Newsletter 6 – 7 May 2025

Dear Parents and Caregivers,

Welcome back to another term of fun and learning. I hope you all had a blessed Easter and enjoyed the time to slow down and unwind a little.

Pope Francis
On Wednesday morning we gathered as a school to commemorate the passing of Pope Francis. As we reflected on the many wonderful attributes and achievements of Pope Francis, we were inspired to continue his mission to bring peace, love and joy into the lives of all, to look after our environment, to live simply and look after one another, especially the most vulnerable. Our students were incredibly respectful and visibly moved by the passing of Pope Francis.

Eternal rest grant to him, O Lord. Let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

Staff Training
On Monday 28^th April, our staff completed the fourth and final day of their Berry Street Training. Day four focused on the importance of helping our students identify their character strengths and that of others, particularly when problem solving. It also highlighted the importance of students developing a strong sense of their personal values in addition to school values. Fostering an awareness of values helps students understand their own actions as well as the actions of others.

Two strategies we explored which assist students to develop a growth mindset and to expand their character strengths include hope building and gratitude. Within the wellbeing literature, hope is conceptualised as a future-oriented character strength and a structured approach to attaining goals. It is comprised of three key elements which include: specifying the goal, pathways and agency. The pathways aspect involves brainstorming different strategies to achieve the stated goal. By identifying various pathways to achieve a goal, we educate our children that when they encounter a speed bump, they can try one of the other options or pathways identified to achieve their goal. This builds resilience, a sense of control and agency which in turn promotes positive emotions associated with hope.

Gratitude involves being thankful and appreciative and paying attention to the positive aspects of life. By thoughtfully acknowledging what we receive from others, we are motivated to give back. Gratitude has many benefits including enhanced wellbeing, health, relational and academic outcomes.

Perhaps tonight, when you are sitting at the dinner table, you can each share something you are grateful for and share a goal you are currently working towards.

On Tuesday 29^th April, our staff participated in professional learning centred on Mathematics. We were fortunate to have Alycia Della-Vedova, a Mathematics consultant from CEWA, facilitate our sessions.  Our staff thoroughly enjoyed the day and walked away feeling inspired and empowered to make the teaching of Mathematics even more engaging, relevant and developmentally rigorous for our students.

WA Student Assistance Payments
The Federal Government is now offering round two of the WA Student Assistance Payments. Parents of students in K-12 are encouraged to use the Service WA app to lodge a claim for their school aged children. Your child/ren at St Pius X have a WA Student Number report, which can be found in Seqta Engage>Reports>SCSA Report. This document will show a picture of your child and their WA Student Number/SCSA Number. This is the required number to lodge a claim for payment.

If you are unsure how to access Seqta Engage, please contact Mrs Gregory via natasha.gregory@cewa.edu.au with your child’s name and year level. She will then forward you information to assist with logging in to or setting up your Seqta Engage account.

iPad Conference
On Friday, the Year 6 students attended the annual iPad Conference held at Orana Catholic Primary School. The theme for this year’s conference was ‘Making Sustainability Real’. Throughout the day, students participated in a range of interactive activities which challenged them to think critically about current environmental issues. The students used apps such as Canva, Reality Composer, Pixabay, CapCut, and iMovie to create engaging content that highlighted the importance of sustainability. The conference was also a valuable opportunity for students to connect, collaborate, and share ideas with peers from other schools. The digital and creative skills developed through these activities will be highly transferable to other learning areas. Overall, the students were highly engaged throughout the day and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Thank you to the staff at Orana for coordinating and hosting the iPad Conference.

ANZAC Day Liturgy

Our staff lead our school in an ANZAC Day Liturgy on Friday morning. As always, our students participated reverently. The general knowledge they possess about ANZAC Day and what it is that we celebrate on this day is a credit to them, their families and teachers.

School Photos

A gentle reminder that our school photos will take place next Tuesday, 13^th May. Students will be wearing their sports uniform, complete with school socks and black sneakers.

Reports

To bring our report format in line with other Catholic schools in our region, instead of having a separate Religion, English, Mathematics and General Comment, this year’s reports will only have a Religion Comment and General Comment. The General Comment will include a couple of sentences about the students’ progress in English and Mathematics as well as their work ethic and disposition.

Mother’s Day

On Thursday morning our Kindy mums will be treated to having their nails painted by their little ones along with having a bracelet made for them and a decorated biscuit to eat. I can’t wait to see our Kindy children’s handiwork!  On Friday morning we will gather as a school for our Mother’s Day Liturgy which will be held in the church. We hope to see many of our mums attend. We wish all our St Pius X mums a happy Mother’s Day! Our children are so very blessed to have such loving mums and one day they will fully appreciate all that you do and the sacrifices you have made, and continue to make, for them.

Mrs Tatasciore on LSL for the remainder of the year

Mrs Margaret Tatasciore will be on long service leave for the remainder of the year. At the conclusion of the year, she will commence the next phase of her life as a retiree. In true Margaret style, she did not permit us to give her the send-off she deserves, let alone publicise her leave or acknowledge her contributions until she quietly sailed off.

For 37 years, Mrs Tatasciore’s calm, warm, positive and reassuring presence has fostered the strong sense of community we enjoy here at St Pius X. In addition to working as a finance officer, Margaret worked at the front desk, greeting staff, parents, students and visitors, providing counsel, comic relief and compassion to all who walked through the door. On so many occasions, from my window, I observed people in our community dropping in to say hello and to thank her for her generosity and kindness. Even some of our suppliers would only come in on the days Margaret worked so they could have their dose of AFL banter and laughter.

Mrs Tatasciore was actively involved in all aspects of school life. No task was ever too big or too small for her and every task was completed to perfection. Oftentimes one of us would go to do something and a voice would pipe up saying ‘Margaret has already done it’. She always had incredible foresight and possessed so much knowledge across all facets of schooling and administration. Mrs Tatasciore tirelessly served our school community with a smile on her face, espousing our Catholic values with every word and action. She regularly cooked up a storm for our staff and nourished our souls, hearts, and minds.

I am incredibly grateful for the privilege of working with Margaret these past four years. Although I would have loved for her to stay on for many years yet, that would have been selfish of me. It is time for her to have a change of pace and do the things that bring her joy and to spend more time with her beautiful family.

I’m sure our whole school community joins me in wishing Mrs Tatasciore a relaxing and fulfilling LSL and retirement. May God bless Margaret, our work mum and dear friend, with continued good health, happiness, peace, love and joy. We look forward to having Mrs Tatasciore pop in for a cuppa from time to time as we will greatly miss her and are eager to hear what she has been up to.

Mrs Marni Nichol will be working in the office from Monday-Thursday and Mrs Cath Clohessy will continue to work Tuesday, Thursday, Friday.

Wishing all our families a gentle end to the week. Enjoy spotting and verbalising the strengths your children and wider family members possess and taking turns to express gratitude.

God bless,

Melissa Vranjes
Principal

Year 3 Term One Learning Recap

What a fantastic start to the year it’s been in Year 3! We had such an exciting Term One filled with learning, creativity, and community building.

In Religious Education, we explored what it means to be part of a community and how we can contribute positively to the communities we belong to. We also reflected on the season of Lent and had a visit from Fr Anthony to learn more about Ash Wednesday at its significance.

In Literacy, we focused on the Super Six Comprehension strategies like predicting, questioning, and summarising in our reading groups to help us better understand what we read. In writing, we crafted persuasive texts, using strong sentences and clear paragraphs for or against the statement “Zoos are no place for animals.”

In Mathematics, we explored odd and even numbers and worked with numbers up to 10,000. We used place value strategies to rearrange and regroup numbers in different ways. In Measurement, we practised measuring length using both informal and metric units, and we even learned how to tell the time to the minute!

One of the highlights of the term was our first buddy time with Kindy for Harmony Day. We enjoyed connecting with our younger buddies through shared activities that celebrated inclusion, diversity, and friendship. It was a special way to build relationships and show kindness across our school community.

We’re so proud of all that we’ve achieved in Term One and can’t wait for more learning adventures in Term Two!

Miss Dempsey
Year 3 Teacher