Principal Message
Dear Parents and Guardians
It has certainly been an action packed few weeks. We welcomed our new 2025 Preps over the past two weeks. They have one more session to support their transition. We had our Music Gala and Sports Day last week which are great opportunities for our students to shine. Parent partnerships and engagement are so important so thank you supporting both of these important events. Our Parents and Friends did an amazing job on Friday with the sausage sizzle and many treats for students and parents.
Farewell
At the Music Gala our wonderful Music teacher Mrs Karen De Wilde announced her retirement at the end of the school year. Karen has been a teacher for 50 years and been part of the Good Shepherd community for 27 years. During this time she has had an amazing impact on many students through her skill and talents musically.
We will be holding a special assembly on Thursday 12 December at 2:15pm in the Performing Arts building to celebrate and thank Karen for her contributions and achievements. All are welcome.
School Closure Day
An important reminder that there is no school for students on Monday 2 December as staff are engaged in professional learning - planning for 2025. Camp Australia may run a program for the day if there is enough interest.
School/Parish Carpark
Over the past month there has been some damage to staff cars in the carpark. I do understand that accidents happen, however on each occasion no one has notified the school office of the damage that they were responsible for. There are security cameras that we can access and moving forward we will share the footage with police for them to follow up responsibility for the damage. They are currently dealing with a recent incident.
Student Leadership
Over the next week as a staff we will explore opportunities for student leadership in 2025. It is important that authentic leadership is supported for our students with action and impact. As a staff we have such an important role in mentoring our students in what it means to be an effective leader and enhance their opportunities to have student voice at Good Shepherd.
2024 School Fees
A reminder that school fees are now overdue and payment would appreciated in the coming weeks.
New website
We are excited to announce that our new Good Shepherd School website will be launched soon. We will advise you all when it is live.
Mental Health First Aid
Ferial Davis and myself completed a two day program over the past week to become Accredited Mental Health First Aiders. The aim of the program was to extend the concept of first aid training to include mental health problems so that we are empowered to provide better initial support to someone who is developing a mental health problem or experience a mental health crisis. As leaders at Good Shepherd it is very important that we can support all in our community in all areas of their health.
Year 6 Graduation Week events
Wednesday 11 December - Year 6 Fun Day at Gumbuya World Theme Park
Thursday 12 December - Whole School End of Year Mass at 9:15am
Friday 13 December - Graduation Mass and celebrations 5pm - 8pm (students last day)
Upcoming events - whole school
Friday 22 November - School Disco 5:30pm and 7:30pm
Monday 2 December - School Closure Day (no school for students)
Wednesday 4 December - Christmas Carols at 5:30pm
Thursday 12 December - End of Year Whole School Mass at 9:15am
Thursday 12 December - Farewell Assembly for Karen De Wilde at 2:15pm
Monday 16 December - 2025 Year 1 - 6 Orientation (11:15am - 12:45pm)
Tuesday 17 December - Prep to Year 5 final day (3:05pm finish)
On the final section of the newsletter you will find some dates for 2025. We will continue to update them with other important dates in our final newsletter for the year in early December.
Jacqui Marshall
Principal