From the Head of the Junior School
Dear Parents and Friends of the Junior School,
For all the impact and lamenting of weather so far this year, we have been grateful and fortunate for the gorgeous days and night provided over the last week for our community events. Last Friday’s Movie Under the Stars was a large and wonderful gathering under warm skies. Wednesday’s Mother-Son Breakfast, whilst not dependent on weather, was a beautiful morning for mothers and sons to start the day over breakfast in one another’s company and very different from most household’s typical morning routine! This morning, our K-2 Mothers joined us in Junior School for breakfast, Assembly and start-of-day classroom activities…the boys were beaming to be hosting Mums, Nannas and siblings. The weather was less kind to parents who supported sons under umbrellas on the sidelines at last Saturday morning’s games. Nevertheless, the boys enjoyed their sport and your support. Boys usually enjoy school and sporting activities on any day but are particularly excited, proud and joyful when parents make the time to be involved in school activities. Thank you to all the parents who have attended one or more of our events already this term. We hope you have enjoyed being included and appreciate you making the effort to partner with us through your attendance, interest and participation. I especially thank the Executive and Year Parents of the Auxiliary who have promoted and run some of our events, including the Mother’s Day Stall for the boys this week. I also thank the staff who have worked to ensure that events have been welcoming and run smoothly.
Wednesday was a gorgeous day to be outside in mild temperatures exploring the vast spaces of The King’s School for our Cross Country Team at the IPSHA Carnival. All boys are congratulated on their selection to represent the Junior School and for running strongly, often pushing through fatigue and pain. Particular congratulations go to Nathan Jones, Jonah Chan and Jacob Bechara whose Top-4 placings mean selection in the IPSHA Team for the CIS carnival later in the term.
It was an exciting afternoon this week for the School and especially for three young students from the Junior School who were chosen to turn the first earth on the Renewal Project. Adam K (KR), Lachlan M (1T) and Asher B (2R) got the ball rolling by starting what will become a very big hole/s, and then some extraordinary buildings over the next few years. You can read the full story and see photos of what will, in time, be viewed as a very significant day in Trinity’s history via this link. All Junior School boys can look forward to enjoying and benefitting from the facilities that will grow out of Adam, Lachlan and Asher’s hole!
Next week, Year 6 head to Canberra from Wednesday until Friday, accompanied by their class teachers as well as Mr Cha, Mrs Katay and myself. We know they will have a wonderful time and will be great ambassadors for our school. Please ensure that packing lists and arrangements for departure/pick-up are carefully noted. Any medication should be given to the class teacher with ‘permission to administer’ forms. I will be writing to parents about special safety precautions that will be in place for this overnight experience that include boys undertaking a RAHT prior to attendance (if not in the 12-week exemption period), and the need to complete and submit a COVID-19 Personal Health Declaration. We are also asking parents to farewell and greet your son in the carpark as on any normal day rather than parking and waiting for departure/arrival. We wish all the boys and teachers a safe and enjoyable trip. In their absence, Year 5 will step us as leaders in the School.
I remind parents of students in Years 3 and 5 that all boys will undertake NAPLAN next week. These assessments are carried out nation-wide each year for all students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in order to assess the literacy and numeracy learning of students in all Australian schools. We look forward to the boys having this testing experience without wanting to place undue emphasis on them. It is important that every boy does his best without being made to feel anxious about the experience. I draw attention to advice offered to parents by the School in recent years:
It is important to put these tests in perspective. At Trinity, boys receive a wide range of feedback from teachers about their learning, and while the NAPLAN results may complement this to some extent, they are by definition “one-off” tests. Parents should certainly discourage boys from being nervous about the tests; and they should note that these are not tests for which the boys can specifically prepare, beyond the particular preparation which is organised by their teachers in the period leading up to the tests. Ideally NAPLAN tests will provide a snapshot of the learning achieved by each boy over his time at school, and a snapshot of how well the School as a whole is achieving with its students.
In the Junior School, the tests will now be completed on next Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday mornings with the following week set aside for boys to catch up on missed tests. Year 3 will do the Writing Test using paper and pencil, but all other tests for both grades will be online.
The Year 3 Sport programme will now commence next Friday afternoon instead of today. It will still run for five weeks this term. Today’s session will be made up on Friday 17 June (not the Friday of the Long Weekend prior). The sessions will complement the PDHPE programme and Thursday sport sessions, to provide the boys with the necessary skills and games experience to prepare them for games from the beginning of Year 4. All sessions commence at 3pm and conclude at 4.30pm. Parents are asked to be punctual for pick-up. Boys booked into OSH Club can still go to OSH at the conclusion of the session.
We had a terrific beginning to inter and intra-school winter sport competition last Saturday, with most games able to proceed despite wet weather. There were already some great skills and teamwork on display, excellent sportsmanship and many teams registered wins. Most importantly, many games were close, well-fought contests played in the right spirit. Please ensure that boys are at the correct location tomorrow morning at the advertised time to allow coaches to warm-up and prepare the teams appropriately. Boys, play hard, play fair and play with passion!
I wish all the Trinity Junior School mothers a wonderful and blessed day on Sunday…
Loving God, we thank you for mothers – for all they mean or have meant, for the love they have shown and the care they have given. We thank you for the qualities of mothers – their patience, their kindness, concern and understanding. We thank you for the part they play in our lives, and we thank you for this day of saying ‘thank you’ – this opportunity to say what we so often mean to say but so rarely do. For mothers and motherhood, for children and families we bring you this day our grateful praise.
Mark Dunn | Head of the Junior School
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
