HOLY TRINITY SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

SECONDARY NEWS 

From the Assistant Principal 

Public Speaking Finals

Secondary Public Speaking finals will be held on Thursday in the Hall from 9.00am. Parents and friends are welcome to attend.

The finalists are:

Year 7

Riley Hosking, Grace Taylor, Alen Varghese and Charlotte Young.

Year 8

Austin Arandale, Cilla Monie, Ellie Schutz and Anita Thivakon.

Year 9

Clay Adams, Bella O’Brien, Grace Thompson

and Lachlan Anderson.

Year 10

Connor Bryant, Luke Bryant, Grace Doyle,

Matthew Pinthong, Oscar Rainger and Campbell Watchirs.

 

We would also like to thank Ms Priddis, our School Consultant from the CSO, who will adjudicate the finals.

STUDY SKILLS TIP FOR JULY: TOP TIPS FOR OVERCOMMITTED STUDENTS

Maybe you are an elite athlete? Or a dedicated performer? Or someone who has many talents across lots of different areas and doesn’t want to give up any of your activities? No matter the reason, the bottom line is you are time-poor. You struggle to fit in everything you need to do for school, because of all of the other commitments in your life. The bad news is there is no magic solution that will easily fix this issue for you. You cannot create more time. The good news is that there are things you can do to make more efficient use of the time you have.

 

1. Don’t waste time in any of your classes at school. Make the most of every moment so you have less to do at home and set up a buddy system in case you miss any lessons. 

2. Prune your activities and see if there is anything you can cut to reduce the pressure.

3. Make a timetable so you can schedule in everything that you need to do and want to do.

4. Use all little pockets of time. If you are waiting before training then use that time to complete some homework.

5. Always prioritise before you start work to ensure that the most important and urgent work is completed first.

6. If you are too tired when you get home from training it may be better to get to bed early and get up a bit earlier in the morning when you are fresh and do your work then.

7. You may need to sacrifice an occasional lunchtime when you know you will be too busy that night.

8. Let go of perfectionism it may not be possible to do everything as fully as you would like. Take smart shortcuts when you can.

9. Use any big blocks of time to tackle the time-consuming tasks that you haven’t had time for.

10. Some work like study notes, assessments or major works may be able to be left to the holidays.

 

Remember to be kind to yourself.  It is difficult to have enough time to excel in every aspect of your life! All you can do is make good choices with the time you have and make the most of that time and still try and get the best results you can given the time constraints you are working under.

Write a Book in a Day

Write a Book in a Day is a creative and challenging team competition for writing groups and students in Years 5 to 12. Teams of up to ten have a maximum of twelve hours to write and illustrate a book from start to finish. To make it even more fun, unique parameters must be included in the story. Completed books are donated to children in hospitals all across Australia. 

 

Our Holy Trinity team will be competing on Wednesday 31 July between 8am - 5pm in our school library. The team will be supervised for the duration by Mrs Watchirs. 

 

Students will be picked up from the Library at 5.00pm.

Ekka

Good luck to Mrs Townsend and the HTS Show Team who are off to Ekka this Saturday to compete next week. 

 

We look forward to hearing about their success.

Year 10 Transition

Holy Trinity students have commenced their transition activities.

 

Holy Trinity School offers a transition to senior school/work program over the coming months. Students receive visits from representatives of both local high schools, followed up with visits to both Inverell High and Macintyre High.

 

In these sessions students are addressed by the staff from the schools, as well as a variety of guest speakers from TAFE, University and employers.

 

Among other topics, students have the opportunity to discuss subject selections, school-based traineeships and apprenticeships, career choices, work opportunities and tertiary study options.

 

Macintyre High School Principal Mr Lindsay Paul and Careers Advisor Mr Joe Ryan spoke with Year 10 last Wednesday and they will visit Macintyre High School this Friday from 9.15am - 1.15pm.

 

Careers Advisor Mr Peter Dal Santo and representatives from Inverell High School will speak with Year 10 next Tuesday prior to a visit to Inverell High in the coming weeks.

SUBJECT SPECIFIC ADVICE

If you are finding a particular subject difficult, the first place you should seek help should be your classroom teacher.  Firstly ask questions in class as problems arise. If you find you have too many questions to ask in class (as you’d end up disturbing the class) then ask your teacher if you can make a time to see them before or after class or during lunch or after school. Teachers are happy to help students who do their best and are keen to improve. Other places you might be able to find help are: books or extra textbooks in the school or local library, other students in the class, students in older years, other teachers at the school, family members, family friends. If you try all of these options and are still having problems, then you might consider looking for a tutor. Often ex-students from your school who in Years 11 or 12 might be interested in doing some tutoring or even teachers at other schools.

 

Vinnies Sleepout

The Junior Conference of St Vincent de Paul is holding a sleepout at Holy Trinity School Hall from Friday 9 August to Saturday 10 August.

 

The Primary representatives for Mini Vinnies and Year 5 and 6 children have been invited to participate. Secondary students will be running activities on the night and will also be staying for the sleepout.

 

The aims of the sleepout are:

  1. To give students an opportunity to spend time appreciating what it would be like to live without the privileges they have.
  2. To give students the opportunity to celebrate the works of St Vincent de Paul.
  3. To raise money for those less fortunate in our world.

Notes have been distributed to interested students and it is asked that they be returned to Mrs McLachlan as soon as possible.

TOP TIPS FOR OVERCOMMITTED STUDENTS

Maybe you are an elite athlete? Or a dedicated performer? Or someone who has many talents across lots of different areas and doesn’t want to give up any of your activities? No matter the reason, the bottom line is you are time-poor. You struggle to fit in everything you need to do for school, because of all of the other commitments in your life. The bad news is there is no magic solution that will easily fix this issue for you. You cannot create more time. The good news is that there are things you can do to make more efficient use of the time you have.

  

1. Don’t waste time in any of your classes at school. Make the most of every moment so you have less to do at home and set up a buddy system in case you miss any lessons. 

2. Prune your activities and see if there is anything you can cut to reduce the pressure.

3. Make a timetable so you can schedule in everything that you need to do and want to do.

4. Use all little pockets of time. If you are waiting before training then use that time to complete some homework.

5. Always prioritise before you start work to ensure that the most important and urgent work is completed first.

6. If you are too tired when you get home from training it may be better to get to bed early and get up a bit earlier in the morning when you are fresh and do your work then.

7. You may need to sacrifice an occasional lunchtime when you know you will be too busy that night.

8. Let go of perfectionism it may not be possible to do everything as fully as you would like. Take smart shortcuts when you can.

9. Use any big blocks of time to tackle the time-consuming tasks that you haven’t had time for.

10. Some work like study notes, assessments or major works may be able to be left to the holidays.

 

Remember to be kind to yourself.  It is difficult to have enough time to excel in every aspect of your life! All you can do is make good choices with the time you have and make the most of that time and still try and get the best results you can given the time constraints you are working under.

HELPING OUT A STRESSED CHILD

Many parents feel powerless to help when their child is stressed and overwhelmed about their schoolwork. It is not just senior students who experience this level of stress, research indicates that for some students this starts as early as Year 7.

If your child is experiencing stress and anxiety related to their schoolwork, here are some strategies you can try.

  1. FIND OUT MORE: Try and discover what it is that is causing the most anxiety. Does your student feel anxious about tests or assignments? Are they struggling to plan and manage their workload? Are they finding a particular subject difficult? It is very difficult to address the issue until you really uncover what the issue is. If they do not want to discuss with mum and dad, you may find asking a teacher who they like and respect to talk to them may lead to a better outcome.
  2. LET THE SCHOOL KNOW: Next talk to your child’s tutor or a teacher that is responsible for your child’s year group. You can either ask the school to investigate further and even take action to address the issue, or you can ask them to keep it confidential as you are just wanting to make them aware of the issue.
  3. DECIDE STRATEGIES: Once the problem is clear, next step is to decide what strategies to try (and you may need to try multiple strategies over time). You may have some ideas of things your child could try, you may find some ideas on the Study Skills Handbook site, or you may need to talk to teachers to learn from their expertise.
  4. DON’T GIVE UP: If a strategy doesn’t work, then try something different.  Different people will have different suggestions so google or talk to lots of teachers or other parents about the issue and see if they have other ideas you could try.
  5. CONSIDER EXTRA SUPPORT: Your child may need additional support. For example from a school counsellor, or a psychologist or a tutor. Make sure you are clear about the issue so you can find the right person to provide the additional support your child needs.