Newsletter 2 – 22 February 2023

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Today we celebrate Ash Wednesday, the commencement of the season of Lent. Lent is a season of repentance and renewal; a time of self-reflection and spiritual growth.  This Lenten season, I invite you to end each day with this prayer format, known as the St Ignatian Examen:

1. Give Thanks: Thank God for this day, for your life, for all you are and have, and for His Word.
2. Pray for Light: Ask the Father to let you see your day as the Holy Spirit sees it, and to show you what you need to see.
3. Find God: Look at your day in the light of the Spirit.

• • What did you do today?
  • Did you do what you had planned?
  • What happened that wasn’t planned? How did you respond?
  • How did you show up to the people around you?
  • What did your heart tell you? 

4. Anything Wrong? As you reflect on your day, ask yourself:

• • Have I been anxious? Sad? Focused on myself?
  • Does something in a relationship need to be addressed?
  • Have I been ungrateful?

5. What Now? Ask yourself:

• • What do I need from God today/tonight?
  • What do I need to do today/tonight? Tomorrow?

Spend some time talking to God, sharing your experiences and asking for God’s guidance. Perhaps end your examen by reading and reflecting on a Gospel passage from the Bible.

Ash Wednesday Mass

Thank you to Ms Christian and Miss Punch for preparing our Year 2 students to lead us in the readings and prayers of the faithful at Mass today. Congratulations to our Year 2 students for being so reverent and speaking so beautifully and clearly, allowing the Word of God to touch our hearts. It was lovely to see so many parents at Mass this morning and the participation of our whole school community. We are grateful to Father Patrick for celebrating Mass with us despite suffering the ill effects of Long COVID. May we keep Father Patrick in our thoughts and prayers; we pray that his strength and energy levels will increase with each passing day. We also pray that, during this Lenten period, each of us will grow closer to Christ and emulate the love, compassion, and charity that Christ Himself displayed.

Year 6 Assembly

Our Year 6s presented a brilliant Assembly item last Friday morning. The way in which they unpacked the significance of each of our school SEARCH values through the platform of a news report was not only entertaining but well-orchestrated. Each student spoke ever so clearly and confidently, projecting the intended messages with clarity and heart. Congratulations, Year 6s. We are all incredibly excited to watch your leadership skills and qualities continue to develop over the year and celebrate your collective and individual achievements in your final year of primary school. Thank you to Mr Hughes and Mr Cooper for their gentle guidance and support of our Year 6 children.

Swimming Lessons & Time Trials

Our students have thoroughly enjoyed their swimming lessons. Given the temperatures we have experienced of late, swimming has been the perfect way to end the school day. I know our teaching staff wish they could jump in for a dip to cool off, too.

Thank you to Mr Caleb Cooper and to our parent helpers for conducting the swimming time trials at the end of the lessons this week. Thank you also to our parents for your patience with the later drop off on the day of your child’s swimming trials.

Champion Boy/Girl Survey

Thank you to all the parents who completed the parent survey regarding the possible introduction of Champion Boy/Champion Girl awards for Years 3-6 at our school Swimming and Athletics Carnival. The results were overwhelmingly in favour of the introduction of the awards. Consequently, an order has been placed for the Champion Girl and Champion Boy medals for our upcoming swimming carnival. At the conclusion of the Swimming Carnival, the final faction results will be announced with the overall winning faction being acknowledged. At the Assembly on Friday, the champion girl and champion boy for each year level (Years 3-6) will be announced and celebrated.

P&F Barefoot Bowls

I am looking forward to seeing our parent community at Barefoot Bowls on Saturday night. We are so fortunate to have such an active P&F Committee who create such wonderful opportunities for us to connect and come together as a community. It has been some time since I last played a game of lawn bowls, however, I can’t wait to engage in a bit of friendly competition and converse with parents outside of the busyness of a school day.

Choir

If your child is in Years 3-6 and would like to join our School Choir, please fill out the form below and return it to school by Monday. Our Music teacher, Mr Dario Jiritano, will commence Choir sessions on Wednesday 8th March. Choir will run each Wednesday morning in our Library between 8.15-8.45am. Students who join the Choir must commit to attending each session for the full duration of the year as they will be preparing to participate in the Catholic Performing Arts Festival.

Choir Note

Wellbeing: a strengths-based approach

At St Pius X we have adopted a strengths-based approach to assisting students to build a positive sense of self and, in turn, build their capacity to learn and problem solve. As humans, we are wired to look for the negative; we often look at things through a deficit lens, fixating on flaws in a situation or person rather than identifying strengths and opportunities.

A strengths-based approach focuses on developing our young people by highlighting their strengths and encouraging them to draw upon their strengths in order to reach their full potential. Research shows that such an approach leads to higher self-confidence, higher levels of optimism, higher levels of life satisfaction, lower levels of anxiety and lower levels of depression. It also enhances the quality of relationships, thus contributing to higher levels of wellbeing. As our children become more aware of their own strengths, they start to notice them in others. In the school setting, we refer to this as ‘strength spotting’.

Whilst strength development occurs throughout life, it is especially rapid in childhood. The more a strength is practised, the stronger the neural pathway becomes. This means that if we want to build the brain areas that support our children’s strengths, educators and parents need to create environments and experiences where they frequently use their strengths.

There are two broad categories of strengths – talent strengths and character strengths. Talent strengths are generally skill based and performance based. They are very much observable. An example of a talent strength is someone being particularly talented at playing an instrument or playing a certain sport. Character strengths are more personality based and are derived from thoughts, feelings and actions. Examples of character strengths include kindness, fairness, courage, leadership and self-control.

A strength is something a child does well, gets energy from and is self-motivated to do. Both talent strengths and character strengths are important.

Parents can support us by helping our children learn what strengths they possess and encouraging them to utilise them. If, for example, you notice your child exhibiting cooperation draw their attention to it and articulate why that character strength is important. At a later time, when perhaps they are not demonstrating that strength, call it forward. For example, if you are driving and your children are engaging in ‘back-seat fighting’ or getting too noisy, rather than saying “stop fighting” or “stop yelling” say something along the lines of “I’d really like a bit of cooperation right now. Can we keep the voices to a moderate level?”. This approach not only stops the unwanted behaviour, but it also communicates what you want from them and reinforces a pre-existing character strength.

If you would like to know more about the strength-based approach, from a parenting perspective, I highly recommend Dr Lea Waters book ‘The Strength Switch: How the New Science of Strength Based Parenting Can help your Child and Teen to Flourish’.

I hope to see you on Saturday night at Barefoot Bowls and wish you a gentle end to the week.

God Bless,

Melissa Vranjes
Principal

Fathering Project 2023

The first ‘St Pius X Dads and Kids’ event for 2023 will be mini-golf and dinner at Collier Park on Friday 17^th March, from 5pm.

Parents will pay upon arrival and partner up and play in groups of 4-6 players. The approximate cost is $20 for one Dad and one child (extra children – $7).

Whist this is advertised as a ‘Dads and Kids’ event, mums may attend in place of dads if the child’s father is not able to attend.

If you are able to participate in this event, please RSVP Mike Cain by Thursday 6/3/2023  on 0417 922 843. This will help with the venue planning catering.

The details:

• Each Dad should order dinner for them and kids BEFORE tee-off, at the cafe.
• Return to the cafe after golf to let them know you’re done, and dinner will be served shortly after.
• The event is planned from 5pm, onwards, so we can all get through the 18 holes.
• For dads working later, or with younger kids, delayed start is also fine.

The venue must close at 8pm. To ensure all golfers get a chance to eat and talk to their friends, we’ll vacate the golf course before 7pm. Please note this venue is licensed, so no BYO alcohol.

If you’ve got questions, please contact Mike, (or speak to Kim Hughes at school dropoff/pick-up).

Hello Parents,

The St Pius X Swimming Carnival is quickly approaching. If any parents would be able to volunteer on the day, 7^th of March, as a finish judge or scorer please contact me via email at caleb.cooper@cewa.edu.au. The Carnival runs from 9am – 12pm.

Thank you,

Caleb Cooper
Physical Education Teacher

On Tuesday 21^st February, the Year 6 students participated in the official Project Compassion Launch online with over 60 CEWA schools. This started with a beautiful liturgy. The students then had the opportunity to learn more about Caritas and Project Compassion from the CEO of the organisation and how they can make a difference to the lives of others, especially during the Season of Lent. The theme of Project Compassion for 2023 is “For all Future Generations” in other words, we have the collective power to change the lives of both people and creation through small acts of kindness or service and provide hope for our world well into the future.

Kim Hughes
Year 6 Teacher

The South Perth Young Writers Award encourages excellence in creative writing and is open to all students from Year one through to Year 12 who live in or attend school within the City of South Perth.

Each year the entries are judged by a panel of librarians, writers and children’s literature enthusiasts. Shortlisted entrants are invited to attend a writing workshop to develop their writing skills and to refine their submitted story which is then re-read before finalists are chosen.

Please click on the link below for more information.