St Paul said:

Love is kind; it does not burden another person with harmful words.

Love is patient; it waits until it is the right time to speak and act.

Love does not keep a record of wrongs; it leaves the past behind.

Love is not jealous; it celebrates good things that happen.

Love is not happy with evil: it asks us to practise happiness.

Love never gives up: love offers us hope.

Love is faithful and hope-filled; negativity does not drag it down.

Love is eternal: it is not seasonal and never takes a holiday.

For God is love. 

Dear Friends,

Holy Trinity's vision is to be a faith-filled Catholic learning community of faith, hope and love, where all are welcome and inspired to grow to their potential.  I look forward to sharing our goals and initiatives for 2020 at our Parent Information Night tomorrow, in the hall at 5:30pm, followed by the P and F Welcome BBQ. Child minding will be available for students Kinder - to Year 2 in the Kinder classrooms (after the 5pm Kinder meeting) and the ELC will also provide this for their students.  All students Year 3-6 are invited to sit in the hall at the front on mats.  Thank you again to the P and F for organising the BBQ afterwards-  this is a great opportunity for us to celebrate together the beginning of the new year and for new families to meet our community. Teachers will also be distributing Curriculum Overviews and other important information for the year at the end of the information session, before the BBQ. 

At the end of January, the Holy Trinity staff met for a few days to prepare for the year, celebrate a Retreat with Fr John and the Sts Peter and Paul staff and attend professional learning.  During our staff administration meeting we spent time reviewing our Pastoral Care and Well-Being policy. Part of this review looked at agreed practices across the school, to enable consistency in our approach to pastoral care of all students and to ensure restorative practices are used across the school for students to better understand and learn from their behaviour.  Holy Trinity staff will ensure this school wide approach occurs by:

• Consistently applying positive school wide behaviour practices throughout the school 
• The implementation and employment of whole school strategies for Behaviour Management 
• Embedding restorative practices when helping students, parents and teachers to resolve issues with relational conflict
• Collaboratively developing action plans to support positive educational and behavioural outcomes 
• Developing essential agreements, collaboratively establishing a whole school and classroom agreements outlining responsibilities that align with the IB Learner Profile 

The questions children will be asked when reflecting on inappropriate behaviour are in the following link:

Restorative Questions

The consistent procedures being used across the school are outlined in the following link:

Behaviour Support procedures

These will be added to our Pastoral Care and Well Being Policy on our website in the following week. 

Congratulations to Nicole & Stephen Carberry (Audrey 2 G and Violet) on the safe arrival of their daughter and sister Florence. 

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

Philippa

Opening Ceremony and Leadership Cermony 

On Tuesday we celebrated our Opening School Mass and Leadership Ceremony for 2020. Congratulations to our Year 6 students who lead us in Mass and received their leadership badges! We wish you all the best in your last year of Primary School and we look forward to watching you strive in your leadership positions.

Reconciliation

Just a reminder that the Sacrament of Reconciliation will be celebrated in the Parish of the Transfiguration, North Woden on Thursday 2nd April, 2020 at 6pm. Registration is now open for Reconciliation. Students in Year 3 and above are invited to register. Enrolments close Wednesday 19th February, 2020. 

To enrol your child, please access or download the Qkr! App.

• Search ‘North Woden Transfiguration’.
• You will then create a profile. One your profile is completed you can click into Parish (2^nd collection, Sacraments) and follow through to Reconciliation.

Dates for Reconciliation                

Upcoming Dates

Week 4

• Monday 2:30pm - Prayer Celebration Lent 5/6G
• Tuesday 5:30pm - Reconciliation PIN
• Wednesday 9:30am - Ash Wednesday Mass

Week 6

• Saturday 6pm - Reconcilation Presentation Mass

Week 7

• Monday 2:30pm - Prayer Celebration Reconcilaition - 3/4R

Week 8 

• Monday 2:30pm - Class Assembly 3/4G
• Wednesday - Reconciliation Retreat

Week 9 

• Monday 2:30pm - Class Assembly 1G
• Thursday 6pm - Reconcilation

Parent Information Night (PIN) & Welcome BBQ

ELC families are warmly invited to the Holy Trinity Parent Information Night on Friday 14 February at 5.30pm. The ELC staff will provide child minding in the ELC from 5.15pm to enable families to attend the PIN in the School Hall. Please stay afterwards for a BBQ hosted by the P&F, for an opportunity to meet other families and build community.

Before and After School Care (BSC & ASC)

Please notify the ELC if your child is not attending a BSC or ASC session. This saves staff time in looking for absent children and/or follow-up phone calls.

Birthdays in the ELC

We love to celebrate birthdays in the ELC. Birthdays are celebrated in class and with children's names listed in our school newsletter (birthday section). Families are welcome to bring in cupcakes (or ice blocks or a small treat) on their child's birthday. There are no current dietary restraints, but as with all food in the ELC, please NO NUTS.

Parent Resources & ELC Policies

The ELC has a parent library located in the foyer; there are books on parenting, children's books that can address specific events or themes. There are also Parentlink articles, referral information for OT, Speech and other therapies. The hard copies of the ELC policies and National Law and Regulations are also available in the foyer or can be viewed online at the Holy Trinity website.

Pick-up and Drop-off times

Thanks to all our families who have been prompt in the preschool drop-off and pick-ups. As we offer both before and after school care for both ELC and primary aged children, we appreciate a timely pickup via the correct preschool door. It ensures safety for all children transitioning between programs, optimising learning time and enabling teachers and staff to attend meetings after school when required.

Stay and Play

Playgroup for pre-preschoolers and their families. Wednesday mornings from 9am-10.30am in the ELC Playground (weather permitting). Parents, grandparents, carers and children are all very welcome.

Building healthy relationships with teachers 

by Michael Grose

As a former primary school teacher with 15 years experience and a parenting educator with 30 years experience, I’ve learned a great deal about the importance of healthy relationships between a child’s parent/s and their teacher. I hold a Master of Educational Studies from Monash University specialising in parenting education, a Bachelor of Education and a Diploma of Primary Teaching from SCV Toorak University (now Deakin University). I’ve done the theory and I’ve also put my the boots on the ground. Uniquely, this has allowed me to appreciate perspectives from either side of the school gate.

Studies show that healthy parent–teacher relationships are a more significant factor in student success than parent income levels or social status. Parent–teacher relationships require effort and energy from both parties if they are going to really benefit children and young people. Here are some strategies to help you build a healthy working relationship with teachers in the year ahead.

Get to know them

For your partnership to be meaningful and successful, you need to meet with your children’s teacher(s) with the goal of forming a respectful professional relationship. Be willing to share your aspirations for your child and be willing to build the teacher’s knowledge about your family.  For balanced perspective, also gain an understanding of the teacher’s approach and what focus areas they have for their particular year group. This can be done formally by attending start of the year information evenings and informally through conversations, reading newsletters and staying in touch in digitally and in real-time.

Trust their professionalism

Children need to know that their parents are fully behind what their teachers are trying to achieve if they are going to commit fully to learning. The best way to support your child’s teacher is to trust their knowledge, professionalism and experience. Avoid the temptation to question the expertise of teachers in front of students, particularly when the teachers use methods that you are unfamiliar with. Initiate conversations with teachers around methodology to give them the chance to explain the approach they are taking.

Go through the right channels

Despite the best teaching practices things do go wrong at school. Kids experience learning difficulties. Conflict and peer rejection happen. Kids will often come home from school with grievances, and call on you for assistance. Resist the urge to react emotionally. If you need to contact teachers do so respectfully, calmly and through the correct channels. A measured response will generally achieve the best result for your child.

Utilise their resources

Teachers and schools often put a lot of work into sourcing and sharing credible resources that they think will help parents. Take the time to read, utilise and enjoy the information provided to you. It’s intended to make your parenting journey easier, which will also benefit your child not just at school, but at home. 

Build links to student learning

There’s a huge body of research that points to the correlation between parent engagement in student learning and their educational success. If you want your child to improve their learning, take an interest in what they are doing. Follow school and teacher guidelines about helping at home and attend as many conferences, meetings and events involving your child as possible. This strategy has a significant, long-term impact on your child’s attitude to learning.

Stay in touch

Life’s not always smooth sailing for kids of any age. Family circumstances change. Friends move away. Illness happens. Mental health challenges can hit anyone at any time. These changes affect learning. Make sure that you keep teachers up to date with significant changes or difficulties that your child or young person experiences so they can accommodate your child’s emotional and learning needs at school.

Be loyal

Show your loyalty to your child’s teachers by being an advocate. Talk positively about your child’s teacher and school, rather than being negative about them when speaking in the wider community. Teachers hold very public positions and generally work hard to build good reputations both within their school and their wider education community. Consider a teacher’s reputation among the community and also with children when you discuss educational matters with others.

Building healthy parent–teacher relationships doesn’t just happen

It takes goodwill from both sides, a commitment to setting aside the time necessary to support the home-based learning tasks that are expected, and a willingness to communicate both concerns and commendations through the correct channels.

(Source: Parentingideas.com.au)

Swimming Carnival

This year's swimming carnival is almost here. 7 days to go!

Just a friendly reminder that all swimming permission notes and entries are due TOMORROW Friday 14th February. 

If your child is entered in both the 25m and 50m of the same stroke, they have only been entered into the 50m. If you need to change your child's entry please email Mel Punyer at melanie.punyer@cg.catholic.edu.au 

How can I protect my child’s privacy when they are online?

Source from: https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents/skills-advice/privacy-child

Kids and teenagers 5-17

Advise them not to share personal information unnecessarily 

Explain why they should avoid putting personal information on their social media profiles. This includes their phone number, date of birth, personal email address, passwords, home address, the name or address of their school, and photos of identifying landmarks. 

Help them understand that when online games, competitions, prizes and rewards require users to register and provide personal information like email address, interests, age and gender, this information is often used by marketers to promote products and services. 

Make sure your child is aware of the advice about protecting personal information for kids and young people. 

Encourage good password habits 

Remind them to select passwords carefully and not to share these with friends.  

Strong passwords are truly random and they are long. Avoid using words and numbers that could be easily associated with them (like a pet’s name or a birth date). Longer passwords are harder to crack, so help them choose a random combination of numbers, letters and punctuation, and consider using a password manager. For more information see protect your personal information,  which includes tips on how to set strong passwords. 

Ensure your child’s mobile devices have pin locks or passcodes, so their personal information is safer if they lose their device.  

Remind them about their digital reputation 

Like everyone who uses the internet, over time your child is building a digital or online reputation based on all the things they say and do online. Help them understand that this digital footprint can last forever. 

Remind them to take care of their digital reputation as well as the reputations of others. They should not post images of others without their permission and should take care when making comments about others. 

Make sure your child is aware of the advice about digital reputation for young people. 

Encourage them to think before they post or share 

Even if their profile is set to private, they cannot control what their friends will do with the information that they post online or share via text or SMS. Ask how they would feel if their photo or information was shared with strangers. 

Talk to your child about the consequences of posting offensive or inappropriate material of themselves or others online. Explain that it may affect their social life, academic results or job prospects. There may also be legal effects. Ask them, how they would feel if they could not get a job they really wanted because of something they posted online? For more information on how to start the chat, see the hard to have conversations. 

Make sure your child is aware of the advice about consent and sharing photos for kids and young people. 

Be aware of online advertising 

Companies can build a profile of your child by compiling data of their online behaviour. You can control cookies and use add-ons and adblockers to help manage the amount of information companies can collect. 

Regards,

Rebecca Casey- ICT Coordinator

rebecca.casey@cg.catholic.edu.au

Welcome to 2020. I hope you had a lovely break and are ready for a big and busy year full of lots of good books and exciting adventures.

Just a few things to get the year started…

Library lessons are once a week for 1 hour. Please take note of your child or children’s library days and send them in with a library bag and books to return.

• Simon Bugden will be joining us in the library this year. He is going to be working with the 5/6 classes on a Monday.
• The Library is open every day during the 2^nd half of lunch. Please remind your children to come as it is a great place to read, sit, draw, talk quietly or play a game.

 Each year, I look for parent volunteers to act as “Book Coverers”. If you have a spare hour, I will send home a bag of 10 books, per volunteer, per term. It’s not a hard job and I try to match the books to your family. If you feel up to the challenge, please email me at mertz@cg.catholic.edu.au or send a note via your child.

•  Redgum Book Club was sent home with the eldest children this week. Orders close Monday, Week 4 – 24^th February.

• Please note that 20% of all sales go to the Holy Trinity Library. I often use the money as prizes and awards for events during the year. I also purchase lots of new books for the library with the money made from HT sales.
  
  

To view the current catalogue, please open the link Redgum Catalogue Term 1 2020

 Or to view in PDF format open the link www.redgumbookclub.com.au

Happy Reading,

Kate 

Come and play netball for Holy Trinity this winter.  Games are on Saturday mornings at the Deakin Netball courts. Both boys and girls play netball up to Year 6.  The competition starts on Saturday 2nd May 2020 for all divisions. 

NetSetGo: Ages 5-7 (Registration through the Winter Competition link on the SCNA website)  - Kinder and Year 1. Fitness and fun games that teach some of the early netball skills. 9am.

NetSetGo: Ages 7- 9  - Year 2 and 3.  Modified netball rules, no finals.  Played at 9am Juniors: Ages 10-12.  Y4 play full rules but in Div 4 with other Y4 team, no finals.  Games at 10am Y5 and Y6 play in Div 1 – 3.  Games at 10am or 11am depending upon division.  Full rules, with finals played. The Winter competition runs for 14 rounds followed by 3 rounds of finals between March and September as determined by the SCNA Calendar. 

District Grading - Juniors grading is scheduled for Saturday 28th March 2020.

Please register your interest at htpsnetball@gmail.com

Please note we will only send the registration link when we have confirmed numbers for each team.

Thank you. We look forward to hearing from you.

Suwanna (Hollie Year 5/6 Blue) & Charlotte (Felicia Year 5/6 Green)

NETBALL COORDINATORS

Suwanna Danaher & Charlotte Caceres are the current HT netball coordinators. 

We are looking for 2 people to help run the HT netball teams as this will be our last year as the coordinators.

We are very happy to show you the ropes & for you to come & listen in on SCNA meetings to see how things are run.

Please email your interest at htpsnetball@gmail.com