March 30th 2023

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

Lord Jesus,

This Holy Week, help us to turn our attention to your Word and make us truly free.

Amen 

A Note from our Principal.

Ngata Families and Friends,

Dear Families,

Thank you to everyone for your support of our Athletics Carnival. It has certainly been a rollercoaster week with the weather impacting on our plans. It was disappointing to not have the day that was planned, but it was a credit to the students who showed a lot of resilience and persistence through the experience. Thanks also to families and staff for your patience and flexibility. Some students will be progressing onto the next level on Monday, which meant we needed to complete the 9-12 year olds today. We will begin planning an event for the P-2 students and communicate this via the newsletter. It was great to have the flexibility of having the event at school, but it does require an extra level of organisation. A big thank you to Emma McDonald and her team of helpers. Thanks also to the PnF who supported the sausage sizzle on Tuesday and in particular, Kimberley, Merryn, Karen, Casey, Sarah and Lois who helped cook and serve.

Unfortunately we received the sad news this week that our playground has succumbed to rust and can no longer be used. We are currently working on a plan to provide different opportunities for children at play time as well as a plan to replace the playground. Unfortunately, replacing the playground will take time. 

We are in the process of finalising the tender process for the refurbishment of the middle pod. The middle pod is the oldest part of our school and thus, an enormous amount of cleaning has been taking place. Next term, MP3 will relocate to SP4 and MP1 and MP2 will be moving to the library. DT and Arts lessons will be conducted in the classrooms. We are confident that this short term inconvenience will be well worth it. 

Thanks to everyone for taking care in our carpark and following the guidelines. Please remember to pass these onto other people who may pick up your children. 

It has been a long first term, so please go gently during this final week. There is a lot happening before the holidays so please read the newsletter carefully. 

Kind regards, 

Stacey Atkins 

School Photo Day Tomorrow, Friday 31st March

End of term arrangements

Next Thursday is the final day of term and there is a lot happening.

* Easter Hat Parade for the junior pod at 9.15am.

* Way of the Cross- 12pm 

* Drawing of the Easter Raffle at 2.15pm.

* Early finish at 2.30pm

Way of the Cross

Our final Lenten Liturgy is on the last day of school to recognise and celebrate the Passion of Jesus.  The Way of the Cross will start at 12 noon on Thursday, and we will begin in the courtyard in front of the Middle Pod.  We will be moving around the school yard and then finishing in the Church for the final stations.  All welcome. 

Athletics updates

Thank you to everyone for your flexibility around the Athletics Carnival this week. 

Please be aware that a number of students from Grade 3-6 will be invited to participate in the District Sports this coming Monday. A permission note shared via PAM tomorrow.

A big thank you to Ms Emma McDonald for her organisation of the carnival and for all the set up (TWICE!). 

Thank you also to the parents who were still able to assist with the sausage sizzle on Tuesday. It was a small consolation prize for many disappointed students. 

Farewell Belinda

This week we farewell Belinda Sheen, who has been our school counsellor now for a number of years. During this time Belinda has shown a generosity of spirit as well as genuine care and concern for the children and families of St Pius X.  She has been able to build trust and support many children and is always open to guiding staff on the best way to support the children in their classrooms. This has been particularly important the last few years as we have faced uncertain times and new challenges. We thank Belinda for all that she has done for our school community and wish her all the best in her new role. 

Catholic Care will begin a recruitment process for a new counsellor.

Condolences

Condolences to Zahra Moore and her family on the passing of her grandfather on Monday. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this sad time. 

We also pass on our condolences to Mr Gerard Blythe, Misty, Jensen and Bernie on the passing of Gerard's grandmother at the amazing age of 101. 

An update from the classroom...

At each School Advisory Council meeting updates are shared from around the school. We thought it would be great to share these with everyone. 

Preps

Preps have been busy learning in lots of ways. Reading groups are going well and we have welcomed in some beautiful reading helpers each day from our generous families. Each day begins with a community meeting and many of the students know all of their friends by name. They love their specialist routines and their specialist teachers are giving some great feedback around their norms. We are getting excited for a few upcoming events - Palm Sunday liturgy - Friday 31st, School sports and Easter Hat parade (organised by Ms O’Keefe). Check out lots of our other weekly events by catching up on the weekly newsletter as we have 3 little stories every week along with some photos.

Grade 1/2

We have been working hard in learning how to write recounts and currently writing a recount about our long weekend.  In Numeracy, we have been working on Place Value, Addition and Subtraction, 2D shape and now moving into Multiplication and Division. In RE we have been focussing on being a community within our classroom, junior pod and our school. We have been starting the week coming together Monday morning to pray together as a grade 1/2 community.  

We have been setting our norms for ways we can be happy and safe at school in order to learn. We are looking forward to our school sports and school photos next week and making easter hats for an Easter Hat Parade in the final week of school. 

Grade 3/4

Grade 3/4  have been busy organising Lenten liturgies the past few weeks. We are in the process of organising the practicalities of getting prepared  for moving out of the pod in order for renovations to begin.

We are coming to the stage of doing some assessments of our addition unit and have been busy doing Naplan tests. In Writing, we have been focussing on character traits/descriptions. We have been analysing the characters in our novel ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’ as a basis for our own writing. Bounceback has also been a focus this term, looking at concepts such as friendships, kindness and difference. 

Grade 5/6

Grade 5/6 students have had a busy past few weeks. They attended swimming lessons at Jason Lamb’s Splash Factory and all students had a fabulous time. Some students were able to improve their swimming techniques, while others developed some great confidence in the water.

They have been working hard in Numeracy, focussing on Addition and Subtraction and Place Value and Counting and in Literacy they are working on creating a detailed and interesting persuasive piece of writing. Students have been working in small groups focussing on different persuasive skills to build up to creating their final piece. 

They have done a great job completing 4 NAPLAN assessments. Finally, the students are really enjoying our unit on Changes. 

Easter Raffle drawn this Thursday

A big thank you to everyone who has already returned their sold raffle books and to those who have used both sides of the book; please know that your extra donation is most appreciated.  

We need all raffle books returned by 5th April please.

PnF Raffle

The PnF have secured a very generous donation from Rafferty's- so we're having a bonus raffle to finish the term. Tickets can be bought at the office. 

Footy Tipping 2023

What an upredicatable start to the season.  Refuse Rodent was our top tipper this week, but had to use a joker to achieve 8 (probably not a wise decision!). Congratulations to Kezza Talbot for being the next best with 7.

Our top 5 after 2 rounds are:

1. Refuse Rodent

2. Dusty Norton

3. White's Family

4. Team Elizabeth N

5. Alfie Parkinson

Don't forget to pay your money to the office and thanks for your support. 

Lions Eye Health Program

Families are asked to please return these forms to the office. This will be taking place on Monday morning for our Prep students and Wednesday for the remainder of the children.

Sacrament of Reconciliation Wednesday night

This Wednesday, April 5th, 11 students will be Celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time.  The Liturgy will begin at 6pm in the Parish Church.  Individual Reconciliation will be available after the candidates and their families, to anyone wishing to receive Reconciliation on the night.
Please remember our candidates as they prepare to receive this sacrament:
Isaac Green, Layla Van Dijk, Will Reilly, Luke Reilly, Freya Corbett, Maya Anderton, Naomi Kishinaka, Lewis Haberfield, Andrew Mugavin, Jarrah Vickery and Jessica Kent.

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.

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. 

Library News

Pre-Loved books for FREE!

Outside the office, there are a collection of picture story, fiction and non-fictions texts for FREE! These texts have been removed from the Library to make way for some more new and exciting books. 

Please help yourself and happy reading!

Hot off the Prep Press!

Let’s Pray!

Every morning we begin our day with our prayer where we have to set our prayer space with our symbols such as the cloth, a candle, the Bible, our Journey stone and many other things. We then acknowledge our country and make the sign of the cross. We all participate in our morning prayer and enjoy beginning our day in a calm and peaceful way. This week we have created a Prayer Bag which includes all of the symbols we use in our prayer time. We can’t wait to share these with our families at home.

Come and join us…

On Friday 31st March, the Prep students will be leading the whole school in liturgy in the Church. Our liturgy will begin at 2.50pm. We would love for our families to join us and celebrate the beginning of Holy Week being the event of Palm Sunday. Following on from the liturgy will be a whole school assembly, the last one for Term 1. We look forward to seeing you there!

Excursion Reminder

Just a friendly reminder that the Prep students will be participating in their first excursion on Monday 3rd April. We will be learning about things that keep us healthy and safe and having some fun along the way. If you haven’t filled out the permission form on PAM then please do so by Friday afternoon. We look forward to sharing some highlights from our day with everyone next week. 

A special message........

Wishing the following students a very happy birthday for the coming week....................

Grace Wilde, Mason Halloran, Layla Hoggan and Chloe Harzmeyer.

Canteen Roster

Important Dates

Monday 3rd April                  Track and Field District Sports

                                                        Prep Healthy Moves Excursion

Tuesday 4th April                  School Cross Country (postponed to Term 2)

Wednesday 5th April            Sacrament of Reconciliation

                                                        Lion's Club Eye Screening

Thursday 6th April                Holy Thursday

                                                        Last Day of Term 1, 2.30pm finish

Monday 24th April                Term 1 begins

Tuesday 25th April                Anzac Day

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.

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/ 

About Saver Plus:

Saver Plus is a free community program where you can get up to $500 in matched funding for education costs.

The program was developed by Brotherhood of St Laurence and ANZ in 2003. It is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services and ANZ.

 There are three parts to the program:

1. SAVING – ANZ bank will match what participants save up to $50 a month to a total of $500 over 10 months
2. WORKSHOPS - fun workshops where participants build on their money management skills and we share lots of resources. These are held on Zoom and have never been more flexible to attend.
3. CLAIMING - On the 11^th month of the program participants claim their matched funding.

In the information session we will discuss how the program works, eligibility criteria and how participants can get up to $500 as matched savings for education costs. Also take up questions about the program.

Register for their March’23 or April’23 information sessions by clicking on this link https://forms.office.com/r/N8isUYmGfC

Zoom link: https://bsl.zoom.us/j/68016074995?pwd=K2d4dWI4WjRMbGRlRng0NGhoVVVVZz09

Meeting id: 680 1607 4995

Passcode: 027166

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.