Dear Families,
Welcome back to Term 2! I am very much looking forward to the final presentation tomorrow from year 5BL as the completion of the Easter Story: The Resurrection of Our Lord. This is our great moment of celebration in our Church as we of faith gain strength, conviction and hope for new life. In looking at the events circling our world at the moment, there is no doubt that humanity is indeed in great need of such hope that the risen Jesus offers us. Let us start in our family life, our school community by being people of hope and optimism, seeking truth and spreading Good News, particularly inspired by the Easter Season in the coming four weeks.

Our Pupil Free day was one of great hope and optimism.  We launched our ‘Be you’ project which will focus us on building positive mental health culture at the school in the years ahead. St. Pius X is one of the early adopters of this Federal initiative bringing together the Commonwealth Government, Beyond Blue, Kidsmatter, Mindmatters and Headspace under one umbrella strategically to address the mental health and well being of our community. We know that in order for our learners to maximise their capacity as ’learners’, this is key.

On Monday we commenced our focus on you, our community and commenced with our commitment to you.

Our Statement of Commitment
We are committed to supporting the children, young people, staff and families within our learning community achieve their best possible mental health. Through our focus on continuous improvement and our policies and practices, we work towards building and maintaining a positive, inclusive and resilient learning community for all.

As a staff, we have already discussed some initiatives and we will be announcing these in coming months. However, to ensure that our project has the voice of our community, I am seeking parent and student engagement on our Action Team. Anyone with an interest or experience in the area in Mental Health would be most welcome. The Action Team would meet twice per term before school, eg as Tuesday at 7:45am. I will send out an invitation to join this group but you may want to contact me prior if you have any thoughts.

I mentioned in last newsletter that our Building Plans have been submitted. Council have come back with some clarification and we have been able to address these comprehensively. The proposed works have now gone to community consultation so we are a further step towards our dream of a new, vibrant learning and play environment here at St. Pius X. Meanwhile, our enrolments continue to grow. To meet demand, we have offered an extra Reception class for 2020 and this class is now ‘full’. In a few months we will be interviewing for 2021 Receptions. If you have a child turning five in 2021, please ensure that you have submitted an enrolment form or indeed pass on the word to friends that they need to attend to this promptly to assure a position here.

I look very much forward to the term ahead. Our Easter presentation, Mother’s Day, St. Eugene De Mazenod Day, Catholic Education Week, Quiz Night, Sporting Carnivals, Confirmation and First Eucharist celebrations will indeed be a highlight. Please keep an eye on our Calendar to keep informed, and I urge all those not already using the Schoolzine app (SZAPP) to download this to your mobile device as a key method of updates and reminders.

God Bless