A new Term always offers new opportunities to start fresh, change old habits and embrace new experiences. Term Four offers this for our students and I encourage all of our students to take every opportunity to improve on their grades and finish the year strong. Parents and Carers are reminded that we have a Homework Program four times a week - this can be a good place to start to change some of those old habits of rushing assignments and handing work in late. Teachers are available Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

This Term we will celebrate the many achievements of our students, beginning with our Sports Awards Night this Thursday. Congratulations to all students who have been nominated and we will publish a full list in the newsletter next week. I thank Mr Schofield-Smyth (Sports and HPE Middle Leader), our PE staff and all the coaches and managers who have given our students countless opportunities to pursue their sporting passions. 

Queensland Health Restrictions:   I trust you all had an opportunity to rest and relax over the break, spending some  precious time with family or loved ones. If your family is returning from interstate, Townsville or Brisbane LGAs, you will know that there are updated restrictions. Please see this link for the latest information, as they may change after this memo is sent out. There are strict mask restrictions which must be followed. As always, please do not send your son or daughter to school if they are experiencing any flu-like symptoms. 

Be sure to support the St Joseph’s Family Fiesta this Saturday evening. It promises to be an enjoyable event.

Kathleen McCarthy

Welcome to Term 4!  It’s my favourite term - all the celebrations and tying up everything that we have started throughout the year.  It’s been a very successful year in Teaching and Learning and we can look forward to finishing this year well!

Awards Night

Awards Night is a fantastic event that showcases the year that was, and gives us an opportunity to celebrate the successes we have had. 

Awards Night will take place on 20 October 2021 (Week 3, Wednesday): 

The Year 12 General Subject Awards and Dux Scholar Award will be presented at our first Scholars Awards in 2022 after we have received the students' final results. 

Lists of the Awards Recipients will go out early next week.  Please refer to the Year to Date result on your student’s report for eligibility:

The NAPLAN reports have been posted before the holidays to parents of the Year 7 and 9 students who have participated in NAPLAN 2021.

Welcome to Term 4! I hope you have all had a chance to rest over the break, and are ready for an exciting term ahead. This is a short term – so the Christmas break will be here in the blink of an eye!

 Term 4 timetables

Timetables have been synced to Edval and Compass and were distributed to students in Homeroom on Tuesday. Please ensure students dispose of last term’s timetable as there have been some room changes. 

Subject Changes

If students in Years 7 - 10 would like to request an elective subject change, they will need to collect a subject change form from the front office in the first week of school. All subject changes must be finalised by the end of week 1 (this is due to the shortness of the term!).

Students in Year 11 considering subject changes must see Mrs Wood ASAP to ensure this is possible.

Sports Awards Night

Thank you to Mr Schofield, who has been working hard preparing for Sports Awards – these take place on Thursday 7 October (Week 1) from 6:45pm in the Lumen Christi Centre. If you are unable to be here in person, you can join our live stream: https://youtu.be/rOFFijEldEQ

 Awards Night

Our Awards Night will take place on Wednesday 20 October in the Lumen Christi Centre. Student recipients will be notified by the end of this week. Due to some ongoing COVID-19 event regulations, families will be required to RSVP to attend the ceremony - you will then receive your tickets (with allocated seating) on the night. Unfortunately, you will not be able to attend unless you have sent your RSVP by the due date. I will send more details regarding this later this week. This event will also be live streamed.

 Staying Up to Date with What’s On @ GSCC

A reminder that the What’s On @ GSCC document is published every Sunday. This is posted to Facebook and sent to all parents through Compass School Manager. All events listed on the document are also published on the School Calendar.

Welcome to Term 4! I hope you had a wonderful break and are ready for the event filled term that is upon us.  

Year 11 Student Leadership Applications for 2022

Since the beginning of Term 3, Mrs McCarthy, Miss Wiles and I have been going through a rigorous application process with Year 11 students vying the 2022 Student Leadership Team positions.  On Wednesday, 6th October, our Year 11 applicants will be presenting their leadership speeches to the College community during our first assembly.  This is so we can ensure positions are finalised for a handover of leadership at the Year 12 Farewell Assembly in Week 3.  After the assembly, staff and students will vote for their student leaders for 2022 and voting will remain open until 3pm on Friday, 8th October.  We wish all of our applicants the best of luck for this final part of the application process.

Queensland Mental Health Awareness Week - 9th to 17th October 2021

Next week we will be acknowledging Queensland Mental Health Awareness Week in which there will be activities in homeroom classes each day. The 2021 theme 'Take time — for mental health' recognises the importance of taking time to engage in activities that boost our mental health and wellbeing, and seeking help when needed. When we take time to look after our mental health and wellbeing we are able to improve our resilience to help us cope better with the everyday stresses of life, and reduce the risk of mental illness. 

What do triathlons, the solar system and World Youth Day have in common?

Years ago I did a triathlon at the lake and with 500 metres to go I drew level with a lady and went to pass her. She dropped her head, let out a tired breath and muttered ‘oh God, another one.’

I felt sorry for her so I said ‘come on let’s do it together.’ So, for the next 490 metres I ran with her. Just as I was feeling good about what I’d done with 10 metres to go she sprinted and as she did I said, ‘you’re kidding.’

I’d given up my race to help her and then when she didn’t need me anymore she left me; that is how most people are when it comes to God.

If God is the sun and we the planets then some are closer to the big man then others. 

Priests, nuns, Bishops, Cardinals and Papa Franco live on Mercury and as such God has the greatest influence on them. Venus is for lay people who are heavily influenced by the church and attend Mass most days of the week.

Then there is my planet, Earth. This houses the majority of the 2.382 billion Catholics (31% of the World’s population) who try to attend Mass once a week and live by Catholic values.

As we move further out the belief and influence of God decreases until you end up on Pluto. Now mentioning Pluto as a planet starts a debate which ties in with those who debate whether there is a God or not.

However, rather than being stuck on one planet we move from one to the other, depending on the needs in our life. U.S. military chaplain William Thomas Cummings is (one person) credited with the quote ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ from a field sermon during the Battle of Bataan in 1942.

During times of war or extreme stress many people visit Mercury. Even atheists would talk to Chaplains during these times because they could make no sense of where they were and what they were doing; yet their conversation with their Chaplain made them feel calm and happy amongst the terror and chaos of their situation.

Many of those men went back to Pluto, Neptune, Uranus or another planet after that moment or when they returned home; figuring they didn’t need God anymore.

That is why I feel World Youth Day is important to young people from Mount Isa. It is three weeks to live on Mercury with 2 million other young people in a World without hate, fear or anger.

That is why the CIA Youth Group takes people from every planet. We take priests and those wanting to be priests or sisters, we take those who want to live on Venus, on Earth and every other planet.

When they return they may go straight back to living where they did before. However, they will always have the World Youth Day experience to remember when they find themselves in life’s foxholes; they will always know that someone is there for them if they need.

To me that is the beauty of World Youth Day and why we invite people to come on the journey. When we come back you can be like that lady and leave us but you will always remember the time we had together and you will always remember it fondly.

The person you go over as will not be the person you come back as because you will experience something you will never experience again. Some of those who have been on previous World Youth Days now live on Mercury, Venus and Earth while others are on all the planets out to Pluto.

We don’t force them to believe in God and quite frankly I don’t care if they do. What I do care about is that they know those of us who do and where to find us when they are cowering in a foxhole and looking for a hand up.

God will always be there and your experience at World Youth Day will remind you that no matter how low you go or whatever trouble you get into there is always a calm place within the storm, and;

You are always welcome there.

Emerging Leaders Incentive Scheme

Acquittal Process Term 4

Just a reminder - This term the Emerging Leaders Incentive Scheme will be having a Vetting Panel Discussion to award students who have achieved their Incentive Goal for 2021. We would like to send out a few reminders about the acquittal process, and hope that you have kept all receipts relating to reimbursement of costs associated with your child’s personal incentive goal (PIG). 

• Receipts - are to be handed into Dorothy Frew (Emerging Leaders Coordinator) in the Cultural Space Room or to the front office
• If you would like another copy of your child’s PIG, let me know and I will email you a copy

Please note that all students' goals are approved on a case by case basis and not all students may/might achieve their incentive goal for the year.

Just a reminder that the following items listed below are not an approved goal.

• 

  Phone
• Holidays
• Casual clothing
• Netflix or other content streaming subscriptions
• Gaming consoles

If you have any questions, please email Dorothy Frew at dfrew1@goodshepherd.catholic.edu.au or call on 4743 2509.

Welcome to Term 4!

I hope that you all had a great break, and managed to get some time to rest and fill your cup before a jam-packed end of year.

Term 4 always brings such joy and excitement. This time of year allows the opportunity to look at how far each of us have come throughout the year, the things that we have all learnt, the friendships we have made, and the journey that we have travelled on not only as a community, but as individuals. It is also full of celebrations and is the term that leads us into a wonderful and well-deserved 6 week break! 

This term in English students are studying various topics across their year levels.

Year 7: Novel study: Love, Aubrey
Year 8: Language and Technology

Year 9: Canonical Texts to Contemporary Society (Classic Literature)

Year 10: Perspectives on issues and events in media texts: Documentaries and Mockumentaries

Senior students in Year 11 will finalise their Unit 2 assessments over the first five weeks of this term before moving into their Year 12 studies. The Unit 3 topics are:

Essential English: Language that Influences
General English: Textual Connections.

With the term only 8 weeks long, Junior classes will be receiving assessment tasks during week 4. Please encourage your child to familiarise themselves with the due dates once the tasks are handed out, and to refer to their diaries each night for any reminders placed throughout the day. 

We will bid farewell to our Year 12’s in a matter of weeks, which will see the end of 13 years of schooling for them. This always brings such excitement as to what their future will hold. We wish the graduating class of 2021 all the very best for their future endeavours, and good luck for their upcoming exams.

If you have any questions, concerns or queries throughout the term, please contact your child’s class teacher or myself.

Yr 11 Spiritual Leadership Retreat - Magnetic Island

Over the school holidays, all Yr 11 families were sent (via post) a letter and information regarding Retreat. Please note the following due dates:

• A non-refundable deposit of $250.00 must be paid to the College Office by Friday 8th October 2021. 

• A payment option of three fortnightly payments of $143.35 is available to pay the residual amount of $430. These payments would  need to commence before Friday 15th of October 2021 and be finalised by Monday 15th November 2021. 

• If you decide to pay the remaining balance of $430 in full, then this amount is due by close of business Monday 15th November 2021. 

The following is the information contained in the letter:

As part of the Spiritual Development and Religious Education program that is offered here at Good Shepherd Catholic College, all Year 11 students will participate in a compulsory Spiritual Leadership Retreat in Term 4 this year. This Retreat will be held at Apex Camps Magnetic Island, Townsville Queensland, from Sunday 21st November until Thursday 25th November 2021.

Students will depart from the Good Shepherd Parish by bus on Sunday 21st November, driving through the night to arrive at Townsville and then Magnetic Island Monday 22nd November. Students will depart Magnetic Island and Townsville on Wednesday 24th November, travelling overnight back to Mount Isa where they can be collected from the College on the morning of Thursday 25th November. They are not required to attend school on Thursday 25th November but are invited to attend the College activities on Friday 26th November. Further details on arrival and departure times will be communicated to you closer to the date along with a detailed itinerary. 

At this Retreat, students will be invited to reflect on the theme ‘You are called’, which will allow them the opportunity to consider their leadership capacity, team building and resilience skills before commencing their final year of secondary school as Year 12 students and also as the Students Leaders of the College in 2022. In past years, students who have attended this Retreat have commented on the reflective opportunities they were provided and how it helped them to build further relationships with their cohort, as well as prepare them for life, and the stresses beyond formal schooling. 

• The total cost of the retreat is approximately $680 which includes all travel, accommodation, meals, facilities and activities. However, to assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion, the College has been successful in gaining funding from the Queensland Government, through the Great Barrier Reef Education Experience Program, to provide a subsidy of $150 for each student who attends the Retreat. NB. you are required to pay the total cost of $680 per student, to allow your student to attend the retreat. The subsidy will be paid to the College on submission of paperwork once the students have returned from the retreat and will in turn be credited to your College Fees. 
• Please see below a breakdown of costing:

• Those that would like to pay via direct deposit, please see the College bank account details below. 

              Bank account details:
              Name: Good Shepherd Catholic College
              Bank: Westpac
              BSB: 034-203
              Account Number: 133183
             Description: Student First and Last Name - 11 Retreat (E.g Jane Smith - 11Retreat)

Included with the letter was the Retreat Consent and Medical Forms along with a Dietary Requirement Form,  the Co-curricular, Sport and Camps Position Statement and the Aquascene Consent Form. Please complete these forms and return to the College office by the deposit due date, which is Friday 8th October 2021.

Retreat programs like this offer an essential part of being a student in a Catholic School. Parents and students acknowledged their support for Retreats when they signed their Student Enrolment Agreement. Students will need to start planning their attendance now, making suitable arrangements with employers if required. We are confident that this experience will live with students throughout the remainder of their school journey and their lives. It will also enrich the relationships and support they can offer each other during their final year.

If you have any questions or concerns in regards to the Retreat or payment dates/options, please don’t hesitate to contact me through the College Office.

Every Wednesday morning from 7.00am - 8.30am. Parents and Friends are invited to The Arili Thina Cafe to purchase your morning coffee and breakfast.

By doing so you are supporting our Hospitality students to achieve their competencies towards their Certificate ll in Hospitality. 

There are a range of coffees, cold drinks and breakfast food available. Please see our Menu. Our students are becoming fantastic baristas. Come see for yourself how good they are.