Year 2 had a fabulous day at Warragamba Dam last week. It was such a rich and engaging excursion where the children learnt all about our catchment area, and how they can care for water.

We got to drive across the dam wall, and we were able to walk along and under the dam, learning about its fascinating history. We loved the story of the long eels, and we so enjoyed spotting some kangaroos and even some wombats.

We invited all the families to join us for a picnic together, and we played a super fun game of stuck in ‘roo poo’, even the parents joined in too.

It’s a busy time of the year for Year 12 students who are in the middle of presenting their major projects for marking.

Industrial Technology Timber and Multimedia were marked on Thursday and these projects include a Practical Project and a Management Portfolio which have been developed throughout the year. For Timber, the students made a range of projects including a Guitar case, a Skate Board Rack and Drawers, a Computer and Study desk, an octagonal Games Table with storage, an Outdoor Double Sofa seat, and a Gaming Desk.

In Multimedia, students produced a variety of Books and Videos including: a Game, illustrated children’s books including a QR code activated narration for one of them, and a range of Video productions. Students can now relax a bit as the projects are now finished.

Book Week started on Thursday 22 August 2019. This is the best week in the year, culminating in our amazing Book Day this Wednesday 28 August.

The Book Fair has arrived and is busily being set up. The authors are booked and ready to entertain and inspire. The displays and costumes are being finalised.

We hope you’re as excited as us!

Our Year 7 students have been performing brilliantly in this year’s Word Mania and achieved First Place in the Sydney West Region on the first round of competition, which ran until Friday 16 August.

We are in first place in Round 2 at the moment, and in order for us to qualify to play in the Australia and NZ wide (Oceania) finals, we need to maintain our first place position.

We are currently eleventh on the National Leaderboard; however, these scores are a culmination of the Practice Round, Round 1 and Round 2. The leaderboard is then wiped clean for the finals.

Last Friday 16 August, our Commerce Year 9 Class held our annual ‘Running a Business’ day where all students got to take part in running a small stand during lunch time. Everyone was so excited for the day and couldn’t wait to sell their goods. We had an amazing time bonding and sharing some laughs as we rushed around trying to set up and have the most successful business.

The day concluded when the final lunch bell rang. We were all relieved it was over but are still grateful for the experience and knowledge that we were able to gain. If anyone is looking at doing Commerce for their Year 9 electives, I would highly recommend it!

Chloe Miller

David Quinn in Year 7 has won, with his NSW Ice Hockey Team, the Australian Nationals U/13 Championship.

David was the top defenceman point scorer at the championships with four goals and more importantly, seven assists and no goals scored against the team on his shift.

Well done David!!

We are so pleased to announce that the Girls Rising partnership with St Marys Band Club (The Bandy) continues in 2019, with confirmation of our grant application for yet another year.

We are truly blessed to receive this grant from The Bandy, enabling our Girls Rising event for Year 10 girls in public and private schools around the Western Sydney area to continue and to grow. The students who attend this one day event, hear positive messages to contrast the bombardment of negativity towards women in our society. Girls Rising gives them courage to believe they can make a difference and that their voice matters.

We show them how to be BOLD and stand against injustice.

Over the past four years I’ve had the pleasure of coaching and mentoring the PCS PSSA Netball Teams.

One of my favourite parts of coaching is watching the girls become brilliant little netballers and young ladies. We finished off the last game of PSSA with two wins and a draw! The girls have been training on Mondays and Wednesdays every week and they have worked hard all season to improve their skills. I am so proud of each and every one of the girls and I will definitely miss them all next year!

The best of luck for the future girls.  It’s been my absolute pleasure being a small part of your netball journey.

We have an exciting new opportunity for students who are above beginner level. Group Performance Classes will bring together different musicians (on different instruments), at a similar level, in order to learn, not just how to play their instrument, but how to play it with other people.

This is different to concert band, which is typically 15+ students and multiples of the same instrument. This will be 4-5 students; for example: a drummer, a bassist, a guitarist and a singer. 

Here's what it will entail:

You are warmly invited to celebrate the fun of our Book Week activities with teachers and students on Wednesday 28 August 2019. Please click on the links below for Book Day information and programs specific to Early Childhood, Junior School and Middle School:

Click here for EARLY CHILDHOOD (THURSDAY/FRIDAY STUDENTS) Book Day information and program (Friday 23 August)

Click here for EARLY CHILDHOOD (MONDAY-WEDNESDAY) Book Day information and program

Click here for JUNIOR SCHOOL Book Dayinformation and program

Last Tuesday the Year 11 Physics class went to Penrith iFly to physically experience the laws of motion, perform experiments in a wind tunnel and explore the practical applications of physics principles.

‘This was a thrilling experience and a great learning adventure. This has inspired me to find out more about the physics of freefall.’ – Josiah

‘This was a great way to experience the forces of Physics.’ – Anna and Aksa

On Thursday Year 10 travelled to the Sydney Opera House for part of their Australian History course. It was an insightful day as students were given an in-depth tour of the site. Below is a reflection by Ellen Margetts of Year 10:

‘An interesting aspect of the Opera House that I learned on the day was that the Opera House roof contains 1,056,000 glazed white granite tiles that were made in Sweden. These tiles are self-cleaning and seek to reflect a glacier effect from the sun. Furthermore, the site’s architect Jørn Utzon never saw the finished Opera House yet was honoured before his death in 2008  when UNESCO placed the Sydney Opera House on the World Heritage List.’

The students learned that the Sydney Opera House is the youngest cultural building to ever be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Term 3 has started and the children are firing on all cylinders as they immerse themselves in the learning tasks that are happening within the classrooms. The teachers have been impressed with the improvement in knowledge and skills that the students have developed when working collaboratively.

Our Science topic for this term is called 'Look! Listen!' and the children will be investigating the sources of light and sound, how they are produced, and how light and sound travel. The students have explored sounds around the school and located several areas with near and far sounds. They have also spent some time in the classroom after our sounds expedition classifying and sorting the sounds we heard. The children will use guitars to see how vibrations can cause sound and will feel the vibrations in their throat as they speak. Over the coming weeks the children will have the opportunity to share items that they have at home that produce light or sound with their classmates.

The students have been diligently applying themselves to the hands-on learning tasks that have been provided in Mathematics. This term the students have been developing their problem solving skills when working on a variety of addition and subtraction problems. Over the next few weeks we will be investigating area and volume in measurement as well as position skills and concepts. 

James Mackay graduated from PCS in 2017, and is currently doing an internship with Imagine Nations Church. It was a joy to hear him share at our Staff Devotions last week and see how much he has grown in his faith, and confidence.

James came through PCS from Kindergarten and was invited to Youth when he was in Year 5 or 6, where he gave his life to Jesus. He excelled in Music in Senior School, and is a great drummer. He plays drums in church.

Straight out of school he got a job and did an Audio Engineering course. This year he really felt he needed to give back to the church that has given so much to him. The Internship is giving him a good foundation for serving the church, and he also wants to get into building design as a future career.

'During the recent school holidays, I took part in Youth Parliament, a program run by YMCA NSW. We represented our local state electorates and were also part of committees - I was in the committee for Mental Health.

In these committees, we wrote bills to propose solutions relating to these issues. As part of Youth Parliament, I had the amazing opportunity to debate in NSW Parliament House, as well as meeting the Governor at Government House. I met great people in the program and I learnt a lot. I felt inspired and empowered to make change in my local community and beyond, confident that the voices of young people truly can make a difference.’  

Abbey Lindeback

In the last week of Term 2, Kindergarten celebrated learning with a Teddy Bears Picnic. We welcomed family and friends as children brought in their teddy bears. A special thank you to Mrs Dunn for bringing in her biggest Bear.

To begin the day, our children took their bears out for Walk and Talk, parading and sharing their fabulous bears as parents looked on. Next we moved into our classroom activities.

First we sang songs, read Teddy Bear stories. Then students cut out a challenging bear puzzle, put together a split-pin Teddy Bear craft. Students worked on a descriptive writing task and gathered data on a graph counting out gummy bears. At 10 am we sat out on the grass hill for our Picnic. We had Prep friends join us with their bears and lunch boxes. Many families and students shared picnic rugs, blankets or towels as they ate yummy fruit and recess snacks.

What’s the best way to teach Emotional Intelligence to kids? How can we help them develop self-awareness and empathy? And, how can we help them relate better to others?

Social Emotional Learning, or SEL, is the ‘process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.’

(Denham, 1998; Saarni, 1999):

Please be advised that over the next six to eight months, we will be filming the different completions and major milestones of the current building works at our School.

PCS alumni Callum Meney will be documenting the different stages of these projects with a drone starting Monday 12 August.

Should you have any concerns or further inquiries, please contact Ms Sharon Tuft at sharon.tuft@pcs.nsw.edu.au

As part of our Missions Fundraising commitments for 2019, Junior School will be running ‘Coins for Missions’ throughout Term 3.

All classes from Kindergarten to Year 4 will be encouraged to do jobs at home in order to earn silver or gold coins for Missions. The students are requested to collect the money at home and then either bring in the progressive amount each week OR the final total they have earned on Thursday 26 September. 

The money raised by Junior School will support our sister school in Uganda, Divine Junior School, with educational resources, remodelling and brand new technology.

Our Father’s Day Stalls are an opportunity for PCS to bless our school community and for students to choose a special gift for their dads. If your child would like to purchase a Father’s Day gift, please send in $5.00 ON THE DAY OF THE STALL with each Preschool to Year 6 child.

KINDERGARTEN TO YEAR 6Friday 30 August 2019 (from 9.00 am )in the Canteen COLA

EARLY CHILDHOODWednesday 28 AND Friday 30 August 2019in the Early Childhood Centre