SECONDARY NEWS
From the Assistant Principal

Miss Kim Bailey
kbailey@arm.catholic.edu.au

Congratulations...

Inverell Breakfast Toastmasters Youth Communicator of the Year

Congratulations to Hannah Bourke, Jessica Hill, Maryann Otieno, and Elkie Sargeant, Holy Trinity's Youth Communicator of the Year 2024 nominees. The girls all spoke exceptionally well at the Toastmasters Dinner on Friday night.

Glen Innes Beef Extravaganza

This was another successful show for the HTS Show Team. Congratulations to all students who participated over the three days.

NSWCCC Athletics

Congratulations to all students who competed yesterday at the NSWCCC Athletics Championships in Sydney.

State Dance Festival

Congratulations to Year 10 students Elkie Sargeant and Jessica Hill who have been selected to dance at the State Dance Festival this week in Sydney.

Jess and Elkie study Dance via the Southern Cross School of Distance Education. Jess is dancing as a member of the Far North Coast Dance Ensemble and Elkie as a member of the State Dance Ensemble.

The State Dance Festival is held at the Seymour Centre in Sydney and showcases choreographed dance works. Encompassing different dance styles, items explore the art of dance to achieve high-quality and engaging performances reflecting the diversity of learners across NSW. Items are underpinned by creativity, safe dance practice, technique, confidence, cooperation and respect for one another.

Debating

During Terms 2 and 3, students from Stages 4 and 5 participated in the Armidale Diocese Debating Competition, an annual event coordinated by Ms. Kerrie Priddis and open to all schools within the Armidale CSO.

Holy Trinity School has once again achieved exceptional success in this competition. Out of 10 debates, our students won all but 1 round. As a result, Holy Trinity School has been declared the overall “Winner” in the Stage 4 and Stage 5 categories.

Stage 4

Year 7 participants:

● Ruby Parella

● Dom Kenny

● Emina O’Neill-Yee

● Sav Golding

● Grace Doyle

● Ryan Hill

● Julian Collins

● Ella Walford

For many in this team, it was their first experience with debating. Nonetheless, their performancedemonstrated a level of skill and aptitude typically seen in more seasoned debaters. Their mutual supportand commitment to teamwork were exemplary. Special thanks to Ruby, Ryan, and Julian for their eloquentspeaking roles, and to Dom, Sav, Grace, and Ella for their contributions to speech development and rebuttal. A particular mention goes to Emina, who excelled as the team coordinator and advisor. I am eager to see this group continue their debating journey into Year 8.

Year 8 participants:

● Max Sweeney

● Kobe Butcher

● Sav Lea

● Lily Foley

● Bethany Pearse

● Kate McBean

● Haylee Phillipps-Lewis

● Sheldon Brown

This well-coordinated and polished team displayed teamwork, analysis, and maturity far beyond their years. Thanks to Max, Kobe, Sav, and Lily for their exemplary teamwork and flexibility. Kate, Hayley, and Sheldon, who joined the team later in the competition, showed remarkable skill in argument development and rebuttals. A special acknowledgment goes to Bethany Pearse, whose role as the third speaker and her coordination of team arguments ensured thorough research and preparation for each debate.

Well done, Year 8 - you are sure to strengthen our Stage 5 team in 2025.

Stage 5

Year 9 participants:

● Sasha Bryant

● Halina Huynh

● Hannah Sanderson

Congratulations to Sasha and Halina for building on their debating experience and presenting their cases with confidence and skill. A special mention to Hannah, who, despite being new to debating, opened her team’s motion with impressive poise and confidence. This team has great potential to develop further and become our most senior debaters next year. I look forward to working with them in 2025 and beyond!

Year 10

● Elkie Sergeant

● Maryann Otieno

● Hannah Bourke

● Jess Hill

It is with personal sadness that I bid farewell to this team. It has been a privilege to work with and mentor these students. Thank you to Elkie for her ongoing commitment, and to Maryann for joining us. Both have demonstrated remarkable skill and dedication. A very special mention goes to Hannah and Jess, whom I have had the honour of supporting for the past four years. Their dedication to HTS debating and their development of outstanding skills have been truly remarkable. Thank you for your time and trust in my coaching since Year 7.

Finally, my gratitude extends to Mrs. Carrie Watchirs for her adjudication work, Ms. Kim Bailey for her support and time allocation, and to all Secondary and Year 6 teachers who facilitated the students' training and planning. Jane Taylor

RATE A MATE IN WEEK 8

Congratulations to the following students who were rated by a mate last week.

Savannah	Golding
Flynn	Ellis-Brien
Josefa	Savou
Emina	O'Neill-Yee
Naomi	Robinson
Kaylee	Woolcott
Ella	Walford
Ryan	Hill
Pippa	Lynch
Dominic	Kenny
Bohan	Randall
Willow	Garrett
Zara	Butcher
Tobias	McCudden
Kadia	Tyers
Sheldon	Brown
Layla	Mair
Jelena	Durmisevic
Sophie	Neppl
Maya	Taylor
Indy	Johns
Kirby	Kasper
Kier	Afable
Oliver	Sinclair
Kaden	Blair
Angus	Norman
Baxter	Hawkins
Glen	Walford
Isadora	Brandao
Maria	Brandao
Kobie	Cox
Sam	Tindall
Kailie	Dyer-Cleal
Ryan	Grant
Griffin	Sanderson
Alex	Stuart
Brian	Hancock
Sarah	Page
Millie	Wilson
Demi	Goldman
Lachlan	Tindall
Oskar	Devlin
Jaxon	Taber
Florence	Black
Jessica	Hill

Some of the acknowledgements are listed below.

He has always been there for me and he is my best mate.
She supports me and is always kind and respectful towards me.
She made sure I was included and always supports me and makes me feel happy.
Always being a kind, caring and generous friend.
They are a very kind and caring person and look out for others.
He is very kind and tries hard at school he deserves it a lot 💪.
She is kind and showed me around when I was new and didn’t know where things were.
Always trying his best in all areas of education and just a great friend.

Excursions

Final notes and relevant information regarding the excursions for Year 8 and Year 9 students have been sent to parents in recent weeks.

Parents can pay for the latest instalments for the upcoming excursions via the Compass Portal.

If financial assistance is required, please contact Mrs Rainger as soon as possible.

Consent forms for various activities may still need to be signed and returned for excursions.

Please contact the school if you have any queries about the upcoming excursions in Week 10.

2025 Stage 5 Electives

A PDF of the booklet is attached below.

Stage 5 Elective Choices 2025.pdf

Year 10 Term 3 Calendar and Assessment Outline

Year 10 were given a calendar and assessment outline for Term 3. It is a busy term, and this may help their time management and planning. They were given a hard copy, and an electronic copy was emailed. The schedule was also posted to Compass for both Year 10 students and families.

Year 10 T3 Calendar & Assessment Outline 2024.pdf

iDisorder

Dr. Larry Rosen, professor of psychology at California State University has a must-read book for parents called ‘iDisorder: Understanding Our Obsession with Technology and Overcoming Its Hold on Us’.

In this book, he discusses changes that occur to the brain's ability to process information and the ability to relate to the world due to daily consumption of media and use of technology. This obsession with technology can result in signs and symptoms of psychological disorders (which Dr. Rosen has labeled iDisorders) such as stress, sleeplessness, narcissism and a compulsive need to check-in with our technology.

However, it is important to note the word ‘obsession’. Dr. Rosen is not anti-technology, far from it. Instead, he argues that we need to become more aware of issues that can arise from over-use of technology and then implement strategies to deal with these. Self-awareness and a move towards restorative balance are essential.

Some of the ideas Dr. Rosen discusses are:

Ensure your child gets a full night’s sleep and that mobile phones are switched off during the night and ideally in a different room. If a student wakes in the night and checks their phone, however briefly, this will interrupt the sleep patterns for that night and disrupt essential memory processing.
Convene regular family dinners (3-4 times a week for 30-40 minutes) where technology is forbidden at the table – parents included! Dr Rosen points to the fact that many parents are also obsessed with technology and are modelling these behaviours to their children, for example, not paying full attention when their child is talking to them, instead answering email on their smartphone at the same time. Rosen believes we are massive self-interrupters, and we are training our children that if something buzzes, beeps or vibrates, we should jump and immediately check to see if there is something we should attend to right now.
Given the pervasiveness of technology in our lives, as well as the fact that technology evokes high levels of mental activity, we need to start taking technology ‘time-outs’ to reset our brains and refresh our capacity to process information. It is important to recognise that the constant lure of multiple technologies and our obsession with them is overloading our brain. If we want to avoid iDisorder and ensure our use of technology does not make us exhibit signs and symptoms of psychological disorders, then we need to reset our brain on a regular basis. You may decide to take a 10 minute break from technology every 2 hours or you may even decide to allocate at least one day a week where you focus your attention 100% on real life and shut off your technology for a significant portion of that day. During this time you could laugh or talk with friends or family, experience nature or do something active. The aim is to give the brain a chance to slow down and rest by doing something that does not involve electronic devices.

We live in a connected world and we can’t turn the clock back and take away all these fun new technological tools. So the message is, we need to learn to take care of our brains and take some small proactive steps to avoid a potential iDisorder.

REMEMBER to accept the invitation to Google Classroom Guardian Summaries

Device Policy

Students are not permitted to use their devices unless instructed by a teacher. This includes both the classroom and the playground. The students are aware of this policy and receive constant reminders in Pastoral Care and their teaching classes. There are also many posters displayed all around the school.

If a student needs to use their device, they must first seek permission from a teacher and use it in an area designated by the teacher. This is usually under their direct supervision or outside the Secondary staffroom.

If students cannot follow this policy, their phones are confiscated and placed securely in Miss Bailey's office, where they are collected by the student at the end of the school day.

Teachers record each time a device is confiscated. After it is confiscated for a second time, it remains at school until it can be collected by a parent or carer.

Making Contact with Teachers in the Secondary

If you have any questions or concerns about your child's learning or wellbeing, please contact Miss Bailey, your child's Pastoral Care teacher or their subject teacher. We are only too happy to assist.