Dear parents and carers

2025 school dates
Please find attached, the 2025 school dates. Catholic Education Canberra Goulburn have provided these to us. Pupil free dates are mandatory, and we understand this puts pressure on working families. To that end we will collaborate with TeamKids to ensure all pupil free days are added to their school holiday programs.  New pupil free dates are now at the start and end of each term.

"Tell them from me" annual survey
Thank you for taking the time to fill out the annual survey. This survey will assist Good Shepherd to understand our context, improve our annual planning and inform our strategic direction.  

The survey more broadly assists Catholic Education to make data-driven decisions which support our school, and most importantly, your children.

The link to the survey was sent to parents and carers via the Compass app newsfeed.

NEW Homelearning HUB
Access to a new Home Learning HUB will be made availabe to parents via COMPASS in the coming days.

Refreshed student management practices
We have been refining our behaviour strategies here at Good Shepherd to ensure our practices align with our behaviour curriculum, thus enabling all our children to Be Kind, Be Safe, Be Respectful and to Be their Best.  Parents and carers will have access to this information in the next week.

Good wishes for the week,
Trazel

The clear message this week at church focused on the fact that the state and quality of our hearts can’t be measured by the size of our wallets, but by our willingness to share what we have with others.

Perhaps it is time for each of us to pause and think about our own sharing and giving (of our time, talents, support, material comforts, etc). We should reflect upon what we currently generously share with others, for their benefit, and celebrate that. Next we need to ponder honestly about where we have room to grow and stretch our giving futher.

As we head into the final days of this week, let us contemplate the following:

Do you have a list of things to do each day? That’s helpful. Sometimes, however, our plans don’t go the way we... well… plan. That’s why it’s good to ask God, “What do you want me to do?” The answer may surprise you. Of course, God always wants you to do things like love others as you love yourself, pray and make good choices. Sometimes it is not so much what you do, it’s who you are that matters. God is waiting for you to be the person God made you to be. That’s what faith is about. It’s not always thinking, planning and doing. It’s living what we believe. It’s about being Jesus for the world.  www.gpbs.com.au

So let us be brave together and go out into our school and parish community to make Jesus known to others through our words and actions.

Just a reminder that ACT Sunsmart guidelines state that all ACT school students must wear hats from August to the end of May. We sell hats at the front office should your child/ren need a new one.  The legionnaires style hat is the only one approved by the school for wear by students.