In Focus No 5 - 2019 - March

Week 8

This year is the 20^th Anniversary of Harmony Day, so it seems appropriate that the whole School celebrated Harmony Day this year. In recognition of the importance of multiculturalism to the life of Australians, the event is now celebrated over an entire week. Harmony Week is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background. Our PCACS community is a fine representation of these values with our families coming from many nations with diverse cultural backgrounds. More stories of Harmony Week celebrations can be found further in this newsletter. Our new Welcome Wall pays tribute to our diversity of culture.

Encouraging young leaders is an important mission in our School. Our 2019 Prefects are a passionate and inspiring group of student leaders who have certainly been making their mark on the School. Crazy Hair Day was a fine example of their determination to make a difference in the lives of others. Our Student Councillors have now been announced in both the Junior School and Senior School and have many good ideas to bring forward as the voice of the students. The House Captains have been busy fulfilling my challenge of finding the right mascot for each of their Houses. Now that both Junior School and Senior School students have cast their votes, we will have the mascot costumes made up ready for the Athletics Carnivals later in the year. I take this opportunity to thank the Prefects for their fine leadership and the example they set for others.

The ACC Swimming Carnival was a fiercely fought showdown seeing our Boys coming home with the Boys Overall Aggregate shield. Congratulations to Jake Crellin for bringing home the trophy for Under 16 Boys Champion. Well done, Jake. The whole team showed admirable team spirit with many setting PBs on the day. Full details of the results can be found later in this newsletter.

A fresh format, energetic DJ, dedicated volunteers and excited kids make for a successful P&F Disco. On Friday 22 March, the Undercover area was transformed into a place of music, dancing and fun. A huge thank you to Clarissa Thomson and the hard working P&F for organising this wonderful event. We look forward to the Roller Disco for the Seniors in the last week of term.

In partnership with Extend, our planning for out of school child care is well advanced with the opening of our Calista and Wellard programmes on May 1. Both parent evenings were well attended and further information can be found on our website.

In this period of Lent, our Senior School students have been exploring the Greatest Stories Ever Told. Under the leadership of Ms Stringer, Senior School Chapel Services have been filled with meaning, symbolism and messages of deep significance. Modelling Christian life in our School comes in many forms and I thank Ms Stringer, Mrs Steel, Mr Griffin and Mrs Farmer for organising and leading Chapel. We encourage all our students to reflect on these messages and consider how they can make a difference in the lives of others.

Ms Felicity House
PRINCIPAL

Junior School in Action!

Junior School continues to run very smoothly.  Classes are in full swing and there is plentiful learning happening in the classrooms.  In addition, there are always many events and opportunities that occur, enhancing each student’s educational experience at PCACS.

Interim Reports

This afternoon the Pre Primary to Year 6 Interim Reports are available on SEQTA for families to access.  Please read the Interim Report as an indication so far of your child’s application and progress at school.  The Semester 1 Report, to be issued at the end of Term 2, will incorporate greater detail.

Evidence of Learning Folders

Each child has an Evidence of Learning Folder which contains work samples demonstrating their personal achievements and growth across the year.  When meeting with your child’s teacher, please ask to view your child’s ELF.  These folders are available for parents and carers to view and discuss at any time.

Student Councillors

The application and selection process for Junior School Student Councillors has become formalised.  

Congratulations to these students for earning a position of responsibility as a Student Councillor! On Wednesday 28 March they were officially recognised at an assembly and were presented with badges and certificates.  We look forward to the contribution of our Student Council to enhance our Junior School.

Year 4 - Layla Nichols, Logan Shepherd, Kur Wutchok

Year 5 - Zayde Kingston, Hannah-Mae Rowse, Lucinda Pepper

Year 6 - Ithica Harris, Alyssa Lucken, Takunda Bere

Harmony Celebrations

Families are thanked for the exceptional thought and consideration that went into preparing the children for the Harmony Dress Up Days at each campus.  It was wonderful to see staff dressed up in traditional costumes too.

Parents and friends are always welcome to share their family cultures, so please offer your expertise to your child’s teacher if you would like to visit the classroom to share information about a country or culture.

'Extend' - Before and After School Care and Vacation Care

Extend Before and After School Care commences at both our campuses on Wednesday 1 May.  Thank you to the families who attended the parent information sessions this week.  Our school website now has a direct link to the Extend website to facilitate the booking process for families.  Look for the red icon of a small child and the word ‘EXTEND’ across the top of our Homepage. 

Year 6 Sleepover

On Thursday 11 April Year 6 students will spend the entire day at Calista and will sleep overnight, to be collected by families the following morning.  Sporting, leadership, community service and campfire activities have been planned to create an exciting sleepover experience for our Year 6 students.  Look out for the information coming home.

As always, I thank families for their support and wish families and students a wonderful fortnight ahead.

Mrs Shirley Steel
HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

As the end of Term 1 is just over the horizon it is important to look back to reflect on some events that have been so joyful at PCACS.  We have enjoyed Crazy Hair Day that raised over $2000 to go towards cancer research.  We also celebrated our diverse and rich cultures that demonstrated our very committed and public statement about our inclusivity with Harmony Day.  The various cultural dress worn by so many students and staff showed our strength as a school that encourages harmonious relationships and acceptance of all people from all nations. 

Lent Liturgy

This week marks the mid-way point of Lent and our focus for our Senior School Liturgy on Thursday was ‘The Greatest Stories Ever Told’.  We walked through three Greatest Stories that captured our imagination and give us a new perspective on life. Perhaps the greatest storyteller in history was Jesus himself. He often took the most profound lessons of life and wrapped them in simple stories everyone could understand. Our ANZAC Day goes beyond the anniversary of the landing on Gallipoli in 1915.  It is the day on which we remember all Australians who served and died in war and operational service past and present.  The Spirit of ANZAC, with its qualities of courage, mateship, and sacrifice, continues to have meaning and relevance for our sense of national identity. Students in our community, as do many of us, continue to keep this legacy alive by exhibiting these qualities each day.

We also caught a glimpse of a courageous nurse, Rose who worked tirelessly to save the lives of those wounded during WWI.

Our liturgy on Thursday continued our lent story of self-discovery, a time to reflect on how we can make a difference especially to the people around us.

Thank you to the students who presented the Story of Jesus, His passion and the significance of this ‘story’ as it offers us all a model for living a Christian life.

https://www.pcacs.wa.edu.au/news/lent-liturgy

Interim Reports

A reminder to parents / carers that Interim Reports will be available on SEQTA from Monday 1 April.   Please take this opportunity to discuss your child’s progress at the Parent, Student and Teacher interviews scheduled as follows:

Years 7- 12 – Tuesday 7 May - 3.30pm – 7.45pm

Years 7 – 12 – Tuesday 14 May – 3.30pm – 7.45pm

We encourage all parents to note these dates in your diary. 

Information outlining the process to make an interview time will be sent to all parents by the end of this term.

ONLINE NAPLAN

Parents / carers will have received a letter with detailed information for the ONLINE NAPLAN for Years 3, 5, 7 and 9.

Please contact Mrs Shirley Steel (Junior School Years 3 and 5) or Ms Jude Stringer (Senior School Years 7 and 9) at the School for further information.

God Bless.

Ms Judith Stringer
HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL

All Secondary Assistance Forms need to be completed and returned to the Finance Office by Friday 5 April 2019. Link HERE

Band Invoices have been emailed out and these are due Friday 5 April 2019.  If you would like to include this charge with your Direct Debit, please contact the Finance Office to arrange this.

finance@pcacs.wa.edu.au

Recently I came across an open letter written by Gretchen Schmelzer.  Gretchen Schmelzer, PhD is a licensed psychologist, trained as a Harvard Medical School Fellow. She is a trauma survivor, who has worked for twenty-five years with the complex issues of trauma, integration and behaviour change across every level of system from individuals, to groups, to large systems and countries.  This letter may be something parents find reassuring or inspiring when faced with challenges from our children.  It captures the words and thoughts our children are often unable to comprehend when they’re engaged in moments of conflict that require the support and strength of their parents.
Mr Halliday - Director of Pastoral Care

Dear Parent

This is the letter that I wish I could write. 

This fight we are in right now. I need it. I need this fight. I can’t tell you this because I don’t have the language for it and it wouldn’t make sense anyway. But I need this fight. Badly. I need to hate you right now and I need you to survive it. I need you to survive my hating you and you hating me. I need this fight even though I hate it too. It doesn’t matter what this fight is even about: curfew, homework, laundry, my messy room, going out, staying in, leaving, not leaving, boyfriend, girlfriend, no friends, bad friends. It doesn’t matter. I need to fight you on it and I need you to fight me back.

I desperately need you to hold the other end of the rope. To hang on tightly while I thrash on the other end - while I find the handholds and footholds in this new world I feel like I am in. I used to know who I was, who you were, who we were. But right now I don’t. Right now I am looking for my edges and I can sometimes only find them when I am pulling on you. When I push everything I used to know to its edge. Then I feel like I exist and for a minute I can breathe. I know you long for the sweeter kid that I was. I know this because I long for that kid too, and some of that longing is what is so painful for me right now.

I need this fight and I need to see that no matter how bad or big my feelings are - they won’t destroy you or me. I need you to love me even at my worst, even when it looks like I don’t love you. I need you to love yourself and me for the both of us right now. I know it sucks to be disliked and labeled the bad guy. I feel the same way on the inside, but I need you to tolerate it and get other grownups to help you. Because I can’t right now. If you want to get all of your grown up friends together and have a ‘surviving-your-teenager-support-group-rage-fest’ that’s fine with me. Or talk about me behind my back - I don’t care. Just don’t give up on me. Don’t give up on this fight. I need it.

This is the fight that will teach me that my shadow is not bigger than my light. This is the fight that will teach me that bad feelings don’t mean the end of a relationship. This is the fight that will teach me how to listen to myself, even when it might disappoint others. 

And this particular fight will end. Like any storm, it will blow over. And I will forget and you will forget. And then it will come back. And I will need you to hang on to the rope again. I will need this over and over for years.

I know there is nothing inherently satisfying in this job for you. I know I will likely never thank you for it or even acknowledge your side of it. In fact I will probably criticize you for all this hard work. It will seem like nothing you do will be enough. And yet, I am relying entirely on your ability to stay in this fight. No matter how much I argue. No matter how much I sulk. No matter how silent I get.

Please hang on to the other end of the rope. And know that you are doing the most important job that anyone could possibly be doing for me right now.

Love, Your Teenager

ACC Interschool Swimming Carnival

Last Wednesday  20 March our Senior School Swimming Squad competed in the ACC ‘F’ Division Swimming Carnival.  We competed against some really strong opposition and we certainly held our own.  Our squad of 50 students performed admirably and had some outstanding results.  We finished in 5^th position at the end of the day, with our boys winning the overall aggregate Boys shield.

Individual standout performances were:

Luke Kermath – Under 13 Boys 2^nd place overall
Jake Crellin – Under 15 Champion Boy
Alicia Allen – Under 15 Girls 2^nd place overall
Zachariah Morrissey – Under 16 boys 2^nd place overall
Britney Parker – Open Girls 3^rd place overall

Thank you to all the parents who came and supported the team as well as the student helpers. Thanks also to Mr Halliday, Mr Radulovic, Mrs Layman and Mrs Clark for their help with the team. 

https://www.pcacs.wa.edu.au/news/acc-swimming-carnival-2019

Year  7, 8 and 9 Lightning Carnival

Each year, all students from Years 7, 8 and 9 will compete in a Lightning Carnival fun sports day.  Students will select a sport to participate in; they will play a series of shortened, modified games against other ACC schools and students of the same age.  Results and scores are not kept and the aim is to have fun in a semi competitive environment.  This is a compulsory event during school hours, where all students will join in and have a fun day out.

Year 7s will have their Lightning Carnival on Monday 6^th May (Week 2, Term 2)

Year 8 and 9s will have their carnivals on Wednesday 8^th May (Week 2, Term 2)

The sports will be played on various sports grounds in the metropolitan area.  Students will receive a note outlining the details next week.  Student’s sports nominations can be viewed on the window outside the science building.

Senior School Cross Country Carnival

The second day back at School next term on Friday 3 May (Week 1 Term 2) will see all senior school (Years 7 to 12) students take part in the annual Interhouse Cross Country race.  Students will be walking and jogging parts of the course during Physical Education classes so they are familiar with the track and are ready for the big day.  The event will run in the morning at 9.00am and finish at approximately 11.00am.  Races will be run in year groups and genders – Year 7, 8, 9, 10, 11/12.  The course will still start and finish on Wellard Oval (approximately 3km), its takes the students around the perimeter of the School as well as up Abingdon Crescent and the footpaths of Wellard Oval.

Students can arrive and leave School in their House sports uniform, but must also wear their School tracksuits. Predominantly white shoes must be worn to and from School; however, if students have specific running shoes they wish to wear which are a different colour then they may wear them for their race only.   All students are encouraged to go for a jog during the school holidays in preparation for the event.  If you are able to assist as a course marshal, please see me on the morning of the event and we will allocate a job for you.

Thanks and best wishes to all students

RKAS Sport

Congratulations to all three teams for competing in the Rockingham – Kwinana Associated Schools (RKAS) sports competition summer season.  All teams performed admirably with great sportsmanship, enthusiasm and endeavour.  A special thanks to our coaches and umpires:

Year 10 -12 Boys Basketball – Coach/umpire: Mrs Ward

Year 10-12 Girls Basketball – Coach: Mr Radulovic

Year 7-9 Boys Super 8s Cricket– Coach: Mrs Barrett, Umpire: Bowen Whitford (Year 12)

We have 2 games remaining in the season, good luck to all students.

All fixtures, results and ladders can be viewed on:  http://www.metisc.com.au/iscor...

The winter season starts next term, I am currently seeking nominations for Year 7 Girls Netball, Year 8/9 Girls Netball and Year 8/9 Boys Basketball.  Information regarding this will be given early next term and Round 1 is in Week 3 Wednesday 15 May.

Mr Roh Weddikkara
LEARNING AREA COORDINATOR - HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Crazy Hair Day

On Friday 15 March, the School held Crazy Hair Day for all students from Kindergarten to Year 12 as part of Leukaemia Foundation’s World’s Greatest Shave.  This was a student-initiated, organised and run event, and I congratulate Aiden Galbraith, Georgia Johnson, Dakota Franz and Blake Newton for all of the hard work and emotion that went in to this day.  At assembly, Aiden bravely spoke about his Pop who died last year from blood cancer, supported by Georgia who has also lost a grandparent to blood cancer.  I admire their courage to share their stories with the School community and thank the student body for supporting these students through their support on the day.  As a school, we raised $2,347.73!  The Early Learning students completed a collaborative artwork.  Year 10 student Zyllah Day sketched a stunning tree on which all EL students placed their fingerprint.  This artwork will be on display in Admin at Calista campus soon and will then be donated to Perth Children’s Hospital.  The Senior students participated in the Amazing Race at lunchtime to find out key facts about blood cancer.

Thank you to everyone for supporting this event; I look forward to this becoming an annual event on the PCACS calendar.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJk7ZQZC78M

Walkabout Cambodia 2019

In just over two weeks, six Year 11 and 12 students and Mr Dewhurst will be flying to Cambodia on a service learning trip.  They will be away for two weeks, sharing their time between Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Singapore.  They will be working in Transform Cambodia centres, helping ex-street children to learn.  Through this experience they will have opportunities to immerse themselves in the culture, history and traditions of Cambodia.  We wish them all the best on their journey and we look forward to the stories they will share with us on their return.

The Commissioning Service for the Walkabout Cambodia pilgrims is being held on Sunday 7 April at 9.30am in the Frederick Irwin Anglican School Chapel.  All are welcome to attend and support the students.

Thank you to the PCACS families who supported this group’s fundraising efforts on the weekend at Bunnings Rockingham.  The group raised $1200 profit to go towards their trip.  Thank you to Sol Browning (mother of Caelen – Year 12) for organising the day.

Walkabout Cambodia 2020

As we farewell one group, we congratulate the following students who have been selected to represent the School in Walkabout Cambodia 2020:

Paige Carroll – Year 10
Anje Malherbe – Year 10
Scott Matthews – Year 10
Alex Riseley – Year 11
Genevieve Rowlands – Year 10

I look forward to sharing their journey with you over the coming twelve months.  Keep your eye out for opportunities to support this group and the community they will be visiting.

Mrs Rebecca Weddikkara
SERVICE LEARNING COORDINATOR

Term 1 Co Curricular

It has been fantastic to see the Junior School students engaged and enjoying their Co Curricular activities this term. PCACS staff deliver a range of fun and interactive programmes to support student learning as well as student’s social, physical and mental wellbeing.

There were a number of activities being run on the Calista and Wellard Campuses this term.

At Calista, students had the opportunity to participate in some new and exciting activities this year such as, Cubby Building, Gardening Club, Lego Engineering and Dance and Movement.

Stevie said, “I like Cubby Building because we work together.” 

At Wellard, students were offered a range of new activities. These included, 100 Club, Jump Rope for Heart, Bebras Challenge and Italian Club.

Term 2 Co Curricular

The nominations for Term 2 activities were sent home this week. A full guide to which activities are available on which days is in the parent letters section of SEQTA. Please note many activities are only available to certain year groups.  

How to Enrol

To enrol your child, you can access the online forms using the below links. Please do this by 3pm on Wednesday 3 April 2019. You will need to do this once for each child.  Please aim to ensure that only one parent / carer has submitted a form, to avoid multiple applications.

Calista - http://bit.ly/2019CALISTAT2
Wellard - http://bit.ly/2019WELLARDT2

Ms Samantha Maddy 
JUNIOR SCHOOL CO CURRICULAR COORDINATOR

Hello Parents & Friends,

Steadily heading towards the end of Term 1 now and I can’t believe we are almost at holidays already!!

We’ve had an exciting term so far with school banking finally commencing with students eagerly handing in their bank books and already collecting prizes.  We are very grateful to the wonderful parents who dedicate their time to allow this program to proceed.

Of course, we also held the ELC and Upper Junior School discos last week, with over 450 students attending across both events, it was a very busy evening indeed!  We used a new entertainer this year from “Bop till you Drop” and were very pleasantly surprised with how wonderfully they performed, keeping all the children engaged throughout the whole night.  It was really great to see so many happy kids and loved seeing all the ELC parents joining in with their kids at the end of their night as well as a teacher led conga line with the Upper Junior students.  We are very much looking forward to hosting this event again next year.  I want to take this opportunity to thank every parent who volunteered on the evening and of course the teachers who volunteered to stay back till 8pm on a Friday as well!!  This is by far our most labour intensive event and we simply could not run it if we didn’t have the help of other parents and teachers.  We very much appreciate the time that you were able to give to enable the students to have such a wonderful evening.

We are now looking forward to finalising the planning of the Senior Roller Disco which is to be held on the last day of term, Thursday 5 April 2019 at Astroskate in Kwinana.  More details will come home next week but this promises to be loads of fun and something really different for the older students.

We are also excited to confirm that we will be holding the Mother’s Day stall again this year with stalls at both campuses during Week 2 of next term.  We have purchased lots of new goodies and will have a great selection of gifts available so every student can spoil mum on Mother’s Day.  Keep your eye out for more information early next term.

Don’t forget if you have any costumes that your child has outgrown, please consider donating them to our P&F costume box which will be made available to students who are unable to provide their own costumes for school celebration days.

Ms Clarissa Thomson
P&F PRESIDENT

In 2W we have been conducting experiments with water this week! Our favourite was called “Rainbow Walking water”. We placed 7 cups in a row and put water and red, blue and yellow food dye in every 2^nd cup. We then rolled up 6 paper towels and bent them across the cups. The next day we returned to school to find that the paper towels had evaporated the coloured water and had mixed to make new colours. We had red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple paper towels.

In another experiment, we changed water temperatures and timed how long an ice cube took to melt. In hot water the ice cube took 38 seconds, and an ice cube alone took 1 hour, 5 minutes and 22 seconds!

We also did experiments called Candy Cane water, Ice Mountain and White Carnation Evaporation.

We questioned Mr Morris about his water use at home and gave him hints on how to save water! We reminded Mr Morris to turn the tap off when he shaves and to have a 4 minute shower!

Ms Larissa Warner
YEAR 2W TEACHER

Ticket for Guys and Dolls Jr are on sale next week!  This is a show not to be missed!

Guys and Dolls Jr is an adaptation of the show considered by many to be the perfect musical comedy. Set in New York City, Guys and Dolls JR. follows gambler, Nathan Detroit (Caelen Browning), as he tries to find the cash to set up the biggest crap game (A game of dice) in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend and nightclub performer, Adelaide (Faith Clowry), laments that they've been engaged for fourteen years without ever getting married. Nathan turns to fellow gambler, Sky Masterson (Kyle Vasquez), for the dough, but Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown (Cassandra Palermo).  Joined by a cast of gamblers, hotbox dancers and missionaries, Guys and Dolls Jr. takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafes of Havana, but everyone eventually ends up right where they belong.

Tickets ($15 adults / $10 children) are onsale from the Koorliny Arts Centre either via the website (http://koorliny.com.au) or in person at the box office.  Tickets will also be sold at school outside the Undercover Area at lunchtime.

For more details, please contact Ms Alicia Walter, Coordinator of Performing Arts.

Alicia Walter
LEARNING AREA COORDINATOR - MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS

In Year 10, Geography students learn about coastal processes and human management of coasts. Giving students an opportunity to translate classroom learning into real world experience, the Year 10s had a day comparing and contrasting local environments. To begin we visited the beautiful natural environments of Penguin Island and Point Peron, in the Shoalwater Marine Reserve.

At Penguin Island we observed coastal erosion processes which have created spectacular landforms, before hearing a talk on the fairy penguins and the importance of preserving Penguin Island in its natural state to ensure their continued survival.  During a morning boat trip, students also had the chance to see sea lions on the protected Seal Island and observed dolphins feeding in the seagrass beds.

The destination for the afternoon was Rockingham Foreshore to examine the current construction phase of the Revitalisation Project. The purpose was to understand how human coastal management techniques affect local environments. Also, to consider how construction over an extended period may impact the biodiversity of Shoalwater Marine Reserve.

The fieldtrip was appreciated by both students and teachers and thanks go to Angela Kavanagh for the organisation of the day and to all the teachers who accompanied the students. Pics can be accessed at the link below.

https://www.pcacs.wa.edu.au/news/year-10-hass-geographical-inquiry-task

What a busy term we have had at Calista for Term 1! Our new Kindergarten students have settled in beautifully and are now actively involved in all Calista activities, their singing at assembly and Chapel is very impressive. It is so lovely to walk around the campus and see all classes highly engaged in their learning activities, both inside and outside the classroom.

Some of our highlights this term have been celebrating Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), Crazy Hair Day and Harmony Day. These days have allowed the students to think about others that are unwell or different to them and reflect on how we all belong together and how we can help others. Another highlight was the School disco; it was fantastic to see the children in their best fairy tale costume dancing up a storm.

I am looking forward to seeing what Term 2 brings for us at Calista.

Mrs Donna Farmer
DIRECTOR OF EARLY LEARNING