Shepherd Spy 23 WEEK 2 TERM 4 Dear Parents Good Shepherd Catholic School Amaroo is a companion school to Holy Spirit School Nicholls, and Mother Teresa School Harrison. 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 www.goodshepherd. @cg.catholic.edu.au Email office.goodshepherd@ cg.catholic.edu.au Phone 6255 7888 Fax 6255 7999 Parish Home (Fr Mark Croker and Fiona Wilkinson) 6242 9622 I thought the following passage was appropriate for all parents, especially those who are feeling that their hard work appears to be bearing little fruit.. It is the action, not the fruit of the action, that’s important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there’ll be any fruit. But that does not mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result. Gandhi Visit to Sydney Last Tuesday, 12 staff members accompanied by teachers from Mother Teresa and Holy Spirit Schools travelled to the Northern Beaches Christian School in Terrey Hills, Sydney. Our purpose was to speak to their staff about the journey they had undergone moving towards 21st Century Learning. Our day included two sessions with a teacher who had been a member of the team that had driven the process and a tour of the facility including classroom visits. Our staff were impressed and challenged with what they saw and heard. My abiding impression was classrooms full of engaged children who were clearly enjoying their learning. It would be foolish to think that our school would attempt to instantly replicate what our staff observed on Tuesday. The presenting teacher mentioned that they had commenced the process almost 12 years ago and during the intervening period they had not only changed their teaching methods but their architecture and furniture as well. Most importantly though, the teacher mentioned that the changes included regular consultation with the parent community. He stressed that without this dialogue the changes would have inevitably failed. Our school’s move towards BYOD is a small part of this implementation, and as has been the case with this initiative, we will provide further opportunities for parents to be informed and consulted as we continue this journey. Fete Preparations for our School Parish Fete are progressing smoothly. Thank you for your generous response to our request for volunteers, although the fete organisers have been delighted with the number of parents and community members who have indicated that they can help, we still require more people to give of their time on the day. If you can assist please send an email to [email protected] with the times you are available. See update on Page 5. To be together …... Catholic Schools Netball Carnival We have four teams competing in this year’s Catholic Schools Netball Carnival at Calwell on Sunday. Our Sister School, Mother Teresa is the organising school this year. We wish our players and Mother Teresa School all the best for this Sunday. We hope you enjoy fine weather and have lots of fun. Carpark Reminder It has come to our attention some parents are not abiding by our carpark rules. Our carpark is one way only. Also please abide by the traffic signs in the carpark. The Ambulance entry to the oval is not a regular carpark it is AMBULANCE ONLY, PLEASE KEEP CLEAR AT ALL TIMES! May God bless you and your family. Graham Pollard Principal School Disco: Good Shepherd Netball Club is hosting our disco on Friday, 7 November in the school hall. Music will be supplied by BT Beatz. Cost $5 (includes entry, drink, chips and glow stick). No tickets will be issued; entry will be payable at the door. Kinder to Yr 2 6.15pm - 7.20pm Yr 3 to Yr 6 7.30pm - 8.45pm Parents please be prompt in collecting your child. It is not fair to the parents who have donated their time. Raffle Tickets: Thank you to those families who have returned their raffle tickets. If you have not received a book of tickets or would like an extra book to sell please contact the Front Office. All sold and unsold tickets must be returned no later than Friday, 7 November. Uniforms for sale: One of our Kindergarten families has been posted overseas and has Size 4 and 6 uniforms (winter and summer) for sale. Some items of clothing still have their tags. For more information please ring 0410 338 618. Lost: A child has lost his blue rimmed glasses . If you have found these glasses could you please contact the Front Office. Sports News: Spencer Osbourne will be representing the ACT in the Under 12’s Softball Carnival in Toowoomba next month and Madison Elphick will be representing the Under 12’s ACT Indigenous Netball team in January. Well done and good luck! School Fees: Term 4 fees will be sent home this week. Payment is due Friday, 14 November. Payment may be made by cash/cheque/eftpos or BPay. Parents who pay by direct debit this account is for your information only. Congratulations to Vanessa Dunstan and her husband Teddy on the birth of their third child, Gabriel. Mum and bub are both doing well. Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday 3 27 October 28 October 29 October 30 October 31 October 1 November 2 November Term 4 2 Swimming Lessons K - Yr 3 7pm Community Council Shepherd Spy ...the heart of God. Religious TOGETHER Education To be together the Heart of God Our Whole School Focus for 2014, “To be together the Heart of God” is designed to help us explore and refresh the mission statement and vision of Good Shepherd. We began our journey last year as we explored our focus for the year, “On the Road to the Heart of God”. In Term 4 our focus will be on what it means “To be Together the Heart of God”. We will explore this focus by asking the question - As God’s children and disciples of Jesus, how are we truly called to be the Heart of God? Thankyou to teachers and students of 6 Walker and 2 Donnelly for the thoughtful way in which they presented our prayer on “Feeding the Five Thousand” last week. Our next prayer celebration will be tomorrow, 24 October. The students of 6 Bent and 3 Evers will be leading our prayer “The Workers are Few” As always, we warmly invite all parents, family and community members to join us in the hall after morning assembly PRAYER CELEBRATIONS  Week 4: 4 MacMahon/Eglington and 3 Zaja - Jesus Calls the First Disciples (November 7)  Week 5: Faith and Justice Crew - Remembrance Day (November 11)  Week 7: Whole School - Prayer Celebration Review (November 28)  Week 9: Kindergarten - The Nativity (December 12) WALKING THECAMINO. Saturday, 25 October 11.00am - Holy Spirit Parish Office An audio-visual presentation by Peter Kearney about his 700 km walk along the Camino de Santiago, an ancient pilgrimage route to the sepulchre of St. James the Apostle in NW Spain. Peter will tell the story of the Camino while photographs and music are shown/ played on a large-screen television. Beautiful landscapes, medieval villages, interesting pilgrims, useful information. Suggested donation $10. 3 Kinder: Monday and Thursday Year 1: Monday and Thursday (1Pfeiffer) Tuesday and Thursday (1Kenna & 1Price) Year 2: Tuesday and Thursday (2Callaghan & 2Huleatt) Wednesday and Thursday (2Donnelly & 2Metcalfe) Year 3: Tuesday and Wednesday Year 4: Wednesday and Friday Year 5: Tuesday and Friday Year 6: Tuesday and Thursday Shepherd Spy To be together …... 4 Shepherd Spy ...the heart of God. As you all know the fete is our biggest fundraiser of the year and only comes around once every 4 years. That makes this year’s efforts all the more important, so the Fete Committee are trying to coordinate a day of fun and entertainment for everyone that will also raise much needed funds to keep school fees at a minimum. We cannot do this without help and input from the families at the school. We desperately need more volunteers to run the stalls – some classes have returned no forms at all!!! Please, please can you send form back or email the Community Council at [email protected]. We only need an hour of your time and it if we do not get enough we will have to lose some stalls and revenue but more importantly an avenue of fun for the children of the school and parish. We would like to thank the families of 3Tokich and 1Kenna who have both returned a full roster and the classes have both won prizes. CHOCOLATE WHEEL PRIZES We have been fortunate to receive a number of prizes for our chocolate wheel from local businesses. There will be a full list of sponsors in the newsletter prior to the fete. If you would still like to donate a prize please do so at the front office. Thank you for your donations. DONATIONS We still need crockery for the Crockery Smash, nail varnish, small prizes and preloved clothes/accessories. MELBOURNE CUP DAY FOR TOMBOLA Melbourne Cup Day is approaching and we are asking the children to wear a hat of their choice, in return for a donation to the Tombola stall. The prizes can be bottles of soft drink, bags of lollies, or bottles of wine. are looking forward to seeing some creative hats. If you are donating bottles of wine parents must bring the wine to the Front Office. 5 Shepherd Spy