July 18th, 2024

Acknowledgement of Country

A Note from our Principal

Ngata Families & Friends,

I am thrilled to report that Term 3 has started off on a fantastic note! Our students have returned with great enthusiasm and a readiness to learn, setting a positive tone for the weeks ahead. I want to express my gratitude to our dedicated teachers and supportive parents who contribute to our thriving school environment.

We are especially excited about the upcoming Grade 5/6 camp to Melbourne, scheduled for next week from Wednesday to Friday. This camp promises to be an enriching experience filled with educational and fun activities. I am delighted to share that I will be attending the camp, and I look forward to joining our students in this memorable adventure.

Thank you for your ongoing support and engagement. Let’s continue to make this term a remarkable one!

Nick Murrell

Principal

School Uniform

I am pleased to let our community know that we are making the progressive step forward to ensure our school uniform policy is gender neutral. The topic has been discussed at School Advisory Council and Parent and Friends level and there was a unanimous feeling that this was a step in the right direction. You will see all uniform communication from now and into the future with no written reference to 'boys' or 'girls' uniform, it will be referenced as summer, winter and sports uniform and list all uniform options available to students at St. Pius X. 

I begin the following message by saying if your family requires support with the purchase/supply of school uniform, please come and see Karen and Bec in the office - We can support you to obtain second hand uniform items with little or no cost. 

Students have this week been reminded about some aspects of the correct school uniform. Some common school uniform issues are:

Coats and beanies 

Students are permitted to wear coats and beanies to and from school, as well as in the playground, however, they are asked to remove them when in class. All learning areas have reverse cycle heating and cooling and are kept at a comfortable temperature regardless of the conditions outside. 

School shoes

Every day (except for their PE lesson day) students are required to wear ALL black shoes. These can be leather school shoes or all black runner style shoes. The key message is ALL black. See below for a visual explanation. I do understand that shoes are an expensive item to purchase and do not expect families to feel they need to buy black shoes immediately, if they don't have them - I ask that next time you replace your child’s school shoes this is considered. 

Short exercise shorts

Students have been reminded that short, form fitting, exercise shorts are not part of any school uniform. Students are asked not to wear these shorts. Please see below for an alternative (navy leisure pants). School sports shorts are the 'parachute' / quick dry style shorts (no logos) on sports days, see image below. 

Navy Leisure Pants

You will notice that navy leisure pants (no logos) have been added to the allowed school uniform. These will be available by the end of the year in our school uniform shop. In the meantime, if your child would like to wear these they can be purchased from various stores. Please see the example below. 

Uniform items

First Eucharist 2024

The preparation of this Sacrament has a new format this year.  Candidates from all of the Network Catholic schools will participate in a Formation Day to be held here at St Pius - in the Hall and the Function Room.  This will be held tomorrow, Friday 19th July.

The Sacrament of First Eucharist will be celebrated on Sunday August 11th, at 10am Mass at St Pius X Church.

Enrolment

Participating families are required to use the link below to enrol their children as candidates for Eucharist. 

The link to register for First Eucharist is: 

Enrolment Link

Please contact me via email if you have any questions.

Kind Regards, 

Sara Graham

Food bank support

We are excited to propose the launch of a weekly community foodbank to support families within our school. This initiative aims to provide meals to those requiring some assistance, enhancing our strong and compassionate community. We invite you to express your interest in supporting this important cause, this would be in the form of going on a roster to cook/provide a meal. Together, we can make a meaningful difference in the lives of our fellow community members. Please text Lara on 0423 453 334 if you wish to participate or need more information. Thank you for your continued support and generosity.

Text Lara on 0423 453 334

Canteen Coordinator Term 3

We are currently seeking a volunteer who would be willing to coordinate our canteen during Term 3 (and possibly Term 4 if required).

The duties would include checking the stock of and replenishing the following items:

Frozen products including icypoles, nuggets etc,  kitchen items such as paper towel, serviettes etc. and tins of pineapple which needs to be put into small snack bags for the freezer.

Shopping is usually done once a week (During the warmer months extra icypoles may be required) and duties also include a tidy/clean of the canteen when needed.

If this is something you would be happy to undertake, your assistance would be greatly appreciated.  Please contact the office for further information.

The Foundation Files

Our Fun Holidays!

Holidays are so much fun! Here are some things that we got up to over the two week break.

Kion visited Aquazone and had so much fun swimming and splashing in the water.

Matilda W went camping in a caravan and also showed off her Karate skills in a competition.

Jaxon and his family went to the Melbourne museum and explored and learnt about so many cool things. Jaxon thought the glow in the dark crystals were amazing!

Ms Lane was busy working in her Pub and trying to keep warm in the wintery weather.

Ms Osborne went to Queensland with her family. It was fun but it was hard to find the sun when it rained nearly everyday.

Louise and her family went to Melbourne to watch her son, Jaylen play Wheelchair Basketball for Australia. She also got to watch the Boomers and the Opals. 

N is for Nature

The Prep’s are going to explore our Wonderful World. We have begun by taking a nature walk around our school playground. We found some natural living things which we have placed on our prayer table and we took photos of others that were too big or even too small to see. We also sat somewhere quiet and closed our eyes to just listen and feel. The sounds around were so interesting and we could feel things that were gentle and powerful, too. 

We have invited the Prep’s to share any fascinating objects of nature that they may have at home or when they are exploring the world around them on the weekends. We look forward to listening to the story of Creation from the Old Testament and we are going to create a display in our classroom called ‘Our Wonder Tree’.

Jocelyn Seamer - Fluency Reading 

This term the children in Prep have begun a new style of reading. It’s called Fluency Pairs. Each child has a partner. They keep the same partner for the whole week. Every day they will read with their partner practicing a page of letter names, letter sounds, a game of I-spy and some simple letter formation. This week’s letter is the letter/sound ‘m’.

We would love to see the Prep’s reading with a partner at home as well but they need to keep their reading page in their reader bag as they will be using it at school everyday!

Check out these great reading pairs from Week 1.

The Little Mermaid Jr.

On Thursday 27th and Friday 28th June, a number of our students took to the stage to perform in The Little Mermaid Jr at the Lighthouse Theatre.   Congratulations to all those involved in what was a wonderful and entertaining production.

Congratulations Zarli.

During the school holidays, the Victorian Athletic League held their gala awards night.  Congratulations go to Zarli Best who was presented with a trophy for 2nd place in the under 14 years age category.  

Last weekend in Lake Bolac, Zarli was individually placed 4th overall in the Little Athletics regional cross country 2km race and her team was placed 1st overall.

What great achievements - Well Done!

Ready, Set, School! program

Click below to register for our Ready, Set, School! program

Click here to Register

Note: This visit has been rescheduled to Week 3 of this term. 

Not getting SZapp push notifications?

Here is some information from Schoolzine to help troubleshoot if you are having this issue.

Does the app notification show for the user in their feed but they did not receive the push notification? – if so, they may have notifications turned off for their Operating System or the App.

Have you got Push notifications turned on WITHIN SZAPP?

When using the app, select the manage tab from the top ribbon and ensure that there is push notifications turned on for the SZapp.

Have you got Push notifications turned on for your OPERATING SYSTEM?

Certain devices will have push notifications turned off by default when installing software. In order to receive notifications for your device you will need to ensure that both the Operating System notifications as well as the App notifications are enabled.

Was SZapp open when the notification was sent?

Sometimes applications will lie dormant or in ‘sleep’ status on your device in order to cache information and decrease load time when you are wishing to use the application again. Once you have finished using SZapp we recommend that you fully close the app in order to avoid push notifications not being received on some devices in this ‘sleep’ state.

Footy Tipping

Our 2024 footy tipping is going strong! Thank you to the people/families who have been tipping hard! A reminder that if you have not paid your membership can you please do so immediately. $10 for an individual and $20 for a family. We currently have 32 individuals/families joined up to  the 2024 competition. Link here https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/St_Pius_X_Footy_Tipping_2024 This link was advertised several times at the beginning of the year. 

There are a few tipsters that may still be tipping in last year’s competition, please check you signed up for this year’s competition as the rules have changed this year, no joker rounds were included in the setup. So the 2023 and 2024 tipping competitions are not operating with equal rules. If you are in the 2023 competition and have your heart set on being in the 2024 competition please contact Mr Murrell and we will see if it is possible to add you to the 2024 group. 

Leaderboard

Darren Edge 105

Mr O’Brien 104

Seurens 103

Letty Parkinson 102

Jacinta M Condon 101

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club is open each Wednesday morning at 8:20am.   Again, a big thankyou to Foodshare for providing us with breakfast items and Woolies for providing the fruit! Of course, this wouldn't take place without our amazing parent helpers so a big thank you to Sarah & Virginia as well!

Mobile Phones

Our school understands that some families require their child to have a mobile phone for communication and safety needs before and after school. If your child is bringing a mobile phone to school it must be checked in with Karen or Bec at the office as soon as they arrive at school and it can be collected as they exit school in the afternoon. Families in this situation, can you please remind your child of this important school procedure. 

School fee payment plans

St Pius X is a low fee-paying school. Our global operating budget comprises funding from the Federal and State Governments, School fee collection, and fundraising.

School fees are a vital part of providing many aspects of your child's tuition at St Pius X. The 3 main options for paying your school fees are: Direct Debit, Credit Card (at the school office) and Direct Credit Payments.

Please take some time to consider which of these options is best for your family. If you would like to set up a direct debit payment plan please contact Bec Lawlor at the school office or email Bec at rlawlor@spwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

Your support with this, early in the school year, would be greatly appreciated.

A special message just to say.............

The following students will be celebrating their birthday this week ........

Alexis Oliver-Hay & Madix McLean

Canteen Roster for next week.

Important Dates.

Friday, 19th July - Combined Eucharist formation day at St Pius X

Friday, 19th July - Assembly 3pm in church

Monday, 22nd July - Parents and Friends meeting 7.30pm at school

Wed-Fri, 24th-26th July - Gr 5/6 camp to Melbourne

Friday, 26th July - Ready, Set, School Program 

Wednesday, 31st July - Foundation excursion - Lighthouse theatre / Library

Friday, 2nd August - Assembly 3pm in church

Friday, 9th August - Ready, Set, School Program 

Friday, 16th August - Young Vinnies to Emmanuel

Friday, 16th August - Assembly 3pm in church

Tuesday, 20th August - School Closure Day - Structured Literacy (DOBCEL determined date) 

Wednesday, 21st August - St Pius X Feast Day (Kaboom Sports)

Friday, 23rd August - Book Week celebration

Friday, 23rd August - Ready, Set, School Program 

Friday, 30th August - Assembly 3pm in church

Friday, 6th Sept - Ready, Set, School Program 

Friday, 13th Sept - Assembly 3pm in church

Wednesday, 18th Sept - School Production 7.30pm

Friday, 20th Sept - Last Day of Term 2.30pm 

Friday, 20th Sept - Ready, Set, School Program 

Remaining 2024 School Closure Days

Term 3

Tuesday 20th August- Structured Literacy Staff Professional Development (DOBCEL determined date)

Term 4

Friday 18th October - Religious Education Staff Professional Development

Uniform Price List

Before & After School Care.

Parish Contact.

Sunday Mass 10.00 @ St Pius X Church. School families are always welcome.

The Parish office can be contacted on 5562 2231

Other information and contact details can be found on the Star of the Sea South West Coast website: https://www.ballarat.catholic.org.au/parish/southwestcoast/