Interschool Chess tournament

Year 5 Exploring Adelaide Zoo

Each class was encouraged to meet with seven different specific species on their tour of the Zoo, with a particular focus on how these creatures adapt to survive in their environment. It was wonderful seeing the student’s faces as they met with the wonderful, weird and wacky living world. 

A HUGE thank you to our Bus Drivers and to Mrs Lomax, we could not have done the excursion without you!  

Yr 2 Visit Tea Tree Gully Museum

Last week, Year 2 Students consolidated their History - Technology and Change unit by visiting the amazing Tea Tree Gully Museum.

Student were grateful for the opportunity to be taken back in time by the Museum and its volunteers.

Coordinating an excursion requires the assistance of several people willing to assist. So, the Year 2 Teachers would like to thank the Museum volunteers, the parents and staff helpers that came to help on the day; They are: Lynne Elvin, Mihail Marica, Griseldi Sanchez, Lauren Lomax, Lyn McLean, Isaac Sharath, Lianne Zilm, Deepshihka Mittal, and Stephen Tabe.

Of course, we’re grateful for God’s many blessings and for the gift of some lovely weather during these excursions (2A-Monday, 2B/2C-Thursday).

Ms Ruth Acuna Castro

Foundation Visit Morialta Nature Playground

Last Friday, the Foundation classes went to Morialta Nature Playground as part of our Health studies. We enjoyed climbing, exploring and engaging in imaginary play. Our highlight of the day was playing in the creek.

Life Education Van

Over the past 10 days, the students at PPN have been involved in some excellent programs provided by the Life Education Van. The topics covered include: Making good friends and connecting with others through positive relationships and making wise decisions regarding medicines and drugs. Students also learned about cyber safety and how to respect themselves and others. This is what the Program's facilitator had to say about PPN, "You have a beautiful school and a great cohort of students. All students appeared to be actively engaged during the sessions and asked appropriate questions to further their knowledge and understanding. I feel they really enjoyed and benefited from their time in the Life Education van."

I wish to share with you some of the positive feedback we received in our surveys from your amazing teachers:

"The children thoroughly enjoyed their time in the van. Thank you! "
"My Foundation class thoroughly enjoyed their time in the Life Ed van. The hands-on learning, multi-media approach, and use of props and puppets kept them engaged."

Boxes, Boxes and More Boxes!!!

Give a child an empty box and the play options are endless! It gives the child an opportunity to imagine …. To dream…. What can a box become? How can I use this to create? How can I use this to have fun?

Students at Prescott Primary Northern engaged in collaborative play where they problem solved and created endless play opportunities with boxes. Shoulder to shoulder they built and constructed. From towers to kitchens and even forts, the students passionately pieced together their structures. While other students walked around pretending to be robots. Yet others hid inside, ready to jump out to surprise a passerby. The most fun was had by boys pretending they were driving cars. They drove the boxes up hill and down, round and round.  The laughter and joy of this boisterous play were revelled in by one and all.

I think I am going to over-share in this week’s Principal’s Remarks. (Probably not the best start to this section either) I would like to tell you about one of the things I struggle most with in life, as an educator, as a leader, as a husband, as a dad, as a grandad, as a friend, well, as a person really. Here it is, “I am really harsh on myself when I don’t meet the expectations or level of performance that I think I should.” I was recently reading some literature in the area and the author asked a question that really hit home to me. “Do you ever say harsh things to yourself that you would never say to anyone else?” I had to honestly answer, “yes”.

As a high school teacher, I made an agreement with myself that whenever I heard a student putting themselves down, I would stop them. I developed a saying that went something like this. “There will be enough people and advertising in this world that will say negative things about you and put you down in life, you don’t need to be a part of that.”  So here is my dilemma. Why do I see it as so important for other people to be kind and compassionate to themselves, but yet I am so quick to come down hard, even extremely harsh, on myself? Perhaps I am the only one who struggles with this, but I am pretty sure I have plenty of company with this one. I looked around a bit and found an article that comes at this challenge from a parenting perspective and I share it with you in the hope that you find some inspiration and practical suggestions for some self-kindness and self-compassion in your parenting life.

“This has been a tough parenting year. On a personal level it’s been challenging, but when you add the extra difficulty of helping children and young people navigate this year, you’d be forgiven for feeling like you’ve had enough.

It’s timely to look at US-based academic Dr. Brene’ Brown’s research that informed her book The Gift of Imperfect Parenting. Brown’s core finding was that the best parenting strategies rely on modelling for them to be adopted by children. That’s a little scary as it means we need to be the adults that we want to our kids to become.

There is great power in kids watching us practise how we manage hardships, frustrations and difficulties. Whether we use self-kindness or self-put downs, either will leave an impression on our kids. Not only do they see how we react when we stumble or make mistakes, but we give them permission to act in the same ways.

It’s hard to be self-kind

If you’re a goal-oriented type of person, highly-judgemental or someone who likes to get things done, then self-kindness can be difficult to befriend. It goes against the grain to laugh at your mistakes or miss a deadline, even though it won’t be the end of the world as you know it. If you recognise this type of rigid approach then it may be time let go of some old ways. Inflexibility is the enemy of healthy wellbeing, which thrives on adaptability and self-forgiveness.

Let them hear the process

Giving a child or young person insight into your thinking is a powerful parenting strategy. Sharing your struggles and mess ups with kids in age-appropriate ways takes vulnerability and promotes empathy. It takes courage to share a comment such as, “I keep putting myself down, which is not helpful. I’ve got to talk to myself as if I’m talking to someone I love.” Disclosing this type of self-talk is only useful if it’s done in a safe, matter of fact way and a child is comfortable with the message.

Self-kindness means acting compassionately toward yourself when you are struggling to meet your own expectations, meeting with unexpected difficulties and/or met with failure. It’s time to drop the stiff upper lip, put aside the strict schedule and stop berating yourself. Instead say to yourself, “This is really tough right now. How can I take some comfort and look after myself?” This is a message worth modelling particularly, if you are living with a perfectionist or a child with tendencies toward anxiety.” (Grose, 2021)

Have a great couple of weeks with your kids, enjoy some downtime, and be kind to yourselves.

Mark B

A Heart to Give

Do you give with all your mite?

The Gospels of Mark and Luke both relay an incident involving a widow’s gift to God. She didn’t give much – just two mites (coins) – or did she?

One day, Jesus was sitting with His disciples near the temple treasury watching people dropping money into the treasury boxes.  The rich were contributing large sums of money, making sure that their offerings were being noticed by those around them.  Silently through the throng of people, a widow approached the treasury box and deposited two small copper coins.  

These were the smallest denomination of coins. The widow put her coins into the box, and Jesus called His disciples to Him and pointed out her action: “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything – all she had to live on”(Luke 21:1–4).

Often people like to be noticed for the big things, the fancy cars, the elaborate houses or the newest technology, but Jesus sees the heart.  In the story of the widow, Jesus saw what no one else did: He saw the humble gift of a poor widow. This was the gift that Jesus thought worthy of comment; this was the gift that the disciples needed to be aware of. The other gifts in the treasury that day made a lot of noise as they jingled into the boxes, but the widow’s mites were heard in Heaven.  Hers was a true sacrifice.

God doesn’t look on the outside but rather at the heart.  The widow’s giving was judged by others as unwise or too paltry to count, but God saw that she was really putting her trust in Him and giving Him her life. God welcomes giving that comes from deep sacrifice, not gifts that are simply the leftovers of abundance. 

The widow gave without hesitation and this story was a great segway to demonstrate that God was about to do the same. God was about to give all of humanity a supreme gift that came with great sacrifice – The life of His only Son.

Chaplain Phil

Announcement from the Davis Family

Congratulations

Congratulations to Param Patel for his mental arithmetic ability! He achieved 3rd place for a State Level Competition over the weekend. He was only 1 sum behind 2nd place. 

Food Policy 2021

Prescott Primary Northern is dedicated to promoting a healthy lifestyle and one way we can do that is by sharing some highlights of our Food Policy for 2021. Please take a few minutes to read through the policy below:

Peanuts and nuts at school: No peanuts are to be bought onto the campus, as we have anaphylactic students who may have a reaction if exposed to this.

Birthday celebrations at school:

-Parents are encouraged to keep it simple and healthy (e.g. dried fruit) and if something is bought in to share, that it is easily divided up, rather than being cut up and commercial package to indicate COVID safe preparation. For example, muffins or cupcakes as opposed to an uncut cake.

-Lolly bags are discouraged and may be sent back home. Sugar is a trigger for some children and we would like to minimise that.

We thank you for your support of the school and trust you can help us in these COVID times.

Please be considerate of those families who work hard to limit the sugar intake of their children.

Canteen

What a fantastic term we have had in the PPN Kitchen, it is such a pleasure to be making healthy and nutritious food for your children! I'd like to say a HUGE THANKYOU for all your support so far this year.

I am writing to you all to ask that you please not send your child to school with any food that requires boiling water (noodle cups etc) or food that needs to be reheated, for safety reasons we are unable to reheat any food that comes from home in the canteen.

I would also like to ask that if you plan on ordering any food for your child on the last day of term, could you please do so BEFORE Thursday the 23rd of September. We had almost half the school order lunches on the last day of term 2 and we need to be as prepared as possible, Flexischools orders are preferred. For this day only there will be no Pizzas available to order. Everything else on the menu will remain the same. 

Again, thank you for all your support, it is a privilege to serve you all. I wish you all a blessed and safe School Holidays!

With Gratitude
Margarita
Canteen Manager

School Fees 2022

Class Placement Considerations

We are currently working on class placements for 2022. There are many factors that go into making decisions about class placements and we use a program to try to balance the many competing demands. We are unable to guarantee requests will be granted, but if there is some extenuating circumstance you would like considered for your child, please email Mark Borresen (markborresen@ppn.sa.edu).

Uniform Shop 

Uniform Shop is open again!!

Fittings for Summer Uniform will be the first TWO weeks of Term 4:
Monday to Thursday, 3pm to 4.40pm.

By Appointment ONLY.  Contact Front Office 8396 2577
Alternatively, you can order online for the items to be delivered to your child’s classroom.

Entertainment Membership

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

Daily Health Check

Adelaide North-East Metro Athletics Day

Prescott College

Ingle Farm Little Athletics

Valley View Tennis