Year 5-6 Camp

What a privilege it was to spend three days away with our fantastic year 5-6 students and staff at camp Weekaway. The students were fantastic! Parents you can be very proud of how independent and capable your children are. Despite a bit of rain on our first day and it definitely being colder than Melbourne we all rugged up and had a great time. Children were very cooperative and willing to have a go at challenges. Everyone had a turn at kitchen duty, setting the table and cleaning up and no-one complained!! There was lots of time spent with friends, free time playing basketball, cards and board games.

Many thanks to the staff at camp Weekaway and to our St Catherine’s staff who cared for and ensured the children were safe and happy.

Grandparents Day

This Wednesday 24 July is Grandparents Day at St Catherine’s. All Grandparents/special friends are invited to attend our Whole School Liturgy in the church at 9:00am followed by a visit to classrooms and finishing up with morning tea. We hope you can join us. Parents the school will provide some morning tea for our visitors. If you would like to send along a plate for morning tea, that would be very much appreciated.

Year 6 Graduation

The year 6 Graduation will take place on Wednesday 11 December. We start the evening at 6:00pm with a Liturgy in our church, followed by a dinner with Graduates and immediate family. Extended family is most welcome to attend the Liturgy. Traditionally our parents of year 5 students have volunteered to organise the catering and set up/pack up for the night. We are now asking for parents of year 5 students to form a graduation committee and meet with year 5-6 teachers and myself on Thursday 8 August at 3:30pm in the learning hub to begin the preparations for this event.

School Closure Day

There will be no school for students on Monday 5 August. The staff will be working on Professional Learning and Planning on this day.

National Tree Day

This Friday 26 July many schools will celebrate National Tree Day. As part of our celebration on this day, Mark Dreyfus member for Isaacs will be visiting our school at 9:55am to plant some native shrubs with our students. Mark’s office has kindly donated the plants to our school. Families and friends are welcome to join us in the courtyard for the planting. Let’s hope the sun shines.

Andrew Fuller- Guerrilla Tactics for Parents

St Catherine’s is thrilled to be hosting a great event for Parents. Andrew Fuller well known clinical psychologist, author and consultant to parents and schools will be presenting at our school on Thursday 12 September at 7:00pm.  Many thanks to one of our parents Suzanne (Cooper’s mum in F-DW) for organising this event. Please see the flyers attached to this addition of our newsletter and make sure you book for this event.

2020 Foundation Students

Next week I will be meeting with new families of 2020 foundation students. Current families are invited to also make time to meet with me and their child if they are beginning school next year. This meeting is an opportunity for me to get to know your child and for you to pass on any important information that will ensure your child has a smooth transition to school. Please contact Cate in the office to make a time.

Curriculum Term Outlines

Curriculum Term outlines are available today for parents.  Please see below, or you can find these on the side menu folder on the Parent Engagement Platform.

By now you would have worked out that I am a great admirer and reader of Joan Chittister’s writings.  Her books, articles and other writings make me think and reflect on how I am living life.  95% of the time I can take something she says and use it in everyday life.

Society goes through different phases with every new generation.  My parents thought differently to me.  I am sure one of the reasons for this is that they lived through the Great Depression and World War II.  I have been blessed to have been given a good upbringing and have lived a life through relative peace.

This has its blessings but it also has its detriments.  One of the challenges we face today is the Sin of Entitlement.  Many of my generation and generations to follow believe they are owed something.  My parents’ generation knew they had to work for something.  These are two very different ways of thinking, living and operating.

The latest Sin in our world is the Sin of Blaming.  Everyone else is to blame but me.

For me, the definition of an “Adult” is a person who no longer blames their parent’s or others for their own problems.

Becoming an adult has nothing to do with age but more to do with how we think, act and operate.  It has a lot to do with forgiveness.

The article below by Joan Chittister is a wonderful piece of writing which allows us to think about the true virtue of being an adult-a person who knows how to forgive.

We will only find peace when we know how to forgive.

Edward Dooley (Mission and Faith Leader)

The burdens we carry

“I kept my sin secret and my
frame wasted away. Day and night
your hand was heavy upon me.”—Ps. 32

This psalm is a piece of very good psychology about the burdens we carry within us, our unforgiven sins.

When we don’t face our faults, our problems, our weakness, our angers, our sense of inadequacy—worse, when we blame them on others, or deny them, or need to be perfect, or become defensive—we refuse to accept ourselves. Every doctor and psychologist in the country sees the effect of that in their offices every day.

We all have things we need to forgive in ourselves or face in ourselves. We have things we know we ought to ask forgiveness for from someone else, but pride and stubbornness hold us back.

These things become a barrier between us and the community, a hot stone in the pit of the stomach, a block to real happiness. And nothing is going to get better until we face them.

Forgiveness occurs when we don’t need to hold a grudge anymore: when we are strong enough to be independent of whatever, whoever it was that so ruthlessly uncovered the need in us. Forgiveness is not the problem; it’s living till it comes that taxes all the strength we have.

 Some people think that forgiveness is incomplete until things are just as they were before. But the truth is that after great hurt, things are never what they were before: they can only be better or nothing at all. Both of which are acceptable states of life.

“Life is an adventure in forgiveness,” Norman Cousins said. You will, in other words, have lots of opportunity to practice. Don’t wait too long to start or life will have gone by before you ever lived it.

     —from Songs of the Heart: Reflections on the Psalms by Joan Chittister (Twenty-Third Publications)

Entries close Wednesday 31st July

AGE 4-7

17 astronauts went to astronaut school in the hope of being chosen to fly the first spacecraft to Mars. Only five were chosen. How many astronauts missed out?

AGE 8-10

There were 342 passengers on a flight from Mercury to Mars via Earth.

At the Earth Station, 153 passengers got off and 79 new passengers got on. How many people flew on towards Mars?

AGE 10 upwards

Remember to include:

Your name

Your age

Your class

All of your workings out

Any units of measurement if the answer needs it

An intrepid group of Year 5/6 students and teachers attended a three-day adventure camp at Benloch Valley in northern Victoria. A variety of activities kept us very busy for the three days including canoeing, flying fox, crate stack, frisbee golf, maze hunt and picnic at Hanging Rock. We celebrated Nicholas’ birthday and enjoyed roasting marshmallows around an open fire and listening to our school sports chants, followed by a night walk to look for animals. The camp offered the opportunity for students to experience an array of challenging and risk- taking activities. We had a wonderful time and learned a lot about ourselves and others- some of our teachers proved to be the most competitive in reaching a goal!

Though the activities were lots of fun, highlights included celebrating personal milestones and watching the students work cooperatively and challenge themselves and others, fostering both self-esteem and teamwork. Many students applied the principles of having a growth mindset and had a go at activities they had said they were reluctant to try before the camp, like the crate stack or canoeing. Ms Patto achieved the camp record in crate stack of 10, closely followed by Jack G  with 9!

The students should be very proud of their attitudes and behaviour and come away from the camp feeling a real sense of achievement. Thank you to all the students and staff in attendance who made the camp the fantastic experience it was.

Debra Bruenjes

Year 5/6 Teacher

An invitation from the Parish

Holy Trinity Parish, made up of the communities of St. Peter’s, St. Paul’s and St. Catherine’s, strives to respond to people asking questions about Christian faith and spirituality in the context of the Catholic faith.  One way we do this is through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults known as the RCIA. It is the process for welcoming and integrating new Christians into the Catholic community.

If you or someone you know has questions about spirituality and the Catholic faith we would love to hear from you or them.  The initial part of the process is called inquiry – it is a time when we listen to your questions, and together explore and deepen our understanding of faith and the way we live as Christians. If you would like to know more please contact us soon, as we have a new group beginning soon.

Contact Holy Trinity Parish Office by ringing 9579 4255 or sending an email to office@holytrinityparish.org.au.  Your name will be given to one of the RCIA team, who will contact you.  You will be warmly welcomed!