21 July 2021

From the Desk of the Principal

What a fabulous end to NAIDOC Week we had on Friday. Thank you to our Deadly Team of Kylie, Emma, Melisia, Marita and Melissa for organising so many wonderful activities for our students. Last term we ran a competition with our Deadly Families to design a staff shirt for us. Thank you and congratulations to the Aplin Family for designing the winning shirts for us. Pietta, Henry and Kenneth were the first to receive the shirts and the staff have loved wearing them. Be sure to check out Pietta talking about the design on our Facebook page.

Congratulations also to our NAIDOC Week Colouring In Competition winners - Matilda (Prep), Andrew (Year 1), Blossom (Year 2), Nima (Year 3), Lucas (Year 4), Josie (Year 5) and Maddi (Year 6). These students were each presented with a certificate and book prize on Assembly.

Our wonderful groundsman Jason Hills has been at it again and has completed a yarning circle for us. This space next to the Library will be used for students to pray, meditate, yarn and do some amazing learning outside. Thanks Jason for creating these wonderful learning spaces for our community.

This week we have eight students participating in Mulkadee with Mrs Turley. Mulkadee is an annual event for students in Catholic primary and secondary schools in the Townsville Diocese. The program offers students the opportunity to workshop with experienced professionals in various arts including choral, band, strings, dance, guitar and drama. Students are involved in workshops at the Townsville Entertainment Centre each day this week and the program will culminate with a performance concert of "The Wizard of Oz" on Friday evening. We wish Jasmine, Lillian, Riley, Lillian-May, Bryton, Mia, Kailey and Indigo all the best for their performance on Friday night and thank Mrs Turley for her commitment this week.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Glenda Scrase

Principal

gscrase1@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

Pope Francis has proclaimed the World Day of Prayer for Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated on the 4th Sunday in July each year – July 25th this year. It is marked near the feast of St Joachim and St Anne, the grandparents of Jesus.
Let us pray this Sunday for our grandparents, whether they are with us or not. Let us also pray for the elderly in our society, especially those who feel lonely or are unwell.

Bless My Grandparents
Dear Lord
I pray that you watch over my grandparents.
Please bless them with your love.
May you keep them safe and guard their path and protect them from above.
I pray that they will always know and I can help them see,
just how much I love them and what they mean to me.
Amen

Catholic Education Week 
25 – 31 July 2021

Catholic Education Week will be celebrated in Catholic schools in Queensland from 25 – 31 July 2021.

This annual event is held to promote the special ethos of Catholic schools and to highlight the great things that take place in Catholic schools every day.  

The theme for this year’s celebrations is:  A Spirited Tomorrow.

Catholic education strives to make a difference in the lives of those in our schools and in the wider community by challenging young people to live out the message of Jesus and to reach their full potential as compassionate, contributing, life-giving members of society.

There are 309 Catholic schools in Queensland that educate around 154,000 students and employ more than 20,000 teachers and staff, and most will celebrate Catholic Education Week in some way. 

Our school is planning a number of activities during the week including: prayer celebrations, art and RE class activities, Pal class catch-ups and Acts of Kindness. Class teachers will be in contact with parents regarding the Acts of Kindness. 

Judy Bell

APRE
jbell17@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Administration

Think for a moment about all the texts you have read in the past week: emails, text messages, newspapers, documents at work, road signs, shopping lists, instructions, recipes, this newsletter. Reading is a skill many of us take for granted, but for some reading is a daily struggle filled with frustration. It is one of the most important skills learnt during school, and despite all the changes in curriculum over the years, the focus on reading is still as important as ever. Some would argue that it’s now more important, as we are required to read a wider variety of texts in a range of formats.
Reading involves students engaging with print, visual and digital texts in various formats, while also developing skills and knowledge to not only read the words themselves but to engage with the text on a much deeper level. Many students become quite fluent readers, however this does not always translate into having a good understanding of what they are reading. Research shows that we can help students become good readers by teaching them the skills needed to comprehend texts effectively.
According to Sheena Cameron, author of ‘Teaching Reading Comprehension Strategies’, good readers employ a number of strategies before, during and after reading:

Before reading, good readers activate their prior knowledge, are clear about why they are reading a particular text, know what type of text they are about to read, preview the text, make predictions and ask questions.

During reading, good readers construct and revise meaning, monitor their understanding of the text, continue revising and adjusting their predictions and questions, use a variety of strategies to determine the meaning of unknown words and concepts, make connections with ideas in the text and make inferences.

After reading, good readers evaluate whether the text met their purpose for reading, revisit their predictions and questions and adjust and revise them if necessary, are able to summarise what they have read and synthesise what they have read. 

• At home you can help your child develop their reading comprehension skills by:
• Holding a conversation and discussing what your child has read. Ask him/her questions about the text and connect the events to their own life. For example, say "I wonder why that girl did that?" or "How do you think he felt? Why?" and "So, what lesson can we learn here?".
• Help your child make connections between what he or she reads and similar experiences they have had felt, seen in a movie, or read in another book.
• Help your child monitor their understanding. Teach him/her to continually ask themselves, whether they understand what they’re reading.
• Help your child go back to the text to support his or her answers.
• Discuss the meanings of unknown words, both those they read and those they hear.
• Read material in short sections, making sure your child understands each step of the way.
• Discuss what your child has learned from reading informational texts e.g. a science books, newspaper articles, etc
• Most importantly - encourage your child to read every day!
  

Franki loves reading and being read to! 

Students are invited to come along to the library at 1.10pm on Friday to chill with Franki and listen to some stories being read. 

Maxine Nolan

APA

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening in Our Year 3 Classes

This week in Year 3, we have been planting seedlings and watching them as they grow as part of our Science unit where we are doing a range of exciting experiments. We are comparing the growth in cotton wool both wet and dry and in the dark and in the sun to see which sprouts the fastest. We have sketched the seeds before we planted them, we will continue to sketch them as we observe all of the changes they will make over the coming weeks. We are so excited to see how quick our little plants are growing.

Awards For The Week

Birthdays For This Week

~ Zelda    PrepB       ~ Leiani  2A        ~ Patience  5B       ~ Kaelan  5B       ~ Ava  5B         ~ Lola  6A

Assembly

1B will be presenting our Assembly this Friday in the BBC at 8:40am.

Our lucky Praise Note winners the last week of Term 2 were: William (PrepB), Lily (1A), Samuel (2A), Jaxon (3A), Bryton (4A), Gracey (5A) and Emmi (6B).

The Good Shepherd Way

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Compassion where we are encouraged to show care and concern for others.

Our Compassion 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: Before School, Classroom, Eating Area, and Playground.

Congratulations to our GSCS Way VIP winners last week - William, Noah and Riley.

FACE (Family And Community Engagement) Network News

Catholic School Parents Queensland is holding a Parent Engagement Day on Saturday 7 August from 10:00am to 4:00pm at St Joseph's Catholic School The Strand. Guest Speakers for the day are Psychologist Andrew Fuller and Chris Borrell from The Fathering Project.  The agenda for the Day is:

• 10:00am - Welcome, Acknowledgement of Country, Prayer
• 10:30am - Andrew Fuller "Tricky Behaviours"
• 11:30am - Chris Borrell "The Fathering Project"
• 12:00pm - Break
• 12:15pm - Andrew Fuller "Building Blocks for Mental Health in Children"
• 1:15pm - Lunch
• 2:00pm - Bernadette Kay, Executive Officer CSPQ, "Talking with 5 schools about their best practice in Parent Engagement"
• 3:00pm - Andrew Fuller "How to help your kids be motivated to learn and do well in school"
• 4:00pm - Thanks and Close
• 4:00pm-4:30pm - Drinks and Nibbles (optional)
• 4:30pm-7:00pm - Trivia Event (optional)

The event is free to attend however you need to register by clicking on the link in the poster below.

Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday 12 October at 7:00pm in the Staffroom.

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.

Premier's Reading Challenge 2021

NCCD Fact Sheet for Parents & Caregivers

Environmental Tips

Your healthy newborn child could live to his nineties – but did you know that his first disposable nappy may well still be around in 500 years?

Upcoming Events

Teacher Contacts

Community News