Congratulations to:

Fr Bernard Gordon who celebrated his 27th Anniversary of Priestly Ordination during the holiday break (9 April). Fr Bernard provides tremendous support to Good Samaritan and all that we do. May God bless Fr Bernard as he continues his work within our Lumen Christi Pastoral Region.

 Autism Awareness Day  

30 April - Mufti Day - Light It Up Blue Because We Are Better Together

April is Autism Awareness Month and at Good Samaritan we will be having a special day to develop more of an awareness of the abilities and needs of students with autism so that we can continue to ensure that our students with autism, along with all of our students feel included, welcomed and respected within our school community.

Inclusion is one of the values we hold very dear at our school. When we talk about inclusion we talk about every child in our school being given what they need to develop their whole self. That does not mean that every child receives the same but that every child receives what they need. This may mean having work differentiated to ensure that we meet each child where they are. It may mean providing a quiet space when a child feels overwhelmed. It may mean having a sensory toy to assist with staying calm or visuals to provide routine and structure. It may mean accessing a program to extend and challenge such as SPLICED or to support Literacy such as MiniLit or MacqLit. It may mean accessing extra teaching time in small guided groups. It may mean accessing pastoral support programs. 

When a child enrols at Good Samaritan we don’t just accept them, for acceptance alone is not enough and doesn’t really define the aim for any student at our school including those students who have different learning needs. Embracing difference is the aim for all students, including those with Autism —it goes beyond acceptance to inclusive practices that provide for the needs of each individual child. 

During our Autism Awareness Day we are looking forward to celebrating the abilities of our students with autism and learning more about how we can ensure that they continue to have appropriate support from their peers and teachers as needed.

Our Awareness Day will involve:

• Mufti Day - all students are asked to wear blue clothes
• 9:50 - 10:50am What Is Autism?   (30 minute lessons which have been developed by Mrs Huska and Mrs Sampson for each grade)
• Morning Tea - Bring something blue (blueberries, an iced cake or muffin, whatever your imagination and cooking skills can come up with)
• 11:40 - Liturgy - We’re Better Together 

 Together we can make our school even better

A big congratulations to our girls swimming team who competed in the School Swimming Carnival and the Diocesan Trials to qualify for the McKillop Swimming Carnival on 22 March. 

Gemma, Matisse, Samantha,Ava and Milla swam beautifully on the day to gain the following results

• Gemma, Matisse, Samantha and Ava   Senior Girls Relay - 1st in Freestyle Relay
• Gemma – 2nd in 50m Freestyle, 3rd in 100m freestyle
• Matisse - 3rd in 50m Breatstroke, 4th in 50m Freestyle, 5th in 100 Freestyle
• Milla - 5th place in her event in the 50m Freestlye 

These results qualified the girls to compete in the NSW Primary School Sports Association (PSSA) Swimming Carnival, competing against students from across NSW from Catholic, State and Independent schools. 

At the PSSA Carnival the girls again performed to a very high standard, representing their school, Diocese and McKillop Region with pride. They gained the following results

• Gemma - 3rd in 50m freestyle final, 7th in the 100m freestyle final
• Matisse - 14th in 50 breaststroke
• Gemma, Matisse, Samantha, Ava - 2nd in Freestyle Relay 

Gemma and the Relay Team have been selected into the NSW team. This year there is no National school sport – however, if there was Gemma and the Relay Team would be off with the NSW team to Queensland to compete for NSW.

Congratulations to Gemma, Matisse, Samantha Ava and Milla for working so hard to achieve wonderful results. We are all very proud of you

CLASSROOM

Each class uses their co created behaviour matrix as a guide to help support and maintain a safe and positive classroom environment always linking in with our 3 school rules:

• Be Safe
• Be Respectful
• Be Responsible. 

These rules are supported by the classroom correction sequence. The sequence is used as a visual reminder for students to support them in getting back on track with learning.

PLAYGROUND

This term our tokens that are handed out for positive behaviours on the playground will be collected in each classroom’s token boxes. This way the students will be able to see as a class what a great job they are doing.

As a school the students have unpacked, role played and practiced positive and respectful ways they can interact with each other on their playground with a set of Social Norms. 

SOCIAL NORMS FOR OUR PLAYGROUND

Social norm #1: Meet and greet politely.

• Say greetings, introductions, and goodbyes.
• Politely offer and receive compliments.
• Be able to start and finish conversations.

Social norm #2: Take turns talking.

• Listen when others are speaking and look them in the eye.
• Wait if adults are talking. 
• Respond appropriately and at the right time.

Social norm #3: Pay attention to others.

• Stop what you’re doing so you can listen.
• Read people’s emotions through their body language and facial expressions.
• Change your behaviour to match what other people are doing, such as quieting down with the rest of the room.

Social norm #4: Think about others before acting.

• Ask for consent.
• Don’t cut in line.
• Wait your turn.
• Stand a comfortable distance away when talking. 

Social norm #5: Cooperate with others.

• Follow directions when you’re asked to.
• Ask for help when you need it.
• Apologise when necessary.
• Be flexible and open to new ideas.

Please check your child’s uniform is clearly labelled with their name. Also, if your child needs new school shoes or joggers they must be within the uniform requirements i.e: black school shoes and predominately white joggers similar to the images below.

April

• Thursday 22 April - School Photos 

• Friday 23 April - ANZAC Day Prayer

• Tuesday 27 April -Diocesan Cross Country

• Friday 30 April - Autism Awareness Day 

May

• Monday-Tuesday 3-4 May  Principals’ Overnight Retreat

• Thursday 6 May  Mother’s Day Liturgy

• Friday 7 May  Mother’s Day Stall

• Monday 10 May  P&F Meeting 7pm School Hall 

• Monday 17 May Athletics Carnival 

• Tuesday- 1-20 May NAPLAN testing

• Friday 21 May PUPIL FREE DAY Students do not attend school on this day

• Saturday 22-Sunday 23 May Confirmation Weekend

• Sunday 23 May  Pentecost

• Monday-Friday 24- 28May  Screens Down Week

• Wednesday 26 May -National Sorry Day

       CEDoW School Director Peter Hill visit to GSFM

• Monday 31 May Reconciliation Week

June

• Thurday 3 June  MABO Day

• Tuesday 11 June Term 2 PB4L Day (Mufti Day)

• Monday 14 June Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend

• Tuesday 15 June Sth Coast Netball Gala Day

• Friday 18 June Semester One Reports distributed to Parents

• Monday-Friday 21-25 June  Parent Teacher Interview Week

• Friday 25 June  Term 2 concludes

TERM 3 DATES:

JULY:

• Wednesday 12 July  Feast of St Benedict

• Friday 16 July  Grandparent’s Day 

AUGUST:

• Tuesday 3 August Sth Coast Region Athletics

• Thursday -Friday 5-6 August  Year 6 Camp

•  Monday 8 August  Feast of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop

SEPTEMBER:

• Friday 3 september - Father’s Day Breakfast & Prayer/Fathers Day Stall 

• Monday 6 September Students return to wearing Summer Uniforms

• Wednesday-Thursday 8-9 September  Assistant Principal Overnight Retreat

• Thursday-Friday 9-10 September Basketball Gala Days (Junior & Senior)

• Monday 13 September  MacKillop Athletics Carnival

• Friday 17 September  Term 3 Concludes