Our Mother’s Day Stalls are 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 each Preschool to Year 6 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.

KINDERGARTEN TO YEAR 6

Friday 10 May 2019 from 9.00 am

Our traditional Mother’s Day Stall for Kindergarten to Year 6 students

During one of the Bounce Back lessons that I was teaching this term we looked at managing conflict in relationships. This sounds like a pretty grown-up concept to be talking about to young children, yet it’s something that many of them negotiate at some time in the playground with their friends, or during group work in class.

One of the suggestions about what to do was:

Remember that your goal is to remain friends. This thought can put things in a different perspective. It could also alter the way we speak and behave.

Is winning an argument with a friend over a relatively minor thing worth losing a friendship? Our students are going to be together as a Year group for a significant part of their young lives.

PCS is pleased to announce the introduction of a Caddens and Jordan Springs morning private pick up bus service for our school families, commencing Tuesday 30 April 2019.

CLICK HERE to download the new bus application that includes both the AM and PM services - this form will be emailed to all families early next week. It is also available for download via our website. 

Any students wishing to use the AM bus service must fill in the updated application form, giving consent for PCS to transport them to school and return to Sharon Tuft by Friday 12 April 2019 (as she’ll be on long service leave from April 26 until June 4 2019).

Only about 5% of NSW children eat enough vegetables. And the statistics are similar for adults. To help our community do better, our school is participating in Vegetable Week & The Big Vegie Crunch.

To encourage our school families to eat more vegetables we will be sending home hints and tips.

Up the veg at your place by…being a vegie role model!

A couple of weeks ago, PCS's F1  in Schools team, VECTORY (Junior Professional) placed third in the Australian National F1 in Schools Final behind Team Evolve (Trinity Grammar School – Kew) and Team Pentessellate (Mount View High School) - both Senior Professional teams.

This was an amazing result, as Team VECTORY finished in front of seven Senior and eight Junior Professional teams from across Australia. This result elevates the team to being the Number One Junior Professional team in Australia.

We are now VERY pleased to announce that Team VECTORY will now move on to the World Finals to be held in Abu Dhabi later in 2019!

PCS sent 25 students along to the CSSA Secondary State Swimming Carnival which was held at the Sydney International Aquatic Centre in Homebush. Our students all had a great crack in their races and many students swam some personal best times. They interacted well with each other and with students from other schools within Nepean Zone. Many students jumped into relay teams to fill spaces left by students who were not there, which was awesome.

Matthew Galea (Year 12) performed exceptionally well, winning all his races – 50m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly, 50m Breaststroke, 50m Backstroke, 100m Freestyle, 200m Freestyle and 200m Individual Medley and was named 18 Year Boys Age Champion.

Matthew also broke two Records – well done Matt!

The Bebras Challenge is an initiative run by CSIRO with the goal of promoting computational thinking within students. During Week 6, with an impressive cohort of over 50 students from Years 3-6, our students attempted a series of questions which required them to be able to break problems down into smaller parts, recognise patterns, identify the key elements within a data set, simulate processes and evaluate solutions which were then applied to a new situation. In other words, it was quite a challenge.

Shuchi Grover from EdSurge (https://www.edsurge.com/news/2018-02-25-the-5th-c-of-21st-century-skills-try-computational-thinking-not-coding) in regard to computational thinking states:

There is growing recognition in the education systems around the globe that being able to problem-solve computationally—that is, to think logically and algorithmically, and use computational tools for creating artefacts including models and data visualisations—is rapidly becoming a prerequisite competency for all fields.

This our third year of partnering with Divine Junior School, Uganda Africa. Through Junior Missions we have exchanged letters with their students, fundraised through Coins for Missions and now we have an exciting opportunity to go and visit.

This would be a unique Missions trip at PCS in that it is for a parent and child to attend.  This opportunity is open to Middle School students and to Year 4 students (who will be in Middle School in 2020).

PURPOSE:        

On Thursday 4 April at 10 am our 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 4 April, please pack your child a container of vegetables (not fruit this time) for them to crunch on.

Year 9 Science and Year 11 Biology students attended the Body Worlds Vital Anatomical Exhibition featuring real human bodies on Friday 15 March 2019.

The specimens show a unique look at what lies beneath our skin in a way that is engaging, confronting and inspiring. The specimens have been preserved and sculptured using plastination technology for the benefit of learning in the science of anatomy and physiology.

Students explored the exhibition for more than an hour which included displays, interactive activities and human health statistics. It was an eye opening experience for our students after which they all started considering their own health and wellbeing.

We saw lots of colourful socks around the school on Thursday 21 March for our national fundraising event. This fundraiser is to help teach people about Down syndrome but also to raise funds to provide support for families and their children who have Down syndrome.

Many thanks to Early Childhood and Junior School families and students for supporting 'Lots of Socks' National Fundraiser for Down Syndrome NSW. 

We raised $451.35 for Down Syndrome NSW. 

On Thursday 14 March, Year 3 enjoyed creating Grassheads with family and friends in continuation of our learning about living and non-living things. We have been discovering and testing criteria that scientifically makes an object classified as living.

Here is what some students had to say:

Anton: All the parents came and it was very good because they were helping us and making our time more enjoyable.

Scarlett: It was outside and we got to spend time with our parents and have fun!

In the Education Support Department our focus is supporting our students who have additional learning needs including academic, social, emotion and/or behavioural needs.

There are many supportive programs available for the students to attend such as Play Therapy, Occupational Therapy and Speech Therapy to name a few.

As mentioned in a previous article, early intervention is key, so if your child faces difficulties in any area of learning there are many options available to gain extra support outside of school. These supports also inform what we do to assist the students at school.

Only about 5% of NSW children eat enough vegetables. And the statistics are similar for adults. To help our community do better, our school is participating in Vegetable Week & The Big Vegie Crunch.

To encourage our school families to eat more vegetables we will be sending home hints and tips.

Up the veg at your place by…vegging up your snacks!

Our Year 3 and Year 4 Junior Mission students have been busy creating flyers and role plays to help promote our National Missions Fundraiser to Support Down Syndrome NSW, the ‘Lots of Socks’ Fundraiser on Thursday 21 March. 'Lots of Socks’ day helps to teach people about Down syndrome and raise funds to provide support for families and their children.

Students in Junior School and Early Childhood can participate by wearing colourful socks with their school uniform and by bringing a gold coin on Thursday 21 March, 2019.

Please CLICK HERE for more information about this event.

We were very excited to announce our new Middle School Student Leadership team for 2019 in assembly last Wednesday. We are very proud of all of the students who have put up their hand to grow and to serve as leaders this year. They will all be trained and receive opportunities to lead as part of the team.

Our Captains for 2019 are Hannah Kennedy and Ezekiel Barter; and our Vice-Captains are Sam Kennedy and Ella Stoodley.

Congratulations to the new leadership team!

We would like to congratulate Jazmine Alessio, Penrith Christian School Graduating Class of 2018, on being invited to display her Major Textiles Project as part of the 2019 TexStyle Exhibition at the Muse, Ultimo.

Each year, the TexStyle Exhibition presents approximately 40 pieces of work, from students across New South Wales that represent excellence in their Major Textiles Project, to inspire up and coming students in their project work, and to celebrate the students' achievement in the HSC. 

For her Major Textiles Project, Jazmine designed and created a cupcake beauty pageant dress, within the focus area of costume design, of which she is very passionate, having competed in pageants herself.

Prep have turned into would-be entomologists as we have spent time this term studying insects. This project has emerged from the children’s interest in the little creatures found in our environment. This interest has spanned into a large, ongoing project that has allowed us to delve deep into the insect world and apply this topic across a wide range of learning domains, such as Art, Science, Maths, as well as during outdoor play.

We have learnt how to classify insects, identifying that they have three body parts (head, thorax and abdomen) and six legs. We have been able to practise our classifying skills with both model and real insects. We have also been looking up close at these, identifying parts through some microscopes we borrowed from the School Science Department .

We have enjoyed transferring our knowledge through art and have created beautiful artworks that depict what we have learnt about each different insect. Being able to work on our artworks over a span of weeks has allowed us to hone our skills and practise the different techniques we are learning.

My name is Ashleigh Ure. I have had the pleasure of starting at PCS this year, having joined the team in the Mathematics Department. I come to PCS from a local government school, and have previously taught in the Newcastle area.

I’ve always had on my heart to pursue teaching as I believe a teacher can be extremely influential in a young person’s life.  After graduating high school I went straight to university to study teaching and then back to school again to start teaching!

I started my career as a HSIE Teacher, specialising in History and Geography. However, I received the opportunity to teach Mathematics some years ago and I haven’t looked back. While teaching any subject brings me great joy, I am fascinated by God’s consistent but creative nature shining through Mathematics. God can be glorified through learning and teaching Mathematics, and I am ecstatic that I am able to exalt Him as a day job.

Join us on 19 June 2019 for our annual OPEN DAY! We invite friends, family and anyone who would like to see what Penrith Christian School is all about, to come along.

Activities include:

Student Showcase at 10.00 am

Tours from 11.30 am