Dear Parents and Guardians

It certainly has been an action packed term with our students having many opportunities to shine, learn and grow in their confidence. Congratulations to our Year 6 students and teachers for their amazing work with the Charity Fete last Friday. They have not only been creative, they’ve collaborated as teams to raise funds and awareness for those in need.

Many of our Year 3 students have received their First Eucharist over the past two weekends and it has been so special seeing them taking the next step in their faith journey. Thank you to the Year 3 teachers, RE Leaders and other staff for supporting the students and parents and to the students in the Year 4 choir for their beautiful singing. The student reflections included further in this newsletter show just how important this sacrament is for our students. We thank Fr Andrew for leading our faith community at Good Shepherd and also congratulate him on his new appointment as Episcopal Vicar for the Eastern Region.

At a recent meeting with Fr Andrew and discussed at the School Advisory Council last week the decision has been made to make the following changes to our sacramental program effective next year.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will now take place for students in Year 3

The Sacrament of First Communion will now take place for students in Year 4.

The Sacrament of Confirmation will remain in Year 6.

Therefore in 2025 the only sacrament taking place will be Confirmation.

The changes have been made as it was felt that students would have a better understanding of the sacraments being a year older.

Since our last newsletter we thank our Parents and Friends for their great work with the Fathers Day stall and congratulate our Year 6 and Year 4 students on sharing their learning at our school assemblies. Our Year 1 students had their excursion to the Botanical gardens, our Year 4 students enjoyed a morning at Avila College at an Art Immersion experience. We also congratulate our senior students who participated in the Interschool Athletics Day with many of them going on to the next stage.

Staffing

We welcome Maddi Torpey as a new Learning Support Officer to our school.

Liana Caliguri will be taking long service leave early next term for 2.5 weeks.

Christine Brodie will be taking long service leave for the first 3 weeks of term 4.

Sarah Murphy will commence her family leave early next term with her last day being Friday 18 October. We wish Sarah and Jack every happiness as they await the birth of their baby boy in December.

We congratulate Shannen Wickremasinghe on her amazing second performance on The Voice last night. We continue to wish her every success as she continues on the journey. You are definitely a star in our eyes Shannon.

End of day pick up

An important reminder that school finishes for students at 3:05 pm each day. We allow 20 minutes for the end of day pick up, however notice that there are a number of students who are not collected from school by 3:25pm. Commencing next term, any students who are not collected by 3:30pm will be taken down to our after school care provider, Camp Australia, unless parents ring the office to advise us that they are running late. We encourage all families to enrol their children in this service as it is peace of mind should you be running late or be held up. Students become quite anxious waiting for their parents at the office when they arrive late. Thank you for your support.

MACSSIS surveys

Thank you to those who have provided important feedback by completing the surveys. Currently 45 families have completed the survey. Our target is 100 families so your voice is really appreciated. We will use this data to help with our next 4 year School Improvement Plan as we continue to ensure Good Shepherd is a school of excellence where there is a priority on achievement, wellbeing and engagement.

New website

We are very excited that we will be launching a new school website next term. On Thursday we have a photographer at the school to take pictures of students, classrooms and the school environment. Thank you to all the families who have returned the photo permission forms. Could I please ask that all students do their best on Thursday to wear their school uniform with pride.

Coming up

This week we have our Year 2 assembly on Monday and students are encouraged to wear their favourite footy team colours on Friday for Footy Day.

A reminder that school finishes at 1pm on Friday 20 September.

Important dates for Term 4 are included in today’s newsletter.

Pilgrimage

On Sunday 29 September I will be heading off to Spain for 2 weeks with 20 other principals to walk the Camino de Santiago. This experience, walking “The Way of St James” will be a time of reflection and a spiritual voyage for us all.

As a leader of a Catholic school community my faith is very important to me and to have this opportunity to set out on such a sacred journey is a privilege. I look forward to sharing with you my reflections when I return.

Ferial Davis will be Acting Principal in my absence from Monday 7 October to Tuesday 15 October.

Kind regards

Jacqui Marshall

Principal