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- ANZAC DAY, 25 April
- Principal's Message
- Catholic Education Week
- Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
- COVID Recovery
- Eucharist (First Holy Communion)
- Staffing - School Counsellor
- School Review and SRC Surveys
- Restoration and Maintenance Works at St John's
- NAPLAN
- JAPANESE LEARNING
- Hot Lunches
- Grade 5/6 Camp to Allambee
- PAM (Parent Access Module)
- School Advisory Committee
- Worldwide Marriage Encounter
- Drink Bottles
- School Calendar
ANZAC DAY, 25 APRIL
ANZAC Day commemorates the landing at Gallipoli in 1915 where Australian and New Zealand soldiers bravely fought and died. We continue to remember them and we continue to pray for all those men and women who are serving our country in the Navy, Army and Air Force.
We thank them and we pray for them and all who seek to bring freedom and peace to our troubled world.
Lord, we give thanks for the peace
and the security we enjoy in our country.
We remember all who lost their lives in wars.
We especially remember the brave actions
of the men and women who
died at Gallipoli during World War 1.
We pray for the airmen, the soldiers and the sailors
who also sacrificed their lives for our freedom.
We also pray for the families who have lost loved ones.
Lord help us to remember that the sacrifices made in
battle have enabled us to enjoy our freedom today.
May we, too, be an instrument of your peace.
Give us the wisdom to help build a better world.
Amen
(The Australia Children's Prayer Book)
Dear Families
Welcome back to school for Term 2!
Last term we ran a particularly successful Interest-Based Learning Program for 5 consecutive Thursday afternoons. Tomorrow we are going to showcase our learning from this program. We would love you to join us in the Mary MacKillop Room at 2.45. You will need to use the QR code on your phone as you enter and we will arrange for adults to be sitting socially distant. You are very welcome!
Next week we are celebrating our Mums. On Thursday the P&F are running a special ‘Mother’s Day Shop’ where the students can visit and buy a gift for Mum or Grandma. Gifts will be available for $5 & $10. Thank you so much to Lauren and Pru for organising the gifts for us. We really appreciate your work. On Friday you are invited to the church for our Mother’s Day Liturgy at 2.30. (We hope it will be in the church but it will depend on the renovations and the builders next week. We plan for it to be there but if it cannot then we will have it in the Mary MacKillop Room.) Afterwards you are invited to a special afternoon tea in Rooms 7 & 8 at school.
May God continue to bless and guide us in our learning
Trish Mulqueen
Principal
In week 6 of this term we are celebrating Catholic Education Week. This year’s theme is Faith In The Future ‘That they may have life and have it to the full’ John 10:10. Mrs Balfour, Mrs Maxwell-Garratt, Ms Ryan and myself will celebrate Mass on Friday 21st May with our Bishop and then attend a dinner in Traralgon. On Wednesday May 26th the staff will host a special morning tea for our Gr 6 leaders in the Mary MacKillop Room, this is about promoting positive partnerships together. Our assembly in week 6 will be about Catholic Education. Our Diocese has also printed some special school posters and they will be on display in the Mary MacKillop Room. Catholic Education Week is about celebrating what is distinctive about our schools and promoting our great work in building God’s Kingdom.
Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
The AEDC is an Australian Government Initiative that has been conducted nationally every three years since 2009. It is a national progress measure of early child development and it involves teachers of children in their first year of full-time school. The Census collects data relating to five key areas of early childhood development. It is important that data is collected from every school. When all schools participate, information about all children is captured. This gives a complete picture of how children are tracking in each community, state and territory and as a nation. The teachers will record their observations of students in the 5 key areas: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, communication skills and general knowledge. Individual child results are not published and children can not be identified in any AEDC reports. Participation in the AEDC is voluntary, and parents/carers can notify schools if they wish to opt out of the census. So, if you would rather your Foundation child not participate then please let me know in writing.
There is no doubt that COVID-19 has had a big effect on our lives and then on our schools. I would like to say that we are moving slowly back to a new normal. A different normal including QR tracing and sensible measures of regular hygiene and social distance with adults where we can. I know that some parents have felt ‘left out’ of schools because of COVID and I want you to know that we are welcoming you back in a sensible way. I really believe that when parents and teachers work together great things happen and we want to continue to promote this at our school. Some parents helped for our Interest-Based Learning and we were particularly grateful. If you would like to return to the classroom and help with reading, you are very welcome and please know, we appreciate your help and support.
Pictured here is the group of parents who helped at school yesterday with the sausage sizzle: (from left) Marja, Gen, Bec Narelle and Diane. Thank you so much!
Please also remember, that if your child has cold or flu like symptoms, they really must stay at home. I know it is sometimes really hard to make a decision about whether you should keep your child home as it’s hard to know whether the symptoms are bad enough or not, but my advice would be, if you are wondering whether to send your child or not because of cold or flu symptoms, then perhaps keep them at home. Especially coming into Winter, we need to look after each other and stay home if we are unwell. Thanks for your support with this.
Eucharist (First Holy Communion)
One of the most important things we do each year at school is to prepare the students for the Sacraments. Sacraments are special blessings in our faith and aim to help us along our faith journey. In Gr 3 we prepare for and celebrate Reconciliation, in Gr 4 we prepare for and celebrate Eucharist and in Gr 6 we prepare for and celebrate Confirmation. This term a number of people (Alex Jacobs, Aidan Cathomen, Miranda Upston and Liza Marino) are preparing for their First Holy Communion (the Sacrament of Eucharist). There are a number of preparations:
Thurs April 29th Eucharist Parent Night St Joseph’s Church Warragul 7pm
Commitment Mass Saturday May 1st 6pm St John’s Church Trafalgar
First Parent/Child Workshop St Joseph’s Church Warragul: Thurs 20th May 4pm or 7pm
Second Parent/Child Workshop St Joseph’s Church Warragul: Thurs 27th May 4pm or 7pm
Teaching Mass 1: (Liturgy of the Word) Saturday 29th May, 6pm St John’s Church
Trafalgar
Teaching Mass 2: (Liturgy of the Eucharist) Saturday 5th June 6pm St John’s Church Trafalgar
Reconciliation will happen at school on Thursday 10th June at 12.30pm
FIRST HOLY COMMUNION MASS will be celebrated on Saturday 12th June 6pm in St John’s Church, Trafalgar. Everyone is welcome to celebrate with us. We especially remember Alex, Aidan, Miranda and Liza in our prayers.
We thank Ozge Kucukvardar for her work as our school counsellor for some of last year and for Term 1 2021. We also welcome to our school, our new school counsellor Clare Atkinson. Clare has a rich background in youth work and counselling and we think she will be a tremendous asset to our staff. Clare will work in classrooms with the teachers and she will work with small groups and individual students as well. Parent and teacher referrals are welcome.
Welcome, Clare!
Our schools that work under DOSCEL (Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Ltd) operate within a 4 year review cycle. This year is our year for review, so this means that we reflect on our processes, activities and policies and seek deliberately and strategically to improve. The leadership team, the staff and the School Advisory Committee will engage in this process. By completing the SRC parent surveys (that we sent home on Tuesday) you will be participating in this review process. We only had 60 parent surveys to give out to parents and families were randomly chosen. If you didn’t get a survey and you would really like to fill one in, please let me know and I will arrange for you to get a survey. Surveys need to be completed by Friday of next week 7th May. It is crucial that we always seek to be our best.
Restoration and Maintenance Works at St John's
Article by J. Huffer on behalf of St. John’s Parish Council.
There has been a Catholic Church on the present Waterloo Rd site since the land was first donated by the Kenny and Walls families in 1889. Generations of families have worshipped here, and sacrificed to provide for a church building. The first timber structures needed extensions in 1903, and after serious fundraising, were opened in 1906. The Catholic Parish of Trafalgar, covering Moe, Yarragon, Thorpdale and Willow Grove was declared in 1907. When the first Josephite nuns came in 1930, these buildings also served the Parish as a school. At the height of the Great Depression, Catholics and the Community raised sufficient money to build a brick building to house the nuns.
Time moved on and needs changed, so a larger brick church was built as a War Memorial Church which opened in Feb. 1955. Always the provision of the church buildings relied on the financial generosity of the parishioners and the wider community. The church has served the community well since then. It has been the place for many joyful celebrations of weddings, baptisms, and gatherings for worship, and a place of support for the sadder occasions of funerals. The local branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society operates from here, and many of the districts needy, as well as passers-through have sought and found friendly assistance here.
In recent years the building was attacked by very unwelcome visitors. White ants left a trail of destruction behind which now requires urgent, extensive repair. The building has to be brought back to current safety codes. It is a costly exercise, and once again, the Catholic and wider community are asked to help to restore this landmark Trafalgar building.
To make a donation please contact the Parish Secretary, Julianne, for details at 56 331166 or go to our GoFundMe page https://gofund.me/17f95f2f
(The National Assessment Program in Literacy and Numeracy) will be conducted in week 4 this term for students in Gr 3 & Gr 5. On Tuesday, May 11th we will be doing the writing and spelling test, on Wednesday May 12th we will be doing the reading test and on Thursday, May 13th we will be completing the maths test. This is a great opportunity to show what we know.
日本語
Nihongo
Japanese
USE Japanese for FUN.
楽しんで話します。
USE Japanese. Yes but in what context? Well, mostly we are learning Japanese that can be used between students in classroom settings. Which is why last term was focussing on asking for things, passing things and talking about what you have.
Now let's USE Japanese for FUN.
In grades 4, 5 and 6 we are doing needle felting this term. USING Japanese to be clear about rules, to ask for the things we need and to encourage each other.
Needle をください。
Needle o kudasai.
Needle please.
ウールを刺す
U-ru o sasu.
Wool o stab. (Stab the wool).
フォームを刺す
Fo-mu o sasu
Foam o stab. (Stab the foam)
指を刺さない.
Yubi o sasanai.
Finger o stab not. (Don’t stab your finger).
What things do you do? Email me to let me know and I will help you make a Japanese way to say it. Especially if it fits the “object - verb” pattern. office@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au
Schools promote healthy eating and living and as such we are discouraging parents from bringing in hot lunches (hot chips, KFC, McDonalds) for students. We suggest that you keep these treats for special family time. If on the rare occasion you do think this would be best for your child then by all means check with the school and we would accommodate this by your child eating the lunch at the front of the school. We are reluctant to make a blanket rule about this as we believe that there should always be room for negotiation. Please know the intent of this rule is about what’s best for all the students and not about making it hard for families. P&F have resumed special hot lunches this term so that the students don’t miss out. We have also resumed Subway lunches on Fridays from Term 2 (orders will have to be in by Wednesday and staff at Subway will deliver the orders to school Friday). Please find the Subway Lunch Order Form attached to this newsletter.
You will remember that we were all planned and ready to go to Allambee School Camp in week 4 term one and then we had the 5 day lockdown so we had to postpone the camp. The new dates are Monday 17th May through to Wednesday 19th May (week 5 term 2). We are looking forward to this camp.
You will be aware that we are now using a new communication system within school. SIMON is the staff access and PAM is the parent access. A small number of families are yet to access PAM. If you haven’t accessed PAM, Taryn will send out clear instructions for you to do so. It is our intention that all forms of communication will be through PAM by the beginning of Term 2. We are very confident that you will find this mode of communication easy and efficient.
This committee met in term 1 on Monday March 15th. The Committee Members for 2021 are:
Imelda Cathomen, Dan Towb, Michael Jacobs, Vanessa Donald, Ashley Treyvaud, Katie Balfour and myself. We usually meet every 6 weeks and our next meeting is the AGM on Monday, May 10th. At this meeting we can appoint new members. With the view of gradual changeover, we would like to declare a position on this Committee open. If you are interested in serving on this committee or if you would like to nominate someone else (please check with them first) then please let Trish know. This Committee is a support to the Principal and has input to whole-school policy.
An opportunity to spend a weekend improving your communication.
Attend in the comfort of your own
home or experience a residential weekend.
Our on-line weekend
gives couples the chance to sleep in their own beds and check in on kids or animals during meal times.
Come and learn how to keep/rekindle the passion in your relationship and how to keep your love growing!
The weekend we offer is based around Catholic values but couples of all faiths are welcome.
Couples from regional areas may find the On-line Weekend option ideal.
Next on-line weekend is on 30 April – 2 May 2021.
Next Residential weekend is on 21 -23 May 2021.
Information/Bookings: Phone Mercy & James 0409 183 676 or
Email: vicbookings@wwme.org.au Website: wwme.org.au