Prescott Primary Northern Choir and Band News

Last week was a busy one for the school choir and band. On Thursday they led the school in carol singing for a special Christmas Combined worship. It was wonderful to hear the whole school ‘raise the roof’ with the popular carol ‘Joy to the World’. A small group of choir members presented a short Christmas play. It had the special message that the Christmas story continues to live on today, many years after baby Jesus came to earth.

In the afternoon we presented the same program for the residents of ‘The Homestead’ Nursing Home. It is one of the largest groups we have sung to and the students did the school proud with their behaviour and joyful singing. The Lifestyle Coordinator mentioned that several of the residents had been quite sick and how wonderful it was to see them smiling and singing. Mrs Howard was reunited with one of her High School teachers which made the day extra special.

The very next day we rewarded the students for all of their hard work throughout the year with a special year end event at ‘The Roy Marten Reserve’ in Taperoo. They all had a great time exploring the equipment available to play on. They also joined in with a game of Capture the Flag before enjoying lunch and a cool treat. A big thank you to Sarina Howard and Chrissi Alexopoulos for their assistance on this day.

We will complete the school year with two special items at the Prescott Primary Northern Closing Exercises evening next Wednesday. Looking forward to having all the choir members attend this important event.

Dianne Jose

Future Engineers, Designers and Creators

This year during lunchtimes, we have been running STEM focussed activities for students in several year levels.

Year 3 have been involved in The Investigator's Club. They have been building future cities in Minecraft including schools and living environments.

Year 4 have been learning to code in Minecraft and have built cities, zoos and even windfarms using code.

Year 5 have been coding games which has included designing a game from scratch through being able to play them on a mini arcade box.

AMEB Music Exams

This term many of the students who are learning an instrument through the school have participated in the AMEB Music Exams.  Congratulations to the following students on their exam results:

Ashton Koczwara	Preliminary Comprehensive Piano	A+
Tiana Jamal	Preliminary Comprehensive Piano	A+
Michelle Do	Grade 1 Comprehensive Piano	A
Anthony Harder	Grade 1 Comprehensive Piano	B
Nicholas Lindsay	Grade 2 Piano For Leisure	A
Sammy Lee	Grade 2 Comprehensive Violin	B
Marilla Maticic	Grade 3 Comprehensive Flute	B

North Wing Update

Car Park Update

Drive Through Update

As I have mentioned in the past, I spent many years teaching high school. One of the things that I kept coming back to with kids, was the importance of not letting the numbers or letters they received in their results, define who they are. I vividly remember my subject selection counsellor in high school, as I was about to head into senior high. He looked at my grades and made it very clear to me that based on my results so far, I was very unlikely to experience success in my endeavours. Fortunately, I took that as a challenge and decided that I would turn things around in both attitude and practice. Our Year End Reports are about to go home, and for some, goals will be met and great joy will be taken in what appears on those pages. Others will be disappointed and challenged, and that is opportunity to grow and develop. What I think is important though, is that we see these reports as a description of our kids’ learning journeys and not allow them to define our children.

Monday night, Mr Davis, Miss Bernoth and I went and joined our Year 6 and 7 classes and their teachers and our chaplains up at the Year 6/7 Graduation Camp. We walked up to a lookout above the camp and as the sun was setting, their teachers shared some farewell thoughts and appreciation with the students. It was beautiful to hear the love and care that our teachers poured out on our students. They spoke about how our students have grown and matured and shown an attitude of having a go at almost anything, regardless of the degree of success experienced. They spoke about the foundation the children have received and where they can go with that and the principles they have had become a part of their lives. I wish you all could have been there. The other thing we spoke a little about was what they would allow to define them in the years to come. We shared how events that come our way should not define us, but rather how we respond to those experiences and whether they are growth points for us or not.

We are so proud of our students and the young people they have become and are becoming. I hope you are as well.

Have a great week with our kids,

Mark B

The Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker movie is coming out soon and I’m looking forward to it.  Growing up in the 1970’s and 80’s I have always been a big fan of the Star Wars movies, but I have never been a fan of their overarching philosophy. 

I have never really liked the idea that there has to be a balance in the Universe between good and evil, and dark and light.  Maybe it is because, although I love all of the good things in this world, I absolutely hate all of the evil things in it.  And so the belief that we will always have evil and darkness with us, or that death, pain, and suffering are even necessary parts for our universe to exist, is pretty depressing.

This is why I prefer God’s philosophy of life as revealed to us in the Bible.  In God’s plan for us there is no balance between good and evil, and darkness is not necessary at all.  In fact, when Jesus died for us on the cross, and they buried Him for three days, and then He rose again, this symbolises that Jesus has conquered death, evil and darkness.  And when Jesus returns and makes this whole world perfect again, death, evil, and darkness will be gone forever.

This is the central message of Christmas.  That Jesus came to earth to give his life, so that we can live forever with God in heaven, where love, life, and light rule.

We read about this event in Revelation 21:3-4, “Look, God’s home is now among his people!  He will live with them, and they will be his people.  God himself will be with them.  He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.  All these things are gone forever.”

I pray that this Christmas we will accept God’s greatest gift of all, Jesus Christ, the reason for the season.

God bless,

Roland Talamaivao-Amituanai

Fun Run

We just wanted to extend a great big thank you to all our families who have supported our Fun Run with sponsorships, lunch orders and cheering their runners on!  It was a great day and despite the more restricted area, fun was had by all!

We would like to extend a special thank you to Kate and her helpers for putting the whole event together as well as to Savvy Earthworks who sponsored the yummy lunch.

Thanks to your generosity we were able to send $320 to Backpack for SA Kids

Food Drive

Returning School Readers

We know that readers and class novels sometimes get lost or misplaced throughout the year. It’s easy to do. They may end up at the bottom of school bags, in cars, in bookcases or under beds. We would love it if ALL families could have a look at home and return ANY books or readers that belong to the school. Readers and novels are expensive to replace, and we would love to have them returned instead of having to replace them. Please return any readers or books to your child’s teacher or the front office.

Thank you for your help.

Aisian Aid and Casual Day

Christmas greetings from our Sponsor children

This marks a great opportunity to thank all our families for your financial contribution each Casual Day.  The gold coin donations each term add up and without them we would not be able to support these two students or help our sister schools. 

So, here is just a quick reminder that next Wednesday, December 11th each student may come in their casual clothes if they bring a GOLD COIN DONATION for our sister school.

Prescott Schools Non-teaching Staff Appreciation Evening

90 support staff from across our three Prescott Schools and head office, gathered together at the Adelaide Zoo for our inaugural Appreciation Evening. An invitation was extended for all non-teaching staff to join us, so we could publicly honour and acknowledge them for the work that they do. It was a small token of love and appreciation for their effort, enthusiasm, loyalty and dedication to Prescott Schools and Adventist education. About 80% of our SA support staff attended the evening and the event was received with gratitude.

The unique open-air venue gave opportunity for people to enjoy delicious canapés alongside the monkey and tiger enclosures. Guests enjoyed mingling with each other and even had the opportunity to be up close to a tiger feed.

Steve Cowley concluded the program with a presentation of framed certificates and service pins to those staff who have given 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years of service to our Adventist School System.  Prescott Northern staff received the following pins:

15 Years of Service: Cheryl Allen, Victoria Cowley, Samantha Hann, Barbara Pring and Helen Koziol.

10 Years of Service: Kirsten Forbes, Sarina Howard and Paul Koczwara

5 Years of Service: Rosemary Cooper, Tammy O'Neill, and Gary White