It is my privilege and delight to be sharing with you about Learning at PCS. We will be communicating with you each week from various teaching areas across our school, and my focus is outlining our philosophy and priorities for learning under our transition to being One School, a Whole School, Our School. The purpose of this edition is to give insight to the basic premises underpinning this approach.

During our January Conference Days, the teaching team co-created a united strategy for developing new cultural norms (or ways of being) for working with students to support us to collectively Strive for the Highest. We are working on being above the line and classes from K-12 have discussed how they can show up in ways that will help them stay above the line in many contexts – classroom, playground, individually and in our treatment of others. 

The Living Bible translation of Colossians 3:10 says ‘You are living a brand new kind of life that is continually learning more and more of what is right, and trying constantly to be more and more like Christ who created this new life within you.’ Our united approach to helping our children shape their character to be more Christ-like is fundamental to good life and good learning. Common language and consistency across the school with our above the line approach will help us in this way as we have the ultimate example of being above the line in Jesus.

Thank you to all of our parents and carers for your patience in these last weeks as we have managed our drop-off and pick-up routines. We are blessed with an onsite facility for doing this, and although it takes longer than we would like, these routines help to keep us safe. Please take the time to note the following:

• K-2 early pick-up at 2.40 pm will continue until the end of this week when we will revert back to the regular pick-up time of 2.55 pm. Parents are able to use the Simeon Road entrance for this week only.

• Years 3-12 pick-up: if possible, please arrive on campus from 3.00 pm to allow our earlier traffic flow to move through; we will look after younger children until then.

• All parking on campus is rear to curb in Bays 3 and 5 only (not Bay 4).

• Please limit your use of the car park to collect students; this slows down the Kiss and Go process as cars park and then attempt to leave, and also increases pedestrians through the car park.

Penrith Christian School is thrilled to announce Alicia Weir in Year 6 has been honoured for her brilliant dancing abilities with a Scholarship to attend the Glenbrook Ballet Theatre Academy on Wednesdays during 2021. Alicia is very passionate about dance and this is an amazing opportunity for her to follow her dreams. Dance has been such a big part of her life and has provided a platform for her to shine.

Congratulations Alicia and know we are so proud of you!

Congratulations Imogen on receiving the Victor Chang Award for Excellence in Year 11 Science. Imogen placed first in both Year 11 Chemistry and Year 11 Physics in 2020.

The Victor Chang School Science Awards aim to foster and encourage an interest in science among secondary school students, with the goal of promoting careers in STEM as a viable and interesting career path.

Established in 2004, the Victor Chang School Science Awards celebrate young, gifted students, and aim to stimulate growth in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) subject areas. 

Penrith Christian School runs Scholastic Book Club each term through the iCentre.  Our students love Book Club and the School also benefits from all purchases. Leaflets are distributed through the iCentre, class teachers and can also be found online at https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/

Please note credit card payments can be made online using the Scholastic LOOP system - CLICK HERE for full details. All orders that are paid by cash will need to be sent back to the iCentre in an envelope with the correct money included. Please mark the envelope “Scholastic Book Club”.

All orders should be received at school or placed online by 3.00pm Friday 19 February 2021.

Coco Purcell is a young tennis champion, winning many matches and competitions, in and around Sydney. During January this year, she travelled to Ballina and Tweed Heads to compete in a Junior Tennis Tournament in both Doubles and Singles tennis matches.

She won many of her games, competing against some older students to place 9th overall. Coco trains six to seven times per week and absolutely loves playing tennis.

We are so proud of her achievements.

The School’s Uniform Shop has received new stock of our PCS branded swimwear and caps. These items are not compulsory, however we encourage students who are likely to compete at Triathlon/Biathlon, Zone and State events to consider purchasing the swimwear. All students are welcome to wear the PCS swimwear for PCS swimming carnivals and extra-curricular events.

Our students look amazing in the swimwear and I’m pleased to advise there has been no price increase since 2019.

If you have any questions regarding the PCS swimwear please contact Sharon Tuft on 4737 4306 or via sharon.tuft@pcs.nsw.edu.au

Penrith Christian School welcomes applications for casual experienced bus drivers (MR licence minimum) who are flexible and able to assist during school excursions and staff absences.

To be considered for a casual role, please complete and return the Application for Employment and provide the requested documentation with your submission.

For further employment enquiries, please email hr@pcs.nsw.edu.au.

There is an updated menu for the PCS Canteen in 2021. Fortnightly Specials are also available - please check the Flexischools app to see what's available and to order. Don't forget that pre-ordering via Flexischools is the best way to ensure desired items are available - and importantly, most items on the updated menu are ONLY available via pre-order.

CLICK HERE for Canteen Menu - February 2021

Please note the following important information:

Penrith Creative Academy is back from next Monday, 1 February 2021. There are a few vacancies in a range of classes listed below - but get in quick as they will be snapped up fast!

Guitar

Monday - 4.00 pm, 4.30 pm, 5.00 pm

On Thursday 17 December 2020, some kind Year 7 students delivered 100 Christmas cards made by Year 4 students for the residents and staff of Governor Phillip Nursing Home. Louis Stoodley, Jeremiah De Martin, Faith Martinez and Megan Garratt worked together to pump up 100 balloons to bring some much needed Christmas cheer to every resident and hard-working staff member. The cards and balloons were presented at the entrance due to current visitor restrictions.

For the past seven years, Year 4 students have loved visiting Governor Philip Nursing Home during Term 4 to sing Christmas carols and present gifts made by Junior Missions at PCS. Even though we couldn’t see the residents face to face this time, we wanted them to know that they are still loved and valued by our Penrith Christian School community. Only four students had the opportunity to go this year but they well represented the heart of our school.

See below for photos of our Year 7 students delivering the cards and balloons, as well as the beautiful card artwork created by our Year 4 students.

STOP PRESS!! We have some amazing news to end the school year. Our two F1 in Schools teams have been competing in the State Finals, and we are very pleased to announce the following results released today:

CADET CLASS

2nd Place NSW Final – Adrenaline  – Penrith Christian School

In Week 7, students from Years 7 to 10 performed experiments with dry ice.

They observed the sublimation (moving straight from a solid to a gas, bypassing the liquid stage) of the dry ice and how that can make a chunk skirt around the table with little to no friction.

They saw the acidification of water and the production of carbonic acid (H2CO3) and related it to how excess fossil fuel burning was leading to ocean acidification and the killing of ecosystems like the Great Barrier Reef.

The Accountants Daily 30 under 30 is a prestigious national accounting awards program. Our own Nathan Sloane was nominated in the Management category and on Thursday 3 December was awarded winner.

Last year Nathan was nominated and this year has pulled off a win! This is fantastic recognition of everything Nathan contributes to our School in the areas of management and finance.

Congratulations Nathan!

We have some amazing budding artists in Early Learning. As part of our graduation for the Prep class, they drew and painted a self-portrait and then their friends made comments about why they like that person.

Katrina Baines

Head of Early Learning

In January of this year a small team of Middle School students, parents and teachers had the privilege of going to visit our sister school Divine Junior School Uganda. Our team was joyfully welcomed by Divine Junior School community and it was an absolute delight to meet face to face after partnering with the school since 2017. Our itinerary included visiting and serving at Divine Junior School. Teaching the children bible lessons using the brand new technology we provided. Visiting some homes where the students live and joining a local village church, participating in a local gospel outreach day and much, much more. 

While we were in Uganda, the Divine students enthusiastically attended school daily even though it was school holidays. They each received a ‘Buddy letter’ and a gift provided by PCS students. Divine Junior School students wrote a letter back and these were carried in our luggage safely back to Australia. Finally, during Term 4 our PCS students had the opportunity to write a letter back to a friend in our sister school - Divine Junior School. Students, one grade per week, could choose to give up their lunchtime to write a much needed letter of encouragement to Divine students. These will be posted early next year as all schools have been closed in Uganda from mid-March until the end of this year. Schools were only allowed to open mid-October primarily for students who needed to sit for their final exams. Thank you for your generous support of Divine Junior School through prayers and Missions giving. A huge shout out to many of our amazing Junior School students who wrote a beautiful and encouraging letter to a friend in Uganda. Thank you also to the lovely Mrs Blight who handed out Year 5 and 6 letters and organised for them to write a return letter as well.

Have a blessed and refreshing Christmas and New Year.

The Year 10 Music class studied Australian Music this year. As part of their assessment they had to compose music to accompany an Australian landscape. The level of sophistication in these compositions is incredible. As you listen you will 'hear and feel' the images. Most are instrumental, but some students chose to write lyrics which also represented personal journeys for them. They couldn’t share these wonderful works at a concert so instead they have created an eBook for your enjoyment.

CLICK HERE to view the eBook

It was with great joy that we successfully COVID safely graduated our 2020 Year 12 students on Friday 13 November, with socially distanced parents of Year 12 in the audience. Students were also elated to be able to celebrate with a COVID Safe Graduation Dinner on Monday 23 November.

There were times this year when we thought this would never happen, and we had different plans and dates in place in case it did. In the end, we have been very pleased that our Year 12 students have ended the year with some happy memories in what has been very challenging and changeable times.

See below for photos of some very happy Year 12 graduates.

Last week Year 4 had an awesome celebration day to mark the end of finishing Junior School. Since we were not able to go on camp this year, we decided the next best things was to bring camp to us.

The wonderful team from Wedderburn Christian Campsite came and set up so Year 4 were able to do our camp activities on site. Students got to test their accuracy as they learnt the skills of archery and played archery golf. They also cooled off from the heat during a battle of water skirmish with giant inflatable barriers to hide behind. The last activity was all about team building skills where students had to think on their feet and work together in order to complete the challenges.

Although it was hot, the students coped really well and enjoyed fun activities with their friends.

For their first Physics assessment task, Year 12 Physics students were asked to do a depth study on Induction. They were required to build a device that used the principles of induction, devise a way of testing it, then write a scientific report.

Brock Stinson and Adam Hillany made motors and used creative ways of testing the torque they produced. Imogen Rogers tested a variety of variables that impacted the formation of eddy currents; she related her findings to MRI machines. Ben Armstrong investigated how eddy currents are formed and used in amusement park rides, and Hayden Barton researched and performed experiments that explored how the brightness of LEDs can be affected by induction.

Well done Year 12 Physics students!