The Vine Newsletter

We all know it to be true that when someone says, acts or reacts in a careless, selfish and self-centred way – it often leads to trouble. Self-centeredness and selfish ambition brings brokenness. Such behaviour hurts! It damages relationships, the friendship breaks down. Sadly, conflicts affect us all. It happens here at school, at home, on the sporting fields and even among friendship groups all too often. Before we know it – people get offended and hurt. On a bigger scale, such broken relationships can lead to conflicts and war. 

Peace comes at a cost. Have you noticed that? 

Someone or many people have done something wrong, someone has to pay the price to bring about peace. Justice has to be served. 

Justice has to be satisfied – and that is often very costly. 

It could be simply a time out at the back of a classroom. It might be a bit more serious and require a detention or an apology and giving things back. 

Sometimes it comes at the ultimate price of a life. 

And that’s what we are remembering today. The price of peace – the lives of millions of people in a conflict that ended over 100 years ago. 

So, it’s right that we stop and remember, that we give thanks for those who gave their lives for peace. 

But you only have to look at the chapters of time since World War I to realise that peace is so short-lived. It’s fleeting. It slips through our fingers so quickly. Before we seem to realise it, once again we allow our selfishness, our pride, or our own ambitions to outweigh kindness and care for others. 

I say we – it could be you or me, as much as it could be communities, factions, groups in society, or nations. 

True and lasting peace only can come from God. We need peaceful and wise actions that come from someone outside our world. Someone outside our world who isn’t driven by selfish ambition, nationalism, pride or greed must step in. 

That makes sense therefore that when Jesus comes into our world. He doesn’t come with a hidden agenda. 

But what is so unique about the message of Jesus is that He doesn’t bring peace without paying the price. 

Because Jesus stepped into the ultimate conflict, the ultimate broken relationship between God and humanity, and instead of crushing his enemies, he gave his life to bring about peace by paying the debt we all owe on the cross. He absorbed the just and right penalty rebels deserved. 

The Christian message is that God who rescues, it is God who saves, and it is God who actually brings about true and lasting peace. 

So today, we are thankful for the people who answered the call to go and fight for freedom. It is good and right that we reflect on their sacrifice for peace. It is good and right that we pause in silence to remember… 

But as a Christian school, we can be even MORE thankful for Jesus – God’s only son who answered the ultimate call to give up his life to bring about peace. Peace between God and humanity – by sacrificing himself.  

Now that’s a wonderful thing to remember, but even more to experience! 

Mr Philip McMurray
Director of Teaching and Learning P-12

Earlier in the year, Miss Nikki Tallada and Miss Meg Anderson were nominated for the Teachers' Guild of NSW Early Career Educator Award. They both made the finals and were interviewed as part of the process. On Friday 27 October, Miss Anderson was awarded the NSW Early Career Award.

Congratulations to Miss Tallada and Miss Anderson. This is a wonderful recognition of their compassion and care for students, their commitment to continuous improvement, creativity and innovation. 

 Ephesians 1:18
I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened 
in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you,
the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people,

 Please pray for:
Students involved in the upcoming Music and Drama Showcases.
Safety for all and good weather for the Year 10 CEP Camp.
Preparations for End of Year events.

Praise God for:
Workplaces who have taken on our students for Work Experience Week.
Events held recently with students – Pre K and Kindergarten Orientation mornings,
final HSC Bell Ringing, Year 7 Orientation and Parent Information Day.
Progress on the modular blocks for PDHPE and new facilities for the Property Staff.

Mrs Melinda Richardson - Deputy Principal (Primary)

It has been wonderful to welcome our newest and youngest learners as part of our Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Orientation mornings. These mornings provide a great opportunity for our learners to begin to explore their new environment, get to meet new friends and experience a taste of what's to come as they commence schooling at PAC. The Parent Information Session provided a great opportunity for our parents to also begin making connections, as they too, begin this important aspect of their child's life.

Part of my role is to engage with new families through enrolment interviews. The very first question we ask, is why PAC? And it is encouraging to note a number of new enrolments come from 'word of mouth'. Thank you to those of you who take the time to share your child's journey with others so positively.

Our learners are getting very tired!
As the year draws to a close, we are beginning to notice the complete exhaustion of our students - and perhaps you are also seeing the same at home! It has been a busy year, and this time of the year also tends to involve busy weekends with a range of events. We are noticing some behavioural changes, particularly in regard to becoming frustrated quicker with friends, the temptation to make silly choices or being more sensitive to different situations than normal. We are working hard to gently remind our students to treat others with kindness, to stop and think before doing, and to provide proactive strategies that promote healthy friendships. 

It would be great if you could support us by ensuring that your child gets to bed in a timely manner, continues to eat nutritious food, and has opportunity for good quality restful activities as a way to continue their energy levels for the remainder of the term. 

Nut Aware Reminder
Please be reminded that we have some students in our Primary School that have potentially life-threatening allergies to nuts. We are beginning to notice an increase of food items that contain nuts, inclusive of peanut butter and Nutella (choc-hazelnut spread) sandwiches.

As a College we seek to ensure risk minimisation strategies and encourage families to discuss with their child their contents of their lunch box, remind them not to share food at school, and encourage hand washing before and after eating.

Thank you for your support in keeping our school community safe!

Parent Information Session - next Tuesday 14 November
Families are invited to an information session outlining the approach of the Primary School towards learning in 2024. Families should have received an invitation to this via email. 

The session will be held in the Light House Theatre, commencing at 6pm, with an anticipated finish by 7pm. Light refreshments will be available.

Please note, this is a parent session, and care should be arranged for children. An information sheet will be emailed to families later next week, for those unable to attend.

Presentation Day
Our Presentation Day will be held on Wednesday 6 December. Please ensure you mark this date in your calendar as it is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate your child's learning journey across the year.

This year, there will be a change in regards to the Commitment to Learning award. Through a review of our awards, it was determined that this award should stand alone in order to celebrate the commitment of our learners. We desire that our students know 'learning is learnable' of which this award embodies. Students don't need to be academic to attain this award, instead they demonstrate the dedication, persistence and enthusiasm we want in our students as they approach learning.

ICAS Awards
A number of our students in Years 3 - 6 participated in the ICAS Assessments. This is an academic competition, where the questions students face are up to two years above their current grade level. We congratulate all our of participating students.

On Monday at our Primary Assembly, we acknowledged students who attained a result of Credit, Distinction or High Distinction. 

Ending the term well
As we conclude our year together, our students are busy preparing for a range of events. To support effective rehearsal time, and balance the need for rest alongside academic rigour, please note the following arrangements:

• Home Learning will conclude at the end of Week 7 - please ensure your child returns all completed tasks by this date
• All learning will occur in CORE classes for Weeks 8 & 9
• We will begin to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas as of Week 8 in a range of intentional learning experiences

We are beginning to notice some students starting to bring little gifts and cards already to school. We ask for your support in holding off until Week 9 should your family wish to participate in such activities.

Mrs Melinda Richardson
Deputy Principal (Primary)

On Tuesday 31 October, Pre-K students attended the Muru Mittigar Cultural Incursion held on The Farm. Students had an opportunity to encounter Aboriginal Culture in an interactive and hands-on experience with members of the local Aboriginal community, Dennis and Steph. Workshops included an introduction to Aboriginal instruments, weapons and tools through cultural talks, boomerang throwing, ochre face or body painting, and learning about Indigenous foods. It was a wonderful day!

Mrs Rebecca Gange
Pre-K Teacher

Wednesday 1 November was the first orientation visit for our new enrolling Kindergarten students who will be joining us in 2024. Students had the opportunity to play, sing, dance, listen to a story, and create their own rainbow fish. It was great to see all the new faces mingle with other students and a positive opportunity for new families to also meet. The second orientation session was held on Thursday 9 November 2024, and we are looking forward to the next orientation on Tuesday 14 November 2024. I wonder what we will be making next?

Kindergarten learned about The Living World back in Term 3 and closely explored the needs of living things. To consolidate our learning, we ventured to Featherdale Wildlife Park a few weeks ago to visit a range of native Australian animals. There, we saw all types of birds, kangaroos, emus, wombats, echidnas, reptiles, pademelons, wallabies, penguins and much more. Unfortunately, the Tassie devil never made an appearance but the crocodile sure was a hit! Oh, and how could we forget the koalas? We were so lucky to all have a chance to pet a koala and take a lovely photo with it as a keepsake.  Overall, Kindergarten had a blast trading phonics for the day and seeing God's creation up close and personal. For some, the wildlife was a highlight, for others, it was the realisation that "What?! We're not going to school today?!" and for a special few children - "This is so exciting - It's my first time on a bus!".

Miss Nikki Tallada
Primary Teacher

Women in Science
We are shining the spotlight on Women in Science in our Secondary library space, celebrating the best seller “Lessons in Chemistry” being released as a mini-series. For real life inspiration about trailblazers paving the way for girls to pursue world-changing careers in science, check out these links:

https://www.nobelprize.org/womenwhochangedscience/stories https://www.sydney.edu.au/science/about/women-in-science.html

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/10-amazing-women-in-science-history-you-really-should-know-about https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/women-in-stem

Premier’s Reading Challenge
We await with great anticipation the arrival of 2023 Premier’s Reading Challenge certificates so we can formally congratulate all our participants. Thanks again to our families for supporting this initiative at home – it is wonderful to work as a team encouraging students in their reading journey.

Mr Leighton Corr - Deputy Principal (Secondary)

When we reach this time in Term 4 it can be tricky to know what to write in the Vine, just as it can be tricky for students to see the point of things when exams have been completed and reports being written. But at Penrith Anglican College, when we talk about learning, it isn’t learning to achieve a mark or memorise a series of facts.

When we talk to our students about learning, we are getting them to think about the process of learning. This process will be something that they can continue to work on and develop post exams, post the end of the term and even on a wider scale beyond their schooling years.

My challenge to students this week at Assembly was to remember learning hasn’t stopped for the year. They should still be engaged and interested in what they can reinforce, work on, improve and reflect on about their own learning. This process continues.

I am hopeful that we see students finish the year off strong both in their approach to learning and in making good decisions. The other key part of finishing the year off well is avoiding the temptation to forget about our school expectations and guidelines. Students know that we seek to be consistent in our approach to enforcing our expectations and hope they show the same diligence to how they act at the end of Term 4 as they did in the start of Term 1. This is all about having integrity, a value we have spoken a lot about this year.

I look forward to watching our students continue to learn and make good decisions as we enter Week 6 of the term.

Mr Leighton Corr
Deputy Principal (Secondary)

On Thursday 26 October, the Secondary leadership team attended the Generosity, Responsibility, Integrity, and People (GRIP) Leadership Conference. It was an invaluable day aimed to further our abilities as student leaders. We explored topics such as making improvements to school culture, improving leadership effectiveness, sacrifices of a leader and much more. The conference allowed the leadership team to interact with student leaders from a variety of schools and brainstorm different ideas for school events. I know that the team enjoyed the opportunity to network with different leaders from other schools and came away with fresh ideas for how we could implement new strategies. The conference inspired us to take greater action in our community and see what impact we can have with the limited time we have left at the College. Thank you to Mr Corr and Mrs Duxbury who attended the event with us and allowed it to happen.

William Tupper
College Captain 2023-2024

There was definitely a feeling of excitement and anticipation at the College on Wednesday 8 November, when new students joined our current Year 6 cohort for the Year 7 2024 Orientation Day! Upon arrival in the morning, students and parents were welcomed by Principal Grima, Executive staff, Heads of House and College Leaders at separate information sessions. After recess, students were split into smaller groups and attended sample lessons. Under the supervision of teachers and College leaders, they decorated gingerbread people in Food Technology, carried out an experiment in the Science Labs, and worked up a sweat in the Gym for PDHPE. To refuel, a BBQ lunch was provided up in the Sails Area and students were off once again, to complete a Scavenger Hunt, designed to help them become familiar with the campus layout and to form new friendships. The day ended with Question Time with Prefects and distribution of PAC goodies bags.  All in all, it was an enjoyable and valuable day for our students, and we can't wait to see them in Secondary School in 2024.

Families are warmly invited to the Year 12 Music and Drama Showcase on Thursday 16 November at 5:30pm. This Showcase will highlight the amazing work students have completed in both Year 11 and the Year 12 courses so far. Families are advised the pieces are not appropriate for young audiences as they deal with mental health.

Years 7 and 8 Drama Group have been working on different scenes over the last semester at lunchtime. Year 8 will be performing a one act play called Rapunzel Uncut where two Narrators argue over the real story of Rapunzel. Year 7 will be performing short scenes that explore friendship breakdowns, preparing for a Drama assessment and being suspended. The Drama Showcase will be held in the TLC on Wednesday 22 November starting at 4:30 pm.

Both Showcases will be held in the Tiered Learning Centre.

Raptors flew high for the Ridley House Charity Day on Thursday 9 November! 

House charity days provide students with a fantastic opportunity to engage in a range of service and leadership roles. Secondary Ridley students and leaders across Primary and Secondary were involved with setting up, running of carnival style games, cooked and delivered hot dogs at various points throughout the day, and aimed for a fun day to help support their chosen charity organisation, Convoy of Hope. It’s always so encouraging seeing students work together, serving and leading in various ways to create such a fantastic day.

Ridley House wishes to thank the PAC community for their generous support to help those in need by purchasing food, drinks and tokens for the day.

Commencing Monday 20 November 2023, there will be several changes to School and Route Services operated by Busways which will impact students attending PAC. Further details regarding these changes are in the attached letters 

https://newsroomassets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/pac/newsletters/2023/11/10/3644i_SB_4004_167Z_4044_179Z__4047_177Z.pdf and https://newsroomassets.s3.amazonaws.com/media/pac/newsletters/2023/11/10/3663i_SB_4525_324Z.pdf

Alternatively, from Monday 13 November 2023 (1 week before the commencement of these changes), please refer to your schools timetabled services at: https://www.busways.com.au/nsw/school-services/school-timetables and select the link adjacent to your schools name; “New timetable | 20 Nov 2023” or TfNSW Trip Planner to determine your best viable travel option at https://transportnsw.info/trip#/trip 

For further information, please contact Busways Customer Service on 1300 69 2929 or infoline@busways.com.au.

Once again this year, the College is proudly supporting Anglicare’s annual Toys and Tucker Appeal.

Please scan the QR code above for a helpful shopping list.

It is important that we only collect what is on the list as we need to ensure that each hamper we pack has uniform items. Please, NO chocolate!

• Pre K to Year 6 – please give to your Core Class teacher.
• Years 7 – 12 please give to your Mentor Group teacher.

The last day for donations is Monday 27 November 2023.

Mrs Cate Duxbury
Toys n Tucker Coordinator

As the 2024 school year approaches, we would like to inform you of our additional opening hours from November 2023 through to January 2024 when you can order and try on uniforms for purchase.

Normal Operating Hours:
Tuesday 8am-12pm
Wednesday 1pm-5pm
Thursday 12pm-4pm
Friday 8am-12pm

Orientation Day Extended Hours:
Thursday 2 November 11am-4pm
Thursday 9 November 11am-4pm

Opening Hours in January 2024:
Wednesday 10 January 10am – 6pm
Thursday 11 January 8am – 4pm
Friday 12 January 8am – 4pm

Tuesday 16 January 8am – 4pm
Wednesday 17 January 10am – 6pm
Thursday 18 January 10am – 6pm
Friday 19 January 8am – 4pm

Monday 22 January 8am – 4pm
Tuesday 23 January 8am – 4pm
Wednesday 24 January 10am – 6pm
Thursday 25 January 10am – 6pm
Friday 26 January – Closed Australia Day

Monday 29 January 8am – 4pm
Tuesday 30 January 8am – 4pm
Wednesday 31 January  8am – 12pm (Store will resume normal trade from this date)

Online Booking Appointments for new students open on 7 November 2023.
In January we will have Online Bookings available for new students on 10, 11 & 12 January 2024.

We look forward to helping you with all your uniform needs for the new school year!

Jasmine Bratby
Perm-A-Pleat Penrith Anglican Uniform Shop
02 9098 3123