Dear Holy Trinity Community, 

As we continue our Lenten Journey, we are reminded of the words of Pope Francis. 

ALL THINGS PYP 

The Interim reports, which went home in Week 5 for K-4 and tomorrow for Years 5-6, you may have noticed are now referenced against some of the International Baccalaureate's Approaches to Learning (AtL).

In IB, the Approaches to Learning develop skills that help students “learn how to learn”. AtL skills can be learned and taught, improved with practice and developed incrementally. They provide a solid foundation for learning independently and with others. They also provide a common language that students and teachers can use to reflect on and articulate the process of learning.

The IB identifies five AtL skill categories, expanded into developmentally appropriate skill clusters. These categories are:

1. Communication (written, oral or visual communication)
2. Social (collaboration skills, respecting others)
3. Self-management (organisation, work-habits or reflection on learning)
4. Research (information literacy or media literacy)
5. Thinking (critical or creative thinking).

At Holy Trinity we recognise the importance of the development of these skills and therefore aim to explicitly teach them to our students as part of each Unit of Work.

Working here at Holy Trinity we are so blessed to be in an environment where our students are invited to ask questions, versus being in a learning environment where it is the teacher asking most of the questions. From my first day working here, I saw how quickly students were so excited to learn because they felt like what they were learning came from their interests and their questions. This so quickly helps change the culture of 'why are we learning this, because the curriculum says we have to learn this' to students being excited to learn because they were the ones that asked questions and wanted to further their knowledge in that area.

I challenge you to change the dinner table conversation from 'how was school today?' and 'what did you learn today?' to 'what questions did you ask at school today?'

Let us all be curious together!

Parish Mass - This Saturday 16^th March 6pm

Please come and join the community for our first Parish School Mass this Saturday at 6pm followed by supper. Thank you to our Year Two families who will be supplying supper after mass. 

Harmony Day 2019

Next Thursday, the 21^st March is Harmony Day. To recognise and celebrate the many cultures that we celebrate at Holy Trinity, students are invited to come dressed in traditional dress or wear a piece of orange clothing.

Caritas

Last week through the Lenten act of Almsgiving, we commenced raising money for Caritas Australia. Jesus teaches that giving alms means making the needs of others our own, especially the needy of our world. They are all around us: children and the old, the sick and the suffering, families and individuals, next-door neighbours and people in lands faraway. One way that we can participate in almsgiving is through Project Compassion. Donation boxes have been placed in all classrooms and at the front offices of the main school and ELC.

Balancing extra-curricular activities for flourishing kids

by Dr Jodi Richardson

Busyness seems to have become a way of life for modern families. It’s unlikely you’ll ever hear a parent talk of having plenty of free time on their hands. Unfortunately, that’s a statement unlikely to be heard from a lot of modern-day kids either.

The afternoons on family calendars are increasingly filling up with organised after-school activities, and in families with multiple children the logistics of keeping up with all this can be complicated. The strain of ferrying children back and forth, often in different directions, saps families of energy, resources and time.

We have great intentions

Recent research from the United Kingdom found that the desire for children to succeed is a strong driver for many parents, sometimes causing them to load their children up with extra-curricular activities. While the intentions are good, the method of keeping kids busy is probably questionable.

Other reasons for encouraging extra-curricular activities include: giving kids the best start in life, making friends, keeping fit and healthy, developing interests and preventing boredom. Anecdotal evidence suggests the findings are similar in Australia.

The cost of busyness

We live at a time where rates of mental illness, particularly anxiety, are climbing. One in seven Australian children have a diagnosed mental illness. That’s three in an average classroom. Many more go undiagnosed.

Rushing to activities, late nights and stressed parents aren’t the conditions for family members to enjoy flourishing mental health. Too many organised activities detract from time to hang out with friends, to comfortably complete homework tasks, to spend time with family, to get bored and, importantly, to simply play.

Free play is serious business

Author and research professor of psychology Dr Peter Gray attributes the rise in anxiety, depression, suicide and narcissism among children to the decline of play. Unstructured play is vital for the healthy development of children and teenagers. Through play kids learn to interact with others, develop physical skills necessary for school success and gain confidence they need to interact with peers.

How much is too much?

Some children can cope with busy schedules, while others flounder. As a rule of thumb, if your child or young person is struggling in any of these three areas: i) mental health, ii) schoolwork and studies, iii) their participation in family-life then it may be time to reduce their extra-curricular load.

Choosing the activities to omit from a schedule can be tricky, as your child or young person may have a different motivation for each. In short, each activity can be ‘the one they love.’ Here’s a good question to ask your child or young person that can make decision-making easier:

‘If all of your after-school activities were cancelled, which one(s) would you plead with me to re-enrol you in?’

Their answers will reveal a great deal about their commitment to each activity. Ideally, kids should be choosing extra-curricular activities that nourish them rather than cause anxiety and stress. Aim for two activity-free nights each week so that your child or young person can meet their study and family commitments.

The same principle for balance holds true for weekends. Make sure your kids enjoy some time free from structured activity, so they can refresh and recharge, ready for the week of school that lays ahead.

(Source: parentingideas.com.au)

A reminder that Term 1 school fees are due to be paid by this Friday, 15 March, unless families are on a progressive payment plan or a fee agreement with the school.  Payments can be made through Qkr, Bpay, EFTPOS or cash over the counter. If you would like to pay your school fees via progressive payments, these are set up on your internet banking. Your family's BPay details can be found on the bottom right hand side of your family fee statement which was emailed home in Week 2.

ACT schools will participate in NAPLAN Online testing from 14-24 May 2019.

All students participating in NAPLAN Online 2019 are expected to have done a practice/familiarisation test prior to the May NAPLAN tests. ACT schools undertaking NAPLAN Online this year will participate in a practice/familiarisation test on  25 March 2019. The practice test does not assess student performance and has been developed to replace one of the familiarisation activities that schools have traditionally undertaken.

As a parent, you can become familiar with NAPLAN Online tests by visiting the public demonstration site, http://bit.ly/naplanonline. The purpose of the site is to familiarise students with the type of items they will see on NAPLAN Online and related functionalities. This level of familiarisation is worthwhile to help students understand and be comfortable with the format of the test.

Privacy

The Education Directorate collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information to carry out its functions. Personal information about students and parents/carers will be used as part of NAPLAN Online testing and readiness tests. The use of this information is required for students to participate in NAPLAN testing, provide reports to parents and schools and to undertake research and compile statistics using anonymised data. More detail on how we handle your information is available in the Education Directorate Privacy Policy available at http://bit.ly/2FBwRbcACTEducationprivacypolicy

As part of undertaking NAPLAN Online, the Education Directorate works closely with the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and Education Services Australia (ESA). ESA operates the NAPLAN Online platform which will contain personal information. ACARA will collect anonymised information about each student who takes the test online from the Education Directorate.

Further information on how ACARA and ESA protect privacy is available through the ACARA privacy infographic http://bit.ly/2D9gSvJNAPLANonlineprivacyinfographic and ESA Privacy Policy www.esa.edu.au/other/privacy.

For additional information please contact Katie Smith, NAPLAN Coordinator.

Further information on NAPLAN Online, including the public demonstration site, is available at www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/naplan-online.

The Overdrive eBook company has developed a new child-friendly eBook reading APP named SORA. SORA has 27,000 age-appropriate books and 2,700 age-appropriate audio books available to download and read.

SORA is designed for children and has easy-to-use vertical screen options, attractive on-screen promotions, easily accessible statistics on reading completed, and rewards for reading.

Sora is now operational and available for you and your children to access.  It is a resource that is funded by Catholic Education.  You can login to Sora with your child’s normal CENet login – used at school to login to our CE network.

For those that don't have a CENet login (particularly the lower grades), class teachers will get these out to you ASAP.

 SORA Link

Visit https://soraapp.com in your web browser, or download the free SORA APP from the Apple and Google Play stores on a mobile device.

Watch the following ‘First Look’ video that provides a helpful overview of the Sora experience:

https://overdrive.wistia.com/medias/9cm9w959mh

Below is an easy 'How to Guide' to download SORA – (perfect for those with limited IT skills). SORA has been developed to replace Overdrive - as it is a much easier resource to navigate.

Cross Country

Our annual Cross Country is on next Friday 22 March. The events will commence at 12pm and conclude by 1:30pm. A schedule of events will be available next week. All classes have been preparing for the big day. Please feel free to come and support the students if you are available.

Catholic School Soccer Carnival

The "Catholic Schools Soccer Carnival 2019" Facebook page is LIVE. We need your help to spread the word. Like it, share it, post on it, review it. It will be the main source for updates on all things Soccer Carnival related including the draw and the results!​ Holy Trinity have four teams registered for the carnival on 8 April. Coaches and Managers should have received their team lists by email earlier this week. More details for teams involved will be released over the coming weeks.

South Weston Swimming Carnival

Students who have qualified for the carnival at AIS on Thursday 4 April were notified today. Congratulations to these athletes. Permission notes will be sent via SZaap and are due by 25 March.

Sports Equipment

The students are enjoying new sports equipment provided by Rebel Sport. Each time you shop at Rebel Sport and identify you are part of Holy Trinity, we receive 5% back in store credits through their Community Kickbacks Program.

We have had a wonderful ICT start to 2019 with all students effectively and safely using technology in their classrooms.

Some grades have been using BeeBots to enhance student learning by building decision making skills, measurement and applying directional language. Other grades have been interacting with various apps to design, create and publish work during our inquiries.

All classes are connected to families via Seesaw and we really appreciate those parents who have been giving feedback to their children using constructive and positive comments.

Coding and Robotics

We have had approx. 30 students in Years 3-6 participating in our lunch time robotics and coding club every Wednesday. The students have been building robots using LEGO We Do ™ ready for Battle Bot rounds, constructing a VEX robot for an out of school scrimmage, instructing BeeBots and have been coding Sphero’s to do amazing things. We have really enjoyed those students who have brought in their own robots to show off their skills to others. 

The MOMO Challenge

By now you may have heard all about the Momo Challenge, an online game that’s been scaring students - and parents - around the world.

Is Momo a hoax? Is it real? Only one thing is clear: the Momo phenomenon has left many educators and parents confused about what it all means, and how to respond to keep children safe. Click here for more info: https://www.familyzone.com/blog/momo_help_for_parents

So…...this may be an excellent time to install a filtering and monitoring system onto your devices. Many families already have these installed at Holy Trinity. The following apps have been recommended by world renown cyber safety expert, Dr. Kristy Goodwin https://drkristygoodwin.com/guest-blogs/) who also visited Holy Trinity last year to talk to parents.

Family Zone: Family Zone is an excellent way to monitor your children’s use of apps and the internet.  https://www.familyzone.com/au/ 

OurPact: OurPact is a screen time parental control app, app blocker, website blocker GPS locator, kid tracker and family locator that enables parents to manage their family's screen time and locate family members. https://ourpact.com/

If you have any other questions or concerns, please email me.

rebecca.casey@cg.catholic.edu.au

       TERM 1, WEEK 7 - WED 20 MAR

Team Leader:  Joseph Barbatano, Joe Pratezina, Rob Chicco, Brett Payne

The NEW 2019 | 2020 Entertainment Memberships will be launched at the end March. Entertainment is turning 25 this year and they have been working hard to make this the best edition yet.

Pre-order your membership ($60 each) and receive valuable bonus Early Bird offers you can use right away as well as a $20* Woolworths online offer and $50^ Cellarmasters online offer!

*$20 off your total shop when you spend $220 or more at Woolworth online. ^$50 off your total shop when you spend $120 or more at Cellarmasters online. *^Terms & conditions apply

Entertainment membership is great value with stacks of instant savings with something for everyone – casual and fine dining, adventure, travel, family activities, gift card/pressie discounts and lots more.

While having fun R&R time with your family and friends you are supporting a worthy cause - $12 from every membership goes directly towards Holy Trinity Fundraising efforts – yay!

Click on the “Support Us Now”  to purchase from our online payment page.

Questions? Please contact Jo Hamilton (2R)