“Teach me your way O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth.

Grant me an undivided heart to revere Your name.” (Psalm 86:11 )

Dear Friends, 

As this is my first opportunity to contribute to the school newsletter, I would like to extend a very warm welcome to everyone for the 2019 school year. I would like to offer a particularly warm welcome to all new students, families and staff who joined Holy Trinity in 2019: I hope that everything has gone well thus far, and you are feeling supported by and connected to the School community.

As I noted at the introductory evening on 15 February, the function of the Board is to advise and support the School Principal and her executive in the operation of the School, and to act as a forum where issues can be raised and discussed. The Board also operates to oversee and monitor budget performance; enrolments; building and maintenance; assist with curriculum and accreditation matters (where and as appropriate) and contribute to strategic decisions.

Following the Board meeting last week, I would like to note the success of the recent Holy Trinity School IB Evaluation process. This success was undoubtedly resultant from the on-going dedication and hard work of school leadership and staff: my thanks to you, and also to those parents who contributed to this very important review process.

I am also pleased to report that Holy Trinity School and ELC is in a good financial position, building on sound financial management last year.

As you may be aware, there is a Parent’s Forum scheduled for Wednesday 29th of May in Term 2. In preparation for this event, I would like to invite any parent who would like to raise a matter relevant to the School community to please do so before Tuesday 7th of May (as our next Board Meeting is the 8th) . To propose an agenda item, please email me the topic and a brief outline of the relevant particular details to sbpearsall@gmail.com .

Wishing you all the very best for 2019. I look forward to meeting as many of you as I can over the next year.

Scott Pearsall

First Eucharist Candidates

This year preparation for the Sacrament of First Eucharist will commence in Term 2 for students in Year 4 and older. At this stage we are asking that all students who wish to receive the Sacrament of First Eucharist to register by completing the online form.

Don't forget the parent information session on the 30^th April 2019 at 6pm in the Parish Centre.

Project Compassion and Easter Hamper Raffle

Thank you to our 3/4 families for donating Easter eggs for our hampers. We have now raised over $600 for Project Compassion! Well done Holy Trinity! The hampers will be put together next Monday and the raffle will be drawn on Friday the 12^th of April.

ANZAC Day

Just a reminder to our military families. I am still looking for that any Australian Services persons that would like to be part of the liturgy to contact me via email. The ANZAC day service will be on Monday 29^th April at 10:40am.

Also, Fred Ward Gardens are still looking for two students who would be able to read a poem and/or lay a wreath at their ANZAC Day Service on Wednesday 24^th April. If your child/ren would be able available, please send me an email.

Holy Week

We warmly welcome you to join us for our Holy Week Celebrations. Please see the changed time for Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Sorry for the inconvience. 

School Holiday Program

The preschool program will break for school holidays on Friday 12 April. The ELC will run a school holiday program each day from 8am-6pm, with the exception of Good Friday, Easter Monday and ANZAC day. Term 2 resumes Monday 29 April. 

The school holiday program is run by our After School Care coordinator, Lucy Washington, Sarah James and our other ASC staff. The cost per day is $78 (before CCS). Spaces are limited, so book early to avoid missing out. Click here to make a booking. Priority is given to preschool children and current families.

Woolworths Disney Tiles

The ELC are collecting tiles to making literacy resources - any donations of tiles would be gratefully received.

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. 

Thanks to all the fabulous children who have been bringing in their library bags. Some classes have almost 100% borrowing.  Mr Ferrick’s class have the highest number of consistent borrowers this term. Mrs Punyar just can’t catch them.

Visiting Author:

Next Tuesday, Kinder, Year One and Year Two classes will have the author – Skye Davidson visiting them to read her newest book from the Archibald series… “Archibald the naughtiest Elf in the world causes Trouble with the Easter Bunny”.  A note has been sent home to these classes – don’t forget to return the slip and $$$ by Monday 8^th April, if you would like to purchase a book.

SORA:

Two weeks ago I advertised SORA, an on line app – it has been widely down loaded at HT and I have had lots of positive feedback – Mrs Jud is the biggest fan, she sent me a text last night saying ‘I love SORA’. Mrs Casey’s class have all borrowed books online and are now telling me what to do.

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), please ask your class teacher.

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……

Encourage kids to help at home (every day without pay)

by Michael Grose

Confident kids are competent kids. Past experience has taught them that they can be successful. The easiest (and most neglected way) to help develop competency is to give kids opportunities to help out at home. Don’t overburden them with jobs. Sensibly allocate chores according to their age, interests and study requirements.

Expect children and young people to help without being paid.

Provide pocket money, but avoid linking it to chores. Helping in exchange for money develops in children a notion of ‘What’s in it for me?’, which is a self-centred view of life.

However many parents tell me that they can’t get their kids to help unless they pay them. Those parents have made a rod for their own backs. It’s time for a change of tune. Don’t wait until they are old enough to help. Start now, regardless of age. Toddlers and teens and all ages in between should be expected to chip in and help.

Here are eight ideas to help you get your kids to help out at home without being paid:

1. Keep jobs real

Kids can sense it when parents give them jobs to keep them busy. Make sure the jobs you apportion make a real contribution to their own the family’s well-being.

2. Balance the personal chores with family jobs

Chores are generally divided into two areas. Jobs such as keeping a bedroom tidy benefits a child and jobs such as setting the table benefit the family. By doing this kids learn to contribute positively to family-life.

3. Place more difficult tasks on a roster

The children can refer to it when needed, which takes the load off you and removes the need to remind them. Rotate the unpleasant tasks frequently. And here’s the key to making rosters work – place yourself on the roster too! Kids are generally more willing to help when you as a parent are involved.

4. Use Grandma’s principle to make sure jobs are done

Grandma’s principle means you do the less pleasant tasks first. That is, make sure jobs are finished before mealtimes or before starting pleasant activities such as watching television.

5. Avoid doing jobs for children

When children get the message that no one will do their jobs for them they will be more likely to help out.

6. Show your appreciation for their help

Make a fuss when they help so they know that their contribution to the family is valued. If you do it often enough they may even show their appreciation for all you do for them!

7. Keep your standards high

Don’t accept half-hearted efforts or half-completed jobs. If you think your child is capable of putting the cat food back in the fridge and placing the spoon in the dishwasher then insist that he or she does just that, rather than leaving the cat food on the sink. A job properly done is valued in the world of work, which they will eventually enter.

8. Rebrand the term ‘chore’ as ‘help’

The term ‘chore’ definitely has an image problem. Use the term ‘help’ as it is easier on the ear and really does indicate what you want from your kids.

(Source: Parentingideas.com.au)

South Weston Swimming Carnival

Today 20 students from Grades 2-6 represented our school at the South Weston Swimming Carnival at the AIS. Well done to all these athletes who swam their best across a variety of events. Results from the day will be communicated next week.

Catholic Schools Soccer Carnival

This Sunday a number of students from Grades 3-6 will represent our school at the Carnival held at Calwell Playing Fields. The weather this stage looks like a fine day, with a top of 25 degrees. Another big thank you to the coaches and managers who have volunteered their time with the running of the teams. All communication for players involved should be received from their managers over the coming days.

NRL Touch Football Gala Day

Next Thursday, 11 April a number of students from Grades 5/6 will participate in a Touch Football Gala Day at Deakin Playing Fields with other schools in our region. Teams for the day will be sent home early next week.

This week I reminded the community again about our drop off and pick up areas, to ensure children are arriving to school and going home safely each day.  In the morning, unfortunately there are still families parking their cars in the drop off zone, and thus causing congestion, as cars cannot flow through the area successfully.  If you wish to stop in the mornings, please park in allocated parks, or on Theodore st. Children are also to be dropped off around the back of the school-  many are now coming through the office area from the ring road, which is not an access point in the mornings. 

My main concerns are in the afternoon, with many children wandering around and making individual arrangements with parents about a variety of drop off areas.  This makes is extremely difficult to ensure children are safely going to their parents and cars.  Children are not to go into a car, unless accompanied by their parent, or in the drive through area with two teachers supervising.  Our three areas to pick up from in the afternoon are:

• Line up Assembly area out the back of the school where parents wait to escort children home
• Kitchen Garden area, where children meet parents to be escorted to cars safely
• drive through area, where two teachers are on supervision, and ensure children are placed in cars safely.

Some families continue to park at the top of Theodore st or in other areas, and wait for their children to meet them.  This is not a safe option, as we cannot ensure children are getting to car safely and going home with carers.  Others are walking through the front of the school, which is also an area not supervised. If you wish to park outside of the school car park, please leave your car and walk to the drive through area to pick up your child. 

In the  coming weeks, we will be engaging the services of a traffic consultant to come and look at our current pick up arrangements, particularly as I know there can be traffic congestion, which is frustrating for families. With the consultant we will look at other options, to help ease traffic congestion and to continue to ensure our students are safe. 

Hot Dog and Red Day – next Thursday 11 April
There will be some cool food and treats available that can be ordered through Qkr! up until Tuesday 8 April, or the usual suspects (skittles, sour straps, icy poles etc) available over the counter.  We are looking for approximately 4 parent volunteers for the day.  If any parent is available to help out on the day, please get in contact with either Cath Day (htpspfpresident@gmail.com <mailto:htpspfpresident@gmail.com> ) or Kirsty Brogan (Kirsty.brogan@gmail.com <mailto:Kirsty.brogan@gmail.com> ). Volunteers will be required from 9.00am until about 12.30pm.

Term 2 Roster
The Tuckshop will be re-opening in Term 2! Woo hoo!! Unfortunately due to the continuing volunteer shortage, we will only open for two days a week at this stage, Thursday and Friday only. There will be a revised menu circulated in Week 1 of Term 2, with the Tuckshop opening from Week 2. A draft roster will be circulated early next week (Week 10). If you are on it and the day/date doesn’t suit, please contact Kirsty or myself as soon as possible. If you would like to volunteer for any of the days with vacant positions, please also let us know.

One last thing! In the spirit of transparency and open communication, a couple of parents approached the School Board with a proposal to run the Tuckshop as a business. A decision hasn’t been finalised as there are some requirements and regulations around going from a ‘heat and serve’ kitchen to a commercial kitchen. More information will be provided when available. In the meantime though, the P&F will continue to run the Tuckshop with our parent volunteers! Thank you.

Yesterday the staff were congratulated with a beautiful lunch from all the parents at our school organised by the P and F.  This was to show their appreciation for all the commitment, hard work and effort staff have given over the 12 months (and always) in preparation for the IB Evaluation visit.  Thank you so much from all the staff at Holy Trinity for acknowledging this and spoiling us yesterday!  It is so wonderful to work in a community where our efforts are recognised and celebrated! 

A particular thank you to Cath Day who organised the caterers (Schmicnics) and wrote on a lovely card to us from the enitre Holy Trinity community. 

World's Greatest Shave

Congratulations to Ava, Patrick and Mr Pye who shaved their heads on Tuesday to raise money and awareness for the Cancer Council and Leukaemia Research. Both Patrick and Ava decided to shave their heads as they have been personally affected by Cancer. Patrick raised over $400 and will be donating his money to Leukaemia Australia. Ava not only raised over $5000 for the Cancer Council, but she also donated her hair to make wigs.

Congratulations Patrick and Ava! We are all so very proud of you both!

       TERM 1, WEEK 10 - WED 10 APR

Team Leader:  Michael Miller, Simon Frawley, Peter Conlon, Andrew Prior, Ben Hinchcliffe

MOTHERS’ DAY STALL

Friday, 10 May

The Mothers’ Day stall will be held on Friday, 10 May.  For those not familiar with the stall the idea is that each child brings to school a small item (worth around $4 to $8) wrapped in clear plastic or cellophane.  These gifts can be picked up from the supermarket as part of regular shopping. It is the spirit that is important and not the actual gift.  

Children are then able to purchase a present, other than the one they have brought in, for a nominal cost of $1 or $2.  

Please bring in your gifts to your classroom as soon as possible!!

We recommend a gift worth about $4 - $8  Some ideas.... chocolates, mugs, books toiletries, key rings, magazines, gardening stuff, DVD's.... The list goes on!               It doesn't have to be expensive, just thoughtful.

Please wrap your gift in cellophane or clear plastic

** Father Helpers are also needed on the day (between 8.30am – 10.30am).

Please call or text Mark Bauer on 0413 759 692 if you can assist.