As a child, I was introduced to Jesus.  I grew to love everything I was told about Him, and I wanted to be just like Him!  I doubted nothing, for Jesus and I were friends. 

As a person who has experienced and travelled the journey of life, I have come face to face with Jesus many times,

I asked why our relationship had changed so often,

why it had not been a steady friendship,

why I felt that at time we had been strangers and the response Jesus gave us:

"I haven't changed at all."

Dear Friends,

The above quote was part of a reflection I shared with the staff at our meeting last week.  It also reminded me of something Fr John shared with us at the Reconciliation parent information meeting recently when he said that God love us because God does - simple!  The love of God and the love of Jesus never changes.

I have just come back to work after spending the last couple of days at the Year 3 and 4 camp.  We have had super weather out there and the children are all having a wonderful time.  A special thank you to Campbell Sloane, Mel Punyer Catherine Joy, Michael Feerick and Brendon Pye (who has gone out today to replace me), for giving of their time to ensure our students share such an enriched learning experience in a different environment.  Those teachers are on call 24 hours a day and have shown great commitment and care for all our students.

We are coming to that time of the year when we begin thinking about the formulation of class lists for our 2020 students. As our school is steadily increasing enrolments, most year levels are now 2, 3 or 4 streamed.  When forming the class lists the following factors are taken into consideration:

gender, learning needs, work habits, cognitive ability, friendships, behaviour, health considerations, common names.

As  a PYP school, collaboration is an essential component of your child's learning, and although students are placed in home rooms with a specific teacher, there are many occasions throughout the day or week, where classes are mixed or opened for differing groupings, based on the learning occurring. If a parent has a particular concern regarding the placement of their child/ren in classes, this should be written in an email to me by Friday Week 4, 8th November, and this concern will be considered seriously. However, there are no definite guarantees regarding parent requests as there is much to consider as stated above.  Please note, teacher requests are not to be included in these emails. 

After much thought, discussions with other Principals as to their policy re class allocation and meetings with the staff of Holy Trinity, I will not be asking teachers to have students nominate friends or complete sociograms this year to be considered in their class for 2020.  It is an unreal expectation that school can accommodate all requests, including friendships, and teachers as professionals, who spend the majority of the day with children, need to be trusted to make the right decisions around learning.  Even with the best designed plans in place, every year there are always students and parents who feel their child's friendships or circumstances have changed between the time of drafting class lists and the start of the school year.  Many of these changes are out of control of the family or school.  For example, the child wants to be with different students or has a falling out with friends late in the term or over the holidays, a child leaves the school and leaves them without one of the friends on the sociogram and so on. 

Be assured your child's teacher and other key staff in the school know our students well and have information and data about them which assists in placing them in the best class for 2020.  Children are more resilient than we often give them credit for and they will able to learn and enjoy school in whichever class they are placed. There is also much time given to transition for particular students, depending on their individual needs, including a transition staff meeting, where staff from 2019 will share knowledge about students to their teachers for 2020.  On Tuesday 17th December, students (including those Year 1-6 new to the school) will also be placed in their class for 2020, with their new teacher (where possible) to spend some time together in preparation for the new year.  Class lists will then be emailed to all families on the last day of the year (Thursday December 19th) and no changes will be made to the class lists after this. 

Unfortunately, we have had another occurrence in the car park this week, almost resulting in a collision.  At about 5:10pm, the gate closest to the Church had been opened and a car drove in and went straight down through the gate, rather than driving around and parking in the school carpark.  Another parent was doing the right thing and driving around the car park to leave, with their child in the car, and almost crashed into this car. Please can I ask again that we take great care in the car park area and use the allocated car park spaces, driving in the one direction.

I look forward to our ELC and Kinder Orientation days next week and sharing with our new families about our school, the enriched learning and the wonderful community they are now a part of.  

With every best wish for a holy and peace-filled week ahead with your beautiful families,

Philippa

Reconciliation

If you were unable to attend the Parent Information Night please email Catherine at the Parish office to organise a time to pick up your child's Reconciliation workbook for home groups. She is avalible at WodenNorth@cg.org.au 

Dates for your diary

Week 3

• Monday: 1G Prayer Celebration - 2:20pm
• Friday: All Saints Mass 9:30am

ELC Commemorative Tea Towel

We are taking orders for the 2019 ELC Commemorative Tea Towel. The design has every preschooler's self portrait and can be viewed by clicking here.

Orders can be made by Direct Debit, with child's name and tea towel order as reference.

Account: Holy TRinity ELC Curtin

BSB: 062786

A/c: 00026327

They are $15 each or 3 tea towels for $40 or 5 tea towels for $60.

Don't forget to order a few extra for family members, Christmas gifts and your keepsake box (they look great around a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates).

Community Support

The Spry family (Simeon and Zoe and children Hamish and Vincent Black Cockatoo) have been devastated by Sim’s diagnosis of brain cancer and various treatments but are hopeful for a cure. Zoe has a fundraising page Walk 4 Brain Cancer, for brain cancer research and advocacy.

https://my.walk4braincancer.com.au/canberra-2019/zoe-spry.

It would be wonderful for our community to stand in support of this gorgeous family by supporting this effort.

Kindergarten Orientation

Orientation for our Holy Trinity Kindergarten students 2020 is on Tuesday 29 October. We ask the families whose children will attend this orientation morning to not sign into preschool until 11am, once the orientation morning is complete. The ELC will be unable to facilitate taking children to the Kinder orientation.

Stay and Play

Due to Preschool Orientation Stay and Play will be cancelled on 30 October.

Dear Parents,

We are participating in Redgum Book Club this term and the flyer has been sent home with your child. Every order will earn resources and books for our school.

The Redgum Book Club catalogue is now all online. The online catalogue will continue to be packed with quality books and educational game options (from international and local publishers), bestsellers and gold coin options. Please open the link to view the current catalogue.

Redgum Book Club Term 4

Books start from $2 with hundreds more titles on their website. www.redgumbookclub.com.au

The catalogue is now open and closes on the 4^th November. Orders will be delivered to the school by 22^nd November.

New Release titles in the current catalogue include:

• Frozen II – The ultimate companion to Disney's highly anticipated second instalment of the Oscar winning film, Frozen. Due for release in December Frozen II
• Definitely Do Not Open This Book – From Australian Author, Andy Lee, this fun story will delight children and adults alike Definitely Do Not Open This Book
• The Pug Who Wanted To Be A Reindeer - A festive adventure starring a loveable little pug with a heart of gold The Pug Who Wanted To Be A Reindeer
• Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball - Book 14 of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, from international bestselling author, Jeff Kinney Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball
• Minecraft Annual 2020 - A look back at the excitements, surprises and new potential for fun and creativity that came about in Minecraft's tenth year Minecraft Annual 2020
• The Monster Who Wasn’t – From Australian Author, T C Shelley, comes a brilliantly rich fantasy adventure that will make us all believe in monsters - be they good, bad or somewhere in between The Monster Who Wasn't
• Eddie Woo’s Magical Maths – Australian Author, Eddie Woo’s bumper book of maths fun, stuffed with things to draw, puzzle, invent, order, unscramble and code. Eddie Woo's Magical Maths

How to place an order:

• Order online and pay by credit card redgumbookclub.com.au
• Email orders@redgumbookclub.com.au

If you have any questions, email Lesley on schools@redgumbookclub.com.au

Catholic Schools Netball Carnival

Well done to all the students who participated in the CSNC last Saturday. Thank you to all the parents and siblings who helped with coaching, managing and umpiring roles throughout the day. All students displayed outstanding teamwork skills in all games. Congratulations to the Year 4 team, the Hot Shots who won their pool division. Below are some photos of the teams. As this is the last Catholic School Sport Carnival I just wanted to thank all the families again for always getting involved and supporting these sporting carnivals. I know in the future we will have many other opportunities to be involved with a variety of sports in fun and supportive environments.

Additional Netball Gala Day Finals

Congratulations to the Year 5 students who played in the additional netball gala day finals. It was an amazing result to qualify for the finals as the majority of the other teams comprised of Year 6 students. Thank you to Rihana Webb for coaching and Sarah Orton for managing the team

NRL Tag Gala Day

Holy Trinity will be sending teams for Years 3/4 to represent the school at the upcoming League Tag Gala Day on Thursday 31 October at Phillip District Playing Fields. Permission forms have been sent out via email. If your child would like to participate please fill in the permission form by 25 October.

Just a reminder to families that we have a school uniform code and that our school uniform is a part of our community identity at Holy Trinity School. There appears to be increasing number of students with cut ins in their head, and others not in correct summer uniform.  Please note the following from this policy: 

Hair must be neat and It is to be the child’s natural colour and of a conservative style only. Students may not have designs shaved into their hair or wear other extreme hairstyles. Hair at shoulder length or longer must be secured in ponytails or plaits. Hair must be secured back from the eyes to allow students to work effectively and help reduce the risk of head lice.

Thank you for cooperation with this. For full access to our School Uniform Policy, please see our website. 

Friday 15 November

Gather your school friends and family and join us for what's going to be a fun night of trivia! Tickets will go on sale soon, but block your diary.

Some general info:

Tickets will be $15 each or $100 for a table of 8 or $125 for a table of 10 (via Qkr);

Beer, wine and soft drinks available to purchase on the night at very reasonable prices (cash or Qkr on the night);

Some great prizes on offer;

Any funds raised will support Global School Partners and our spending priority (refurb kitchen garden).

Please email htpspftrivia@gmail.com with any questions, or to register your table name (once payment is made through Qkr).

Looking forward to  a great night!

In Weeks One and Two a number of students from 2 Red and 2 Green have been enjoying reading with visiting Story Dog Poppy and her handler Bethwyn.

Story Dogs is a fun and unique reading support program that improves children’s reading and communication skills by children reading to a trained companion dog and its handler.

The students have very much enjoyed reading to Poppy, teaching her new tricks and sharing their experiences with their classmates.

When I was little my favourite thing to do with my Grandmother was baking and learning to cook and my children also love to do the same thing with their Grandmas today. Last year we purchased both Grandmas a copy of "Feast" as a Christmas gift and my boys have LOVED cooking with their Grandmas from the cook book, especially when they found one of Grandmas receipes already in the book. ~ Mrs Jud

With Christmas approaching, what a perfect time to purchase a cook book full of family favourites and let lose in the kitchen, making scrumptious food and amazing memories together as a family.

The Holy Trinity Cookbook - 'Feast' is available to purchase on QKR under 'P&F Fundraising'. Click here to purchase a copy on Qkr.

Feast is a beautifully bound coffee table book with professional photos and many amazing recipes from our school community.

Any purchase made this week will be placed in your child's bag.

Hint: Tick all your gift requirements off and purchase multiple copies for a discounted price. 

Regards,
Briony
Cookbook Coordinator

TERM 4, WEEK 3 - WED 30 OCT

Team Leader: Justin Irvine, Ross Hamilton, Loretta Pabian, Tim Graham

Reminder:  Could team leaders please ensure the ELC is vacuumed, as well as the main building and annexe.   Just the carpeted areas, as the bathrooms are done by the cleaners.