Dear Friends,

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2025!  It has been wonderful welcoming all our families to our school and ELC this week and watching the excitement that new beginnings bring! A particular welcome to all our new families , not only in the ELC and Kinder but in all our year groups. Thank you also to the many well wishes you have expressed to me on my return to Holy Trinity.  My return certainly feels like coming home and I would like to personally acknowledge and thank Prue, the School Leadership team and all staff for their tireless work in my absence. Congratulations also to all our beautiful new Kinders who have settled in so well to their new classroom and school surroundings.

The prayer above is not only a blessing for the new year, but also acknowledges  the Church theme for 2025, in a special Jubilee year, "Pilgrims of Hope." Last week, our staff met together for a few days of professional learning, beginning with a staff faith formation day, unpacking this theme and its current significant scriptural and theological importance.

For many, HOPE is like a guiding light.  Its glimmer can illuminate different touch points, especially when we are presented with new opportunity or challenges.  Hope can give us the courage to move forward with purpose, it can enable us to translate dreams into reality, to discover our own strengths and to work with others, as we do in our vocation here, to create a more just and compassionate world. In our current world state at a time of significant upheaval, focusing on the concept of HOPE feels urgent.  Because in times of uncertainty, hope can anchor and guide us- not by providing certainty, but by inspiring possibility. Not by solving our problems, but by giving us the motivation to try. Not by denying our struggles, but by helping us persist and believe that we can bounce back.  Hope can cultivate optimism in the face of change and adversity.  Hope allows us to see the potential in ourselves and others. It shapes our outlook on life and influences our mental health and well-being in fundamental ways.  My hope for all of us in our Catholic community, with Christ at it's centre, is that we continue to care for and support all at Holy Trinity to flourish.

One of our greatest strengths at  Holy Trinity is the value we place on positive relationships with all in our community.  Thus next week our teaching staff look forward to engaging with parents at a "Parent Partnership" meeting.  (Notification of this  was sent out separately with booking details  on Compass). This meeting enables parents and carers to talk to the teachers about their children and to set goals for the year. At the end of the meeting, parents and carers will be given a handout with valuable information about the school year in the class.  In each of these overviews, will be a detailed explanation about your child's learning and other important dates pertinent to your child's year level.  

As all school information will be given to parents next week at the Parent Partnership meetings, we will not be having a formal parent information night.  The Community council will be hosting a Welcome BBQ next Friday 14th February in the back area of the school from 5pm-6:30pm. The Community Council will provide a sausage sizzle, and families are asked to bring any other food and drink and a mat/chairs to sit on.  In each year level's WhatsApp group, class contacts will organise a meeting point for families to sit together. Other changes for 2025 are as follows:

• We will be publishing a fortnightly newsletter (in odd weeks) and then a shorter version in even weeks with calendar dates for the term.  Please note that the school calendar on the website is continuously monitored for changes.
• Awards Assemblies will now be included in the Friday morning assembly at 9am from Week 4. We will have differing year groups awarded on each of these weeks and parents of these recipients will be notified earlier in that week. We appreciate that it is challenging for families to attend assemblies during the day and we hope the assembly time on Friday morning may be more convenient. 
• Our Community Council AGM will be in Term 2 as this term we need to focus on preparation for our Fete On Saturday 22nd of March.  However all interested parents are  very welcome to our first Community Council meeting on February 18th at 6:30pm. 

In our next fortnightly newsletter addition I will outline our annual school goals for 2025.  We will also be facilitating for parents a PYP information night later in the term. 

Congratulations to a few of our families who have had recent special additions to their family- We welcome to the Anderson-Cabrera family, baby Lewis, the Raszewski Family, baby Tomy and the Troxell family, baby Phoebe -such a wonderful time! 

2025 First Reconciliation  - Enrolling Now

Parent Information Night
A reminder that next Tuesday, February 11^th, we are holding our Parent Information Night, online, for parents of students in Year 3 and above who are making their First Reconciliation this year.

If you would like to be a host or interested in hosting, please sign in for the meeting at 5:30pm, otherwise please join us at 6pm. 

If you have not registered yet, please register via 'North Woden Transfiguration' QKR! before next Tuesday. 

Please contact me if there is anything I can help with.

Opening School Mass and Year 6 Leadership Ceremony

We warmly invite you to our Opening School Mass and Year 6 Leadership Badge Ceremony for 2025. Mass will take place on Friday, 14th February at 12pm in the Holy Trinity Church. 

During the Mass, parents will be invited to come forward and pin on their child's leadership badge. Students who are unable to have a family member present, will have a teacher come forward on your behalf. 

ALL families are welcome.

Beginning the School Journey

It has brought great joy to our ELC community in recent weeks as we welcomed new children and their families into our holiday and preschool programs. We have been impressed with the start that the children have made - showing excitement and eagerness, as well as some nerves.

Our Team

This year we welcome three new educators: Roshan, Misuk and Avishek. Each comes with unique experience, skills and interests and we are excited to see how they will add value to our team. All three have demonstrated their commitment to early childhood education and care, being reflected in the fact that they are  all currently studying in the field of early childhood education! It is a privilege of ours to be able to support their journey to becoming teachers.

Student and Family Counsellor Profile

Kate Worthington

Dear school community, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is Kate Worthington; I am the Student and Family Counsellor.

I have a background in Psychology and Social Work and have been working with children, young people and their parent/carers for over 20 years. I have predominantly worked in the field of child protection, early intervention as well as the homelessness sectors.

I am passionate about working with children and young people and feel privileged to assist them and their family in experiencing positive life outcomes.

Please contact the school if you would like to access counselling for your child or complete the online referral link https://catholiccare.force.com/housing/s/school-referral-form

I look forward to working with the students, families and staff at Holy Trinity in 2025.

The Life Education Van and Healthy Harold will be visiting our school in Week 3 & 4. We are looking forward to seeing Harold and the team and learning more about empowering our learners to make safer and healthier choices.