July 20th 2023
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Prayer
- A Note from our (Acting) Principal.
- Twilight Fair: Friday October 27th
- NAPLAN
- Parents and Friends Raffle-$1030 Raised
- Sacrament of Eucharist
- Australian Dental Health Van Visit - Postponed
- School Closure Day next Friday, 28th July
- Grade 1/2 Art Gallery Excursion
- Hot Off the Prep Press
- Change Detectives!
- Head Lice
- Concussion
- Mini Vinnies Book and Toy Sale
- A special message........
- Breakfast Club
- Footy Tipping 2023
- Canteen Roster
- Important Dates
- Second Hand Uniforms
- Before & After School Care
- Parish Contact
- COVID 19 Arrangements
Acknowledgement of Country
The St Pius X Parish School Community acknowledges the Gunditjmara / Marr Nation people who have educated children on these lands for thousands of years.
Prayer
Dear God,
Help us to listen to, respect and appreciate the history, culture and achievements of First Nations People.
Thank you for the opportunities all around us to learn the ways of our nation's first peoples, which are precious and important to all life in this Country.
With your love and spirit, let us walk together in unity, peace and harmony on this land.
Amen
St Vincent de Paul Naidoc Week Prayer.
A Note from our (Acting) Principal.
Ngata Families and Friends,
We have certainly experienced a change in the weather this week, with chill in the breeze and icy rain falling through the day.
This week we had our Formation meeting for Eucharist candidates. It was great to see so many students in attendance.
Tomorrow we have twenty two Grade Five and Six students competing in the Warrnambool and District Inter School Hockey Championships. May the force be with you!
Next week we look forward to welcoming back our principal Stacey after a well deserved break in Vanuatu.
Hope you all have a fabulous weekend, stay safe and warm.
Let's hope that the Lions can beat the Cats this weekend!
Kind Regards,
Clare.
Twilight Fair: Friday October 27th
Save the date!
Planning has commenced for our annual Twilight Fair, which will be held on Friday October 27th. Thank you to Richard Verspay, Kimberley Lack, Merryn Payne, Alana Gleeson, Virginia Short and Bronwen Levett for attending our planning meeting on Tuesday night. Thanks also to Kerry Talbot for sending in suggestions and to those people who returned the PnF survey with suggestions and offers to help. All contributions are appreciated and valued.
The fair is a great opportunity for our school to raise some money, but also to come together and celebrate our wonderful community.
The PnF are currently seeking volunteers for the different stalls that we have. If you would like to coordinate a stall (perhaps with a friend) please email Stacey. Prizes for the raffle and any other suggestions would also be appreciated.
principal@spwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au
NAPLAN
The 2023 Naplan reports arrived today and will be sent home tomorrow with students. A letter from Stacey and a letter from National Assessment Tests (NAPLAN) will accompany your child’s reports.
We emphasise that this report provides a single snapshot of your child’s progress and needs to be considered in light of other available assessment information. The scores they get on the test will tell you how well they did on that day but will not tell you everything. The test does not tell you how amazingly special your child is, what they love to do or what their individual talents are. So remember, your child did their best on the day and there is no one way to ‘test’ all the wonderful things that makes your child unique.
Parents and Friends Raffle-$1030 Raised
Congratulations to Messi for winning our raffle at the end of last term. Thank you to everyone who bought a ticket. We raised $1030. A big effort!
A big thank you to Rafferty's Tavern for their generous donation.
Sacrament of Eucharist
On Wednesday night, some students from our school began their preparation journey to receive the Sacrament of Eucharist for the first time. The Sacrament of Eucharist is the third sacrament of initiation. Please remember the following students in your prayers over the next few weeks.
Charlotte Van de Camp, Will Reilly, Arlo Sloane, Luke Reilly, Darcy O'Shannassy, Liam Norton,
Lincoln Steffensen, Reilly McMahon, Maggie Corbett, Rosie Kelly, Emily Bertrand, Rose Vu,
Thomas Nguyen, Andrew Mugavin, Blake Harzmeyer.
Australian Dental Health Van Visit - Postponed
Please note that the Dental Van visit scheduled for this week has been cancelled. We will revert with new dates when we receive confirmation from ADHV.
School Closure Day next Friday, 28th July
A reminder regarding the school closure day on Friday, 28th July which is a designated professional development day for our teaching staff in the area of Maths.
Please note that Their Care will NOT be operating on this day and alternate child care arrangements will need to be made.
Grade 1/2 Art Gallery Excursion
On Thursday 13th July, the Grade 1/2 students visited the Warrnambool Art Gallery and participated in a street art walk to celebrate the beginning of our Term 3 Art Attack unit. We discovered different artists, styles and mediums used to create art such as mosaics, abstract, indigenous, sculptures and various methods of spray paint art. Students took part in a workshop hosted by the Art Gallery and attempted an abstract landscape of Tower Hill. We had a fun day and learnt many news things to help us in our art learning.
Hot Off the Prep Press
Big Brother News!
We have had some exciting news enter the Prep room from the holidays. Oscar Smith has become a big brother to baby Hendrix. Oscar and his mum, Grace have brought Hendrix into the classroom a few times and each time he has been the ‘perfect baby’. Oscar is a very proud big brother and has been helping lots around the house. We look forward to watching Hendrix grow and learn. Congratulations!!
An Art Expert!
Last Friday we welcomed a local artist, Lucy McLaren, into our classroom to share her artworks and knowledge. Lucy is a Yr 9 student at Emmanuel College and creates paintings using the art elements of line, shape, colour and texture. Lucy explained the steps that she follows to create an art piece and showed us how she uses an iPad to help her create a design before she paints the design onto a canvas. Lucy told us that she practices her art often and it is her favourite hobby. If you are interested in learning more about Lucy’s artwork then you can follow her page ‘Lucy May Creative’ on Instagram and she also sells her artwork at Rebecca’s Cafe in Port Fairy. We thought Lucy’s art was A-MAZING!!
I Can Do It All By Myself!!
Now that we are in Term 3 it is time to remove the training wheels. That means that from next week we are focussing on ‘I Can Do It All By Myself!’. We are looking forward to seeing all the Prep children come into school all by themselves in the morning and complete their morning jobs independently. We are encouraging all children to be dropped in the loop in the morning and make their way inside by themselves to begin their day. For some people this is not new as they have been so good at doing this for so long now, so keep it up!
Developing independence is such an important part of school and it will help all students get ready for the transition to Grade 1 when the time comes. C’mon everyone, you can do it!!
Change Detectives!
During Third Term, the students in the senior Pod are learning how to be Change Detectives. Throughout the Science Unit, students will explore and investigate how regular house-hold items (Milk,vinegar, salt) freeze, thaw, melt, dissolve and evaporate.
Head Lice
We have been made aware of a case of head lice in the school. Head lice is extremely hard to get rid of if it is not treated properly. Please check your child's hair and treat if necessary. It is also important to wash all linen.
More information can be found at: www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au
A reminder that any child with shoulder length hair should have it tied up.
Concussion
Children often bump or bang their heads and it can be difficult to tell whether an injury is serious or not. Any knock to the head is considered a head injury. When a student suffers a concussion at school it is deemed a Worksafe notifiable incident.
It is important for us to be made aware of a concussion that has occurred outside of the school setting (on weekends or during extracurricular activities) to ensure that on return to school the student is monitored for ongoing symptoms.
Concussion – Important information
If your child has experienced concussion, it is important that you follow recommended medical advice. Returning to school can be a graduated approach with the aim of increasing tolerance to a full day, the same situation could occur with sport. It is always important to check with your doctor and seek medical treatment after a child sustains a concussion.
It is important to inform the school if your child has sustained a concussion outside of the school setting so we can monitor for ongoing symptoms and adapt activities if required. This factsheet link below from the Royal Children’s Hospital is valuable to read and understand.
https://www.rch.org.au/kidsinfo/fact_sheets/Head_injury_return_to_school_and_sport/
There is also a great evidence-based app from the Murdoch children’s research institute that walks you through what to do in the result of a concussion.
Mini Vinnies Book and Toy Sale
In term 3 the Mini Vinnies team will be supporting CRISP to raise $12,000 for a Refugee family who are coming to Warrnambool to live. This family were originally from Iraq, but have been displaced in Lebanon since 2014. The family has two boys aged 4 & 11 & a girl aged 13.
So far CRISP have collected the essentials to furnish a house but now they are turning their attention to the children. During the holidays we are asking our students to go through all their old books and toys to see if there is anything they could donate for a stall. If you have anything please bring it along to the Drama room in weeks 1 and 2.
We ask that you bring no more than 1-2 books and/or 1 toy per family.
Please only donate goods that are in a reasonable condition. Remember to check with your families first! Then in week 6 (Bookweek) we will hold a stall. Money raised from the stall will be given to CRISP who will then buy essential items for the children.
Thank you for your support.
A special message........
Wishing the following students a very Happy Birthday for the coming week.............................
Evelyn Terrington, Alexis Oliver-Hay, Madix McLean, Zahra Francis, Will Reilly.
Breakfast Club
Breakfast Club continues to be a hit during these cold Wednesday mornings! If you arrive at school before 8:50am, head down to the function room for some yummy toast, cereal, fruit, milo and lots more!
Helpers are always welcome, even if it is for a morning, every little bit helps! If you’d like to volunteer please contact the office!
Footy Tipping 2023
A couple of weeks of hoidays has resulted in some changes to our top 5 tippers. Letty is looking dangerous sitting in second place and only having used 3 jokers!
A number of tippers used round 16 and 17 to play their joker with excellent results. A 16 at this stage of the season is a big win! Keep up the great work team.
Our top 5 tippers are:
- Fynn20- 131
- Letty Parkinson - 129
- World Class Woodwards- 127
- White's Family- 127
- Brad Everall-126
Canteen Roster
Tuesday, 25th July- Volunteer Needed Please
Wednesday, 26th July- Anna Reilly
Thursday, 27th July- Kristina Vagala
Friday, 28th July- Bec Maglaras
Important Dates
Friday 21st July: Assembly (Church at 2.50pm)
Friday July 28th: School Closure
Friday 4th August: Proposed Movie Night (TBC)
Thursday 10th August: SAC meeting, 7.30pm
Friday October 27th Twilight Fair
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
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.
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/
COVID 19 Arrangements
All famililes are asked to familiarise thesmselves with the updated COVID 19 regulations.
Managing a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19
- It is recommended that rapid antigen tests (RATs) are used by students and staff if they:
- have symptoms of COVID-19 infection, no matter how mild
- are a household or close contact of someone who has COVID-19
- are a social contact of someone who has COVID-19.
- The Department of Health recommends that all Victorians report their positive RAT result via the online form or by calling 1800 675 398.
- Principals are no longer required to inform their school community of a positive case associated with the school.
- Staff or students who are positive are strongly recommended to stay home and isolate for a minimum of five days.
- Symptomatic students or staff should not attend school, even if failing to test positive on a RAT or PCR.
Communication
There is no longer a requirement for schools to inform their communities of positive cases. All health information is held in accordance with the school’s privacy policy.
Masks
Staff and students who wish to wear a mask will continue to be supported to do so. Masks are available from the administration office for anyone wishing to obtain one.
Any staff or students who are close contacts are recommended to wear a mask indoors.
Any staff or students returning from isolation are recommended to wear a mask for 7 days after returning to school.
RAT Kits
RATs are available for all Victorians from council sites. Individuals can obtain two free packs (10 tests) for themselves and two free packs (10 tests) for each household member. People with disability and their carers can get up to four free packs (20 tests) in line with existing RAT distribution for people with disability.
The RATs are available at the Civic Centre (25 Liebig Street) and the Archie Graham Community Centre (118 Timor Street).
Vaccination
St Pius X strongly supports vaccination for all in our community who are eligible. There is 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.
Medically At Risk Students
Students who have chronic health conditions, especially affecting the respiratory system ie Asthma, must have up to date health support plans. Families who are unsure about the status of their child’s plan should make contact with teh school administration office.