August 11th, 2022

Acknowledgement of Country

Prayer

A Note from our Principal

Ngata Families & Friends,

Tomorrow and Monday our school will be closed for the scheduled ‘circuit-breaker’ long weekend, and we are all invited to take this opportunity to slow down and rest up over these four days to ensure we can push through for a positive second half of the term. We again thank all families for the planning and organisation required for this to take place, and are appreciative that students and staff have the chance to recuperate after bouts of COVID, Flu, colds and fatigue, which are part of most student and staff families currently. Bookings are still open for TheirCare which will be operating a full day program for both tomorrow and Monday. Links for this are provided later in the newsletter.

Joe Ewing

Principal

Sympathies

We offer our sincere condolences to the Webster family on the death of Damien’s brother in law Michael. Our thoughts and prayers are with them during this sad time.

Circuit Breaker Long Weekend & Pupil Free Day

We offer further reminder of our circuit breaker long weekend which will be held over the period of August 12-15, meaning no classes will be held on tomorrow or Monday.

Our 3rd staff professional learning day remains scheduled for September 8.

TheirCare will be providing onsite care on these days. Bookings can be made at https://theircare.com.au/

Chitticks Pie Drive

Orders have now closed and it would be appreciated if any outstanding monies could be paid to the office as soon as possible.  Thank You.

Please note that the ETA for the orders is Thursday, 18th August.  We will send out an alert when they are ready for pick up.

Vision Family Portraits Fundraiser

Thanks to all families who supported the Vision Family Portraits Fundraiser. Around $600 was raised for our P&F.

Gateway Plaza Promotion

Gateway Plaza is planning a promotion to coincide with the 2022 Commonwealth Games, giving shoppers the chance to win sporting equipment for their local primary school.

For the duration of the Games, shoppers will be asked to drop their Gateway Plaza receipts into their school's entry box at the plaza. These boxes are located between Coles and Lowes.

Each dollar spent earns a point for our school. The total points are calculated based on the number of students in each school.

1st Prize: $1500 worth of sporting equipment

2nd Prize: $1000 worth of sporting equipment

3rd Prize $500 worth of sporting equipment

Please consider supporting the school when shopping at Gateway Plaza!

Puka Up Cycling Challenge

This coming November staff member Xavier Mills has been invited to join the Puka Up cycling group, riding through the beautiful King Valley area in order to raise awareness and funds for mental health prevention. Over the course of these three days he will ride 313.9kms to honour the 3139 people who tragically died by suicide in 2020. If you are able to support Xavier please go to the Go Fund Me page linked below:

https://gofund.me/8bd3efef

Sports Night With Our Dads

On September 2nd, we would like to invite all dads, grandfathers and special men to school for a special sports afternoon between 4.00pm and 6.00. There will be a number of organised sporting clashes on this afternoon, but there will also be some sporting equipment left out for use by everyone at their leisure.

A sausage sizzle will be cooked during the afternoon. Attendees will have the opportunity of ordering  sausages next week when order forms will be sent home.

Cr Vicki Jellie Visit

The Middle Pod are learning about Local Government, concentrating on the services and facilities that the Warrnambool City Council provide to the residents of Warrnambool.  Cr Vicki Jellie accepted our invitation to come in and talk to the students on Wednesday about her role as Mayor.  She spoke about how long she had been mayor for, her favourite places to visit in Warrnambool and also answered some well-thought out questions from the students.  The adults and the students loved her visit and the discussion highlighted how lucky we are to live in this part of Victoria.  Thanks Cr Jellie!

3/4 Hooptime

Today a number of our 3/4 students represented St. Pius X in the local Hooptime competetion held at the ARC.   

Our girls team had a fantastic day winning their way into the Grand Final against St. Josephs where they finished the day gallant runners-up.

The boys team performed well in each of their games and although they did not make it through to the finals, they played with enthusiasm and energy.

Congratulations to both our teams, we are proud of you!

Parliament of Victoria Excursion

Over the course of this term, the grade 5 and 6 students have been learning all about the levels of government in Australia. To conclude the 'Democracy for All' unit, they travelled to The Lighthouse Theatre to participate in a workshop facilitated by The Parliament of Victoria Outreach program. The students participated in a role-play about how laws are made in Federal Parliament. It was a great opportunity for the students to extend their current knowledge and understanding of how laws are passed through both The House of Representative and The Senate. 

Hot off the Prep Press!

Lion King @ Brauer College

Yesterday we went on another excursion. This was something we were so excited about because we couldn’t wait for the lights, camera and action to start sharing a story that we all know. We couldn’t wait to get a feel for the stage. We had a wonderful time and we simply loved seeing the talent of all the performers on stage.

Jungle Book Rehearsals

Talking of talent, there will be plenty on stage for the Prep performance ‘I Wanna Be Like You’. We are busy rehearsing at every stage we can and we even rehearsed on the stage at the Lighthouse Theatre and the stage on the Civic green (where we even had pedestrians and cars stopping to have a look at us!!) There are lots of little groups of Preps even gathering in the courtyard throughout the week to go through their dance. They will certainly be the cutest performers on the night so don’t forget to keep that night free!!

Chance and Data

As well as being busy with lots of other activities at school and on excursions, we have been investigating the concept of Probability - what are the chances?? We have used coloured spinners, jellybeans, dice rolls and surveys to explore the chance of something happening. We have used words like - possible, impossible, maybe, definitely, likely, unlikely, certain, always. It has been a lot of fun and at times very competitive!! Check out some of our photos.

The Great St Pius X Tournament of Books!

Semi Finals! After an exciting couple of weeks, the Great St Pius X Tournament of Books is in the Semi Finals. Playing off for a spot in the Grand Final is Stellaphant by James Foley and Jetty Jumping by Andrea Rowe. Stellaphant tells the story of an elephant that dreams of being an astronaut. She is an example of resilience as she seeks resolutions to every setback she encounters. Stellaphant is an inspirational story. Whereas Jetty Jumping is a story that takes place by the sea. Milla and her friends spend every day down at the jetty. Everyone jumps off the jetty except for Milla. Until her bracelet falls off and she is forced to face her fears. This will be an exciting game and the winner is anybody's guess!
The other Semi Final sees Amira's Suitcase by Vikki Conley go head to head with Great White Shark by Claire Saxby. In Amira's Suitcase, Amira notices something growing out of a suitcase. Her curiosity and imagination take her on a journey as she learns about and leans into the needs of her new 'friend'. Amira's wonder brings together her community and what it looks like to have hope. In contrast, in Great White Shark Claire Saxby places the reader in the water with an expectant shark. The spectacular watercolour pictures take the reader on the journey with the shark with information dispersed throughout. The book ends with the chilling, "If you find her pup, you will not find her. She is gone. Is she looking for you? No. Never."  Holding our breath with anticipation, we await to see the winner that the children decide upon!

ReLATE Student Survey: Please Help!

We reported that last week would be the last week for the ReLATE survey, but the researchers at Monash University would like a larger sample than they have currently received (12).

We would really love families with children in the Yrs 4-6 bracket to take a few moments to complete this survey which wil support the school’s work in implementing the ReFraming Learning and Teaching Environments model. The survey is designed to be completed by parent(s) and their child.

There are 21 questions about safety, school environment and the teaching relationships that your child(ren) experiences. Our school will receive a report based on the findings that will be distributed.

Please use the link below with your child if they fall into the Yr 4-6 age range.

First Eucharist

This week families preparing their children for Eucharist have been focussing on the booklet ‘Jesus Present’. Prayer scrolls will be distributed this weekend in the church asking our parishioners to pray for our Eucharist children. Thanks to families who have made the weekend Masses part of their family preparation.

Next week, time will be made during the week at school for a special rehearsal for the first reception of the Eucharist. This will be held in conjunction with St John’s. 

Eucharist Dates

August 14th Prayer scrolls distributed at Mass

August 15th Family Group 4

August 21st Sacrament of Eucharist 10.00am

Book Fair - Save the Date!

The annual school book fair will run from

Monday 5th September until Wednesday 7th September. 

Each learning area will have a buying day:

Monday - Juniors

Tuesday- Middles

Wednesday- Seniors

The theme this year is Paws for Books! 

The Jungle Book Kids

Rehearsals

These few interrupted weeks have placed a little pressure on our preparation timeline, but we are still full steam ahead for our performance in the final week of term. We encourage our leading cast to be practising with a family member at home without the script as much as possible. Choir members need to rehearse their songs at home also.

Costumes

All leading cast members will have costume items provided to them. The remainder of our classroom cast members will need only simple items as listed below:

Prep: Monkeys

Black tee shirt (can be long or short), 

Black pants, leggings or shorts.

Yr 1 - 6: The Jungle

Black, brown or dark pants / shorts 

Black , brown or dark top (long or short)

Choir

Black, brown or dark pants / shorts

Black, brown or dark top (long or short)

Before and 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.

Crisis Meals

Each week a volunteer has been rostered to provide a freezable meal to our school to be distributed to a family experiencing hardship, grief or unforeseen circumstances. These meals have been regularly distributed and the families receiving them have been most grateful.

The volunteer for this week is Mel Dawson

The upcoming roster is below. More volunteers are always welcome!

Ideally meals should be easy to freeze & serve, and should be labelled so that the type meal can be easily identified. Any other families wishing to volunteer can now do so by calling the office directly. Meals can be dropped to the office.

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.

Recently we have had a call on  second hand uniforms.  We are desperately in need of larger sizes to replenish our stock.  If you have any school uniform clothing in reasonable condition we would very much appreciate your support.  Please contact Angela if you are in a position to assist.

Breakfast Club

Every Wednesday from 8:15 breakfast will be available in the function room for any students that would like to have some breakfast before the school day starts! Everyone is more than welcome to come along, even if they have already had breakfast at home. It is a great initiative supported by FoodShare who provide fruit, yoghurt, cereal and yummy toast. 

Thanks  to our parent volunteers Maddy and Tracey.

Footy Tipping

Dandelyons could well be cemented to the top spot, but the Merediths could well ruin the party with a joker still to come over the final two weeks of home and away. Our top tipper for the round was SL Quinn with 7 correct tips. Good luck with tipping this weekend - some tricky selections await you!

Thanks to our generous sponsor:

Bojangles Pizzeria Restaurant

61 Liebig St

Warrnambool

5562 0666

Parish Contact

Sunday Mass 10.30 @ 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/ 

Upcoming Dates

Aug 12 Circuit Breaker Long Weekend

Aug 15 Circuit Breaker Long Weekend

Aug 16 Volleyball Yr 3-6

Aug 19 St Pius X feast celebration

Aug 21 Sacrament of First Eucharist

Aug 21  St Pius X feast day

Aug 22-26  Book Week

 Aug 25 Rock-It Performance

 Aug 25 School Advisory Council meeting 7.30pm

Aug 26 Yr 5/6 Hooptime

Aug 29 Parents & Friends meeting 7.30pm

Aug 31 2023 Prep Interviews

Sep 1 2023 Prep Interviews

Sep 8 Pupil Free Day: Staff Professional Learning

Sep 14 School Production: The Jungle Book Kids

School Canteen Roster

The Challenge in Mary's Letters

When was the last time you wrote a letter? I write them as part of my job all the time, but I can’t remember the last time I wrote one to family or friends as part of intimate communication. This style of letter writing has been replaced by phone calls, emails, text messages and communication via social media. This week we have remembered the life of a prolific letter writer in St Mary MacKillop, Australia's first and only saint, and a woman with a substantial connection to western Victoria.

St Mary brought the light of education to rural Australian children, blind to their faith or cultural background. The schools that she and her sisters pioneered became integral parts of rural communities and still remain vital providers of education in country Australia.

Mary depended on letter writing as a means of being present to her far flung communities at a time when communication took weeks and months rather than the instant text and images that we are used to. Mary’s letters brought her sisters wisdom, reassurance and guidance. They are well known for her succinct and wise turns of phrase, that today would be the equivalent of soundbites used in media reports:

Find happiness in making others happy.

Be not hasty in judging one another.

Let us show this love in our acts bearing with one another, forgiving and forgetting.

Whatever troubles may be before you, accept them cheerfully, remembering whom you are trying to follow.

Be a gift of love and compassion for one another.

Put kind constructions where you can, and where you cannot, be silent.

Perhaps her most famous quote was this one:

Never see a need without doing something about it.

This one statement sums up Mary’s devotion to the poor, to the vulnerable, to the outsider. This statement is essentially Jesus’ challenge to us in the Gospel - to act when the opportunity to show love to another presents itself.

Our Diocesan Community

The link below opens the quarterly diocesan magazine that features news from across the Ballarat Diocese.

Class Awards

COVID 19 Arrangements

Masks

All education sectors in Victoria are strongly promoting the wearing of masks for anyone in an indoor school setting, aged 8 years and above. The wearing of masks has been a recommended practice for some time (the letter from education sector heads is included below).

Students will be required to wear masks in certain circumstances including bus travel or a period of high levels of prolonged transmission in the school or in a specific area of the school.

Any staff of students who are identified as close contacts must wear a mask indoors.

RAT Kits

Staff and students should only be tested with a RAT kit when symptomatic or when testing daily as a close contact over the 7 day quarantine period.

Another supply of RAT kits was sent home this week. Families who require extra kits should make contact with the administration office.

Vaccination 

St Pius X strongly supports vaccination for all in our community who are eligible. However, the new COVID regulations have lifted the mandate for all employees and volunteers to be vaccinated. This means there will be 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.

Managing a suspected or confirmed case of COVID-19 

As soon as a staff member or student becomes aware of being a suspected case - that is symptomatic (fever, cough, shortness of breath, sore throat, loss of smell or taste:

1. The suspected case is required to leave the school site, or be isolated on-site until they are able to leave.
2. The suspected case is required to be tested with a rapid antigen test. A positive test result must be reported to the Department of Health
3. Positive cases must be isolated for 7 days, testing again on day 6.

In the event that school receives notification that a staff member or student was infectious while onsite:

1. All staff must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
2. All students must use a rapid antigen test if they have symptoms.
3. Staff and students will be strongly encouraged to use rapid antigen tests for the following 5 days if they don’t have symptoms.

Where a positive case is recorded from a staff member or student who has been on site, the school community will be notified. Personal information will not be released in this communication.

If a staff member or student tests positive with a rapid antigen test but does not have symptoms or has not been in contact with a positive case, a PCR test is recommended. If a subsequent PCR shows a negative result the staff member or student can return to school.

Close Contacts

A close contact (a person who has spent more than four hours with someone who has COVID 19 inside a house, accommodation or care facility) is no longer required to quarantine, as long as they follow the additional safety measures:

• Notify the school if returning within the 7 day period.
• Undertake RAT testing on school days within the 7 day period (unless the 4 week exemption applies)
• Wear a mask indoors if an adult or a student (aged 8 years or above).
• Not visit hospitals or care facilities.
• Avoid contact with people at higher risk of infection.
• If symptomatic take a RAT or PCR test.