The year has started off with a splash with four swimming carnivals over the past five weeks of Term 1. We have seen some great school spirit, awesome results, and a number of new records across these carnivals.

YEARS 3 TO 6 SWIMMING CARNIVAL

The 2020 Years 3-6 (and a few Year 2s) had their swimming carnival in Week 3 at Ripples St Marys. The forecast for the day was overcast with the chance of a storm. However, we started the day with clear weather and the students all turned up enthusiastic and ready for a great day. Despite a slightly later start, we got underway and it was great to see so many students having a crack at the early events. We saw some records go throughout the day, and it was awesome to see so many kids cheering each other on.

On Wednesday 4 March Junior School had a Missions Assembly to hear about our trip to Uganda in January and launch our Missions Vision for 2020. Middle School students Jake, Hamish, Elsie and Megan were able to demonstrate their Kiganda dancing and drumming skills that they learnt from Divine Junior School teachers and students. On Friday 6 March at Middle School Chapel, the same students were interviewed by Mr Daniel Favretti about their Missions experience in Uganda.

Thank you for your generous contributions to Missions in 2019. We raised $927.65 through Coins for Missions, $1,141 from Priestley Stauner’s family and $1,663.95 through selling cans of drinks and Zooper Doopers. Our total by the end of Term 3 was $3,732.60, pretty impressive! Throughout Term 4 we continued to receive generous donations from our school community for Divine Junior School bringing the total to over $10,000. 

Divine Junior School community were so grateful for Penrith Christian School’s generosity. They send their love, prayers and gratitude and they even wrote a song about ‘Coins for Missions’ which was posted on Penrith Christian School's Facebook account in January. (CLICK HERE to view)

Students at PCS once again have the opportunity to take part in the Premier’s Reading Challenge. In 2019 PCS had a record number of students complete the Challenge – over 200! We are aiming to continue this fantastic effort in 2020. The Challenge is a special initiative of the Premier of NSW presented by the NSW Department of Education to foster a love of literature and to encourage children to read widely for leisure and for pleasure. It is open to all students from Kindergarten to Year 9 in 2020.

For students in Kindergarten to Year 2, the challenge is to experience 30 books by 28 August. At least 25 of those books should be chosen from specific booklists. Up to five of the books can be their own choice.

NOTE: Experiencing a book means that the K-2 child may either read the book themselves, or have the book read or shared with them in a joint reading situation and it still counts towards their Premier’s Reading Challenge records.

We are well into the school year. Hopefully your child/adolescent has started the year well and their attendance has been strong.

Attending school consistently is crucial for your child to achieve their educational best and increase their career and life options. Missing one day every fortnight might not seem like all that much but by December, it equates to a full four weeks of school! If that happens every year from Kindergarten to Year 10, then an entire year of school has been missed. It is important to note that partial absenteeism (arriving late or leaving early) also counts towards overall attendance.

Of course, there are very valid reasons for missing school such being sick or having an infectious disease, having an unavoidable medical appointment or exceptional family circumstances such as a funeral.  Still, everything should be done to keep your child/adolescent’s attendance as high as possible.

Did you know that our School is involved in Vegetable Week and The Big Vegie Crunch? It’s a no cost school-based health promotion event that encourages kids to eat more vegetables.

Our Junior School and Middle Students participated in the ‘Big Vegie Crunch’ on Thursday 4 March.

It was wonderful to see so many students ‘crunching’ on a variety of different vegetables.

For our new (or current!) families, did you know we have an online ordering system for our canteen? Flexischools is the fast, convenient and secure way to order and pay for canteen orders from home or on your mobile. Flexischools makes canteen ordering available to you 24/7.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Parents set up a Flexischools account online and pre-load the account with funds.

Parents can use the funds in their account to order and pay for canteen services.

Our Early Learning Centre and Junior School will be celebrating the unique qualities of each member of our School for Wear Blue for Autism Day on Wednesday 1 April 2020. This is a Missions fundraiser day for the NSW Autism Association, who support children and families living with autism.

Early Learning and Junior School students are welcome to wear a blue item with their school uniform, and bring a gold coin donation to add to our fundraising efforts.

On Harmony Day, we celebrate the diversity of the community within which we are a part. We all come from different backgrounds, cultures, ideas and heritage and Harmony Day wishes to promote conversation and understanding around this.

Our EARLY LEARNING STUDENTS have been asked to WEAR ORANGE on this day, as that is the official colour of Harmony Day. There will be lots of fun stations throughout the day for the children to be involved in.

Wednesday 18 March, 2020 (Monday - Wednesday students)

Thursday 19 March, 2020 (Thursday - Friday students)

The Uniform Shop has commenced selling our PCS Branded Swimwear to provide better access for parents to purchase garments, especially during out of school hours.

Trading hours during School Terms:

Tuesday - 7.30 am to 11.30 am

Thursday – 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm

Year 7 recently returned from their three day camp with Crusaders at Galston in a beautiful bushland setting in Hornsby Shire. The students were challenged before camp to prepare for some activities and experiences that would be different from their usual routine and comfort. Simply organising the bags is a skill in itself.

Activities such as abseiling, ropes course, hiking and a camp out provided our students with plenty of fun and challenge by choice where they were encouraged to try some new activities outside their ‘comfort zone’. Cooking in small groups under the supervision of adults was enjoyed by the boys and girls alike.

And of course there was the eating! Food was plentiful, hearty and tasty and included students taking responsibility for various aspects of the dining hall.

Year 8 travelled to Camp Wombaroo in the Southern Highlands region. It was an amazing site that allowed students to connect with creation and with each other. The camp included numerous activities such as the Giant Swing, High Ropes Course, Raft Building and cooking dinner which challenged student character and ability to work as a team.

Over the course of the three days staff watched Year 8 deepen friendships and also make new connections. It was a fantastic camp and I am proud of what the students achieved in such a short time.

Daniel Favretti

What a fabulous start to Year 2! All our students are well and truly in the swing of school and are already achieving some fantastic learning goals!

We have welcomed some new students to our grade and they already feel like family.

We also welcomed some new class pets that relate to our Science topic of Watch it grow! We have been using all our science skills of predicting, developing ideas, defining information, organising and investigating the changes that take place in the life cycle of mealworms!

In Week 3, Year 12 experienced a wonderful mix of activities for their Seminar Week. On Tuesday they met at the Nepean Rowing Club for a day of career goal setting and study seminars. Elevate Education came out to talk about mastering their study skills and acing their exams. They drew up a five year dream plan and then set goals on how to achieve their dreams.

On Wednesday, they were back at the Rowing Club looking at growth mindset and training their brains to work for them. That night they had dinner together at Enzos and the menu was delicious and filling!

On Thursday, they took on the challenge of Whitewater Rafting. The morning was spent playing beach volleyball and then they boarded the boats for over an hour of rafting.

Our Year 5 families are invited to join us for a ‘Welcome to Middle School’ Barbeque.

This is an informal opportunity to meet with class teachers regarding any questions about Middle School and to meet with other Year 5 families. PCS will supply sausages, bread, onions and sauce.

DATE: Thursday 5 March 2020

TIME: 5.30 pm - 7.00 pm

Year 1 enjoyed starting their History studies of 'Past and Present Family History' with a History Mystery. Students were given a historical object and in pairs discussed what they thought it was, what it was made of and how old the artefact was. We had some very interesting suggestions and creative ideas from the Year 1 students. We have also enjoyed sharing photos of our families and discussing how families are different and the same. The students are also looking forward to our Fantastic Family History afternoon in Week 5 where parents and family members will join us for an afternoon of investigating changes in toys, activities and homes over time and enjoy some old fashioned games.

We have also started the year well with a range of literacy-based activities. We are learning about 'What’s in a Picture', enjoying a range of books including 'The Chimpanzees from Happytown' and 'Postcards from Crabby Spit'. We are finding out that pictures contain interesting details that may not be in the writing of a book and that we can learn about a character's feelings from pictures. ‘SpotWhat’, ‘Where’s Wally’ and other find-a books are extremely popular for quiet reading time too. Students are also using pictures to sequence stories and engage in writing tasks.

We have been writing Recounts about real life events that have happened to us, both recently and in the past. Students are learning to write about the 4 W’s – when, where, who and what – in greater detail to enhance their writing. We wrote some very interesting postcards about our holidays and recounts about our weekend and first week at school. Later in the term, we will be writing Information Reports.

Collett Smart, a presenter at PCS Parent Seminars over the last two years, recently posted a very useful article. It is specifically aimed at parents of Year 9 students, but is a valuable read for parents with teenagers of any age.

'The party culture begins to build in Year 9, sometimes very quickly. Although most young people at this age will choose not to drink, alcohol starts to become a part of their socialising experience, usually at pre-parties, with a small but influential group regularly drinking. Some to excess. In addition, for those of you with daughters, some more mature Year 9 girls begin to get asked out by young men a couple of years older than them to be their plus 1 (partner to an event). As a result, these very young women subsequently find themselves invited to Year 10, 11 and even Year 12 events where alcohol is far more likely to be available.

Parents often find themselves blindsided by this almost ‘seismic shift’ in social activity and are completely unprepared for the pressure that is applied by their child (as well as other parents), to allow them to attend events on a Saturday evening. With the beginning of the new school year it’s the Year 9 parents, particularly those who have not yet started to experience the party issue, who have most probably got the most to gain from starting the year off right.'

On Thursday 5 March at 10.00 am our Junior School and Middle School will be joining hundreds of schools across NSW to break the record for the most students crunching vegetables simultaneously.

But we need your help to make it a success!

On Thursday 5 March, please pack your child a container of vegetables (not fruit this time) for them to crunch on.

We invite families who are NEW to PCS, to our ‘Welcome to PCS Breakfast’ on Wednesday 26 February 2020, from 7.30 am to 8.30 am (in the Café).

Students are welcome to attend the breakfast with their parent/s at 7.30 am and will be released into the school grounds at 8.00 am. 

Between 8.00 am and 8.30 am, our Principal, Tracey Deal, will give a brief introduction to the PCS vision. Pastors Rob De Martin and Sonya De Martin will introduce Imagine Nations Church and the services it is able to offer our community.

We invite our Kindergarten families to come, see and engage in the learning activities that occur in our Kindergarten classes every day. Join us on Friday 6 March 2020, from 2.00 pm to 2.45 pm, in the Kindergarten Classrooms.

We would also like to gift each family with a Family Bible; these will be presented to you and your children at the Showcase.

We look forward to sharing the fun of Kindergarten with you. Please feel free to invite family and friends!

Being the first face most people encounter when they come to the School, I’m sure most of our PCS family would have had an opportunity to meet me; however, you may not know much about me so I’ll share a little of my world.

I was born in Penrith and have lived in the area all my life. I attended Kingswood South Public and Kingswood High where recent PCS retirees, Mrs Janis Jackson and Mr Bruce Nevill, taught. I have been a committed Christian from a young age attending GFS (Girls Friendly Society) and Sunday School at St Phillips Church in Kingswood. Since then I have attended Imagine Nations, Hillsong and LifeSource churches.

I live for my family, and have been blessed with two amazing sons Benjamin and Joshua, who I’m extremely proud of, a beautiful daughter-in-law Hayley, who attended PCS, and a long-awaited, and very precious and adorable granddaughter, Aria Joy.