February 29th, 2024

Acknowledgement of Country

Project Compassion 2024

Second Week of Lent

          (Week beginning Monday 26 February)

Ronita is 22. She lives with her husband and two children in a barangay (local district) in Quezon City, which is situated in Metro Manila in the Philippines.  

Ronita left school when she became pregnant as a teenager. This could have had a life-long impact on her ability to find work and provide for her family but, thankfully, she heard about the Alternative Learning System (ALS) program run by the Faithful Companions of Jesus (FCJ), Caritas Australia’s local partner in the Philippines.

Through the FCJ, Ronita was able to re-enrol in her studies and continue learning in a safe and flexible environment – even with the arrival of her second child.

After completing her ALS classes, Ronita went on to earn her Grade 12 Senior High School Diploma. With her new diploma, Ronita has now secured a job at a call centre and is looking to a brighter future for her whole family.  

“I have now graduated senior school and I am so proud of myself,” she said. “I feel hopeful for the future… Now it’s not impossible for me to achieve my dream… Thank you.”  

Watch Ronita’s Story

Please donate to Project Compassion.

Together, we can help vulnerable communities face their challenges today and build a better tomorrow for all future generations.

You can donate through Project Compassion donation boxes, online by visiting caritas.org.au/project-compassion or by calling 1800 024 413.

A Note from our Principal

Dear parents and carers,

St Pius is very excited to introduce a new initiative to help support the wellbeing of your students and better resource key staff. After all, happy and well supported students are better equipped to learn and succeed.

Because parenting doesn’t come with instructions, SchoolTV is an online wellbeing resource that can support you in the challenges of modern-day parenting. This award-winning resource helps build relationships, foster connections, enable understanding and break down barriers to navigate a pathway towards better mental health and wellbeing for young people. It can assist you in starting conversations on topics that are sometimes awkward or difficult to tackle. 

Parenting is a learning journey and SchoolTV supports families by providing credible information from trusted sources offering practical strategies with a focus to empower confidence when difficulties arise.

We invite you to visit our SchoolTV site and view the content. Discover a host of interesting topics featuring interviews with leading youth wellbeing experts and researchers from around the world offering hours of relevant and practical information. Additionally, each topic includes a compilation of related resources from key organisations providing a comprehensive stream of content. Resources include informative fact sheets, articles, apps, books, podcasts, websites, and other videos - all related to a single topic, in one place for easy access!

Start exploring SchoolTV today! 

We encourage you to complete the following survey below. 

Kind regards,

Nick Murrell

Principal

St. Pius X SchoolTV - A New Initiative

School TV survey

Please take a few moments to complete the survey below.

This Wellbeing Barometer survey is a longitudinal study that will assist our school over time. It will help detect any changes that may occur. Ultimately, this information will help support families and provide important information to our school regarding the nature and extent of your concerns and determine how best we can support you.

Responses to all survey questions remain anonymous and are only reported on an aggregated basis. You are asked to base your responses on observations made in the last 12 months.

https://spwarrnambool.catholic.schooltv.me/wellbeing-barometer-2024-primary 

2024 School Closure Days

Term 1 

Monday 12th Feb - Staff First aid training (COMPLETED)

Wednesday 21st Feb - Structured Literacy Staff Professional Development (DOBCEL determined date) (COMPLETED)

Term 2

Date TBC - Wellbeing focus - Awaiting time and date confirmation from facilitator

Term 3

Tuesday 20th August- Structured Literacy Staff Professional Development (DOBCEL determined date)

Term 4

Friday 18th October - Religious Education Staff Professional Development

Please Help!

We have had a direct deposit into our bank account on the 21st February which does not have a reference name or account number.  We believe that someone called the office regarding this on or about the 22nd February, but unfortunately the details were misplaced.  If this sounds like you and you processed a payment on either February 20th or 21st could you please contact the office.    Thank You.

Sacrament of Reconciliation

In the senior Pod, there are 9 students preparing to receive the sacrament of reconciliation on the Monday 18th of March. Reconciliation is a sacrament of Penance, and is the last sacrament received at primary school.  Please remember these students in your thoughts and prayers as they prepare for this sacrament. 

Fynn McInnes, Holly Woodward, Kosta Maglaras, Charlotte van de Camp,

Arlo Sloane, William Carey, Reilly McMahon, Piper Matheson,  Mia Kermond.

Important Dates:

March 3rd (Sunday)    Children’s photo displayed in the Church
                       Family Group 2
                       Family Group 3
                       Family Group 4

March 18th (Monday) Sacrament of Reconciliation 6:00pm.

Please contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Sara Graham

Traffic Update

A reminder to new and existing families about safely entering the school carpark from Ross Street.

Can motorists please observe the stop sign at the pedestrian crossing in Ross St. Gerard (our crossing guard) has reported motorists turning into the school drive while he is in the middle of the crossing with children.

By law, once Gerard’s sign is up, no traffic is allowed to move on the crossing or into the driveway.

Thanks for your cooperation as we try to keep everyone in out community safe. 

Student Medical Information Updates Required.

A reminder that we require all families to login to PAM and update their child's medical information if any details have changed or if you are a new family to St. Pius.   Please ensure that this is completed as soon as possible.

To update a medical profile for your child/children please follow these instructions:

1. Click on the link to PAM (found on SZ App or on the St. Pius website)
2. Click on student. (Remember that each child has their own medical profile)
3. Click on Medical Profile (blue writing to the left of screen)
4. Check all questions and select Edit Details for updates to be made.
5. Once you get to the end of the questions please confirm by clicking on the Green “Update Details” box found at the bottom right of screen.

As a parent/guardian you are able to access your child/rens medical profile on PAM at any time to update as needed.

If you have any queries or require your PAM login details, please do not hesitate to contact the office.  

Acceptable use and cyber safety agreement - PAM

There are still a large number of families who have yet to complete this agreement. We would appreciate it if this could be attended to as soon as possible.  If you have any problems, please contact the office.  Thank You.

Easter Raffle

We would appreciate it if each family could sell a book of tickets for our Easter Raffle.  These have been sent home, but if you did not receive a book or would like another, please contact the office.    Donations of easter eggs, bunnies etc to make up the gift baskets would also be greatly received. Thank you to those who have already dropped items in. 

The raffle will be drawn on the last day of term, Thursday 28th March.   

St. Pius X Athletic Carnivals.

We are excited for our upcoming athletics carnivals which will take place next week.

Foundation to Grade 2 will be on Tuesday, 5th March.

Grade 3 to Grade 6 will be on Wednesday, 6th March.

Spectators are welcome to attend on the days and there will be a designated viewing area. Bring along a chair and some shelter if the weather is looking warm. Please be mindful that if you are bringing younger children to spectate, for safety reasons they must remain in the viewing area and not on the track.

Following are the schedules for both days.

Junior Schedule - Tuesday, 5th March:

Middle & Senior Schedule - Wednesday, 6th March:

Mini Vinnies

This week we extend a great big welcome to Grace White who has joined the St Pius Mini Vinnies crew in 2024. Gia we are sad to see you go but know you'll be a great asset to our student council.We also say a big thank you to Mr Nolan who joined us for our meeting on Thursday. He had the very important task of handing out badges, certificates and bookmarks to our new inductees.   He also shared with us his knowledge on  St Vincent and the great work that is done at Vinnies here in our community.

Great Effort Zarli!

Last weekend Zarli ran at the Victorian Athletic League Castlemaine Gift where she competed in 6 races over the course of the day.  Her placings were as follows.

100m Junior gift 1st place in her heat, followed by 2nd place in the final.

120m U/14 1st place in her heat, followed by 1st place in the final.

120m U/18 5th place in her heat, followed by 8th place in the final.

Congratulations on your achievements Zarli.

St. Vincent De Paul Reading Program

Fee-free after school reading program

 Want your child to improve their reading and academic skills? Make new friends? Be involved in a co-curricular activity? Foster positive relationships with caring adults?

 The Vinnie’s reading program might be for you!

St Vincent de Paul run a reading program which offers children the chance to read with a volunteer each week. The program runs each Wednesday of the school term (3:30 - 4.45pm in the library). It is open to any student at St Pius X  (prep to Year 6). Students of all ages and abilities are welcome, from those who need additional support to those who are confident and avid readers. The program provides students with a safe and welcoming environment where they can experience the magic of books, enhance their skills, make new friends and enjoy the support of caring adults. Vinnie’s would love to welcome some new faces.

Library News

Library Books- Thank you!

A big thank-you to the Sharples family for returning books they discovered on their bookshelf from last year. These were able to be added back into the library for other students to borrow. 

If any St Pius X families have a Library book hidden in their bookshelf, can they please be returned to school as soon as possible.

Book Club

Issue 2 of Book Club was handed out to children on Wednesday Orders are due back by next Wednesday 7th of March (this is the last book club for the term).Family members can order book club through 'Scholastic LOOP'. This is an online tool that allows families to make purchases using Credit/Debit cards. Please follow the link below:https://mybookclubs.scholastic.com.au/parent/login.aspx

Thanks in advance for your support

Alanna Dowling

The Foundation Files

We belong to St Pius X Family

As part of our RE unit we have been learning all about how we belong to different groups. Some of the groups that we can belong to are our family, sports clubs, house teams, year levels, church groups but the most recent group that we belong to is our school family. We identified that our school logo connects us to our school and our peers. We looked around our school for all the different places we could find our school logo. We found it on our school uniform, at the front of our school entrance, on our safety plans in the outdoor play spaces and on our school candle. We are excited about belonging to St Pius X and being connected to others within our special family. 

Wonderful Writing

Check out our amazing writing samples from Leo, Isla-May, Carter and Emmerson. We have learnt that a sentence is a complete thought that must - 

• make sense
• have a who
• have a do
• have a what

We also know that a sentence must begin with an uppercase letter and end with a full stop. We can write sentences at school but we could even try writing some at home, too.

What’s my goal for today? 

We have all begun to use our crayon pot to recognise and name our daily goal. Our focus is to be a ‘good friend’. We need to remind ourselves that each day at school we aim to be kind, caring and friendly with each other. We use our words and never our hands when in the company of our friends. Sometimes we get this right but other times we may stumble a little. That’s when we get together and have a check in to talk about what we would do differently in order to get back to achieving our goal. Our school wide goals throughout the year are Happiness, Learning and Safety.

School Fees and Levies 2024

A special message........

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

Thomas Aitkin, Bodhi Cochrane, Isla-May McCue, Jackson Watson, Tilly Westbrook, Braxton McGregor, Jack Lucas, Tommy Shand, Jett Greene, Blake Jenkins-Smith.

Canteen Roster for next week.

Important Dates.

Tuesday, 5th March - F-2 Athletics Carnival

Wednesday, 6th March - 3-6 Athletics Carnival

Thursday, 7th March - F/1/6 Lions Eye Health Testing

Monday, 11th March - Labour Day Public Holiday

Tuesday, 12th March - PSG meetings

Wednesday, 13th March - PSG meetings

Monday, 18th March - Reconciliation Sacrament 6pm

Thursday, 28th March - Last Day of Term 1

Friday, 29th March - Good Friday Public Holiday

Uniform Price List

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.