Newsletter 17 – 5 November 2025

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

This weekend our Church celebrated All Saints Day and All Souls Day. All Saints Day, a day of holy obligation, honours all the saints in heaven who led holy earthly lives, full of love for God and their fellow brothers and sisters. All Souls’ Day is a day to remember and pray for all the faithful departed, including family and friends, who may not yet be in heaven.  In our Church, the month of November is devoted to praying for all the souls in purgatory that they may be purified and join Christ in heaven.

Our Year 6s read beautifully during our whole school All Saints Day Mass on Friday morning. If you haven’t already had a chance to listen to Fr Anthony’s homily, on our school Facebook page, I encourage you to do so as it eloquently describes how we can follow the Beatitudes and lead holy lives here on earth just as the saints now in Heaven did.

Interschool Athletics Carnival
Congratulations to our Interschool Athletics Team who braved the wet weather and put in a stellar performance in each of the events. The St Pius X Team finished the day in second place, however, in our eyes they were the reigning champions. The way they cheered one another on and displayed our SEARCH values was commendable.

Well done to James (Yr 4) and Zaiden (Yr 6), who were crowned Champion Boy in their respective year levels and to Alessia (Yr 4) who was runner up Champion Girl.

Thank you to Mr Cooper, Mr Stone, Miss Cohen and Mrs O’Neil for assisting on the day and preparing our students so well.

Sacrament of Reconciliation
Our Year 3s received the Sacrament of First Reconciliation last Tuesday evening. The Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession or Penance, is a sacrament of healing and spiritual renewal. It is a sacred opportunity for individuals to seek forgiveness for their sins, receive God’s grace, and restore their relationship with God.

Thank you to Miss Dempsey, Marie Chaperon (Parish Catechist), Fr Anthony and Fr Phong for ensuring our Year 3s first experience of the Sacrament of Reconciliation was so special. May we continue to pray for our Year 3 students that they will continue to grow in understanding and experience of God’s forgiveness, love, and mercy.

QCE Awards
Last Monday morning, Mrs Sanchez-Lawson and I attended the CEWA QCE Breakfast at Optus Stadium. St Pius X entered a nomination for the work our sustainability committee undertook in the ‘Stewardhsip’ pillar of QCE. We were pleasantly surprised to discover our sustainability team’s work in coordinating the fashion swap, toy swap and costume swap was awarded second place. Thank you to Mrs Sanchez-Lawson, Mrs Collazos, Miss Sinclair and Mrs O’Neill for their work in coordinating our school’s sustainability initiatives.

Interschool Spelling Bee
Last Wednesday, Claire, Alessia, Angel, Christopher, Meklit and Harry represented our school in the Interschool Spelling Bee Competition. They competed against students from St Columba’s, Aquinas, Orana,  St Augustine’s, St Benedict’s, Sacred Heart, Queen of Apostles and Corpus Christi. Congratulations to Angel who came runner up out of the Year 4s participating in the Spelling Bee competition.

Year 5 Overnight Camp
Our Year 5 students had an amazing night and day of fun at Woodman Point. They enjoyed the evening quarantine escape activity which was conducted outdoors. The teachers were equipped with torches and had to catch the students in their tracks by casting the spotlight on them. If the students were caught by the spotlight they had to follow the teacher’s command and return back to base and attempt to escape by locating the necessary hidden items on the grounds. The students worked in teams and had an absolute blast, as did the staff.

During the day, the students completed an orienteering activity, tried their hand at archery and went for a scenic coastal bike ride. Many wonderful memories were forged as were newfound leadership skills, a greater sense of independence and resilience.

Thank you to Miss Cohen, Mr Cooper and Mrs Gregory for making the Year 5 Camp experience such a smooth and joyous one for our students. I am sure our Year 5s slept well on Friday night!!

Parents Breakfast
This Friday morning our P&F are hosting our annual Parents Breakfast. This is always such a beautiful celebration of our wonderful community here at St Pius X. I look forward to seeing all our families in the undercover area, enjoying breakfast and one another’s company. I know our students are very much looking forward to sharing the morning with their parents and friends, too.

World Teachers Day
On the 31^st October, schools across the globe celebrated World Teachers Day. This year, due to our Year 5 Camp falling on this date and a number of staff being out to assist with supervision, we decided to postpone our World Teachers Day celebrations until yesterday. We enjoyed a beautiful morning tea together and reminisced on the many highlights from the year thus far.

We are very fortunate at St Pius X to have such a high performing, collaborative team of staff who are committed to the growth and development of every child. As a school community, we appreciate every single member of our staff and all that they do for our students. Each staff member, teaching and non-teaching goes above and beyond to ensure our school community is a warm welcoming one that reflects the presence of Christ and nurtures each child to flourish and thrive. Thank you also to our P&F for providing breakfast for our staff at this Friday morning’s Parents Breakfast.

Mrs Nichol
After 20 years serving the St Pius X Community, Mrs Marni Nichol will be resigning from her position as Admin Officer at the conclusion of this year. We recently advertised the position and will be conducting interviews shortly. As the year draws to a close, we will formally acknowledge Mrs Nichol and her countless contributions to St Pius X.

At this stage, I just want to keep our parent community informed of the upcoming change so that we can embrace the time we have left with Marni at the helm.

Congratulations to Miss Cohen
Last Monday, Miss Cohen arrived to work with an extra spring in her step, an extra big smile across her face and a sparkly new piece of jewellery on her wedding ring finger. Our staff delighted in hearing their engagement story and having a close up inspection of Eve’s engagement ring. Let’s just say her fiancé Jake did exceptionally well on all fronts. On behalf of our school community, we congratulate Eve and Jake on their engagement and look forward to hearing about their upcoming wedding plans.

Annual Community Meeting
A gentle reminder that our ACM will take place in our school Library next Tuesday 11^th November at 6pm. Both our P&F and CSAC will present reports on the progress of our school over the past twelve months. The ACM provides a wonderful opportunity to reflect upon and celebrate all our achievements as a school over the year. All community members are invited and welcome to attend.

During the remainder of the month of November, I encourage you to join Catholics all around the world to pray for all the souls in purgatory, that they may be granted eternal life in heaven.

God bless,

Melissa.

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Year 5 Camp Adventures at Woodman Point!

The excitement began the moment we hopped on the bus to head to Woodman Point! Once we arrived, it was all hands on deck as students rolled out their sleeping bags and engaged in the ultimate debate – top bunk or bottom bunk? With dorms set up, we made our way to the dining hall for a nutritious meal (and, more importantly, a wobbly jelly dessert that stole the show).

The evening kicked off with “Escape from Quarantine,” a high-energy game that had students sprinting around the campsite collecting clues and dodging “security guards” like pros. Let’s just say there was minimal sleeping that night, especially for the teachers!

After a big breakfast to refuel, we jumped straight into a self-guided orienteering challenge, where teamwork and map reading skills were put to the test. Everyone managed to complete the course, eventually! Morning tea was a well-earned treat of scones with jam and cream before we took aim (literally) at our next adventure: archery. It was a little nerve-wracking at first, but the group soon found their rhythm, with a special shout-out to Chace for scoring a bullseye!

Following lunch, we finished camp with a breathtaking coastal bike ride to the shipwreck. The scenery was stunning, the weather was perfect, and the smiles were huge (even if the legs were a little tired). By the end, we were all well and truly ready for a shower, a nap, and maybe another bowl of jelly. What an unforgettable couple of days!

ASCS ATHLETICS CARNIVAL

On Friday 24th October, our students represented St Pius X proudly at the ASCS Athletics Carnival. Despite the wet weather conditions, the carnival was incredibly well run and our students showed wonderful resilience, positivity, and team spirit throughout the day.

Our athletes performed exceptionally well across all events, finishing 2nd overall in both the Champions Shield and the Points Shield. A fantastic achievement!

A special congratulations to:

• Alessia – Year 4 Runner-Up Champion Girl
• James  – Year 4 Champion Boy
• Zaiden  – Year 6 Champion Boy

I would also like to give a big thank you to Rowan Monks, Ishan Peries, and Tania O’Neill for volunteering their time on the day. To Mr Stone for his ongoing help during the morning trainings, leading up to the carnival, and to Miss Cohen for her help at the carnival.

Thank you to all families who came along to support and cheer from the sidelines. Our students should feel very proud of themselves for their efforts, sportsmanship, and enthusiasm.

Mr Cooper
Physical Education Teacher

Some exciting news  from our Sustainability Committee for  Term 4 .

In week 6 we will have a Community Christmas Tree located in the garden area, between the lower and upper play areas. We invite the community to please bring in a homemade, a nature or a recycled Christmas ornament to decorate the tree.  Keep you eyes out for more information to come.

REDUCE, REUSE AND RECYCLE

The Sustainability Committee
Mrs Sanchez, Mrs O’ Neill and Miss Sinclair.

News from the P&F 🌟

We’re very much looking forward to welcoming you all to the Parents’ Breakfast this Friday! It’s always a wonderful chance to catch up with our school community.

If you haven’t already purchased your raffle tickets, don’t worry — they’ll still be available on Friday morning, with some fantastic prizes up for grabs!

Keep an eye out for more information soon about our exciting Water Splash Day, including ways you can help support this fun, final fundraising event of the school year.

Finally, we’d love to invite you to our ACM on Tuesday 11th at 6:00pm. Join us for the meeting to hear what your P&F has been doing for our students and school, followed by drinks and nibbles. We hope to see you there!