Welcome back to Term 2 of 2023, PPN family. I hope you were able to enjoy some extra family time over the school holiday break. We are looking forward to a busy term here at Prescott Primary Northern and it has started already with playground work and some garden work by our music room now in place. We still have some more playground area to come in the next few weeks to open things up more for our students.

We also have our very special Week of Worship (WOW) happening next week which is always a real highlight for our school. I know our chaplains have been working hard to prepare for a week of praise, worship and fun for our students.

During the School holiday break, 16 brave staff members made their way over to the Philippines to help support the staff and students of a small Adventist school called Estrella Del Norte Adventist Elementary School, in the town of TayTay.

With the support of our Prescott Primary Northern family, we were able to share teaching resources, sporting equipment, some laptops and teaching support. We were overwhelmed by many things in our time there like the serious heat and humidity, the ingenuity of the staff and students in their learning, the lack of resources for teachers and students, and the dedication of the teaching staff to their children.

However, there was one thing that I was particularly overwhelmed by and that was the gratefulness of the teachers, the students and their families for our efforts for them. There weren’t just words of gratitude, there were tears of gratitude. I found it very humbling and moving. I want to thank each member of our school family for contributing to what we were able to share. I would also like to pass the gratitude of the Estrella Del Norte Adventist Elementary School family on to you and I hope you can feel their thankfulness also.

I was also challenged by the gratitude of this school family. I thought I was a reasonably grateful person, but I have a lot to learn about being truly grateful. I also have a lot to learn about appreciating all the blessings I have. There are all sorts of spin-off benefits when we truly recognise, acknowledge and express gratitude for even the simplest blessings we have. I have included a link to a TedEd talk you might like to watch with your children this week and then sit and talk about how grateful we can be. Reflecting and being grateful certainly reframed my perspective over the last couple of weeks.

Click here to watch the TedEd talk now.

Have a great week with our kids,

Mark B