November 9th 2023

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

God of Peace,

May we always choose peace. 

In our words. 

In our actions. 

In our attitudes. 

Amen

Remembrance Day - A Story of Past Present and Future

On Saturday, November 11th, it is Remembrance Day. It is a day for us as a community to remember and reflect upon the sacrifices that those who have gone before us have made and to think of those who are currently serving in the defence forces.

A Note from our Principal

Ngata Families and Friends,

What a great week at St Pius X with the Melbourne Cup/Twilight Fair double! It was great to see everyone enjoying the festivities of the Cup on Tuesday. 

Thanks to our hard working volunteers who have been preparing for the fair. This is a very important community event and a great chance to gather as a community. We hope as many families as possible will come along on Friday evening, have some fun, have something to eat and support our fundraising efforts. We are still in desperate need of volunteers on our stalls so please consider supporting these. 

We pass on our condolences to Mr Mick Sully whose brother Paul recently passed away. We look forward to welcoming Mick back to school soon. 

Preparation for 2024 is in full swing and class lists are currently being finalised. If your families circumstances are changing in 2024, please advise us in writing as soon as possible. 

See you tomorrow night! 

Kind Regards,

Stacey

Twilight Fair

Our Twilight Fair is TOMORROW NIGHT!

The forecast is amazing and we're looking forward to a great night. Below are some very important updates. 

Lots of people are working hard to bring about this community event and we appreciate your support. 

Any queries to Stacey principal@spwarrnambool.catholic.edu.au

St. Pius Giant Raffle - DRAWN TOMORROW! Get your tickets in!!

Please don't forget to get your tickets back to school tomorrow morning for the Giant Raffle which will be drawn at the Twilight Fair tomorrow night.  There are many fantastic prizes to be won.  A big thank you to all our wonderful sponsors.

Volunteers still needed..........HELP!

Can you help fill these spots?

5-6pm

• Lollipop Board
• Lucky Sticks
• Fairy Floss

6-7pm

• Raffle
• Snow cones
• Putting Mat
• Lollipop Board
• Bean bag toss
• Lucky sticks
• Target throw
• Lollies
• Cake Stall

This is the minimum amount of people that we need. Please contact Stacey or the office if you can fill one of these spots.   

Thank you to those who have already volunteered, please check the roster below to see what time you have. 

Don't forget to organise cash.

The stalls at our fair will be cash only. Please remember to come along with some cash on the night. 

Chocolate donations welcome

On the night there will be some games for people to play. If you would like to donate a block of chocolate to support this it would be welcomed.    Thank you to those who have already done so; it is most appreciated.

Cake Stall

Volunteers are needed to help price the cakes on Friday morning. Many hands make light work! 

Could donations of baked goods be returned to school on Friday morning please. 

Student Raffle - Drawn Tomorrow Night

Please return tickets TOMORROW to be in the running for some yummy goodies!   

The raffles will be drawn tomorrow night at the Twilight Fair.

Please remember that all funds raised contribute to resources for your children.

Melbourne Cup Day

Tuesday, 7th November was our St Pius X Traditional Melbourne Cup Day and like the many years prior, we celebrated in style. 

The whole school met in the hall at 9:20am where we welcomed parent spectators for our annual Fashions on the Field parade. Our students strutted their stuff and brought energy and fun to the room. Our judges made some special comments and awarded five awards across each cohort.

Next, we had the inaugural Hobby Horse St. Pius X Cup! Heats were run after the parade and the winner from each heat came together for the finals after our first lunch.  There was a P-2 final with the winning jockey being Addison Dowling. In the 3-6 final, Levi Delaney was the fastest galloper. The staff were also invited to have a run and we had 10 put their hands up! It is fair to say, we did need to call the vet after the race!

The school came together for a “Chat and Chew Shared Lunch” in the beautiful sunshine to catch up with their friends.

There were other Melbourne Cup related activities throughout the day in each pod and each classroom had their own sweep with prizes. A big congratulations to all the enthusiastic participants across all the activities, and thank you for such a fun day!

Hot off the Prep Press!

Introducing Madeline and Elizabeth

On Monday we welcomed two new furry classmates to the Prep classroom, Madeline and Elizabeth. Our friends Harriet Amos, has lent us her two new baby guinea pigs for a few weeks so that we can care, feed and play with them and making sure that we are seeing to their every need. Here are some things we have learnt about them already:

• They love sleeping
• Madeline has jet black fur and Elizabeth has black fur with a tinge of grey
• They love blueberries and celery
• They make lots of squeaking noises.
• They love exercise time in the quiet area with the Preps.

We look forward to sharing our the adventures of Madeline and Elizabeth with you all over the coming weeks.

First, Second, Third!

This week we have been learning about ordinal numbers and what a perfect week to do this given the festivities in Melbourne - Cup Week! We have had lots of races to see who can come first, second, third and so on. Letti and Evie H were first when writing their name ten times, Scarlett and Paddy were first when building our counting chart and Carter, Louie and Scarlett were first in their running races. We have had a great week of learning by doing!

We’re off and racing!

On Tuesday we came dressed in our best to celebrate Melbourne Cup Day. First we went to the hall and took part in the Fashions on the Field event. There were some amazing outfits and hats! Next some of us had fun running in the hobby horse races. We watched and cheered the runners in the St Pius X Cup - some of them were so fast and some forgot to gallop so they got disqualified. After that we did some fun activities in our classrooms. Finally we watched the Melbourne Cup on the TV and cheered for the horse that we got in our sweep. The winners of our sweep were Ella and Lochie. We had such a fun day!

Learning Journals - Gr 5 & 6

Could grade 5 & 6 students please return their learning journals to school as soon as possible as this semesters' work will be added to these folders in the coming weeks.  Thank You.

2023 School Fees and Student Levies.

I have completed an audit of the school fees and levies for 2023.

Thank you to our families who have finalised their fees or who are making regular payments.  We greatly appreciate your support.

Sadly within the St. Pius X School budget, there is an outstanding balance of $125,354.63  and with only 5 weeks left of this school year, I am a little concerned about the financial position this places the school in.

In the last few weeks, the school has purchased Ipads for the junior school and laptops for the middle school.  The cost of these is just on $100,000.  I wish to assure you that all funds that enter the school through school fees and levies are spent on our students.

If you are experiencing financial difficulties please do not hesitate to contact Stacey or myself and please be assured you will be treated with respect and all matters will be strictly confidential.

Anne Kerr

Business Manager

Laptops for Sale

The school is currently replacing some of the classroom laptops in the junior school. As a result, we
have 25 devices for immediate sale.

They are: HP 250 G6 Notebook PC, X64, Intel i3-7020U CPU @ 2.30GHZ, Windows 10 Education, Office 2016 included. They also come with chargers.
All of the devices have been taken off the school’s network.

The devices are available from the school office for $100 each.

Strictly no warranty given or implied.

Japan Trip 2024

In the past, the Warrnambool Catholic Schools Network has organised and led a trip to Japan for students led by local teachers. After a break due to Covid, it is hoped that these trips will resume next year. An initial meeting to find out more is coming up.

When: Wednesday 22nd November 4pm - 5pm

Where: St. Joseph's Primary School, 70 Botanic Rd, Warrnambool (enter via reception).

The aim of this meeting is to present information regarding the proposed Japan Trip for students in September 2024. (Year 6 students, and the possibility of Year 5 students - TBC) We are currently gathering details about pricing, and will have more information regarding this at the meeting. 

Please indicate if you plan to attend via the google form linked below.

School Fun Run

We’re holding the School Fun Run’s Crazy Colour Day as a major fundraising event this year!  The event will be held on Friday December 15th, which is the last day of school. We are really hoping to raise money to support the upgrade of our playground. 

Sponsorship forms have been sent home. If you did not receive one, please contact the office. Once you have the form, you should sign up for a Student Profile Page at schoolfunrun.com.au. You’ll be able to access online fundraising and could win a $20,000 Ultimate Family Package!

Students who raise $10 or more will receive a reward, and the more money you raise the better the reward, and the more you help the school.   Please note that prizes MUST be ordered from NOW until  the 13th of November.   Time is running out so get on board now and be part of the fun.

We’re looking for all students to participate and we’re organising a great day for our community, so we’d love everyone to come down to support the kids.

If you have any questions about the Crazy Colour Day please contact the School Fun Run Office on 1800 FUN RUN.

Thanks for supporting the school and we hope to see you at the event!

Breakfast Club

Breakfast Club

Our Beyond Bank Breakfast club is up and running for another Term on Wednesday mornings from 8:15-8:55. It is a great chance for students to come together and begin their school day with their friends over some yummy toast, cereal or even just a cup of milk or juice.

Tracey has been doing an amazing job with Breakfast Club and will be continuing to do so for the remainder of the year! Tracey will be moving on next year with all her children off to high school which means we will need a volunteer to take over for next year! Tracey will be more than happy to show people the ropes over the remaining weeks of the term. If this is something that might interest you for 2024, please make contact with the office, we really appreciate the time and effort that goes into these roles. 

A special message........

The following students will be celebrating their birthdays in the coming week.................

Ella Meade, Ivy Cawthorne, Dylan Scrivenor, Ashlee Byrne, Chenran Liao, Zarli Best, Naomi Kishinaka.

Canteen Roster for next week.

Tuesday 14th November: Aliesha Williamson

Wednesday 15th November: Sue Coulson

Thursday 16th November: Sarah Searle

Friday 17th November: Jane Kelly

Updated Uniform Price List

Important Dates.

TOMMOROW Friday November 10th:  TWILIGHT FAIR 4pm - 7pm

Monday November 13th:  1/2 Swimming program begins

Wednesday November 15:   2024 Prep information evening

Monday November 27th:  5/6 Beach Safety begins

Friday December 1st:   Dennington Carols by the Merri

Monday December 4th:   Transition 1

December 5th-7th:   Learning conversations

Thursday December 7th:   Year 6 Graduation

Friday December 8th:   Transition 2

Tuesday December 12th:   Global Transition Day 

Thursday December 14th:   Carols and Celebration Evening

Friday December 15th:  Last day of classes. Fun day/colour run

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/ 

Could you make a difference to a young life?

Could this be what you are looking for? 

Foster carers come from all walks of life. They can be working, not working or retired; married or single; in same-sex relationships; and can own or rent their home. The most essential criteria are that they care, can provide a safe and nurturing home, and have room in their home to support a vulnerable child or sibling group.

If you would like to know more call MacKillop Family Services on 1300 791 677, visit www.mackillop.org.au/fostercare or ring Alana in our Warrnambool office on 5500 2000.

COVID 19 Arrangements

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