"Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach them how to fish and you feed them for a lifetime." Lao Tzu - 600 BCE

In Mathew's Gospel, Chapter 4, we find Jesus enlisting the disciples to be his followers, so that they might continue his work when he was gone. The first two, Peter and Andrew are fishing when he comes upon them, calling to them he says, "come follow me and I will make you fishers of men." The use of this analogy is significant when we consider our role as teachers. Furthermore, it is rather appropiate that the collective noun for fish, is "school". If we appropriate the quote from Lao Tzu with Jesus's words on that day, we are directed as teachers, not only to be fishers but also to teach our students how to fish. Put simply, as teachers, our important work each and every day is to build capacity in the minds and hearts of our students in order that they may go out into the world equipped with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to successfully manage the challenging and complex demands of contemporary life, to thrive.

The work of Peter McKenna, "Thrive - Unlocking the Truth about Student Performance", provides us with a blueprint for educational practice with regards to how we might build this capacity in our students. He identifies three main inhibitors to student learning, improving and thriving, all of which reside in the mind;

1. a belief that our talents and intelligence are fixed traits

2. a lack of resilience and persistence

3. poor mental health

He goes on to state that these three antidotes can be learned and taught by educators, parents and students and utilized to contribute to a thriving school community.

"We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education." Martin Luther King Jnr. I believe that we at GSCC are well placed to take up the practices that Mckenna suggests, in order to build capacity in our students. Through the development of our leadership model, and most importantly "Christ, our light", we can be assured that our school will be a place of learning that will "teach our students how to fish, so as to be fed for their lives" and will also create the "fishers of men (leaders)" of tomorrow.  

On behalf of Good Shepherd Catholic College I would like to congratulate Dennis Burland and James Coghlan on receiving a nomination for the state-wide Spirit of Catholic Education Awards for 2019.

These awards recognise people who are making an outstanding contribution within their Catholic School Communities.  This year, 130 nominations were received from throughout Queensland and all are a rich reminder of the outstanding calibre of staff members, parents, carers and volunteers who do wonderful work to support and uphold the mission of Catholic Education in Queensland.

Congratulations Dennis and James.

Once a student arrives at school they become the responsibility of the College and we are unable to allow them to leave the grounds without permission. We are witnessing an increasing number of students arrive at school and then leave to go to take away food outlets “to get breakfast”. Often “Breakfast” consists of chips and a large energy drink and delays students to the point that they miss or are late to homeroom class.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day for everyone. Many studies have found a relationship between eating breakfast and learning ability, attention span, and general well-being. Children who regularly eat breakfast think faster, clearer, solve problems more easily, and are less likely to be irritable.

In the past weeks, there has been a number of occasions for community members to contact the College regarding road safety. We have addressed this in Homeroom, but would appreciate if you could have a conversation with your children on the following very important road safety concerns:

1. Look for cars before crossing the road. Under no circumstances should students be running across the crossings without carefully checking for cars first. Both Camooweal and Mary Streets are very busy from 3pm, so utmost care must be taken.
2. If students ride a bike they must wear a helmet. This is a law, and penalties of $130 for a range of bike riding infringements, a full list can be found on the Queensland Government website → Bicycle riding rules and fines

• Students who ride a bike must adhere to the road rules - see the link above for fines that will apply to those not adhering to the road rules.

 For parents, please help us keep all students safe by:

• Adhering to the speed limit
• Only park in designated drop off/pick up areas (don’t double park)
• Don’t allow your child to enter the car while at the pedestrian crossing

Our Student Representative Council (SRC) have been assisting the College in completing the Woolworths Earn and Learn sticker sheets during meetings. We are looking forward to seeing what items we are able to earn for our College. There are only two weeks remaining to collect stickers with the program ending on the 25th of June. Many thanks to all families who have assisted so far.

Term 2 has been very busy in our Year 11 world. As the end of Unit One assessment is completed, our next TAFE block approaches, work experience blocks are finalised, and Unit Two learning begins, there has not been a lot of time to rest.

As students have been receiving their assessments back, and having discussions with teachers, it is the time to seriously consider if the subjects you are currently choosing are the right ones. It is important to remember that to receive your QCE - Queensland Certificate of Education, there are standards that must be met each term. If these standards are not met, then a Certificate of Education may not be able to be issued at the end of Year 12, NOW is the time to make possible changes if needed. I encourage all students to consider their current achievements and come and discuss these with me if there are any concerns.

Forms for ordering Polos and Jerseys for our 2020 Leaders cohort have gone out this week. The designs were student created, voted on by the cohort and come with the knowledge that they wear them as a privilege not a right.

Order forms are due back next Wednesday, June 19, and payment by July 17 - week 1.

A huge thank you from the whole group to the very supportive GSCC P & F who have kindy subsidised the purchase of the Polos to allow all in the group the opportunity to wear these fabulous items.

On Friday 31st May, Year 8 students took time out from their busy schedule for their Retreat Day. With the theme, ‘Reaching Up – Reaching Out’, the first half of the day students rotated in four group activities: Self Image, Worry, Meditation and Kindness.

Students participated in several activities that included being outside as well as spending time reflecting on themselves and how to be a better person. Retreat also encompassed a meditative activity and walking the labyrinth where we were able to reflect on our own well-being.

Students participated in the worry activity where they required the trust of another student to guide them around blindfolded without touching or bumping into other students. This activity allowed students to let go of their worry and have the ability to trust someone else to take care of them.

Self-image required students to use appropriate words to describe celebrities without using mean words. This allowed the groups to think about how they see themselves or how others may view them and that it is important to be proud of the person you are or want to become.

The final rotation centred on Kindness and how we can be kind to everyone in everything we do. The students were asked to complete the challenge of mummifying a student in their group using toilet paper whilst competing against other groups, whilst showing kindness. Students received envelopes of kindness that other students had written to them. This gave them the opportunity to see what other students like about them or show how special their friendship is.

Whilst Year 8 Retreat allows time to reflect, it also important to have some time to relax and compete with our peers. This was proven when they got the opportunity to show off their Ten Pin Bowling and arcade games skills.

I would like to thank the Year 8 homeroom teachers Mr Wilkinson, Mr Fainges, Ms Algie, Ms Apap, Mr Park and Mrs Warren for their guidance throughout the day. A special thanks to Mrs Stringer for providing the Year 8’s with a lunch pack and Mr James Coghlin for helping to organise drivers and transporting students to and from Ten Pin Bowling.

This week GSCC hosted a QMEA STEM4SchoolKids Workshop at the College. We had the most amazing students from Good Shepherd Catholic College and Spinifex State School participate in an all day event where they had to mine for Coal, extract Copper and engineer the perfect drink.  The day also highlighted the roles of Women in Science, Engineering and Mining. It was such a fun day for all. Well Done everyone.

Our Inter House School Athletics Carnival was held last Friday at Sunset Oval. It was a fantastic day with over 350 students attending. Competition was intense and the standard of the athletes was as good as we have seen for a number of years.

Eleven school records were broken on the day and the new record holders are listed below.

NEW SCHOOL RECORDS

   EVENT                                               NAME                               DISTANCE /TIME

The fight for the overall and the spirit shields was close, and the winners will be announced at the assembly in week 9. The age champions will also be announced at this assembly.

A huge thank you to all the students, staff, parents and other officials for making the day such a huge success.

MISSA

Congratulations to the following students

Abby Benson and Linkyn McMillan – chosen for the NW Region Cross Country team

Pratik Seegoolam and Sam Winks – chosen for the NW Region U12 Soccer team.

These four students will be heading off to the respective State Championships later in the year.

A large number of GSCC have also been selected in the MISSA DISTRICT athletics squad to compete at Longreach later his month. Congratulations to all of them.

As mentioned in our last newsletter we have 17 students participating in this year’s Glencore Girls 4 Mining Mentoring Program.  

Here is a photo of our Year 10, 11 & 12 female students at the launch, with their Mentors.

Wardles representatives Amy Henrich and Glenn Smith gave a presentation to our Year 12’s this week about the basics of money management.  There were many questions from our students.

Kasey McKie was lucky enough to win a copy of the Barefoot Investor.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

This is a new addition to the Careers page, which I am hoping will become a regular feature.

As this term races by, we wanted to give a short update on our activities. First and foremost, we have confirmed the date for our First GSCC P&F Ball, which is shaping up to be a terrific night out for the whole community.

One of the biggest fundraisers for the P&F this year, is the Rodeo Ball, on Saturday 3rd August, where the P&F committee runs the bar/drinks service for the night. This is a terrific night, but very busy. We will be looking for approximately 65 volunteers, so if you can help out, even for a few hours, it will be much appreciated. Just this term, the P&F has already approved sponsorship support for the following groups; QISSN team, Confraternity team, Mulkadee Students, and Year 11 students (senior polo shirts for next year’s seniors). In order for the P&F to continue providing funding like this, as well as the purchasing of resources for the school,we need the support of volunteers.