31 July 2024

From the Desk of the Principal

Week 4 , Term 3

Dear families,

CATHOLIC EDUCATION WEEK - Last week, we celebrated Catholic Education Week.  As I am getting to know our school community, there is so much that I am grateful for each day - our amazing students and dedicated staff are at the top of my list!  We celebrated with a whole school liturgy and Acts of Kindness being practiced throughout the week. Our Deadly Learners team were nominated by our school and recognised with a Catholic Education Week award for their work with our First Nations students and families and supporting all students and staff to engage with First Nations perspectives through learning activities and days of celebration.  School captain Anarchy joined me and Father Joseph Reddy to represent our school at the Catholic Education Week Mass at the Cathedral and had the important role of helping Bishop Tim cut the cake!  Thank you to all of our parents, carers and families who have chosen Good Shepherd with the desire for your children to experience the Catholic school difference - not just a high quality education but one that is based on Gospel values and helps to form them spiritually so that they can lead life to the full. 

PRINCIPAL VISITS - I have loved visiting every classroom to spend some quality time with each teacher and their students. Each class came up with a list of interesting questions for me to answer so that they could get to know me better.  They certainly came up with a wide range of questions that had me thinking deeply and sharing stories and photos of my previous schools, hobbies and family as well as why I was inspired to become a teacher and school leader and my motivation for joining Good Shepherd. Some classes also asked about my first impressions and plans for improvement.  One of my biggest hopes for improvement is to ensure our students' voices are heard when we are seeking ideas to strengthen and improve our school.  

A SAFE SCHOOL -  LOCK DOWN This week, you may have heard your children talking about a Lock Down Practice.  This was completed with great success and I would like to congratulate our safety coordinator Lisa Wurr for her organisation and all of our staff and students for their excellent attention to detail.  When the "ballet music" played, our classes became so still and quiet that it would be easy to imagine that it was a Sunday afternoon and not a normal Wednesday morning!  It is important to practice these drills so that we are ready in case of any potential emergency.

A SAFE SCHOOL - CARPARK & PICK UP ZONE  Families may have noticed that there is a rope barrier across our bus entryway. This is because some cars have been using this entrance with the risk of collision.  This barrier is moved when we have a bus booked to arrive at the school.  All cars should be entering at the far entrance and either parking or moving smoothly through the pick up zone.  At the pick up zone, please keep moving forward and do not stop and block the traffic flow.  If your child has not arrived, please move forward and either park or rejoin the line.  Further to this, the bus zone is not an area for cars to drop or pick up students.  Thank you so much for your assistance in keeping our car park safe. 

God bless,

Majella Lynch-Harlow

Principal

mlynchharlow3@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning

After a much-needed holiday, it is great to be back at Good Shepherd and back into my role as Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning (APPL).

Many of you would have heard about the “new” curriculum being introduced – Australian Curriculum version 9.0. The previous version was 8.4. Version 9.0 is being introduced gradually, with the rollout expected to be completely embedded by 2027. At GSCS, we are teaching and assessing V9.0 Mathematics and The Arts, with English, HASS, HPE and Science being implemented in 2025.

The Australian Curriculum is designed to help all young Australians to become successful learners, confident and creative individuals and active and informed citizens. Key to this is the use of “cognitive verbs”, which help support teachers in the explicit teaching of thinking, as well as signalling to students the type of mental operations they are to use when demonstrating what they know, understand and can do. Cognitive verbs are categorised using Marzano & Kendall’s four levels of cognitive process: retrieval, comprehension,
analysis and knowledge utilisation (2007).

Cognitive verbs are used throughout all curriculum areas and build on previously taught skills. Each newsletter, I will explain one of the cognitive verbs so that parents can support the development of these skills at home. This week’s cognitive verb is describing.

What is describing?

To describe is to give an account of a situation, event, pattern or process. When describing, the writer or speaker must consider whether the target audience will be able to understand the description. Effective description, particularly description that includes complicated ideas, may require logical sequencing, i.e. ordering the parts of the description. For example, when describing photosynthesis, it would be important to logically sequence the parts of the process to help the audience understand the concept. Simple descriptions, such as a description of a piece of furniture, may not require as much consideration in terms of sequencing.

A process of describing may include:

• identifying the facts, patterns or processes
•  ordering the information
• giving an account of the characteristics or features.
  
  For Prep to Year 2 describing is being able to:

The ability to describe is part of the Achievement Standard in almost every learning area from Prep to Year 6.  For example, in Prep HPE, students describe similarities and differences between themselves and others, and different emotions people experience. In Year 5 HASS, students evaluate information and data to identify and describe patterns or trends. Describing is part of the comprehension cognitive process.

Maxine Nolan

APPL

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

ST MARY OF THE CROSS MACKILLOP

This Thursday the 8th of August, we celebrate the feast of Australia’s first saint - St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

Mary MacKillop was born in 1842 in Melbourne, Victoria.

Mary cared about the people who had no-one to look after them such as boys and girls who just roamed the streets, children in the country who had no school to go to, people who were old and sick and people who had nowhere to live. Mary wanted more than anything to help these people.

Mary went to work as a teacher in a little country town in South Australia called Penola. There she met Father Julian Tension Woods who also wanted to do something for the poor children
who could not afford to pay the money needed to go to school.

Together, in 1866, they began the first St Joseph’s School in an old stable. Two of Mary’s younger sisters also taught in the school and other young women came to help them.

On 19 March, 1866 – St Joseph’s Day – Mary started to wear a simple dark dress and began the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph. Now as a Sister, she dedicated her life to doing God‛s work. As more and more young women joined Mary as Sisters, they were able to start more schools. All children were welcome at their schools, even if they couldn‛t pay.

In Adelaide they opened a place for women who had nowhere to live, an orphanage for children who had no parents to look after them and a house where poor people could come and stay. The Sisters visited people who were in gaol and those who were poor and sick.

Mary MacKillop died on 8 August, 1909 in North Sydney. Mary helped many people during her lifetime and after she died the ‘Sisters of St Joseph’ kept on doing the good work she had started.

Mary MacKillop kept her faith in God and bravely challenged those who did not support her vision for a more caring world.

Mary is an important Australian who spent her life helping people, especially children. She is Australia’s first Saint.

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Year 3

Year 3 students enjoyed participating in the GSCS NAIDOC Deadly Day Out and joined in across a wide range of the scheduled activities/workshops. They danced, cooked, participated in the Blackhawks fitness circuit, learnt more about sea turtles, heard how weapons and other tools were created and what they were used for, listened to stories and much more. Miss Larney and Ms Shaxson were both part of the planning for the day, as members of the committee. Thanks Mollie and Emma.

As part Catholic Education Week (CEW), the classes wrote prayers of thanksgiving onto bunting which are displayed in our rooms. They also completed a FAITH acrostic poem and have been collecting items to donate to those sleeping rough in Townsville, through the organisation OrangeSky which washes clothes for our “friends” doing it tough. This is our annual CEW Act of Kindness. We find the generosity of families at GSCS, always such a blessing.

We had a special visitor recently when Mathew and Madeleine brought in Blossom, their newborn baby miniature goat. Year 3 were very interested to find out all about goats, their gestation, diet, best conditions to thrive and when their horns grow (which is from the time they are born).

A number of our students represented the school at the Challenge Games and this is always a highlight for them. We also have several entering pieces into the Visual Arts section of the Eisteddfod and attending Red Track as age representatives for GSCS. We wish them all well in their endeavours.

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Guidance Counsellor

Hi Everyone,

My name is Marissa. I'm the Guidance Counsellor at Good Shepherd and you can catch me here on a Monday, Tuesday or a Wednesday so please drop in to the wellbeing building for a chat.  

Grief and Loss

When a young person experiences  the loss of a loved one, whether it be a beloved family member, a friend or a pet, they may grieve, respond or react  in many different ways. There is no right or wrong. Grief is a process that we all experience differently and is often filled with many ups and downs. This School TV resource offers some suggestions and answers common questions that arise when a child is experiencing grief and loss. 

https://gstsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/grief-loss

Library

RACQ Streets Ahead

Dear Parents/Carers,
The RACQ Community and Education Team will be delivering the RACQ Streets Ahead road safety lessons to Prep and Year 1 students from 21 st – 22 nd August.
If you would like to reinforce and extend your child’s learning of pedestrian, passenger and riding safety, you can access Resource Packs with different age- appropriate activities in each. In addition to these packs, there are also four educational videos demonstrating the strategies taught for Prep – Year Two students. These resources will assist you to continue teaching road safety, implementing the strategies your children will learn, and applying them to your everyday lives.

https://www.racq.com.au/streetsahead

Kind regards,
RACQ Education Team

Story Dogs

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 3, Week 3

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Endeavour where I challenge myself to do my best.

Our Endeavour prayer is below:

Term 3, Week 4

The Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action for Week 4 will be Hope where I see good all around me.

Our Hope 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: On the playground. 

In Term 3, Week 3 we are focusing on: In the eating area. 

Prep Orientation 2025

Environmental Tips

Caring for water and country

Most of the earth's surface water is permanently frozen or salty.
Water regulates the earth's temperature.
Water freezes at zero degrees Celsius.
Water vaporizes at a hundred degrees Celsius.
Water is the only substance that is found naturally on earth in three forms: liquid, gas, solid.
A small drip from a tap can waste as much as 75 litres of water a day 

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. 

Lost and Found

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

Sony Camp - Saturday 14 September - Monday 16 September, 2024

Townsville Grammar School is hosting its seventh annual Sony Foundation Children's Holiday Camp this year. It is a unique respite program that sees high school and university students take on the responsibilities for the care of children with a  disability, allowing their families to have a valuable weekend off. For more information, click on the barcode on this brochure or email Mrs Aili or Mrs De Daunton if you have any questions.