12 May 2021

From the Desk of the Principal

It was lovely to see so many of our Prep mums attending our Prep Mother's Day Liturgy and then getting pampered by their children on Friday. I hope all of the Mums, Step-Mums, Grandmas and Nanas in our Good Shepherd Family had a lovely day on Sunday. A special thank you to Amanda and Cel from our FACE Network for organising another wonderful Mother's Day Stall for our community.

This week our Year 3 and 5 students are participating in NAPLAN Tests. Thank you to Mrs Nolan for working with our teachers to ensure our students were prepared for the transition to NAPLAN online. Good luck to our students for their remaining tests.

In the last week I have commenced Prep interviews for 2022. I love meeting prospective new students and their families and hearing from them that they are looking at joining our school community as they have friends already here who have shared their positive experiences. Thank you for your continued support and for sharing your experiences in the wider community.

I will only be present at school on Monday next week as I will be attending a retreat for the remainder of the week. As I am on retreat, I will not have access to emails during this time. Please be sure to contact Judy Bell (Prep to Year 2) or Maxine Nolan (Year 3 to 6) with any queries you may have during my absence. Thanks and enjoy the rest of your week.

Glenda Scrase

Principal

gscrase1@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

Mini Vinnies

Mini Vinnies is the Primary School section of the St Vincent De Paul Society. It offers Year 5-6 students a chance to assist the work of the St Vincent De Paul Society. One of the worthwhile activities that our Mini Vinnies group participates in is visiting residents at Parklands Aged Care. This is a great opportunity for our students to put their faith into action. The residents love the visits and so do our Mini Vinnies!

Parklands have recently informed us of two changes:

•    Parents are no longer allowed to stay during the visit.
I have been told by a representative of Parklands, that due to a Federal Government directive, parents are no longer allowed to accompany their child into the lounge area. This is a shame as I know that quite a few of you enjoy visiting the residents as much as the children do but we must abide by their rules.

•    From 30th May ALL students need to have had a flu vaccination to visit the facility and proof of receiving the vaccination (Flu Vaccination Certificate) needs to be shown each visit.
This won’t be necessary for the visit on the 15th May but will come into effect for subsequent visits. 

Life Education

Healthy Harold is once again visiting Good Shepherd!
Each class will be visiting the Life Education Van which will be here from Monday 17th May to Monday 24th May.
 
Life Education has been around since 1979 providing engaging and educational lessons that are enjoyed by students and teachers. 

Life Education endeavours to empower our children to make safer and healthier choices through education. Check out their parent page below and have a chat with your child/children about what they learnt when they visited the Life Education van.

Monday 17th May – 1A, 1B, 1C, 5B
Tuesday 18th May – Prep B, 2B, 2C, 3B
Wednesday 19th May – 2A, 3A, 5A
Thursday 20th May – Prep A, 6A, 6B
Friday 21st May – 3C
Monday 24th May – Prep C, 4A, 4B

Judy Bell

APRE
jbell17@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Administration

NAPLAN testing started this week, with the writing test on Tuesday and reading today. Tomorrow students will tackle the conventions of language test, followed by numeracy on Monday next week. Please support your children during this testing period by reminding them to just try their best, ensuring they get a good night’s sleep and eat a healthy breakfast. So far, students have coped very well with the testing and I would like to thank parents, carers and staff for their role in this.
Last week also saw our Year 3s and Prep take part in the “It’s Rocket Science” incursion, which used flight and space science as a spectacular platform to create learning pathways in STEM subject areas of the Australian Curriculum, with practical, experiment-based learning. The sessions focussed on how things move, the properties of materials, the effect of forces to make things fly and design and use of sustainable materials.  No doubt you have seen the photos on Facebook!
Students in all grades can look forward to participating in a Maths-based incursion in June. The “Maths and Sport Show” is a live performance that uses our love of sport to bring maths alive for students. It highlights the role played by maths in the sports that students play, watch and love including AFL, rugby, cricket, soccer, netball, athletics, swimming and more. 
Activities such as It’s Rocket Science and the Maths and Sport Show provide fantastic learning opportunities for our students and we are pleased to be able to offer them.

Maxine Nolan

APA

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Our Year 3 Classes

This term Year 3 have been learning about Space. In English we have been reading narratives and examining the plot, characters and settings of different texts as we prepare to write our own space narrative.
In Technology the Year 3's had the opportunity to learn about rockets! All Year 3 classes participated in lessons about sustainability in space exploration and were able to experiment with adding fins and firing rockets.  This learning experience has been invaluable as we begin our technology unit, in which we learn about weight, control and thrust while designing our own rockets.  In Science we have been learning about day and night. Students have participated in role plays and created drawings as they learn about the comparative sizes and orbits and rotations of the Sun, Earth and Moon. 

Awards For The Week

Birthdays For This Week

~ Indianna  PrepA        ~ Faith  PrepC          ~ William  1A            ~ Ally  1C                 ~ Lauchlan  1C   

~ Esha  2B                        ~ Troy  2C                  ~ Kingsley  3A          ~ Vincent  3A        ~ Sahara  3B          

Assembly

Prep B will be presenting our Assembly this Friday in the BBC at 8:40am.

Our lucky Praise Note winners for last week were: Harmony (PrepC), Layla (1A), Tyler (2A), Sofia (3B), Scarlett (4B), Josie (5A) and Patience (5B).

The Good Shepherd Way

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Hope where we are encouraged to see good all around me.

Our Hope prayer is also 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 Compassion and Care: Oval, Library, Toilets, Tuckshop and Office.

Congratulations to Kyren, Patience and Riley who were our GSCS Way VIPs last week.

FACE (Family And Community Engagement) Network News

Thank you to Amanda and Cel for another successful Mother's Day Stall. We hope you all loved your gifts you children chose for you.

We have received more tickets in the Rotary Raffle. If you would like extra tickets, please call into the office.

Tickets are $2.00 and books of 10 are $20.00 per book. All proceeds are going towards the construction of a permanent shelter at the pickup zone and the bus zone.
First Prize is a brand new Kia Seltos S, Auto Sedan RRP: $28,850.00 and there is a Book Seller prize of 1x HP notebook RRP: $439.00.

Please note ALL books no matter if they are fully sold, part sold or unsold have to be returned to the office or your child’s class NO later than Friday 28th May.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 13 July at 7:00pm in the Staffroom.

Library News

Running Club

Running Club is back each Tuesday and Thursday on the oval and is open to all year levels and age groups. Can you help us get to Tokyo for the Olympics?

Have You Enrolled For Prep 2022 Yet?

Students turning 5 by 30 June 2022 are invited to enroll for Prep 2022. Applications are available from our School Office. Alternatively they can also downloaded from our website at https://www.gstsv.catholic.edu.au/enrolment/enrolment-package/

Tuckshop

Wednesday - Thursday - Friday

Please place your order with Flexischool no later than 8:30am on the day you wish to order. You will find a menu on our webpage. If you wish to place an order of cupcakes for your child's birthday please place your order the week before.

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.

Environmental Tips

Motor vehicles are the single greatest source of air pollution in cities. Reduce air pollution and save petrol money by :

• Driving smoothing instead of braking at high speed
  
• Ensure tyres are filled to the maximum air pressure
  
• Have your car serviced regularly
  
• Try to carpool with someone
  

Upcoming Events

Townsville Eisteddfod

The Townsville Eisteddfod, held each year in September, is a great way for children of all ages to showcase their talents. 

Students who enjoy writing, art or photography are encouraged to enter in one of the following sections: Poetry, Creative Writing, Functional Writing, Visual Arts, Media, Photography (Digital). 

Entry Fee is $8 per entry and is due Tuesday 8th June.  Finished work is not due until Tuesday, 3rd August. If you are interested and would like to enter or want more information please see Geraldine Feaver (4A)

Teacher Contacts

Community News