COMMUNITY NEWS23 August 2019 : Term 3 Week 4

Principal’s Message

Our VisionTo foster a Christ centred learning community where all students receive an education which enables them to know

the Lord Jesus Christ, grow in Him and serve Him to their full potential.

Term 326 Aug

Secondary Snr Boys & Girl Basketball

27 AugHSC Showcase

Evening

28 Aug CSSA U15s & Opens

Oztag Gala Day

Primary Father’s Day Stall

30 Aug Primary Father’s Day

Breakfast & Assembly

4 SeptPrimary CSSA Mixed

Oztag Gala Day

5 SeptSecondary Prefect

Induction

Regents Park Christian School

59 Regent Street, Regents Park, 2143

Ph: 9644 5144 Fax: 9743 7082

principal@rpcs.nsw.edu.au

New Secondary Prefects One of the many ways we help students at RPCS to develop their gifts is through our Prefect leadership training program in Primary and Secondary.

In the Secondary department, Prefects are elected from Years 10 and 11. Each year, before our Prefects leave us at the end of Year 12, the Secondary students and school staff elect new Prefects, mainly from Year 10.

This year, under the wise guidance of our Prefect Adviser, Mrs Mowczko, suitable Year 10 candidates were nominated by staff. Before the Secondary students voted at Assembly, the criteria for serving as a Prefect were made very clear, to avoid a popularity vote.

These criteria are:

1. Do they reflect a love for the Lord Jesus Christ and others? 2. Do I respect them to the extent that I would listen to what they say as a leader? 3. Do they show a willingness to serve the community? 4. Are they the kind of person I would like to follow as an example? 5. Do they support, in their attitudes and actions, the vision and principles of the school?

We congratulate the following students from Year 10 who have now been elected as Prefects. Please pray that this will be a wonderful opportunity for each of them to develop and use their leadership gifts as they seek to serve God and set an example to other students. Pray that they will show our values of Honour, Community and Stewardship and be an encouragement to our whole school community as we together Grow Up Into Christ.

Girls: Harmony Dolce, Bella Kim, Rebekah Lee, Emma Luchko, Isabella Luchko, Tori Oreshkin, Hailey Wi, Ela Yagami.

Boys: Mackenzie Bolger, Emanuel Eid, Alex Ndlovu, Xavier Paulo, Judah Pulu, Jared Simion, Moses Tenga.

These students will be officially inducted on Thursday 5 September and, in the following week, will join with Year 11 Prefects and the outgoing Year 12 Captains at the Prefect Retreat.

Watch this space next week for news of our new Secondary School Captains.

Les Barnard

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“In year 12 I held the belief that I had to know what I wanted

to do when I graduated. But what I found more important

was to do my best at what was in front of me and leave the rest to God.”

Bianca is an HR Advisor for a health and wellness or-ganization in Sydney. After her graduation in 2014, Bianca attended The University of Sydney where she completed a Bachelor of Health Science and majored in Human Resources and Industrial Relations. She recently she married a fellow RPCS graduate, Na-than Guerra and she is now completing a Masters in Health Law.

If you ask Bianca if whether this is the field that she envisioned herself working in, the answer would be no. “All I knew when I graduated is that I wanted to work within the Health Industry. However, I had no idea what I wanted to do. In Year 12 I was looking into Pharmacy, Dentistry and all allied health professional roles. I never thought I would end up doing a Business major, and lat-er be doing a Masters in Law.”

During her time at RPCS, Bianca was involved in nu-merous activities and mission trips. On these mission trips including Dubbo in 2012 and Cherbourg in 2013, where she had the opportunity to learn about differ-ent cultures, how to serve selflessly and how to love unconditionally. These experiences encouraged her develop her passion to serve others. She has found this invaluable working in the health industry, which is very people-centred.

Like many of our students, some of her most valued and cherished moments in her Secondary education was based around the relationships she developed with her peers and her teachers. RPCS prides them-selves itself on seeing students as people first and students second. Our teachers and staff develop gen-uine relationships with our student cohort and not only encourage them to succeed in their academic performances but in all areas of their lives.

For Bianca, Mrs Freixas was that teacher. As Bianca’s Year Advisor, Mrs Freixas was not only committed to ensuring that Bianca excelled in all her subjects, but she also devoted time outside of the classroom

Bianca Guerra - Class of 2014HR Advisor - Health

to make sure that Bianca’s Wellbeing was healthy and strong physically, mentally and spiritually. This often included some friendly cartwheel competi-tions. To this day, Mrs Freixas is a valued member of not only Bianca’s journey, but her husband, Na-than’s too. So much so that she was a guest at their wedding late last year.

For Bianca, school was a journey where she learnt more about herself and the importance of the com-munity with which you surround yourself. Some of Bianca’s words for our current students are to “En-joy school, but make sure you make the most out of your time there.”

ALL SCHOOL NEWS

Spring Fair Expressions of Interest

Do you want to be involved?

We are looking for people who would like to hold a stall

and sell something on the day (food, drinks, art & crafts, etc).

If you are interested or would like more information,

please email:

Rachel Levingston and Steph Olmos

(School Development Officers)

rlevingston@rpcs.nsw.edu.au

solmos@rpcs.nsw.edu.au

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Supporting your child’s safe online social networking

Social networking is an extension of offline friendships and we should treat people respectfully in the same way we do in real life.

Chatting to friends using IM, chat or social networking is a great way to stay in touch and make new friends. How-ever, your child should always keep in mind that there are some risks meeting people online—especially if they don’t know them in real life.

Discuss the following aspects with your child to help them safely enjoy social networking.

• Limit your friend list. Do you know your online friends in the real world? If not, consider changing your settings to limit interaction with them or re-move them.

• Protect personal information. Restrict information that people can use to access your finances, and to identify where you live, work or go out.

• Check on your images. Does everything about your life really need to be online? How might this affect you and your reputation in the future? Take a look at the eSafety website for some tips for taking photos and videos and sharing them online.

• Stay respectful. Are your posts respectful to friends and others? This is real life; being online is no excuse for bad behaviour.

• Think twice before meeting offline. If you want to meet someone offline it is essential to take an adult with you, meet in the daytime and in a public place. Don’t share personal information too early.

• It is important to note that there may be age restrictions that apply to your child joining a social network. Many popular social networks are restricted to users above 13

Book week reading challenge - “Read-ing is my secret power”

Reading is my secret power to discover new things… Reading is my secret power to go places… Reading is my secret power to earn points for my tribe…

How do you do that? All students & staff are invited to participate in the Book Week Reading challenge during Week 3 to Week 5 this term.

Students from Kindergarten to Year 8 have been giv-en a “Reading Passport” to record their reading and to see the points they are collecting. Staff and stu-dents from Year 9 to 12 can record their reading in the poster in the Library, so that points can be tallied and added to their tribe. Together we can do this!!

Premier’s Reading Challenge

Premier’s Reading Challenge is ending soon. Please make sure you enter in your record before Friday, 30 August. If you need assistance, you can email Mrs Budiawan at: library@rpcs.nsw.edu.au with your re-quest.

Government rules re student absence from school

The Minister for Education approved changes to the use of the Attendance Register codes in 2015. In short, the standard states:

Holidays - Holidays taken by students outside of school vacation periods will now be included as absences. A Certif-icate of Exemption will no longer be granted for this purpose. Families are encouraged to holiday or travel during school vacations.

If travel during a school term IS NECESSARY, a request for absence should be addressed to the Principal clearly explaining the reason for the travel, the dates of absence, and, if travelling overseas, a copy of the itinerary should be attached.

If the Principal does not believe the absence is in the best interests of the student or does not accept the reason, the student will be marked as absent on the register.

If the absence is in excess of 50 days the student may be eligible to enrol in Distance Education. (NB: A student cannot be enrolled in more than one school concurrently – including Distance Education).

years of age. Check out the infographic “Is there an age limit for kids on social media?”

If your child or someone they know wants to talk about challenging online friendships, call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or eheadspace on 1800 650 890.

PRIMARY NEWS

Father’s Day

On Friday, 30 August we will be having our Father’s Day Breakfast and Assembly. We want all the important men in our students’ lives to attend,

so that we can honour you for the role you play. Be there!

Absence Notification from School due to Illness – Notification

After a recent meeting with the AIS Attendance Consultant, the school executive has modified some of our proce-dures regarding absence notification. From now on, you may phone, send a text message, email, as well as send in a written note.

The most important point to remember is that you must provide the school with an explanation within seven (7) days of your child’s return. After this date, the school must record your child’s absence as unexplained.

Please contact the school office or your child’s teacher if you have any questions or concerns.

Father’s Day Stall Wednesday 27 August

We will be holding our Father’s Day Stall on Wednesday 27 August. Gifts will be available for students to pur-chase in their dedicated class time. Gifts range from $3 to $10.

Primary Assembly

Each Friday (9:00-9:30am) we will be holding our Primary assembly in the school hall. This is a time when our Primary classes come together to celebrate God’s goodness. Parents and friends are very welcome to attend, particularly when your child’s class is rostered to share in assembly. Stageassembly dates are listed below for your convenience:

Class Date

Father’s Day Assembly 30 August

Kindy 6 September

Book Week Assembly 13 September

Stage 2 20 September

Stage 1 27 September

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Important Dates in Term 4: 7 and 29 November

Looking ahead we have some important dates that we would like you to mark in your calendar:

Thursday, 7 November - Outdoor Classroom Day.

Our school will be joining with thousands of schools across the world and taking our learning outside on this day. Outdoor Classroom Day recognises the impor-tance of being outside and experiencing the wonderful world that God has created. We are still exploring how we could do this, but we would love to have our par-ents share with us on this day. For more information visit www.outdoorclassroomday.com.au.

For those of you who would like to get started early, Nature Passport is a fantastic free app for your smart phones. Nature Passport has been designed to help families play, learn and explore outdoors. For more in-formation visit www.naturepassport.org.

Friday, 29 November – Primary Presentation Assem-blies

It is a long way off, but this will be the date of our Pri-mary Presentation Assemblies (morning) and our Pri-mary Celebration (evening). This year our musical is “Peace Child” which is based upon the amazing story by the Canadian missionary, Don Richardson, about his experiences with the Sawa people of Irian Jaya.

Welcome to Schoolbox

All of our parents should have received an invitation to access Schoolbox, our new Learning Management System. While this has been in operation for students in Years 6-12, our parents have not had access. With the opening of the parent portal, parents K-12 have been given access. As yet, students in Kindergarten to Year 4 do not have access. We will be using Schoolbox as a means to communicate generic class information to our Primary parents (e.g. excursions, notes, etc). We will not be able to post individual student work yet.

For those parents in Stage 1 who have enjoyed Seesaw, the Year 1 and 2 classes will continue to use this ap-plication to communicate student achievement for the remainder of this year.

Thank you for your patience as we learn how to make use of this resource. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.

Family Breakfast & Devotion(FB & D)

Time: Every Tuesday 8:00 - 8:40am Location: Room H4

Students leave for class by 8:40am and parents are welcome to stay for fellowship until 9:00am.

Debating

On Thursday, 15 August 2019, the Year 6 Debating Team went to Toongabbie Christian College to com-pete in their fourth and final debate this year against Berowra Christian School. The debaters have worked collaboratively and diligently for two weeks in prepara-tion for this debate, arguing on the affirmative side for the topic, ‘Pocket money should be earned’. They have also demonstrated a deep understanding of God’s Word in their incorporation of relevant Bible verses to present their case from a Biblical perspective. This has resulted in a very pleasing and well-deserved win for our debating team. Well done to our debaters!

Debaters: Janelle Lwin, Caitlyn Nguyen, Minh-Nghi Chu, Jordane Limbu, Sam Tanama, Isabelle Da Silva

Miss Kim

Scripture Challenge – John 1: 1-18 (ICB)

This term, we are again celebrating the blessing that is Scripture. We are encouraging all of Primary to memo-rise John 1:1-18 (ICB). Children can memorise as much or as little as they wish, but it would be lovely to have all of Primary standing together (including the parents) and reciting all 18 verses of this brilliant proclamation of our Risen Lord. Each week, we will be promoting about 3 verses. This week’s verses are in bold:

“Before the world began, there was the Word. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were made through Him. Nothing was made without Him. In Him there was life. That life was light for the people of the world. The Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overpowered the Light.”

Jazz Concert Trip: Parents Day Out

Date: Thursday 29 August (during school time)

If you are interested in the day trip, please contact Michelle Lin for more information via mlin@rpcs.nsw.edu.au or 0435-992010.

Return and Earn

Our blue Return and Earn Bins have arrived! Please don’t throw away your eligible containers because we are now able to redeem them! We will receive 10c for Compassion for every contain-er returned. If you would like to bring in any eligible containers from home, these would be gratefully re-ceived.

Visit http://www.returnandearn.org.au/ for more information.

Operation Christmas Child

Once again, we are supporting the good work of Samaritan’s Purse by preparing Christmas boxes for children in the Asia Pacific region. We are encouraging each family to participate and prepare a box for a boy or girl. This year, they are providing us with lists of shoebox gift ideas which are shown below. Boxes will be available from the Primary office in the weeks ahead.

Crunch n Sip

Good nutrition and healthy eating habits are an impor-tant part of learning. Each morning our students en-joy Crunch n Sip, when they will have a drink of water and eat a serving of fresh fruit or vegetables. We ask parents to support this, by providing your child with a serving of fresh fruit or vegetables for their Crunch n Sip break. Students should also bring a drink bottle filled with water.

Rather than sweets or a packet of chips, why not pack a second Crunch n Sip for your child to enjoy at recess time?

Each week, the Cancer Council of NSW provide us with nutrition snippets to encourage healthy habits. Here are some tips for packing a healthy lunch box.

Nutrition Snippet

healthylunchbox.com.au

… to use winter vegetables.

Don’t feel like salad during winter? Here are some fruit and veg filled, winter ideas. Cook extra for dinner and dessert and pack leftovers for lunch.

• Baked vegetables such as pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot

• Mushroom, spinach and lentil lasagna • Sweet potato and lentil curry • Salmon and potato cakes • Shepherd’s pie • Stewed apples and sultanas • Healthy apple crumble

For these recipes and more visit

healthylunchbox.com.au

Mastering the Art of Parenting

Parenting is an ever-shifting space. The rules seem to change as quickly as the seasons, new ‘types of parents to avoid being’ pop up as buzzwords all the time (lawn-mower parent, helicopter parent, drone parent to name a few). It can be hard to feel as if we are ever nailing it. Even if we feel like we are finally making strides with one child, then they go and reach a new stage of develop-ment, leaving us high and dry again.

Ultimately, we all want the best for our children. But this can look so different. Do we hover around to catch them if they fail? Stand as far back as possible and give them independence? Perhaps we find ourselves bouncing be-tween the two extremes, hoping that somehow, some-thing we are doing is having a positive impact.

There are many quotes about control, not the least of which that it is a complete illusion. This can be devastat-ing to the more control-oriented among us, but it could also be cause for relief. All those sleepless nights spent tossing and turning over how to handle adolescent prob-lems may not really be helping us to be better parents.

Well, if we can’t control our kids, what can we control? Ourselves.

It isn’t a glamorous answer by any means, and it does require work. But the reality is, the most powerful influ-ence we have over our children is not our well-timed lec-tures (sadly) or our discipline strategies, but the model of our lives.

Have you ever yelled at a child to stop yelling at you? Or stepped over your own piles of clothes to lecture your kid on picking up their own? Pleaded with them to value veggies when you just made a detour through drive-thru because you needed that burger?

Kids are infuriatingly clever. They sort through the mes-sages like ninjas, picking up our habits and reflecting back at us the best and worst of ourselves. It can be maddening to behold your own faults displayed in ado-lescent form, and ultimately very confronting.

What we do know is that parental response is very pow-erful - from our own reactions influencing kids’ anxiety struggles, to our consumption of fruits and vegetables (‘the strongest predictor of a child’s intake of those foods’ according to the study referred to in this article).

What we do matters.

This might make you react in one of two ways.

Option 1: Panic! Complete overwhelm and pressure can take over. ‘Well then, I have to be perfect’, you might con-clude. No. That isn’t the case. When we do make mistakes (which is inevitable, by the way), we have the choice of how to respond. If we then use that moment to say sorry to our kids and explain what was going on for us, this can transform our relationships with them.

Option 2: Relief! Parenting is a tremendous gift. It allows

us the chance to face so many parts of ourselves that we would never have known were there otherwise. Yes, this can be painful, but by exploring why we respond the way we do, we learn so much about ourselves and the world around us. And the best bit? In the process, we equip the next generation with crucial social and emotional skills that help them navigate the complex waters of society with that much more awareness.

So, take heart. Parenting doesn’t have to be too com-plicated. Just take that next step in your own journey and watch the beauty unfold - not only in your life but in the lives of all who surround you.

SECONDARY NEWSNSW School Vaccination Program – Year 10 - Monday, 26 August

Each year NSW Health works in partnership with schools to offer the vaccines recommended by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) for adolescents as part of the school vac-cination program.

In 2019 all Year 10 students are being offered a sin-gle dose of meningococcal ACWY vaccine.

Parent Information Kits for parents/guardians will be sent home from school with your child. Kits in-clude a Parent Information Sheet, Consent Form and a privacy statement.

To consent to the free vaccination of your child, parents/guardians are advised to:

• Read all the information provided • Complete and sign the Consent Form • Return the completed Consent Form to school • Ensure that your child eats breakfast on the

day of the School Vaccination Clinic

Please note if students are absent on the day of the School Vaccination Clinic an SMS will be sent advising you the vaccine will be provided later in the year at school.

For further information, please visit: www.health.nsw.gov.au/Infectious/diseases/Pag-es/meningococcal-w.aspx www.science.org.au/news-and-events/news-and-media-releases/meningococcal-dis-ease-spike-prompts-vaccination-call

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Respect Program

Every fortnight all of Year 7 and 8 start their Tuesday mornings participating in the Respect Program where we focus on teaching and equipping our students with the so-cial and emotional skills they need to thrive. The morning starts with a light breakfast snack together before heading off into four groups: Year 7 girls, Year 7 boys, Year 8 girls and Year 8 boys. Within these smaller groups we are able to adapt the content to better target specific needs within each group.

Leon Nicotra, from Glorious Gospel Church, has been gen-erously giving up his time to come and speak into the lives of our Year 8 boys each week. He has been encouraging the boys to see the reward of resilience, to not give up even when life throws challenges in our way. The boys were giv-en a balloon and 30 seconds to see who could blow it up the biggest without popping it. Unfortunately, some were too eager and just before the 30 second buzzer went off the balloon popped in front of them, startling everyone around them. In the same way, if we allow stress to build up in our lives it can gradually reach the point where some-thing small can cause us to burst and lose our ability to exercise self-control. It is important that we regularly make time to ‘let the air out of the balloon’ so that we don’t build up to the point we explode. We can do this by talking to someone we trust or even by talking to God. This is an im-portant lesson to remember so that we can continue to build a happy and safe community at Regents Park Chris-tian School.

Library

In September the Cumberland Council Library will be running Drug & Alcohol Info Hub program at Merrylands Library. The Drug & Alcohol Info Hub is an interactive information display providing access to quality drug and alcohol information for the community.

The information hub:

• provides people with up to date and accessible information about drugs and alcohol • identifies support networks and agencies within the local community • provides people with discussion points around drug issues in our community

As part of the display they will have NSW Health Drug Facts booklets and other drug and alcohol information, Know Your Standards and Know your drug facts promotional material and activities, including standard drink educational pouring and display kit as well as a very popular beer goggle ‘run’.