“Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it” Ferris Bueller

Our society is so fast to ask for things. In terms of material possessions, we want the best and latest model of everything, and we want it now! Even when it comes to prayer, we are so quick to turn to God to ask for a solution, on our terms and in our time. Consequently, we often miss the opportunity to be grateful, focusing on what we have not got rather than counting our blessings for what we have. As Sam Bern’s says, “be okay with what you ultimately can’t do, because there’s so much you can do”.  Showing gratitude is a pure response to the presence of God in our lives, conscious that everything we are and have, is a gift to us from God.

When we think about our own lives, we are surrounded with so much, however as a result we run the risk of being complacent. We are too often caught up in the trivial things and forget to be grateful for all we have. As Joni Mitchell says in “Big Yellow Taxi”, “don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone”. The invitation of Pope Francis “….Perhaps we need to ask ourselves: are we good at counting our blessings?” might seem to be a simplistic task. Yet if we took the time to consider all the things we are grateful for it might surprise us, the gift of life, the gift of faith, the gift of freedom, of family, friends….the list is endless. Being grateful has a way of opening our hearts and minds to the goodness that surrounds us.

As well as needing to grow in gratitude for the blessings we receive, it’s far more important to be thankful for the challenges that we face in life. Although it can be tough at times to give thanks for difficulties that we encounter, or things that don’t go our way, it is often the greatest challenges that lead to the greatest growth. How we come through hardships shapes us into the people we really are. The paradox of depression is that you must acknowledge your difficulties, before you can move on. We need, above all, to always have something to look forward to. “Around here we don’t look backwards for too long. We keep moving forward, opening new doors and doing new things.” Walt Disney. If we believe we can change the world then that belief will make us happy.

As we continue our journey of faith, let us strive to be grateful for the unconditional love of God and for the moments that shape our character. Let us pray for grateful hearts, that our lives might become a story of gratitude for all that God continues to do for us. We need to have grateful hearts, brave and true, and minds that are focused on what we can do not on what we cannot.

And so I come to the end of my tenure at Good Shepherd. I am grateful for all the blessing that the GSCC community has brought my way, through the hard times and the good. I wish you a refreshing Christmas break and hope that you are grateful for this time with family, friends and loved ones, I know I will be. May you come back to 2020 ready to continue the journey, emboldened by the knowledge that “Christ is our light” and knows our purpose and our destiny.

This weekend, we celebrate the first Sunday of Advent. Advent, is filled with anticipation as we await the coming of Jesus into the world. Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of christmas. 

Many of us would have already seen the Christmas decorations that fill shopping centres and streets, some of us have already written our Christmas wish list, or have already begun buying presents for friends and loved ones. While we look ahead with eagerness to Christmas Day, we are encouraged to not lose sight of the importance of this period of preparation. We remember what lies at the heart of the celebration of Christmas that we all look forward to.

Below is an extract from the Townsville Catholic Education Office ‘Love Our Catholic Schools’ Term 4 magazine. It outlines many of the key Christmas symbols we will come across this season and where these have originated from.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

A reminder that we are holding a BBQ for all students and their families on the last day of term at the College. Families are invited for a BBQ lunch from 11am, students will be dismissed from the LCC at 12:30pm after a liturgy and assembly. We hope to see you there. 

For those families leaving at the end of the year, we thank you for your contribution to the College community, we also wish you the best of luck in your future endeavours. If your child is not attending Good Shepherd in 2020 and you are yet to inform the College, please contact us on 4743 2509 before 4pm Thursday 5th December.

Pastoral Team 2020

We have a number of changes to our Pastoral Team for 2020. As we say farewell to Ms Caitlin Conway and Mr Domenico Cullen, we thank them for their wonderful contribution to the College.

We welcome two new Pastoral Leaders, with Ms Nicole Dalla Vecchia undertaking the position of Year 11 Pastoral Leader and Ms Louise Wiles joining us from St Joseph’s Clonclurry commencing as Year 10 Pastoral Leader.

I would also like to wish Mrs Pelly Morganson all the best in her new role as Assistant Principal Pastoral Care. 

The Pastoral Team for 2020 is:

Year 7 - Kate Thinee

Year 8 -  William Morganson

Year 9 - Kylie McCarthy

Year 10 - Louise Wiles

Year 11 - Nicole Dalla Vecchia

Year 12 - Jade Marinelli

Assistant Principal Pastoral Care - Pelly Morgnason 

Happy Holidays!

I would like to wish all students and families a very safe and happy Christmas and New Year period. I hope that you are able to spend time with your family, relax and reinvigorate yourselves before returning for another busy school year in 2020!

Term 1 will commence for Year 7 and 12 students on Tuesday 28 January; followed by students in Years 8 - 11 on Wednesday 29 January.

Subject Selection for 2020

Students in Years 7, 8 & 9 should have by now chosen their two elective subjects to study at the College next year. Students in Year 8 2020, will still be studying a subject area from both the Arts and Technologies, whilst students in Year 9 and 10, now have an opportunity to continue studying any two from these subject areas. Any student who has not completed their subject selection, will be asked to meet with the Assistant Principal Administration early next year to confirm subjects in their timetable. 

Semester 2 Reports

Just a reminder that all College reports are now distributed via the Compass Parent Portal. Please contact the College office if you require further assistance in accessing your portal account or your child/s reports. For Semester 2 Reports, teachers use evidence to determine Positive Learning Element’s as well as an overall level of achievement for each subject area.

Students and parents are strongly encouraged to read the Semester 2 Report Card together and reflect on comments made by teachers. Ultimately, we provide report cards so that students and parents get valuable feedback that should help them to reflect, set goals and either maintain or improve results in the future.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank students, staff and parents in supporting my role/s in Senior Leadership over the past two years. I have thoroughly enjoyed the roles, but now look forward to spending time back in the classroom in 2020. In particular, I wanted to thank the Senior Leadership team, Peter Scott, Jacqueline Warren, Jade Marinelli and Samantha Kelley for their guidance and support. Congratulations to Amy Webb, who will be returning to the College next year and has taken up the position of AP Administration. 

I pray that students/families have a happy and safe Christmas, and look forward to seeing you all for the start of the 2020 school year. 

Term Dates 2020

Please note these dates may be subject to change

Term 1 Tuesday 28th January - Friday 3rd April (10 week term)

Term 2 Monday 20th April - Friday 26th June (10 week term)

Term 3 Tuesday 14th July - Friday 18th September (10 week term)

Term 4 Tuesday 6th October - Friday 27th November (8 week term)

Term 1 Student Free Days & Public Holidays

Australia Day Public Holiday - Monday 27th January

Year 7 & Year 12 commence - Tuesday 28th January

Year 8, 9, 10 & 11 commence - Wednesday 29th January

I cannot believe that I am submitting my last newsletter article for the year. It has been a very busy year, which has provided a number of opportunities for students to reach their full potential. It has been fantastic to watch students achieve their goals through hard work and determination. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, students, parents and community members for your ongoing support throughout the year. It is your commitment to the Good Shepherd Catholic College Community that has made this place of learning what it is today.  

 A friendly reminder to all year 12 students to access their learning accounts, and let me know before Friday the 7th of December if they need login details.

Tertiary Entrance Rank students
Just a reminder that students who are wishing to use their Tertiary Entrance Rank to gain entrance into university must request their rank by calling QTAC (Queensland Tertiary admissions Centre). Students should have their LUI number ready for the phone call. This is the only way students can get access to their rank, so they must contact QTAC either online at http://www.qtac.edu.au/home  or via phone. 

QCS Students

Wow! What a fantastic achievement. Congratulations to the students that sat the Queensland Core Skills Test in 2020. To say that the College is proud of you is an understatement. The results have shown just how hard you worked this year. You should all be so proud of yourselves. 

A reminder to students at Good Shepherd that you are making a difference each and every day. You are lighting the path of your future by engaging in all aspects of the College. Barack Obama once stated that “change will not come if we wait for some other person, or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek”. You have set yourselves a goal and reached it, enacting change in your lives. Thank you for contributing to this community in the positive and admirable way that you do. 

I hope that you all have a safe and restful break, taking time to recharge by spending valuable time with your loved ones.

Term 4 College Fees were due for payment on Thursday the 28th of November 2019, thank you to those who have already paid. If you have not already paid, payment at your earliest convenience is appreciated. If you are currently on a payment plan, paying over the holiday’s or paying via direct debit, please be sure to contact the College early 2020 to recalculate your payments for next year. If you feel that you may not be able to continue with your current payment plan over the extended break it is important for you to contact the College and make us aware of any change to your circumstances.

It is officially the last day of school today but the College Office will be open until and including Thursday the 5th of December. Can you please check to see if your student has any College Textbooks, Novels, Loan Chromebooks or Chargers at home that belong to the College and return these as soon as possible. Replacement costs of any outstanding items will be charged to your College Fees.

If your student will not be returning to Good Shepherd please make sure that you have filled out a departing student form at the front office and finalised any outstanding College fees. It is an expectation that fees are paid in full on departure or a regular payment plan has been put in place.

I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and safe holiday season and look forward to seeing you all next year.

The school sports year is now drawing to a close. It has been an unbelievably busy year with so much sport going on at the College.

Even though this is the last week of Term we are still continuing to train and play at GSCC. The QISSN netball squad continue to go through their paces on the training court in preparation for next year, the NRL have been in running training clinics for the past two weeks ready for their gala afternoon this Friday, Mr Harries basketball squads continue to practice and play scratch games after school and the year 9/10 group have just played in a basketball carnival on Wednesday afternoon.

Looking back we have been proud to have had so many students represent the school at state, regional and district levels; and the commitment of the students to school teams is second to none.

There have been many highlights for the year. Here are just a few

• Winning the schools triathlon challenge
• Winning the interschool athletics trophy back after many years form Spinifex
• Winning the inaugural netball challenge trophy against Spinifex
• The U15 boys and Open Girls winning their tri series rugby league games 3-0
• Having over 40 students represent the school at either District, regional or State level for Queensland Sport 
• The staff only losing 1 game of sport to the students all year
• The successful Year 7 and 8 Touch and Netball carnival
• Wonderful House carnivals for both swimming and athletics
• Excellent performances in both Confro and QISSN competitions

Congratulations to all the students and thank you to all the staff, parents, carers and the school administration team for helping make this year one to remember.

The school sports calendar will be updated on the school website early in the New Year

Enjoy your holidays, see you in 2020. 

Glencore gives students a head start at Uni.

Congratulations to the following 2019 graduates who are recipients of a Glencore Student Excellence Scholarship:

Tara Gavan

Henry Carland

Takudzwa Tembo

Tara, Henry and Takudzwa will each receive $5000 per annum, whilst they study their undergraduate degrees.

Each of these students had to meet the following criteria:

• Undertake a full time university degree in 2020
• Demonstrated a solid academic performance history
• Are good role models and community minded
• Received strong recommendations from school Principal
• Willing to act as Glencore Ambassadors at university
• Complete vacation work during study breaks

ATTN:  Year 11’s.  This is something to work toward as you enter Year 12 in 2020.

What a year it has been for the instrumental program of GSCC!

On Monday the 28th of October, the Combined Catholic School’s Ensemble attended a morning assembly at St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School, where we played our signature pieces, The Hanging Tree from the Hunger Games and the famous Uptown Funk, which appears in one of the Alvin and the Chipmunks Movies. 

On the 14th of November, our ensemble attended yet another morning assembly, this time at St. Kieran's School, where we had the chance to perform some Christmas pieces, and our signature pieces for the students. Not only did we perform as a band, we also had some of our band members perform incredible solos.

As well as these two recent trips our ensemble has been on, there have been other occasions we have attended, including playing in the foyer of the awards night and an assembly late last term. We have also had some students perform solos throughout the year at the annual eisteddfod and RUOK? Day. 

So enough about our ensemble. The true purpose of this article is to let our school community know that there are many fun opportunities involved with being a band kid and some may even consider them as perks.

An opportunity some students (not only in the instrumental program but in dance, guitar and other arts) got to miss Week 2 of Term 3 to travel to Townsville and participate in the amazing creative arts program, Mulkadee!!! There were dancers, there were singers, there were guitars, there were violins, violas and cellos... And there were lots of band kids. Mulkadee gives an experience like nothing else I have ever experienced, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people who agreed with me in saying that. At the end of the week, all the arts groups came together to create a performance for the audience, which mainly consisted of parents. Since 2018, Mulkadee has performed certain musicals/shows that consist of a story and this years theme was Peter Pan.

Yet another opportunity the instrumental program can provide, except this time depending on if there is an open position, is SHEP, which is the State Honours Ensemble Program. I was lucky enough to be offered a position to attend for flute and I don’t have any regrets regarding it, it really was an amazing experience. Although the Middle School Program was held at the same time as the Mt. Isa Show day… It was definitely worth it!

One last opportunity worth mentioning is the Combined Catholic Schools Ensemble, which was earlier mentioned in the article. In my opinion, this is the best perk of being an instrumental kid! I mean, for starters, you get to miss the first 5-10 minutes of homeroom on a Tuesday Morning for rehearsal, which is filled with performing band pieces, instruments making funny noises and the countless funny stories Ms Motteram has to provide from her experience as an instrumental teacher and band conductor. Our rehearsals are a fun place where everyone can learn more about their instrument and their fellow bandmates. I have to say, it really is the best perk of being involved with the instrumental program.

One thing we want everyone in our school community to do is: HAVE A GO!!! Coming from a band kid who has been involved with this program since 2017, it really is an experience that will not be forgotten! New to music or having previously played an instrument, all are welcome! I didn’t have a clue how to read sheet music before instrumental and now I’m working on grade 4 flute pieces and the alto saxophone after my [almost] 3 years of playing. It really is a fun and creative talent to have. 

If you want to have a go with joining our amazing program, contact Catherine Motteram at cmotteram@goodshepherd.catholic.edu.au. Trust me when I say, it will be an amazing addition to your school career!

Written by,

Lisa Hennessey, Year 8