Pacific Brook Christian School

Pacific Brook Christian School
                                                      School Office: 65431114
                                               Principal: David O’Hara 0427 793 287
                                             Email: principal@pacificbrook.nsw.edu.au

             Website: http://www.pacificbrook.nsw.edu.au      Pacific Brook Christian School

                               Newsletter Friday 17th May 2019
Upcoming Events:                  NAPLAN – National Assessment Program Literacy and
                                  Numeracy
Saturday 18th May                 This week students in Year 3 and Year 5 at Pacific Brook Christian
11:00am Pacific Brook             School, and indeed across the nation, sat the NAPLAN tests. The
Christian School performance      NAPLAN tests assess students’ skills in Reading, Writing, Spelling,
at Muswellbrook Railway
                                  Grammar and Maths.
Station

Wednesday 22nd May                The NAPLAN tests can provide a helpful snapshot of how students
Kindergarten to Year 2 going      are progressing in these subjects. But we need to be careful not to
to Picnic in the Park, at         place too much importance on these tests. A child’s worth is not
Simpson Park.                     summed up on how well they do in a test. All children are unique,
                                  and have special gifts and talents. All children, and all people, are
Monday 27th May                   loved by God. We strive to value all children for who they are and to
Bengalla Mine Tour for Year 5     help them to progress in all areas of learning and development.
Monday 3rd June                   The NAPLAN test results are released in September.
6pm Open Evening and
Dinner, with information about
Middle School, Year 7, and the    Open Evening
PAL class.                        On Monday, June 3rd Pacific Brook Christian School will be holding
                                  an Open Evening.
Friday 7th June
Tennis for Primary students       At the Open Evening you will be able to find out what PBCS offers
                                  you and your children. You will also be able to find out about Middle
Friday 28th June                  School and the beginning of Year 7 in 2020.
Tennis for Primary students
                                  If you know anyone who is interested in the school, please let them
Friday 5th July                   know about the Open Evening.
Last Day Term 2

Monday 29th July                  Play and Learn Class
First day Term 3                  In Terms 3 and 4 Pacific Brook Christian School will again be running
                                  a PAL Class. PAL stands for Play and Learn. This class is for
                                  children who will be starting Kindergaten in 2020. The aims of the
                                  PAL class are:
                                   To provide a smooth transition to school, which helps in a child’s
                                  academic and social development
                                   To create an exciting and engaging place for children to learn
                                  and explore
                                   To enable students to learn important pre literacy and pre
                                  numeracy skills
                                   To introduce children to the cultural aspects of school life

                                  The PAL class will be run on Tuesday mornings from 9:00am to
                                  12:30pm, starting on July 30th.

                                  The PAL class is free, and is open to any child who is starting
                                  Kindergatern next year.

If your child attends Muswellbrook Pre School on Tuesdays, we will be able to walk your child to the
Pre School at 12:30pm.

If you know of anyone with a child starting school next year, please let them know about the PAL
class. Please contact the school if you would like further information.

150th Years of Railway Celebration
On Saturday 18th of May Muswellbrook Railway Station will be
celebrating 150 years of operation. As part of the celebrations
there will be a variety of stalls and activities at the station from
8:00am to 2:00pm.

Pacific Brook Christian School will be performing some songs
from 11:00am. It would be great if as many students as possible
are able to attend and be part of this performance. Students
should be at the station by 10:45am, and they will need to wear
their winter school uniform. The performance will be over by
approximately 11:15am.

The school will also be holding a stall at the celebrations. As well
as providing information about the school, the stall will be selling
beautiful succulents and cards.

Power FM Brekky
On Thursday morning Power FM broadcast from the school. It was great to have Stolzy and Damo
at school and enjoy some fun and breakfast.

Picnic in the Park
Next Wednesday the Kindergarten and Year 1-2 class will be performing at the Picnic in the Park.
The Picnic in the Park is held in Simpson Park. The students and teachers will be leaving school at
around 10:45 am to walk to Simpson Park. Their performance is at 11:15am. Students will return to
school at around 12:00pm.

The school will also be holding a school stall at the Picnic in the Park.

Athletics Carnival
The ribbons from the recent Athletics Carnival will be presented at school next Friday morning,
May 24th, before the whole school Devotions. Parents, family members and friends are welcome
to come into the Primary room to see the children presented with their ribbons.

Primary Excursion
This week a note was sent home about the overnight excursion for the Primary class. We will be
going to Camp Elim, near Forster, on the mid north coast of NSW. The students will be able to

participate in a number of outdoor activities, as well as further develop their skills in Geography and
Science. The excursion will occur from November 19th to 22nd.

To help in the planning for this excursion, we would like to know how many students will be attending.
We have asked parents of Year 3 to Year 6 parents to return the slip attached to the note sent home
indicating if your child will be attending. We also request that if your child is attending this excursion
that you pay a $50 deposit to the school. This amount will be deducted from the final amount of the
excursion.

If you pay by direct deposit into the school bank account, please mark the deposit as “excursion” so
that it does not get confused with school fees. Alternatively, you can email Janet Swalwell (who
looks after the school’s bank account) a remittance of the transfer. Janet’s email is
jswalwell@pacifichills.net. If you have any questions about this excursion, please contact David
O’Hara.

Kindergarten
For Maths this week, Kindergarten revisited multiplication ('groups of'). We are becoming really good
at remembering that when we have a group, we need a hoop. We have also been learning to read
o'clock time, and have become quite confident ('that's so easy!'). Most of the flowers we planted last
week during Science have started to grow. We are excited to watch their progress as we make sure
their needs are being met.

Year One/Two News
This week during science in the Infants classroom the students have had a great time experimenting.
We have celery, water, food colouring and sunlight. The students are waiting in anticipation to see
the results of the experiment.

Thank you to all who turned up for the Power FM brekkie morning yesterday. The students had a
great morning outside in the fresh morning air.

Primary News

The Primary students had fun at their first tennis lesson today. Brad Westgate, who is a qualified
tennis coach, coaches the students in smaller groups, and then the students can practise their skills
on the other courts.

Awards

Kindergarten
Arna         Great work learning o'clock time.
Harrison     Good improvement in his handwriting.
Jade         Completing her first hundreds chart.
Lachlan      Good improvement in his handwriting.

Year One and Two
Aby           Fluent reading in reading groups
Charlette     Excellent recall of friends of ten in our Maths
game.
Keith         Really good verbal spelling in spelling game,
Excellent independent work in multiplication.
Kenzie        Fabulous independent alphabetical order work.
Lucas         Really good verbal spelling in spelling game.
Oliver        Great counting in Maths.
April         Excellent work with reading booklet.
Calen         Great work in spelling cloze sentences, Great role play acting during drama- Jack and
              the beanstalk
India         Improved confidence in group reading, For being a caring and considerate friend
Kayla         Great work in multiplication, Fluent reading in reading groups.
Liliaana      Great work in reading cards.
R             Great work in reading cards.
Zanel         Great work in reading cards.

Year 3 to Year 6
Archie       For being a kind and considerate friend outside, Great work in Reading
Tekoa        Successfully completing 10 levels on Reading Eggspress
Lachlan      Successfully completing 10 levels on Reading Eggspress, Excellent work in adding
             and subtracting fractions in class
Jacob        Great interpretative thinking in studying the novel “Once” in class.
Lexie        Her conscientious work in each subject

Please do not bring egg, nut or seafood products into Pacific Brook Christian School

Anaphylaxis is a potentially life threatening condition where sufferers are susceptible to severe
allergic reaction to certain foods and other things in the environment. Since the safety of the children
in our care is of the upmost importance, Pacific Brook Christian School aims to be an egg, nut and
seafood free school. As such, please do not send any foods to school containing these items. Please
see the website for more information about alternatives to popular foods and recipes.

Thank you for your assistance in helping keep all our students healthy and safe.