Earlier this week, the college was closed due to Tuesday being classified as a Catastrophic Fire Danger day. Given the college is rated as a Category 4 school, it was instructed to close in accordance with the Victorian Government's Bushfire and Grassfire Preparedness policy. Before informing the community, conversations were held with representatives from Independent Schools Victoria and the Emergency Management Support Officer in the Education Department and both organisations confirmed we were required to close the school. Given the events of Tuesday (Grampians fires), let’s hope we don’t have to enforce another school closure any time soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with those families who have lost their homes and for the volunteer firefighters who continue to sacrifice to protect lives and homes.

I am pleased to announce that Mrs Christine Rokebrand will be joining the HTLC teaching team as the Year 5A classroom teacher for the remainder of the year. Christine’s experience has been predominantly in early childhood education but she has a primary school degree and is excited about the opportunity of working at the school and in the senior years of the Junior School. Christine will certainly apply herself to this role and I look forward to welcoming her to the HTLC community in the coming weeks.

This week it was exciting to see the students compete in an atmosphere of friendly competition at the junior and secondary swimming carnivals. Both days had tremendous participation from the students and I was impressed at the skill on display, but also the encouragement and enthusiasm from the students. This is another timely reminder of what a fantastic college we have.

On Sunday, an Installation Service for myself and the HTLC teaching staff was held at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church. This service was well attended by our staff and the congregation enjoyed the opportunity to engage with the college staff and install them into their positions. The partnership between church and school has always been strong and Sunday’s combined worship service confirmed the strong bonds that still exist. It was great to have newly appointed LEVNT Executive Director, Mr Colin Minke, in attendance to oversee my Installation and then visit the school on Monday to tour the facilities and discuss future plans.

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human master.

Mr Jason Przibilla, Acting College Principal

by Emma Strelan

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city (Revelation 22:1,2a).

Restoration – things back to the way they should be. How they were in the beginning before we ruined everything. That’s what God will do at the end of time, right? Fix everything, restore it, purge the world of things that do not glorify him. (Either that or whisk us away to heaven where we sit in the clouds playing harps...)

Does that mean we should look forward to a Garden of Eden lifestyle: a couple of people sitting around in a garden, petting docile tigers, and bringing scanty fig leaves back into fashion? (Meanwhile, Adam and Eve grumble, ‘We wore those when we were young! Can’t believe they’re back!’)

Is God’s vision for restoration really going to include wiping out thousands of years of human culture and development? If so, what’s the point of it all?

But here in Revelation, humanity isn’t finally restored to a lost paradise. That would entail God ignoring the movement of history from a single person to two, to a whole community, and to multitudes of nations. God’s not going to wipe out eons of human history and plonk us all back in the Garden of Eden, excised of our culture and communities.

The new Jerusalem – the new ‘paradise’ – is a city. And the nations will bring to the city their cultural treasure and riches.

This means that the work we do now isn’t for naught. We can joyfully participate in the beautiful, creative, joy-filled parts of the world, with hope for its beautiful restoration to come.

While we shouldn’t go too far in setting our specific expectations for the new kingdom (it is, after all, far greater than the human mind can imagine), I encourage you to consider what brings joy in your life that you can hope God restores fully in the future – and how might he be calling you to participate in that restoration now?

Heavenly Father, we await in eager anticipation for the time when your glory will live fully among your people, and you will restore everything to its glory and perfect that which we have clumsily made. Thank you for giving us glimpses of that future glory in the world today. Amen.

Assembly on Monday

We will have a Junior School assembly on Monday. Please join us if you have the time! In Week 5, we will have a whole school assembly on the Monday to install and present the House Captains and SRC members with their badges.

Parent-teacher sharing sessions on Tuesday and Thursday

Thank you to those parents who have signed up (online), ready to share about their children and how they learn! Next week is the golden opportunity for parents and teachers to meet face to face, on an individual basis to begin your co-educator partnership together. It is great to ensure that your teacher knows the face behind the parent's name, and likewise, you as a parent can use the time to get to know the individual/s who spends the majority of school time with your child! Our classroom staff are the people to whom we as parents entrust the duty of care for our child, so it makes sense to take this opportunity to get to know them! Bookings have now closed however, you can still make a time with your child’s teacher directly.

Operation 19:14 on next week

Just a plug to let you know of the free children’s entertainment night at Sawyer Park on Friday next week! Our school supports the event in kind, as do the Christian churches of Horsham. Come down between 5pm and 8pm and show your support as it will be a fun-packed three hours with a colour run and free T-shirt! Thank you to those in our community who are involved in this great event!

Swimming carnival result

What a blessing it is to have Mr Matthew McLoughlin in the F-12 Sports Coordinator role this year! Parents, staff and students, I’m sure, join me in thanking Matt for his energy, enthusiasm and dedication to our Junior School swimming carnival day. LOWAN won the day in a three-peat performance. Please read more in the sports section!

A blast from the past - staffing news

It is great that former parent Christine Rokebrand (who will join us to teach Year 5) and Lutheran churchman Jack Janetzki (who will be taking the VCE students) will be spotted over the next few weeks assisting our students! It is such a great strength of our community to have a network of willing and able people at a time when teaching staff are hard to come by. Thank you also to Lou Krelle (former parent) and Chris Surridge (former HTLC teacher and board member) who are also helping bridge that gap in staffing while we advertise for a new Woodwork teacher.

Behaviour in the Junior School

This week, I have worked with some parents who have fed back both particular and general occasions of student behaviour at school. Next week I will be working with our staff to restate our expectations of student behaviour. We will then use this information to reform our guidelines and processes that sit under our behaviour management policy.

I invite you also to feed into this process by emailing me at the weekend if you would like to also state your views.

Community prayer groups

Our staff prayer group continues to have a strong attendance on a Wednesday morning. So far I have had three people who have contacted me to be a part of a wider community prayer group. Please see me in person or shoot me an email if you also would like to be involved somehow! We are planning that we will connect by phone, in pairs and triads more than meet in person, via a ‘text tree’ with prayer requests in our community.

Mr Adam Borgas, Head of Junior School

Uniform

All secondary students are reminded that sports uniform may be worn only on specified days for each year level and during timetabled periods for those students who have undertaken VCE programs requiring sports attire. Students are encouraged to check with their Year Level Coordinator or homeroom teacher if they are unsure of these days.

Swimming sports

Preparations have been underway the past few weeks for our secondary swimming sports, which were on today at the Horsham Aquatic Centre. Senior House Captains have worked tirelessly to encourage student involvement in the day across competitive novelty and fashion events.

After-school study sessions

All VCE students are encouraged to take advantage of the after-school sessions when provided by staff from Monday to Thursday evenings from 3.30pm to 4.30pm. Private study time is also available for students at this time.

Support staff are available to assist Middle School students to work in the study space on Monday and Wednesday nights from 3.30pm to 4.40pm.

Students leaving the college grounds

Students who are unwell during the day at any time are asked to inform the front office who will contact parents, if needed, regarding their departure from the school.

Year 9 report

Welcome to our new students

This week in Year 9, we have been excited to welcome two new students,
Harper B-H and Shilani T. Both girls are settling quickly into school life at HTLC.

Rite Journey

Students have started their year-long Rite Journey Program and have excitedly taken on their first challenge of aiming for 14 days complaint-free.
Parents will receive a letter shortly explaining the coming Calling/Departure Ceremony and Activity Day that will be on Thursday, 29 February and Friday, 1 March.

Year 10 report

Year 10s have had an excellent start to the year settling into the new routines over in the Senior Centre. There has been a buzz in the air as students prepared for the swimming sports and the inevitable win by Lowan.

The Year 10s have been looking at different areas around the school in Pastoral Care and how these spaces can be better used at recess and lunchtime. Students are also preparing for an excursion to the Stawell Gold Mines on 27 February where they will be given an educational tour of the site and information about mine site job opportunities across the region.

Mrs Sally Kuchel, Head of Senior School

Black Ranges Senior Cricket

Due to the Catastrophic Fire Danger Rating on Tuesday, 13 February, this match has been postponed until further notice. Once an update has been received from the Black Ranges sport division, families and students will be notified.

Hockey Victoria Roadshow

We are excited to welcome the Hockey Victoria Roadshow to our school on Friday, 23 March. Students in Years 2 to 4 will be given the fantastic opportunity to try out the exciting game of hockey. They will learn the skills of the game through exciting game-based activities suited to every year level and ability. Hockey Victoria's participation officers will provide an engaging, fun, and safe hockey experience for everyone. If you enjoy the sessions during school, you can continue with your hockey experience by joining a local Hookin2Hockey program https://www.hockey.org.au/hook....

HTLC Equestrian Interschools

Natimuk A and P society is running an interschools qualifier ring at the show on Saturday, 23 March. This event is designed for anyone interested in participating in the Equestrian Victoria Interschools State Championships, to be held at Werribee in the Easter school holidays. Competing at Natimuk will meet the participation requirement to be able to enter this event and represent HTLC. Please contact Amanda Rudolph via amanda.rudolph@htlc.vic.edu.au for further information.

HTLC swimming carnivals

Congratulations to LOWAN for securing a three-peat of Junior School Swimming Carnival titles yesterday at the Horsham Aquatic Centre. The students showed off their House colours and gave it their all in every event. I would like to thank the staff, parent volunteers and the House Captains for their fantastic efforts in ensuring the day ran smoothly.

Age champions for the 2024 Junior School Swimming Carnival were:

• 9/10-year-olds: Lacey A (girls) and Javier B(boys)
• 11-year-olds: Emily L (girls) and Abel N (boys)
• 12-year-olds: Luella B (girls) and Vincent B (boys)

The Secondary School Swimming Carnival was today at the Horsham Aquatic Centre. The results of this event will be published in the newsletter next week.

Lost property from the swimming carnivals will be kept at the front office.

Coming events

February

13 - Black Ranges intermediate and senior cricket (POSTPONED)

23 - Years 2-4 Hockey Roadshow Clinic

26 - Black Ranges secondary swimming finals

28 - Little Desert primary swimming finals

HTR Trials: 2024 season

March

7 - Little Desert primary tennis finals

16 - AHPVSS round one: Mount Gambier eight-hour

22 - Years F-2 Athletics Carnival

22 - Greater Western Region primary and secondary swimming finals

25 - Black Ranges intermediate and senior volleyball

26 - Greater Western Region primary tennis

26 - Secondary Athletics Carnival

27 - Years 3-6 Athletics Carnival

April

19 - State primary and secondary swimming finals

19 - Black Ranges intermediate and senior girls AFL

22 - HTLC primary and secondary cross-country

23 - Greater Western Region intermediate and senior volleyball

Mr Matthew McLoughlin, F-12 Sport Coordinator

Adjusting to the rhythm of a new school year takes a lot of energy. There are old patterns to re-establish and some new routines to build to accommodate changes to children maturing and taking on more responsibilities and other changes such as adjustments to extracurricular activities.

For the sake of the whole family, routines are needed to put some structure and stability into the school days, weeks and terms, and although they can take some effort to establish, will ultimately prove helpful in making everything more manageable and (hopefully) easier!

Here is a simple but useful article from Happy Families about the power of habits: https://www.happyfamilies.com.au/articles/the-power-of-habit

There are loads more practical and easy-to-apply resources on the Happy Families website.

New jackets available

Holy Trinity now has puffer jackers available ahead of winter!

Students from Years 6 to 12 can wear the jackets, which cost $95.

Second-hand uniforms

The uniform shop has a range of second-hand items available to buy.

Visit the shop on Mondays from 9am to 4pm or Fridays from 9am to 2pm to see what's available.

If you have old uniforms you would like to get rid of, please consider leaving them with the uniform shop.

Horsham will have a chemical collection day on 9 March. For more information and to register please see the following link: https://www.sustainability.vic.gov.au/recycling-and-reducing-waste/at-home/dispose-of-household-chemicals-detox-your-home