Welcome Back

Welcome back to all our wonderful families, I hope you had a restful and joyful break filled with fantastic moments. As we start a new term, we are thrilled to have each and every one of you back with us, ready to dive into exciting learning adventures together. At Good Shepherd, we firmly believe in our school values of respect, community, excellence and diversity. As we gather again in our classrooms, we aspire to nurture the unique talents and potential of every child, encouraging them to flourish both academically and spiritually. As parents, you play an essential role in your child's education, and we are grateful for your unwavering support. Together, we can create a strong and nurturing community where every child can thrive.

 Reconciliation

We are delighted to extend our warmest congratulations our Year 3 students who celebrated a significant milestone in their faith journey - the Sacrament of First Reconciliation. As they take this step, our students are guided by the teachings of Jesus Christ to seek forgiveness, mercy, and reconciliation. The sacrament, also known as Confession, is a sacred moment when they acknowledge their mistakes, express genuine contrition, and receive absolution, experiencing the boundless compassion of God. First Reconciliation serves as an invitation to the young hearts to foster a deeper connection with their faith and community. It instils in them a sense of responsibility, accountability, and humility, promoting a loving relationship with God and others.

Uniform

A reminder for students to wear the correct uniform. One of the main issues is the shoes students are wearing. Please see below the correct shoes:

• With the School Uniform black sandals or black leather lace
• With the Sports Uniform white joggers

Creating a safe ONLINE environment for children

We all know the pressures parent face when it comes to providing a safe gaming environment. Please see following simple tips:

• Locate an open area of your home or form them to access online, not a bedroom.
• Activate parental controls and safety features on the device or in the app or browser.
• Help your child to protect their privacy online — get them to use a screen name that does not reveal their real name.
• Agree on strategies to help them to switch off, like a timer that signals game time is nearly over, with consequences for not switching off.
• Talk regularly with your child about their online interests and who they play with online.

For more tips go to https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents

 Catholic Performing Arts Festival

The Catholic Performing Arts Festival runs from the 21 July to 1 September. This year, Year 5 Choir will be performing in the Sacred Choral and Primary Choral categories.  Junior Choir is performing in the Primary Choral category as well. Senior band is performing in the Concert Band category. We have students performing solo’s and duets on piano, woodwind, brass, cello, guitar and percussion. We wish the absolute best of luck to all our students, Mrs Reedman and our many music tutors.

 Interschool cross country.

Well done all our year 3, 4, 5 and 6 students who were selected to participate in the interschool cross country competition. There were 16 schools involved and I would like to highlight how well behaved Good Shepherd students were. A big thankyou to Vince our groundsman who assisted with setting up and packing away. Thank you as well to Mrs Morrell and Mrs Darge for supervising the students. 

 NAPLAN

Year 3 and 5 students will be bring home a  hard copy of their NAPLAN results. NAPLAN is a national literacy and numeracy assessment that students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 sit each year. It is the only national assessment all Australian students have the opportunity to undertake. NAPLAN assesses the literacy and numeracy skills that students are learning through the school curriculum and allows parents/carers to see how their child is progressing against national standards and over time. NAPLAN is just one aspect of Good Shepherds assessment and reporting process. It doesn’t replace ongoing assessments made by teachers about student performance, but it can provide teachers with additional information about students’ educational progress.

God Bless

Nic Gaglia

Principal