Dear Friends,

Welcome to Week 5- it is so hard to believe that we are already half way through the term! This week we are very excited to welcome the birth of baby Imogen- Michael Prosper, one of our Year 2 teachers, with his wife Sam are thrilled about this beautiful new addition to their family! We know 2G are very excited about this news too! 

Next week we also welcome our new Assistant Principal, Prue Sheargold.  Prue comes with a wealth of experience, knowledge and commitment, particularly with PYP Schools.  I would like to sincerely thank Lisa B-W and Emily Capper who have taken on the REC and AP roles respectively since the beginning of the year, in Prue's absence. Both Emily and Lisa have worked tirelessly in preparation for our school year and have continued in the last five weeks to ensure a smooth and effective start to 2023 at Holy Trinity.  Thank you again so, so much Emily and Lisa. A big thank you also to Kate M who worked full time in the library and to Courtney C who taught an extra day in 6G during this transition time. 

This week we also recognised and celebrated our students' achievements and growth with our first Awards Assembly for 2023. Congratulations to the following students: 

Please ensure you are continuing to check the school calendar on our website. Please also note that like in 2022, there will be three pupil free days for this year.  There will care available for these days which we will send details about closer to the date.  The first pupil free day is on the Monday of Week 1, Term 2, followed by a public holiday, ANZAC day, on the 25th of April.  Thus, all students will begin Term 2 on Wednesday 26th of April. 

2023 Pupil Free days:

• Monday 24th of April
• Monday 17th of July
• Friday 15th of December

Next week I will be attending the annual Archdiocesan Principals Retreat from Wednesday to Friday-  a big start for Prue as acting Principal! Please continue to keep Fr John and our Year 3 Reconciliation candidates in your prayers. We also remember and pray for the Higgins family ( a former family at Holy Trinity), as their father, Justin passed away suddenly after illness, last weekend. 

Have a wonderful weekend and a peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families. 

Philippa 

Reconciliation

All children making their First Reconciliation and their families are encouraged to attend the Presentation Masses this weekend at the Holy Trinity Church. Children will be invited up the front with their families so that the parish can pray for their upcoming sacrament. Weekend mass times are Saturday at 6pm, Sunday at 9:30am or 5:30pm. There will be an opportunity to gather with parishioners and the children who are also making their First Reconciliation in the Parish Centre after the 9:30am mass on Sunday. All are welcome.

First Week of Lent - Project Compassion Story

We begin our annual Lenten Project Compassion journey by learning about Laxmi, a 16-year-old girl living in Jajarkot, a remote district in Nepal where almost half of the population live below the poverty line.  Tragedy struck when Laxmi was 10 years old and her father passed away. Her father worked hard to pay for his children's education and, after losing him, Laxmi was at risk of falling further into extreme poverty.

With the support of Caritas Nepal, Laxmi joined a child's club at her school where she was encouraged to resume her education. Through the child’s club, Laxmi developed the skills and confidence to become a leader, advocating for clean water taps at her school. 

Laxmi is now excelling in her studies and working towards her dream of becoming a civil engineer. She continues to be involved in the child's club, serving as an advisor and mentoring the next generation of young leaders at her old school.

Religious Education Professional Dialogue – Walking Together

On Wednesday afternoon staff from the Primary School and ELC came together to reflect on the scripture passage, The Road to Emmaus, from Luke 24: 13 - 35. Staff were encouraged to listen deeply on how God speaks to them through scripture. They participated in a Lectio Divina which is a prayer at a deep level where participants listen and engage with words or phrases from the reading. This helped staff respond and reflect on how they journey with God. These responses are artistically presented on footprints displayed in the foyer near the library. Please look for these next time you are in our school building.   

Teachers from Kindergarten to Year 6 also paused and reflected on how and what they teach in RE at Holy Trinity Primary School through an ‘Agreed Practice’. Time was given to teachers to collaborate and discuss the strategies, resources and ongoing support needed for RE to be the focus in our Catholic school.

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.

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). All families and the broader community are welcome to attend.

A message from the P&F President

Hi everyone

My name is Josie, and I am the Holy Trinity P&F President for 2023.  My husband, Tim, and I are the proud parents of Florence (1G), and Holly, who will be in preschool next year.  Given we are relative newbies at the school (and the P&F), I want to reassure you that if you are keen to help out with P&F activities, I can attest that no experience is required!

I am hoping 2023 will see the wonderful Holy Trinity community come together again, which was difficult to do during the COVID years.  One of the main reasons Tim and I chose Holy Trinity was the strong sense of community we felt at the school.  It reminded me of the little primary school I attended in Sydney (way back when…) and, thirty years on, those strong community connections have remained as my parents are still friends with the parents they met through the P&F and School Board all those years ago!

We have a number of events and activities planned for 2023, and hope to get as many of you involved as we can.  The showcase event for 2023 will be the Holy Trinity Fete, scheduled for Saturday 25 November, so put it in your diary now!  This year the P&F will also host a trivia night, Mother’s and Father’s Day stalls, kid’s disco, working bees and many more events, so watch this space!

Getting involved with the P&F is a great way to meet new people and contribute as little or as much as you want.  We appreciate people helping for an hour at the uniform shop, or making double their dinner one night to contribute a meal to the casserole bank.  For those with enthusiasm and energy for bigger roles, please reach out as there is plenty to do!

Recently, the P&F donated $30,000 to Holy Trinity from last year’s activities, including proceeds from the uniform shop, canteen and fundraising events. Thank you for your support throughout 2023.

If you are interested in taking part in any P&F activities (or if you just want to say hi!), please reach out to me at htpspfpresident@gmail.com or fill out the form.

I am looking forward to meeting lots of you this year and raising some money for our lovely school.

Josie

Whatsup in the WhatsApp Community Group

At the beginning of the school year, it can be hard to be across all things for your child and settle into routine. One way to engage and receive timely information is through the WhatsApp Community. The P&F has set up a Community Group so that all class groups are centralised to one community.

We hope this will prevent duplication of effort and information, provide an enduring model for use year after year, and increase engagement and transparency.

Being part of the WhatsApp Community is voluntary. If you would prefer to receive information via the newsletter or email, please contact your Class Coordinator or email htpspfsecretary@gmail.com.

P&F volunteers needed

Ready, bready, go - hot cross bun coordinator

Seriously dough, this is a pie for help!

We are looking for a parent who can rise to the challenge as the coordinator for our P&F fundraising event - selling hot cross buns at the end of Term 1.

The process is a piece of cake - and members of the P&F will guide you through the steps.

If you are interested or would like more information, please email: htpspfevents@gmail.com.

Calling for Casserole Bank Cooks

Do you have some time on your hands? Have a love for cooking?

We are looking for more ‘cooks’ to join our casserole bank team.

Meals are made by you in your home, and stored in the P&F freezer to provide to any family needing a little more support in their lives. It's an anonymous program and is a wonderful service for many in our community.

If you would like to find out more please email: htpspfevents@gmail.com.

Written by students from 5 Green

The students in Year 5 have been participating in some great learning. They have learnt many things over the last five weeks of Term One. The Blue House has investigated some of the Year 5 learning. 

Aaliyah from 5 Red told us about  how they write a good story using SWBST.  SWBST means:

1. Somebody, who is the main character
2. Wanted what do they want/to do
3. But what is the problem 
4. So how does the main character save the problem
5. Then what happens at the end

Aaliyah from Year 5 Red

Last week we learned about what a good story structure is. My story is about Mr Brave and Mr Brave wants to be a superhero that saves people and takes care of the cats who have made it up trees. We have enjoyed learning about this structure of SWBST and we all enjoyed learning what a good story structure is, so in the future we can use this structure again.

Juliana from Year 5 Red

In Year 5, they have been discussing and working on magnificent posters. Our class enjoyed also learning about relationships and our personal values such as A warm bed to sleep in, a roof over our heads on stormy nights and for getting a good education in a safe country, My poster Mr Roweth said was magnificent. We have enjoyed  learning about this unit and my classmates designed some of the ideas put into this poster, Ava, Aaliyah, and Lianna. Our main UOI topic is: A commitment to a sustainable future, to work on this we have done a couple of other posters to give us sort of an idea. We hope to continue this topic throughout the year.

Emily G from 5 Green

For this year so far we have done work on square numbers, cricket and we have done many quick writes. The latest quick write we have done was on a topic called ‘The Golden Key’. we had to use a lot of detail and lots of punctuation. Square numbers are the product of any number times itself. We have also done some work on factors and multiples. In week three we (year 5) walked to Philip oval to watch the women's Meteors cricket game and during their lunch break we split into groups and played some cricket mini games. We have done cricket and dodgeball every sports session. Usually against 5R. We have also done some work on the UN SDGs (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals) I got goal 8… Decent Work and Economic Growth. You can visit the UN SDGs website to learn more about the 17 goals to achieve by 2030. We have learnt about what we want the world to look like including a poster of what we want 2040 to look like. 

by Amelia 5G