NewsletterTerm 1 Week 7

Catch up with everything that is happening at Parkes Christian School.

To contribute to the newsletter, contact the school.

Important Dates Monday, 11 March

Yr 12 Moomba Excursion returns 8pm

Wednesday, 13 March

Year 7 Immunisations

Thursday, 14 March

‘π’ (Pi) Day

Friday, 15 March

Primary Assembly 2:20pm - 3pm

Thursday, 21 March

MADD Night (7pm)

Friday, 22 March

Relay for Life BBQ

Primary Assembly 2:20pm - 3pm

Thursday, 28 March

Rosedurnate Visit (K-2)

Inside this Edition

Address: 243 Back Trundle Road (PO Box 420) PARKES NSW 2870 Ph (02) 6862 4164 Fax (02) 6862 3744

Email: administration@parkescs.nsw.edu.au Website: www.parkescs.nsw.edu.au

Bank Account Information Account Name: Parkes Christian School Ltd

BSB: 082 780 Account No: 46 846 1582 ACN: 003 838 962 ABN: 39 003 838 962

Pancake Day

Yummy pancakes cooked and eaten.

Clean Up Australia Day

Keeping the environment and school clean!

Growing up into Christ - Reaching out to the World

PARKES CHRISTIAN SCHOOL

From the Principal

Team Endurance - Excellence through DeterminationThis week I would like to introduce you to the third house at PCS, Team Endurance. The mighty Sharks didn’t prevail in their natural habitat at the Swimming Carnival, but they have managed to steadily chomp their way back to be the current leaders of the overall points tally for Term 1. What a perfect demonstration of ‘Excellence through Determination’!

The story of Sir Ernest Shackleton and his ship ‘Endurance’, is considered by many (including me) as one of the greatest survival stories ever told. It is the harrowing tale of tragedy off the coast of Antarctica in the Weddell Sea, the painstaking mission to keep an entire crew alive during an Antarctic winter, and eventually rescued against all odds. Those who attended our House launch earlier this year would have heard me tell a condensed version of that story, which is no easy task! How do you condense one of the greatest feats of determination of all time and still do justice to the message it gives us today? As I write this article I feel a similar sense of frustration in needing to sum up a two year adventure in a couple of paragraphs, yet still leave you with a sense of hope and inspiration at what can be accomplished when a group of individuals set their mind to a task and resolve to never give up.

When Shackleton and his crew of 28 men left England in 1914 aboard the Endurance, they were attempting to be the first to cross Antarctica by land, via the South Pole. Some 300 km off the coast of Antarctica, Shackleton experienced sea ice far thicker than expected, and despite weeks of attempting to get Endurance through the ice flows with picks, axes and ropes, eventually tragedy struck when she became trapped in ice. It was only February, which meant Shackleton and crew, would now have to live on the ice until the following Spring when they hoped to free the ship. Things went from bad to worse in October when eventually the pressure of the ice became so great that the ships hull cracked and the Endurance sank to a watery grave, carrying the crew’s hopes with her.

For most of us, the prospect of living unprotected against the elements for months on end would be a step too far. For Shackleton, it was a brutal reality and as such he constructed

a camp and devised a careful set of routines to keep the men active and in high spirits. For six months they lived on the ice, eventually escaping the breaking ice flows in lifeboats and making it safely to the nearby uninhabited, Elephant Island. Once a new camp was established, Shackleton made the incredible decision to launch a rescue mission to reach the Whaling Station on the Island of South Georgia via lifeboat. This epic voyage would go down in history as an unrivalled feat of navigation and determination on the open ocean, seemingly against all odds. The voyage was over 2000 km of cyclone ravaged, freezing and totally inhospitable southern ocean, all in a six metre wooden lifeboat (the James Caird), using only the Sun, Moon and stars for navigation. In fact, it is documented that during the same storm, a 500 ton supply steamer sank only 50 km from their location.

After 15 horrific days at sea, Shackleton and his crew remarkably made landfall on South Georgia. With four of his crew unable to go on, Shackleton and one other then made the 51 km trek across icy, mountainous terrain in an astonishing 36 hours. There they raised the alarm and over the next four months, and with support from Chile, Shackleton personally rescued all of his 28 crew.

We simply can’t appreciate what Shackleton and the crew would have experienced over the two year period of the failed mission and subsequent rescue. All we can surmise is that the will to live and desire to look after one’s friends was enough to endure the impossible. It may be 100 years on in a totally different context, but our students face challenges every day where they have to decide to stick at the task, or give up. As a school community, let’s do everything we can so our students know they are capable of great things. Let’s encourage, inspire, motivate and give them a foundation for success. The world says this generation is pretty quick to give up. Not at PCS; we are raising a generation of Sharks who are ready to stay the course and succeed, no matter what.

Go the Sharks!

Have a great week everyone.

Glen

From the Principal

On March 1, our Primary students and High School Active Volunteering Class joined forces in the Clean Up Australia / Clean Up the School Day.

It was great to see so many of our students get a little dirty in order to make things better for our environment.

Well done to everyone that was involved in the day!

Clean Up Australia Day

Students Help to Cleaning up Australia!

SRC News

Pancake DayAt our third annual PCS Pancake Day we fired up the BBQ and squeezed out the maple syrup to feed our hungry students throughout the day.

Pancakes are always a winner, even the crispy ones that were less round then desired.

The history of pancake day is tied up with church tradition when on the last day before the start of Lent, a period of abstinence or giving things up and fasting before Easter, they would eat up all the fat and sugar in the house - and have a party about it.

Our party means that we could raise money toward supporting our Moomba Team who went to Melbourne to compete over the weekend.

We have some bigger plans for Pancake Day next year, so get excited!

Primary What’s On in Primary Week 7

Thursday 14 March

• It’s π (pi) day. Make sure you have your pie orders in as there won’t be any spares (google pie order forms were email home).

Friday 15 March

• Primary Assembly at 2.20pm.

All families are welcome to attend and join in the worship song and congratulate the award winners. Year 2 will be running this assembly.

Last Thursday Primary students in K-4 went to the Parkes Shire library.

What a great opportunity it is to explore new information, read about adventures in different lands and view beautiful, colourful picture books.

Reading is a great way to improve literacy skills of sounding out words, writing and spelling. Please encourage your children to spend time finding a fabulous book so next time they visit the Parkes Shire library or the school library (each week) they will let their imaginations soar and their literacy skills grow.

We need a volunteer who would be willing to take over the responsibility of organising the student banking through the Students’ Commonwealth Bank program.

If this is you, please contact the school office. Please look out in future newsletters to see when school banking will resume.

Shire Library Dates

Thursday 4 April (Week 10)

New students will require a library card. Miss Barrass will send these forms home for parents to complete and return to PCS.

Students will have the opportunity to get involved in another year of making great artworks for the Annual ‘Waste to Art’ Competitions.

The topic for this year is ‘Baling Twine and Strapping’.

Any donations of baling twine and strapping would be greatly appreciated. Please leave your donation at the front office.

High School

$$$ Raised for MoombaA massive thank you to the families, staff, students, SRC and wider community for donating and supporting our Moomba Team’s fundraising efforts. Our students fundraised at the Swimming Carnival (BBQ), Pancake Day, Bake Sale and Staff Car Wash. All of these events have helped our team raise just over $2000.

We wish the PCS Moomba Team goodluck as they head down to Melborne this weekend.

High School

Maths is Fun #7A Product crossword

If every letter of the solution is given its position in the alphabet as a number (with A=1, B=2, C=3 and so on), then the clues are the products for each word. (For example, the clue for MAD would be 13 x 1 x 4 = 52;

the clue for DAM would also be 52.)

Hint: Go for 1 across and 2 down.

Remember there is a reward for sending in a complete solution to these questions.

Email your solution to Mr Quince for the chance to win!

j.quince@parkescs.nsw.edu.au

Maths Challenge

How to be JOYFUL when learning MathematicsBeing JOYFUL when learning Mathematics

I was taunted last week on Facebook Messenger by one of our parents with this:

How true this is.

It is unfortunate that in our current life, and no doubt into our future, we do not take time to understand, rather we need to have it, and everything else, now, rather than waiting patiently.

Higher levels of mathematics can only be reached by a concerted, patient effort, dealing with the foundations of number, then discovering the patterns involved.

When you see the patterns, that is when you understand that there is beauty in Mathematics that is indescribable, it can inspire art, music and even filmmakers.

So to be joyful in learning means you have to be patient.

There is a modern ‘rush’ in the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, but you need to have crawled before you run. Get the basics right first, be patient, then move forward. Without patience, there is no understanding.

The benefit of Competitions in the Development of Problem Solving

Every day there we are confronted with different problems, and even the mundane require to be solved if we are to get anywhere in our life. Sometimes we do things one way, but there is always a better way.

I was once asked what was the easiest way to refold a map. I replied “Differently”.

There is always a better way with every problem, and that is why participating in Mathematics competitions are important in developing problem-solving skills.

Please ensure that you complete the Form for the Australian Mathematics Trust Competitions, these are three competitions that are part of your school fees, so there is no extra cost for running them.

Plus there are prizes and certificates to receive!

High School

The answer to Maths is Fun #5 The answer to Maths is Fun #6

Why not try a few questions from previous Kangourou Sans Frontier competitions at

https://competitions.amt.edu.au/index.php?action=user_competitions

The three competitions are covered by your school fees.

RAGE RAGE RAGE DOVEOver the next five weeks leading up to the end of term, students in years 9 and 10 wil be undertaking special programs to deal with specific issues. The boys will be undertaking the RAGE (Re-navigating Anger and Guilty Emotions) seeks to improve connectedness and is an inclusive course designed to lead the boys through the issues that they are dealing with.

The course will be delivered by Catholic Care representatives.

The girls will be participating in an in-house program being developed by Miss Harris and Mrs Lynn.

Any queries, please contact Mr Quince.

CELEBRATE 'Π' DAY MARCH 14

ππ

π

ππ

π

ππ

3.14159265358979323846264338327950288419716939937510582097494459230781640

62

86

20

89

98

62

80

34

82

53

42

11

70

67

98

21

48

08

65

13

28

23

06

64

70

93

84

46

09

55

05

82

23

17

25

35

94

08

12

84

81

11

74

50

28

41

02

70

19385211055596446229489549303819644288109756659334461284756482337867831652

71

20

19

09

14

56

48

56

69

23

46

03

48

61

04

54

32

66

48

21

33

93

60

72

60

24

91

41

27

37

24

58

70

06

60

63

15

58

81

74

88

15

20

92

09

62

82

92

5

M.A.D.DMUSIC | ART | DANCE | DRAMA

NIGHT

Regular Notices

The next

P&F Meeting

is Thursday,

11 April

from 7pm

in the School

Staff Room.

Everyone is welcome

Music @ PCS in Room D3 Get involved in Music with our fun lunchtime activities. Music is proven to help with academic study and overall wellbeing.

Monday Lunchtime 1pm - High School Chapel Band practice.

Thursday Lunchtime 1pm - Choir practice - Years 3-12.

Student Welfare Have a question about student welfare? K-2 Mrs Elizabeth Harris e.harris@parkescs.nsw.edu.au

Year 3-6 Mr Matthew Denmead m.denmead@parkescs.nsw.edu.au

High School Boys Mr Jay Quince j.quince@parkescs.nsw.edu.au

High School Girls Miss Hollie Oates h.oates@parkescs.nsw.edu.au

2019 School Term Dates

Term 1: Tues 29 Jan - Fri 12 Apr (Years 1-12)

Wed 30 Jan - Fri 12 Apr (Kindy)

Term 2: Monday 29 Apr - Friday 5 Jul

Term 3: Monday 29 Jul - Friday 27 Sep

Term 4: Monday 14 Oct - Wed 11 Dec

Homework Hub

Primary and High School students can come along to Homework Hub each Monday from 3.15pm - 4pm. This is a great chance to work on assessments and to get study tips.

Term 1 Library Days

Kinder - Thursday

Year 1 - Monday

Year 2 - Thursday

Year 3 - Thursday

Year 4 - Tuesday

Year 5 - Wednesday

Year 6 - Tuesday

Note: Books can be borrowed for up to two weeks

Primary Sport

All primary students will participate in sport on Fridays.

Normal uniform is expected to be worn on Monday to Thursday with sport uniform to be worn on Fridays.

Please remember hats and a bottle of water during the upcoming summer months.

Relay for LifeJoin Parkes Christian School at Pioneer Oval for the ‘Relay for Life’ on Saturday 23rd March from 1:45pm until 8am Sunday 24th March.

To signup for the PCS Team go to the link below!

https://www.cancercouncil.org.au/relayforlife/teams/ei00050565/

Don’t forget to SAVE the DATE!

SRC Term 1 Dates14 March Pi Day

22 March Relay for Life BBQ

5 April Hot Food Day

School & Community Notices

Parkes and District Netball Association are looking for players who like to have fun and be part of a team to register for

their 2019 Saturday Morning Junior Competition

SEASON: 2019 Season: 6th April 2019 to 17 August, 2019 (breaking for school holidays) DIVISIONS: Net: From Kindergarten to Year 2 Set: Years 3 and 4 (modified rules) Go (Division 2): Years 5 and 6 Division 1: High School COST: FREE for those using their Active Kids Voucher for Netball ($100 for those not using their voucher) REGISTRATIONS: Registrations are now open and must be completed online via MyNetball by 24th March 2019. Information on how to do this can be found at www.parkesna.nsw.netball.com.au

Parkes Hockey Incorporated