There is a hive of activity at the College at the moment. The Coding Club which includes students from Year 5 and 6 from the local primary schools has been a huge hit. We have a waiting list of students wishing to attend.

The newly created Good Shepherd Gardening Club is also popular with a helpful band of students bringing our vegetable gardens back to life. We look forward to seeing what they produce.

Our P&F Rodeo Trivia Night was a huge success and I would like to especially thank President Tarrene Frost, Vice-President Tracey Pearce, Secretary/Treasurer Barb Baker, and Maree Carland for their amazing work to pull this event together. Amy Webb also helped drive the initiative. There were many other helpers, including some Senior students who cleared tables and packed up at the end of the night. Our P&F are committed to parent engagement and if you would like to be involved, we meet each month at the Library. Dates are published on our College Events Calendar.

COVID-19 update: we are watching closely the developments of COVID-19 cases in the SE corner. We are confident that our school events such as Formal, Graduation and Awards Night will go ahead with our safety plans in place. Any changes to proceedings or structure will be communicated to families. All of our advice comes from the Townsville Catholic Education Office who are in communication with the QLD Catholic Education Commision and Health authorities.

We pray for our Year 12s this week as they sit for their Mock Exams. We know they have had a challenging year, but our teachers and students have worked very hard to ensure they are still adequately prepared for their Term 4 external assessments. Parents and Carers are asked to keep encouraging their son or daughter to stay focussed on their studies and to avoid parties or late night socialising. School does not end for them until Week 7 of next Term.

College Fees: if you are struggling to pay fees or have been affected financially by the COVID crises, please make an appointment to come and talk to me. We may be able to offer you some assistance.

Have a blessed week.

Awards Night

COVID-19 restrictions have made planning Awards Night slightly tricky. At this stage, our plans for the events are as follows:

Awards Night goes ahead as scheduled on 21 October (Week 3 Wednesday), however Junior Awards and Senior Awards take place as two consecutive events: 

Junior (Year 7-9) Awards 17:30-18:30

Senior Awards (10-12) 19:00-20:00

Due to unforeseen renovations at the Civic Centre during the month of October, these events will take place in our LCC.

Final numbers can only be determined after the Term 3 reports are complete and that data is included in the final calculations.  

We are hopeful that all Gold, Silver and Bronze Awards, as well as Special Awards will be accommodated at the Junior / Senior Awards Night; however, a final determination won't be made until we have Term 3 report data. Commendable Achievements will most likely be awarded in an Awards Assembly during Term 4, with parents of recipients invited to attend.

At this stage, only one parent/carer would be able to attend the Awards Night, per student. Should we be able to accommodate any more people, the Year 12s will be the first able to invite a second family member.

The Year 12 Subject Awards and Dux Scholar Award will be presented at our first Scholars Awards in 2021 after we have received the students' final results. 

Staff invitations for Awards Night would likely extend only to Senior Leadership Team and Middle Leaders to allow for more parents to attend.

Senior Education & Training (SET) Planning

Thank you to the Year 10 families who have come into the College over the past week to attend SET Plan meetings. This is a vital part of the transition into Year 11 and must be completed by all students in Year 10. If you have not made an appointment with a member of the College Tracking Team to discuss your child’s SET Plan, please contact the Office as soon as possible. 

Exam Block

A reminder that Exam Blocks commence this week. Only students with exams scheduled need to attend school during this block.

The morning exam session begins at 9:10am, and afternoon session at 12pm. Students must sign in at the Front Office, and then ensure they arrive at their exam room 10 minutes prior to commencement.

Please note that students must also sign out at the Front Office each time they depart the College.

YEAR 12:

• Exams commence on Thursday 3 September;
• Exams will take place in D6;
• Study will take place in D5;
• Students who have incomplete assessments should be completing these in D5.
• The Engineering Block has been cancelled - students are up to date, well done!

YEAR 11:

• Exams start on Monday morning, 7 September;
• Exams will take place in the LCC;
• Study will take place in F1;
• Students who have incomplete assessments should be completing these in F1.
• The Engineering Block has been cancelled - students are up to date, well done!

YEAR 10:

• Exams start on Tuesday morning, 8 September;
• Exams will take place in the LCC;
• Study will take place in G3 & G4 on Tuesday, and G4 Wednesday & Thursday;
• Students who have incomplete assessment should be completing these in G4.

All exams conclude on Thursday 10 September, with the Swimming Carnival being held on Friday 11 September.

All students have been emailed with their individual exam schedules (to their school accounts). I have also emailed Year Level specific schedules to all Year 10-12 families, and they are available in last week's newsletter.

This Term, our Year 8 students have been learning about Literature that influences. Students have been investigating a variety of Poetic forms and structures including Acrostic, Kennings, Haiku, Cinquain, Shape, Ode, Limerick and Ballad.

This week their assessment task was due. Students have created an anthology (a collection of poems), that explore a particular theme and they were required to write a preface and an analysis of each demonstrating their interpretation and purpose of each poem. 

The whole school annual Poetry Competition ties in nicely with this unit and a number of our Year 8s entered into the competition - congratulations to Shakya Smith who took out the prize for Year 8. A big thank you goes to Ms Millian who organised and ran the competition for the English department this year.

Year 7 Science are discovering the Heavens

For the second half of the Term, Year 7 are learning all about the Heavens and what they include.  

Each class is taking a slightly different path, but all are learning lots and discovering amazing things.

7C focussed on the moon phases last week and found them super sweet!

Week 10 sees the opportunity for our families to enjoy this learning also with the great Mr Grant Szabadics coming in for a night on the oval observing the heavens and learning what it holds. The only time I have crossed my fingers for no clouds or rain! Thanks to those many families who have let me know they are keen to come!

House Sports

In sport this fortnight we have had a house basketball competition to round off our lunch time house sports for this term. Benjamin house took out top place in a final match up against Chisholm. Darcy Ryder (Benjamin) and Caitlyn Mataia (Chisholm) were our two MVP’s for the match up, there was plenty of participation and encouragement from our students which was great to see. Below is an updated tally of our House points for Sport this term:

Our Emerging Leader students/teachers along with some of our deadly community Elders Aunty Dolly Hankin & Roslyn Von Senden came in on Saturday 29th August to do some cooking for Jangawala - a food kitchen for the homeless and needy. Our students got to cook Coconut Curry Chicken, Cabbage Stew and Kangaroo Kebabs. These meals will help those of the community who are less fortunate.

Nothing makes me happier than having students of our College say - can we please start/ do / help, as they want to add to our community! So when one of our Year 7s asked - can we start a gardening club? I thought  - FOR SURE!! I ran it past Mrs McCarthy who was just as enthusiastic as I was, and GSGC began.

From a meeting of 3 to 10 to 15 - fantastic humans gather, tidy, chat, dream, plan and communicate in our beautiful environment.

I thank the families who collect everyone promptly at 4, and the great members of the GSGC, Good Shepherd Gardening Club, who have already shared their love of ACDC, and amazing knowledge of plants, Marvel, music and community spirit.

You are what GSCC is all about!!

Last Thursday Miss Lesca (IT teacher at Good Shepherd) started running a Coding Club as an afterschool program. Students from Good Shepherd Catholic College and Year 5 and 6 students from St. Joseph’s Catholic Primary School eagerly participated. They learnt block and text-based coding through building worlds in Minecraft Education. Using Minecraft Education also allows for students to develop creativity, problem-solving, self-direction, collaboration, and other life skills. As well as having fun.

If your son or daughter would like to participate in the program, please email Miss Lesca and their name will be added to the waiting list for Term 4. alesca@goodshepherd.catholic.edu.au

Thank you to all the talented students that entered this year’s GSCC Poetry Competition. We really do have some talented writers and it is great to see our young minds with a creative flair. Congratulations to our winners, but also congratulations to the students who may not have received a prize this time, but had the courage and confidence to enter. We enjoyed reading your poems and encourage you and all students to keep participating in opportunities like these as they are an invaluable part of your education.

I encourage you all to write a poem
When you have a moment of time
It is certainly good for the heart and soul
And you know, they don’t have to rhyme!

Well done to you all. 

Missing students …Shakya Smith (Year 8) and Sean Murphy (Year 12)