14 May 2025

From the Desk of the Acting Principal

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As we complete our first full week for the term, I would like to take a moment to reflect on the many blessings and achievements we’ve experienced as a school community. Our students have settled into their learning routines beautifully, showing curiosity, resilience, and a strong sense of cooperation. It has been heartening to witness their growth—not only academically, but also in their faith and character.

A heartfelt thank you to everyone who joined us for our Mother’s Day breakfast and liturgy. It is always a special occasion to honour the incredible women in our lives who nurture, guide, and inspire our children.

Regrettably, I was unable to attend as I was participating in the Term Two Principal Meeting held over three days last week. This gathering provided an important opportunity for the principals of the Townsville Diocese to come together. The primary focus of the meeting was evangelisation and exploring ways to share the good news of the Gospels with our young people. As you know, religious education encompasses both learning about religion and actively participating in the Catholic tradition, fostering the development of students as people of faith. We also took the time to review and discuss Church teachings on the New Evangelisation, from the era of Pope Paul VI to Pope Francis.

The retreat was made even more memorable by the announcement of our new pope—Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV. With a strong background in missionary work in South America and a recent role overseeing bishop appointments at the Vatican, his leadership brings renewed hope and energy to the Church. There was a palpable sense of joy and excitement among all present.

I am also proud of the way our students continue to live out our school values in both word and action. The kindness, respect, and responsibility they demonstrate each day reflect the Gospel teachings we strive to live by. Thank you to our dedicated staff, who continue to go above and beyond to nurture the minds and hearts and for their guidance in fostering a Christ-centred learning environment.

Warm Regards, 
Annette Poulsen
Acting Principal 

apoulsen2@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

Our Lady of Fatima – Feast Day – May 13

This Tuesday the 13^th May commemorates the apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary to three children in Fatima, Portugal on the 13th of each month from May to October in 1917. Our Lady appeared to Lucia, age 9, Blessed Francisco Marto, age 8, and Blessed Jacinta Marto, age 6, while they were tending sheep; they described her as “a woman all in white, more brilliant than the sun”, and her message was to do reparation for sins that offend God, and to pray constantly for the conversion of sinners.

She asked for devotion to the Holy Trinity, and for praying the Rosary daily for world peace. Word spread, and by the final apparition on 13 October, 70,000 people showed up to witness the Lady and the sign that she had promised; they witnessed the sun make three circles and zigzag around in the sky.

During this holy Season of Easter, may the Easter gift of "grace and mercy" be ours through the intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary; she who is "our life, our sweetness and our hope" - the Mother of the Risen Lord!

Our Lady of Fátima, pray for us.

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Year 6

Year 6 students have had an awesome start to Term 2! In class we are busy learning about BODMAS in Maths, Catholic celebrations in Religion, Federation and early Australian history in HASS and our new Novel study-The Silver Donkey in English. Year 6 are now fully combined, working as one as one class with Mrs Watt and Mrs Bradbury are team teaching. Our students have fully embraced and adjusted to this new routine.

Recently many of our students represented Good Shepherd in the girls and boys U12 Far North Queensland Futsal competition. Both teams displayed a good sense of sportsmanship and sense of pride for our school. Last Thursday many of our students participated in their final primary school Cross Country, running a challenging 3km long course. Congratulations to all those students who participated, particularly those students who have been selected to represent GSCS in the Interschool Cross Country in Week 5. 

Last Friday we celebrated our Mum’s, Nan’s and special people, at our annual Mother’s Day breakfast and liturgy. We were then privileged to have many family members join us in our classroom to share some handmade flowers and work with them. Thank you so much to all of you who were able to attend. 

Library

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 2, 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 2, 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 2, Week 3 we are focusing on: In the eating area. 

Enrol for 2026

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. 

Dates to Remember

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