March 16th 2023

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

Loving God,

Help us to listen before speaking. 

Help us to respect and understand the opinions of others.

Help us to trust one another and share with openness and vulnerability. 

Amen

Image: Clifford Possum Tjapaltjarri (ca. 1932-2002), Good Friday, 1994, acrylic on canvas, 116 x 154 cm; printed in: Johnson, Vivien, Clifford Possum, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide 2003, p. 189

A Note from our Principal.

Ngata Families and Friends,

Dear Families,

I trust that everyone enjoyed the extra long weekend and took the opportunity to recharge. A big thank you for supporting our school closure day. Teaching staff enjoyed the opportunity to delve into some research around reading and learning, which will benefit all.

There is a lot happening in the lead up to the holidays so please read the newsletter carefully. The PnF will meet on Monday and the SAC will meet Thursday night. Our open night and athletics are also coming up. 

A reminder that any important information will be on this newsletter with reminders being sent via the schoolzine app. 

Congratulations to the Middle Pod and the Senior Pod who showed excellent persistence, team work and resilience as they engaged in their Bike Ed and Swimming Programs. It was inspiring to see the look of satisfaction on the children's faces as they achieved something new. 

Kind regards, 

Stacey Atkins 

School hours

A reminder that before school supervision does not begin in the playground until 8.45am. Teachers are often at school prior to this but are engaged in preparation for the day and thus, supervision is minimal. There are a number of children arriving at school prior to 8.30am. 

If your family needs to drop children at school prior to 8.30am please consider using our out of school care provider, TheirCare. The relevant information is in the newsletter. 

Thanks for your support of this important safety issue. 

Project Compassion

This week Project Compassion shares with us the story of Thu, who lives in Vietnam. At the age of 12, Thu’s life was thrown into chaos when he trod on a land mine that had been left behind after the Vietnam War. Surely, he must have asked why he was among the unlucky ones. He might have asked the same thing again when his wife suffered a stroke. But Thu joined the Empowerment of People with Disabilities program, supported by Caritas Australia through our local partners, the Centre for Sustainable Rural Development. As with so many others, your generosity enabled Thu and his family to build a brighter future. Thank you for helping in this wonderful work of transformation.

https://www.caritas.org.au/project-compassion

Open Night

All families are invited to our Open Night on Monday 27th March between 5 and 6pm. This is a great chance to explore our school and meet the teachers through an Amazing Race style event.

In addition, the only remaining wing of the original St Pius X school is due to be refurbished early next term. This building was originally used as the church. Therefore, we would like to extend the invite to other community members who would like one last look at this building to come for a look. The middle pod was the first church on the site. 

Easter Raffle: Donations needed

Footy Tipping 2023

During the coming AFL men’s season our P&F will again be running another footy tipping competition.

Everyone is invited to join! 

The cost of entry is $10 for an individual entry or $20 for a family (multi entry with up to three individual family members). Entry fees need to be paid at the administration office. There will be a fantastic prize for first place, and we would love to hear from any other potential sponsors too.

Joker rounds will be in play with each tipper able to select 5 rounds where you double your score. It certainly makes life interesting! 

To register, just click on the link!

https://www.footytips.com.au/comps/StPiusX

Lions Eye Health Program

Parents of children in Prep, Grade 3 and Grade 6 will receive a note seeking permission for their child to participate in the Lions Eye Health Program. 
This is a free service that will be taking place at our school on Wednesday April 5th. 

It is estimated 1 in 5 children in Australia have undetected vision problems. Screenings can help
identify children who may require further eye review/testing.
The individual screening takes just a few minutes to perform. There is no physical contact made with the child and no eye drops are administered. Individual reports will sent to parents. If a vision problem is detected, this will be written on the child’s result sheet and you will be encouraged to seek a further eye assessment with an eye health professional.
If you would like your child to participate in this vision screening program, please make sure you return the permission form as soon as possible. 

Sacrament of Reconciliation- Date Change

Please note, that the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation has been moved to Wednesday April 5th.

We apologise for any inconvenience that this may cause.  

Congratulations Maya

Congratulations to Maya Anderton who finished 3rd in her heat at the Regional Swimming Championships. Great work Maya! 

Car park safety

Car park safety is something that we are all responsible for. Please follow the golden rules. 

We also remind people that when Gerard, the crossing guard, has his stop sign up that everyone stops. This includes turning into the pick up lane. 

DOGS

Families are also asked to be mindful that some people are not comfortable with dogs. Please ensure that dogs do not come into crowds of people at pick up time. 

Parents and Friends this Monday

Our next meeting is this Monday at 7.30pm. All welcome. 

If you are able to assist with the BBQ and canteen at the Athletics carnival on Tuesday 28th March please reply using the form below. 

St. Vincent De Paul Lenten Appeal.

The customary Lenten Appeal organised by the St Pius X Conference will commence on the First Sunday of Lent.  Those who wish to donate are asked to contribute goods which correspond to these weekends in Lent.  Please leave at the school Office or take with you to Mass each weekend.

18-19 March  Pasta/pasta sauce.

25-26 March  Tea/coffee.

1-2 April Tinned soup.

Survey for Parents

Parents are invited to participate in the ECSI Survey which will assist us in better understanding how our Catholic identity is expressed in work and practice here at St Pius X. A letter outlining the survey and instructions are attached. 

Each survey response helps us to build an accurate picture of our school and therefore, helps us to keep improving. 

DOBCEL Board Opportunity

The DOBCEL Board provides opportunities for members of the diocesan education community, and others with relevant expertise, to participate in the mission of DOBCEL, to assist its governance and decision making and to inform faithful stewardship of the mission through DOBCEL Consultative Committees.

A range of vacancies exists across the DOBCEL Consultative Committees. These committees are an invaluable opportunity to ensure that the work of the Board and CEB reflects the needs of DOBCEL school communities right across the Diocese. Typically, the committees meet once each term for a duration of 90-120 Minutes. The opportunity exists to attend face-to-face or virtually.  For volunteers to the organisation, compensation for expenses is available. 

Opportunities exist for parents/guardians/carers with a child/children enrolled in a DOBCEL School to join one of the following; 

• Catholic Faith Community & Culture Consultative Committee

• Children & Young People Safeguarding & Wellbeing Consultative Committee

• Family and Community Engagement Consultative Committee

• Learning and Teaching Consultative Committee

In the event of multiple nominations, the Board will invite Consultative Committee members on the basis of the general balance of the committee, taking into account factors such as gender, diversity, skill mix, location, school size, etc.

For more information please contact Jo Mckee jmckee@dobcel.catholic.edu.au or speak with your school principal. Expressions of interest are open until Wednesday, 26th April."

Hot off the Prep Press

Reading Groups

Our reading groups are well and truly organised as an important part of our Learning routines. Each day we explore letters, sounds, words, sentences and books in lots of fun ways with a small group of our peers. Sometimes we have a special helper to guide us and sometimes we work with our teachers  but other times we work well all on our own. We love to play games, build puzzles, read books, find our golden words, match letters and work on our I-pads and before we get to eat our fruit we love to do some stamina reading with our reader bags. Reading is so much fun!!

Writing about my extra Long Weekend

We were extremely excited to come back to school after our extra Long Weekend and share lots of stories about what we did with our family and friends. Evie Terrington went to the City for the very first time, Lenny Kelly went camping at Lake Fyan’s, Connie Schrama has been enjoying the nice weather in Yarrawonga and Davey Walker is currently exploring all that Ayer’s Rock has to offer!

Check out some of the super stories and pictures that we have created now that we are back at school.

My Body Parts

Heads, shoulders, knees and toes is one of our favourite brain break songs but look at all the other body parts we know about. Last week we explored different parts of our bodies. We know that males and females have some body parts that are the same and some that are different. We know that some body parts can have more than one name. We know that there are some body parts that we can see and other important body parts are hidden beneath our skin. Everyone of us helped to name and label 39 different parts as you can see in our photo and then we ran out of time. How many more could you come up with at home? 

St. Pius School Choir

This week we had the first official gathering of our St Pius X School Choir with Mrs Keeley.  It was wonderful to hear the sound of happy voices floating through the grade 3/4 area.  Their enthusiasm was outstanding.  Stay tuned for more details about their first official gig.

A special message........

Wishing these students are very Happy Birthday for this coming week..................

Indi-Rose Meyer, Zac Brisbane, Messi Le & Brooklyn Murray.

Canteen Roster

Roster for next week:

Important Dates

Monday 20th March          PnF Meeting, 7.30pm

Thursday 23rd March        SAC Meeting, 7.30pm

Monday 27th March            School Open Night, 5-6pm

Tuesday 28th March           School Athletics

Friday 31st March                 School Photos

Monday 3rd April                  Track and Field District Sports

Tuesday 4th April                  School Cross Country

Wednesday 5th April            Sacrament of Reconciliation

Thursday 6th April                Holy Thursday

                                                        Last Day of Term 1, 2.30pm finish

Monday 24th April                 Term 1 begins

Before & After School Care

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.

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/ 

Marriage Encounter Weekend.

FOR SALE!     Personalised Zooper Dooper holders made by William Carey.   They are $5.00 each and come in a range of colours.  Please phone Jodie on 0459 115 004 for more information.

COVID 19 Arrangements

All famililes are asked to familiarise thesmselves with the updated COVID 19 regulations.