It was so lovely to gather together as a school and parish community on Thursday to celebrate the feast of The Good Shepherd. A very special part of the mass included celebrating a parishioner and sharing her story of the connection to school and parish over many years. Vanessa Lamanna our RE Leader has written more about this further in the newsletter.

Staffing

We congratulate Hua Yao (Mandarin teacher) and her partner Michael on the arrival of their beautiful baby girl Mina born on 15th May. We know Mina will bring so much joy to their family.

We also congratulate Ashlyn McNeil (Year 3SM) on the news that she is expecting her second child later this year.

Congratulations

We are so proud of a previous Good Shepherd student and son of one of our teachers - "John Yanko" on his amazing performance on the ABC TV show The Piano last Sunday night. John's performance was inspirational and also highlighted how he has continued to show belief in himself to achieve his dreams. John was selected by the music experts Harry Connick Jr and Andrea Lam to perform in the finale at the Sydney City Recital Hall which will air of the ABC in a couple of weeks.

Reflection on our last School Closure Day

On Monday 19th May the staff were involved in professional development around consistent practices in the teaching and learning of English and in particular Reading. Teaching students to read is a complex and important lifelong skill and is essential for everyday life and academic success. A focus on phonics in the early years of schooling is essential. Students should learn to sound out the letters of each word, and teachers should read rich literature aloud to their class. Once students have mastered decoding new words, they still need explicit teaching to build up their background knowledge and vocabulary, so they can comprehend what they read – the ultimate goal of reading. Key components of reading instruction include phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension and oral language.

Recent events

Since our last newsletter our Parents and Friends have facilitated many wonderful events. They have included; a sausage sizzle, Mothers Dinner and Crazy sock day.

Our Year 5, Year 6 and Prep students have shared their learning at school assemblies.

Students have participated in incursions, reading challenge, masses and cross country.

We have been meeting with families who have children starting in Prep next year.

Students have been trialling out for roles in our upcoming school concert. We have been so proud of the confidence and belief that our senior school students are displaying.

In the newsletter today you will see a special thank you from Mrs Pinney who is teaching in the top end of Australia. Last year she requested donations of stationery and the GS community were extremely generous.

Coming up

Parent Teacher Meetings are scheduled for 23rd and 25th June. More information will be sent to families in the coming weeks.

School Closure Day - Monday 21 July

I will be taking some Long Service Leave from Friday 6 June to Friday 20 June to travel overseas on a holiday. During this time Ferial Davis will be the Acting Principal.

Have a lovely weekend.

Jacqui Marshall

Principal

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