27 March 2024

From the Desk of the Acting Principal

Week 10 , Term 1

Can you believe it is the end of Term 1 already? Thank you to everyone in our school community for a wonderful term, with many highlights. Among the standouts were the fantastic turn out at our Grandparents Day celebration where over 150 grandparents joined us; our Opening Liturgy, which again had a great turn out; and the many achievements and special moments experienced by our students every day.

Another high point has been the increased parent/carer engagement in this year’s ECSI survey. There is one more chance to win a $100 Visa card this term, with the draw to be held on Thursday. To be in the running, simply complete the ECSI survey (the information was sent via Compass again last week) and send a screenshot/photo of the completion certificate to rsmssn@tsv.catholic.edu.au by midday tomorrow. Good luck!

2025 Prep Enrolments

If you have a little one ready to start Prep in 2025, now is the perfect time to enrol them! Enrolment forms are available from our school website, or you can drop by the office and collect one.

After school on Thursday April 18, we will also be hosting a Prep Open Session for potential 2025 Prep students and their families. Keep an eye on Facebook for more details.

Reminder- Extra Pupil Free Day: As advised last year, Townsville Catholic Education Office has approved an additional professional development day in 2024. The date will be Friday 26th April 2024 and will be a pupil free day. This day follows on from the ANZAC day public holiday on Thursday 25th April.

Families navigating difficulties around money, housing, health and racism

Many families struggle with financial difficulties, homelessness and navigating related support services. There may be other challenges they’re facing at the same time, such as physical illness, violence or racism. Experiencing these kinds of stressors can lead to feelings of shame, blame and powerlessness for both parents and children. They may pile up to create more difficulties – including social, emotional, physical and material challenges.

Emerging Minds Families has a number of resources that families can access independently. These resources have been co-designed with families who’ve been through tough times to spark hope for others when navigating difficulties around money, housing, health and racism and include:
• talking to children about family money struggles
• tips for families experiencing homelessness
• families responding to racism
• skills for navigating services, and much more.

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!

Please see below for what’s happening around our school.

Curriculum News 👩‍🏫

NAPLAN

The NAPLAN testing window has now closed for another year. We are proud of our Year 3 and 5 students who completed NAPLAN this year and did their best when they took the test! Teacher and parent feedback has been positive and we had an increased number of students participating this year. You will be advised through Compass when NAPLAN results are published.

PARENT/TEACHER/STUDENT INTERVIEWS

Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews continue this week. We thank parents and carers for their attendance and positive engagement when working in partnership with the school to ensure the best outcomes for all of our students.

FRIENDOLOGY

Do you often find yourself at a loss for advice when your children come to you with their friendship issues? Don’t worry, you’re not alone and we’re here to help.

This term, we launched URSTRONG Friendology as a whole school approach to empower students with friendship skills to create a community of kindness.  

Relationships are the heart of social-emotional wellbeing.  Friendology gives kids skills, language and self-confidence to be better friends and develop healthier friendships.  Using a kid-friendly approach, educators and parents learn a simple framework to support and coach kids towards positive friendships.

Explicitly teaching children how to develop healthy friendships and manage conflict in a respectful way is the key to bullying prevention creating safe, caring learning environments and inspiring kinder, happier children.

Next term, we will be offering a parent information session to educate parents and carers about the program so we have a common language at home and at school to talk about friendships. Keep an eye out on our socials for more information. 

Sports News ⚽️ 🏀 🏈 ⚾️ 🎾 🏐 🏉 🎱

The Bill Nettle Rugby League Challenge and the NQ Netball Cup scheduled for tomorrow have been cancelled due to the condition of the fields caused by the recent rain and with further rain predicted tomorrow. Thank you to Miss Ford, Mrs Shaxson and the selected students for their efforts in training for these events.

Prep to Year 2 Swimming lessons will commence next term in Week 2. Students will participate in a 40 minute learn to swim program over three weeks. Lessons will be taught by Austswim certified instructors at Kylie’s Swim School. Please ensure you return your child’s signed permission note to their class teacher.

School Events 📅 

Wishing you and your family a happy and Holy Easter break and may the resurrection of Jesus Christ fill your heart with hope and love.  See you next term!

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

Stations of the Cross

This Thursday 28^th March we will be having a special ‘Stations of the Cross’ liturgy. This assembly will be led some of our Year 6 leaders, who walked us through the ‘Stations of the Cross’ in preparation of the Easter Season. The Stations of the Cross is a form of prayer that is used traditionally during Lent. Each of the 14 Stations retells part of Jesus' Passion (his suffering and death) through images and words. These Stations of the Cross introduce us to Jesus' Passion, breaking it down into stages that they can reflect upon and remember. All parents, carers and community members are warming invited to join us for this special occasion.

What is Easter all about??

On Christmas, we celebrate the Incarnation—God becoming human – with Jesus’s birth. During Lent, we recall the cross—Jesus’s crucifixion and death.

At Easter, we rejoice in the empty tomb—Jesus’s resurrection. Easter is the day Jesus rose from the dead after being crucified.

The empty tomb means that Jesus’s words rang true. He fulfilled the promises of Scripture and conquered sin and death.

Had Jesus not risen from the dead, the world would have seen Him as just a prophet or teacher instead of who he is: the Son of God, the Messiah.

Jesus overcoming death is the reason we know His name today. It’s the foundation of all Christianity. With His death and resurrection, Jesus opened heaven to all of us. Because of Easter, we know that no matter what sufferings we experience or what sins we struggle with, God is always with us. Easter is everything.

PROJECT COMPASSION at GSCS

Please ensure that ALL Project Compassion boxes are returned to school by this Thursday 28^th March. Don’t forget you can use your Project Compassion box for your donations or you can donate online via the Caritas Australia website at: lent.caritas.org.au

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Year 4

Year 4 students have enjoyed a wonderful term and embarked on a dynamic learning journey for 2024. In Science, we have focussed on the life-cycle of animals. This tied in beautifully with our HASS focus which was to investigate the countries of South America and Africa. The students chose an animal from these countries and worked hard to create a detailed information report on their animal. We also planned a holiday itinerary to one of these countries selecting specific man-made sightseeing tours. A lot of in depth research took place, allowing us to hone our technical skills. 

Our maths lessons have covered various strands such as Number and Geometry and we are now experts on 2D shapes and angles.

In Religion, we learned about the Holy Trinity and the Easter story.

Library

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 10

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Stewardship where I care for all of creation.

Our Stewardship prayer is below:

Term 2, Week 1

The Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action for Week 1 will be Community where I connect and engage.

Our Community 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: at the office. 

In Term 2, Week 1 we are focusing on: at assembly. 

Environmental Tips

Replace Disposables 

Wherever possible, replace disposable products with reusable ones (i.e., razor, food storage, batteries, ink cartridges (buy refill ink), coffee filters, furnace or air conditioner filters, etc.).

Lost and Found

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