. You’ll have access to the recording via our school’s URL but as the webinars are live, we recommend you watch them in real time so that you can ask Dr Justin and / or the guest presenter any questions you may have.

We hope you enjoy the Insights and webinars!

Holy Trinity is facilitating an inhouse program of Cool Little Kids for families of children in ELC and Kindergarten, facilitated by accredited staff.

Cool Little Kids is a prevention program designed specifically for parents of younger children aged 3-6 years who may be shy, withdrawn, or inhibited. Research has shown these factors indicate a higher than average risk for anxiety and depression in children and teens. The parenting program focuses on helping increase the confidence of young children, and to assist them in developing skills to help manage anxiety and other negative emotions as they grow. The program uses the principles of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and is backed by scientific studies showing its effectiveness in reducing current and future fears and worries for young children.

The program will run weekly for 6 Weeks (except during school holidays), on Thursday mornings 9.15am-10.15am from Thursday 23 March. RSVP's are essential by 10 March, to enable resources to be ordered. One or both parents/carers are welcome to attend.

RSVP cushla.sheehan@cg.catholic.edu.au

Our Year 2 students and the P&F are hosting a Hotdog & Snow Cone special tuckshop day, Tuesday 7 March. Tickets are now on sale via QKR

• $3.50 - hotdog
• $3.00 - snow cone
• $6 - bundle

We are taking orders until Thursday 2 March -  jump onto QKR to place your order today.

Look out for the beautiful posters around the school made by year 2 students.

Volunteers needed: Year 2 parents - we’d love your help on the day if you can spare an hour - sign up: HolyTrinity: Special Tuckshop Day (signupgenius.com)