Our traditional Mother’s Day Stall will be operating for our Early Learning Centre students on Wednesday 6 May AND Friday 8 May 2020. The stall is an opportunity for PCS to bless our school community and for students to choose a special gift for their mums.

If your child would like to purchase a Mother’s Day gift, please send in $5.00 on the day of the Stall with your Preschool or Prep child.

We ask that students bring a carry bag so they can buy their Mother’s Day present at the Stall and then take their chosen gift home.

With a view to students returning onsite at some stage in Term 2, the Uniform Shop will reopen in Week 1, Term 2.

The Uniform Shop will open normal Term 2 trading hours (see below). Please also note:

Online purchases preferred.

Please observe social distancing when visiting the shop.

Only one (1) family is permitted in the Shop at a time – longer waiting times are to be expected.

PCS would like to remember and pay tribute to the men and women, both past and present who have served, and continue to serve our country during times of conflict and crisis. Although we can’t gather physically, we wish to take time to reflect upon their selfless sacrifice and honour their memory.

And beyond that, we give praise and thanks to our Living God, by whose grace, alongside their sacrifice, we can live in a free and peaceful country. Lest we forget.

As you know, this week there have been further announcements and advice about the delivery of education both at a Commonwealth and State level moving into Term 2.

We appreciate the complexity of this situation and for you, as parents, the need for clarity as you plan what your days may look like too.

As I mentioned in my video message last Sunday, we are looking forward to the time when we can all safely connect physically again and have all our wonderful students back onsite. In the meantime; however, we have heeded the advice of the Premier and Minister for Education, along with the Health Authorities, and have come up with a plan of what we see Term 2 looking like at this moment.

Tracey Deal, PCS Principal, with a message for our whole School community, including updates on latest Government announcements for schools in general, and expected learning arrangements in Term 2.

Our Junior School staff have put together a video for students and parents, which explains how learning will be happening in Junior School at PCS from Term 2. 

The video was posted on the Junior School Instagram. If you don't have an Instagram account, you can still view the video via the link below in a browser. However, we do recommend signing up to Instagram, as we will be posting more information via that platform in the future. It's free to join and you can remain private/anonymous.

CLICK HERE to view the video

On Wednesday 1 April, Junior School participated in a National Fundraiser for Autism – Light it up Blue. Even though all of our students are learning online at home or at school, we had a tremendous amount of students and families participate in this event.  Check out the cool photos some of the parents have sent in as well as our students on site. Thank you to those families who gave at school or online.

If you missed it out and would like to donate, PLEASE CLICK HERE and you can give 10c, $1, $2 or an amount you choose. Please put Penrith Christian School in the comments.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD an information sheet about Autism in case your child asks any questions.

Connection is really important within our Early Learning Centre, and to help foster this throughout this time of isolation, we have embarked upon a Zoom Story Time journey.

This allows the children and families at home to stay connected with us, and is just as great of an importance for us as educators, as it is for the children that we are entrusted with during this situation we find ourselves in. For us to facilitate the children being able to see each other, interact in a limited way, and have something special just for them at this time, became real-world problems that we needed to overcome.

We are so blessed to live in an age of technology, where platforms like Zoom and Storypark have become crucial to maintaining this connection. The thought of moving into this digital platform was a little confronting, but with so many avenues moving online now, it was an easy step to take when we made it.

CLICK HERE to read an article that deals with the very important topic of maintaining your mental health during social isolation.

It provides tips and links to great websites to help you and your family navigate this very tricky situation we are all in covering topics like staying connected, structuring your day, and seeking additional support.

This is a situation that we have never been in before, so let’s face it together, with as much help as we can get.

With most of the world in various levels of lockdown, many creative and interesting resources have emerged that we can use to stay connected.

Please find below some great links to resources that you may find helpful:

Story Time From Space - 1

During this period of off site schooling for most students, we will be featuring stories from families learning from home. If you have a story (funny, serious, informative, etc) to submit for consideration, please email (preferably with a photo or two) luisa.martinez@pcs.nsw.edu.au. Your story might be something new your family has never tried before, a benefit you didn't expect from learning at home, technology bloopers, a photo of teddy bears in your front window (for those contributing to the 'Going on A Bear Hunt' fun!), or a great 'cooking with kids' recipe - we'd love to hear what you've been up to.

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As we all adjust to our new way of living and doing online school, here are some ideas our family have put in place to maximise learning from home.

Is your child missing their regular library time? The iCentre has a solution!

This term we are offering a new way to get your book fix: Drive-thru Library! (Would you like a bookmark with that? You never know, that might happen!)

This will operate on an opt-in basis, and we will put together packs of age-appropriate books for those students who wish to participate. We have a new email address dedicated to Drive-thru Library so that we can best serve your family. To opt in to Drive-thru Library, please email us at drive-thru.library@pcs.nsw.edu.au, and let us know the name and grade of your child/ren so that we can provide them with books.

Your child’s teacher has probably already told you about this great resource.  We use this a lot here at PCS and you can access it from home.  There are many books for your child to read at their level. There are also word games, sight word activities, etc.:

The link is https://www.sunshineonline.com.au/

Username – Penrith

Password – penrith

Did you know, eBooks and audio books are available at public libraries? And it’s free to join! All students at PCS are eligible to join Penrith Library, no matter where you live. Parents will need to ring the Library and let them know that your child attends Penrith Christian School. Penrith Library also has Premier’s Reading Challenge ebooks!

Anyone who goes to a school in Penrith is eligible to join for free. Students could also join Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Blacktown libraries who all have similar eBook platforms available.

They also have eBooks, audio books and magazines for mum and dad if you need an escape from homeschooling children!!

For those students researching assignments, or those looking for fantastic non-fiction reading for your own personal enjoyment and learning, World Book Online is a great resource.

To access an incredibly wide range of articles, images, eBooks, etc, go to:

https://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Login?ed=wb

Username: Penrith

For the students who have been missing their regular lunch time chess games, you are not alone; Mr Ollis is missing it as well! As such, I would like to remind students about our online option, Chess Kid https://www.chesskid.com/.

For a period of time, Chess Kid was happening all over the iCentre at lunchtimes. Then the love of playing on a real board rightly took over. But now is the time to look at Chess Kid again. Even if you have forgotten your login details, it is free and easy to set up a new account and get playing again with your friends. Within Chess Kid, there are also a number of different challenges that you can have a go at.

In this season of COVID-19, social distancing and online learning, it is important that we support our mental health and wellbeing by accessing good, quality information.

Below you will find a list of available resources that will be helpful for all families, with students of any age, that might be of assistance in managing the changes to daily life.

It can feel overwhelming during this time as we work together to combat the spread of COVID-19, but there are organisations, services and resources out there to support your mental health and wellbeing.

Dear PCS Parents, Caregivers, School Family and Friends,

I thought it timely to be in contact with you as we live and move through one of the most difficult and challenging times in our country’s history and needless to say, the history of the world. We are all seeing and hearing the news reporting and experiencing the reality of constant changing implications caused by the COVID-19 virus spread. Not only is the impact severe on our daily lives, our families, loved ones and our communities, but also on the continuing education of our children. For some families this has meant facing severe financial difficulties from either loss of jobs, stand down, irregular and/or reduced work.

I am aware the impact differs for each family, and this means all household expenses are reviewed, including School fees.

Hi Middle School Families! Take a look at this video featuring our Middle School staff, saying 'hello' and providing some information about online learning at PCS for Years 5, 6, 7 and 8. We miss you! We're looking forward to seeing you online (and in person again later on!)

The video was posted on the Middle School Instagram and PCS Facebook accounts. If you don't have an Instagram account, you can still view the video via the link below. However, we do recommend signing up to Instagram, as we will be posting more information via that platform in the future. It's free to join and you can remain private/anonymous.

CLICK HERE to view the video

As we prepare for an even longer period of at-home-learning in Term 2, as indicated by the Government, the Staff are needing to have more time for their long term preparation of teaching and learning to accommodate this. The change to deliver online lessons and remote learning has required considerably more preparation time and the process is being refined daily to ensure your child receives the best learning possible.

To ensure we are ready for this next phase of online learning, next week (commencing 6 April), our staff will not be delivering scheduled online lessons or new content for students from Kindergarten to Year 11. Your child can use this time to catch up on or consolidate work from this week.

For Year 12: teachers will still be conducting online classes as per their timetabled lessons to continue studies, and students are encouraged to make sure they are checking in with their relevant teacher for each subject.