PCACS News - No 7 - 2023

It has been wonderful to see so many parents at both Calista and Wellard over these past weeks. The opportunity to hear feedback regarding school activities and teaching and learning has been most insightful. A special mention to all our parents and family members who coach teams after school. Your commitment and generosity makes a huge difference to the life experiences of our students. “It takes a village to raise a child” is as relevant now as when it was first penned. Young people learn so much from significant adults and in this case, they gain more than the skills of the sport. They are learning about generosity, the value of giving time to others, discipline, routine, fair play, dependability and camaraderie. Thank you to all the significant role models in the lives of our students.

Art Gallery Visit

This week I joined our Year 11 and 12 Art students as they visited the Art Gallery of Western Australia to see the Pulse Exhibition and the Hatched Exhibition at PICA. For some, it was their first visit to the art gallery. The spark of creativity and imagination was evident as they considered their own art pieces. Thank you to Mrs Janine Lee and Mr Cam Allen for inspiring these young artists.

Enjoy this week's newsletter and God bless.

Ms Felicity House
PRINCIPAL

Being the Boss!

This Term the Year 7s will commence the $20 Boss programme in TIDES. This is a framework for developing entrepreneurial skills. The School will provide each student with a $20 capital start-up fund and they have to develop a business proposal, manufacture a product, and then advertise and sell their products during a Market Day. Students can go into partnerships to expand their capital raising and increase design and production capacity. At the end of the programme, students repay their capital loan first and then allocate a proportion of their funds to Anglicare and generate a profit for themselves. I hope we have many entrepreneurs in Year 7 who will go on to run successful businesses in their later lives. Private small businesses are the core of any successful market economy – a business mindset is a very valuable skill in the modern world.

Basketball Academy Tour 2024

Next week Year 9 and 10 students in the Basketball Academy will receive details of an exciting basketball tour to Melbourne in late January next year. PCACS will be sending three teams to the Eltham-Dandenong Junior Basketball Tournament. This event is the largest junior basketball event in the Southern Hemisphere and attracts club and school team entries. Expressions of interest and other details will be provided in the letter. The Basketball Academy continues to grow and feedback on the programme being run by Mr Joshua Wallace and Mr Ricky Grace has been fantastic.

The Just War?

This week in Chapel I have been discussing a challenging topic with the students – how do we reconcile the teachings of Jesus to ‘love your enemies’ and ‘to turn the other cheek’ with the need to protect the innocent and not allow freedom and justice to be destroyed by those political leaders and States who perceive the world in terms of raw power. In the service, we watched a video summary of the Ukrainian conflict, and I asked the students to consider the Christian theory of a Just War. This is based on the belief that war is fundamentally bad – it involves the deliberate taking of lives. However, sometimes war may be the lesser of evils when faced with the alternative – the submission to brute force, the loss of freedom, the murdering of innocents and the terrible injustice being wrought on a smaller nation by a larger one. I also discussed with the students the example of Desmond Doss – the American Congressional Medal of Honour recipient who saved the lives of many of his fellow soldiers working as a medic during the Battle of Okinawa in World War II. He refused to touch a rifle because of his strongly held Christian faith but his heroism meant he became the first conscientious objector to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour. His story was popularised in the movie ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ – this very violent film was in many ways also a deeply Christian movie – this was a clear example of faith in action and holding true to your values. As with all Chapels, we spent some time in quiet reflection and I hope many students were able to consider some fundamental questions about human existence and society.

God bless

Mr Steve Wynhorst
HEAD OF SENIOR SCHOOL 

Balcony People in Junior School

The ‘PCACS experience’ for every student is about developing them as a whole person and encouraging them to engage in our school community positively and actively. 

Having a sense of community unites people, which is why we are intentional about fostering a strong sense of belonging and accountability at PCACS. Being part of a community can make us feel as though we are a part of something greater than ourselves. It can give us opportunities to connect with people, achieve our goals, feel safe and secure, and flourish in life.  

I remind the Junior School students to behave like ‘balcony people’ and to seek out ‘balcony people’ in their lives. Balcony people are those in our lives and community who provide encouragement and support. Balcony people notice the good in others and cheer from the ‘balconies of life’ to encourage others to be the best version of themselves. 

Balcony people are encouraging, helpful, giving, considerate, enthusiastic, joyful, quick to forgive, good listeners, diligent, and compassionate. Balcony people make people’s lives better! On the flip side, are basement people who do the opposite. Basement people bring those around them down by being critical, selfish, dishonest, rude, or unkind. 

By highlighting the difference between balcony and basement people, PCACS students have a clear reference on how to behave positively in our community and can gravitate towards balcony people who encourage them from the balconies of life!

This fortnight I encourage our community to be balcony people! I will be talking more about this at the assembly next Wednesday.

Parent Teacher Interviews

On Tuesday 16 May, it was wonderful to host the Kindergarten to Year 1 Parent Teacher Interviews in the Calsita Auditorium. There was a positive sense of community throughout the evening.

On Tuesday 23 May, the Year 2 to Year 6 Parent Teacher Interviews will be held in the Moortang Mia Auditorium. I look forward to seeing the Wellard community come together for the event.

If any parents who missed making an interview time are welcome to contact their child’s teacher to arrange a time on another day.

Cross Country

The Year 2 to 6 Cross Country is coming up on 26 May. I look forward to seeing family and friends attend the event to cheer the students on.

Early Learning Information Evening for Prospective Families 

On Thursday 1 June from 5.30pm to 6.30pm there will be an information session held in the Calista Auditorium for families who are exploring PCACS as an option for their young child’s schooling. The evening will focus on what PCACS offers at the Calsita campus for Early Learning. Please share this news with those in the local community who may be interested in attending the event to learn more about PCACS. Light refreshments will be provided. Please send your RSVPs to jsadmin@pcacs.wa.edu.au before 29 May 2023.

I wish everyone a wonderful fortnight.

God bless!

Mrs Shirley Steel
HEAD OF JUNIOR SCHOOL

A significant element of our upcoming Founders' Day celebration is the time during the day when Junior School students buddy up with Senior School students for an activity. This year’s activity will involve buddy pairs decorating a prayer jar and writing a collection of prayers together. An example of what these jars may look like can be seen in the image below. 

To assist us in running this activity, and to support our initiatives in being a sustainable school, we’re asking for community support in collecting and donating used jars. Throughout Weeks 5 and 6, we’d appreciate donations of clear, washed glass jars. Pasta sauce jars are ideal; however, any jar that is approximately 10cm – 15cm tall will work. Students are asked to bring these jars in and give them to their Classroom Teacher in Junior School or Tutor Teacher in Senior School.

These jars will be painted in the lead up to Founders' Day and then decorated by our students during their buddy activity. We look forward to the bonds formed during this activity and thank families for their anticipated support with donations in the lead up.

Mr Adam Halliday
HEAD OF OPERATIONS

Families who are wanting their children to use their Smartrider cards for purchases at the School Canteen, need to register their cards through QuickCliq. We have full details on how to activate and register for this service on our School website. Please be aware that if you use your Smartrider card for Transperth or the School Bus service this credit is unable to be used in the Canteen.    

Mr Craig Spence
BUSINESS MANAGER

Please see our menus for what's on offer at the PCACS Cafe.

Here are some photos of what's on offer - are you hungry?

Mrs Sabrina Guppy
CANTEEN MANAGER

Compass Programme: Preparing the Child for the Road, Not the Road for the Child

The Senior School Compass Programme guides the students from the transition to Senior School right through to graduation. The programme is created around the development of the adolescent brain and the social and emotional needs of the students.

This semester the Senior School has participated in the Compass Programme on Wednesday mornings with their tutor teachers as their guide.  The Year 7s have participated in the Peer Support Programme with Year 10 leaders to help ease their transition to Senior School and have started looking at study skills. The Year 8s have had a focus on study skills and now working on Service Learning projects. The Year 9s have started The Rite Journey programme with a focus on self and healthy relationships. The Year 10s have developed their leadership skills through the Peer Support programme and are now completing the Keys 4 Life programme to prepare them for driving. The Year 11s have focused on social media use, linking to the Paul Litherland incursion in Term 1. The Year 12s have completed the Anglicare, It Only Takes One ‘Intimacy, Respect and Sexual Violence’ and are having a variety of presentations from Red Cross, RAC and Sexual Health Quarters preparing them for life beyond school.

A significant part of the Compass programme is the Protective Behaviours curriculum; a personal safety programme that teaches children skills and strategies to identify, respond to and seek assistance in a range of unsafe situations. It focuses on developing skills of empowerment, communication, self-esteem, resilience, social skills and other strategies to prevent abuse, reduce violence and promote safe living. This is taught explicitly and implicitly through the pastoral care programmes as well as Digital Technologies, Health Education and R U OK? Day.

The Protective Behaviours curriculum at PCACS is based on these broad themes:

Positive relationships 

• building confidence in relationships which are positive and caring 
• establishing and maintaining positive relationships
• maintaining an environment of trust and respect and help seeking behaviours

Protective strategies 

• actively teach protective behaviours
• teach and use correct language for body, actions and behaviours
• identify feelings and encourage the expression of concerns
• to explore alternative courses of action and their consequences

Recognising abuse

• developing knowledge and skills, appropriate to age and stage about what constitutes abuse 

Responding to abuse

• taking appropriate action if a student feels unsafe 
• staff understand and comply with the Staff Code of Conduct and Child Safe policies

We believe that healthy relationships are a shared concern of parents, teachers and the community. This is an opportunity for us all to work together to promote positive attitudes and behaviours toward sexuality related issues. Parents are encouraged to continue these conversations at home with their children.

Mrs Rebecca Weddikkara
DIRECTOR OF PASTORAL CARE AND WELLBEING

2023 WA Robotics Playoff and DPIRD Innovation Challenge

Peter Carnley ACS have once again been invited to participate in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) WARP Innovation Challengeevent in August 2023. PCACS entered the inaugural event in 2022 and were outright winners. The trophy is available for viewing in Reception for another week or so before it is returned to DPIRD for this year’s challenge. 

See last year's details:  https://www.agric.wa.gov.au/crops/western-australian-robotics-playoffs#WARPInnovation The Challenge is open to all students from Years 7-12 and teams can be made up of a mixture of students of different ages. The minimum team size is two students but teams of up to eight students are still very manageable. We can enter more than one team.

This form is a call for expression of interest from interested students. Please complete the form if you would like to be considered to join a team. If successful, the finals are held on a weekend at Curtin University - please ensure you will be able to meet the commitments. 

EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST CLOSE JUNE 15 2023.

Mr Kim Flintoff
LEARNING AREA COORDINATOR - TIDES

On Wednesday 10 May, Mrs Katie Frampton organised our Anglicare Ambassadors to attend Hale School for the Advocacy Masterclass.

Mrs Katie Frampton
YEAR 11 COORDINATOR AND SERVICE LEARNING COORDINATOR

Marcrame

During the holidays, Ms Felicity House prepared a macrame hanging basket holder. This last week she came to our class for our double period and taught us how to do our own macrame hanging baskets. The Year 12 Meridian girls got stuck in and made their own.

Meridian Garden

The Meridian Garden has been replanted with loads of herbs for use in the school Kitchen. Often there is a need for mint, parsley, basil, thyme, or coriander so we decided that this year our garden would be the place to grow these herbs for actual use by the school. Mrs Kylie Trent regularly picks what she needs for certain dishes and Michelle from Meridian was delighted to report that she was in a cooking class the other day using basil that she had planted.

As well as these regular herbs we have some more unusual ones, borage with its pretty purple flowers that can be tossed into salads or ice cubes; feverfew whose leaves can be eaten or brewed in a tea to help relieve headaches and lemon grass whose shoots and stems are wonderful in Thai Green salads.

We also planted more cherry tomatoes and peas as they worked well last time. The stones around the entire garden and around some of the beds serve a dual purpose. These stones were painted a few years ago by PCACS students during the RUOK Day activities. They were recently given to me and tossed around the garden. The Meridian girls and I picked them up and made a border around the entire garden as well as around some of the herb beds. We even made our own ‘pots’ out of stones and bricks for the mint and peppermint beds to try to prevent the roots from going everywhere. Past students might recognise the stone that they painted as the colours have remained as bright as the day they were painted. RUOK stones are OK in our garden!

Mrs Melaine Hunt
TEACHER/DUKE OF EDINBURGH COORDINATOR

On Monday 15 May the Pre Primary students had a visit from Kid's Nature Club and their Marvellous Minibeasts! Did you know that stick insects only live for 1.5 years and that not all ladybirds are red?

Mrs Brooke Suckling
PRE PRIMARY TEACHER

Congratulations to Aiden and Emily Saito-Noble, see the full story on FB.