August 17th 2023

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

Mary, may your faith, hope

and love inspire us today and

always

Amen

On August 15th we celebrated the feast of the Assumption of Mary. 

Image: The Assumption of Mary. Watercolour by Ronald Raab, 2019

A Note from our Principal

Ngata Families and Friends,

We are all very excited for our book week celebrations tomorrow. A highlight of the day will be our parade at 9.30am in the big hall. Everyone is welcome. The children will move into multiage groups after recess to engage in art and craft activities connected to the nominated books. We will then have a special assembly, in the church, at 2.45pm where some of the children will share their work. Thanks to Kate Sewell for all of her organisation. 

Next Monday we celebrate St Pius X Feast Day. This is a great chance to celebrate all the great things about our community. We will be celebrating with Mass at 10am and then with some special activities throughout the day. Thanks to Jake Bacon for his organisation of the Pastoral Care day. 

Congratulations to those students who have represented the school in the Gr 3 & 4 Hoop Time this week.  They have done our school proud.

Kind Regards,

Stacey

Hello Josephine!

We like to extend a warm welcome to Josie who has started at St. Pius X this week.   Josie is in Grade four in MP1.  We're happy you're here!

Book Week Dress Up Day Tomorrow!

We are all very excited about our Book Week dress up day tomorrow.

Our parade will be in the big hall at 9.30. Everyone is welcome!

Hooptime Basketball

Tomorrow, Grade 5 & 6 Hooptime Basketball will be held at Emmanuel College.

Following is the timetable.

Twilight Fair: We need your help!

Dear Parents and kids of St Pius X,

The Parents & Friends endeavour to hold a Twilight Fair each year and this year we plan to do so on Friday 27th October 4pm - 7pm. This year we aim to raise money to put towards our playground at school.  It is a really great way to showcase our community spirit and is something we as the P&F, the kids and I'm sure you look forward too.
This year we would like to continue the success of our community fair, albeit a little bit different.
Due to school staff work commitments and the new enterprise bargaining agreement for teachers, we will require the help of our wonderful students and parents for this event to succeed and to go ahead. We plan to have our Senior pod students run most of these stalls in shifts. The stalls will be set up prior to the event starting, so the assistance of parents is needed to help guide these kids through the night. All you will need is a Working With Childrens Card, a bit of energy, a big smile and the desire to help out our school. There will be shifts of an hour or one and a half hours.

To keep our Community Fair going this year we need this assistance. Without this we will have to rethink the fair going ahead.

We look forward to any assistance or feedback. You can contact the P&F before Monday 28th August on kimberleybakker46@gmail.com.

Thank you for your time,
Parents & Friends Committee

Kimberley Bakker, Merryn Payne, Richard Verspay

Friends of the Twilight Fair -

All welcome to our next planning meeting. 

Monday 28th August, 7pm at school. 

St. Pius X Feast Day & Pastoral Care Day.

On Monday 21st August our whole school will be celebrating the Feast Day of our Patron Saint -  Giuseppe Sarto. Giuseppe became St Pius X in 1954. He was a man who loved God and wanted to help his family and his communities. 

FUN FACT - The second of 10 children in a poor Italian family, Giuseppe (Joseph) Sarto became Pius X at age 68. He was one of the 20th century's greatest popes. Ever mindful of his humble origin, Pope Pius stated, “I was born poor, I lived poor, I will die poor.”

We invite our school community to join us at our Feast Day Parish Mass on Monday @ 10:00am. 

After Mass we will have lots of fun together to celebrate this special day. 

Our entire school will gather together for a whole school lunch - Chat and Chew in our sports teams. We will also get to play some fun team games. Mr Bacon has organised for us to jump into teams to play Bucket Filler Relay and Hoola Hoop Pass.

Throughout the day we will spend time setting our goals for the day and reflecting on our safety plans and what tools we use to help us regulate our emotions and stay in the Green zone to help us learn and be happy at school.

We look forward to celebrating this day together and having fun as a whole school community. We will share some photos from throughout the day in next week’s newsletter. A big thank you to Mr Bacon and all the teachers who help to plan, organise and implement so much fun into our learning. 

School Advisory Council

Our SAC met last Thursday night. Many current school initiatives were discussed.The SAC provide an avenue for parent voice around various aspects of school life. Topics for discussion included the review of the school wide behaviour flow chart, PnF activities including the Twilight Fair, technology upgrades and the new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement for teaching staff. 

The SAC are also provided with a run down around major events that have been happening in our school as well as what is happening in each of the classrooms, which has been included in the newsletter. 

Around the School.

So many great things happen around our school. Here is just a snapshot of what each pod has been up to. 

Preps

Integrated - This term the focus is Art. We had an excursion to the Art Gallery to kick off the unit. We have looked at and recreated our own interpretation of Sunflowers by Vincent Van Gogh. TWe can’t wait to share our masterpieces with everyone!

Religion - This term our unit is Wonder and it is off to a WONDERful start as we have been exploring wondrous things in our world. We have been comparing and contrasting the things in our world that are God made and Man Made. We have been discussing why we think they have or have not been part of God’s creation. We have been able to use our knowledge of the creation story to make our choices. There are so many beautiful things that God made such as the sky, birds, trees, oceans, animals and mountains. 

Maths - We have been learning about chance and data. Collecting, reading and interpreting different sets of data and having lots of fun whilst doing so.

Grade 1/2

Our Integrated unit this term is ‘Art Attack’. Students experienced 3 forms of art and then chose one to complete an art piece in - Mosaic, Indigenous Art and Abstract Art. We will have an Art Show Friday Week 9 with the preps.

Maths - we have completed a unit on multiplication and division and are currently working on Place Value.

Our RE unit focus is Wisdom. We are looking at the Old Testament and different religions. 

We are reading and writing narratives and using story grammar to help us. 

 Grade 3/4

Some of the children in the middle area are currently preparing to receive their first Eucharist.

Our Integrated unit is based on the geography component of the Australian curriculum. Our current focus in Math is a unit on fractions.

‘Respect’ is the focus for RE lessons.

August 22nd children will be attending a performance ‘Just Kidding’ at the Lighthouse Theatre.

A group of students will be representing the school in Basketball on Monday 14th August.

Grade 5/6

The senior students are finishing a chemical science unit.  They have been exploring how changes occur under the influence of other factors.  They have also considered if changes can be reversed. 

In Religion the unit has been based around the covenant between Abraham and God.  We have explored the new covenant and the 3 Abrahamic Religions.

On the sports front, we have Hooptime and volleyball coming up this term and the children are all looking forward to camp in week 10.

Hot off the Prep Press!

BOOK WEEK DAY REMINDER

Tomorrow is Book Week Day. We can’t wait to see what everyone comes to school dressed up as. We would love ALL Prep’s to bring along one of their favourite picture story books to share with their friends during this fun day. 

DOT PAINTING

This week we read a book written by Bronwyn Bancroft. Bronwyn is a local indigenous artist who wrote a book about the different colours used in her art. We explored many of her pieces finding different art elements - colour, shape, line, form and texture. Check out some of our creative pieces coming together in our photos.

NUMBER LINE

Mr Antonoff has been busy teaching us about number lines and bead strings using 10’s and 1’s. We are learning how to count in quicker ways and we know that some numbers are small and some numbers can be big. They are the numbers that have lots of 10’s. We love playing tug of war with our friends, too.

School Fees and Levies.

As we are into the third term, it is timely that you please review your school fees and levies.

Last week, statements were emailed to all families and I thank those who had a query for their contact.

At this stage the total owing on Fees and Levies is $248,727.49.  This amount places the school budget in an awkward position.

Children have obtained their Chromebooks in Yr. 5 and 6, others have been on camp and excursions and all stationery supplies have been provided to your child. IT equipment has also been provided to all classes along with sporting equipment and cleaning and maintenance of all facilities.

Just like your accounts our gas and electricity costs have increased significantly.

The school has covered all these costs and we would greatly appreciate payment of your fees as soon as possible.

If you are on a Payment Plan please continue as agreed, ensuring that your account will be finalized by the end of the year.  For families who have finalized their fees already we are very grateful of your support.

Again, I wish to advise you that if you have any concerns or require further clarification contact me.

Anne Kerr

Business Manager

5562 2506

Save the date - Sports Night.

Please RSVP via the link for catering purposes. 

Arts News.

This term in the Arts we are excited to be raising money for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation by taking part in the Busking For Change fundraising event.

Here is a link to a video about Busking For Change.

The idea is that all our St Pius X students (led by our school Choir) will learn the song ‘Words Make the World Go Around’ and perform it for you on….......

 September the 6th at 3pm in the Function Room.  

Everyone is invited, we just ask that you pay a gold coin at the door.

On this day we also ask that all students bring a gold coin to school. 

Alternatively you can log into our busking for change site here and make a small donation.  

Our goal is to raise $250.

Many thanks for your support and we look forward to busking for you.

This week our Mini Vinnies group held a very successful Book/toy stall to raise money for a refugee family that has recently arrived in Warrnambool.

I am thrilled to announce that thanks to the wonderful generosity of our families we have raised a whopping $285.80.  Below are some photos of some very excited children enjoying their new purchases. We look forward to presenting the money to the family very soon.

Library News.

Issue 6 of Book Club was handed out to children last week. Orders are due back by: Monday 21st August 2023. 

Purchases from Book Club create reward points for the school. These points are then redeemed for newer texts for our Library. Last week, we were able to purchase $250 worth of Scholastic text for FREE because of the St Pius families and their on-going support of Book Club. 

To purchase online, please Google Search “Scholastic Book Club LOOP”

Grade 6 Hoodies for Sale.

We still have surplus stock left of 2023 Grade 6 Hoodies which are available to purchase from the office if you would like a spare.

There is 1 x size 14 and 2 x size adult XS and they are $15.00 ea.   

A special message........

We only have one student celebrating their birthday this week and it is..................

Indi Kermond - Happy Birthday!

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.

It is definitely get to crunch time in the AFL season. Well done to the Edwrds Boys who scored 9 and to Letty who scored 8. Impressive tipping. Letty has a lead of 6 and will be hard to beat. However, the Seurens and myself still have a joker in hand! It could come down to the wire. There's a couple of tippers within striking distance with a joker to play so it could be very interesting. However, I'm more confident in the tipping than I am with the Saints ability to maintain a spot in the 8.

Our top 5 tippers are:

1. Letty Parkinson-168
2. Seurens-162
3. Stacey Atkins-161
4. Fynn20-161
5. Richo800-160

Canteen Roster.

Tuesday, 22nd August: Tammy Karnajaya

Wednesday, 23rd August: Anna Reilly

Thursday, 24th August: Kristina Vagala

Friday, 25th August: Rebecca Maglaras

Important Dates.

Friday 18th August: Book Week Celebration Day (Dress Up)

Friday 18th August: 5/6 Hooptime

Friday 18th August: Assembly 2.45pm (Church)

Sunday 20th August: Sacrament of Eucharist

Monday 21st August: St Pius X Feast Day

Tuesday 22nd August: 3/4 Excursion to the Just Kidding at the Lighthouse Theatre

Week Beginning Monday 28th August:   Australian Dental Health Van Visit

September 1st- Sports Night with Dads 

September 13th-15th: 5/6 Camp

Friday October 27th Twilight Fair

Advance notice:

Term 4 school closure date/ pupil free day Friday November 3rd 

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/ 

COVID 19 Arrangements

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