Shepherd Spy 1 7 M A Y W E E K 3 T E R M 2

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1 Shepherd Spy W E E K 3 T E R M M A Y Good Shepherd Catholic School Amaroo is a companion school to Holy Spirit School Nicholls, Mother Teresa School Harrison and St John Paul II College Nicholls Together we serve and are served by Holy Spirit Parish Gungahlin. Parish Mass is held every Saturday 6.00pm Sunday 8am; 9.30am and 5.30pm All are welcome to join us. School website office.goodshepherd@ cg.catholic.edu.au Phone Parish Home (Fr Mark Croker) Dear Community, This Sunday is the feast of Pentecost, a great day in our Christian year. Would you believe it is the fiftieth day of Easter and recognised as the birthday of the Church? Jesus promised that he would send the Holy Spirit to unify and strengthen his followers, and he did just that. The Holy Spirit is the Church s advocate. An advocate speaks up for us and takes our side. It should give us courage to know that we have God as our advocate. Many of our Year 6 students and their families are presently preparing for the Sacrament of Confirmation. Next week is our Prayer Night (6pm Tuesday, 22 May) and the Spirit Day on Wednesday 23 May. Confirmation is the Sacrament of perfecting and completing the formal initiation into the Christian life, which was begun at Baptism. Reception of Confirmation is a key moment in the life of our children because it is the first time they publicly acknowledge their willingness to follow Jesus Christ. We congratulate and pray for the Confirmation Candidates as they receive the gifts of the Spirit: Send your Spirit upon them to be their helper and guide. Give them the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of right judgement and courage, the spirit of knowledge and reverence. Fill them with the spirit of wonder and awe in your presence Enrolment Please remember all enrolment applications, (siblings included) are required at the Front Office by next Friday 25 May. If you know families wishing to enrol for 2019, please encourage them to collect an enrolment form. We already have a good number returned for Kindergarten 2019 and there is a chance places could fill this year. This afternoon we are hosting our final Open Day from 4-6pm. Please encourage those thinking of enrolling to visit our school. I will commence enrolment interviews next week and know we have some very excited children and families ready for Kinder next year. For children enrolling in Systemic Secondary schools (John Paul College, Merici and St Francis Xavier College), forms need to be completed and returned to the school of your choice by next Friday too. Mothers Day Success I hope all our wonderful mothers, grand-mothers and carers enjoyed a very special Sunday with their family. I am always reminded of the words of the parish priest from my childhood years who, in his sermon, would say in no uncertain terms that every day is Mothers Day! There is, I think, something to be said for striving to see that every day is special for ourselves, for those with whom we are close and for those whose paths we cross in our daily lives. Breakfast in bed each morning sounds nice! Our Mothers Day breakfast was a great community success. Unfortunately, the weather wasn t the kindest, but will still managed to serve over 500 egg and bacon rolls! Big thanks to the many dads (and grandfather) who helped cook and serve. We couldn t have done it without you!

2 To be together... New Building Yesterday afternoon, Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2TC and 2K moved into their brand new classroom building. You are most welcome to come and have a look (after school please as it won t disturb classes.) The design is the first part of our building and refurbishment project- with the second part of Stage 2 starting this week too. The classrooms are based on the latest educational architecture with movable and see through doors, break-out spaces and furniture that is flexible to allow teachers to cater for different learning styles. There is still a bit to do in this new building- landscaping, few defects etc and this should be completed in the next month or so. Please keep a look out for a Working Bee soon to plant our new gardens! Demolition of the old portable (1 Manenica and 1 Huleatt) and the old Year 1 and 2 classroom block will take place next week! Community Council News This week our May Meeting was held. I thought it important to share with you what we discussed at the most recent meeting: Parking - last week, Mrs Rita Wood (Council Chair) and I attended a meeting with Amaroo School, the Catholic Education Office, ACT Education Directorate and a traffic design company to discuss the congestion of our current pick-up arrangements between the two schools. There are over 2700 students attending both schools and, as you are no doubt aware, there are significant problems with pick-up, drop-off and parking with both schools. The traffic design company have been employed to look at our current arrangements and will give feedback and recommendations (to Amaroo School, Good Shepherd and the ACT Government) in improving traffic, parking and pick-up at both schools. We are anxious to get the report and I will feedback these recommendations to our community when they arrive. We are aware that pick-up and parking is an issue. In the meantime, please follow directions and procedures. Thank you. We are currently in discussion with the school architect about final design plans for walkways linking all school buildings. This will ensure staff, parents and students are under cover in inclement weather. After Hours Care - our After School Care contract runs out at the end of We are currently in discussion with leading after hours providers (including Camp Australia) regarding After Hours Care at Good Shepherd for 2019 and beyond. I will be meeting with Camp Australia next week. Thank you to the many parents who completed the recent survey about our After School Care provider. Building - we are currently in discussion with The Playground People about installing a significant playground for our students on the site where the 1Manenica/1Hueatt portable is currently located. It is hoped that a new playground will be erected there by the end of Term 3. Disco this Friday We are really looking forward to our school disco this Friday. Kinder to Year 2 (6:15-7:15pm) and Years 3-6 (7:30-8:45pm). $5 entry at the door includes popper, chips and a glow stick! Bargain! Cross Country Tomorrow We will host our Cross Country Carnival this Friday, commencing at 11:40am. Please come along and cheer! The weather looks a little better than last Friday. NAPLAN NAPLAN (National Assessment Programme for Literacy and Numeracy) commenced this week for all students in Years Three and Five, and for the first time were mainly conducted online. NAPLAN is used to assess student achievement in literacy and numeracy and students in all Government, Catholic and independent primary and high schools across Australia. Teachers use a range of assessments to build a picture of a child s strengths and needs. NAPLAN contributes valuable information to this picture. The results of these tests tell you how your child is achieving in relation to other students across the country. Results are also used in setting school goals in literacy and numeracy. NAPLAN concludes tomorrow with make-up days next week for those absent. Well done Year 3 and 5! 2 Shepherd Spy

3 ...the heart of God. Uniform Reminders As the weather is getting colder, we are starting to get a lot of uniform items that are not uniform. Please support us in ensuring that your children are wearing correct uniform. What about black, leather school shoes? Jackets that are navy? School bags that are Good Shepherd? Your support is very much appreciated. Wishing God s blessing on you and your families, David Austin Principal The following children will receive an award at Assembly tomorrow at 9.00 am:- Lucas (KE) Cloe (1C) Miranda (2CT) Samuel (3D) Jontee (4F) Rokko (5DD) Keiran (6B) Hal (KK) Poppy (1H) Sarah M(2F) Anika (3T) Marina (4JO) Seth (5H) Thomas (6M) Addison (KMS) Emmett (1M) Taja (2K) Isabella (3W) Talia (4P) Rohit (5R) Rok (6T) Janani (KT) Cohen (1R) Alexander (2M) Alexia (3Wh) Alani (4Z) Max (6A) Term 2 School Fees will be sent home today either via the class note-bag or . Payment is due Friday, 1 June. If you are having trouble meeting your financial commitment please finance@cg.catholic.edu.au Parents, Teachers and Grandparents please follow us on Twitter and Facebook. You will find us on Facebook as Good Shepherd Primary School. You will find us on Twitter as goodshepherdps We will be using these two forums to celebrate school events, a weekly top five reminder and connect with the community. Please be advised that we have a new website and this is in continued stages of development. The website will be used to inform families about our school. Skoolbag is an App that you can download onto your phone and has been upgraded recently. Please log in again and then continue to use this for the calendar, events, weekly newsletter, notices and absentee Musicorp Instrument Program Star Students: Bryce C, Rani L, Olivia H, Nelly M and Marcus L. It hasn't taken these five outstanding students long to master the popular songs including the Advanced Australia Fair, Havana, Believer and Demons. The group is continuously working on the latest pop songs that we hope to perform later this semester. Well done, your hard work at home and during lessons is really showing. If your child is interested in learning a musical instrument, please call Musicorp on I look forward to seeing each and every student continue to thrive in semester two. Arianne Tan Musicorp Instrumental Teacher 3 Shepherd Spy

4 To be together... To be the Heart of God through connected hearts, inspired minds, flourishing students. We have already received donations from families and we are eternally grateful. If you would like to donate to the School of Hope by buying a brick, please send your donation to the front office and we will begin to add the bricks you have purchased for the School of Hope to our display in the front foyer. This weekend is the last ministry Mass for Confirmation. If you have a ministry this weekend, please make sure you are at the church 15 minutes before Mass begins. Confirmation will be celebrated on Thursday, 31 May at 6.00 pm. Below are some important dates as we come into the final weeks of preparation: Prayer night - Tuesday, 22 May at 6pm Spirit Day - Wednesday, 23 May (school day retreat) Tomorrow at 9:15am, Year 1Rous and 1Huleatt will be leading us in a prayer celebration focusing on how Good Shepherd school welcomes diversity. All families are invited to stay after Friday awards to join us in prayer. The Peace of Christ Consider the deep peace of Christ. The shalom of God in Hebrew means more than freedom from anxiety. Shalom is the fullness of God s blessings, joy, and satisfaction, a life without need. To have the peace of Christ is to have it all. Nothing interrupts this abundance. You know you live in the peace of Christ when nothing can harm you. The loss of a job means God has something new to offer you. Loneliness becomes the soil of contemplation, from which new life will come. Illness becomes a means of polishing your soul to a brilliant witness. The death of a loved one is sorrow mixed with the hope of reunion in God s reign. Compassion becomes natural, forgiveness the first response to injury. You face life with freedom, others with love, and death with confidence. Excerpt & image taken from Weekly Parables GPBS publications School photo envelopes/order forms were sent home yesterday via the class note bag. Photos will be taken on:- Thursday, 24 May: Year 2, Year 3, Year 4 and Year 6 Graduation (students must wear their leadership shirts) Friday, 25 May: Kinder, Year 1, Year 5 and Year 6 Sibling photos will taken Thursday and Friday. Sibling envelopes are available at the Front Office. All children must wear full winter uniform not sports uniform. 4 Shepherd Spy

5 ...the heart of God. PENTECOST AND PARISH FEAST DAY CELEBRATIONS 20 May 2018 after 9:30am Mass Since the Spirit is our life let us be directed by the Spirit (Gal 5:25) Birthday Party We would love your help with baking scones, cakes, biscuits etc for our Holy Spirit Birthday Party. We are having a Devonshire tea to celebrate together after the 9.30 Mass on Sunday 20 May. As well as a delicious morning tea we will also have the cake and craft stall for those unique gifts and special occasions. We need your home-made gifts, cards, crafts, cakes, jam and pickles. You make it and we ll sell it! Please bring your items to be sold into the parish office by Friday 18 May. Parents, we have had many items of clothing with no names handed in If you would like your children s lost property to be returned please label their uniform. If you are free on a Monday morning and would like to meet some new people while helping out our teaching staff, then please come to the Staff Room after morning assembly. While we chat we can start to do any craft prep, laminating, contacting, or other general duties that the teachers need for upcoming classes. It s an informal group so just come when you can. Younger children are also welcome to come along. Morning tea will be provided. Kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give. 5 If you have a child in pre-school this year, please see or contact Joan at the office for an Enrolment Pack. Enrolment Forms must be returned no later than Friday, 25 May. If your enrolment is received after the due date it will be classed a late enrolment The enrolment process must be followed for all new students intending to attend Good Shepherd next year, even those with siblings. Shepherd Spy

6 To be together... 6 Shepherd Spy