Year 6 Prescott College Visits

The Year 6s have started their adventures to Prescott College to experience a day in the life of a high school student. We will be visiting Prescott College over 9 weeks, experiencing the subjects Science, Home Economics and Design Tech.  Our first visit was a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed their experience. For any information about enrolling your child at Prescott College, please call 08 8269 1655 or email info@prescottcollege.sa.edu.au.

Harmony Week

PPN have been celebrating Harmony Week in style this week! We started the week with Darius’ Poppy, Mr Allen, playing his Yidaki in Assembly for us. We enjoyed a whole school picnic lunch on the back oval on Monday to celebrate our unity in harmony. The focus today has been taking a stand against bullying with Bullying. No Way! day activities. On Friday, we get to dress up in our cultural heritage or wear orange with our PE uniform. Let’s celebrate harmony through Cultural Diversity. It is our diversity that gives us strength and our harmony that gives us unity!

Port Adelaide Enfield Council Mayor Visits Yr 6 Classes

On Tuesday, the Mayor of the Port Adelaide Enfield Council, The Honourable Claire Boan, visited the Year 6 classes to talk to them about being involved in local government. She shared her journey from being a Primary School teacher who wanted to do more for the community that her students were a part of to being the leader of one of Adelaide's largest councils. It was a valuable experience that encouraged us all that we can always make a difference.

Planting A Seed Of Hope

To plant a seed is to plant hope for the future. A hope for growth, vigour and the harvesting of good food that will nourish you and your family. Throughout Term 1, we have been planting vegetables in our garden at Prescott Primary Northern. Learning these vital life skills will help students as they grow to become more independent. It also gives them knowledge for the future and reduces stress and anxiety in a changing world.

“For kids, connecting with nature and learning to grow their own food is sowing a seed for their future health, wellbeing and happiness, and the future health of the planet.” (Nature Play SA, Family, nature and Covid-19, Pg 46) Why not have a go at growing some vegetables in your patch this week?

This week is Harmony Week and Bullying. No Way! celebrations at Prescott Primary Northern. One of the things I really appreciate about our school community is its diversity. We have families from countries all over the globe, and we all work very hard to make sure we build a community of understanding and harmony. Today as I went for a walk around school, I was reminded again of our incredible diversity and what a blessing it is to be a part of a community that respects one another regardless of differences. This does not mean we will always agree with each other, but it does mean we care for each other, in spite of our differences.  It is also Bullying. No Way! celebration and I thought I would share an article that you might find helpful around children and their use of technology. I firmly believe that we have done many of our children a disservice by giving them incredibly powerful device with video and internet capabilities, without some of the boundaries and restrictions they need as they grow and mature and learn how to use their phones responsibly. Over the past few weeks, we have been working with some students around how to make good decisions around how they use technology and the freedom and opportunities that it provides. You will have seen some extra articles in our newsletters around resources available to you and your family to help you work with your children. Below is an article you might find helpful in beginning the journey.

“Parents need to establish digital boundaries and be the pilot (for primary children) and co-pilot (for adolescents) of the digital plane.

Many parents establish screen time limits for their ‘screenagers’ (i.e. their children and teens) by stipulating how much time they can spend plugged in. Focusing solely on time is not the only digital boundary to consider. It’s best to expand our dialogue beyond screen time as the only metric that’s used to assess young people’s digital behaviours.

We also need to create boundaries around:

The screens kids use

The most critical boundary parents need to establish with their children and teens relates to what they’re doing online. Have conversations about the apps, platforms, games, videos, TV shows and media they consume and create. Visit the eSafety Commissioner’s or Common Sense Media’s websites to help you understand the various platforms and tools, so you’re better prepared to know the risks and lessen some of the potential pitfalls.

The time of day

Establish what technology can be used at different times of the day. Ideally, devices would be switched off at least sixty minutes before bedtime as the blue light can delay the onset of sleep and reduce the quality of their sleep. Minimise exposure to rapid-fire, fast-paced screen action before school as this can hyper-arouse the brain and make it challenging to pay attention in class.

Technology zones

As a family, determine the ‘no-go tech zones’ in your house such as bedrooms, bathrooms, meal areas and play areas. Encourage them to use technology in publicly accessible, high-traffic areas of the home such as the kitchen, dining or lounge area. A young person is very unlikely to be sending nudes whilst sitting on the lounge or kitchen bench!

The people they interact with

Talk to your child or teen about who they’re interacting with online and reassure them that if there’s a problem online, they need to come and talk to you, as the pilot or co-pilot of the digital plane and avoid withdrawing screen time as a punishment.

Setting and enforcing firm digital boundaries with children young people is vital if we want them to cultivate healthy digital behaviours. These skills are critical if the screen generation is to thrive in the digital world.” (Goodwin, 2021)

Have a great week with your kids,

Mark B

NCCD Fact Sheet

Enrolment for My OSHC

Each student must be enrolled with OSHC as part of the enrolment agreement with PPN and this needs to be renewed every year.  Please see below brochure for enrolment details.

Personal and Social Progress Reports - Term 1

Our Term 1 Reports will look slightly different this year. Our families will still receive a report in Week 9 of this term for their student, but the focus of this report will be personal and social progress. Our staff will use these reports to communicate with parents how their child is settling into their new school year. You will receive a message from the school in Week 9 when these are available on SEQTA.

Parent Teacher Interviews 2021

In the past, our Parent Teacher Interviews have run at the end of Term 2 once Mid Year Reports have been sent home. This year, we are bringing this interview process forward to the beginning of Term 2. Our teachers would love the opportunity to connect with our families to discuss their child's learning journey so far and work together to establish goals for the remainder of the year. Parent Teacher Interviews will run on Tuesday afternoon, the 4th of May from 4:00pm onwards, and Wednesday half day, the 5th of May, from 1:15pm onwards. This will mean our students will have a half day on the 5th of May, finishing school at 12:45pm. Please plan for this accordingly. Parents will be able to book into these sessions at the beginning of Term 2, following steps that will be emailed out once bookings are available.

SEQTA Engage

Our new PPN families will receive an email by the end of the week to invite you to log into SEQTA Engage. This is the portal that you will be able to read and download your child's reports when they become available. Please keep an eye out for this email and instructions for logging into SEQTA Engage.

Scholastic Book Club

Orders for the current catalogue for the Scholastic Book Club are due this Friday, 19th March.

Do's & Dont's of Dropping Your Kids to School

Uniform Shop

Due to unforeseen circumstances, we have run out of some sizes in the New Sport Uniform. We will notify you as soon as it is available.

Until then, your child is exempt to wear the Old Sport Uniform.

Appointment times are filling fast so please call the Front Office to book your Winter Uniform fitting appointment as soon as possible.

Entertainment Books

Click here to order

Daily Health Check

Overdue Notices

This week, students with overdue books are being provided with an overdue reminder letter. There are already quite a few being returned which is fantastic!

Next week, an email will be sent to the parents of any students who still have overdue books.

Checking Out and Returning Books

At the beginning of the year, all of the classes spent some time talking with the librarians about what the library rules and borrowing process. During these discussions the students were reminded about the importance of checking out and returning their books.

Our library computer system keeps a track of what books each child has borrowed. If books are taken out of the library without being checked out, we do not know where they are and they can easily be lost.

When books are returned they also need to be checked in. This removes the item from the student’s record. There have been several cases of books being returned without being checked in, which causes confusion and impacts on the student’s ability to continue to borrow. An orange tub with the label ‘Library Book Returns’ sits on the library desk for book returns when a staff member is not available.

Scholastic Book Club

Book Club is not organised by the library. Please refer to Scholastic Book Club news in this newsletter for more information.

Beam Camp

Prescott College

OSHC School Holiday Program