SRC Visit the Gorge Wildlife Park

Our dedicated SRC representatives and our diligent School Captains went on a meaningful excursion to the Gorge Wildlife Park last Thursday, 8^th of June. This was not only an opportunity to deliver the generous donations raised during our recent Animal Dress Up Day, but also a chance for our students to gain valuable insights into the importance of environmental conservation and animal care. 

During their time at the Gorge Wildlife Park, our SRC representatives and School Captains were immersed in a world of wonder and education. The staff in the wildlife park warmly welcomed our students, providing them with an educational tour, and imparting their expert knowledge on wildlife preservation. 

Our young leaders had the privilege of interacting with a diverse range of animal species, observing their behaviours, and learning about their unique habitats. The students were amazed by the incredible diversity of wildlife within the wildlife park and were particularly fascinated by its efforts to protect and preserve endangered species. 

The experience proved to be both enlightening and thought-provoking. Our students gained a deep understanding of the impact human activities can have on the environment and the importance of adopting sustainable practices. They discovered how our actions, both big and small, can contribute to the well-being of animals and the preservation of their natural habitats. 

Our SRC representatives and School Captains had the opportunity to present the donations collected from our Animal Dress Up Day. The contributions from our compassionate students will directly support Rainforest Rescue and Gorge Wildlife Park’s conservation efforts, aiding in the care and welfare of the animals in the wild. It was heartwarming to witness the pride and joy our students felt as they handed over the funds, knowing they were making a positive difference. 

This excursion has undoubtedly left an indelible mark on the minds and hearts of our young leaders. We believe that experiences like these are essential in nurturing a sense of responsibility and empathy in our students, shaping them into compassionate and environmentally conscious individuals. 

As a school community, we are incredibly proud of our students' commitment to making a difference. Together, we can continue to instill in them a passion for environmental stewardship and the value of caring for our fellow creatures. 

Thank you for your ongoing support, and let us continue to inspire our young leaders to become advocates for the environment and guardians of our precious wildlife. Well done, Prescott family! 

Year 5 Work is Out of This World

As part of their science unit this term, our Year 5 students have been exploring this place we call home – our solar system. The culmination of this study was the construction of a model demonstrating just how much they had learned.  Below are photos of just a selection of the models coming to school. We are so impressed with their understanding and their effort. Well done, Year 5!

Year 2 STEM Engineers 

In the photos below, you will see not only some of the Year 2 students taking part our STEM Group, but some future civil engineers. The group, with the guidance of Mrs Vice have been exploring the way materials and design can influence the environment – and why what we design needs to respond to the needs around us. From Koala habitats to foil Eiffel Towers they’ve come up with some amazing things.

Fizzy Soup Nature Play

Have you ever mixed food colouring and vinegar with bicarb soda? It turns into a delightful colourful fizzy volcano that creates utter joy to the one creating it. This week at PPN, our students got to experiment a little with nature, and with science in our Nature Play space.  

They created a fizzy soup of coloured water, and flowers. Their faces lit up when they saw the vinegar mix into the bicarb soda, sending it into a bubbly fizz, and creating some new colours with the coloured vinegar. This can be easily tried at home, with simple ingredients found in your kitchen. Just mix food colouring and vinegar into a coloured mix, and using a dropper or a spoon, put in some bi carb soda to create the bubbly reaction. It is a lot of fun.

Will you try a bubbly soup mixture in your house this week? 

As we draw towards the end of the first half of the year, (remember June 30^th is the last day for students this term) I have been reflecting on what it takes for us to be successful in guiding and developing our children through their life journeys.

It just so happened that I was reading a book that touched on this very topic. It grabbed my attention because it rang true with my teaching experience. I noted, particularly in teaching senior high school, that the brightest kids didn’t necessarily achieve the most outstanding results or go on to reach their considerable potential.

So what are some things we can help children develop that stands them in good stead to reach their potential.  I offer you two things. Relationships and perseverance (grit).

I have written often about the importance of relationships, so today I would like to focus a little on perseverance. I found this little section of a book by Adam Grant interesting around how we have traditionally looked at finding talented people and developing them, and what more recent research is telling us. After that, I will share some practical tips from a parenting educator on how to develop grit and perseverance in our kids.

Traditionally, “. . . experts looked for people with the right raw abilities and then sought to motivate them. If you want to find people who can dunk like Michael Jordan or play piano like Beethoven, it's only natural to start by screening candidates for leaping ability and an ear for music. But in recent years, psychologists have come to believe that this approach may be backward. In the 1960s, a pioneering psychologist named Raymond Cattell developed an investment theory of intelligence. He proposed that interest is what drives people to invest their time and energy in developing particular skills and basis of knowledge. Today we have compelling evidence that interest precedes the development of talent. It turns out that motivation is the reason that people develop talent in the first place. In the 1980s, the psychologist Benjamin Bloom led a landmark study of world class musicians, scientists and athletes. Blooms team interviewed 21 concert pianists who were finalists in major international competitions. When the researchers began to dig into the eminent pianists early experiences with music, they discovered an unexpected absence of raw talent. The study showed that early on, most of the star pianists seemed special only when comparing one child with others in the family or neighbourhood. They didn't stand out on a local, regional or national level and they didn't win any early competitions. 

When Bloom’s team interviewed the world class pianists and their parents, they stumbled upon another surprise. The pianists didn't start out learning from piano teachers who were experts. They typically took their first piano lessons with a teacher who lived nearby in their neighbourhoods. In the talent code, Daniel Coyle writes that from a scientific perspective, it was as if the researchers had traced the lineage of the world's most beautiful swans back to a scruffy flock of barnyard chickens. Over time, even without an expert teacher at the outset, the pianists managed to become the best musicians in the world. The pianists gained their advantage by practising many more hours than their peers. . .. When the pianists and their parents talked about their first piano teachers, they consistently focused on one theme. The teachers were caring, kind and patient. The pianists looked forward to piano lessons because their first teachers made music interesting and fun. . ..  The teachers looked for ways to make piano lessons enjoyable, which served as an early catalyst for the intense practise necessary to develop expertise. Exploring possibilities and engaging in a wide variety of musical activities took precedence over factors such as right or wrong or good or bad.

The same patterns emerged for world class tennis players. When Bloom’s team interviewed 18 American tennis players who've been ranked in the top ten in the world, they found that although their first coaches were not exceptional coaches, they tended to be very good with young children. What this first coach provided was motivation for the child to become interested in tennis and to spend time practising. . . . The top ranked tennis players tended to have a first coach who took a special interest in the tennis player, Bloom’s team notes, usually because he perceived the player as being motivated and willing to work hard rather than because of any special physical abilities . . . Focus and drive achieve higher performance. Persistence is incredibly important . . . “ (Grant, 2013)

“Part of a parent’s job is to help their children develop the traits that will help them to be successful. You can use your influence as your children’s most important teacher to help them acquire the important trait of perseverance.

• When you see your children persisting with a difficult task or following through with an assignment, even when they would have preferred doing something else, PRAISE them for their effort. PRAISE their effort, not just the finished product.
• Tell your child why the particular task, job, chore, assignment, etc. is important.
• Let your children know you count on them to do what they say they will do.
• Model perseverance and point it out to your children when you are persistent. Model an optimistic attitude toward managing challenges.
• Use everyday situations to highlight examples of perseverance: stories on the news, television, in books, famous people your children may admire.
• Help your children to set goals and to break larger tasks into smaller, more manageable pieces so that they do not get overwhelmed. Praise each successful step along the way toward reaching the final goal.
• Let them know it is alright to make mistakes and that mistakes are for learning. They can persevere after making a mistake, using what they learned to help them move forward.
• Re-frame difficult tasks as positive challenges worth mastering.” (Krisbergh, accessed 2023)

Have a great week with our kids,

Mark B

James 1:2,3 “Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides.

You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.”

Hey PPN Family,

I love watching sports, and in sport there is a saying that a champion team will always beat a team of champions. The idea is that a team where everyone plays together as a unit, will often defeat a more talented team where everyone plays as individuals.

A perfect example of this is the Miami Heat NBA Basketball team. Even though they were just beaten in the NBA finals by the more talented Denver Nuggets, in order to make the finals they were able to defeat teams who were much more talented than them on paper, largely because they played hard and they played together as a unit with each person excelling in their individual roles.

This is a perfect picture of what our families, churches and communities should be like. In Romans 12:4-5 (NLT) Paul writes, “Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.”

God has given all of us gifts and talents that the rest of the people in our families, churches and communities need. In the same way that we are very fond of having all of our limbs and body parts, every single one of us has a significant contribution to make and none of us are expendable.

So, a healthy and thriving family, church and community is one where everyone is using their God given gifts to bless and serve one another to the best of their abilities. This is the heart of a champion team.

God bless,

Roland Talamaivao-Amituanai

Could our new wellbeing program help your child?

With almost 500 students on campus, we see many students struggle with, and overcome a range of social, emotional and mental health challenges.

Some are big, some (at least on reflection) no so big – but all are important to them, to you and to us.

Our chaplaincy, wellbeing and counselling teams are always here to help. In Term 3 we are launching a new program designed to help students struggling with a range of challenges often labelled as ‘anxiety’.

If you could answer ‘yes’ to any of the questions below then this program could be for your child:

- Does your child display anxious behaviours or tendencies?

- Does your child struggle with anger or showing disrespect?

- Is your child refusing or reluctant to go to school, or engage with their learning?

- Does your child have regular emotional our bursts?

Starting in Term 3, Ali (our school counsellor) will be offering a tailor-made, 5-week, one-on-one program for students who you might say, ‘’Yes!” about to the questions above.

Whether your child has spent time with Ali in the past or not doesn’t matter. You may feel that these issues aren’t serious, but a bit of time helping them develop good thinking habits and coping skills could stop them becoming a big problem later on.

If you think your child could benefit from this program, please email bradenblyde@ppn.sa.edu.au to register your interest, and Mr Blyde will be in contact with you.

Thank you for the care you have for the students at PPN. It means a lot.

Last Day For Term 2

As highlighted previously, Term 2 is a nine week Term for students. Week 10 of this term will be pupil free as our teachers complete a range of professional development activities. The team at Prescot myOSCH are available throughout the week if you require care for your child (see calendar of activities at the bottom of this week's newsletter).

Do's & Don't of Dropping Your Kids to School

CBCA Book of the Year Awards – Highlighted Book of the Week

Goodjagah, little one, walk with me ... I want to tell you our Dreaming as the Elders told it to me.

‘Our Dreaming’ is a stunning book that has been shortlisted for the ‘Picture Book of the Year’ category in the CBCA Book of the Year awards. With text by Kirli Saunders and illustrations by Dub Leffler the story follows the slow and deliberate journey of an Echidna pup as it discovers and develops an understanding and respect of Indigenous culture, history, language and Dreaming. Indigenous words are integrated seamlessly into the English text to create this bilingual cultural celebration. Watch a sneak peek of the book being read by author Kirli Saunders