09 October 2024

From the Desk of the Principal

Week 2 , Term 4

Dear families, 

I have been thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to speak with our 2025 prep families as I conduct interviews, host school tours and share information. I've also had a number of enrolment interviews for new students across the school. We do have some spaces still available for Prep next year as well as space in each grade. If you know any families who are considering joining our school, please encourage them to come for a visit to learn more. 

What happens in an enrolment interview?

• The family and child are warmly welcomed 
• I try to get to know the child - their interests, whether they attend kindergarten or child care or are moving from another school, what they like about school.
• I ask parents to share with me what has brought them to Good Shepherd.  This is a chance to hear what they know about our school, if they have family or friends here and if they have any experience of Catholic schools.  I explain the Catholic school difference and our charism and values and ask if they would support our values. It is very important for families to understand the culture of the school that they are joining to make sure we are a good fit for each other. 
• We discuss our expectations that students will give their best in their learning and behave in a way that is safe, respectful, responsible and kind. These expectations are held firmly for all students. 
• We discuss any possible learning or behavioural needs so that we can have support in place for a positive start to learning. Some students need additional support and time in their learning, social skills and behaviour. This includes children who have diagnosed or suspected disabilities.   
• We discuss school fees and how much they would be if paid as a weekly or fortnightly direct deposit.  We discuss our automatic concession discount for families with a health care concession card and possible further concessions for families with low income or who are experiencing financial difficulties. 
• We discuss the typical school day and our connection with Mary MacKillop Childcare and Outside School Hours Care. 
• We have a tour of the school starting at the Good Shepherd and his flock in front of the office.  This is an opportunity to explore and share any questions.  We will visit the child's classroom or grade level as well as their playground area. 

2025 Classes
I have had some parents asking about teachers and classes for 2025, so I am happy to explain our class planning process.  

1. We contact all families to best predict our student number for each grade for 2025 - thank you to all who have responded already!
2. We finalise arrangements with staff who are returning from or commencing parental or long service leave.  
3. We will welcome teacher transfers from other schools and advertise as needed to recruit any additional teachers. 
4. We consult with our teaching staff about their personal preferences and consider their experience, strengths and needs for professional development and support
5. We allocate teachers to their grade levels and inform them and the school community of our 2025 staff. 
6. Current class teachers will work together to develop recommendations for Grade 2 groupings based on their knowledge of their students and those across the cohort.  
7. Parent requests are considered where there is a reasonable and significant reason for that request. It is important to note that requests may not be accommodated - this is because we need to consider the needs of the entire cohort and ensure we have well balanced classes with consideration for friendships, personalities and diverse learning needs. 
8. The leadership team will confirm the class groups with staff for final feedback and then share these with families.  
9. All students will have the opportunity to meet with their 2025 class and teacher during our transition session on December 3rd. 

God bless,

Majella Lynch-Harlow

Principal

mlynchharlow3@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Pedagogy and Learning

Welcome back to Term 4! This term is traditionally a very busy one for students and staff, with final assessments for the year being completed, learning for the year consolidated and report cards written. Of course, there are also lots of fun activities along the way, including our upcoming Rainbow Run, Good Shepherd Day and Mini Fete activities, the Christmas concert, Year 6 Rite of Passage, Good Shepherd’s Got Talent, the Semester 2 Academic Awards, and our whole school
transition session.
With all the activities planned, it is important to remain focussed on learning and ensure your children are at school on time every day (except for when they are ill). While we all have days when it is difficult to get everyone ready and out the door on time, regularly missing even a little bit of school can affect a child’s ability to learn and engage in their education.
As educators we try different strategies for numerous issues that arise during a child’s journey
through school. When we speak with families, many do not realise how much time their child is
missing from school or the impact it can have. You may be surprised by the statistics below:

Compass access and reports

Our Semester Two student achievement reports will be released via Compass during the last week of school. In order to access the reports, you need to be able to log in to the Compass Parent Portal. If you are unable to do this, or are having difficulties with it, please email the school office on rsmssn@tsv.catholic.edu.au as soon as possible.

Maxine Nolan

APPL

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

THE ROSARY

October is the month of the Rosary. This is primarily due to the fact that the liturgical feast of Our Lady of the Rosary is celebrated annually on the 7th October. The word Rosary comes from Latin and means a garland of roses, the rose being one of the flowers used to symbolise the Virgin Mary. The Rosary is a devotion in honour of Mary. The Holy Rosary is considered a perfect prayer because within it lies the awesome story of our salvation. With the Rosary in fact we meditate the mysteries of joy, of sorrow and the glory of Jesus and Mary.

For a guide to saying the Rosary please check out –

https://cam.org.au/catholic-faith/prayers/how-do-i-pray-the-rosary/

The month of October is devoted to the Missions. During this time, we have an opportunity to act in solidarity through fundraising, prayerful support, awareness and advocacy.  Catholic Mission is one of the organisations that our Diocese has chosen to support.

SUNDAY 20 OCTOBER is MISSION SUNDAY. It’s the one Sunday in the year when the entire global Church comes together to support mission. And every single donation from these worldwide Masses goes to support churches, hospitals, schools and vocations in countries where the Church is new, young or poor.

Every Catholic community, in every country, sends a powerful message of faith, hope and love on this special day.

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Prep

To begin term two the preps have started learning the Yuendumu leaf game which comes from the Warlpiri People of the Northern Territory. The students have had the opportunity to engage in a real-life mathematics experience that connects with a First Nations' culture. Students have gathered leaves from the school and used them to tell mathematical stories that use simple addition and subtraction. Each leaf represents a person in their leaf family. One of the stories they came up with: There were five people in the family and the three kids went to play in the park. Now there are two leaves left, Mum and Dad. They have then learnt how to draw their story with symbols and write the sum 5-3=2. 

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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.  

Building Resilience in Your Child/ren: 

Resilience is so important for a child’s mental health and is a skill that often needs to be developed in 21^st Century children. When a child is armed with resilience, they can bounce back from failure, challenges, adversity and stress. Resilience is not something that a child either does or does not have, but something that develops and grows over time. Once a child is able to develop this resilient mindset, they will have the skills and confidence to deal with challenges later on in life. 

 The following School TV resources provide parents with tips on ways that they can support their children to develop resilience, confidence and set them up for success.

https://sjmbtsv.catholic.schooltv.me/newsletter/resilience

Library

Story Dogs

Save The Date

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 4, 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 4, 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: In the classroom. 

In Term 4, Week 1 we are focusing on: before school. 

Prep Orientation 2025

Environmental Tips

The long term vision for Catholic Schools in the Townsville Diocese includes the following key principles:

•    The natural world has value in itself and not merely for its use by humans. 
•    Earth belongs to God and is only on loan to humans who are called to care for it. 
•    Ecological education provides the background for wise and moral decisions. 

The right to a safe ecological environment is a universal human right.

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