Prescott Primary Northern eNewsletter

The Colour of Change

Autumn is a time when the wind blows, and the leaves fall. It is a feast for the senses for children as they play. The autumn colours of red, orange, yellow and green represent a time of change. A transition from one season to the next. At Prescott Primary Northern, we value time of change. It is a time to reflect, nurture new growth, support and take on new opportunities. As your child grows and changes, they learn many skills and gain new knowledge. At Prescott Primary Northern, they gain this through learning experiences that are rich in opportunities to develop their sense of connection with nature, exploring relationships with their peers in fun and interactive settings, through inquisitive investigation and explicit teaching. Students could use their inquisitive nature to explore Autumn this week with harvested autumn produce, colourful leaves, change of the season natural resources and autumn coloured playdough.

This week, I encourage you to let things go just as trees let their leaves go and embrace change as an opportunity. How beautiful the leaves are as they grow old. How full of colour and light they are. As you dance through the leaves with your child this week find contentment in the small things and embrace each day as they grow and change.

Have you ever been excited or anticipated the growth of something you may have planted? Taking the time to plant the seeds in good soil, water and nurture it, in the hope that it would spout into something beautiful? Unfortunately, I cannot speak from experience in growing a thriving garden at home, as I excel in growing weeds and my lawn, but not much else. I have a great appreciation of people who are able to grow a successful, thriving garden. I am currently in awe of our veggie garden in our Nature Play. Many of our classes planted vegetables last term and they are thriving! We also had quite a few of our Foundation students and their parents take part in planting within the veggie garden at their special "Come Play With Me" event last term. It has been wonderful to witness the joy on the faces of the students who have seen their seeds sprout and who have been able to harvest the garden and take home giant bunches of spinach and bok choy.

Celebrating growth is important in our lives. This is something we are doing in a practical way this week at Prescott Primary Northern. Our teachers have been meeting with our parents for Parent Teacher Interviews this week, and it has been great to see and hear about the conversations that have been shared. Many of these conversations have centred around the growth that we have witnessed in our students so far this year. And what a joy it is to celebrate progress, not only with our students, but with our parents as well.

Success will look very different for every child and it is important to celebrate the progress and success, however big or small it may seem. Like planting a garden, growth can also happen at different rates. Sometimes we see rapid, big wins, other times we see steady small wins. This reminds me of a quote: "Success is a series of small wins" - Jaime Tardy. As you meet with your child's teacher this week and throughout the year, let's celebrate the growth, the small wins and the big wins together.

Blessings,

Tamara

Sensation Beach Adventure

We passed lizards, emus and even a giant dead whale on our recent drive to Sensation Beach through Coffin Bay National Park.

The sun was rapidly dropping towards the horizon but we had invested so much time into this drive already, we were not about to turn back now.

The final leg of our drive was a huge sand dune that seemed to rise out of the road. There was some evidence from tyre tracks that it was passable, so we accepted the challenge. I let the tires down in pressure, put the car in low range four-wheel drive and kept up the momentum. We made it to the top and stopped proudly briefly savouring the glow of our achievement.

All we could see was sand for miles and a distant view of the water at Sensation Beach. I was compelled to push on. We followed the direction markers across the long stretch of dunes and down the final steep dune to the beach. The ocean looked amazing. We decided to drive along the sand and find a good spot to stop for a quick fish and a play before it got dark.

As we began heading up the beach, I suddenly felt the car begin to labour and sink into the sand. There were pockets of water that we couldn’t see under the top dry sand. I was sure we were going to bog!

There were no other cars around, the sun was setting, the tide was rising and there was no phone reception. If the car was to bog down in the sand now, there was probably little hope of us digging it out before the tide rose and swallowed the car.

I started praying and kept praying! I watched for an opportunity to turn the car around and get back to the safety of higher, less boggy ground.

Momentum is king when driving in the sand, so I tried to keep up a steady momentum as I retraced our steps back the way we had come.

Even though I could feel the car labouring, I kept my foot down on the accelerator and continued moving forward. We finally got back to the track that would take us off the beach. We thanked God for His protection.

It reminded me of the Footprints poem where we only see one set of footprints in the sand during difficult times in our lives because that is when God carries us. God certainly did carry our car along Sensation Beach that day. He is always with us in every situation, and wherever we go.

*Next Connect 4 Event – Saturday 15^th May, 5.45pm – 7.30pm.

Family games night and free dinner in the hall next to PPN. A link to the booking form will be sent out shortly. Look forward to seeing you there. (numbers limited)

Chaplain Phil

Farewell Miss Fouche

We would like to thank Miss Fouche for the wonderful contribution she has made to our Prescott community since joining us in 2017. Miss Fouche will be leaving Prescott at the end of this week and relocating to New Zealand to be close to family. Thank you, Miss Fouche, for your gentle and calm manner and for the care you have shown, not only to the students, but also to the staff. We wish you all the best.

2021 School Improvement Survey

Last week, our parents received an invitation to participate in Adventist Schools Australia’s Parent Survey. Every parent was given a printed letter with a unique access code so that opinions will be 100% anonymous. Parents' views assist us to provide a more accurate, reliable, and equitable picture than is obtained using only staff and student measures. We would like to encourage you to participate in this survey, as the more data gathered, the more this will assist us in providing the best possible educational experiences for our students.

We have extended the time that this survey will be available to complete. The survey will be ‘live’ through to close of business on Friday 14th of May.

Mother's Day Stall

Full Winter Uniform Required

From Week 3 onwards, full winter uniform is required.

The new Sport Uniform is compulsory for all students from the beginning of Term 2. Also a reminder that blazers are compulsory for all Year 5 and 6 students.