The Vine Newsletter

Mr Leighton Corr - Acting Principal

As we conclude Week 8 of Term 1, I would like to thank everyone for their support and prayers for Mrs Grima and her family.

I also wish to thank families for their patience and understanding with the recent changes to the carpark. As expected with a major change like this, there have been some positives and negatives observed this week and I thank those parents that have taken the time to send in feedback. The experience so far has been mixed, but the Executive team will meet and discuss things further each week of the trial.

In follow up to this change, I would also like to remind our entire community about the importance and even expectation from everyone to show respect in their interactions. Of course, we understand that slow traffic and losing time in the carpark can be frustrating, but of greater importance to us is ensuring our staff, students and parents being treated with and treating others with respect. It has been disappointing over the last two weeks to hear about parents of our College acting in an aggressive manner in the carpark. One thing I have challenged our teaching staff with this year is to assume best intent in their dealings with others. I extend the same challenge to all of us as a wider community. Respect each other and assume the best in others and their words and actions.

One of the things we continue to promote as a College is positive relationships and we hope to see this in our classrooms, the playground and the carpark in the weeks to come.

Please continue to monitor our communications over the coming days as we provide updates, and thank you all again for your understanding.

We had a visit from Tanya Davies MP at the College on Monday to meet with Mia Kobus (Class of 2022) to talk about her HSC Major Work that was selected to be included in the ARTEXPRESS showcase.  Mrs Davies spent time getting to know Mia and acknowledged her hardwork and dedication to her studies, and wished her well for her future endeavours.

It was also a pleasure this week to see the commencement of our Year 11 Mentoring program in House groups. Each of our Year 11 students has the opportunity to mentor some Year 7s who are new to the College. They meet twice a term and lead their ‘buddies’ through a series of sessions about settling in to school well. The program highlights our investment in people’s character and fostering positive relationships amongst our students. We hope for both our Year 11 and Year 7 students, this program brings about some beneficial outcomes for all involved. 

Friday 17 March was a colourful day in the Primary school for our ‘Superheroes Day’. I commend our Primary students and staff for getting involved in dressing up on the day and raising awareness against bullying and violence. They looked fantastic so thank you also to parents for participating in this event. As a College, we do hope that our students better understand the importance of treating others with respect and care.

I would also like to remind families that Term 1 ends on Thursday April 6, which this year sits the day before Good Friday. With this in mind, our students will attend their classes in the morning before enjoying our whole school Chapel Service at 12pm. At the conclusion of this event the formal College day will end and students will be able to be collected from 1:00pm. Supervision will still be provided at the College until the normal time in the afternoon, but formal lessons won’t continue after this. 

Mr Leighton Corr
Acting Principal

Jeremiah 29:12 NIV

Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Please pray for:
Year 6 Canberra Trip next week.
Those members in our community who are experiencing hardship.
Out littlest students as end of term fatigue starts to hit.

Praise God for:
Opportunities for Year 8 and Year 12 students to learn about,
and reflect on healthy relationships and goals.
For the rescheduling of the Orange/Dubbo Music trip.
A great Superhero Day in Primary School.

Mr Philip McMurray, Director of Teaching and Learning P-12

But why? That must be the most repeated question for children around the age of 3, and one that can almost drive a parent to distraction. It’s the way that children open up their world and explore more of what’s around them. Unfortunately, we’ve all experienced that question at times which have caused embarrassment or frustration.

Have you ever thought about questions themselves? Have you ever considered how to increase your skills in asking questions? What kind of questions would they be and how would you rank them?

This was the challenge put to our teaching staff recently as we continue to develop the College Learning Culture. We want to not just create a strong and supportive learning environment where students can ask questions, but we also want to be able to develop the kind of questions they ask of themselves, others or the subject matter they’re studying. That’s why we spent an afternoon together in the Lighthouse Theatre thinking and discussing how we can help students progress in their questioning skills. We want to develop a way for teachers and students to talk about questions and see how they can improve the depth and breadth of them. We want to show students how to use questions more and more effectively.

Our College Learning Culture aims for this year are to specifically teach, foster and promote students’ skills and ability to apply themselves in four key dispositions. They are questioning, innovating, persisting and respecting. So hopefully, instead of just hearing “But why?” questions, your child will appreciate the wide range of questions they can use to go from padawan to Jedi Master, and so understand, appreciate and evaluate more effectively.

Mr Philip McMurray
Director of Teaching and Learning P-12

Mrs Ljubica Mansell - Deputy Principal (Primary)

Dear Families

Superhero Day 2023

We are thrilled to share with you the success of our Superhero Day at school, where our students in P-6 participated in discussions and activities centred around bullying, behaviour expectations, and ways to stay safe at school.

During the day, our students explored what it means to be a superhero, discussing how they can use their unique strengths and abilities to make a positive impact on the world around them. We also talked about the importance of using these strengths to help others and stand up against bullying.

Our students engaged in various activities that helped them identify and understand different forms of bullying, including verbal, physical, and social bullying. They also learned the importance of reporting any form of bullying they may witness or experience, and the steps they can take to keep themselves and others safe at school.

In addition to discussing bullying, our students learned about the College’s behaviour expectations that we have at school. We emphasised the importance of treating others with kindness, respect, and empathy through knowing the Above, Below and Bottom line behaviours, and how this can contribute to a positive learning environment for everyone. We also talked about the consequences of not following the behaviour expectations, and the impact it can have on others.

Overall, our Superhero Day was a huge success, and we are proud of the engagement and participation of our primary aged students. We hope that this day has helped to reinforce the importance of staying safe, standing up against bullying, and being a positive influence in the lives of others.

Thank you for your continued support, and we look forward to working together to create a safe and supportive environment for all our students.

A big thank you to all the students and teachers who dressed up for the occasion. The generous gold coin donations from Primary school have helped raise $430 for Kids Helpline.

As a reminder, information about the college’s behaviour expectations can be found in the student’s diary along and also in the grade handbook that was created at the beginning of the year. We look forward to continuing these conversations throughout the year.

Below are some helpful websites that support keeping children safe and we encourage families to familiarise themselves with these sites to gain additional information.

Kids Helpline https://kidshelpline.com.au/
eSafety Commissioner https://www.esafety.gov.au/parents
Bullying No Way! https://bullyingnoway.gov.au/

Upcoming events
As we near the end of Term 1, we have some exciting events to look forward to. These include our Easter Hat parade, Primary Cross Country (Years 3-6) and our Easter Chapel. More information will be sent to families in Week 9 about these events.

Chapel Fridays
Parents and carers are welcome to attend Chapel on Friday mornings at 10am in the Lighthouse Theatre. We also welcome our parents who are visiting to stay for tea and coffee to continue the conversations after Chapel. We look forward to seeing families each week.

Crossings and Road Safety
A friendly reminder for all families to please use the crossing available around the car park. We wish to model the safest practices to our students, and we encourage our families to lead by example each day to use the pedestrian crossings in the morning and afternoons rather than walking across oncoming traffic. We also ask that if you are collecting your children via the kiss and run that you are not using your mobile phones and to follow the directions of the staff in duty to ensure everyone’s safety. We understand that it may become busier at times, but we are doing all that we can to ensure our pick up and drop off procedures are safe for our students.

Primary School Day
Below is a reminder of the start and finish times of Primary students.

Pre-K
8.40am-3pm

K-2
8.30am-3pm

Years 3-4
8.30am- 3.15pm

Years 5-6
8.30am- 3.25pm

School begins at 8.30am each day so if your child arrives at school after 8.30am, they will need a late note from reception before coming to class.

Early leavers will also need to be signed out from reception.

All students in K-6 can be collected from the Primary Assembly area each day and not from classrooms.

Please arrive at the time of your eldest child’s finish time to avoid having to be redirected around the college carpark if you arrive early.

Co-Curricular Activities
Our Co-curricular lunchtime activities have been very well received throughout Primary school in the past few weeks. Below is a list of the co-curricular activities available in Primary school each week. It is up to the student if they choose to attend and participate in the activities and regular announcements are made to students at morning assemblies.

Wishing you all a lovely week ahead and I look forward to sharing more incredible updates about Primary school in our next edition of The Vine.

Warm regards and God Bless,

Mrs Ljubica Mansell
Deputy Principal (Primary)

This term we welcome Elias to our PAC family. He is our newest Pre K sponsor child.

Elias is 4 years old and lives in Colonia Santa Barbara, El Salvador with his mother and grandmother. His mother is employed as a merchant. There are two other children living in the household.

Elias helps at home by making his bed. His favourite activities are ball games, going to Sunday School and singing.

Elias goes to Kindergarten and his favourite subject is Art. He enjoys colouring and drawing. When he grows up, he wants to be a mechanic and he likes trying to fix things. His favourite bible story is about God creating everything in our world.

Poverty is complex and the needs of each child are unique. Having a loving sponsor has a lasting impact on the life of a child living in poverty and Elias’ family is delighted that we have sponsored him.

Mrs Sue Munce
Primary Compassion Coordinator

It was so exciting to welcome local indigenous illustrator Charmaine Ledden-Lewis to the College last week.

Charmaine shared Charlie’s Swim with Years 3 to 6, demonstrating the power of pictures to us all as we told the story without any words, based solely on her stunning illustrations. This book is on the Notables list for the Eve Pownall Award as part of this year’s CBCA Book of the Year and we wish Charmaine our congratulations and best wishes for this prestigious nomination. We had a wonderful time learning about the power of images to tell a story.

Charmaine and our students had a wonderful time telling the story of Charlie’s Swim together.

We were also delighted to share with Lucinda Gifford via video link recently as she drew with PreK to Year 2. Lucinda’s work is well known to us all via her Chicken Diva books and many more characters we know and love.

Thanks Lucinda for sharing some of your drawing secrets and showing us around your Melbourne studio.  Below are some artwork by Amelia in PreK and Lucinda Gifford.

International Women’s Day has been observed since 1911 and the theme in 2023 is “Embrace Equity”. This theme was chosen to reinforce the idea that equal opportunities aren’t enough. International Women’s Day was marked in the Secondary School during Chapel last week.

When International Women’s Day was first celebrated in 1911, most women around the world did not have anything like the rights many women have now. Most women could not vote and there was certainly no equal pay for equal work. Since that time, we have come a long way with shifts in policy, process and attitude. There are more women in Boardrooms, women have greater equality in legislative rights and there are impressive female role models in nearly every aspect of public life, so asking “Do we really still need an International Women’s Day?” is a fair question.

The answer is a definite “YES!”. Not all women are paid equally to their male counterparts, there are still not close to equal numbers of women in business or politics and globally, education and health outcomes for women are poorer than for men. Added to that people around the world today join together to stand for women who cannot speak up through disability, government policy, shame and oppression. There are countries in the world where women are seen as the property of men. There is definitely still work to do.

So what does it mean to embrace equity? Firstly, equity is NOT equality. Equality is about treating people the same, and gender equality has been a long and important first fight for women. Equality means everyone gets the same bike.

Equity is more than that. Equity means recognising individual differences and giving everyone what they need to succeed. Everyone gets a bike which is suited to their size and abilities. Everybody can ride well. Everyone achieves the goal.

Jesus gives us an incredible role model of equity with regard to many people, particular the oppressed and voiceless which, in His time, included women. In every dealing He has with women, Jesus shows that he genuinely knows them as individuals and cares deeply for them. The bleeding woman who touches his cloak in faith is healed instantly, the woman at the well, outcast and needing living water, is given exactly that. Jesus understood what equity was – he recognised and cared for individual difference and offers salvation to all.

Students were challenged to be people who strive to be aware of gender-based discrimination and given two ways to help in this space:

1. Challenge gender stereotypes, discrimination and bias. Be the person who doesn’t let these things go unchallenged.
2. Forge the positive visibility of women. Look at the fabulous display Mrs Rayner has made in the Library celebrating women who have made a difference. Can you name all the women?

Our students were encouraged to work together to ensure that every single member of our community has the chance to thrive and contribute positively to the world.

Mrs Fiona Wright
Director of Students 10-12

Mentor Group Representatives are the student voice from their Mentor Group. Their role is to gather ideas from their group on ways to contribute to the College.  They attend a minimum of 2 meetings per Term, and communicate back to their Mentor Group ideas and other relevant information. They also assist in the running of large College events. One representative from each Mentor Group is chosen by their group and can be from Years 8-10.  Mentor Group Representatives serve in this role for the duration of the year.

Congratulations to the following Mentor Group Representatives for 2023 who were inducted on Thursday 9 March at the Secondary Assembly:

Cranmer: Daniella Muscat, Nathan Bean, Drew Robins, Ella-Marie Jones, Jara Amin, Keira Gurney, Mila Boland

Latimer: Amrita Karki, Ella Johnson, Charlotte White, Daniel Istafanos, Harrison Canning, Caleb Simmons, Poppy Ray

Ridley:  Chelsea Jenkins, Jashan Aujla, Edison Noakes, Zane Lee, Nathan Gombakomba, Adam Badesha, Krishav Narayan 

Ryle:  Ellison Game, Oscar Rolles, Hannah-Kate Proud, Abigail Jones, Aarav Jolly, Laura Batcheldor, Charlotte Murrell

Rostrum Voice of Youth is a national public speaking competition which provides Secondary school students the opportunity to gain experience and confidence in expressing their views and communicating a message. In Week 7 the following students represented the College at the heats of the competition, held at Montgrove College:

• Joehan Manjooran
• Zoe Lamplough
• Thalia Rao
• Josie Birtles
• Arni Mankotia
• Teagan Kumar

A particular congratulations to Zoe who finished 2nd in her heat, and to Joehan and Josie who won their heats. Joehan and Josie will now progress to the next round of the competition.

Please enjoy reading Joehan and Josie’s winning speeches!

Mrs Monica Sharpe
English Teacher and Public Speaking Coordinator

This term in Year 8 Science, students have been tasked with investigating features of consumer products and producing a poster to show off their experiments. Our groups have investigated things from Mascara and Make-Up Removers to Band-Aids and Balloons. On Friday 17 March, our Year 8 Scientists presented their investigations to Years 5, 6 and 7 students who will got to engage with the experiments and presentations set up around the Gym.

Mr Benjamin Voller
Science Teacher

On Monday 13 March, Year 8 students participated in the ‘Your Choicez’ program during periods 1 to 4. The program is designed to help students grapple with the question “How do we create meaningful relationships” and has a particular focus on doing this in a hyper digital world. The program provided students with a range of resources and supports to reflect on the type of relationships they are creating and how they navigate relationships well both online and offline.

Students participated in an interactive lecture run by subject matter experts from ‘Your Choicez’. They then broke off into smaller workshops where group discussion on the topics explored was undertaken. It was excellent to see a high level of engagement from students, obviously keen to wrestle with the concept of relationship development. 

Penrith Anglican College wants to equip our students to flourish in all aspects of life. With strong evidence (see https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/01/harvard-happiness-study-relationships/672753/) that high quality relationships are critical for all of us, spending time reflecting on how to cultivate and maintain them supports our students as they develop as young men and women.

Mr Anthony Kelshaw
Director of Students 7-9

On Friday 3 March, actors from the Australia Shakespeare Company came to the College to perform key scenes from Shakespeare’s play Richard III for our Advanced English students. The incursion included an exploration of the characters (particularly the women of the play) and analysis of the historical context and Shakespeare’s language, as well as drawing parallels with Al Pacino’s doco-drama Looking for Richard. While it was a great opportunity to consolidate their understanding of the module ‘Textual Conversations’, students also had the opportunity to act out part of the play which was a real highlight. 

Miss Lauren Kenny
Head of English

Hope Unlimited - Thriving In A Complex World

On Wednesday 15 March we had a guest speaker, Mr Glen Gerreyn, come in and speak to the entirety of the Year 12 cohort for a half-a-day lecture. He is from the HopeFULL Institute, and inspired us to dream big and follow through. He delivered two sessions, one about the power of purpose and one about being unstoppable with our dreams.  He emphasised that everyone has a purpose in life, each person with unique strengths that should be utilised. He then challenged us to dream big, committing to doing everything we can to fulfil them and not giving up when reaching obstacles. This was very meaningful in our last year of schooling and especially as we prepare for the HSC exams later this year.

Alexander Wright and Spencer Ruggeri
Year 12 Students

We are pleased to announce we have another wonderful piano tutor joining our team. Jonathan Martinovici is an outstanding pianist and educator who will be giving private lessons at PAC on Wednesdays.  

Jonathan is an accomplished pianist with extensive experience performing in various genres such as classical, jazz, pop, folk, salsa, and liturgical music in both Sydney and Japan. He is sought after as an accompanist and has collaborated with the Penrith City Choir, the Warrimoo Chorale, and worked with AMEB examination candidates.

Jonathan received his piano training from Dr. Jeanell Carrigan, Dr. Paul Rickard-Ford, and Wojciech Wisniewsky. He holds a Bachelor of Music (Performance) with Honours from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and a Masters of Teaching from Excelsia College.

Since 2011, Jonathan has been teaching piano and is committed to inspiring and empowering his students to achieve their musical aspirations across a diverse range of musical styles. Jonathan has extensive experience in preparing students for formalised examinations.  He has helped many of his students achieve outstanding results. Jonathan is highly skilled in tailoring his teaching approach to meet the individual needs of his students, and is dedicated to helping them succeed in their musical pursuits.

If you are interested in piano lessons for your child/ren, please contact Mrs Karen Allan, Music Assistant via email [email protected].

NASSA Tennis Gala Day Team: (Front) Cohen Jonas, Yohann Rao, Ana Stojanovic, Harrison Canning. (Back) Olive Bradford, Isabella Stewart, Abigail Stanford, Thalia Rao,  Cooper Thomson. (Absent in photo) Luke Attard.      

On Thursday 23 February I was given the opportunity to represent PAC for the NASSA Tennis team. Upon arrival I was overtaken with nerves but quickly jumped onto a court to warm up. We competed against a range of schools and played both singles and doubles. I started off by playing a doubles match, I then went on to a singles match. I repeated that three times with three different schools. After that was all done it would have been 12 o’clock or so, our bus arrived at 2:30pm so we had lots of time to kill. We jumped on a court and so did Mr Pigot for what was the highlight of my day, until Ms Sharpe also jumped on to hit and we played doubles and that was most definitely my favourite part of the day. We also beat them! As this was my first NASSA Tennis team at PAC it was one of the most exciting things, both having a hit with my friends and then my teachers! To sum up everything, my day was so enjoyable. I really am looking forward to next year.

Ana Stojanovic
Year 7 Student

Shelby Carroll and and Atila Goker had a great time playing on the NASSA 15s team and Jayden Baumgartner acted as referee at AICES Touch Football Championship on Tuesday 14 March. Unfortunately, they weren't winners on the day.

ROCK Camp is a voluntary weekend camp that happens each year, where all Secondary students are invited to come away to build on our Christian community and spend time delving into God’s word together. We always have a fantastic time, eat lots of food, make loads of great memories and come home having been challenged to think more deeply about our faith. ROCK Camp 2023 will be held at Blue Gum Lodge from Friday 24 - Sunday 26 March.

The cost for the weekend is payable via TryBooking: https://www.trybooking.com/UFWO. 

For more information, please contact Mrs Emily Heath [email protected]

Can't make it to ROCK Camp this year?  Come along to ROCK every Thursday at lunchtime in F Centre. The theme is "Set Free" and we’re looking at the idea of how Jesus’ death and resurrection has set us free from so much!

Mrs Emily Heath
Assistant Chaplain

The latest version of our Community Business Directory is available for download.

The Community Business Directory acts as a link for business and families to support each other.  This initiative was created by the Parents & Friends Association for businesses of Penrith Anglican College families rather than a general advertising site to assist our College Community during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Each business in the Directory has a direct link with a College family.

Please note, the Parents & Friends Association, Penrith Anglican College and their staff will not be liable for any interactions or transactions that occur between any parties connected through this P&F Initiative. The Parents & Friends Association has not vetted the information, products or offerings provided by these businesses. 

We will continue to update this document and post a link to the updated version on the website and the College App.  If you would like your business to participate in the Community Business Directory, please fill out the form via this link. There is no cost involved.

We are excited to be able to support our College families in this way, and hope you find this Directory helpful.

Take advantage of the $25 Early Bird Discount and register today for the next Code Camp to be held at PAC on 13-14 April! Creative Kids vouchers also accepted. Register here.

This year Penrith Anglican College had Clean Up Australia Day sites at both Glenmore Park and Emu Plains. The day was well attended with over 100 students volunteering and collecting close to 50 bags of rubbish in both locations - amongst the rubbish collected were one tyre and wheel, metal poles, a TV and fence panel. We were blessed with a great day of weather which brought out many PAC families to assist in cleaning up. Many thanks to all of our volunteers for coming and special thanks to Joanne Karele for supervising our Glenmore Park site for the first time!

Mr Mark Pullen
Head of Library Services and CUA Coordinator

A huge thank you to Cranmer House for their fundraising efforts on 2 March.  Cranmer students and staff worked tirelessly on the day to set up 14 different games and activities for Primary and Secondary students to enjoy at lunchtime. They also cooked and delivered 528 sausage sandwiches, 152 cans of soft drink and 322 juice poppers to students. We are pleased to announce that Cranmer House, together with the College community, raised $4,020.00 for Congo Aid charity organisation, who has been supporting the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo through financial, medical and educational means since 2009.  Over the years they have worked to establish several key projects including Teachers to Teachers Project, Orphanage and Farm Project that provide assistance to communities.

For more information about the work of Congo Aid, please visit Congo Aid www.congoaid.org