Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful.

And kindle in them the fire of your love.

Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.

And you will renew the face of the earth.

Lord, by the light of the Holy Spirit

you have taught the hearts of your faithful.

In the same Spirit help us to relish what is right

and always rejoice in your consolation.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our first newsletter of 2024!  The prayer above is the focus of our new school theme for 2024, "Come Holy Spirit".  It has been wonderful  welcoming  all our families to our school and ELC this week and watching the excitement that new beginnings bring! Congratulations to all our beautiful new Kinders who have settled in so well to their new classroom and school surroundings. 

We particularly welcome students and their families in Year 1-6 that have also joined our Holy Trinity community this year:

Maia R, Kieran M, Lichelle M, Arya R, Lillibell M, Lottie S, Azin S, Janneshah S, Jahla N, Ava N, Sabina M, Carlo M, Giacomo M, Isabell A-C, Olivia H, Hiyara S, Aakrish J, Thirukkural S, Kavinsivam S, Nyamdrok D, Sebastian C,Tristan B, Maya B. 

• Georgia Tredgold 1 Green 
• Ethan Hart 3 Red
• Liam Cashion- various year levels
• Maddy Winter 6 Green 
• Jaimi Hudson 6 Red
• Nancey Konidaris ELC Office Manager
• Jess Boag ELC Educator
• Faith McCulloch Classroom Support Assistant

We also welcome back Mel Punyer from maternity leave who will be working in 5 Green every Thursday.  Gordana Grubesic will continue at HT, now as front office assistant with Nikki. 

We also welcome a new ELC Director, Damien Montesin, who will be joining our team in Week 7 of this term.  We thank Carla Drayton who is our current ELC Director supporting us until Damien begins.  

A HUGE congratulations to the D'Rozario family (Lena) on the birth of baby Klara at the end of last term, and the Rockwood family (Sebastian) on the recent birth of Tessa. What beautiful Christmas holidays gifts! 

At the end of the Christmas break, our staff meet together for four days of Professional learning.  The first day focussed on our school theme for 2024, "Come Holy Spirit" and the staff reflected on the Pentecost Story from the Acts of the Apostle. Time was also focussed on our our Spiritiual gifts or charisms, which flowed into our school focus on well-being with the new PERMAH model.  This will be further shared with you at our Parent Information Night next week and throughout the year.

Our four professional learning days also included PYP developments as we move closer to IB Evaluation in May, an introduction to our teacher coaching model for 2024 and beyond and continued focus with the Catholic Education Archdiocesan CATALYST model.

During the holiday break we have also continued to further enhance our building and outdoor learning environments with the following projects:

• New Kitchen and wet areas spaces in the ELC
• Electronic School Sign is now fully connected and functioning
• Our oval project has finished being levelled and the new turf has been laid. This area will be regularly watered and carefully monitored over the next 5 weeks, before any traffic can go on this. We will keep our community posted on when we are able to use the new oval surface.  

Next Wednesday the 7th of February we invite all parents from Kinder through to Year 6 to our Parent Information Night at 7pm.  This will begin in the school hall, where we will present important information about our school goals, teaching and learning within the PYP framework and other details about 2024.  We will then break into year groups in classrooms, where parents will be able to meet their child's teacher and receive important information abut the school year.  This session will be repeated,to support families with more than one child.  Those with three or more children, will need to choose which two year group meetings to attend and then will be able to receive the handouts from the other classes.  Please note that this is an information session for parents/carers only, students do not attend. 

As well as an important focus on learning, Holy Trinity values positive relationships with all in our community. Thus we value the opportunity to meet with parents at a "Parent Partnership" meeting in Week 3. This meeting enables parents and carers to talk to the teachers about their children-  please note that a survey will be sent to you to be completed and emailed back to help support this conversation and important information.  The link to book a time in with your child/ren's teacher will be available on Compass next Monday. 

We look forward to welcoming you all  more informally also with our P and F on Friday 16th February, at our welcome BBQ. Speaking of the P and F, words cannot express our thanks to Ginny, Katie and all our Uniform shop volunteers who work tirelessly to ensure our families had uniforms ready to begin the 2024 school year.  

Sacrament of Reconciliation 

Registration for the Sacrament of Reconciliation is now open via 'North Woden Transfiguration' QKR!. Please click here to read the letter from Father John.

Please note that the Reconciliation Parent Information night is Tuesday, 6th February at 6pm via Zoom https://cgcatholic.zoom.us/j/62586575218

If you have any questions please email Emily Capper emily.capper@cg.catholic.edu.au or Catherine  at the Parish Office wodennorth@cg.org.au 

Opening School Mass

We warmly welcome our school community to our Opening School Mass for 2024 on Friday 9th February at 12pm. Our Year 6 families should have already received an invitation to this Mass, as we will be presenting our 2024 Year 6 Leaders and inviting a family member/s to come forward and pin their child's leadership badge on. 

Important Dates - Linked to School Calendar

*Please note that dates can change through out the term

Welcome to the ELC 2024

The ELC teaching teams have been delighted to welcome our new cohort of preschoolers for 2024. The children have bought their smiles, confidence, inquisitiveness, and questions and sometimes a few tears, but all the children are settling beautifully. The family interviews conducted last week have enabled a very smooth transition to the preschool this week. 

A reminder that the ELC hours have changed this year and our new hours are 8:00-5:30. Your child will need to be picked up by 5:30 to avoid being charged the extra fee of $10 per 5 minutes.

For those children enrolled in the Preschool Plus program (8:00am-5:30pm, you can drop off and pick up anytime during these hours. Entry is by the side gate where you will sign your child in, help them to unpack their bag, apply sunscreen to one of our beautiful staff members. Those children in the Preschool program (9:00am-3:00pm) are to unpack, support your child in applying sunscreen, sign in and then enter the classroom at 9:00am.

If your child is experiencing difficulty separating from you, please do a handover directly with a staff member. In this instance, give a kiss and cuddle goodbye, remind them you will see them in the afternoon at pick-up, and then leave quickly. Prolonged farewells can be difficult and emotional for both children and parents. If you are concerned about leaving your child upset, please don’t hesitate to contact the ELC to check-in – we are very happy to take these calls.

You may notice some different behaviours and/or regression in your little one in the next few weeks. It is not unusual for children’s appetites to decrease or increase while at school, experience toileting accidents, require earlier bedtimes or need an afternoon nap. They are working hard at school to remember new faces and names, new routines and environments. They may have tantrums once they are at home (or even on the way to the carpark!) as they save their best behaviour for school and tend to fall apart once they are in their familiar environment with the ones who love them most.

Stay and Play

Stay and Play is a playgroup for pre-preschoolers and their carer each Wednesday in school term 9am-10am in the ELC Adventure Garden (weather permitting). All families and the broader community are welcome to attend.

Students and Staff celebrating in the holidays and this week are: 

Evelyn S, James S, James M, Azaria D, Aria C, Rafa B, Luca T, Apishayan R, Rami M, Olivia M, Zara Z, Jack M, Lewis B, Rose H, Ivan V, Addison W, Mirah J, Sarah A, Emilia C, Lila W, Hannah G, Amelia B, Zara M, Mateja M, Charlotte S, Justine T, Edmund M, Hannah G, Samuel P, Rigzin C, Andrew A, Vincent J, Eloise G, Nicholas R, Luna W, Mila G, Elissa N, Audrey E, Charles C, Sophie B, Evan L, Maya B, Tristan B, Lily H, Mr Roweth, Mr O'Rourke