Filter Content
- Principal's Message
- 'Do It For Dolly Day'
- Interest Based Learning
- Garden Club
- Headphones
- Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support
- Behaviour Management
- Catholic Education Week
- Open Day
- Australian Early Development Census (AEDC)
- COVID Recovery
- Eucharist (First Holy Communion)
- Japanese
- School Review and SRC Surveys
- Restoration and Maintenance Works at St John's Church
- Hot Lunches
- Drink Bottles - Reminder
- Gr 5/6 Camp to Allambee
- PAM (Parent Access Module)
- School Advisory Committee
- Worldwide Marriage Encounter
- School Calendar
Dear Families
What a lovely Mother’s Day celebration that we had at school last week. Thank you Lisa and Michele for organising this. We thank God for our Mums and we love them so much….
This Friday May 14th, students in Grades 4, 5 & 6 are invited to wear blue and white to school, as a sign of awareness about bullying. Dolly was a 14 year old Australian girl who died as a result of cyberbullying. We don’t want this to happen to anyone else so we are highlighting this event and reminding ourselves of the importance of saying “NO” to bullying. If it doesn’t feel right, it probably isn’t right. If you can’t stand up to your friends and say “NO” then please tell someone about it. Teachers and parents are good people to tell. Parents, ‘Do It For Dolly’ day might be a good starter for a conversation about cyber bullying at home. We have talked about it at school, but we know that when parents and teachers work together great things happen.
Last term’s pilot IBL was a great success, so we have decided to continue the program again this term, starting next week. This term students have the opportunity to participate in another great selection of topics such as the Survival group, Science, STEM using LEGO, Content Creation, Eco Warriors, Cooking, Dancing and Sport. IBL will run for 5 weeks again however on the 5th week, students will reflect on their learning and prepare to present at assembly the week after. Can't wait to see all the great learning again this term!
Regards Cathleen Ryan
In previous years, we have had a parent maintain and promote our school vegie garden. We are looking for someone to take on this role moving forward in our school. Kylee Eerhard worked hard in our garden and once a month, we promoted the Garden Club, where students from all grades were invited to help in the school garden. Some students really enjoyed this work and we produced many vegetables, that we then sold after assemblies. We are keen to have this program work once again, and are looking for a parent or two to help in the garden. Are you able to help us? Please let Trish know if you can.
Next P & F Meeting is Wednesday June 9th at 9am at school. Everyone is welcome.
In this COVID safe environment we are very keen for students to have their own headphones at school to use with technology. If your child has headphones at home, could you please send them into school clearly labelled for your child to use at school. If your child doesn’t have any headphones, we are offering a service to purchase some through the school. We are happy to put in a bulk order for these. If you order and pay through CDFpay then we will purchase the headphones for you and then give them to your child.
Whole School Approach to Positive Behaviour Support
When behaviour incidents happen at school we follow up each incident by talking with the students involved. We listen and gather information. Then we weigh up what has happened with the information and we respond appropriately with reasonable, respectful and related consequences to the incident. So that if a student has been rough on the yard, then he/she needs to come off the yard. The consequence is not a punishment to hurt the child but rather a consequence to help teach the child what happens when they do that action. Our way of responding is about working with children to get a better response rather than punishing them for what they have done and it is based on sound, humanist psychology. If you would like further explanation of our behaviour management processes, I am very happy to talk you through it. We aim to keep you informed on what we are doing. As I always say, when teachers and parents work together, great things happen.
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. Leaders in our school 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.
As part of our Catholic Education Week celebrations we are hosting our Open Day on Friday May 28th from 11.30 to 1pm. We are delivering flyers to the local kinders and inviting all local families with a 3 or 4 yr. old child. So, if you know someone who might be interested in looking at our school, could you please pass on this information. Children will engage in fun interesting activities and families will have the opportunity to go on a school tour. We know that the best way to advertise our school is to have our present families promote our school in the community. Thank you for your work in this space. We are also putting up signs on the highway going in to Trafalgar, to advertise this event.
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. 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.
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:
First Parent/Child Workshop St Joseph’s Church Warragul: Thurs 20th May 4pm or 7pm
(We ask all families to please arrive 15 mins before this time so we can start promptly at 7pm. If your family has not handed in your preferred Mass time, enrolment form or fee envelope with your payment details, please bring it along to this workshop. Your cooperation is very much appreciated. For further information please contact Thérèse on 0499 116 428).
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 Aidan, Miranda and Liza in our prayers.
日本語
Nihongo
Japanese
USE Japanese for FUN.
楽しんで話します。
USING Japanese means learning words and constructing your own sentences. Here is Tia putting together a sentence about felting.
フォームを刺さない。
Fo-mu o sasanai.
Foam o don’t stab.
Mulqueen Kouchou Sensei is working with Summer to make sentences while they are doing their felting.
What things do you do? Email me to let me know and I will help you make a Japanese way to say it. office@trafalgar.catholic.edu.au
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. Last week we had a panel of consultants visit our school to review our processes and learning in our school. They talked with each staff member, as well as groups of parents and students in the school. We are waiting for the formal report but all indications tell us that we performed well in the review. While it has been a busy and pressured time, we keep reminding ourselves that this process is all about improvement and understanding the next step forward. Reflection is an imperative part of improvement. I would like to thank the staff, parents and students who participated in this review.
Restoration and Maintenance Works at St John's Church
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 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 fund raising, 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 that 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 district’s 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
Schools promote healthy eating and living and as such we are discouraging parents 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 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 lock down so we had to postpone the camp. The new dates are Monday 17th May through to Wednesday 19th May next week. 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 on Monday May 10th for our AGM where we thanked Michael Jacobs for his work on this Committee and welcomed Marja Jamieson onto this Committee. The Committee Members for 2021 are: Imelda Cathomen, Dan Towb, Vanessa Donald, Ashley Treyvaud, Marja Jamieson, Katie Balfour and myself. We usually meet every 6 weeks and our next meeting is Monday June 21st at 5.30pm. This Committee is a support to the Principal and has input to whole school policy.
Kind Regards
Trish Mulqueen
PRINCIPAL
MARRIAGE ENCOUNTER WEEKEND
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 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