Dear Families,

As a staff, each of us plays an important role in working alongside you to support our students. We deeply value knowing each student by name—understanding who they are, how they learn, how they connect with others, their strengths, and their areas for growth.

Together, we are committed to a shared goal: ensuring that every student feels a sense of BELONGING, experiences and demonstrates COMPASSION, and achieves GROWTH in all areas of their development.

With each newsletter edition, you will have a chance to also get to know us!

Exec and Curriculum Leadership Team

Welcome back to the 2025 school year! To the families who are joining us for the first time this year, an extra big welcome! My name is Elizabeth Sarpa and my role is Deputy Principal and Learning and Teaching Leader. I am privileged to work with our creative and dedicated Curriculum Leaders and Teachers to implement the Victorian Curriculum in engaging and exciting ways. This year I am looking most forward to spending time in classrooms and listening to students talk about their learning and their thinking. I love any opportunity I get to work with our wonderful students and never miss a chance to teach a class whenever I can!

I love our SoGS community because we truly embody our school values of belonging, growth and compassion. These are not merely words to us, but ways of living which drive our daily interactions and underpin our decision-making. We welcome our families with open arms and work together to support our students so that they may experience happiness, success and a sense of belonging at school. Have a fabulous start to the year, and I look forward to seeing many of you around whether it be in the classroom, in the canteen, at mass, at a special event or even in the Kiss and Drop line!

Hello everyone,

My name is Caithleen Therese Malone, but Caith, for short. I am the Religious Education leader at SOGs this year and this is my third year being a part of this beautiful community. My role as REL incorporates working alongside the teaching staff to create meaningful lessons that allow the students to deepen their knowledge of God in an age appropriate and nurturing environment. I work in the area of Sacrament Formation and run the Family Faith nights each year. I am part of a Leadership Team that creates the prayer life and spirituality of the school. We are a proud Catholic school and we always put Jesus’ teachings at the forefront of everything we do.

I love working at SOGs because we value each and every member of our community and we uphold our Catholic Identity by living out the school values of Belonging, Compassion and Growth. We accept and nourish each other daily.

Welcome back to the school year. I hope that you all had a wonderful and restful holiday. My name is Lorna Stranieri and I am the Learning Diversity Leader. This is my third year at School of the Good Shepherd and I look forward to meeting all the new families in the school over the next few weeks. Please come over and say hi if you are new to our community. It was very nice to come back to familiar faces and I look forward to working with all the families this year to ensure that each child is set up for success. School of The Good Shepherd works collectively to do everything possible to support the learning of each individual child in our care.

All SoGs staff are extremely dedicated to delivering a diverse curriculum that meets the needs of every student at our school. My role is to ensure that we have an inclusive educational environment where I focus on identifying the diverse learning needs of students, regardless of their backgrounds or abilities, and receive the support they require to succeed and access the Victorian curriculum just like their peers. I work closely with teachers and leaders to collaboratively develop differentiated instruction to different learning styles and challenges. I work closely with parents and allied health services to form lifelong relationships. At School of the Good Shepherd we all work together to create a school culture that values and embraces diversity, ensuring that each student can thrive and access the curriculum.

Hi everyone and welcome back to the beginning of another wonderful year.

My name is Ginette D’Souza and my role at School of The Good Shepherd is Wellbeing Leader and Child Safety Officer. I am a happy person who is passionate about fostering a caring, safe environment where kindness, respect and fairness thrive. I work closely with all our staff, students, and families to nurture wellbeing. I enjoy working with parents and look forward to leading initiatives such as SoGS Parent Volunteers and the SoGS Kitchen.

The heart of education is working with our beautiful students and embracing their voice. I am very excited to work closely with our soon to be elected 2025 Student Representative Council and help them grow as confident, capable leaders. I’m looking forward to connecting with you all and making this year one of belonging, compassion, growth, filled with spoonfuls of laughter and endless meaningful moments! Give me a quick hello when you see me around!

My name is Susan Mitchell and I am the Maths Leader from Years 3-6. This is my eighth year working at School of the Good Shepherd and I love it! The students are wonderful, a brilliant staff and such welcoming families.

I am lucky enough to have this role where I can plan with each team from Years 3 to 6 where we plot out what your children will be covering in Maths. I then am able to be in every one of these classrooms for at least an hour a week where I take groups, team teach, model good practice or just assist the teacher to get the best out of their students in Maths. I also plan Professional Learning Team Meetings with the rest of the Curriculum Team to keep our teachers up to date with best practice and ensure we are catering for the needs of everyone in our school. I work with Daniel Cook, our Prep-2 Maths Leader, to ensure our school is well resourced and that we all have a shared language and understanding of Maths from Prep to Year Six. I also take some Maths groups and work with our graduate teachers in a mentoring role.

Looking forward to working with all of you throughout 2025.

Welcome back to all returning families and a big hello to all our new families joining us in 2025! My name is Daniel Cook and I am the Junior School Mathematics Leader. I get the amazing opportunity to work with all the Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 teachers and students in the mathematical space. This means I get to support the teachers in planning fun and engaging mathematics lessons for their students, along with supporting them and the students in the classroom environment too. That is my favourite part of any day, being in the classrooms and seeing the joy on students' faces when they share their learning and achievements.

I have been at SoGS for 3 years now and this community is like no other. We truly live by our school values of belonging, growth and compassion by ensuring everyone feels welcomed and that all students achieve success at our school. I’m looking forward to a great year and to seeing you around our school community.

I am Maria Tasevski, the proud English Leader at School of the Good Shepherd for 2025! It’s no secret that I LOVE Literacy and am passionate about sharing this love with all in our school! I have been here in this beautiful, inclusive community since 2017 and have held a few titles in my time. My ultimate goal is to inspire students and staff to grow and flourish in this curriculum area!

Part of my role is to plan with all teachers weekly, implement new practices and create engaging learning experiences for students based on their data. Using Victorian Curriculum 2.0 as a tool, my key role is improving student outcomes in reading, writing, speaking and listening, while also supporting teachers to enhance their instructional practices. I have always held the belief that our job as educators is to enable students to reach their potential and surprise themselves with what they are capable of- this elicits motivation! Through evidence based practices, 29 years of experience and the support of the English Learning Network, I plan to do just that!

Looking forward to working alongside you all.

Welcome back to all returning families and a big hello to all our new families joining us in 2025! I am the E-Learning Leader. I have now been at the school for 8 years. My teaching philosophy centres around experiential learning—where students engage with real-world applications that enhance the relevance and purpose of their education. I am deeply committed to fostering relationships built on inclusivity and respect.

I provide comprehensive support to students and staff, addressing their technology needs and ensuring the effective use of digital tools. Additionally, I oversee eSafety initiatives, guiding students in maintaining safe and responsible online practices. In addition to my primary role, I also serve as a specialist STEM teacher. I thoroughly enjoy working with students across all grade levels and am looking forward to another engaging and productive year ahead.

Our Student Leaders

Hi! We are Spencer and Christina, your School Captains for 2025. To most people, the title ‘School Captain’ is about the badge. However, to us it is about taking on responsibility and having a deeper sense of communication with our peers who are in different year levels. One way we do this is by representing not only the school but more specifically the preps. We ensure the preps also have a say in decisions revolving around SOGS.

Being a School Captain takes many traits including flexibility, confidence and thinking outside the square. Not only this, but also leading by example. If you have these qualities we guarantee you could be an amazing leader.

The jobs of a School Captain:

To take out and bring in the microphone at lunch as well as recess
Unlock the gates at 3:00 everyday from Monday-Thursday
Attend SRC meetings and participate enthusiastically
Pumping up the Preps sport equipment every Friday afternoon

We also see it as our responsibility to ensure that everybody is trying their best and completing tasks to the best of their ability.

So what is our overall goal? To leave a positive mark on SOGS and ensure that every student believes with all their heart that they are known by their name as SOGS.

School of The Good Shepherd

BELONGING, COMPASSION and GROWTH

2025 Term , Newsletter Issue 1 · 05 Feb 2025

In this issue