Dear Parents and Carers, 

Another term has just flown by – and goodness, it was busy!

As always, I start my message with a huge thank you to all our wonderful volunteers who helped out over the course of the term – the kids and parents alike have had a ball with all the events this term.

The term kicked off with a wonderful Father’s day breakfast – thank you to everyone who helped out with cooking, serving and cleaning up – a fantastic way to say thank you to all the dads and special men in our community. Huge thanks also to Sarah Collins and her band of helpers who coordinated the Father’s day gift stall – the kids had a ball selecting the perfect gift and I’m sure the dads were delighted with their choices!

The amazing Jen Graham and her team of volunteers went to work on organising a terrific Walkathon – the fundraising was epic, the planning was exceptional and an amazing day was had by all – well done to all the kids (and parents) on getting their sponsorships in – an astounding $16,000 was raised towards our goal supporting a robotics program and resurfacing the basketball court.

Fete preparation is now in full swing. If you haven’t already volunteered – we still need plenty of helpers, so please consider either helping staff a stall on the day, or be part of the setup /take down teams – there will be plenty of opportunities to help out and we will need everyone in the school to help out for a successful day. We’re still collecting donations for the stalls – keep an eye out for these last few weeks on what to bring in.

Also – if you have a gazebo that we can borrow for the day of the fete, please get in touch with Lisa Bauer / Fete Committee on htpsfete@gmail.com - we are expecting a record number of stalls this year and we will need all the shade we can get.

We are so excited and this will be a tremendous day for the whole school – don’t miss out on the excitement! Join in!

I am also giving notice of the P&F AGM and election of officials which will take place on 28^th November. Please put the date in your diary – this is an important date in the P&F calendar and requires the support of the whole school. More details on nominations and elections will be made available closer to the date.

Thank you all for your support

Carmel

Carmel Brennan                                         Mark Bauer & Rob Shiner

P&F President                                                  P&F Vice Presidents                                 

Congratulations to our First Eucharist Candidates.

31 of our students celebrated their First Eucharist on Saturday night. We pray that in receiving the Body and Blood of Christ, they are brought into a deeper relationship with God. We continue to keep them in our prayers.

Grandparents’ Day

Thank you to all the parents and grandparents that celebrated Grandparents’ Day with us last Friday. It was a lovely way for the students to thank their loved ones for all they do.

Reconciliation Registration Reminder

Just a reminder that Reconciliation enrolment forms are due to the Parish Office tomorrow. Please be mindful that the Leader and Parent Information Night will be held Week 1, next term. 

Farmers Fundraiser 

Week 2 next term, Friday 26 October will be Holy Trinity’s Farmer Fundraiser. Students will be encouraged to give a donation and dress up as something that can be found on a farm.

Footy Fever Day

Next Thursday students are asked to wear some “footy colours” to celebrate the end of the term and the end of a lot of winter sports. The students can wear uniforms from sporting teams, sporting supportive clothes or even their Holy Trinity sports colours. This is NOT a FUNDraiser but a FUNraiser! 

Next week...

Tuesday @ 9.30am: 3/4 will lead the parish celebrating the Mass. All are invited to attend.

Wednesday: Year 5 will travel to Harden to celebrate Catholic Schools Week with our sister school, Trinity Primary

Thursday: Footy Fever Day 

Grandparents day and Learning Journeys

Thank you for the families and grandparents who we welcomed into the ELC to share in their child's learning this week. We had a wonderful attendance and the preschoolers were very happy to have their special people in their learning space. (see the smiles  in the photo gallery below)

School Holiday Program Bookings

Bookings for the School Holiday Program close on Thursday 27 October. The ELC office will be closed during the holidays so no further bookings or cancelations can be made in this time. School holiday bookings can be made at   https://holytrinitypscurtin.schoolzineplus.com/form/47

Stay and Play

Every Wednesday morning from 9am-10am in the ELC Playground during school term. Pre-preschoolers and their parents, grandparents and carers all very welcome. 

Helping children to make sense of natural disasters

by Michael Grose

As adults we all want our children to live carefree lives and keep them from the pain and even horror of tragedies such as natural disasters. In reality we can’t do this.

Natural disasters wreak incredible havoc on so many people’s lives and will no doubt leave an indelible imprint on our collective psyches. Graphic images have been brought into our living rooms via the media, and will continue to do so in the future.

As adults we all want our children to live carefree lives and keep them from the pain and even horror of tragedies such as natural disasters. In reality we can’t do this.

So what is a parent, teacher, or other caring adult to do when the natural disasters fill the airwaves and the consciousness of society? Here are some ideas:

Reassure children that they are safe

The consistency of the images can be frightening for young children who don’t understand the notion of distance and have difficulty distinguishing between reality and fiction. Let them know that while this event is indeed happening it may not affect them directly.

Be available

Let kids know that it is okay to talk about the unpleasant events. Listen to what they think and feel. By listening, you can find out if they have misunderstandings, and you can learn more about the support that they need. You do not need to explain more than they are ready to hear, but be willing to answer their questions.

Help children process what they see and hear, particularly through television

Children are good observers but can be poor interpreters of events that are out of their level of understanding.

Support children’s concerns for others

Children may have genuine concerns for the suffering that will occur and they may need an outlet for those concerns. It is heartwarming to see this empathy in children for the concerns of others.

Let them explore feelings beyond fear

Many children may feel sad or even angry with these events so let them express the full range of emotions. They may feel sadder for the loss of wildlife, than for loss of human life, which is impersonal for them.

Help children and young people find a legitimate course of action if they wish

Action is a great antidote to stress and anxiety so finding simple ways to help, including undertaking activities in solidarity or donating some pocket money can assist kids to cope and teaches them to contribute.

Avoid keeping the television on all the time

The visual nature of the media means that images are repeated over and over, which can be both distressing to some and desensitizing to others.

Be aware of your own actions

Children will take their cues from you and if they see you focusing on it in an unhealthy way then they will focus on it too. Let them know that it is happening but that it should not dominate their lives.

Take action yourself

Children who know their parents, teachers, or other significant caregivers are working to make a difference feel hope. They feel safer and more positive about the future. So do something. It will make you feel more hopeful, too. And hope is one of the most valuable gifts we can give children and ourselves.

Children’s worlds can be affected in ways that we can’t even conceive of so adults need to be both sensitive to children’s needs and mindful of what they say and how they act in front of children.

In difficult times, it is worth remembering what adults and children need most are each other.

(Source: Parentingideas.com.au)

Bike Program

Students from Year 5/6 have now completed their bike lessons.  Students have learnt how to perform a safety check on their bike, take off safely, perform an emergency stop and over take on a footpath. The students demonstrated excellent skills and enthusiasm in all sessions. All students are encouraged to continue practising these skills at home.

ACT Athletics

Holy Trinity had a strong presence at the ACT Athletics Championship earlier this week. Ben S and Charlotte S for the 10 years 800m. Georgia R, 10 years Shot Put. Anne H, 10 years Long Jump. Angus B and Madison T, 8 years 100m. Well done to these students who qualified for the championships.

Netball

Well done to the Year 6 Dazzling Diamonds who played in Under 12 Netball Competition Grand Final on Saturday.

Week 9: This week – last call for donations of 2^nd hand stuffed animals, toys, teddy bears

 Week 10: Next week – 2^nd hand clothes, books, dvds, puzzles

It is that time of year...time to Spring Clean! For a good cause...

We want your good quality second hand clothes, accessories, books, dvd’s and puzzles for the second hand stall at the Fete. A great excuse to declutter and donate those items that are no longer needed but someone else may love! Please drop your donations for the second hand clothes/book stall into the school hall next week. (Clothes, accessories, books, dvd’s and puzzles only please). 

We need your help on fete day!

Thank you to the MANY parents who have offered to run a stall or fill in a shift on a stall on fete day but we still need help! We need people power volunteers for the following:

Set up:  Shift 1: 6am – 8am and Shift 2: 8am-10am

Helpers during the day: Shift 1: 10am-12midday and Shift 2: 12midday-2pm

Pack up: 2pm-4pm

If you can help us set up stalls in the morning, general assistance during the day or with pack up at the end of the day please put your name down: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090f4cafaa2ea5f94-fete

We would like to gratefully acknowledge our wonderful fete sponsors…

Sponsors of our amazing raffle prizes:

Monarch Builders

Kids Biz

And to these business for donations towards our stalls on the day:

• Content Group 
• Capital Pharmacy
• Projex
• Choku Bai Jo

This is the last week to stock up on summer gear for Term 4!

Qkr orders close at 2pm this Friday.

The shop will be open this Friday from 3.15pm to 4pm then closed in Week 10, opening again in Week 1 of Term 4.

Happy holidays!

Kind regards,

Christie

After three weeks of preparation for our third and final Southside Primary Interschool Debating Compettion, our third team consisting of Sofia W, Olivia C, Kayla Q and Angelina J travelled to St Anthony's Wanniassa. Our team had the task of debating the negative case for the topic 'All children should be forced to play a team sport'. Both teams spoke brilliantly and put forward very convincing arguments. The Holy Trinity Team was successful.

Congratulations to everyone who participated in this years competition. Big thank you to Mrs Small for supporitng each of the teams duirng her lunch and recess breaks. 

       TERM 3, WEEK 10 - WED 26 SEP

Team Leader: Elizabeth Busby, Camilla Cavanagh, Sommer Howard, Matt Colbert, Peter Winton

Week 9

Lower Primary:

Mother Bear is making her 5 bear cubs new coats. The coats have 3 buttons each. How many buttons does Mother Bear need?

Middle Primary:

Lucy, Fast Eddie and the Long Jump Queen have seats for the movies. In fact, their seats are F5, F6, F7.

In how many ways can they sit in those seats?

Upper Primary:

These students are to sit NAPLAN that begins at 9:30 pm sharp.

Which of them will get there in time for the start of the test?

Rachel’s watch is 15 minutes fast but she thinks that it is 10 minutes fast.

Jessica’s watch is 15 minutes fast but she thinks it is 20 minutes fast.

Ruby’s watch is 15 minutes slow but she thinks it is 10 minutes fast.

Maddie’s watch is 15 minutes slow but she thinks that it is 10 minutes slow.

Congratulations to Rosie Norton who correctly answered the upper primary question from week 8. The answers were-  9, 2, 2 and 6, 6, 1.

Our very own Sienna T is participating in the World Superstars of Ballet Gala at Canberra Theatre on the 2nd and 3rd of October. She will be dancing alongside some of the best ballet dancers in the world.  As this is such a great opportunity for Sienna it would be great if you would like to support her.  If you would like to attend the gala or further information on the event please contact Grace Bravissimo Productions at https://www.bravissimoproductions.com.au or call 0413970098.