31 August 2022

From the Desk of the Principal

What a fabulous Book Week Parade last Thursday! Thank you so much to our families for the efforts put in to Book Week Costumes this year. It was wonderful to see so many characters around Good Shepherd. Thank you also to Mrs Cameron and Mrs Maccarone for organising the Book Week Parade.

This next week is a huge sports week for our Year 5 and 6 students. On Thursday we have approximately 70 students participating in Netball, Soccer and Basketball at the Festival of Sport. Next Wednesday (7th) we have a number of students participating in the Cricket Blast and next Friday (9th) our Rugby League Team is making their way to Palm Island for the annual Obe Geia Challenge. We wish all of our students the best of luck at these events.

This Sunday is a day to celebrate all of our Dads and father figures. We wish you all a very Happy Fathers' Day.

Just a reminder that this Friday is a Pupil Free Day. Enjoy the rest of your week.

Glenda Scrase

Principal

gscrase1@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

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From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

Father's Day
We celebrate Father’s Day this Sunday, 4th September. We think of the strength of a father, his guiding hand, his wisdom, his help. God the Father gave up his only Son, Jesus Christ, so that we might be saved through him. He provides an example of the very vocation of fatherhood. Fathers are to sacrifice their lives for their families.

They do this by:
• Being the spiritual leader and guardian of their families.
• Praying for and with their families.
• Being a courageous witness to the Gospel.
• Providing care and support for their families.
• Serving as an example of goodness and truth.
• Leading with courage and accountability.
• Laying down one’s life for another.

Today, in a special way, let us be grateful for:
• Our fathers, by birth or adoption, who love us and support us through life.
• Our Church leaders, who take on the paternal role of guiding us through life.
• And God our Father, who will always teach justly and grant us boundless mercy.

THE GOOD SHEPHERD WAY

The Good Shepherd Way is our Gospel in Action here at Good Shepherd Catholic School. It encourages students to live out the following ten values by thriving to follow the action associated with it:
•    Community - I connect and engage
•    Compassion - I show care and concern for others
•    Endeavour - I challenge myself to do my best
•    Hope - I see good all around me
•    Inclusion - I involve and accept others
•    Justice - I make right choices
•    Love - I share my good heart with others
•    Reconciliation - I am fair, forgiving and respectful
•    Service - I help and respond to the needs of others
•    Stewardship - I care for all of creation
Each week we focus on one of these values and an award is presented at assembly to a student in each class who has demonstrated the value that week.
This week we are focusing on Reconciliation. 

“Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. “Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’ Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, ‘Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!’ Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’” Luke 15:11-32 

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Administration

Car Park Safety

Safety in the Pick-Up Zone is an ongoing focus. It is great to see so many parents/carers doing the right thing, driving forward in the pick-up zone before collecting children, or walking across the carpark to collect them.

One issue we are noticing is children racing to be first to their car, or to secure the preferred seat. In their rush, many are grabbing at car door handles or stepping off the path before the car has stopped moving! We reinforce this daily but would appreciate if you could also remind your children to stand back from the edge and wait until the car has completely stopped before trying to open the door.

Again, many thanks to all those parents/carers who are doing the right thing at pick-up time and helping keep our students safe.

Dogs at school

Another reminder that the only dog allowed at school is Franki, our GSCS wellbeing dog.
While we all love to cuddle and pat a puppy, dogs brought on to school grounds can pose a risk to students, staff and the dog itself. There are many reasons dogs are not allowed on school grounds, for example: 

•   dogs (even puppies) can inadvertently scratch, bite or knock over children; 
•   some children have allergies to dogs (exposure to Franki is avoided for these children); 
• dogs can be traumatised by the noise and crowds at school, potentially causing long-term behaviour issues;
•   if your dog injures someone (or is injured) while at school, you can potentially be required to pay for any costs involved.

Franki, our school’s wellbeing dog, attends three days each week. Franki is covered by the school’s insurance while on the school grounds and working with students. Thank you for your cooperation with this – and feel free to say hi when you see Franki around.

SchoolTV Special Report: Parenting Styles - What type of parent are you?
Raising children can bring great joy as you watch them grow and develop into unique individuals. The relationship parents and caregivers have with their children will have a huge influence on their lives. Most parents learn about parenting ‘on the job’ and grow into their role with experience.

Whilst there are several parenting styles discussed in this special report, children benefit most when parents are warm and loving, providing clear guidance and support. Understanding more about different parenting styles and their affects on children, will help you decide what kind of style you may want to adopt.

To help you determine which style of parenting you use, complete the quiz on the SchoolTV page by clicking the below link. Once complete, a report can be emailed to you with your results. SchoolTV also has a range of positive parenting resources, which can be found on the second link below.

Maxine Nolan

APA

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

Parent Survey

Survey closes today!

What's Happening In Our Prep Classes?

Prep A have been working and representing collections up to, and including, 20 using ten frames. They have been describing their collections by the number of tens and ones which make up the numeral. Eighteen is made up of 1 group of 10 and 8 more. The windy weather has been perfect to test out the Preps wind meters as they investigated where the wind was the strongest around the school. They concluded that the strongest winds were recorded away from the buildings. The Preps are excited about the dad’s coming into school on Thursday as part of their Father's Day celebrations which includes breakfast followed by a liturgy at the Community Centre and a classroom visit, to view student work associated with our Science Weather unit. They are learning about different types of prayer and revisiting student protection strategies in health and developing a strong safety network of adults who can help keep them safe. 

In Maths, Prep B has been exploring the concept of measurement. They have been learning to directly and indirectly compare objects to determine which is longer, heavier or holds more. Prep has been using everyday language to explain their reasoning. Students have engaged in many hands-on experiences to explore these concepts and have really enjoyed learning these topics over the last few weeks. To explore length, we made playdough snakes and learnt how to directly measure our snakes to familiar objects in the classroom. Students had to determine which was longer or shorter, their playdough snake or the other object. We explored the concept of weight by hefting objects and using scales to find out which object is the heaviest. We explored capacity by filling containers with water, sand, or grain to find out which container would hold the most.  

Prep C enjoyed dressing up as their favourite book character for the parade for parents last Thursday. They loved discussing the book their character is in. We have also been investigating the wind and its various strengths. We made a wind meter with cellophane to show us when it is calm; we have paper on it to show us if there is a breeze and we have thick card to show us if there is a gale wind. It was a lot of fun to experiment in various places to note the difference in where the wind is blowing strongest and why. We discovered that if we were on the verandah the building sheltered our wind meters from the wind whereas out on the oval there wasn’t any protection so it gave us a different reading. Children discussed why we might be interested to know if there will be a lot of wind in a day and how it might affect the activities we do – eg going out in a boat, wanting to fly a kite etc.

Awards For The Week

Birthdays Being Celebrated This Week

~Jarryd(PrepB)~Aylah(PrepC)~Demi-Lee(PrepC)~Willow(1A)~Abbie(2C)~Lucy(4B)

Assembly

There will be no Assembly this Friday.

Our lucky Praise Note winners last week were: Jack(PrepB), Ayden(1B), McKenna(2C), Amelia(3A), Annabella(4A), Amber(5B), Isabella(6A). 

The Good Shepherd Way

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Reconciliation where I am fair, forgiving and respectful.

Our Reconciliation 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: At The Tuckshop, At The Office.

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.

Parent Portal

Parent Portal

If you have any problems accessing please send an email to the school office at rsmssn@tsv.catholic.edu.au or call the office on 4774 0477.

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.

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.

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. 

Environmental News

September  - Save the Koala Month
The Australian native Koala is now threatened with extinction in many parts of Australia.
Koalas are protected by law but their homes and food aren’t. Koala babies are called ‘joeys’. They are marsupials and have two thumbs on their front paws for climbing. There are a number of Koalas living on Magnetic Island. 

Teacher Contacts

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