14 August 2024

From the Desk of the Principal

Week 6 , Term 3

Dear families,

SCHOOL RENEWAL UPDATE

Thank you to the many parents and carers who have taken the time to complete our School Satisfaction Survey.  The current survey is still open and I encourage you to have your say if you haven’t done so already.  Every voice is important.  This is an opportunity to highlight what we do well, identify areas for improvement and make suggestions that could benefit the whole school into the future.

This is a yearly completed by our parent community, staff and Year 5 and 6 students.  The information is invaluable. I have read the parent, staff and student survey feedback from the last few years in order to better understand our community and identify persistent and common concerns.  This information is complimented by a wide range of other data (student academic performance, student and staff wellbeing, behaviour records, attendance, staff retention, finance).  Our staff and School Board have been discerning this feedback and will be helping the Leadership Team to form a strategic plan that will help guide our improvement over the next five years. 

I would like to offer parents and carers the opportunity to hear and respond to our summary of the feedback received.  Not only are you invited to join us for our Book Week Parade next week, I invite you to please stay afterwards for a brief presentation and morning tea in the BBC Hall. The purpose of this time is to check that we are on the right track with identifying our strengths and areas for improvement.  It will also be a great opportunity for me to meet more families.   

I also encourage any parents and carers who are interested in learning more about our school board and how to be a part of our strategic school improvement to reach out to me via email or in person.

 STAFFING UPDATES

 Year 4 - I am delighted to announce that Mrs Stacey Burling will be teaching the Year 4B class for the remainder of the year.  Stacey is a highly respected and accomplished teacher and well known to the 4B students as she taught them for five weeks of Term 2 as well as the current term. Stacey has established a very positive and focussed learning environment, setting high expectations for behaviour and engagement and ensuring that all students feel supported. When I told the news to the 4B class, they spontaneously shared that Mrs Burling is a wonderful teacher who is fair, kind and helpful and that she wants to help them to do their very best learning. 

 Health and PE – Success!  We are looking forward to welcoming our new HPE teacher Bella Giudes later this term.  During this interim period, our wonderful class teachers have ensured our students continue to enjoy regular physical activity as well as continue their health topics in class.  A highlight this week has been our visit with Healthy Harold and the Life Education Van. Melissia Elis has been keeping students pumping with run club each and every morning. 

Prep B – Mrs Sharon Griffey will be taking a leave of absence from Good Shepherd so that her family be together and enjoy a life experience of living and working in a remote location.  Sharon enjoys working at Good Shepherd and has a very strong passion for school improvement and excellence in education.  She has every intention of returning to Good Shepherd when her family comes back from Gove in the Northern Territory.  We have commenced recruiting for Sharon’s replacement for next term.

Finance Officer – Our wonderful Finance Officer Mrs Sheridan Turner has made the difficult but joy-filled decision to work part-time and move to Ryan Catholic College.   The decision was difficult because she loves our school and will miss working here every day.  It was joy-filled though because Sheridan knows that this will allow her and her husband to enjoy their caravan with every weekend soon to be a long weekend for them. Her organisational skills, attention to detail and deep knowledge of our community have been an absolute blessing to me as I have been settling into my role. Ryan is certainly a lucky school community!  Sheridan and Townsville Catholic Education Office finance team will assist us as we search for a new Finance Officer and induct them into our school systems.  Sheridan’s last day will be August 23^rd. 

God bless,

Majella Lynch-Harlow

Principal

mlynchharlow3@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning

Week 6 Term 3

Term 3 is already half over, and our students have been challenging themselves in the classroom every day. Part of that challenge is to understand exactly what is required in different tasks. This involves knowing the meanings of a range of cognitive verbs used in the Australian Curriculum. Each week, I will be sharing one of the cognitive verbs being used. This week, the cognitive verb from the Australian Curriculum V9.0 is “explain”.

What is explaining?

To explain is to make an idea, concept, situation, relationship or meaning clear by communicating more in-depth information. Explaining how to solve a problem might include writing down the steps needed to achieve a result or talking to someone to guide them to a solution. Explanations enable an audience to gain insight into, and make deeper connections with, questions such as who, what, when, where, why and how.

A process of explaining may include:

• identifying additional information to support an idea
• making connections to support the additional information
• sharing your understanding of the additional information.
  

Explain as a cognition

Cognitive verbs are categorised using Marzano & Kendall’s four elements of the cognitive system: retrieval, comprehension, analysis and knowledge utilisation (2007). The cognitive verb explain is part of the comprehension element of cognitive process. This element involves the storage of 'the critical features of information in permanent memory’.

Explain is part of the Australian Curriculum Achievement Standards from Year 1, although the concept is introduced in Prep, and is found in most learning areas from Year 3 on. For example, In Years 1 and 2 HPE, students explain how personal qualities contribute to identities. In Year 5 and 6 Technologies, students explain how people design products, services and environments to meet the needs of communities, including sustainability.

In Prep to Year 2, “explain” involves the three-step process:

SchoolTV

It can sometimes feel challenging for parents to raise happy, healthy and resilient children and teens. What can help is having free access to up-to-date resources aimed at providing information on key topics that relate to parenting and the wellbeing of our children.

SchoolTV can provide that information! To access SchoolTV, go to our Good Shepherd Catholic School homepage, click on the Parents tab at the top, and select SchoolTV.

There you will find information from many reputable sources such as REACHOUT and beyondblue, Australian Psychological Society, Nutrition Australia, Headspace and the eSafety Commission. This provides a very reliable and accessible resource, saving parents time and confusion searching online across multiple sites. There is information about a range of topics, and each topic or edition addresses key issues using brief interviews with expert specialists, fact sheets, parent quizzes, recommended apps, books and much more.

I would encourage you to check it out today!

Maxine Nolan

APPL

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

The Assumption of Mary into Heaven

A Special Feast Day – Thursday 15^th August

The Catholic Church teaches that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, was taken up body and soul into heaven at the end of her earthly life. As a Church we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15 each year.

The Assumption signals the end of Mary's life on Earth and her return to heaven to be reunited with Jesus. This doctrine was defined as dogma by Pope Pius XII on 1st November 1950.

A dogma, in religious terminology, is a principle or set of principles believed to be true. It is therefore a required belief of all Catholics and followers of the Catholic Church. This Tuesday our PaL classes joined together to celebrate a special liturgy for this feast.

As Catholic’s, the Eucharist is who we are – each and every day. It’s not just about First Communion, as important as that is. Eucharist is about the weekly celebration of the liturgy for the rest of our lives, and how we live the Eucharist each day of our lives. The Body of Christ serves the Body of Christ to become the Body of Christ. Be what you receive and receive what you are. (Saint Augustine)

But Jesus said, “There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper”. “All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish,” they said. Jesus said, “Bring them here”. Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to those assembled. They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. About five thousand were fed. (Matthew 14: 16 – 21)

When your children attend Mass at school or on the weekend, they see that they gather in Jesus’ name, at his command, to remember his passion, death and resurrection — the Paschal Mystery — and to become one with him when we receive his body. It’s a core belief of the Catholic faith, but it’s often one of the most misunderstood. The bread and wine that are consecrated become Christ’s body and blood. It’s not something figurative or symbolic. The bread and wine really are changed into Jesus himself. Our belief in the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist can best be shared with our children when we live and teach these realities. For the Faith to take root in our children’s hearts and minds, we must live as we believe and practice as we teach. Teaching children about Jesus’ love in the Eucharist is an opportunity and a gift.

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Year 4

In our Design and Technologies unit in Year 4, students are exploring the role of people and technology in the mass-production of toys. They are using their knowledge of properties of materials to design and make a toy, following the design and production process. 

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.  

School Reluctance and Refusal

Sometimes it can be difficult to get our little ones (or big ones) out the door and into the school grounds. A child might be experiencing school reluctance if they are unwilling to attend school, but they are still managing to get there.

School refusal occurs if children have difficulties attending and/or remaining at school during the day due to emotional distress that they associate with school. Both situations can be challenging for the students and their families

This school TV page offers some insights into school reluctance and refusal and provides some useful ways that parents can respond when their child is faced with difficulties in this area.

https://gstsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/school-refusal

Library

FATHER'S DAY BREAKFAST

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 5

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Inclusion where I involve and accept others.

Our Inclusion prayer is below:

Term 3, Week 6

The Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action for Week 6 will be Justice where I make right choices.

Our Justice 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: In the toilets. 

In Term 3, Week 5 we are focusing on: In the library. 

Prep Orientation 2025

Environmental Tips

Dishwashers

• Scrape plates well before packing them in the dishwasher.
• Clean the filter between washes.
• Run when fully loaded. 
• Use the economy cycle.

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.