12 October 2022

From the Desk of the Principal

Friday was a wonderful day in our school community as we celebrated Good Shepherd Day. Thank you to Mrs Kershaw for organising our Liturgy and to Fr Joseph for presiding over it. Thank you also to Ms Foord for organising another fabulous Rainbow Run - it was thoroughly enjoyed by all who participated. Thank you also to our staff for their organisation of our Missions Fete and to our parents who donated to or supported our day. 

Tomorrow we have Townsville Catholic Education Executive Director Jacqui Francis visiting Good Shepherd. Jacqui will spend part of her visit meeting me before visiting some of our classes. I am confident Jacqui will be warmly welcomed in our school community.

Next week I will be absent on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday as I will be attending Principal Meetings. 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

Our teachers make a difference every day, educating and inspiring young Queenslanders.

World Teachers' Day is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and thank Queensland teachers for their important role in our communities and for the positive impact they have on the lives of students.

This year we say thank you to our teachers for ‘teaching through every moment’. We acknowledge and show appreciation for the many ways teachers provide support and inspiration to our students.

Let’s join together to thank all Queensland Teachers on World Teachers’ Day, Friday 28 October 2022.

Loving God, 
who sent us your Son Jesus to be our great teacher, bless all our teachers who help us grow and thrive. May they come to know that God lives in their hearts and calls them to draw that love into the work they do.  Give us all hearts that overflow with kindness, generosity and compassion. We ask this prayer through Jesus, your Son.
Amen

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 Compassion. 

“A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. 
Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 
So likewise, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 
But a Samaritan while traveling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said, ‘Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.’ 
Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?” 
He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” 
Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”   (Luke 10:30-37) 

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Administration

PAT Tests
This week and next week all students from Year 2 to Year 6 will be participating in the annual “PAT” (Progressive Assessment Tests) for reading and writing. Some will also complete a punctuation and grammar test. Students across the Townsville Diocese complete the tests in October each year.

All PAT tests are done online, take about 45 minutes, and use a combination of simple multiple choice, complex multiple choice and interactive questions. This year, the tests are in an adaptive format, with personalised test pathways determined by student responses.  

Results from the PAT tests are available immediately and are used to help measure a student’s knowledge, skills and understanding in the particular subject areas, and help teachers pinpoint exactly where each student is in their learning journey. This information is used by teachers in their planning to help identify exactly what each child needs to progress. 

If you have any questions about PAT testing, please email your child’s teacher.

Carpark Safety
Thank you to all those parents who are doing the right thing at pick-up time, either in the pick-up zone or by walking into school to collect students.

A couple of further reminders:

    Please pull as far forward as possible in the pick-up zone, allowing as many cars as possible to  pull up to the footpath area.
    Students should only get into cars once they are against the footpath.
    Many students walk around their car to the driver’s side to get in – please be very careful doing this, as it means students are on the driveway, not on the footpath. 
   Remind children not to touch the car until it has come to a complete stop – some children are opening doors while the car is still moving, and risk being dragged by the vehicle.
  Children are unpredictable – please remain vigilant at all times while driving on the school grounds including in the pick-up zone. We frequently see people texting on their phone while driving forward in the pick-up zone and this poses a huge risk.

Dog-free Zone
Please remember that dogs should not be brought onto school grounds. While we all love to cuddle and pat a puppy, dogs brought onto school grounds can pose a risk to students, staff, and the dog itself. Even the most friendly, sociable dog can react in an unexpected way when stressed or scared, or when confronted with lots of noisy strangers! 

The exception to this rule is Franki, our school wellbeing dog, who attends three days each week. Franki is covered by the school’s insurance while on school grounds and working with students and staff.

Thank you for your cooperation with this – and feel free to stop and say hi when you see Franki at school.

Maxine Nolan

APA

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening In Our Deadly Learners?

Firstly, we’d like to thank you all for your generous donations to our Great Book Swap. We are excited to announce that we raised a total of $943, which will go directly to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation. Well done GSCS community!

This term we look forward to our final three sessions in class where we will take the time to explore ‘Dadirri’ (da-did-ee), The practice of deep inner listening and quiet still awareness. A reflection by Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr- Baumann, we will unpack the Uluru Statement of the Heart and take a closer look at Racism and Discrimination and how we can do our part. 

Later this term we look forward to celebrating the year with families. More details to follow.

Stay Deadly!

Awards For The Week

Birthdays Being Celebrated This Week!!

~Zoey(PrepA)~Maddison(PrepC)~Harmony(1C)~Jade(2A)~Cooper(5A)~William(5B)~Paige(6B)       

Assembly

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

Our lucky Praise Note winners last week were: There were no Praise Notes drawn due to our Good Shepherd Day.

The Good Shepherd Way

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Compassion where we 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: In the Classroom.

Library News

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

It’s the hot time of year again and the air-conditioners are being switched on. When cooling, close windows and external doors, so you’re not heating the great outdoors: save up to 3 kilograms of greenhouse gas per hour.

Teacher Contacts

Upcoming Events

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