31 January 2024

From the Desk of the Acting Principal

Week 2 , Term 1

Welcome back!

While the arrival of Cyclone Kirrily disrupted the start to the 2024 school year, we are now back on track, and it is “business as usual”. We had a great team of staff, parents and family members attend a working bee on Sunday morning to ensure our school grounds were clear of debris and ready for
the return of students. I would like to thank each and every person who helped out – it is yet another example of the wonderful community we have here at Good Shepherd. I hope you and your families also came through the cyclone with minimal damage and disruption.

Term 1 is always a busy and exciting time, with lots of events planned. The first event is our Parent
Information Night, being held tonight (Wednesday 31 January) in your child’s classroom. Each year
level will host two sessions, starting at 5pm and 5.30pm. This is the perfect opportunity to meet your
child’s teacher and find out what is planned for the year.

The next significant event is our Opening Liturgy and induction of our senior leaders, being held this
Friday (2 February). All parents are welcome to attend the liturgy, which commences at 8.40am in
the Good Shepherd School BBC.

We have welcomed a number of new families to Good Shepherd this year, across all year levels. All
newcomers should have received an email with a Compass Parent Portal log-in. Using this log-in, you
can access information about your child, log absences and view school reports. If you haven’t
received an email, please check your spam or junk folder, as they often end up there! If you still
can’t find it, contact the school office for assistance.

This week, you will also receive two forms to fill in – one is an “Acceptable Use of IT” form, the other
a “Media Consent” form. Please complete both and return to your classroom teachers ASAP.

Maxine Nolan

AP

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Acting Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning

Talofa lava parents, carers and students and welcome back to the 2024 school year!

I am thrilled to be continuing as a member of the GSCS Leadership Team this year. Due to system leadership re-structures, my role title has changed this year to Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning – APPL for short! 🍎

Curriculum News 👩‍🏫🍎📖

Australian Curriculum V9.0

The latest Australian Curriculum Review made improvements to the Foundation to Year 10
curriculum by refining, realigning and decluttering the content.

The Australian Curriculum, Version 9.0 (Acv9.0) is a more stripped-back and teachable
curriculum that identifies the essential content our children should learn.

This year at Good Shepherd, teachers will be implementing the ACv9.0 Mathematics Curriculum. Teachers have been engaged in professional learning about this curriculum since last year and have been participating in planning sessions with the APPL and Curriculum Advisers in preparation to teach, assess and report on this curriculum version this year.

Sports News ⚽️ 🏀 🏈 ⚾️ 🎾 🏐 🏉 🎱

Swimming Lessons will begin next Monday 5th February for our Year 4, 5, 6 students. 
Please ensure you return your child’s swimming permission notes to their class teacher
asap.
Keep an eye out on our school Facebook page and your emails for further information.

School Events 📅🗓📆

This evening we will host our annual Parent Information Night. Two concurrent sessions will
be run at 5pm and 5:30pm. Sessions will be held in your child’s classroom.
Come along and meet your child's teachers, discover what your child is learning this year
and find out about the GSCS Way.

Have a wonderful week ahead and please come and say talofa or hello when you see me around!

Rebecca Rowan

AAPA

rrowan6@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

Greetings. My name is Rebecca Kershaw and my role at Good Shepherd Catholic School is as the APRE – Assistant Principal – Religious Education. I have been on staff at GSCS for the past 4 years and within Catholic Education for over 20 years across New Zealand, New South Wales and now Queensland. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here at GSCS getting to know all our children and their families and supporting and nurturing them on their personal faith journeys. I look forward to getting to know all our new and returning students and families better this year and working in partnership to support your children in their learning and relationship with God.

Opening Liturgy
Our Opening Liturgy will be held on Friday 2nd of February, in the our Good Shepherd BBC, at 8.40am. Our School Captains and Sports Captains will be presented with their badges at our liturgy and our new Year 6 students will take their leadership pledge. All families and community members are welcome to attend.

Mini Vinnies
Notes will go home today with interested Year 4, 5 and 6 students to join our Mini Vinnies Group for 2024. Mini Vinnies is the Primary School section of the St Vincent De Paul Society. A commitment to be involved for the whole year is required by students who wish to join this group. Interested students need to return their permission note as soon as possible. 

Breakfast Club

The Good Shepherd Breakfast Club will be held Monday - Friday at 8:10am-8:25am in the shelter shed. The Breakfast Club has had a great response from the students and school community.  As you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it helps students to concentrate and focus on their learning.  Toast will be available free of charge for all students. The Woolworths at Rasmussen are kindly donating bread for the program on a weekly basis.  We thank them for their generosity and support.  It would be wonderful if families in could assist by donating some spreads for the program (vegemite, jam and honey in a squeeze bottle if possible) this term. These can be left at the Office.

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – Friday 2^nd February

On February 2, we observe the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, honouring Jesus Christ’s presentation in the Temple when he was a young child. The feast of the Presentation of the Lord takes place 40 days after Christmas. According to Jewish law, if the firstborn child was a male, the infant would be given, or consecrated, to God. This feast commemorates how Jesus, as a baby, was presented to God in the Temple in Jerusalem. This presentation finds its complete and perfect fulfillment in the mystery of the passion, death and Resurrection of the Lord.

February 2 is early in the New Year and is a wonderful reminder that God is with us.  He is the Light that has come to dispel our darkness.  Moreover, we belong to Him and are His beloved children.  He came to save us, He loves us, and He always walks with us.

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Prep A & B

Prep students have had the most wonderful time being ‘BIG’ kids at ‘BIG’ school. We have started the term with getting to know each other and the classroom we will be doing our learning in. We have discussed rules and expectations and students have been excited to receive Praise Notes when they are making the right choices and following the GSCS Way. Students were immersed in stories about Starting School and drawing pictures of their favourite parts of starting school. We have been singing Nursery Rhymes associated with numbers and practising our counting skills. Students have been building relationships through our daily Investigation time where they are finding friends with the same interests. 

Prep A

Prep B

Breakfast Club and Running Club

Both Clubs will run every morning. Breakfast Club will run from the Tuckshop from 8:10am and Running Club will be held on the Junior Oval from 8:10am as well.

The Good Shepherd Way

Term 1, Week 1

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Community where I connect and engage.

Our Community prayer is below:

Term 1, Week 2

The Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action for Week 2 will be Compassion where I show care and concern for others.

Our Compassion prayer is below:

The GSCS Way

The GSCS Way is our positive behaviour support program here at Good Shepherd Catholic School.

All in our community are encouraged to:

• Give My Best
• Show Respect
• Compassion and Care
• Safe Responsible and Fair

Each week we focus on a different area of our matrix.

This week we are focusing on: Before School. 

In Term 1, Week 2 we are focusing on: In the classroom. 

Environmental Tips

Tuckshop

Wednesday - Thursday - Friday

Please contact the school office or Ann-Maree at Tuckshop with any enquiries.

CUTOFF time to order TUCKSHOP
from FLEXISCHOOLS
is 8:30am.

PLEASE NOTE THAT ALL ORDERS ARE TO BE PLACED ONLINE AT THE LINK BELOW. Please visit the website to set up your account if you are new to Flexischools.

Flexischool How To Guides for Parents and Caregivers
• Online help is available any time at Flexischools via the link below.
• Phone between 8am - 12pm (AEDST) on weekdays or on the parent phone line (1300 361 769). 

How-To Guides for Parents
Flexischool has spent some time over the holidays developing some quick how-to guides for  parents. If you'd like to see these, please click the link below.
They include: 
•    Introduction to Flexischools;
•    How to Register; 
•    How to Top-Up;
•    How to Place an Order. 

Teacher Contacts

Parent Portal

If you have any problems accessing please send an email to the school office at rsmssn@tsv.catholic.edu.au. 

The Parent Portal allows you to:

View your child’s timetable and the school calendar
View up to date attendance information for your child
Enter details of upcoming absences or explain past absences or late arrivals for your son or daughter
Access your child’s Semester reports
Make bookings for Parent Teacher Interviews
View a news feed of school announcements, alerts and updates
Provide consent for school events/excursions
Communicate by email with your child’s teachers
Update your contact details (email and mobile phone number).

The parent portal is a web-based system that can be accessed by clicking this link:

An app called Compass School Manager is also available for both iPhones/iPads (via the App Store) and Android phones/tablets (via the Google Play Store). When you have installed the app, search for “Good Shepherd Catholic School – Rasmussen”.
The browser version of the Parent Portal contains more features than the app.  Please click the link below to access the Compass website which has an online guide and video for the Parent Portal.

Community News