26 October 2022

From the Desk of the Principal

Our Year 5 students have headed off to camp today to Gumburu, Paluma. We are confident they will have a wonderful time and we look forward to hearing all about their adventures when they return on Friday. Thanks in advance to Mrs Kim Bradbury, Mr Alex Bluck, Mrs Charmaine Aili and Ms Melisia Ellis for ensuring the students have a memorable experience.

This Friday is Day for Daniel, a day where we encourage all in our community to wear RED. It is also a day where we remind our students of the special message of Recognise, React and Report.

Friday is also "World Teachers Day". Here at Good Shepherd it is a day where we celebrate ALL of our staff. We say thank you for what each of our staff do every day to educate our students and provide a wonderful and safe learning environment for them to grow in Love, Faith and Learning. It takes a village to raise a child and we are blessed to have such committed staff in our community working with our students each and every day. I hope you are able to take some time on Friday to say thanks.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Glenda Scrase

Principal

gscrase1@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Religious Education

All Saints Day

All Saints’ Day is next Tuesday, November 1st. It is holy in the Western Christian tradition, celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church, the Methodist Church, the Lutheran Church, and more. It is designed to show honour and reverence to saints both canonized and unknown, and in some faiths also to give thanks to those who have guided others to Christ, like a friend or relative. Around the world, there are many traditions woven into All Saints’ Day, from the laying of flowers on graves on November 1 to the Mexican Day of the Dead.
Many canonized saints have their own day in which they are celebrated, particularly in the country they represent. But, All Saints Day celebrates those saints who have not been canonized or have any particular holiday dedicated to them. In fact, the event recognises those who have gone to heaven but their sainthood is known only by God himself.

All Saints Day Prayer
Bless the many parted souls
who lived their lives with grace.
Bless the saints in heaven,
gathered in that special place.
May we tell their stories
and remember all the ways
they lived their faith
and spent their days.
There is glory and reward,
even if at first there’s strife.
Oh, blessed saints, you help us see
a path that’s to eternal life.
May we always hold them dear
and know their life and place.
May we know their inspiration
and aspire to their grace.

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 Hope. 

The Walk to Emmaus. “Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?” He asked them, “What things?” They replied, “The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him.” Then he said to them, “Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, “Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. They were saying, “The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!” Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread.   Luke 24:13-35 

Break Fast Club Donations

The Good Shepherd Breakfast Club is held EVERY morning at 8:10am-8:25am in the shelter shed. The Breakfast Club has had a great response from the students and school community.  

As you know breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it helps students to concentrate and focus on their learning.  Toast will be available free of charge for all students. The Woolworths at Rasmussen are kindly donating bread for the program on a weekly basis.  We thank them for their generosity and support.  

To keep the program going in our school, we are asking families if they could assist by donating a spread or more for the toast (jar of vegemite, jar of jam and squeeze honey if possible) this term. All donations are gratefully received and can be left at the Office. 

Rebecca Kershaw

APRE

rkershaw@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

From the Desk of the Assistant Principal Administration

Glasses Collection

If you wear glasses, you probably have a collection of old ones that you no longer use but don’t want to just throw in the bin. 

We can help!

National Recycling Week is 7th to 13th November and, along with a range of other activities, the school’s Environment Committee is collecting prescription glasses and sunglasses for "recycling". Once collected, we will pass the glasses on to YWAM, who will distribute them to people in need through their medical outreach ships in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea.

If you have glasses at home that you no longer need, they can be dropped into the specially marked box in the office. If you send them in with a student, please include a note saying how many pairs are being donated (just so our reluctant glasses wearers don’t decide to make their own donation!).
Thank you for supporting this initiative and for recycling your old glasses.

Raising Girls

It is no surprise that girls today are transitioning to puberty a lot earlier than they did a century ago. The physical, psychological and emotional changes that occur during this time can be challenging for girls, but also their parents. 

Some parents and carers may feel uncertain about how best to support their daughter through the ups and downs of adolescence. With the rise of social media and technology, mental health difficulties in girls are increasing as often they are faced with online images that make it difficult to see themselves as acceptable. Many are being exposed to porn, sexualisation and innuendo from a very young age. Girls need positive role models in their lives to step up and help them shine with self-respect and confidence.

SchoolTV has a series of articles and videos, “Raising Girls”, which address the issues faced by girls in today’s society. To access them, click the link below or go to SchoolTV under the “Students” tab on our Good Shepherd home page.

SchoolTV also has information on “Raising Boys”, which will feature in next week’s newsletter.

Maxine Nolan

APA

mnolan@gstsv.catholic.edu.au

What's Happening In Our Year 3 Classes?

In English this term we have been focusing on the text ‘Go Home Cheeky Animals’, by Johanna Bell and Dion Beasley. We have used a six-sentence structure to become our very own authors and illustrators of additional pages to the text. In order to do so, we needed to explore and research the dry and wet seasons of outback Australia, collective nouns, feral animals that have been introduced to Australia and synonyms that we could incorporate to make our writing more engaging. We also created artworks of the Australian dry and wet seasons using oil pastels of paints. 

Awards For The Week

Birthdays Being Celebrated This Week!!

~Sybella(PrepB)~Reagan(PrepC)~Skylah(1C)~Katy(2B)~Michael(2C)~Punapa(3C)~Abbey(4A)

Assembly

2c will be presenting our Assembly this Friday in the BBC at 8:40am.

Our lucky Praise Note winners last week were: Taylor(PrepC), Kyle(1B), Brody(2A), Sienna(3C), Jay(4B), Charleigh(5A), Kahlo(6B).

The Good Shepherd Way

This week our Good Shepherd Way Gospel in Action value is Hope where we see good all around us.

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: On the Playground.

Library News

A big thank you to the school community for supporting the recent Scholastic Book Fair Paws for Books.  The total sales allowed the school to take over $2000 in Rewards that will go towards providing students with access to more books and learning resources in the library and classrooms.

Book Fair couldn’t happen without the wonderful school staff that give up their time to operate the fair which is very much appreciated.

“Book Fairs help your school stock up on resources to enrich your children's education.”

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

Be careful about feeding birds in your garden. Try not to let native birds become too dependent on the food supply. For the long-term, plant native shrubs and trees to provide birds with natural food.

Teacher Contacts

Upcoming Events

Community News