At our Senior Awards’ ceremony on Wednesday night, we presented Mrs Kate Thinee with the inaugural Good Shepherd Staff Contribution Award. This award acknowledges a staff member who provides  outstanding school service. They are recognised by their fellow colleagues and the community as professional, forward thinking with highly developed interpersonal skills. Mrs Thinee is a very worthy winner.

Congratulations to all of our students who received awards on the night. Your commitment to your studies is commendable. Well done also to those students who were Spirit and Service Award winners. Your servant leadership in the College is much appreciated.

This year we were able to Live Stream our award ceremonies for the first time. We have received much positive feedback about this and will continue to offer this service when we can. 

On Thursday morning we also congratulated our many Bronze, Silver and Gold Emerging Leaders’ award recipients and celebrated their achievements with their families. Thank you to all of the staff mentors who have supported our students so well in 2020.

On Friday we will officially farewell our Year 12 students as they complete their last day of normal school and begin their external exams next week. As I mentioned in my speech on Wednesday night, the College is very proud of how they have managed the difficulties of this year and remained committed to their studies and to lead the students of Good Shepherd. We wish them well in their exams and look forward to celebrating with them at the Graduation Dinner and Mass. Thank you to Mr Harries who is coordinating these special events.

Prayer for Year 12 Students and Exams

Today, let us especially pray for our young men and women as they undertake their final assessment and enter into exams next week.

God, we ask that they especially feel your closeness during the time. Give them calm hearts and quiet confidence in the knowledge that you hold them in the palm of your hand.

Bless them with keen understanding and retentive memory. Give them the ability to grasp things correctly. Point out the beginning, direct their progress and help them in the completion of each of their responses.

Holy Spirit, send them your gifts of wisdom and knowledge.

We ask this through Christ Our Lord.

Amen

Year 12 Exams

All the best to our Year 12s who are writing their exams over the next 3 weeks!  We believe in you!

Year 12 Students’ Farewell  

This week we will be saying farewell and good luck to our Year 12 students as they embark on three weeks of external examinations prior to graduation. Their farewell assembly this week will include our normal rituals such as handing over from the 2020 student leadership team to the 2021 Student Leadership Team, a blessing for their upcoming examinations and their final roll call.

I would like to personally thank our Year 12 Student Leaders for the energy and enthusiasm that they have given to their roles this year, and we thank them for their service to the College. 2020 handed these students many challenges particularly with the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes to our new ATAR system – yet we continue to see them lead their cohort to thrive.

I wish each and every one of you all the best for your examinations and cannot wait to see you all celebrate your schooling years in Week 7.

Awards Night 2020

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate student achievement at our annual Awards Night this week. Although we had to do things a little differently this year, it was still a wonderful celebration. The students hard work, dedication and commitment to their studies is to be commended. 

The live stream of the event will be available to view online until next Wednesday Awards Night Ceremony 2020

Year 12 Exam Block

Our very first External Exam Block is upon us. On Monday 26 October, Year 12 students will commence these exams which are the culmination of two years of hard work. It is important that students remain focused over the course of the exam block. It could be tempting to pick up extra shifts at work, or to spend more time watching tv or playing video games; however your work is not yet complete! Work hard over these next three weeks. Continue to revise and study, and importantly try your best and use all of the time allowed for each exam! Good luck Year 12 students - you will be great!

External Exam Block Timetable

Year 10 - 11 Exam Block

Please note that Year 10 and 11 students will have an exam block in Week 8 of this term, this is the 23rd - 27th of November.

Calendar Update

Click to access the most up to date School Calendar

In this third week of Mission Month we have had a strong focus on football of the Soccer variety!

It is a game that has participants and supporters in just about every country in the world.  It is truly a place of common ground where everyone can come together.  Through this week we have seen a group of children in Thailand who live on a floating fishing village and decided to make their own soccer pitch out of old pieces of timber they found.  As a result, the Panyee Football Club was born.

We have seen how to make a ‘Sockball’ which is made out of reused socks, t-shirts, foam, bubblewrap and twine.  This is all many children in emerging countries have to kick around.

We also saw the rescue of the twelve teenage boys from the cave in Thailand which was another great example of people from everywhere coming together to help assist in that miraculous rescue.

We plan to have some soccer games at lunchtimes next week using the sockballs.  I have included a link to our College Catholic Missions page where families can donate.  If you would like to donate over the next week or so using the link or by bringing in loose change, that would be great. 

You can register your child at the following link and then you can make a donation online.

https://www.socktober.org.au/fundraising/schools/good-shepherd-college-mt-isa

The start of Term 4 is well and truly commenced along with the heat. Students are reminded about wearing their hats whilst they are on the oval during lunch break and failure to have a hat on will result in the teacher on duty asking them to leave the oval and not return until they are wearing their hat as a sun safety precaution. 

Tonight sees the yearly College Awards Night for students who have excelled in their subjects throughout the year. Congratulations to the 28 Year 8 students who have received an award. Well done on your hard work and efforts throughout the year.

Last week was Mental Health Week and a competition was held in each of the Year 8 homerooms to create a poster using one of the six strategies discussed throughout the week. Congratulations to the following students who have won a $10 voucher to be used in the College Café.

Winners were:

8A – Aiyshus-Jade Kemp and Hayley Richards

8B – Alaura-Jane Keating and Magelia Tabone-Cook

8C – Milla Van Lelyfeld, Sarah Pierce, Tawana Magurira and Fiona Pan

8D – Sam Winks, Connor Howard and Dustin Malouf

Congratulations to the Year 8 Emerging Leaders who also collected their award this week. Well done on all the hard work you have accomplished this year.

An upcoming event that has been organized for the Year 8’s in last week of Term on Wednesday 25th November is a day where all Year 8’s will spend together starting at the College and finishing at the Splashez Aquatic Centre. More information will be available in the permission form which will be sent home to be signed within the next week.

Book Week : Curious Creatures, Wild Minds, 17 – 23 October 2020.

To celebrate Book Week this year, students have been asked to re-imagine a curious creature from a novel. Students are able to draw, paint or use computer applications for their work.

Pictured are some of the entries, include a re-imagining of The Queens of the Hogwarts Houses, creatures from Wings of Fire by Tiu Sutherland, 20000 leagues under the sea, Narnia and author Izumi Mizu.

Our winners will be announced on Monday.

Congratulations Kelsey

Year 12 Student Kelsey Verhoeven has recently completed her school based traineeship at St Kieran’s Catholic Primary School.  Kelsey now holds a Certificate III in Education Support.

Thank you to St Kieran’s Principal, Claudine Dank, and her staff for the wonderful support they provided to Kelsey during her traineeship.

Well done Kelsey!

Jorja joins JCU Heroes in Business

Jorja Kuskopf (Year 12 student) joined 20 other students from around the Far North as they descended on Townsville to gain a unique insight into the dynamic world of business. 

Over two action-packed days students had the opportunity to explore careers in business, law, finance and tourism, gaining valuable hands-on experience at The Ville Townsville, as well as hearing from local business professionals.

Jorja is also completing a traineeship at The Red Earth Boutique Hotel and is studying a Certificate III in Hospitality.

I was going to talk about what was discussed in Gospel Group this week, then I had the pleasure of interviewing Anesu Chitumbura.

When we are young we are told that we can be anything we want to be. Then as we get older we are told how important it is to get a good job and our dreams slowly begin to fade and be worn away.

Anesu did not win any Scholar Awards last night and there were many others in the same boat. He makes music and while I would not play some of it in church it is very impressive; good beat, good rhythm and thoughtful lyrics.

He isn’t allowing his dream to be worn down and I felt inspired by his courage to chase it. It means leaving home, family and friends and moving to Melbourne where he will have to study part time so he can work and support himself.

Sometimes we have to step outside the security of our comfort zone to see how truly great we may become and I admire anybody who has a crack and gives it a go.

Unfortunately, too many people think they fail if they don’t succeed but the only failure is if you stop trying. 

The NRL introduced a program for Under 20 players from teams in the National Competition after tracing a string of suicides back to young men feeling they’d failed after not making it into NRL teams.

Of the over 300 players in the Under 20 teams (each year) only around 50 were taken into NRL teams to be fully professional. The others went back to State League teams which were semi-professional and required them to find jobs. 

They didn’t fail, they were still playing a game they loved. If you enjoy painting – paint. If you enjoy singing – sing. If you enjoy dancing - dance; whether you get paid for it or not. There are 7.5 Billion people in the World so if you want to be the best at something you’ve got your work cut out.

If you want to see your competition, look in a mirror; rather than trying to be the best in the World try to be the best you can be. 

Not everyone will get straight A’s so if straight C’s is your best then achieve it and celebrate the success when you do. Anesu didn’t get straight A’s in school but he sure does when it comes to making music.

We are all good, smart or talented at something and we need to find what it is. If you get paid to do it all well and good, if you don’t find a job or career that allows you to do it in your free time.

By finding what brings you enjoyment and not measuring yourself against others but rather against your level you find success. Not beating Tiger Woods at Golf doesn’t mean I failed, it just means I didn’t beat Tiger Woods. But I could beat my best score; and getting under a hundred would mean success.

I still have dreams that the World tries to wear away but Anesu has reminded me not to give up. Young people may think that as adults we have it all together but sometimes the things you do teach and inspire us.