Dear Lord, As we begin this new school year, we gather as a community of believers, a family of your children. We thank you for the renewal of the past months and our safe delivery to this new place – Mary Queen of Heaven. Bless our children, may they be happy, curious and kind. Bless our staff, may they always put children first and create a space of safety and delight. Bless our parents as they partner with us in their child’s education. We thank you for the promise of the days ahead and for the blessing of your accompaniment. Be with us this year. Mary, Queen of Heaven Pray for us.

Dear families,

Welcome to the Mary Queen of Heaven school community. A place of learning & wonder where we will live into our school values of love, courage, respect and humility. Mary Queen of Heaven has been a work in progress and thanks to the wonderful support and patience shown by our families, we are ready to share with you all, grow with you all and learn together.
We will communicate with you as best we can to ensure clarity and transparency. Our main forms of communication will be Skoolbag for messages and important information, Seesaw for learning related communication and the ICON parent portal where you will be able to access and change your personal information, school reports, fee statements etc. More information on the ICON portal will come, please ensure you have downloaded the Skoolbag and Seesaw Apps and set notifications to ‘on’.

Before and After school protocols are really important as they help keep our children safe and prepare them for learning. In the mornings we ask all families to drop their children off at the gates where you will be welcomed by a friendly staff member. In the afternoons, families are welcome to come and wait outside for the children to be dismissed. At these times of the day, the adventure playground, sandpit and ball games are discouraged as we don’t have adequate supervision for these areas. Please help us by reminding your children to remain off these areas before and after school.

Our school lunch order program, supplied by Lunchmums begins on 16th February. Please ensure you have downloaded the School Connect App or follow all of the instructions by contacting www.lunchmums.com.au or info@lunchmums.com.au or 0425 703 021.
Our capacity to process cash, credit or EFTPOS school fees is now functioning. Please make contact with Teresa in the office in person or by phone to pay your fees. We thank all of our families for supporting us with this.

We are lucky enough to offer an onsite School Psychologist every Wednesday. Maria Sulaiman has been working with children in schools for a number of years. If you feel your child would benefit from this service, please make contact with your child’s teacher.
At various times throughout the school term we will hold closures for staff professional learning. You will be notified of these dates and BIG Childcare will offer holiday programs to assist with childcare.

Parent teacher interviews will be held at the end of term 1 and 3 with formal written reports in term 2 and 4. This is designed to ensure that communication about your child’s learning is evenly spaced throughout the school year. Seesaw will also be utilised as a means of sharing the learning journey of your child with you in the form of ‘on time’ reporting.
School Photos will be taken by Advance Life Photography on Tuesday 28th March. You will be reminded about this date and we require all students to be in full Summer uniform with their jumper or jacket with them.

Parent Support Group (PSG’s) are meetings designed to address the plans, actions and strategies for students with additional needs. These will be held in week 7. Parents will be encouraged to book these using www.schoolinterviews.com.au and all PSG’s will be online meetings.
Thursday 2nd March is National ‘Be Kind’ Day. On this day we are going to celebrate kindness by dressing up as anything beginning with ‘B’ to remind us to ‘B’ kind. We will collect a Gold Coin Donation on this day to support our brothers and sisters in Syria and Turkey earthquake relief.

Our learning and teaching experiences have begun with much excitement, wonder and awe. Our learners have been fascinated by all of the newness of school and are slowly taking in school routines and our learning space. Much of our learning this term is focussed on community, our vision and how we can harmoniously work and learn together as a learning community.

Each week our staff collaborate and plan learning experiences based on data that is collected on each of the children. Learning experiences are then directed to meet the needs of each individual. You are encouraged to talk to your child about their learning. You might ask questions like “what did you wonder today?” “What did you discover / find out?” “What would you like to find about?” “How did you feel about yourself as a learner today (brave, persistent)?” We will endeavor to communicate with you so you too are part of the learning.

Monday 13th February will see us kick off our Specialist programs for 2023.  We are so excited to be able to offer:

• Visual Arts with Cathy
• STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) with Steven
• LAM (Italian Language and Music) with Bianca
• PE with Steven and Josh

Watch this space for celebrations of the wonderful experiences our Specialist team offers the children on a weekly basis.

The Good Shepherd, Gladstone Park Parish Renewal Program 2023

Last weekend was the LAUNCH of our Parish Renewal Program – and we would love you to be involved! As we continue to resume a more normal parish life, our Renewal Program provides us with a wonderful opportunity – as individuals and as a community – to reflect on the importance of our Good Shepherd Parish, as we appreciate the past, engage in the present, and plan for the future. The Program considers themes central to parish life and you can follow along at Mass, on our parish Facebook and through updates via the school, email and SMS. We encourage you to take some time to look at the Program brochure – with details on where the parish is now and importantly what are our key priorities in the times ahead – mission, pastoral care and financial. Hard copies have been sent to each school family today – so please look in the school bag of your eldest child.

Click here to view the Program Brochure.

Thoughts from Our Program Leadership Team

Q: Why is celebrating our faith as a parish community important to you?
“Being together at Mass enriches the experience. It’s amazing how much we treasure this now after spending so much time apart in the last few vears.”
“Coming together as a community to celebrate our faith is so important – a shared faith is a growing faith.”

Q: Why is it important to be actively engaged in parish Groups & Ministries?
“For our parish community to function effectively, it requires more than just the parish staff and our priests. We as a community need to be fully engaged with all aspects of parish life for our community and faith to thrive.”