North Wing Project

WOW! What an exciting week we have had so far! The North Wing Project has begun and there has been a lot of excitement and changes around the place. Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we make adjustments to some of our activities to accommodate this project to take place.

Year 5 Camp

Our Year 5 campers have arrived at Glenhaven Park, ready for a fun-filled three days of adventure, challenges and activities.

Dental For Schools Visit

We are lucky enough to have the Dental for Schools team here 1 day early, to help check all of our teeth! This is a wonderful opportunity for our families that have chosen to use this service. Thanks, Dental for Schools!

Risk Taking - Is it worth the risk?

Are you a risk-taker or do you shudder at the thought of taking a risk and stepping outside of your comfort zone? When I think back on times in my life that I have taken risks, I remember a particular tree from my childhood backyard. It was a privet tree…a very large, privet tree. One of my favourite things to do was to climb this tree, survey my "kingdom", look for cicadas and other interesting creatures and create cubbies and obstacles from the tree. A great memory of mine was one of my failed attempts, when I tried to create a flying fox from the privet tree to the swing set, using a garden hose. My 9 year old self was positive that this was going to be a success and as I stepped onto this flying fox contraption, I imagined myself flying along the garden hose and landing against the swing set at great speed. I was confident. I was brave. I was determined. And within seconds, I was also flat on my face on the garden bed beneath the privet tree. Did this fall have a negative impact on me? Other than a few scratches and perhaps hurting my pride, this fall only made me stronger, more resilient and more determined to problem-solve and improve my flying fox contraption!

Unfortunately, as an adult, my fearless outlook on life and risk taking has lessened. In fact, in many situations, "fearless" has become "fearful". Ask any of my past Year 5 students, and they can vouch for me and my fear with heights and activities such as the giant swing. My fearful scream may still be ringing in the ears of those that were subjected to my attempts to overcome my fear! In fact, as I think about providing safe opportunities for our children to take risks, I believe as a society, a school community, a family, we often prevent our children from taking risks. We can be quick to say things such as "Be careful", "Don't climb too high", "Stop running…rolling…jumping…hopping…you may hurt yourself". It is very natural to want to protect our children, and sometimes without even realising it, we’re doing things for our children rather than teaching them. As a result, kids are becoming too cautious and anxious. If we prevent our children, our students, from taking risks, we actually risk them never growing to be brave, capable, resilient and independent problem-solvers.

Please don't misunderstand what I am sharing here. It is so important to protect our children. They are so precious to us. What we need to do is teach the difference between danger and risk. It would be dangerous to allow our children to play completely unsupervised with knives or matches. Embracing risk would be to work with them, to show them how to safely build a campfire with matches without getting burned, or how to safely cut the vegetables in helping prepare dinner.

The Nature Playground is one initiative that PPN has embraced in providing safe opportunities for our children to take risks, to challenge themselves and to develop greater problem-solving abilities and social skills. Our Nature Play has only been open for our children for a couple of months, yet I have already witnessed some wonderful moments of success, independent thinking and growth in confidence. During the first couple of weeks, as I spent play times in the Nature Play Space capturing moments on camera, I was delighted to see one particular girl in Year 2 on the log scramble every lunch time. She saw this element as a challenge, and in the first few days, could only climb some of the sections, but informed me that she wanted to make it to the fort. Each day as I visited the Nature Play Space, I would hear her call out "Miss B…look at me!" Each day, she was slightly higher on the log scramble. After about two weeks, I was delighted to hear her call out from the fort "Look at me, Miss B, I did it…I did it!" To witness her growth in confidence, persistence and recognising her point of challenge, cemented my passion in wanting to provide this space for our children to experience moments of growth, like my little buddy in Year 2. What a wonderful space we have that can provide challenges for our students to assess and make judgements about taking risks.

Some of our families farewelled our Year 5 campers this morning, sending them away on a camp that would provide more opportunities for them to overcome challenges and take risks in a supportive environment. We look forward to hearing the many stories that will be shared of their camp experiences where we have taken learning outdoors.

There are so many benefits of taking learning outdoors. The following list collated by Nature Play SA, and many other great resources for families, can be found on their website https://natureplaysa.org.au/

Benefits of Outdoor Learning Environments:

·       Authentic learning and independent thinking

·       Social Skills and relationships

·       Confidence

·       Literacy and Numeracy development

·       Physical development and well-being

·       Decreased anxiety and negative behaviours

·       Appreciation of the environment

·       Greater risk-taking and self-assessment

Risks and challenges can be found everywhere in our everyday life and children need opportunities to develop the skills associated with managing risk and making informed judgements about risks. Roald Dahl once said, "The more risks you allow children to take, the better they learn to look after themselves." I challenge you to look for opportunities that will allow your children to take risks in a safe environment, to encourage them to be brave and resilient in the world around them.

As for that flying fox contraption… I was never victorious in creating a successful flying fox where I could fly from the privet tree to the swing set. However, my curiosity, resilience, wonder, creativity, inventiveness and resourcefulness grew in the process of trying. What a great life lesson to embrace.

Blessings,

Tamara Bernoth 

Ever since I was young, I have always loved stories where people are just living a normal everyday life and then they get called to do something amazing like saving the world. I think of Frodo from the Lord of the Rings. He was just an ordinary Hobbit spending his days eating, sleeping, relaxing, and cutting his massive toenails, when he is called to go on the adventure of a lifetime and to save the world.

One of the reasons why we love these stories is because we all have a sense within us, that we have been created for something greater. We all want our lives to mean something, and we want to make a positive difference in the world.

I believe that this is something that God has placed within us. Because we are created in His image, we all have a longing within us that will only be filled when we are living life with Him, and we are helping Him in His mission of making the world a better place.

When Jesus was on earth, He spent a lot of his time bringing heaven down to earth. He healed people, loved people, forgave people, served people, and even brought dead people back to life. Before He returned to heaven, Jesus said to his followers:

“I tell you the truth, anyone who believes in Me will do the same works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father” (John 14:12).

God calls all of us to be a part of the great work that He continues to do, of bringing love, grace, and healing into our families, schools, communities and nation. This is the greater purpose that our hearts all long for. This is why we were created.

God bless,

Roland Talamaivao-Amituanai

Chaplain

Uniform Shop

The Prescott Wildcats knew they had a tough 45 minutes ahead when taking the court against league leaders Ardtornish Allstars, who defeated the legendary Radioactive Cheeseballs in last week’s game.

Building on a strong season and tough training (thanks Coach Hatchard!) the Allstars displayed great teamwork with clever passing and impressive speed throughout the game.

Pocket rocket Sade kept the pressure up with a healthy dose of low level hustle and constantly agitated the bigger guys with loads of energy and tidy shuffles. Great defensive technique and “never say die” attitude!

In the face of rapidly mounting points from the Allstars, Zukiah constantly paved the way for a great passing game across, around over and (possibly?) under the key. Agile at the net with frenetic shooting and aspirational effort, Zukiah was on a mission. He demonstrated great passing with the Lomax Boys, Gem and Scout, showing how far the Wildcats have come this season.

By halftime, the Wildcats were really heating up! A stellar effort from Jonah “The J Man” Hatchard impressed both team and opponents with 3 goals in rapid-fire succession. Jonah’s technique and positive attitude always encourages his team-mates and he really led by example with some nifty moves.

Kaitlyn showed how to keep up the speed and effort all game. Lots of great shots at net, using her height advantage to foil passes and take down Allstar shooters with flair. 

Tanner's commitment and fearless attacks on the ball kept the action moving along and both teams guessing too!

Despite a valiant effort, the Wildcats went down 14 to 36 against the Allstars but learned a lot from going up against a top team.

Cub Reporter Kieron Lomax relieving Head Writer Micah Hatchard.