Term 2 has been like no other. It has felt like two terms in one and has not been an easy one for teachers, parents or students. However I am incredibly proud of how our community has embraced all of its challenges and new learning opportunities. We are looking forward to having our assemblies, camps and retreats back (with appropriate safety processes in place) and commencing school sport.  Please keep an eye out for key dates and events as they are approved.

This week we farewell our Deputy Principal - Mrs Samantha Kelly and her husband Mr Dean Kelley who are taking six months leave. We wish them well with their temporary move to the Sunshine Coast. We are currently recruiting for an Acting Deputy Principal and Acting Humanities Middle Leader. The College is also farewelling Mr Peter Mulholland who is returning to New South Wales to be with his family and Ms Danica Crebbin who has been appointed as a Project Officer for the Recovery Team. We thank them both for their valued contribution to the College.

We are looking forward to celebrating NAIDOC Week this Friday. Parents and Carers are invited to our Elders’ Morning Tea on Friday at 9.00am in the College Library. We will also be launching our Reconciliation Action Plan, which sets out the College’s strategies for improving relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as well as our commitments to improving educational outcomes for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. This is a compulsory school day and students are encouraged to wear Indigenous themed clothes or the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. Students are asked to bring a gold coin donation for the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation.

Fr Emene shared the following poem by Marianne Williamson as part of his Homily on Saturday night. It reminds us that we all need to let our light shine:

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. 

We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”

My prayer for everyone is that you have a restful and safe holiday over the next two weeks and that everyone returns energised and ready for a busy and exciting Term 3.

Each week we will profile a section of our Annual School Improvement Plan for 2020. This is the document that guides our plans and priorities for the year. We prepare this document based on initiatives set by the Townsville Catholic Education Office and through consultation with our school stakeholders: parents, staff and students.

It has been such a busy Term which entailed a lot of new challenges for our families, students and teachers. I am so proud to say that we got through it together as a community. I wish you all a very safe and relaxing holiday period. 

End of Semester Report Cards

Our teachers have worked really hard over the last couple of weeks to mark and report on students achievements across the Semester. Semester 1 Report Cards will be available to students and parents via the Compass Parent Portal by the end of the Week. This report will include an overall level of achievement for all students in Years 7 - 11. This level of achievement will be based on the summative assessment items completed in Term 1 and 2. 

All Reports will be accessible via the Compass Parent Portal. If you are unable to log into this platform please contact the front office prior to Friday 26th of June to ensure you can access your child's report over the holidays. The Compass Portal allows you access to live attendance data, Report Cards, and other important information about your child’s education.

Year 11 students and families: please keep in mind that student’s overall grade may remain the same from their Term 1 report card, this is due to the internal piece of assessment that was removed in some subjects due to the disruptions COVID-19 caused to their learning in the first part of the term. All teachers did however conduct formative assessment (which cannot be included in the reporting data), please contact the classroom teacher directly if you would like further information on how your son or daughter progressed academically this Term. 

Year 12 students and families: please note that students are currently studying their Unit 4 topics at the moment. This is the students last unit of study in their Year 12 schooling journey. Due to this students will not receive a report card this term, as they received their semester report card towards the end of last term. The next report card that students will receive will be their statement of attainment from the Queensland Curriculum and ASsessment Authority (QCAA). 

Reflection on Report Cards

Students will be provided with the opportunity to reflect on their behaviour, application and academic development in Semester 1 on Friday. Students will access their report cards via the Compass application and plan some goals for the remainder of the year. Goal setting is a very important tool that allows students to pave the way for them going forward by setting realistic and achievable goals. I encourage families to have discussions with the students about this over the coming weeks. 

Farewell

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Good Shepherd community for your support over the 5 and a half years that I have been apart of the Good Shepherd family. I have been provided with an amazing opportunity in Brisbane for Semester 2 and will be taking leave from my current position at Good Shepherd. 

This has been such an amazing and welcoming community to be able to grow and develop within and I am very grateful for the students, colleagues and families that have supported and guided me along the way. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours and I hope to see you soon. 

Term 2 Review

It has been a long and arduous Term for both students and staff particularly due to the disruption to our normal routines with the introduction of online learning in Weeks 1 to 4.  Online learning was a wonderful opportunity for our whole College community to learn a new skill set in Google Classrooms, Zoom Meetings and Virtual Learning. For some, the lack of face to face contact proved difficult however overall, we found that many staff and students were able to adapt quickly and easily. Our Pastoral team worked tirelessly to ensure all students were engaged during online learning but then went over and beyond to ensure that all of our students were fully supported on their return to normal classes and eased back into College routines.

I want to take this opportunity to thank my pastoral team of Ms Jade Marinelli, Ms Nikki Dalla Vecchia, Ms Louise Wiles, Ms Kylie McCarthy, Mr Willie Morganson and Mrs Kate Thinee for all the work that they have contributed to their year levels this term.  I would also like to thank Mrs Yvonne Van Den Worm, our Guidance Counsellor, who along with our Pastoral team have provided all of our students with continued assistance and guidance to ensure that they are happy, safe and supported at Good Shepherd. 

I would like to wish all of our staff, students and families a safe and relaxing holiday and look forward to seeing everyone back in Term 3 refreshed to kick off Semester 2.

Term 3 Calendar

The Term 3 calendar is already looking very busy and on a Pastoral level we have many events and opportunities for our students to access. In the first fortnight of the term, we have our Year 8 and Year 9 retreats in Week 1 and in Week 2 we will have our parent-teacher interviews and our College Open Night for our potential Year 7 enrolments for 2021.

Please keep an eye out for upcoming events and date claimers which will be advertised through our upcoming newsletters.

College Expectations

Over the past four weeks I have given an array of tips for how students can follow our four College expectations:

1. Respect all people and things;
2. Be in the right place at the right time;
3. Come prepared to learn;
4. Listen to instructions the first time.

I often tell students that if we follow these four expectations on a daily basis, everything else falls into place.  It is about getting the little things right.  Next term we envisage that we will return to normal College routines if we see a continuation of COVID-19 restrictions being lifted. With this, it is an expectation that all College rules are followed diligently by all students and any non-conformance will be consequated appropriately.

Change to Sports Uniform Requirements for Physical Education Lessons

We have recently reviewed our uniform policy in regards to Sports Uniform during practical Physical Education lessons please see attached letter.

What a term! Thank you to all staff, students and parents for the incredible work that has happened over the last 10 Weeks. Online Learning seems like a lifetime ago, and so much has happened in the weeks since returning to school.

Compass Parent Portal: Semester Reports / Interviews

A reminder that Semester Report Cards will be uploaded to the Compass Portals on the last day of Term 2. If you do not have access to your Parent Portal, please contact the College Office as soon as possible so that we can assist.

In Week 1, I will email all parents information regarding Parent Teacher conferences. This will include booking instructions, and information regarding ‘social distancing requirements’ for the evening. Please note that the number of family members who will be able to attend these interviews will be determined after the next phase of restriction easing occurs on July 12.

Timetables

Due to some staffing changes, there will be some adjustments made to the school timetable over the holiday period. All students will receive a copy of their new timetable in Homeroom on the first day of Term 3 (Tuesday 14 July).

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, see you in Term 3!

We have made it through what I believe, to be one of the most challenging terms I have seen in a long time, for both staff and students! I am extremely proud of the Year 11 students, their engagement in the online learning and ability to stay focused and engaged right until the end. I know they have been missing the usual activities and events, as well as our frequent year level gatherings/meetings. Most have been disadvantaged outside of school, not being able to participate in their usual sports/extra curricular activities, which form a big part of their identity. Hopefully, starting form Term 3, things will be slowly getting back to normal. 

This term, we have been preparing for our Year 11 into Year 12 retreat, which is happening in Week 5 Term 3. We were very excited to have been given the all clear to go ahead with our plans to travel to Echo Creek. We look forward to seeing students grow as a cohort and develop as leaders in this opportunity to go away together, before they commence their final year at the College. Students have started to think about/prepare for retreat in Pastoral Care (PC) lessons, where we have looked at building stronger relationships with each other through inclusivity and respect. 

In PC, students have learnt about the seven tips for a healthy headspace, and engaged in creating connections with each other through a ‘speed dating’ style activity, where they had discussions about how to keep healthy. We then learnt about inclusion, which is a basic human right and discussed in groups what we think inclusivity looks like and how we can be more inclusive. Finally, we looked at respectful relationships, and created a graffiti wall/pledge for our cohort, for what we believe to be important for inclusive and respectful relationships at school and within our community.

We have also commenced the process of ordering our Senior polo shirts/jerseys for 2021. A note will go home this week, regarding payment and sizing for the senior polo shirts and jerseys for next year. A HUGE thank you must go to our College P&F for their generous support towards the costs of our Senior polo shirts. We are extremely grateful!

I wish all students and families an enjoyable and restful holiday. You deserve it!

As parents and as educators we are constantly mindful of our roles in regards to teaching our children/students right from wrong in order to guide them in the right direction. Not an easy task by any means, but nevertheless, absolutely essential in forming young men and women with a sound set of values and a moral compass that we hope will serve them well in life. It is heartening to know that this is not solely our responsibility but one of society as a whole…and in this fast-moving, constantly changing world, there are many avenues for our young people to grow and develop a strong set of values.
Literature and other textual forms are an indirect, some would say, sneaky way, of teaching our young charges a lesson or two. This term we have been utilizing ‘The Hunger Games’ by Suzanne Collins and the movie ‘Remember the Titans’ as contemporary examples of a moral dilemma and how we as humans behave in difficult, confronting situations. The young protagonist in The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen, is faced with the challenge of procuring victory in the games by killing others in order to save her family from a continued life of misery and hardship. How she does this whilst maintaining a sense of justice, is magical!
Who would have thought that we could learn some valuable lessons about making morally sound decisions from yet another movie about American football? Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans, does just that. Set in a period in history where racial segregation and white supremacy were rampant, he follows his moral compass against all odds and creates a situation that is morally right and true and wins the championship to boot!
As such, the study of both of these texts has given the students an opportunity to recognize examples of moral dilemmas and apply them to their own life, with questions like, “what would you do if…?” and “How has this character stood up for what they believe in?” What a great way to teach our kids some valuable lessons while at the same time reading a great story and watching an entertaining movie.

Before finishing, I would like to acknowledge the students and the work completed during the first five weeks of this term. I think we can all acknowledge that learning from home and independently for a teenager was challenging and required commitment and an element of “staying power”. Some were more successful at this than others and hopefully all students were able to reflect on their work ethic and what they need to do in order to achieve success. In week six, it was great to stand in front of a classroom of young faces again and I am confident that many of them would loudly and proudly say they were happy to be there. We wish them every success for the remainder of 2020.

This term has seen Year 7 focus on Physics and Forces in our world. The 4 classes have all experienced the impact of forces and also explored them through various practical activities. 

Building Robocopters to look at the balance of forces between gravity and air resistance was a big challenge. This week some used K’Nex building kits to follow instructions and building various structures. They then used these developed skills to build other moving objects. Watchout the engineering world - great things are come!!

This week during Pastoral Care we had Fr Mick come and share his feelings and experiences with gratitude. He challenged Year 7 to be the change at GSCC and show gratitude when sometimes we might be uncomfortable - send a letter of thanks and appreciation to the police, ambulance, parent’s employer, hug your family when you say good-bye and mean it. 

We have focused on Gratitude for the last 3 Weeks during Pastoral Care and looking at the benefits of showing gratitude and also receiving it. Year 7 shared our gratitude for Fr Mick with him, and then delivered gifts of gratitude to their teachers and other members of the GSCC community.

Listen to our song of Thanks by Sheppard - yes it is written for their mum, but it says what we need to say to many people in our lives.

We thank everyone who has helped us through this HUGE term and keep us moving forward everyday.

Thanks from Year 7.

Another busy week in the kitchen, we have cooked Lamingtons, Sticky date pudding, Macaroni cheese, Crispy Pork stir fry and the highlight for the week was Nasi Goreng. Students cooked this Fried Rice dish with ease, it is very quick and easy. If you  have any students in Year 11 or 12 Hospitality, make sure you pop this on your dinner roster over the holidays for them to cook. 

Nasi Goreng

Prep Time 20 mins | Cook Time 15mins | Serves 2 

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon Peanut oil

¼ red capsiccum, brunoise

½ carrot , julienne 

½ cup beans sprouts

½ cup shredded Cabbage

1 Garlic clove, crushed

2 shallots, finely sliced 

1 Chicken Thigh , small diced

6 Green Prawns, peeled and devein

1 ½ cup cooked Jasmine Rice 

2 tablespoons Kecap manis

½ teaspoon sambal oelek

4 cherry Tomatoes

¼ cucumber , sliced 

2 eggs

Fried Shallots, to garnish

Coriander sprigs, to garnish

METHOD

Step 1 Prepare all mis en place : cut Vegetables, prawns and chicken.

Step 2 Heat the oil in a wok over medium-high heat. When hot, add chicken and prawns and cook for 3 – 4 mins, set aside.

Step 3 Reheat pan, add capsicum, carrot and garlic,  fry for 2 minutes.

Step 4 Add the Kecap manis, sambal oelek, cabbage, shallots and beansprouts. Toss for 2 minutes or until well combined and beansprouts / cabbage start to soften.

Step 5 Add the rice, Stir-fry until hot and well combined, Add chicken and prawns and stir till combined.

Step 6 Heat a small fry pan and fry egg, sunny side.

Step 7  Divide rice among 2 plates, top each with a fried egg, garnish with tomatoes, cucumber,  shallots and coriander.

Poetry is a great way to express yourself and tell a story…so why not have a go at this? 

Red Room Poetry is currently running a competition for students up to the age of 18 and is called Poetry Object 2020…it invites all interested students to write a poem that is inspired by treasured, curious, everyday, extraordinary, interplanetary or talismanic objects. That is, an object that means something to you or has a special story attached to it that you would love to share.
Terms and Conditions:
Submissions close at 5pm on Friday 10th July. There is only ONE submission per student and it must be an original piece of work. There are great prizes…$500 cash, a book pack for our avid readers and also a poetry mentoring session with a well-known poet!
You can access the entry form on the Red Room web page or see Mrs Millan for further details or questions. I hope to see lots of entries.

Year 8 - Are working on Composing this Term. 

This is an excerpt of the lyrics composed by Bailee Cooper Year 8. 

(This is sung to the tune of Sixteen Tonne.) 

I wrote sixteen pages what do I get?

Another day older and heaps of regret

Sweet Freedom don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the principal, joe

VERSE 

I was brought in one mornin', 'twas a-drizzlin' rain

Maths and science were now my middle name

I was stuck in a classroom by a teacher who’s try’n

If this is education, well-a’ I ain’t a buy’n.