May 11th 2023

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

Loving and faithful God, who is both father and mother to us, we thank you for our mothers and the women who show us the way to you. They nurture us, care for us and love us just as you do.

Help us to value and appreciate the light they shine in our lives. May we see your presence in our lives through them.

We ask this in Jesus’ name.

Amen

A Note from our Principal.

Ngata Families and Friends,

Dear Families,

Whilst it is a little strange to have a full week of school, it is lucky that we did because there is a lot to cram in. Currently, I'm with the Grade 1/2s in Werribee at the Zoo. I'm sure that we are having a great day. Thanks to the staff members who have been working hard to plan and prepare for this day. A big thank you also to those parents who were able to support this. 

We are looking forward to our Mother's Day celebrations on Monday. Hopefully this is the icing on the cake after a day of celebrations on Sunday. We are grateful to all the mums, grandmothers and people who show us a Mother's love. Enjoy celebrating you. 

Kind regards,

Stacey 

Appointment of ongoing principal

The process for appointing an ongoing principal for our school has begun. The advertisement can be found here .

This is coordinated through our governing authority, DOBCEL. An important part of this process is community consultation. A letter from Lee Schlooz follows which outlines this. Please consider providing some feed via the link below. 

Link to feedback survey

ReLATE

From the archives, we have a clip about our Community Meetings or ReLATE Circles. This is the way we begin our days at St Pius X. It is a great way connect with each other, set goals and build knowledge about our emotions. Staff also begin meetings in this way.

I invite you to have a look at this clip to find out more. 

2024 Enrolments

It is hard to believe, but our enrolment period for 2024 begins in a few weeks. We know that we have a great school here at St Pius X and we also know that it is through personal recommendations that other families find us. 

We need your help. Please consider doing the following:

• Sharing our promotional video.
• Sharing information about our enrolment tours.
• Directing people to our website.
• Liking and sharing our social media posts on facebook and instagram
• Bringing someone along to our enrolment tours. 

Help us to spread the word.

Student Medical Information

A reminder that we require all families to login to PAM and update their child's Medical Information if their child's medical details have changed. This information assists with our electronic permission forms. 

Please follow the instructions below to update a medical profile for each of your children by:

1. Click on link to PAM (found on our webpage or SZapp)
2. Click on student (if more than 1 child, this will need to be done individually)
3. Click on Medical Profile
4. Check all questions and select Edit Details for updates to be made.
5. Once you get to the end of the questions please confirm by clicking on the Green “Update Details” Box found at the bottom right of screen.

As a parent/guardian you are able to access your child/rens medical profile on PAM at any time to update as needed.  If you have any queries or require your PAM login details, please do not hesitate to get in contact with the office.  

School Emergency Contacts

Please notify the school by phone or by using the Update Contact Details in our SZApp if you have any updates to home address, contact phone numbers and email addresses. Parents are encouraged to have two alternate contacts for their child in the event that parents cannot be contacted.

Be aware that email addresses are used in several of our systems which we need to change each of these manually.

Cross Country tomorrow

The District Cross Country is being held on Friday 12th May at Albert Park in Warrnambool.

Best wishes to those students who have qualified for this stage. Don't forget to be prepared with warm clothing and a change of shoes!

The format of the morning will be (times are approximate only)

• 10.05am- Girls 10 Years and Under
• 10.30am- Boys 10 Years and Under 10.55am- Girls 11 Years and Under
• 11.20am- Boys 11 Years and Under 11.45am- Girls 12/13 Years and Under
• 12.10pm- Boys 12/13 Years and Under
• 12.45pm- Presentations
• 1.15pm- Return to School
  

If any parents are availabe to assist on the course please contact Emma McDonald.

Congratulations Zarli!

Zarli Best competed for St. Pius X at the school division sports last week where she came 2nd in her age group in the 100m sprint.  Zarli has now qualified to represent our school at a regional level and this will occur later in the year.   Well done Zarli.

SZapp (Schoolzine)

Please note that there have been some recent changes/updates to this app which have resulted in some parents experiencing difficulties using it.   There is a glitch in the app when users have increased the font / text size of the device. The provider is aware and it should be fixed in the next app update due next week. However in the meantime please follow the steps below and it should fix the issue.

 Go into Settings on your iPhone:

• Select Display & Brightness
• Click on Text Size
• Adjust text size bar to middle
• Open SZapp and enter passcode. 3675
• Click subscribe and follow prompts

For your reference, should SZapp ever ask for the school login it is 3675.

Help!

A credit card payment of $145.50 was made to the front office on 04/04/23.  We don't have any details on who made the payment or what it relates to.  Can the person who made the payment please contact the office - the credit card details will need to be supplied so we can match up the payment.  Thank You.

Mother's Day Celebration

The children are busily preparing something special to celebrate the amazing women who we know do so much for us all. We recognise that an event like this does not suit everyone but we hope that the efforts of the children will show you how much they love and appreciate what you do. 

DON'T FORGET: As part of our Mother's Day Celebration, we'd love to create slideshow of all the woman who are special to us. 

Please email Stacey a photo of yourself with your child.

We will be having a lucky door prize. If you have any prizes to donate please bring them along to school. 

principal@spwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au 

PnF Update

Thank you to Kimberley, Viriginia, Merryn and Richard for attending our meeting on Monday night and for their dedication to supporting the fund raising efforts of our school. 

Some things that the PnF are currently supporting include:

• A raffle- stay tuned for tickets to come home
• A movie night for children this term. Date to be confirmed. 
• The Twilight Fair in October
• Supporting the canteen

We would love to raise money to upgrade our playground. All support is appreciated, so stay tuned for ways that you can help. It all adds up. 

Are you wearing the correct winter school uniform?

A friendly reminder that sports uniform is to only be worn on sports days. 

The following items are part of the uniform and can be purchased from school. 

• burgundy windcheater (with logo)  
• navy tunic or navy gabardine pants/shorts
• white polo top (with logo) or white skivvy  
• navy tights or navy socks  
• black shoes  
  

Welcome Brooke

This week we welcome Brooke Coleman to St Pius X as our Pastoral Care Worker. Brooke will support those students that Belinda worked with as well as begin some new initiatives. We look forward to working with her. 

Pecten Avenue Playground Opening

Thanks to the SRC for representing our school at the Pecten Avenue Playground Opening.  What a great addition to our community in West Warrnambool. 

Mini Vinnies

Today MP2 and the Mini Vinnies crew walked to Pecten Ave playground for a play. This was a reward for the large sum of money that was raised for project compassion. We were blessed to have fabulous weather and the photos show how much we enjoyed spending time on the new play equipment and checking out Jimmy Buscombes 3D snakes and ladders board.

Asthma Plans and Ventolin

Keeping children safe is our number one priority at St Pius X. A number of families would have received a letter this week in regards to out of date medication and asthma plans. It would be appreciated if families could prioritise the updating of both plans and medication as soon as possible. Thank you for your support with this important matter. 

Parents and Friends Raffle

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

Footy Tipping 2023

Congratulations tippers! Our average this week was 8.7. Very impressive. 

Well done to the following tippers who tipped 9 and played their joker. Debra Redpath, Brad Everall, Darren Edge and the Weedys. That's impressive. 

Congratulations also to those who tipped 9- Scotty Pev, Anne Kerr, mattrylance, ESPNfan, Letty Parkinson and Nek minute. 

It's close at the top with the Seurens having a nice lead. They've gone hard on the jokers early and no doubt, are hoping they can put the pressure on the rest of the field. 

1. Seurens
2. Darren Edge
3. Letty Parkinson
4. Debra Redpath
5. White's Family

A special message........

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

Oscar Smith, Reg Parkinson, Sienna Watts, Finn Lucas, Isaac Green.

Canteen Roster

Tuesday, 16th May - Tammy Karnajaya

Wednesday, 17th May- Sue Coulson

Thursday, 18th May - Kristina Vagala

Friday, 19th May - Bec Maglaras

Important Dates

Monday 15th May: Mother's Day Event, 2.45pm

Wednesday 17th May: Foundation Excursion Flagstaff Hill

Monday 22nd May: Catholic Education Week begins

Wednesday 24th May: Prep excursion to Frozen the Musical (Emmanuel College)

Thursday 25th May: Enrolment Tours 10am and 6.30pm

Friday 26th May: Enrolment Tour 10am

Friday 26th May: Year 6 Network Excursion to Frozen the Musical

Advance notice: Term 4 closure date Friday November 3rd 

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/ 

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.