a word from our leaders

Oh what a night ... day ... weekend!

Friday Worship

A celebration of 40 years for our students.  School tours and reminiscing for visitors and friends of the school.

Saturday Dinner

Stories from the past, hospitality and laughter. 

Check out the rich history and stories of the past 40 years.

Many thanks to Shawn Zeppel for the incredible amount of work that went into this video.

Sunday Worship and Picnic

A celebration event for the entire community.  Worship, tours and a picnic blessed by magnificent weather.

40th Anniversary Commemorative Wines

We have joined with Prospect Wines to offer a selection of 6 wines to help raise funds for our school community, and to help commemorate our school’s 40th anniversary. Thank you for your support!

Order online for delivery direct to your door.

Download the order form and return to the school with your payment by Monday 15 November.

Commemorative wine glasses (pictured below) can be purchased through the school office.

Farewell Pastor Reid

Pastor Reid has been a special part of our Good Shepherd community and yesterday we farewelled him (and his wife Christine) as beloved family members.

We know how much Pastor Reid loves stories and books (did you know he is an author?) so each stage created a book for Pastor Reid (including ELC and staff). During worship we invited a representative from each stage/ELC to present Pastor Reid with their book.

Pastor Reid has blessed and grown us in many ways:

• Showing us that church is people and not buildings;
• Building relationships with all people;
• Taking time to really  listen and hear;
• Putting people first, at all times looking to share the love and acceptance Jesus showed with all.

Reid developed strong connections with students as he interacted and participated in camps, excursions, classroom learning, yard duties and generally hanging out with kids. The way he shared bible stories and messages with humour and drama helped us learn (+ we laughed a lot and enjoyed them).

Reid, thank you - you have impacted our community in a significant way. You have showed us what it means to see Jesus in others. God bless you as you connect to a new school community in Queensland. We won't forget you. 

The 2022 Teaching Team

Welcome to our 'new-look' teaching teams for 2022.  An exciting reset of our teams has been created ....

• Ongoing opportunities for growth for our teachers
• Renewed stability in some teams that have experienced significant and repeated change over the years
• Balanced experience, gifts and strengths across each stage team

There was a buzz in the air at staff meeting yesterday evening as our newly formed teams considered the possibilities and opportunities that 2022 will provide.  I indeed feel blessed to lead this outstanding team of Christian educators.

New Classroom Teachers: 

Kayla Sunman – currently serving at Immanuel Gawler, since 2019

Charlotte Armitage – Early career teacher, current classroom support and OSHC (Imagination) staff member 

New Specialist Teacher:  Carolyn Buhren (Auslan) -  an exciting innovation in 2022.  The emergence of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) into Australia's inclusive culture over recent years has certainly heightened awareness and interest in the language.  For a number of years we have been striving to introduce Auslan to our curriculum offerings. The realisation of this dream is very exciting. 

Our Teaching Teams for 2022

Foundation (Stage 1)   

Tim English, Elysha Magor, Sarah Shaw.

Sarah Smith (Learning Support ELC & Stage 1)

Year 1/2 (Stage 2)        

Christie Corbett / Gen Hart, Bec Ingham, Sarah Jones, Bethany Kluge, Kayla Sunman.

Kate Burton (Learning Support Stage 2)

Year 3/4 (Stage 3)      

Therese Abraham, Katherine Anderson, Charli Armitage, Lena Harmer, Donna King.

Anne Carter (Learning Support Stage 3)

Year 5/6 (Stage 4)      

Janet Kuhlmann / Lisa Roennfeldt, Jake Miles, Nathaniel Nilsen, Andrew Petkovic.

Trish Stewart (Learning Support Stage 4)

Specialist Teachers             

Carolyn Buhren (Auslan)

Claudia Deanshaw (Creative Arts)

Danielle de Dezsery (Visual Arts)

Janine Panagiotou (Health and PE)  

Jason Wain (Health and PE) 

Leaders

Evie Stevens (Director Junior Primary)

Brett Humphrys (Director Senior Primary)

Karen Schoff (Director Learning Innovation) 

Progressive Achievement Testing (PAT)

In weeks four and five this term the students across the school will be participating in some standardised testing in Literacy and Numeracy.  These tests are to support teachers in planning for the coming years learning and for us to monitor ongoing growth through out the school.  The broad data also supports the ongoing professional learning of staff.

Music Students Concert

17 November - Wednesday (6:30pm)

Parents and friends of students who have been taking music instruction this year are invited to attend a concert to be held in the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church.

Students will play a short musical piece with their instrument of choice to entertain the audience.  Children are asked to come in their summer uniform.  Programs will be available on the night.

End of Year Events

Please see the attached information regarding our end of year events and celebrations. Parents are welcome to attend our Assembly and Worship services as available, however, we ask our Stage 4 parents to please make a booking for the Graduation Ceremony. Some all-school events will also be streamed live on Zoom. All details can be found on the attached pages.

Sincerely,

David Wilksch