August 25th, 2022

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

A Note from our Principal

Ngata Families & Friends,

We have had a week of celebrations since our last newsletter. Friday saw the wonderful celebration of our school’s feast day, where we remembered the life of St Pius X in a morning Mass, before celebrating the remainder of the day with tabloid sports and pastoral care activities. Monday was our Book Week celebration organised by our Literacy Leader Mrs Kate Sewell. We are grateful for so many of our students and staff entering into the spirit of the occasion by dressing up as a book character. I am always impressed by what families are able to creatively cobble together from resources at home.

Tuesday saw the funeral of Uncle Archie Roach which was held in the parish hall. This private funeral was a large occasion that was delayed due to a road accident that involved members of the Roach family.  As you will know, the delay affected the pick up of students from our carpark. We are grateful to families for swiftly responding as they did to our modified arrangements for school pickup. This allowed for children to be picked up safely without interrupting the funeral and its mourners. Thanks especially to all staff who mobilised quickly to a shared plan that ensured all children were able to leave school without incident.

Joe Ewing

Principal

SAC Meeting Tonight

A reminder to the members of the school advisory council that there is a meeting tonight at school at 7.30pm.

Welcome!

In the past week we have welcomed a number of new students to our school.

Prep: Maddison McKenzie

MP1: Renata-Jade McKenzie

MP3: Rowan Kreutzer

All of our new friends have been warmly welcomed by their classmates, and we hope they are very happy as part of the St Pius X school community.

Sympathies

We offer our sincere condolences to the Lack family after the death of a cousin in the past week. They will be travelling to Patchewollock in the Mallee for the funeral some time in the coming week.

We also send best wishes to the Bond family in their time of grief. Braxton's great grandmother; Tony's grandmother recently passed away.

Pupil Free Day: September 8th

Our 3rd staff professional learning day remains scheduled for September 8.

TheirCare will be providing onsite care on this day. Bookings can be made at https://theircare.com.au/

New Shade Sails

Late last year the school was successful in obtaining a grant for extra shade sails to create potential outdoor learning spaces. This was around the time that air purifiers were being rolled out into schools and measures were being taken to reduce the spread of COVID 19. Many other schools were also successful in gaining these grants, creating a being backlog for suppliers and tradespeople. 

We thank our supplier Stephen Pye for his great work in erecting our sails in the garden space. This will create a potential learning area for classes and an alternate assembly space when the weather is fine.

The Twilight Fair is Back!

The Twilight Fair will return on Friday October 28th. The P&F intend that this be an intentionally small scale event - manageable, yet an opportunity for our community to come together. A list of stalls /  events is below. Some are already allocated, but families who would like to take responsibility for a stall / event are invited to contact the office to claim one. Fresh ideas are welcome!

Puka Up Cycling Challenge

This coming November staff member Xavier Mills has been invited to join the Puka Up cycling group, riding through the beautiful King Valley area in order to raise awareness and funds for mental health prevention. Over the course of these three days he will ride 313.9kms to honour the 3139 people who tragically died by suicide in 2020. If you are able to support Xavier please go to the Go Fund Me page linked below:

https://gofund.me/8bd3efef

Sports Night With Our Dads

We’re in training for next week’s sporting night with our dads! A range of sporting events are going to be taking place and we ask dads and students to peruse the program to see what you’ll be taking part in! The events range from the football games on the oval, to more gentle lawn games in the courtyard - there’s something for everyone. 

All families should have received an order form for the sausage sizzle that will be available across the event.   Could these be returned to school tomorrow please.

All participants are asked to come dressed appropriately for your chosen sport.

Courtyard Playground

4.00pm - 5.30pm Playground equipment, skipping, tabloid equipment. 

Lawn area

4.00pm - 5.30pm Bocce & Finska 

Football Program (Oval):

4.15pm Prep game (Oval 1) 

4.15pm Yr 1/2 (Oval 2) 

4.30pm Yr 3/4 (Oval 1) 

5.00pm Yr 5/6 (Oval 1)

Basketball Program (Courtyard) 

4.00pm Yr 3/4 

4.20pm Yr 5/6  

Soccer Program (Oval)

4.30pm Yr 3-6 (Oval 2) 

BBQ (Canteen Area)

4.00pm - 5.30pm 

The Great St. Pius X Tournament of Books

The winner is.......     Stellaphant by James Foley!

On our Book Week Celebration Day, the students were asked to write to the author to congratulate him on the win. Here are a handful of the letters.

Dear Mr Foley,Congratulations on winning The Great St Pius X Tournament of Books. We very much enjoyed the book itself, Stellaphant. We loved the illustrations and we loved the facts about the animals at the end. Stellaphant didn't give up and she was persistent.  Thanks,Charlotte and Rose

Dear Mr Foley,Congratulations on winning the Great St Pius X Tournament of Books. We loved your book, Stellaphant, because it taught a good lesson. She was determined to follow her dreams to be happy. From Ellanie and Grace

Dear Mr Foley,Good job on coming first in The Great St Pius X Tournament, out of 16 books. Your book, Stellaphant, won because of it's illustrations, persistence and how Stellaphant was determined and she didn't care what they said. From Darcy and Flynn

Dear Mr Foley, Congratulations on winning the Great St Pius Tournament of Books. We loved the book, Stellaphant, because she was so persistent to become an astronaut. Stellaphant had an unshakeable belief in herself. We loved the book and plus you added animals that went to space. With admiration, from Finn and Brax

Hot off the Prep Press!

 Jungle Book Kids

We have still been busy practising our dance moves for the Jungle Book Kids production which is coming around fast. Over the past few weeks we are sure you have noticed our costume items listed on the newsletter.

Book Week Celebrations 

The celebrations continued as we dressed up on Monday for Book Week. From Spiderman to Elsa we had all the fictional characters sorted. Even Ms Lane, Ms Osborne, Louise, Cloe and Molly dressed up too! First we had a big parade in the big hall and then we went into different classrooms with different teachers to do some fun art activities. We are already thinking about our costumes for next year!

St Pius X Feast Day

On Friday we were excited to celebrate our very first St Pius X Feast Day. We went to mass with our buddies, worked on our safety plans and used up lots of our energy at Kaboom Sports. The day was action packed and full of fun. We loved being able to celebrate our great school. We think it’s the best!!

First Eucharist

Congratulations to  the students from our school who received their First Eucharist last Sunday.

Piper Matheson

Fynn McInnes

William Carey

Grace Wilde

Mia Kermond

Holly Woodward

Flynn Meredith

Kosta Maglaras

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Hands On Learning

The students at the Men’s Shed have been busy learning new skills, including using hand tools that have been replaced by machinery today. Who knew that there were so many different types of chisels and ranging in different sizes. This week the students put the finishing touches to their tools boxes.  It is great to see the students taking pride in their work. The adults at the Men’s Shed look forward to the students coming just as much as the students do. It is great to hear the conversations in the shed with exchanges of news, worldly advice and what the good old days were like.

Thursday’s Hands on Learning group cooked brownie slices, velvet cupcakes, peppermint crisp slice and choc chip cookies in preparation for the visit by adults who attend the Archie Graham Centre, to our school on Friday 19th August.

Friday’s Hands on Learning group set up the tables in the hall and got the food ready that was cooked by the Thursday’s Hands on Learning group and made delicious sandwiches. The students waited for the Archie Graham bus, introduced themselves to the ten ladies, many of them using walkers and took them on a tour of the school before serving them morning tea.  The students were  very attentive and displayed exceptional manners while looking after these ladies, all aged over 80, including a 95 year old. The ladies enjoyed their time at our school and have booked a return next month.

A BIG THANK YOU TO FOOD SHARE

Each week Foodshare provides the students, who are part of the Wednesday Men’s Shed and the Hands on Learning groups with ingredients to make lunch. The students take in turns in preparing and cooking the food to serve to their group a delicious hot lunch each week.

Book Fair - Save the Date!

The annual school book fair will run from

Monday 5th September until Wednesday 7th September. 

Each learning area will have a buying day:

Monday - Juniors

Tuesday- Middles

Wednesday- Seniors

The theme this year is Paws for Books! 

The Jungle Book Kids

Our rehearsals are ramping up now, as we have passed the halfway mark of the term. We hope our audience is looking forward to the production as much as our performers! Thanks to families who have organised the costume elements for their children:

Prep: Monkeys

Black tee shirt (can be long or short), 

Black pants, leggings or shorts.

Yr 1 - 6: The Jungle

Black, brown or dark pants / shorts 

Black , brown or dark top (long or short)

Choir

Black, brown or dark pants / shorts

Black, brown or dark top (long or short)

Before and After School Care

We remind everyone about TheirCare, our outside school hours care provider. Bookings can be made at https://theircare.com.au/

Please select St Pius X Warrnambool as the booking location.

Crisis Meals

Each week a volunteer has been rostered to provide a freezable meal to our school to be distributed to a family experiencing hardship, grief or unforeseen circumstances. These meals have been regularly distributed and the families receiving them have been most grateful.

The volunteer for this week is Clare Green.

The upcoming roster is below. More volunteers are always welcome!

Ideally meals should be easy to freeze & serve, and should be labelled so that the type meal can be easily identified. Any other families wishing to volunteer can now do so by calling the office directly. Meals can be dropped to the office.

Second Hand Uniforms

Families seeking low cost uniform items are welcome to contact Angela Verspay (mum to Dylan and Finn) who has stock of many donated uniform items. Ph: 0477660119.

Recently we have had a call on  second hand uniforms.  We are desperately in need of larger sizes to replenish our stock.  If you have any school uniform clothing in reasonable condition we would very much appreciate your support.  Please contact Angela if you are in a position to assist.

Breakfast Club

Every Wednesday from 8:15 breakfast will be available in the function room for any students that would like to have some breakfast before the school day starts! Everyone is more than welcome to come along, even if they have already had breakfast at home. It is a great initiative supported by FoodShare who provide fruit, yoghurt, cereal and yummy toast. 

Thanks  to our parent volunteers Maddy and Tracey.

Footy Tipping

What a season of football tipping!

As predicted, the Dandelyons came out on top after a breakout tipping season. Like Collingwood, we suddenly needed to take them very seriously as the real deal. A special presentation was made this week to family representative Anna Lyons who promised to share the prize with her club CEO Johnny Lyons and club president Janine Lyons. We hope they keep their other members informed of the windfall.

Well done to the World Class Woodwards, jamiew3, The Lack Attack, Sarah O’Shannassy, Brad Everall, Jo van de Camp and  The Young Ones who all picked 9 correct winner in the last round of home and away matches.

A huge vote of thanks to all of our 60 tippers and tipping syndicates. The annual tipping competition is a lot of fun, but is also a fundraiser for our P & F. Sincere thanks to Richard Verspay who sought Bojangles as our sponsor. See you next season - 2023 is going to be my year!

Thanks to our generous sponsor:

Bojangles Pizzeria Restaurant

61 Liebig St

Warrnambool

5562 0666

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/ 

Upcoming Dates

Tonight School Advisory Council meeting 7.30pm

Tomorrow: CASEA feedback meetings

Tomorrow: Yr 5/6 Hooptime

Aug 29 Parents & Friends meeting 7.30pm

Aug 29 Prep Excursion to Emmanuel

Aug 30: Rock-It Performance

Aug 31 2023 Prep Interviews

Sep 1 2023 Prep Interviews

Sep 2 Sports Night with Dads

Sep 2 Assembly

Sep 8 Pupil Free Day: Staff Professional Learning

Sep 14 School Production: The Jungle Book Kids

Oct 3 Term 4 begins

Oct 28 Twilight Fair

School Canteen Roster

Every Eye is an Eye

While he has been dead for almost 30 years, the image and voice of Fred Hollows still crop up regularly on television. Fred still features in advertising for the foundation named in his honour.

The story of Fred Hollows is remarkable in the way that he dedicated his life to the improvement of eye health especially in developing countries and communities. One statement that particularly sticks in my mind is when he said that ‘an eye is an eye’, that the sight of an impoverished child was just as important as the sight of the prime minister.

In Sunday’s Gospel Jesus tells his disciples that the exalted shall be humbled, and the humbled shall be exalted. Another way this is sometimes stated is the first shall be last and the the last shall be first. Jesus tells them to offer a place at their table to those who have nothing. 

This key piece of scripture is the basis for the idea of ‘preferential option for the poor’, that forms part of Catholic Social Teaching. This was a concept taken very seriously by Fred Hollows, who we think about as a modern Australian secular saint. 

I pray more Australians follow Fred’s example of generosity and selflessness for those with less.

Our Diocesan Community

The link below opens the quarterly diocesan magazine that features news from across the Ballarat Diocese.

COVID 19 Arrangements

Masks

All education sectors in Victoria are strongly promoting the wearing of masks for anyone in an indoor school setting, aged 8 years and above. The wearing of masks has been a recommended practice for some time (the letter from education sector heads is included below).

Students will be required to wear masks in certain circumstances including bus travel or a period of high levels of prolonged transmission in the school or in a specific area of the school.

Any staff of students who are identified as close contacts must wear a mask indoors.

RAT Kits

Staff and students should only be tested with a RAT kit when symptomatic or when testing daily as a close contact over the 7 day quarantine period.

Another supply of RAT kits was sent home this week. Families who require extra kits should make contact with the administration office.

Vaccination 

St Pius X strongly supports vaccination for all in our community who are eligible. However, the new COVID regulations have lifted the mandate for all employees and volunteers to be vaccinated. This means there will be no requirement for adults entering the school to declare their vaccination status.

All community adults are reminded of the child safety requirement to sign in when attending the school between 9.00am and 3.00pm

Transport 

Parents who have tested positive to COVID 19 are permitted to drive children to and from school during their 7 day isolation period. They are required to return home immediately afterwards and not attend other locations.

Managing a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 

As soon as a staff member or student becomes aware of being a suspected case - that is symptomatic (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste:

1. The suspected case is required to leave the school site, or be isolated on-site until they are able to leave.
2. The suspected case is required to be tested with a rapid antigen test. A positive test result must be reported to the Department of Health
3. Positive cases must be isolated for 7 days, testing again on day 6.

In the event that school receives notification that a staff member or student was infectious while onsite:

1. All staff must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
2. All students must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
3. Staff and students will be strongly encouraged to use rapid antigen tests for the following 5 days if they don’t have symptoms.

Where a positive case is recorded from a staff member or student who has been on site, the school community will be notified. Personal information will not be released in this communication.

If a staff member or student tests positive with a rapid antigen test but does not have symptoms or has not been in contact with a positive case, a PCR test is recommended. If a subsequent PCR shows a negative result the staff member or student can return to school.

Close Contacts

A close contact (a person who has spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID 19 inside a house, accommodation or care facility) is no longer required to quarantine, as long as they follow the additional safety measures:

• Notify the school if returning within the 7 day period.
• Undertake RAT testing on school days within the 7 day period (unless the 4 week exemption applies)
• Wear a mask indoors if an adult or a student (aged 8 years or above).
• Not visit hospitals or care facilities.
• Avoid contact with people at higher risk of infection.
• If symptomatic take a RAT or PCR test.