After a short break BOOK CLUB IS BACK.

The children love Book Club and our school benefits from all purchases made with the Scholastic Book Club.  Leaflets were distributed last week and families can also go online to check out what is on offer this term at https://www.scholastic.com.au/book-club/book-club-parents/.

Please note credit card payments can be made online using the preferred Scholastic LOOP system with full details available via http://parentpayments.scholastic.com.au/. 

There are only a few weeks left before the Premier’s Reading Challenge closes for 2020, so remember to update your child’s reading record online. The Challenge closes at 11.59 pm on August 28 – no late entries accepted (they are very strict!).

PCS already has over 50 students who have completed the Challenge for 2020, and many others who are within reach of finishing.

Some rules have been relaxed for this year in light of Covid-19, including:

People are generally creatures of habit. We tend to follow the same routine for certain aspects of our day. For example, our bed time routine will most likely follow a pattern every night. We might end our evening with a cup of tea, watch a TV show, have a shower and clean our teeth, get into the bed on the same side every night, read our Bible and even lie in the same position to fall asleep.

The same can be said for morning routines for children. For children, a routine for going to bed usually encourages a peaceful night’s sleep. Studies have shown that going to sleep and waking up at approximately the same time each night and day may support positive behaviour.

“School-age kids need 9–12 hours of sleep a night. Bedtime problems can start at this age for a variety of reasons. Homework, sports and after-school activities, screen time (on computers, TVs, smartphones, and other devices), and hectic family schedules all can contribute to kids not getting the sleep they need.

Please be advised, uniform fittings will commence again in August during school term hours. All fittings are by appointment only and bookings are available online by visiting www.ranier.com.au.

OPERATING HOURS:

Tuesday: 7.30 am - 11.30 am

Thursday: 2.00 pm - 6.00 pm

In Term 3, Penrith Creative Academy is proposing to run a Shakespeare Course. We will be looking at Shakespeare's exciting and dramatic play, 'Macbeth'. We will be discussing stage directions, acting skills, voice projection, accents, learning sword fighting, rehearsing scenes from the play and much more!

WHEN: ThursdaysTIME: 3.00 pm - 4.00 pmAGES: 10+

To express your child's interest in this course, please email academy@pcs.nsw.edu.au or call Sally on 0425 369 838

PCS families and students of all ages are invited to our 2020 HSC Music Concert on Thursday 6 August, 2020 at 7.00 pm.

This event is an opportunity to showcase the talents of our Year 12 Music students as they perform two of their HSC pieces in a high level performance setting. PCS has some amazing talent - come along and see for yourself!

PLEASE NOTE: Due to COVID-19 restrictions, only PCS families and students are able to attend, seats are limited and all attendees must be registered, so please book your place ASAP via:

What a fun way to finish the term with Crazy Hat Day on Wednesday 1 July in Junior School. Students and families went all out with their creativity and unique designs - there was even a spaghetti and meatballs hat!

Through our ‘Coins for Missions’ class containers and Crazy Hat gold coin donations, we raised $603 this term. Combining this with $168 earned in Term 1, we have a grand total of $771 for Divine Junior School Uganda. This money will be sent immediately to directly support the teachers who are not properly being paid due to prolonged COVID-19 restrictions in Uganda.

Thank you students and families for your generous support of Missions - every dollar makes a HUGE difference! In fact, $771 in Australian dollars equals $1,987,930 Ugandan Shillings! 

A huge warm welcome to over twenty new students who commenced at PCS on Wednesday 22 July.  We pray you and your families are already feeling a part of our school community we call family.

Given the number of new students this term and the volume of applications already received for 2021, and beyond, existing families are encouraged to lodge sibling applications as a matter of urgency to avoid disappointment.

Please contact Sharon Tuft via email at sharon.tuft@pcs.nsw.edu.au, or on telephone number 02 4737 4300, for further information regarding enrolments.

It is timely at the commencement of a new term, and with new families joining our school community, to reiterate to some and introduce to others, the traffic management procedures for drop off and collection of students.

The importance of these rules cannot be stressed enough to ensure the absolute safety of all children and families at all times, especially at these extremely busy peak periods of car park use in the morning and afternoon. Please ensure all other authorised adults who may drop off or collect your child/ren on your behalf, are aware of the following requirements.

Please Note: Parent/s or Guardians MUST adhere to the Frogmore and Simeon Road 40 km per hour and the car park 10 km per hour speed limits.

The fun continued in Early Learning with our Crazy Hair Day on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 June 2020.

We saw the creativity of parents and children abound when given the scope to create crazy hair. We had unicorns, surfers, spiders, lizards, bug gardens, Minnie Mouse and all the colours of the rainbow. The teachers even got into the fun of the day and created some amazing hair styles for themselves as well. The children had so much fun and many conversations were had around what type of hairstyle they had.

Prep created some amazing artwork around crazy hair and the children showed great control and regulation skills to be able to blow the coloured dye to create the crazy hair style.

In Science this term, Year 4 have studied the unit ‘Beneath our Feet’.  We have been investigating how our world is constantly changing, whilst focusing on the process of weathering and erosion, and how it impacts our environment. The students also investigated the different properties of soil, examined various types of rocks, and discovered how our unique landforms are created over time. We have enjoyed collecting soil and rock samples from our homes, and around the school.

Working in collaborative learning teams, we used our samples to conduct different experiments, observing the changes that occur when they undergo the process of weathering and erosion. We even used a rock tumbling machine to polish rocks.

Below are some student reflections:

With our growing reputation in the community, and the overwhelming success of our Early Learning Centre, our Preschool 5 day (Monday-Friday) and Preschool 3 day (Monday-Wednesday) programs are already fully enrolled for 2021. Limited vacancies are available in our Preschool 2 day (Thu-Fri) and our Preparatory School (2 and 3 day) programs for 2021 and beyond.

Parents wishing to enrol their sibling children into PCS for future years are strongly encouraged to lodge enrolment applications urgently to avoid disappointment as waiting lists are imminent in several year groups.

If you have friends or family members who are considering a Christian education for their child/ren, please encourage them to contact Sharon on 4737 4306. Enrolment interviews for 2021 and 2022 will be conducted from the commencement of Term 3.

During Term 1, Year 10 music students were learning about Theme and Variations, a form of music where the composer or performer experiments with a musical idea and varies it. Little did we know when we started that the students would be in isolation to finish their performances and compositions.

This creative group made the most of their time at home and finished their tasks:

compose a theme and vary it

perform a simple piece and play it in different styles

In Term 2 at Prep, we have been looking at Classic Tales as part of our Literacy program. We have enjoyed stories such as Jack and the Beanstalk, The Gingerbread Man, Little Red Hen and Little Red Riding Hood. As we have explored these texts through books, media and art, we have learnt how to identify three different elements of a story – the characters, the setting and the plot. We look at different versions of the same story to help us identify how characters are portrayed and whether the plot changes at all. We learnt how to describe characters and identify the main character in a story.

To demonstrate our understanding, we engaged in a term-long project creating our own dioramas that comprised of a setting, characters and a plot storyline. The dioramas are as individual as each child – stories set at the beach, city, far away fantasy land, forest and many more. Characters were created and their stories written as their imagination created adventures for their characters.

Engaging in a project over a period of time allowed children to return to their work on a daily basis, learning how to reflect and evaluate their own work, as well as seeing feedback from their teachers and peers. For many students, it was their first time at a long-term project and they absolutely excelled.

Last week at Early Learning, we had a Superhero Day where we all got dressed up as Superheroes for the day.  Mrs Gorman showed us how to make yummy chicken soup to keep us warm through the day. Enjoy the video!!!

To celebrate the end of term and help support our sister school in Uganda, Divine Junior School, our Junior School is having a Crazy Hat Day on Wednesday 1 July 2020 (Week 10).

Junior School students are welcome to come to school wearing a colourful, crazy hat or cap, on the day and are encouraged to bring a gold coin to support Divine Junior School.

Thank you to Year 3 and Year 4 Junior Missions students for giving up your lunchtime to make flyers and organise short role plays to help advertise our Crazy Hat day on July 1.

We are excited to announce that Penrith Creative Academy will be returning to on-site classes in Week 8 of Term 2!

It’s not too late to register your interest as vacancies exist in dance, guitar, singing, piano, drums and violin. Individual and group class options are available too. There are also a few vacancies available in our Little Music Lovers class (music appreciation for ages 2 to 5 years).

For more information, please email academy@pcs.nsw.edu.au or call Sally on 0425 369 838.

Our PCS Business Directory is live! In support of our School community, we have compiled a directory of businesses owned by PCS families. We would like to provide opportunities for those businesses to be patronised by our community, as we know how important it is to support local business. CLICK HERE TO VIEW PCS Business Directory

If you are a PCS family who owns a business and would like to be added to the PCS Business Directory, please CLICK HERE TO EMAIL. This Directory will not be used for any purposes beyond potential (free) promotion opportunities and details will not be shared with any third parties.

Early Learning decided to celebrate the season we find ourselves in by having some fun Superhero Dress Up Days on Wednesday 10 June and Thursday 11 June.

Not being able to organise incursions in to our Centre does not stop the fun to be had in ELC. All of the children were so excited to show off their costumes and favourite super powers. There were many conversations about what super power was the best and who was the greatest superhero. With these conversations we were able to direct the children to the greatest superhero of all, Jesus.

The children enjoyed sharing all aspects of the day together and had so much fun interacting as their super alter ego for the day. We are looking forward to some more special events coming soon

Year 2 was very excited to return to school on Monday 25 May and into our brand new classrooms. All Year 2 classes are now located on the top floor of the new Junior School Block, with the three classes located close together. The students are really enjoying the new facilities and especially the beautiful views from the top floor!

Learning during the last term has been both online, at home, and now in our new classrooms for two weeks. The students were very keen to see their friends again and many friendships were renewed through play and learning in class.

We have been learning about writing narratives (stories) this term, generating interesting ideas, learning about adjectives and how to develop characters, as well as writing unusual or unique plots. We have really enjoyed sharing our stories together.