Newsletter 14 – 6 September 2023

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

We hope our St Pius X dads very much felt the love over the weekend. I know our children were extremely excited to give their dads their Father’s Day cards and gifts.

Father’s Day Mass

Thank you to the dads who were able to join us for our Father’s Day Mass on Friday morning. I know it can be tricky to coordinate time out from work, but it was really nice to have you at Mass with us. Congratulations to our Year 1s who read so beautifully and confidently. The video our Year 1s prepared and shared at the end of Mass certainly pulled on the heart strings and celebrated the special role dads play in their children’s lives.

Year 5/6 Camp

Our Year 5 & 6 students had an absolute ball at their overnight camp at Woodman Point. After setting up their dorms and tucking into a delicious, nutritious dinner they launched into their ‘Escape from Quarantine’ activity. Upon being briefed about the history of Woodman Point, they were divided into groups and tasked with the challenge of locating and safely returning five objects which were hidden around the premises. If their group was detected by the security guards (us teachers) and had the torch shone on them, they had to freeze. If a group member was then spotted moving, the whole group of ‘escapees’ were sent to quarantine for ‘punishment’. Punishment entailed doing the hokey pokey, push-ups, singing the alphabet in an opera voice and the like. The activity was thoroughly enjoyed by all and resulted in the students refining their team-work and leadership skills to be able to fulfil the requirements of the task. There may have been a student or two who attempted to engage in bribery to get past the ranks before realising they had to put their thinking caps on and work as a group.

The following day, our Year 5s & 6s enjoyed a coastal bike ride, archery, orienteering, and a group sandcastle building competition. Many wonderful memories were forged during camp and will no doubt be talked about for years to come. The only criticism that emerged from our students was that it wasn’t ‘long enough’!

Thank you to Miss Cohen, Mrs Gregory and Mr Cooper for making the experience such a joyous one for all involved. Our staff truly do go above and beyond, actively participating in the activities, making them fun and bringing the best out in our children.

Book Week

Each year, I feel that Book Week at St Pius X just gets bigger and better. Our families go to so much effort to get the students dressed up as their favourite character and to instil a love of reading. It was lovely to have so many parents stay behind for our Book Week Parade and admire the students costumes. Congratulations to our student emcees for the parade. How good was it to see our students honing their public speaking skills, inviting classes to come forward to showcase their costumes; interviewing students about who they dressed up as and why, what their favourite books are; and sharing joke or two. To end the day, the children were treated to a Book Week incursion ‘Way too Cool’. A special thanks to Mrs De Luca and Mrs Nichol for creating the beautiful Book Week displays in our library and for coordinating the colourful back-drop in our undercover area.

URSTRONG Online Parent Workshop

Thank you to our parents who registered and participated in the online URSTRONG parent workshop. It is really important that parents and schools deliver the same messages to our students so to empower them to problem solve effectively and maintain healthy relationships. If you weren’t able to tune into the parent workshop, which was facilitated by the founder of the URSTRONG program, but would like to access it, please click on the link below by Thursday 7^th September.

Language of Friendship Workshop with Dana
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE RECORDING
Passcode: #1Ninjas
Expiry: Sept 7

Donation from the Catenians

Last week, we received a generous donation of $500 from Ralph Ditton, Treasurer, of the local Catenians group. The Catenian Association is an international association of Catholic laymen committed to their faith, their families and to supporting each other. We are greatly appreciative of the work that the Catenians do in supporting individuals, parishes, schools and communities during challenging times.

Year 3-5 Parent Information Night

Thank you to all the parents who attended our Year 3-5 Parent Information night on Tuesday. We greatly appreciated the opportunity to showcase all the wonderful initiatives that have been rolled out in our middle-upper primary classes. A special thanks to Brooke and Josie for preparing the yummy grazing platters and wine.

Early next term, Natasha and I will host a parent information night for our Year 1 & 2 parents, too. Keep your eye out for the details.

Playground

In recent weeks, we have noticed a few of our Kindy parents permitting their children to play on the playground after school. Please note that children are not to play on any of our school playground equipment before or after school.

Art Awards

Congratulations to our gifted Year 6 student, Tiffany Lieu for having her artwork selected to be displayed in the City of Belmont ‘Art Awards 2023’ exhibition. Over the years, Tiffany has impressed us with her artistic ability, and it is wonderful she has been recognised by the wider community. If you would like to view Tiffany’s incredibly detailed baby cow portrait and explore over 290 pieces of original, unique artwork at The Glasshouse, 215 Wright Street, Cloverdale – Saturday 2 to Saturday 16 September between 10-4pm. Entry is free!

Congratulations once again, Tiffany. We are so proud of you!!

Melissa Vranjes
Principal

Spelling Bee

Last week, two students from each class in Years 4-6 represented St Pius X in the Interschool Spelling Bee competition. All our students did an incredible job spelling out some super tricky words, with one of our Year 4s making it through to the final four! Eight local Catholic primary schools took part in the Spelling Bee which was graciously hosted by Sacred Heart, Thornlie. Mrs Gregory and I felt privileged to see our students up on the podium, confidently and articulately spelling out the words assigned to them in each round. The pride on our students’ faces as they progressed into the next round was heart-warming. When they eventually stumbled on the challenging words, they took it in their stride and cheered the remaining students on which was admirable.

How lucky were we to have the rain clear and the sun come out from behind the clouds just in time for our junior athletics carnival this morning? Our Kindy and Pre-Primary’s had a great time running their races and participating in the team relay events. My favourite event to spectate though was the parent-child races at the end. I am not quite sure how some of our taller parents managed to jump around in those tiny sacks for the sack race, but they did! Well done to all our Kindy and Pre-Primary students and to all our parents for cheering the children on and joining in the races. A huge, big thank you to Mr Cooper for coordinating the carnival and our K-PP staff for assisting on the day. So much fun was had by all.

Thank you to those parents who have volunteered to help out at the Athletics Carnival.

We are still looking for volunteers to help, especially with recording of the field evets (turbojav, shotput, and long jump). If you are worried about missing your child’s race due to volunteering, please note that all field events take place before the Year 1 to 6 running races.

Below is information regarding the Years 1 to 6 Athletics Carnival:

• The carnival will take place on Wednesday the 13^th of September from 9:10AM to 2:40PM. It will be held at Aquinas College on Memorial Oval. There will be parking available in the lower carpark.
• Year 3-6 students will walk to Aquinas College with their class teachers. Year 3-6 students must be at school by 8:15AM so they can leave promptly by 8:30AM.
• Year 1 and 2 students will walk to Aquinas with their class teachers, leaving school at 10:30AM.
• The P&F are providing a sausage sizzle for lunch. Children who have not ordered a sausage sizzle for lunch will need to bring their own. All students should bring snacks and a large bottle of water for the day.
• Holy Ground Coffee will be attending the event if you wish to purchase coffee on the day.
• Students are expected to wear their faction shirt, school hat and sport uniform. All items of clothing must be clearly labelled. Students are permitted to wear runners of their choice on the day. Please pack warm clothing in case of rain.
• Students are encouraged to keep their shoes on during the day
• Parents are permitted to take children home at the end of the carnival. However, please email your child’s teacher prior to the day if you intend to do so.
• Year 3 to 6 field events will run concurrently with the 400m sprints. Long Jump will be held at the furthest side of Memorial Oval, at the Long Jump pits. Turbojav will take place in the centre of Memorial Oval. Shotput will take place at the Shotput throwing area on Lynch Oval.

Thank you,

Caleb Cooper
Physical Education Teacher

In Kindy we had a lady from Bunnings come in and help us make tool boxes for Father’s Day.

Here is a sneak peek into one of our recent reading sessions. Our Year 4s are strengthening their comprehension muscles by learning to apply various reading strategies to help them make meaning of the texts they read.