PeaceWise

Hopefully, your child has already been coming home talking about PeaceWise. So, what is PeaceWise?

This term, we have introduced a new program called PeaceWiseKids to help support students and staff in dealing with conflict in everyday situations. PeaceWiseKids is a Christian program that equips children to handle challenging relationships and conflicts in healthy, constructive, and
life-changing ways. It is based on the PeaceWise program, which believes that biblical peacemaking is the most hope-filled, practical, and profound approach to dealing with conflict available to people. The program aims to equip students with principles that foster stronger, better relationships.

PeaceWise seeks to help individuals and whole communities adopt healthy relationship practices using these principles to build true communities of peace. By maintaining or reconciling relationships using biblical principles, people are also drawn closer to God: both those who already know Him and those who witness a Christian approach to conflict.

At the start of the school year, all teachers and chaplains attended PeaceWise training. This training provided an overview of the course and equipped staff to deliver the program at Northern. Not only are all classes participating in the program, but we have also aligned the material so that we all simultaneously focus on the same topics at age-appropriate levels. We will maintain this
whole-school focus throughout the year as we roll out the program.

This term, all classes are focusing on the following topics:

• What is conflict?

• Where does conflict come from?

• What is God’s peace plan for us?

• How can conflict be an opportunity?

Throughout the program, visual aids will be introduced in the form of posters and illustrations designed to help students recall the skills and strategies they are learning to become peacemakers. Placed in classrooms and around the school, key concepts include the '5 A's of Apology,' the '4 Choices of Forgiving,' and 'Staying on Top of Conflict.'

If you would like further information on our PeaceWiseKids program, your child’s teacher will be happy to speak with you. We hope to keep you updated with PeaceWise topics we will cover this year and information you may wish to apply in the home environment too.  

We hope and pray that this program will be enriching for us all as we look at responding to conflict in a way that is shaped by the Gospel. We pray that our students will be equipped with biblical peacemaking skills. I encourage you to ask your children about their experiences and lessons as we make our way through the program.

Samuel Whittle - Pastoral Care Coordinator

Our Year 6 students have been in barista training this year and are now ready to open The Daily Dose Cafe!

Thanks to the generous donation of the Community Engagement Committee of the cafe-style coffee machine, students have taken on this new opportunity with great enthusiasm, learning to make a variety of coffees such as flat white, cappuccino, latte and, of course, hot chocolate for $3.00.

EFTPOS is available (no cash) and we look forward to starting our week sharing a dose of warmth and energy with families.

It has been a very busy and productive semester in Year 4, as students put our school values into practice every day.

During Term 1, we have focused on sustainability and how we can be sustainable in our daily lives. This included exploring how we compost our food waste, our use of water and how Indigenous Australians use sustainable practices within their culture. Students learnt that even though we recycle many items, more can be done as there is still a lot of waste in landfills. As a part of this unit, students demonstrated servant-hearts as they participated in Clean Up Australia Day at the Bridgewater Esplanade playground. Students also enjoyed making recycled paper from scrap paper. Students learnt about cycles that occur naturally within our environment and created dioramas representing the water cycle.

Term 2 started with the Year 3 and 4 Camp. This was an amazing opportunity for students to try new activities whilst learning about trust, faith, and resilience in practical ways. Many activities encouraged students to work together to achieve a challenge as well as support each other through facing fears. It was beautiful to observe our students encouraging each other and celebrating their achievements together with the acknowledgement that an activity that seems fun and exciting for one person can be scary and terrifying for another.

In HASS, students have started learning about life in Britain leading up to the colonisation of Australia and the First Fleet. This has proven to be an opportunity for students to be grateful as they realise how blessed we are to live in Australia and have access to good food, clean water, and medical and educational facilities.

We look forward to sharing more of our learning later in the year.

Tara Williams - Year 4 Teacher

Thursday, 20 June 10.45am - 12.30pm

Please join our Northern community for Grandparent’s Day! Enjoy FREE barista-made coffee and delicious morning tea with your grandchildren!

The aim of the occasion is to build the connections and community that our students have with their grandparents in their lives. You can RSVP via our Facebook event.

Kinder Grandparent’s Day will be held on Wednesday, October 23. More information will be provided closer to this event.

Friday, 5 July
Free Dress and Pizza!

On the last day of Term 2, we will be holding our Aussie Bush Dance! This is a great opportunity for students to showcase the skills they have learnt as part of their Dance unit in PE.

Parents are welcome to join the students as they kick their heels up to the ‘Heel and Toe Polka’, ‘Strip the Willow’ and many other bush dance favourites while enjoying some ‘Dancing Food!'

This will be a bush dance-themed free-dress day for students, so get your dosey-doe on and come join us:

• Prep - Year 2 from 11.30am - 12.30pm

• From 12.30 pm (Opportunity for photos and music)

• Years 3 - 6 from 1.30pm - 2.30 pm Year 3 to Year 6

• From 2.30pm (Opportunity for photos and music)

We look forward to seeing you here.

Peter Humphrey - Physical Education Teacher

Community Engagement Committee - Pizza Lunch

The CEC will be taking pre-orders for 2 slices of pizza (variety on the day - GF options available) and a juice box for $5.00 via QKR!

No cash/food will be able to be purchased on the day, and no late orders will be accepted, so please get your orders in by 4.00pm Wednesday, 3 July.

We would love some help with serving the lunch from 12.30pm onwards. Please email the Community Engagement Committee if you would like to help.

Community Engagement Committee

Art Competition

We are running a competition for students to create an artwork of Eli’s workshop on top of a hill.

The winning artwork will be displayed during the school production as a backdrop on the big screen. Your artwork can be:

• A drawing

• A painting

• A collage (provided it is flat and can be made digital)

• A3 or A4 in size

Entries are to be handed to Mrs Williams by Friday, 26 July with the winner announced at lineup on Monday, 5 August.

Tara Williams - Production Coordinator