Recently Year 4 Junior School Missions students went to visit Governor Phillip Nursing home. They shared the Gospel message through songs, poems and prayers. We also gave out some beautiful angel, pop-up Christmas cards.

I am so proud of these students’ heart to serve: Evangeline Tevita, Laura Whitehouse, Jessica Todd, Mia Gabin, Sophia Licastro, Lauryn Refalo, Emily Klimek, William Jenkyn, Luke Hale, Clay Blight, Jeremiah De Martin, Ryan McClement, Sienna Teuma, Bethany Sampson, Faith Martinez, Megan Garratt, Eleora Matthews and Annabelle Carbone.

It is more blessed to give than receive. Acts 20:35

Belinda Garratt

Junior Missions Coordinator

I liked how the nursing home residents were really friendly and nice and kind. I felt generous when I was singing songs and giving out cards. It was hard to give up lunchtimes each Thursday because I had to miss some play time, but I liked raising money for Divine Junior School and Vietnam. I also liked spending time with my friends in Junior Missions.

Luke Hale

I really enjoyed going to the nursing home because the people there were really friendly and welcoming. I really liked putting a smile on their faces when we did some songs. I loved giving up my lunchtimes to make the beautiful angel pop-up Christmas cards that we gave to the residents. I loved blessing the residents’ hearts and making them happy. They were generous to us as well by giving us morning tea when we were finished. In the process of being in Junior Missions I have made lots of friends.

Sophia Licastro

At the nursing home, one of the things we did was hand out cards to the elderly. I enjoyed handing out the cards because I liked to see the smiles on their faces and hearing them laugh. I particularly liked reading the cards to them because I know it made them feel loved and happy, especially from the Year 4 students. Most elderly people can’t walk, so we went to the people that could not walk and we gave them their cards.

Annabelle Carbone

At the nursing home, one of the things we did was singing to the residents there. I loved to see them joining in with singing our songs. Particularly, I loved seeing them smile and laugh because they love visits and gifts from children, and that doesn’t happen very often. I could tell from their emotions that they felt loved.

Megan Garratt  

CanTeen sincerely appreciates the time and energy the students from Year 6 (pictured) gave in helping raise money for National Bandanna Day.

Thank you also to those of you who purchased a bandanna or made a donation. This year PCS raised $681!!!! All the funds raised will help fund important programs for young people living with cancer.

Cancer shatters a young person's plans for the future just when life should be full of possibilities. Through CanTeen, they learn to explore and deal with their feelings about cancer, connect with other young people in the same boat and can be provided with specialist, youth-specific, treatment teams.

Work is continuing on the M4 Smart Motorway project, please see information below with regards to traffic changes.

Speed reduction on the M4 Motorway

The speed limit on the M4 Motorway between Mamre Road and Reservior Road will be reduced during construction. Please refer below for change dates:

Between M7 Interchange - Archbold Road Westbound from Saturday 2 December will be reduced to 80 km/h, 24 hours 7 days a week

Here's a sneak peek at some radio messages coming up soon on Hope 103.2. Our School Captains, Sarah and Callum did a great job and handled the recordings like pros! Callum even reckons PCS is so great he wishes he could come to school on weekends!

The annual Girls Rising event, coordinated by PCS, is a wonderful event encouraging girls to rise up and ensure their voice is heard. The St Marys Star published an article, about Girls Rising 2017, which helps our message extend beyond our school community, and the communities of the many public and private schools that attended, into the broader community.

The Western Weekender also published an article about Girls Rising in  last week's edition.

Congratulations Benjamin Morley - Victor Chang Award Recipient! The Victor Chang Cardiac Research institute School Science Awards have been developed to foster and encourage an interest in Science, and to promote Science as a viable and interesting career path.

Award winners are given the opportunity to spend time at the Institute to learn first-hand about its research activities and interact with young enthusiastic scientists. Benjamin Morley is a very worthy recipient of this Award. He is a hard-working and exceptional Science student who completes all tasks with originality and flair. Congratulations Ben!

Mrs Denise Bailey

During Terms 1 and 2 2018, the Year 8 students will be participating in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Solar Car Challenge, where students will design, construct and then race their own solar cars.

STEM projects are designed to facilitate collaboration and integrated learning experiences between the Science, Technology and Mathematics faculties; providing students with rich learning experiences in developing knowledge and skills, and inspiring engagement in these learning areas.

We are in the process of organising our second Annual PCS Car Show to launch the STEM Solar Car Project on Thursday 22 February, 2017 from 1.00 pm to 2.40 pm.

In Science this term, Kindergarten have been exploring ‘Weather in My World’. There have been many wonderful new-found understandings and discoveries made throughout this topic.

The Kindy children have enjoyed learning about various weather conditions and the impact that it has on them with what they wear and do. In order to support their learning Kindergarten have used various research and learning methods including reading books, watching videos, searching websites, engaging in experiments, recording daily weather conditions, and presenting their own weather reports, just to name a few.

The highlight of this topic was our excursion to the Sydney Observatory where Kindergarten participated in various activities to further develop their knowledge and skills about the weather. We certainly have had an amazing term exploring the science behind the ‘Weather in My World’.

The PCS 'F1 in Schools' team, Eagle Velocity, recently competed at the NSW State Championships, doing themselves and their school proud, despite not gaining a win on the day. But we are very excited to announce that after the results from the Queensland State Championships, Eagle Velocity has been invited as a Wild Card to compete at the National Final Championships!

The Nationals will be held in Launceston from 4 to 9 March 2018.

The team is now aiming for the World Championships in Singapore next year.

Our new and beautiful memorial garden dedicated to the memory of our beloved Deputy Principal, Mrs Christine Elder. 

This garden really was a ‘work of Heart’, designed and constructed by John Richards and the Maintenance team. The artwork was coordinated by our wonderful Visual Arts teacher, Mrs Amal Siorokos. The plaque was lovingly donated by the Hoyle family.  Next time you are visiting, please feel free to take some time in our peaceful garden, just like Sharon and Amanda who enjoyed the first of many lunches in the garden.

Ms Sharon TuftExecutive Manager

It is that time of the year again! The Canteen is winding down our stock levels and ask that parents please order two choices from the menu – including drinks. Common items will be in stock up to the end unless stocks run out late in term. Please note there is a limited stock of Lasagne and Spaghetti twisters left.

Please note that the last day for Canteen is Wednesday 13 December.

Thank you.

Last week a number of students from Years 8, 9 and 10 attended ‘Science Spectacular’ at Sydney University.

The day began with an explosive chemistry show after which students attended two hands-on workshops followed by a talk delivered by the famous scientist, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, on future science careers.

Year 8 attended workshops on ‘How to be a Physicist’ where they explored the wonders of superconductivity and electromagnetism, and ‘Archaeological Science’ where they were given gloves to examine real artefacts from ancient Rome, Greece and Egypt kept in the Nicholson Museum.

In Year 10, students have been broken into teams and are looking at problems young people in our area face. They have to produce a documentary about the problem, and do community service.

The diabetes group visited Westmead Children’s hospital, and were the first group ever to take gifts to the diabetes clinic. This group participated in a fundraising run yesterday (Sunday 26 November) and have already raised over $600 for diabetes research.

The group researching teenage pregnancy have put together 10 beautiful pamper packs for young mums in a local support group, and 35 students visited Hope Street in Woolloomooloo to learn about homelessness and took food with them for Christmas hampers. The domestic violence group are preparing gift bags for two local refuges, and we had a group looking at children’s cancer who took gifts to the oncology ward at Westmead. 

Sponsorship opportunities are now open for 2018. PCS is seeking sponsorship from local businesses and organisations, in order to expand our resources, and add value to the existing educational opportunities we provide. We are proud of our school and are seeking to continue to strive for even greater excellence! Sponsorship is an avenue for PCS to meet these goals as well as form valuable partnerships.

Sponsorship provides exposure for your business, not only to Penrith Christian School families, but also to the extended networks attached to our community (such as churches, sporting teams, friends, extended families, etc.). With a growing positive reputation in our local community, sponsors of Penrith Christian School can be assured that our professionalism reflects your brand and will enhance your business image.

The PCS Sponsorship Pack provides more detailed information about costs and inclusions. In summary, we currently have the following types of sponsorship available to suit all marketing budgets:

Victoria Trevitt of Year 10 represented PCS in the NSW Independent Schools State Championships regatta on Sunday 19 November in the School Girls Year 11, 2km single Scull.

Victoria placed 2nd and received a Silver Medal in competition against a formidable opponent, who stood  at 6’ 3” at 16 years of age (see photo)! Victoria will represent PCS again in the next School Regatta on Saturday 3 March 2018 in the NSW School Girl Head of the River Championships which is the best of GS and Independent Schools held at SIRC. 

Victoria will be competing at the NSW Rowing Championships in February and will hopefully go on to compete at Nationals in March.

On Thursday 16 November 2017, PCS hosted our fourth annual Girls Rising event. Close to 550 Year 10 girls (and teachers) attended from 13 public and private schools across the wider Nepean area - the students were polite, encouraging, attentive, engaged and collaborative.

The aim of the day was to inspire the girls to be BOLD, BRAVE, and BRILLIANT.

We thank our speakers who instilled that message via fantastic presentations: Melinda Tankard Reist, Jessica Fox - Canoe Slalom Athlete, Hayley Allgood (Atmosphere Health & Fitness Club), Jodie Christinat (Louder Seminars), and Tanya Davies MP.

Last week, on Thursday 16th,  we hosted 13 schools and more than 300 young men in our Auditorium for Men of Honour.

The students were impacted by the presentation by Glen Gerreyn which led them to make positive decisions about key areas of their lives. We also had a workshop for teachers on mentoring with Brad Waugh from Panthers on the Prowl.

Thanks to Outback Steakhouse, the boys enjoyed a nutritious lunch. It was great to see the young men of our city enjoying games and a great day together.

Last week we had our very first missions trip to Batemans Bay, visiting Cheryl Burton's church. Six students, and the Woods family, travelled down last Wednesday and returned on Sunday after working with Batemans Bay Baptist Church and a variety of youth groups.

They were a wonderful team and were a great blessing to the church down there. The team also helped with scripture in a local school and participated in the church service. They also had some time for fun at Mogo Zoo. We are very thankful to Mr and Mrs Woods for all their energy in leading the team so well.

Mark GeeDirector of Missions

VALID (Validation of Assessment for Learning and Individual Development) is a state wide test for Year 10 Science students. There are 24,161 students who sat the exam.

PCS Science students have been ranked significantly above state average in all reporting strands: Extended response tasks, knowledge and understanding, planning, designing and conducting experiments, problem solving and communication. Our best result was for the extended response tasks where 20.7% of PCS students scored in the highest level (Level 6) where the state cohort scored 9.6%. Congratulations Year 10!

Mrs Denise BaileyHead of Science

Year 10 Geography went on a field trip to Penrith Lakes last Tuesday 14 November. Students had an opportunity to visit Waterside and various areas around Penrith Lakes to learn how water is managed in these areas, and to gain an appreciation of the natural and man-made resources in our local area.

Mrs Helen VellaGeography Teacher