November 30th 2023
- Acknowledgement of Country
- Prayer
- A Note from our Principal
- Carols and Celebration Evening
- Learning Conversations and Reports
- Transition to 2024
- Graduation
- School Fun Run- Thank you!
- 2023 School Fees and Student Levies.
- FREE Desktops!
- Grade Six Basketball
- Hot off the Prep Press!
- Breakfast Club
- A special message........
- Canteen Roster for next week.
- Class Awards Week 8
- Uniform Price List
- Important Dates.
- 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
First Sunday of Advent
Let us pray
Loving and generous God, as we wait to celebrate the great feast of Christmas, help us to proclaim your message in the world.
Help us to be truly generous to others with our time and effort, willing to show compassion and mercy to those around us, and ready to be messengers of your Word. We ask this prayer in Jesus’ name.
Amen
A Note from our Principal
Ngata Families and Friends,
There is certainly no winding down at St Pius X. Excursions, beach safety, reports, preparation for carols and a ramp being built in the yard! It's all happening!
We are now about to enter into week 10 at school for the term. With many families also having busy weekends, many children are tired. Hopefully everyone is finding some moments to recharge their batteries during this busy time of year.
Next week parents will recieve their child's report via PAM and have the opportunity to have a learning conversation. Please book in for this via PAM. We also have Graduation on Thursday night. All welcome.
Best wishes to our wonderful choir, led by Sam O'Keefe, who will perform at Carols by the Merri on Friday night.
As a community, we will celebrate our year together on Thursday 14th December with our annual Carols night. It would be great to see as many people there as possible.
Kind Regards,
Stacey
Carols and Celebration Evening
Save the date!
Our annual carols and celebration evening will be held on Thursday 14th December, beginning at 6pm.
Learning Conversations and Reports
Teachers are busy finalising school reports for this semester.
The reports will be made available via PAM as an electronic copy on Monday 4th December. Please note that paper copies will not be sent home. If you require a hard copy please contact the office. If you have difficulties accessing the report on your phone, please use an alternate device ie. laptop.
Learning Conversations will take place next Tuesday 5th and Wednesday 6th December. Bookings are now open via PAM. Conversations will be for 20 minutes. As a result of the survey on the newsletter, a reduced number of timeslots are available. Prep parents are asked to book in with Lucy Lane. Jenna Osborne will also be attending the interview. If you are not able to secure a booking or have any difficulties please contact the office.
Transition to 2024
On Monday we begin our transition process for 2024 classes.
There are 3 scheduled transition sessions.
Monday 4th December: 2.30-3.30pm
Friday 8th December: 9.30-1.50pm
Tuesday 12th December: All day
Classroom teachers for 2024
- Prep: Lucy Lane, Sheree Walsh and Jenna Osborne
- JP3: Rachel Brown
- JP4: Clare Green
- JP5: Kate Sewell
- MP1: Samantha O'Keefe
- MP2: Emma McDonald and David White
- MP3: Jake Bacon
- SP1: Gerard Blythe
- SP2: Sara Graham
- SP3: Lisa Gardner and Jane O'Donnell
- SP4: Jye O'Brien
- The Arts: Julie Keeley
- Digital Technology: Alanna Dowling
- Japanese: Emily Brough
- PE: Emma McDonald
- Principal: Nick Murrell
- Assistant to the Principal: Kate Harzmeyer and Rebecca Parkinson
- Relationship and Regulation Teacher: Adele Webster
We will be farewelling Nicole Moulden, who will be working at St Colman's and St Thomas' next year. We will also be farewelling Mick Sully who will be venturing into retirement. There will be more to say about our staff members over the next few weeks.
Graduation
On Thursday evening, 7th December, we will be celebrating our Grade 6 students as they conclude their time at St Pius X. Families are asked to RSVP by tomorrow at the latest.
Everyone is welcome to join us at 5.30pm in our church to celebrate these students.
School Fun Run- Thank you!
When: Friday December 15th, which is the last day of school.
Thanks to everyone who made a donation. We can't wait for our Fun Run on the last day of school.
2023 School Fees and Student Levies.
With now only 2 weeks remaining of the 2023 school year, I am still very concerned at the level of school fees outstanding. As of today that figure is $103,275.81. I do appreciate that a number of families with an outstanding balance have direct debits in place but unfortunately this is not the case for all families.
For families who have their final child in year 6 or may be transferring to another school, the policy guidelines from our governing body (DOBCEL) are very clear. We do not want to place our families in an agency’s hands, so please contact me so that we can work out a payment plan. Statements and requests have already been sent several times. Our school phone number is 5562 2506. All matters are treated with the strictest confidence.
Anne Kerr
Business Manager
FREE Desktops!
We have 9 school desktop PC’s left to give away to St. Pius parents.
All machines are in good working order, and have Office 2016 installed.
The specifications are;
HP ProOne 600 G3, 21.5-inch screen, Intel i5 -7500 CPU, 3.4ghz, 4core.
Windows 10 Pro.
They must be collected on the 13th or 14th December. [Not before].
First in best dressed.
If you wish to reserve a PC, please call the school office.
No warranty is implied or given.
Grade Six Basketball
A group of grade six students got together and made a basketball league, the St Pius Basketball Association (SPBA).
This league consists of five teams of 4 players on each roster.
These teams are named: The Jiggers, Monkeypox, The Bears, The Squishy Pumpkins and the Green Gobblers.
These games are refereed and scored by students of the teams that are not playing that day.
Hopefully, at the end of the tournament a trophy will be awarded to the winning team and this competition can become an ongoing thing for grade 6 classes into the future.
By Max Green
Hot off the Prep Press!
Foundation Fun Week
This week we have had the best time together celebrating our Foundation year together. On Monday we went to Active Sportz and enjoyed learning about Cricket and Soccer. We ran, kicked, hit, threw and jumped until our hearts were content. On Tuesday we went to HIIT Nation Ninja Gym. We tried so many different obstacles but our favourite was the Warped Wall. Some of the things were a bit tricky but we gave everything a go. After that we walked to the Art Gallery and made our very own Christmas decoration with a needle and thread. On Wednesday we got to bring our special Teddy Bears to school. They came on the bus and we had a Teddy Bear’s Picnic at the Gardens. Then we went to Lake Pertobe for lunch and a play. On Thursday we stayed at school and had a Dance Party. We all had some great moves! We can’t wait for our last special event tomorrow! What a super week we have had!! Check out some of our pics below of us having fun together.
Farewell Madeline and Elizabeth!
At the end of last week we said our final goodbyes to our furry friends - Madeline and Elizabeth. They spent three weeks at our school where we loved and cared for them each day by feeding, watering and keeping them clean and healthy. A big thank you to Harriet Amos and her family for sharing her pets with us as well as all her knowledge and expertise. We can’t wait to see Madeline and Elizabeth again when they are a bit bigger and older!
Breakfast Club
Our Beyond Bank Breakfast club runs 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.................
Elkie McLean, Knox Gee and Brax Alford.
Canteen Roster for next week.
Tuesday 5th December: Aliesha Williamson
Wednesday 6th December: Merryn Payne
Thursday 7th December: Bec Stebbins
Friday 8th December: Bec Maglaras
Class Awards Week 8
Uniform Price List
Important Dates.
Friday December 1st: Dennington Carols by the Merri.
Friday December 1st: Prep excursion: Movies and Library.
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.
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/
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.
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.