“From little things, big things grow”  Paul Kelly

One of the greatest rewards a teacher can receive is when a past student come up to them and say hello I’m _____________ do you remember me? You taught me in _____________. I really enjoyed your teaching and I have never forgotten what I learnt from you.

My fondest memory of this was some time ago when I was teaching in Mackay. A young man rang me one day saying, “Hi, this is John Watson, remember me?” I did indeed remember him, a brilliant young scholar I had taught in my early years at Ignatius Park. He had lost his dad in his Year 12 and I had supported him through that year and encouraged him in his particular interest which was music. He went on to tell me he was in town with Silverchair (a very popular band in the 90s), he was their manager and he asked me if I like to catch up over lunch. Of course I went to lunch, met the band and was given tickets to their concert to the envy of all the young students I taught. Since then I note that he has gone on to manage artists such as Jimmy Barnes, Midnight Oil, Missy Higgins, Goyte and Cold Chisel. I have had many instances of this throughout my career and it’s an important reminder of just how important our role is as teachers, to plant seeds, water them and prune them so that that they may grow to provide shade for coming generations.

Education has always been, and remains, “a garden for growing trees”. It enables our students to grow strong, it shapes their capacity to flourish and eventually to provide the shade under which future generations will sit. A future which offers an ever increasingly complex, challenging and different world. A world for which there is an urgent need for them to gain a “good” education, one which will support, strengthen and guide them in their growth and for their future, in other words, in order to “thrive”.

As I stated in our last newsletter, at Good Shepherd, we work hard to understand the needs of the young students in our care. We know that learning is not only about good curriculum, whether that be an academic pathway or a vocational one, it is also about excellent pastoral care and a focus on student and staff wellbeing, it’s about offering choices and ensuring we are closely connected to this community, it’s about exploring a dimension of faith that will support them in times of need and give fundamental purpose to their lives. Finally, it’s about rigor, a good work effort and a knowledge that nothing can be achieved without effort, whether this be in the classroom, in the workplace, on the sports field, on the stage or in the community. A holistic education serves students’ needs physically, intellectually, socially, emotionally and spiritually.

I congratulate all students who have achieved well this year, in particular those recognised at our recent awards nights. They have embraced all that GSCC has to offer, they have worked hard, overcome difficulties, gone without, and set themselves on a course for successful lives. They have understood the value of a “good” education and they understand that hard work is necessary, in whatever field they have chosen. To put down strong roots provided by a good education is the only way to ensure a success future and to enable our students to be prepared for change.

In all that is change, we remain human, and that is the essential part of teaching and learning. As educators, we have a fundamental role to ensure the humanity of every one we work with. In order to build a successful future we experience the community through living the values of hope, justice, respect, honesty and love. At GSCC, we want students to be responsible learners, to manage their own behaviours and work diligently and collegiately for success. We strive for this each and every day, to grow trees that will be strong enough to resist the storms and tempests of the contemporary world and to one day provide the shade under which we might sit, the shade required to protect and support and grow the next generation.

Peter Scott

Congratulations 2019 Student Leaders

Over the past term, many Year 11 students have been engaged in the student leadership team selection process. These worthy applicants participated in formation, prepared applications, interviewed, and presented a well planned and articulate addresses to the College Community. Upon completion of this process, all students and staff voted for the students who they believe would best represent the College as members of the the 2019 Student Leadership Team. Congratulations to the successful applicants, and thank you to all who participated in this process. We had so many fantastic nominees this year and are looking forward to all Year 11 students becoming the leaders of the school when they are in Year 12 in 2019! I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our graduating student leaders, the energy and enthusiasm that you have given to your roles this year has been admirable, and we thank you for your service to the College.

Safe on Social Media

Next year, we will have a representative from Safe on Social Media come to the College to discuss cyber safety. Below is an update from the company regarding parental controls for certain devices.

If you haven’t upgraded your child’s iPhone to iOS 12 here is the reason to do it now.

Apple has created a new set of parental control functions known as “Screen Time” Screen Time works via Family Sharing, so as long as your children are part of your "Family" in the Family Sharing settings of your Apple device, you will be able to view and control their Screen Time options from your phone.

If the child has an iPhone, and the parent has an Android phone, Screen Time settings can be set on the child’s device. Unfortunately, the parent will have to access the child’s phone to see screen time information or make changes to the settings. The best situation is for the parent and child to both have iPhones and connected with Family Sharing.

Turn on Screen Time

You will need to turn on and set up Screen Time on all the devices owned and used by your children. This is done in the Screen Time section of the Settings app. Open up the Settings. - Navigate to the “Screen Time section.” - Choose “Turn on Screen Time.”

Choose “Continue” When you see the introductory screen asking whether this is your iPhone or your child’s iPhone, select “This is My Child’s iPhone.” After you have turned Screen Time on, you can set Downtime, which is a set period of time in which your child will be blocked from using the iPhone, or App Limits, which will restrict certain app categories.

You can also choose Content and Privacy settings, which we explained further below. When your child’s device is on your Family Share iCloud account, you can make changes remotely from your (the parent’s) device, by tapping on a child’s name in the Screen Time section of the Settings app, listed under the parent’s own Screen Time usage.

Alternatively, Downtime and App Limits selections for your child can be adjusted directly on their device by going to the Settings app and selecting Screen Time on their device. Parental controls only work if they are not altered by the child they are protecting. All of the App Limits, Downtime, and Content Restrictions are protected via a passcode. The passcode restricts changes to the Screen Time settings and must be entered to allow more usage time to children when limits have been reached.

Downtime

Downtime sets a schedule that allows you to choose when your child cannot use certain apps on their iPhone or iPad. During Downtime, only apps that the parent designates in “Always Allowed” and phone calls will be available. We recommend Snapchat or Instagram is restricted during school hours.

You turn on blocking for Downtime to prevent apps from being used entirely, but Apple gives you a non-blocking option when you want your child reminded that apps shouldn’t be used at certain times.

App Limits

App Limits allows you to finely control how much time your children spend on certain categories of apps. With App Limits, you can set restrictions on either All Apps or by Categories such as Social Networking, Games, Entertainment, Creativity, Productivity, Education, Reading & Reference, Health & Fitness, and Other.

After the App Limit has been reached, apps will be locked with an hourglass symbol and a passcode will be required to enable more time. Children can ask for more time through the app. The parent can remotely approve or deny their child’s request for more time directly from their device.You can also set less restrictive rules that serve as more of a reminder by turning off blocking with App Limits.

Always Allowed

With Downtime and App Limits, the parent can designate certain apps to be “Always Allowed.” These apps will be accessible at all times even when Downtime and App Limits are enabled. Apple makes Phone, Messages, FaceTime, and Maps as always available apps, but you can select any apps that you want through the Always Allowed app interface, accessible under “Always Allowed” in the Screen Time section of Settings on a child’s device.You can remove access to all apps, including Messages, with the exception of the phone, which remains available to children in case of emergencies.

Content Restrictions

Content Restrictions have expanded to include preventing a child from changing the passcode on their device, restricting account changes, limit volume, and automatically turn on Do Not Disturb While Driving.

A parent can also set privacy settings for everything from location services (GPS) to advertising preferences. For example, if a parent wanted to make sure they could always access their child’s location, they can turn on Location Services and select Share My Location, and also limit GPS use on other apps.

Accessing Content & Privacy restrictions requires an adult to input a Content & Privacy passcode, which prevents children from changing these settings.

The Power of Prayer

In a recent edition of Australian Catholics magazine, there was an article reflecting on the prayer life of a family. This article was extremely uplifting, and reminds us of the power of prayer. The article recounts the experience of a mother and daughter praying at mass. The mother had asked her daughter what she might like to pray for, to which her daughter pointed to an elderly man with a walking stick. She said ‘I would like to pray for that man, because he wasn’t strong enough to walk to communion by himself’. The mother was touched, and realised that there is a unique relationship between her children and God, perhaps different to that of an adult.

This story reminds me of the power of prayer. Prayer is a relationship with God that mirrors our relationships with those we love or of the love we can give to others. Just as we need to build important relationships with family and friends by spending time with them in mutual love and sharing, so too, we need to do the same with God. Too often we think that prayer always has to be formal or only at Church. However, the Old Testament psalms teach us that prayer from our hearts should be honest and frank and that we can say anything to God in prayer. I would like to take this opportunity to remind everyone of the power of prayer, and of just how important it is in our lives.

Christmas Appeal

Each House Group at the College has been asked to participate in our Christmas appeal, supporting families in need at this special time of year. Students have been asked to collect, purchase or donate the following items to bring in to the office and place under our Christmas tree.

• Benjamin: Non perishable food and hamper items

Some ideas include; Christmas puddings, tinned fruit, milo, biscuits, candy canes, juice, pancake mix and pasta, or anything that doesn’t need to be kept refrigerated.

• Chisholm: Stationery in preparation for the 2019 school year

These can include: pencils, pens, erasers, exercise books, notepads, rulers, textas, scissors, paper etc.

• MacKillop: Toiletries and Towels

Items include: Shampoo, Conditioners, Soap, body Wash, Toothbrushes, Toothpaste, Towels and other personal hygiene products.

• Rice: Toys and gifts for young adults/children

Some ideas may include: plush toys, stationery games, sports equipment, colouring books, board games, dress-up costumes, nail polish kits and soap packs.

Many donations have already started to come in so far and we thank everyone for their generosity. A huge thank you as well must go to Year 9 students Charlotte Coghlan, Julia Sitinjak and Loree Martyr for helping to set up our Christmas tree in the front office, on behalf of the Social Justice Group.

Plenary Council 2020

Over the next couple of weeks, we will be holding listening and dialogue encounters with students and staff, in preparation for the Plenary Council 2020. The aim of the plenary council is to address some of the profound cultural changes that are facing not only the Church but society as a whole. In preparation for the council, the Church is inviting everyone to consider the question: “What do you think God is asking of us in Australia at this time?”. The Plenary Council agenda will be developed from the stories you share and the questions you raise. To learn more about the Plenary Council 2020 please visit the Plenary Council website https://www.catholic.org.au/plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/

It's that time of the year where we need to start prepping for next year - 2019.

If your student is currently in Year 9 now and going into Year 10 next year, please remember to place your Senior uniform order with the Uniform Shop by Thursday 22nd November, 2018 to ensure we have enough stock for everyone. A November or January pick up date is available on pre-orders.  

Uniform Shop days are Tuesday morning 8:00am-9:00am and Thursday afternoon 2:45pm-3:30pm. Trying on sizes is recommended.

Next year the Uniform Shop will be open on Thursday 24th January, Friday 25th January and the following Tuesday 29th January from 8:30am. 

Congratulations to Year 7 student Maddison Dolzan, she has been shortlisted to the top 10 in the Suncorp Wish Upon A Ballet Star competition. We should all be very proud of Maddie and her achievements. A wonderful testament to hard work and dedication as she has been dancing since she was 2 and a half years old at Mount Isa School of Dance. Now it all comes down to the votes. It would be wonderful if the GSCC community could get behind Maddie and vote.

Please click on the link to vote for Maddie!

https://www.suncorpballetstar.com.au/finalists

Sonja James

Curriculum Leader - The Arts

Why developing empathy in your child matters

Parenting is a socialisation process during which parents develop in their children and teenagers the skills and attitudes that will enable them to fit into the different groups they encounter. These groups will exist inside the classroom, in friendship groups, during sports and leisure activities and elsewhere.

This socialisation process needs to begin from a young age.

Initially, most kids believe that their world and everyone in it revolves around them. “I want” is their mantra. Patient, firm parents will continually remind children that they need to think of others. “It’s your brother’s turn.””Nana doesn’t feel comfortable listening to that language.” “Think about how your behaviour affects others.” These are the types of appeal to a less self-centred approach that many parents make.

The socialisation process operates on two levels. On one level its focus is on teaching and helping kids to follow social rules or conventions that exist to help them get along with each other. At a deeper level successful socialisation develops empathy in a child or young person.

Empathy – the ability to understand how another person is feeling or how they respond to a behaviour or an event – is the basis of all respectful relationships. Without empathy it’s impossible for someone to enjoy a relationship based on respect and equality. It’s easy for a person who doesn’t practise empathy to reject, bully, intimidate or hurt someone else.

Empathy learned in childhood carries on to adult life

Empathetic adults enjoy better personal relationships and experience less stress. They also make better leaders who are more likely to get the best out of people than self-centred, result-focused leaders.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that empathy, if neglected in childhood, can be difficult to develop in adulthood. In some adults it takes a traumatic event or a ‘road-to-Damascus’ moment for them to adopt an empathetic perspective.

So, rather than wait until adulthood, let’s focus on developing empathy in your children and adolescents. There is a good chance they will benefit very soon in terms of enjoying better friendships, improved wellbeing and more success at school. Here are five ideas to get you started:

1. Model empathetic behaviour. Be kind even though the person in front of you in that queue is slow.
2. Read fiction stories to kids or encourage them to read fiction. People who read fiction score highest on tests that ask them to infer other people’s thoughts and emotions.
3. Praise kind and compassionate behaviours. The behaviours that parents focus on, even with teenagers, are those that tend to expand, so bring their empathetic behaviours to the fore.
4. Validate your child’s feelings. When a child shares difficult stories or emotions let them know you understand, without offering solutions or advice.
5. Invite your child to walk in someone else’s shoes. Occasionally ask your child a question like, “What would it be like to be tall like Tanya?”

Empathy is too important to wait until adulthood so make it a priority to develop a sense of ‘other’ in your child from an early age.

(parentingideas.com.au/schools)

What’s happening

Please find below the link to our latest Careers newsletter.  Information includes:

- Changes for entry into medicine

- Career as a cosmetic nurse

- Careers that began in Science

- Cyber Security

- What jobs will look like in 2022.

https://www.careertools.com.au/resources/newsletters/qld/2018/t4_w5_2018_qld.pdf

Congratulations Lane!

Year 11 student Lane Griffiths recently commenced a School Based Traineeship with Reece.  

Lane will be undertaking a Certificate II in Warehousing Operations.

Short Video about Vocational Education & Training

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yr6RRwFItk&feature=youtu.be&utm_source=VET+It+is+Right+Now&utm_campaign=52bfc24aac-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_11_12_03_10&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_985bd457c7-52bfc24aac-495428061&mc_cid=52bfc24aac&mc_eid=5e7ec03f4c

On Friday 2nd November the year 9 media students went a photography excursion  all around Mount Isa including Wallaby Walk, Lake Moondarra, Peacock Park, the Lookout and Outback. The students had to take photos based on the theme of “mystery”. They learnt many skills on the excursion including how to use a DSLR camera,  how to take panoramas, using depth of field when taking photos, how to safely change lenses on a DSLR camera and to include the elements of photography in which they learnt about it in class. The excursion is part of their current assessment where the students create a 2019 calendar to promote the abstract view of Mount Isa’s landscape. A huge thank you to Mrs Mellissa Jones for assisting with the excursion. All students thoroughly enjoyed the excursion and gained many new invaluable skills.

Xavier Keise

The Year 9 2018 Media Assignment Excursion was a BLAST!! During this excursion, we enjoyed every bit of it starting off with Wallaby Walk taking some interesting and mysterious photos of specific things that caught our interest/attention. We also went to Peacock Park, the Dam Wall at the Lake, Lake Moondarra picnic area, the Lookout with us all posing for a photo with Miss Lesca and ending the day at Outback Isa. We all had an amazing time and hope that the future year 9 students of 2019 will enjoy it as much as we did!!

(photo taken by Xavier Keise)

Stepheny Reddish

On the second of November, Myself and my classmates went on our media excursion. We went to multiple different places such as Walibi walk, Peacock Park, the lake and outback at Isa. The trip was an incredible experience and way to experiment with different camera shots, shadows and the overall theme of Mystery. It was a way to connect with your classmates that you can't do in a classroom. I quite enjoyed the excursion.

(photo taken by Stepheny Reddish)

Savannah Ryan

Our media excursion was something different, it was not only for our assignments but it was a new learning experience and a way for all of us to find out what we are really great at. I didn’t have a whole lot of experience before the trip but I love photography. After the excursion I discovered new things like how to take a panorama, not on your phone but with a DSLR camera. I also found out how to correctly change the lenses on the camera. We went to many different places around Mount Isa. I really enjoyed the Wallaby Walk and Outback at Isa gardens the best. Overall the excursion was amazing, the experience I received was invaluable.

(photo taken by Savannah Rya)

Raphael Fahey

During our excursion for our media assignment we took several photos of objects, insects, plants and walls at many locations around Mount Isa including the Lookout, Lake Moondarra, Peacock Park, Outback at Isa and Wallaby Walk. The photos were great to put on our 2019 calendar. The day was extremely fun due to the fact we were able to bond together as classmates and with the teachers. Overall it was a great memorable day!

(photo taken by Raphael Fahey)

Jamie Ahearn

On Friday the 2nd of November, myself and the year 9 media class explored the depths of Mount Isa’s beautiful, natural landscapes. Venturing to areas such as Lake Moondarra, Wallaby Walk, the Lookout, and the exquisite Outback at Isa gardens. We captured the beauty and dynamics of each location in just a few shots. We get to create a 2019 calendar showing off our photos from our excursion as our assessment piece. Overall, this was a fascinating, yet refreshing unit, that I thoroughly enjoyed.

(photo taken by Jamie Ahearn)

Isaiah Ladisla

During the excursion for our media assignment we took several photos, some of these are; plants, animals and different landscape. We when to many different places during the excursion such as the Lake, The Lookout and the Outback at Isa. As the day went on, we all started to have more and more fun, but it couldn't of happened if it weren't for the teachers that were with us that day. Though the day was hot, we all still had the most fun we’ve had this year.

(photo taken by Isaiah Ladisla)