Why School Can Feel Hard for Children

School asks a lot of children. Every day, we ask them to listen, concentrate, wait their turn, follow instructions, manage distractions and keep going when something feels difficult.

Many of these things don't come naturally. Attention, persistence and self-control are skills that develop with practice. Learning itself also takes effort. Reading, writing, mathematics and thinking deeply require children to concentrate and sometimes experience the frustration of not knowing an answer straight away.

This helps explain why we sometimes see challenging behaviour when learning becomes difficult. A student might avoid a task, distract someone else or give up because that feels easier in the moment. Understanding why a behaviour occurs is important because it helps us respond well. However, a reason for behaviour does not mean we remove the expectation.

Our job is to make it as easy as possible for students to get it right. We do this by teaching clear routines, reducing unnecessary distractions, providing explicit instruction and calmly reinforcing expectations. When a student needs additional support, we provide that too.

We also want children to learn something important about themselves: hard doesn't mean "I can't do it." Struggle is a normal part of learning. With good teaching, clear expectations, support and plenty of practice, things that once felt difficult gradually become easier.

That is one of the most valuable things children can learn at school: I can do hard things.

As out school moto reads: Victory Through Effort

Congratulations, Rick White!

A big congratulations to our PE teacher, Rick White, who has been nominated for the 2026 AFL Schools – Teacher of the Year as part of the AFL National Volunteer Awards.

Rick has been recognised as a Gippsland nominee for his contribution to Australian football through both Trafalgar Primary School and Trafalgar Junior Football Club.

This is fantastic recognition of Rick’s commitment to providing sporting opportunities for young people in our school and wider community. Congratulations, Rick. This is avery well-deserved nomination!

Sickbay Snippets

Family Wellbeing Hub

You may have seen our Family Wellbeing Hub noticeboard, located in the Calm Zone in the front playground of the school.

The noticeboard has been created as an easy place for families to access information, wellbeing supports and resources available both within our school and across the wider community.

Currently on our Family Wellbeing Hub you can find:

An introduction to our Trafalgar Primary School Wellbeing Team and the different ways we can support students and families.
A fact sheet from our whole-school social and emotional wellbeing program - Grow Your Mind , to help families understand the difference between rude, mean, bullying and conflict, and support children to recognise and navigate these situations.
Information about Journey – A Resilience Camp for Boys, which is available in the upcoming September school holidays.
Information about local allied health services available to families.
A reminder from Sickbay Sam about the importance of providing the school with up-to-date and accurate health and medical information for your child, so we can provide the right care and support when they need it.
Our Parent Support Services information leaflet, with details of local services and organisations families can contact for additional support.

The information on the noticeboard will continue to change throughout the year as new supports and opportunities become available, so we encourage families to stop and have a look when you are in the school grounds.

Supporting the wellbeing of our students works best when we work together with families. Sometimes knowing where to start or who to ask can be the hardest part, and we hope our Family Wellbeing Hub makes finding the right support a little easier.

If you see something on the board you would like more information about, or you’re looking for support and aren’t sure where to begin, please reach out to a member of our Wellbeing Team.

Emma Semaan

Student Support Leader

Breakfast Club - Book Week Fun!

Book Week made its way to Breakfast Club this week, with some wonderful characters joining us for breakfast! It was lovely to see our students embracing the celebrations from the moment they arrived at school.

A big thank you to everyone who dressed up and helped make our morning extra special!

Donations of Milo and jam are always greatly appreciated and help us keep Breakfast Club running for our students.

If you’re able to donate, items can be dropped off at the School Office at any time.

Thank you to our wonderful school community for your ongoing support! 💙

THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER

🌟 SHOW YOUR SPORTING SPIRIT! 🌟

It’s that time of year again! Come to school dressed in YOUR FAVOURITE SPORTING COLOURS!

🏉 AFL🏈 NRL⚽ SOCCER🏐 NETBALL🏀 BASKETBALL OR ANY SPORT YOU LOVE!

The choice is yours!

Bring along a gold coin donation to help support the Fight Cancer Foundation.

Your donation helps children with cancer continue their education while undergoing treatment. ❤️

🎉 LET’S FINISH TERM 3 IN STYLE!

Dress up, show your colours, have some fun and help us raise money for a wonderful cause!

❤️💙💛💚 Wear it. Support it. Celebrate it! 💜🖤🧡

From your Junior School Counsellors and Mrs Sneddon

Parents & Friends Committee News

Father's Day Stall

The P&F Association would like to thank students and their families for purchasing Father's Day gifts this week. Our final tally is still being worked out and will be announced in the next newsletter.

Thank you to the parents who volunteered their time to help with the many tasks involved in planning, setting up and running the stalls. Your presence and input helped the stalls run smoothly and feedback was overwhelmingly positive from both students and staff.

Colour Run - Save The Date

Our next P&F event is our biggest fundraiser - the annual Colour Run!

Flyers and official fundraising packs will be sent out in the coming weeks but for now here is the key information.

Date: Friday 23rd October 2026

Time: 2.30pm onwards

Venue: School Oval

We invite families to watch a short promotional video - link HERE.

Next Meeting

Our next meeting is as follows:

Date: Tuesday 13th October

Time: 7-8pm

Location: Adult Learning Centre, Trafalgar Primary School, opposite the office with a Zoom link also available upon request. Please sign in at the office first.

Doors will be open from 6.30pm onwards for any parents that would like to catch up for a chat and BYO cuppa beforehand. All welcome.

New members for our Committee and Parent Helpers List are always welcome - membership is free and you choose how involved you'd like to be. Reach out to us if you'd like to join and be a part of the fun this year.

If you have any feedback, questions, would like to be added to our Parent Helper List, or would like to join P&F for 2026, please contact us:

via email - TPSpandfSecretary@gmail.com
or via our Google Contact form - link HERE

Kind regards,

Jane Cook

Committee Secretary

Trafalgar Primary School - Parents & Friends Association

TPSpandfSecretary@gmail.com

0418 561 403

The TheirCare Scoop

📖 Who’s That Bookworm?

Think you know our staff? Put your reading skills to the test! We’ve asked some of our staff members to share their favourite books, and now it’s up to you to guess who loves which book! 🤔

The answers will be revealed in Newsletter No. 15! Happy guessing! 📖✨

Upcoming Events – Action needed

A list of things we need parents and carers to do to ensure their student can attend events, camps or excursions

Trafalgar Cricket Club

Drouin Cricket Club

Trafalgar Junior Football Club

Trafalgar Tennis Club

Moe Little Athletics

Saver Plus Program

Baw Baw Mobile Library