Holy Trinity Primary Granville

Dear Parents and Carers,

When children are stressed and anxious, a fight-or-flight response kicks in, producing higher heart rate, breathing and blood pressure along with clinging, shaking, hiding, screaming, acting out, running away and sometimes nausea. It's extremely difficult - if not impossible - for children to think logically or control their behaviour until the fight-or-flight response has dissipated and that can take up to an hour.

Strategies to help children calm down, regain a sense of safety, and come to terms with their feelings

Take deep breaths.  Anxiety is often accompanied by rapid, shallow chest breathing. Inhaling for three seconds from the abdomen, holding it for three seconds and exhaling through pursed lips for three seconds can lower heart rate and induce relaxation.

Get active Physically demanding tasks like wall push-ups, walking up the stairs or climbing a jungle gym can help calm and centre a child.

Make a plan. Taking specific actions can help children understand and tolerate stress.

Use rituals. These can be stability anchors that relieve stress if they're rolled out before, during, or after, anxiety-producing events - for example, always taking a child out for ice cream after a doctor's appointment.

Name it to tame it. Children can be asked to tell a story about what they're worried or upset about and why.

Narrow the focus. Meditating, colouring or focusing on a specific feeling, activity, sight or conversation can produce relaxation,

Laugh. Humour can distract, reframe, relax muscles and release endorphins. Try playing a goofy game, watching a cartoon or telling family jokes.

Reflect. After dealing successfully with a fraught episode, walk the child through what worked: On a scale of 1 to 10, how hard was it? What is one thing that helped you get through it?

Acknowledgement: "8 Simple Ways to Soothe an Anxious Child" by Erin Leyba in Psychology Today.

Staff News

Miss Claudette Loulach will be leaving Holy Trinity at the end of this term. Just after the holidays Miss Loulach is getting married and then moving to Melbourne. I am sure you join with me to congratulate Miss Loulach and wishing her and her future husband, Peter all the best for the future.

Miss Loulach has been at Holy Trinity for 10 years and has contributed greatly to our school community. Her last day at Holy Trinity will be Friday 3rd July.

Mrs Amanda Perrin will be teaching Year 3 from the beginning of Term 3.

Learning at Holy Trinity

The staff at Holy Trinity are continually learning in order to improve their practice to provide the best learning opportunities for the students. One process that staff follow is the school learning goal.

The Holy Trinity learning goal for 2020 is as follows; To develop assessment capable learners who are deeply engaged, and responsive to descriptive feedback to guide next step learning and individual learning growth.

A self capable learner understands what they are supposed to learn, monitor their own progress, set goals, and reflect on their learning. This is really important so students can improve. During lessons, teachers at HTG share the learning with the students by using a Learning Intention (what we are learning) and a Success Criteria (How I know I'm successful). These are usually created at the beginning of a lesson and are built upon throughout the lesson. 

Parents can support the children by continually talking to them about their learning. Asking questions like What did you learn today? or What did you struggle with today? Are far more useful than How was your day? They focus the attention on learning.

Student Reports and Interviews

Student reports will be sent home on Friday, June 26. The reports will be in a modified form due to the extended period of remote learning. 

Parent/student/teacher conferences will be held from Monday June 29 to July 2. These conferences will take place via Zoom or phone as advised by the NSW Department of Education. Face to face meetings will be held only to discuss serious matters.

A note was sent home on Tuesday outlining how to book a Parent/student/teacher conference. The slip that indicates the type of conference needs to be returned no later than Thursday June 25 so teachers can organise zoom meetings and phone calls.

Sacramental Programs: We have been advised that all Sacramental Programs for 2020 have been postponed indefinitely due to Covid-19 restrictions. We will keep you up to date with decisions as they come to light. Father Andrew, the Parish and School Community pray that the Holy Spirit reach out to those students who were hoping to receive sacraments this year. 

The New Religious Education Curriculum:

As of next term, all grades will trial cycles from the new Religious Education Curriculum. This new draft document, created for students in the Parramatta Diocese was made in consultation with students, parents, teachers, clergy and theological experts.

It is a fresh approach to teaching religious education which is based on Catholic tradition and Scripture, centred around the student’s enquiries. The new curriculum takes into account the diverse nature of our school communities.

The cycles of study we shall be trialling at Holy Trinity next term are as follows:

Kindergarten: Who is my friend? In knowing Jesus, one can form a friendship with Him.

Stage 1: Why do we belong in communities? The Church aspires to be a diverse and inclusive intentional faith community.

Stage 2: Who are our heroes? We can be heroes regardless of where we come from or how old we are, by serving others.

Stage 3: How do we find hope and joy? Through the insights of Sacred Scripture and Tradition, we can relate our hopes and joys to others, particularly the marginalised and most vulnerable.

Parish Website

Please visit the Granville Parish Website. You can easily find information about Mass times, as well as events happening in our Parish and schools.

Holy Trinity Primary is accepting enrolments for Kindergarten 2021.

If your child turns 5 before 31st July 2021, they are eligible to enrol. Enrolment packages can be collected from the school office between 8.30am and 3.00pm.

10 school weeks in writing must be given to the principal before removal of a student or a full term’s fees will be payable. 

This requirement is in recognition by the family of the commitment to assist funding of the School by having their child take a place that could have been offered to another family.

Instructions for parents installing the SkoolBag app.

The SkoolBag school app is the easiest way for parents to stay up-to-date with the school events, notes, newsletters and all school communications.

Follow the instructions below to download the SkoolBag app and stay connected with what’s happening at Holy Trinity.

For iPhone and iPad users:

Click on the “Download on the App Store” button above, or go to the Apple App Store, search for “SkoolBag” and download the free SkoolBag app. After opening the app, add your school(s) and you’re ready to go!

For Google Android Users:

Click on the “Get it on Google play” button above, or go to the Google Play Store, search for “SkoolBag” and download the free SkoolBag app. After opening the app, add your school(s) and you’re ready to go!

If , at any time, you find that you have a concern with the school, you are encouraged to come to the school and speak with the teacher/s, assistant principal and/or principal, to identify your concern.

It is our aim to work with all members of our school community to ensure that we do the very best to provide a productive, safe and enjoyable learning experience for our students and professionally fulfilling experience for our staff.

If you would like to raise a concern, the Catholic Education Office has guidelines for ensuring that complaints are handled fairly. Information about how to handle complaints either informally or formally is accessed on the school website or system website. 

Congratulations to the following students who celebrate their Birthday in June:

Jennifer L, Joachim-Cruz T, Chloe D, Yar M, George A, Gabriel D, Leya S, Ricky P, George Y, Lotus V, Will D