“If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always had”.

As first term draws to a close, it brings us an excellent opportunity to reflect on how the year is travelling, to examine the successes so far in our attempts to build the spirit of GSCC and to enable our students to engage in a variety of learnings that will build their capacities. In particular, it provides me a chance to address our journey so far in achieving my vision for the college to become “a place which builds the leaders of tomorrow”.

Although leadership is very much about community, the capacity to be a “good leader” is about building individual qualities, qualities of character and personality. As well as these traits, leaders must also have a clear set of of values, attitudes and beliefs which underpin their operations, and which they clearly articulate and observe. It is also important that leaders are self-actualized, that is, they know who they are and why they think and behave the way they do.

Research in leadership has shown that character, a term which is not used as much as it once was, is vital for successful leadership. Character, combines aspects of personality and is shaped by a person’s values, attitudes and beliefs. While there is no one personality type that determines the best leaders, it has been identified that clarity about your values, attitudes and beliefs is critical. At GSCC our educational approach is defined by catholic values and beliefs and our attitudes by inclusiveness and respect which we believe provide substantial support for building effective young leaders.

Personality can defined in many ways but it is generally considered that no particular quality is any more important than any other. There is no distinctive personality trait that defines an effective leader, in fact many are fairly even in terms of how they relate to others. However the trait that is identifiably important is the ability to recognize that people vary, an inherent realization that everyone is different to oneself. Good leaders acknowledge that individuals differ and they allow for them, they seek to make the best of their own and other’s strengths and compensate for any weakness. (David Pardey – What makes good leaders) This ability to empathize with others and understand the different paradigms people operate from, is key to the holistic education we embrace at GSCC.

Leaders must have values in order to make good judgments, especially difficult ones and they need to have a coherent set of beliefs and attitudes to ensure consistency of judgment. They must also be open to others points of view without compromising their own. They must act with integrity. Their behavior must consistently reflect the beliefs and values they espouse. Integrity is the cornerstone of trust. Good leaders must be reflective and considered in their responses, they must be prepared for personal challenge and they must have a clear vision for the group they lead. At GSCC we embrace our charism with “Christ our Light” and we are guided by our three principals; live the values, embrace the community, achieve the success.

Term one has been a very busy one. Our students have settled well. They have been well lead by the SRC and college leaders. Our Board and P&F have achieved considerable success. All is revealed in the newsletter to follow. Thank you for your continued support and for being part of the GSCC family, have a wonderful break and celebrate the tradition of Easter that lays at the heart of our Christian faith.

As we approach mid-semester holidays, I would like to wish all students, families and staff a happy and safe Easter Season. I hope that students in particular, use this time to refresh and reflect on Term 1 by asking themselves three simple questions:

1. What went really well for me this Term?
2. What didn't go so well for me this Term?
3. If I could do one thing differently in Term 2 in order to improve, it would be?

I look forward to welcoming you all back for Term 2.

Term 1 Interim Reports

This week the College will be posting report cards home. The Interim Report provides parents/carers with an overview of their child’s commitment to our 4 positive learning elements (acts respectfully & responsibly, comes organised & prepared to learn, utilises class time effectively and persists to improve) throughout Term 1. This report will also include an interim level of achievement based on the assessment (either formative or summative) completed in Term 1.

The College mails reports according to the postal or residential address that we have for parents on file. If you have recently changed address it is important to notify the College on (07) 4743 2509.

Importantly, teachers request parent/teacher-student interviews on the Term 1 Interim Report. Teachers request interviews for a range of reasons. The most common reasons include meeting to:

• discuss academic progress and how the student can improve
• highlight issues around behaviour, class work, organisation and or effort
• discussion application to homework and assessment

Parents can also book in to meet with teachers; a teacher doesn’t have to request the interview, parents are entitled and encouraged to meet with teachers to discuss their child’s performance or progress. We encourage you to take this opportunity to work collaboratively with teachers in order to support your child learning journey.

Parent-teacher-student Interviews

Our first parent-teacher-student interview evening will be held on Tuesday 1st May. There are two interview blocks: 3:30-6:00pm and 6:30-7:30pm and interviews run for 10 minutes each.

To book interviews we use the schoolinterviews.com online booking system. Parents have found this system convenient and easy to use. Further instructions on how to use the online booking site, as well as the event code will be included with the Term 1 Interim Report.

Before holidays commence, there are a couple of important notes to make for the beginning of Term 2.

Hair

If you make changes to your haircut or colour over the holidays please remember that it must change back to meet College expectations before the start of Term 2  - which is Wednesday 18 April. Also note that there will be a number of public holidays in the lead up to this date, so you will need to make arrangements to account for these. The College expectations for hair are as follows:

Hairstyles must be neat and tidy and no shorter than ‘Clipper No. 2’. No tracks, undercuts, mohawks or extreme styles or colours are permitted.

Hair must be kept out of the eyes and off of the face, it must also be kept off the collar.

Leaving the College

Students are not permitted to leave the College without having a permission note from a parent/guardian, which is signed dated and states a reason. The student must present this note to the College Office. Students must also be signed out of the College Office by a parent or guardian.

Items not permitted at the College

Over the past weeks, I have noticed a spike in students having soft drink, energy drinks, frozen drinks and takeaway foods during breaks. Please note that soft drink, energy drinks or frozen drinks of any kind are not permitted at the College. If a student is found with one of these, they will be asked to put it in the bin immediately.

If you need to bring your child lunch during the day, please take it to the College Office, and they can notify the student. Students should not be waiting at the front of the College for this.

Lateness

As the Term has progressed, there has been a large number of students arriving to the College after the first bell (8:25am). Our expectation is that students are lined up outside their classroom when the bell sounds for the beginning of Homeroom at 8:30am. Unless students have a note from their parents, they will be issued with a detention should they arrive late to school.

Lockers

Before the end of the Term, students will need to clean their lockers and take home any unnecessary items. Please note that students will not have access to their lockers over the holiday period, so anything left at school will remain here until Term 2 commences.

On a final note, as Easter approaches I would like to wish all College family and friends a safe, restful and reflective break. Enjoy some time together and take a moment to remember the deeper aspects of what the Easter story is about.

Project Compassion

This Lenten season we have been fundraising for Cartias Australia’s Project Compassion appeal. To date the College has contributed $1950, which is a great effort by all involved. We have been very grateful for the many baked goods, facilitated activities and events, all to raise money for this great cause. Thank you to all students, parents and teachers who have contributed and helped to support.

The homeroom with the greatest amount of donations is 11A, with more donations still slowly coming in. Congratulations on the hard work and effort put into all the fundraising activities.

In this Year of Youth, students are encouraged to get involved with the mission and service of the Church. Our social justice group in particular, have been very busy planning projects and ideas to help those in need within our community. They have put their faith into action this Term through cooking for Jangawala, the Parish drop in centre and by visiting the Mount Isa Special School. This visit especially was a great success, bringing joy to students in the lead up to this Easter weekend. The students were entertained with jokes and trivia, and had a special visit from the Easter bunny.

As we begin the holidays, it is important to remember exactly what Easter is about and ensure that we celebrate this. This week, various students will perform the Passion Play and Stations of the Cross for the College and Good Shepherd Parish. The Passion of Jesus Christ is the time leading up to Jesus’s death. It tells the story of when Jesus spent time in the Garden of Gethsemane praying to God, when Judas, one of his disciples betrayed him, and when another disciple denied knowing him three times, to when Jesus was put on trial, condemned to death by his own people and crucified. This play is a reminder of the sacrifice Jesus made for all of us.

'So it is written that the Christ would suffer and on the third day rise from the dead' - Luke 24:46

Throughout our Lenten journey, we have observed fasting, penitence and almsgiving as a way of building a stronger relationship with our God, just as our servant leader, Jesus taught us. This week, we are reminded that our Lenten journey reaches its conclusion. I encourage all to spend some time in reflection, considering what you have learnt, what has challenged you, and what in your life has changed as a result of your journey to this time and place.

Please see below the mass times for Easter/Holy Week:

Holy Thursday - 7.30pm

Good Friday - Stations of the cross @ 10.00am & Lord’s Passion @3pm

Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil Mass 7.30pm

Easter Sunday - 7.30am, 9.00am or 6.00pm

Reminder, Term 1 Fees were due on the 14^th of March and are now overdue. It is an expectation that accounts are paid on time, if you are experiencing any difficulties making payments or if you would like to organise a payment plan please call the office or email me,  I am only too  happy to assist. Please note that any accounts which fall two terms in arrears without any communication from you to the College, will result in your account being forwarded on to our collection agency for management.

When making online payments to the College for Fees, it is important to make sure that you use your family code as the description (ie, SMITH01). This can be found on the bottom of your Fee Statement and usually consists of the first 5 letters of your students last name and 2 numbers. If you are unable to use this description when you make a deposit, then you must contact the college immediately to inform us the description you have used on the payment, so we can ensure that it has been allocated correctly to your account.

Term 2 fees will be sent out in the mail in the 2^nd or 3^rd week of the term. Please make sure that you look over your statement carefully and check that any payments you have made to the College have been receipted to your account. In the last few weeks we have had several payments come through the bank account with a number of different descriptions, from names we are unable to identify to number combinations that we do not know. If, once you have checked your Term 2 Statement, you have identified that a payment has not been receipted to your account, please contact the College with the following information;

• Date the deposit was made
• Amount of the deposit
• Description used for the deposit.

 If you are paying your account via a direct debit set up with the College and you have not contacted the College this year to check that your deduction is covering your expenditure, please do so as soon as possible and we can recalculate your payments so there is not a shortfall at the end of the year.

Thank you to all families who have settled their accounts or organised for payments to be made.

Last Friday was the day for our very successful Easter Fete, and what a day it was! After many months of planning, not even an unexpected storm could dampen the success or spirit of our local community. An amazing night was had by the many who attended, with some fantastic new stalls, some old favourites and delicious food and drink. With over 50 prizes drawn in both the Cent sale and Multi Draw combined, many people walked away winners on the night. Our major raffle was drawn by Mr Peter Scott on Monday 26th March, and live-streamed through our College Facebook page.

1st Prize Winner: State of Origin Package (Game 1 in Melbourne) value $5000-Sharon McLachlan,

2nd Prize Winner: Cowboys vs Storm Package (May 25 in Townsville) value $2500  -Trent & Sally Kapernick, and

3rd Prize Winner ($500 Cash) -Richard Bawden

We congratulate our winners on their fabulous prizes, and thank all those who bought and sold tickets for their continued support. The P&F  Committee would like to extend their gratitude to the many staff, students and volunteers, who gave up their time to help out, both leading up to, and on the day of the Fete. To our local business sponsors, of which there were many, we say a huge thank you, the fete would not be possible without your support. Last but not least, we thank all the families and friends who came along to our event, we hope you enjoyed your day and night. We really appreciate your support, as it is events like these that enable the P&F to support your children.

Our next P&F meeting will be on Tuesday 17th April at 6pm in the school library, all are most welcome to attend.

TAFE HAS COMMENCED

This year the College has twenty two Year 11 & 12 students enrolled in TAFE courses at the Mount Isa Campus.

Courses include:

• Certificate I Construction
• Certificate II Health Services
• Certificate II Engineering
• Certificate II Automotive Electrical
• Certificate II Electrotechnology

These courses are a terrific way for students to gain work skills, a recognised qualification and points toward their Queensland Certificate of Education.

At the end of this year all Year 10/11 students will be advised of TAFE courses available in 2019.

School Based Traineeship

Congratulations to Jack Clancy who recently commenced a Certificate III in Business.

Work Experience

Work Experience began this week with approximately 20 Year 11/12 students on placement.  They are sampling a variety of work including nursing, childcare, cabinet making, mechanic, boilermaker, administration, engineering, automotive and radio announcing.

Photos to follow next term.

Congratulations to Olivia Greenhalgh!

Winner of the Year 7 Poetry Competition

The Dancer 

She leaped
And she pranced
She twirled
And she danced

Who she was
I did not know
But what I did
Was in her show

She was fire-heart
She had a daring mind.
And when she was calm
Her eyes were kind

She looked so graceful
When she jumped so high
She flew like a bird
So high in the sky

She spun so fast
Now, where did she go?
She was leaping in the air
Just going with the flow

There was one thing I knew for certain
One thing I knew for sure
One thing I knew about her
Was that her heart was good and pure

How did she do it?
Was it good fun?
But I didn’t find out
Because her dance was now done.

The past 10 weeks have flown by! It's hard to believe that a whole term has past already.

We have had a very busy term in Humanities which saw our junior students (7-10) become natural geographers through the completion of the following units:

Year 7: Water & The World
Year 8: Changing Nations
Year 9: Biomes & Food Security
Year 10: Environment & Change

The eminent historical geographer Donald Meinig stated that “geography is not just a physical stage for the historical drama, not just a set of facts about the earth. It is a special way of looking at the world. Geography, like history, is an age-old and essential strategy for thinking about large and complex matters”.

The curriculum at Good Shepherd Catholic College empowers students to shape change for a socially just and sustainable future. Geography inspires curiosity and wonder about the diversity of the world’s places, peoples, cultures and environments. Through a structured way of exploring, analysing and understanding the characteristics of the places that make up our world, Geography enables students to question why the world is the way it is, and reflect on their relationships with and responsibilities for that world.

In the last two weeks of the term students in both year 7 and 8 began working on their next unit of study in Geography, these units will continue into term 2:

Year 7: Place & Liveability

Year 8: Landforms & Landscapes

Year 9 students began studying their first history unit for the year which is on the Industrial Revolution. This unit will also continue into term 2. This history unit will lead into the study of WWI and will further prepare students with the historical knowledge and skills needed for year 10 Humanities.

Our year 10, 11 and 12 Humanities subjects in term 2 are as follows:

Year 10 Humanities: History unit on WWII

Year 10 Legal Studies: Australia's Democracy & the global context

Year 11 & 12 Legal Studies: Introduction to civil obligations

Year 11 & 12 Modern History: Studies of Conflict

Year 11 & 12 Social and Community Studies: Health Recreation & Leisure

In term 2 the Humanities teaching team will come together in collaboration with students to celebrate Anzac day. This event will be celebrated at the college on Tuesday the 24th of April, more information regarding the event will be released early term 2.

On behalf of the Humanities teachers I would like to thank both students and parents for your commitment and support throughout term 1. We have had a very busy but successful term and we look forward to many more adventures in term 2!

We hope that you have an amazing holiday and come back refreshed for the next step in your learning journey!

History Club

For the past few weeks, the History club has been planning and designing their own Roman aqueducts. The Ancient Romans used aqueducts to manage water sources. The students were given two condition for this challenge:

1. Only using the allocated materials
2. The water has to be transported into three cups.

On Tuesday, students were given the following materials to build their aqueducts: paddle pop sticks, tape, straws, cups, glue and foil. Students had lots of ideas on how to build their aqueducts and throughout next term, we will see if these aqueducts are successful in holding water. Watch this space for the update on their final products.

As we come to the end of Term 1, we have had many high fives, team cheers, hand shakes and pats on the back. Our GSCC and Mount Isa representatives have had a busy Term of Sport. The most recent  NW Rugby League in Cloncurry and Touch trials in Longreach had many GSCC players involved and congratulations to those selected for further representation.

The Confro Rugby League Boys had another successful trip, this time to Charters Towers. After a full day of play, the boys finished in 3rd place, winning the bronze medal match against Columba Catholic College. The feedback was again amazing in regards to the boys sportsmanship, character and spirit. Congratulations to all staff, students and families involved.

As we look to Term 2, there are many Under 12 Sports trials coming up, after school programs in the making, along with the 10-19 years Inter School X Country, hopefully in Week 3. Keep an eye out early next Term for the all the information around Sport.

The Commonwealth Games are coming up! Get excited! The Games encourage and assist education via sport development and physical recreation while underlying every decision made are three core values; Humanity, Equality and Destiny. I encourage you all to embrace the Games these holidays, be a supporter and a believer as success in sport is about hard work and discipline. Placings, participation and PBs are things we can share with athletes; our support can bring us all together to celebrate sport and all it has to offer.

The Oath: We declare that we will take part in the Commonwealth Games of 2018 in the spirit of true sportsmanship, recognising the rules which govern them and desirous of participating in them for the honour of our Commonwealth and for the glory of sport.

Over the weekend of 16^th and 17^th March the Good Shepherd Catholic College Opens Rugby League team travelled to Charters Towers to attend the 4^th Columba Catholic Schools Rugby League Carnival. This carnival gives schools in the Townsville Diocese the opportunity to prepare for the upcoming Confraternity Shield tournament which is being held in Charters Towers during the June/July school holidays.

This year GSCC was placed in Pool A with Columba Catholic College and St Anthony’s Catholic College. The first game saw GSCC up against Columba on Friday evening. GSCC started well and went into half time leading 8 - 0. The second half saw Columba come out fighting and hit the front to lead 16 – 8 after three quick tries. To GSCC credit they scored a converted try to bring the final score of 16 – 14 in favour of Columba.

The boys were up bright and early in preparation for their second game against St Anthony’s. The boys started well again and went into half time leading 10 – 0. The second half saw St Anthony’s come out with more intensity and commitment but was to no avail as GSCC held strong and the final score in favour of GSCC of 14 – 0.

After results fell in favour of GSCC, their next opponent Abergowrie College would determine a place in the Final. GSCC started well scoring first to lead 4 – 0. Abergowrie picked up their intensity and ran in 3 quick tries to lead at half time. GSCC never to be outdone put in a brave second half in heatwave conditions and finally went down 16 – 4.

The boys had to quickly recover from this loss as their next game a playoff for 3^rd and 4^th place would see GSCC up against their first opponents Columba. After a back and forth affair GSCC came out on top 14 – 10 to claim 3^rd place. A fantastic effort from the boys over the weekend with special mention going to Brayden Jones who covered many positions and gave his all. Huge congratulations goes to SULIANO MANTIBUKALEVU who was awarded player of the carnival.

The boys are now looking forward to hitting the training paddock next term to prepare for the Confraternity Shield over the June/July holidays. A big thank you to the Commonwealth Bank staff for donating water bottles for the team.

Left to right: GSCC Junior team debaters, Riley Brown, Georgia McArdle and Anika Boonzaaier.

On the 16th and 17th March the junior and senior debating teams from Good Shepherd Catholic College competed in several debates with other schools in the Townsville Diocese. Shortly after an over eight hour drive to Columba Catholic College in Charters Towers, both teams put in an excellent effort, with the junior team winning their debate against a year 9 team from Gilroy Santa Maria College in Ingham. The same afternoon, our senior team skilfully debated a team from the host school against the motion that The commonwealth games are a waste of money and should be discontinued. 

Day two was just as exciting and full of surprises. Both teams competed in two more debates on topics such as The best response to Australia’s obesity crisis is the introduction of a sugar tax. Adjudicators of the junior team’s second debate noted that Anika Boonzaaier’s debating manner was at a high standard, while the senior team (Stacey Stringer, Isabelle Jones, Ralph Supan, Alison Godfrey and Mitchell Peterson), skilfully used their one hour of preparation time to develop a number of effective points for the debate against the Ignatius Park College team. They were narrowly defeated (with just a two point difference) by an older and more experienced team, but learnt a lot over the weekend and should be greatly commended for their efforts.

Both debating teams left Charters Towers, with the successful Good Shepherd Rugby League team, feeling accomplished and eager for more debating in the future. The successes at this year’s Catholic Schools’ Debating Competition have confirmed for coaches Sheridan Scott and Toby Ratcliffe that debating will be one of GSCC’s key strengths in the future.

The Senior Debating team:

Mitchell Peterson, Alison Godfrey,

Isabelle Jones, Ralph Supan and Stacey Stringer.

If your child is absent from school either because they are sick or they will be going on holidays during term time, the office must be notified for roll purposes.

Teachers will also need to be advised so any catch up work that is required can be provided. Please call the office prior to departure or on the morning of the day the child is sick, so that the child can be marked absent with an explanation. If the office has not been notified of an absence by the  parent/guardian they will receive a text message from the College advising of an unexplained absence.

Sport for Kids Holiday Program

Pharmacy First - Flu Vaccines