May 29th 2025

Acknowledgement of Country

A Prayer for Catholic Education Week

God of Hope,

We pray for all in Catholic Education, may we give witness to the God of hope.

May our words and actions always honour the dignity of others and  may we live a life inspired by the life and teachings of Jesus.

Amen.

A Note from our Principal

Ngata families, 

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to all of you for your support and understanding regarding the upcoming school closure days on Friday and Monday. These days are incredibly valuable for our staff as we prepare for our upcoming five-yearly External School Review, scheduled to take place in August.

The External School Review is a comprehensive process conducted by an independent panel. It provides an important opportunity for us to reflect deeply on our school’s progress, achievements and areas for growth. In preparation, our staff are dedicating significant time to analysing data from recent years, including academic results, wellbeing surveys, engagement metrics and other key indicators. This thorough review of our performance helps us build a clear picture of where we are now and where we want to go.

During these closure days, staff are also working collaboratively to develop a detailed report that will be presented to the review panel. This report includes our reflections on the data, insights into our teaching and learning practices and recommendations for future improvement. It is an important part of setting clear, evidence-based goals to continue growing as a school community.

We appreciate your patience and support in allowing this vital work to happen. It ensures we continue to provide the best possible education for your children and strive for excellence in all areas of school life.

Kind regards

Kind regards,

Nick Murrell

Principal

Morning Arrival Time / Supervision

A reminder from Mr Murrell to all families.

Morning teacher supervision begins at 8.40am, which is also when classrooms open for the day.

We have recently noticed an increasing number of students arriving at school as early as 8.10am. Please be aware that there is no active supervision available for students prior to 8.40am, and as such, we strongly encourage families to ensure children are not arriving before this time for their safety and wellbeing.

For families who require care outside of school hours, TheirCare is available from 6.30am in the mornings and operates until 6.00pm in the evenings. This service provides a safe and supervised environment for students and can be a helpful option for those needing additional support.

Thank you for your continued support in helping us provide a safe and structured start to each

Pickleball Canteen ~ Volunteer Helpers Needed!

The St Pius X Parents and Friends Group are hosting the canteen at the Warrnambool City Pickleball Open on the Kings Birthday long weekend in June which is the Friday the 6th until the 8th.

We are looking for both volunteers to help man the canteen over the course of the weekend and also help to provide slices and or soups to sell.
If you are unable to help out on the weekend but are willing to make a contribution, donations of goods or cash are more than welcomed. 

The monetary donations can be made easily using the CDFPay App. All food donations can be brought to the school office on Thursday the 5th of June from 9am until 4pm.
All proceeds made over this event go directly towards supporting our students at our wonderful school!

Please click on the link to let us know what you can do to help!    https://forms.gle/5Y7zmdQWviKKYK5m7

Sports News

Division Cross Country

Congratulations to Sofie who progressed through to the Division Cross Country Championship this week. Sofie was the only representative from St Pius and she competed with true spirit and determination. Well done Sofie, an amazing effort!

Sports Uniforms

A shout out to anyone who may have any pieces of the school representative sports uniforms at home lying around. Can you please check your wardrobes, our sets seem to be dwindling. Can they please be returned to school ASAP.

Warrnambool Eisteddfod - 3rd to 5th June

Forty seven senior students have elected to perform at the Warrnambool Eisteddfod in the Speech and Drama section. Students have been busy writing speeches and poetry, practising reading aloud from a novel and a bible, reciting poetry, storytelling and even being brave enough to read an unseen text on the day to an audience.  Our school has over 65 entries.

The students have been amazing trying to improve their public speaking skills.  We know they will do their personal best next week from Tuesday June 3rd to Thursday 5th June in the St Pius X Function Room.

Art News

Today in recognition of National Reconciliation Week, the Art Room was opened for anyone who wished to come and colour in and watch Little J and Big Cuz.  We had a lovely relaxed time enjoying the program and completing the activity sheet. In the background of the first picture you will see the artwork the grade 5 and 6's have been working on for the past 2 weeks. It is nearly finished. It was inspired by the poster for NRW by Kal Kaldoon. It has a native animal and plant theme.  Well done everyone for your participation.

Foundation Files

We love to sing!

We have been singing our hearts out this term, both in the classroom and with  Mrs Keeley. 

Our new prayer song is ‘God Made Them All’ by Andrew Chinn. We love singing this song each morning and doing all the actions. It tells us about the wonderful world that God made for us and how we have to care for each other and all the creatures, too.

Mrs Keeley has taught us to sing ‘Solid Rock’ during Creative Arts. We are going to share this song at Assembly this term (and we’ll let you know when). We have learnt this song to talk about and participate in National Sorry Day on Monday 26th May.

Beat That!

We learnt a great new Maths game to help us to practice our subitising of parts and adding them together to make a whole. We can even show you how to play this game at home because we know all the rules and it's easy to play. 

You need 2 die each, 2 for you and 2 for your partner. Player 1 rolls the dice and adds the 2 parts together to find the whole (or the total). They then turn to their partner and tell them the whole and say ‘Beat That!!’. Then it’s player 2’s turn to roll and obviously they will win if their whole total is larger. You could make a tally of who wins each game or just keep it in your head. Keep on battling together until you want to stop.

Look at the enthusiastic way that we played ‘Beat That!!’ for the very first time!

Parent/Guardian/Carers Code of Conduct

As a DOBCEL school, we are required to have all Parents/Guardians/Carers sign a Code of Conduct as part of the Enrolment Agreement.  This Code of Conduct is a guide to the expected conduct and behaviour of all Parents/Guardians/Carers while in all school environments, engaging in school-related activities or representing the school.   

Please take the time to click on the following link to access a copy of the code of conduct for your reference. This document has been written in the context of new enrolments, but is to be utilised for all current enrolments as well.  Electronic copies of this document will be forwarded to families over the coming days and we request that you read and acknowlege your acceptance of the Code of Conduct.  Thank You.

NCCD Collection of Data

School Closure Days 2025

TOMORROW:   Fri 30th May – School Review 

MONDAY  2nd June – School Review 

Fri 29th August – School-Wide Positive Behaviour Support (SWPBS)

Mon 6th October – Structured Literacy 

Fri 7th November  – Religious Education 

Seaside Community Kitchen

Breakfast Club - Wednesday

Students, please join us for some yummy toast, fruit and cereal each Wednesday morning at Breakfast Club.

Breakfast club is open from 8:20am - 8:55am in the Function Room.

With thanks to our sponsors Western District Foodshare and Woolworths and to our fantastic parent helpers.  

Important Dates.

TOMORROW:        Friday, 30th May:   School Closure for School Review.

Monday, 2nd June:       School Closure for School Review.

Thursday, 5th June:      SAC Meeting 7.30pm

Friday, 6th June:             Ready, Set, School! - 9.30am to 10.30am

Monday, 9th June:         Kings Birthday Public Holiday

Canteen Roster for next week.

Before & After School Care.

Free Uniforms!

If you are looking for some good quality second hand uniforms, we currently have a display set up in the foyer area near the office.  You are welcome to come in anytime and have a look through what we have.   Items include summer dresses, shorts, pants, shirts etc. in various sizes.  All items are FREE to take.

School Uniform

Parish Contact.

Sunday Mass 9.00am @ 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/ 

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West Warrnambool Neighbourhood House - Calendar of Events