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What we do with our lives, and daily opportunities is therefore, critical. Although we live so far from the current fighting, we are global citizens; our lives will be impacted in differing ways. Therefore, we need to ensure that we treat each day with the reverence it deserves.

When we draw down to our lives and our School, there is an impact for each member of our community. The decisions you make for today will impact tomorrow. The choices before you need careful consideration. And at day’s end, I hope that the rest coming to each of us, will be prefaced with a period of reflection, and gratitude, for the experiences and achievements of the day. Experiences and achievements are driven by your attitude. The importance of education must never be underestimated. And history, has never been more key as it provides us with a framework to understand the past, the present and to shape the future. It is by understanding why the figures of history thought in the way they did, and why they acted in particular ways, that will assist us to make decisions with contemporary understanding, and hopefully, wisdom.  There is no place for denying the importance and relevance of history.

I continue to be impressed by the big hearts of so many of our students. Responding to the situation in Ukraine, the floods of NSW and Queensland, and the ongoing concerns with mental health in our Northern Beaches community and acknowledging the wonderful work of our frontline workers; each of these has seen students come forward with suggestions for support, and actions already in place. I could not be more proud. Students are doing their research and seek out ways for their initiative to make the greatest impact. Our Core Values under the mnemonic HEROIC, are being played out daily, across our School.

In this vein, I share an opportunity for us as a community to support a collective initiative from the Association of Independent Schools of NSW, the AIS, of whom Pittwater House is a member. I have attached their details on how each of us can support the victims of the catastrophic flooding. I commend this to you all.

Continuing my introduction of new members of our Staff, I am grateful to Ms Kim Burgess, Mr Will Ansell, and Mr Bruce Gemmell for providing a snapshot of their journey to Pittwater House. I know that each of these Staff members have appreciated the warmth of the welcome afforded them.

Welcome to these new members of the Pittwater House family.

The challenges that each member of our community faced yesterday have further tested our collective capacity. Whilst we are faced with large numbers of student absences with COVID or in isolation, we are also battling with equally large staff absence. We are doing all we can to give your sons and daughters the best experience given the circumstances.

So, whilst we have been shocked and numbed by the events daily playing out on our screens and in print, I would ask that you ponder my opening phrase… every day is a bonus… how will this play out in your life today, and tomorrow, and beyond?

I wish you well and I am looking forward to greeting you on Campus again, whether at Parent Teacher meetings, the end of Term Drinks that I am co-hosting with the PHPA, or as you collect your sons and daughters.

As I reflect on my first five weeks at Pittwater House, I can genuinely attest to the adage ‘time flies when you are having fun’. I have been really enjoying my time immersing myself in our learning culture, so that I may truly start to discover the riches of the Pittwater House difference. I have been focused on both the student and professional life at TPHS. Through incidental dialogue with students in the playground and targeted dialogue in the classroom during learning walks, I am deliberately engaging students to articulate their ‘HEROIC’ learning model, as a first step toward building a common language of learning, at TPHS.

I am enjoying immensely the opportunities I’m taking to mingle and chat with our students as they continue to engage me in the Pittwater House learning narrative. As we commence Week 6, it is hard to believe that we are approaching the final slope of Term 2, but as the adage goes, times passes when you are busy, and my goodness; busy the staff have been. It has been my absolute pleasure and privilege to engage our amazing teachers in professional dialogue at Pittwater House as they will continue to collaborate with me in the coming years as together, we grow and enrich our ‘HEROIC’ learning culture. Built on the underlying principles of academic care of the whole person, we are working hard and strategically, to ensure that we continue to embed deep learning, literacy and numeracy strategies targeted at flourishing learners ready for their rapidly evolving lives.

It will be my pleasure to inform the Pittwater House community of the continued growth in student learning outcomes in the coming months and years. Such growth strategies include the articulation of our HEROIC learning model, that will be underpinned by academic care to flourish agentic, highly literate and emotionally intelligent young people. Equally, our teaching staff are working hard to collaborate and share best practice to further enrich the collective efficacy of our already professionally excellent teachers. As I settle into my new role, I invite and wholeheartedly welcome your partnership, as we work with you to ensure that your child is intrinsically motivated, academically and pastorally supported they may truly flourish as a happy well-adjusted young person.

Year 9 PDHPE Incursion

As part of the current Drug and Alcohol unit that Year 9 PDHPE students are studying this term, they attended an incursion titled Smashed. Here they watched a presentation from the company, Gibber, on the harmful effects of alcohol use and abuse. Using live theatre, film and multimedia, the program aims to engage, educate, and inspire the students to achieve a positive change in their attitude and behaviour towards a growing issue in society. 

Last Monday, Year 11 Biology Students got the amazing opportunity of learning about the various ecosystems and the abiotic and biotic relationship at the Garigal National Park (Bantry Bay). Even though the weather was not on our side, we made the most of this incredible opportunity. We were back on memory lane with plenty of knowledge this time as, in our past excursion we learned about the geographical side of the park. During this excursion we investigated some of the indigenous plants such as the Scribbly Gum and how to identify a plant by using its characteristics to identify the plant using plant identifier. There was a beautiful view from Bluff lockout. We fought against the rain as we tested soil and water pH, classified different types of trees, experimented with quadrants, and transects and broadened our knowledge on biotic and abiotic factors. We also came upon plenty of leeches trying to crawl up our legs. Did you know that although the symbiotic relationship of a leech is parasitism, it can also be considered a mutualistic relationship, as leeches are used daily in the medical practice to improve blood circulation and breaking up blood clots? Overall, it was a wonderful experience which allowed for all our theory lessons to be put into practice. Thanks Mrs Leyten and Ms Lamplough for taking the time to take us!

By Zuhi, Rachael, Asha and Brandon

Congratulations to Florence (J6) and Finlay (G7) for their amazing efforts and achievement with their winning entries for the Communication Competition! You will each receive a certificate from Dr Hillier and a $30 book voucher to reward your success.

I was amazed by the overwhelming response to the competition. We have some enormously talented writers at our school. Well done to all the entrants!

How to Lead a Happy Life - Florence (J6)

What is a happy life? I believe that there is no such thing as a ‘happy life’ and that instead we really should be aiming for a stable and contented life. This is a steady balance between feeling sad, anxious or frustrated and happy, joyful or excited. Some ways to achieve this are, bonding with others and nature, practising self-care and accepting yourself.

One vital aspect to living a satisfying life is having a good relationship with other people. This means being able to trust and feel comfortable around someone and love and support each other. For example, when feeling stressed, having someone else to talk to can ease anxiety and help to restore an element of balance. Doing the same for others can also enhance wellbeing and strengthen bonds.

Another way to maintain a contented life is building a bond with nature. For example, shinrin yoku, which is Japanese forest bathing, may improve mental and physical health. This can help to keep a balanced life by giving you the strength to be resilient. It can also lead to other positive things such as empathy and the desire to preserve nature.

Thirdly, self-care is essential for living a balanced life. Taking care of yourself boosts your mental and physical health which, as previously mentioned, can make you stronger. A few examples of self-care include a healthy balanced diet, yoga and meditation, regular exercise and adequate water and sleep.

Finally, you need to be able to accept and love yourself for who you are. It is key to not compare yourself to anyone else, for example. This is because you may not learn to appreciate your own special qualities and that is not the path to contentment and balance.

Overall, we simply can’t be happy all the time and therefore should really be seeking a balance in order to live a fulfilling life.

Happiness is a Journey not a Destination - Finlay (G7)

Happiness is “the state of being happy” and an experience that is different for everyone. People often set an end goal and think that once they have achieved it, they will be happy. They are so focused on that end goal and spend so much time looking into the future that they don’t appreciate what they actually have and think they will only be happy when they achieve their goal. They often think ‘if I achieve this, I will be the happiest person in the world!’ and can become so focused on getting something, that they end up losing out along the way. Even if they do reach their goal, it might make them happy, but they won’t stay in this happy state forever.

Happiness can be found and experienced every day if you want it to. You just need to start being truly grateful for what you have, rather than what you think you need to feel content and cheerful. A simple habit such as being grateful for something every morning gets you off to a great start to the day. If you haven’t tried it, I recommend you do so every day for a week and see the difference it makes.

Happiness is also all about your mindset towards it. If you have a positive mindset, then you will always look on the bright side and you will be experiencing happiness practically all of the time. But if you have a negative mindset, then you will always be unhappy as nothing is ever pleasing you and making you happy. Saying that, you can’t be happy every single waking moment because sometimes things go wrong. Happiness isn’t about being problem free, it is about how you react and what you do to deal with them. I also think to feel real happiness, you need to experience sadness and disappointment, otherwise you can’t fully appreciate the feeling of pure happiness.

You can also find happiness by just stopping and being present in the moment. This can be hard to do at times but being able to meditate really helps as it allows you to be more present and aware of your surroundings as well as clears your mind. If you are able to do this, you will find joy in everyday situations. As Mac Davis said “You got to stop and smell the roses.  You’ve got to count your blessings every day”.

So, to sum up, happiness really is a journey – appreciating the good along the way and learning from the bad. And whilst setting a goal and achieving it can make you happy, if you don’t enjoy the experience in getting there, then what’s the point. You just spend your life chasing happiness rather than living it.

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Raincoats:

• Kids Sizes: 4, 6, 8 and 10
• Adult sizes: small, medium and large 

Tracksuits:

• Sizes 4-18

Girls Navy Pants:

Girls’ Years 7-12 wanting to wear the school navy pant for winter please come to the School Shop to try on and place your order. Orders must be placed by Wednesday 23 March .