Dear Parents

It is hard to believe that we have commenced Term 4 already – the year just seems to be flying by.

Catholic Schools Music Festival
In the last week of last term our school choir performed as part of the opening night of the Catholic School’s Music Festival which was held at the Festival Theatre. We had approximately 40 children from Year 5 & 6 who performed in our school choir this year. As part of their commitment to the choir the children had to learn the words and actions to approximately 10 songs, and they started rehearsals for this performance back in Term One. The chance to perform on the Festival Theatre stage in front of a capacity audience presented a wonderful opportunity for our students. The children in the St Pius X choir did an amazing job with their performance at the Catholic School’s Music Festival and we can all be very proud of them. I would like to acknowledge and thank Basia Jedrzejczak for her wonderful work in preparing the choir. Basia puts her heart and soul into the school’s music program and as a result the quality of our children’s singing and performances are always of a very high calibre. Basia was also supported by James Lloyd at our choir rehearsals this year and I thank James for his supporting role with the choir. I look forward to hearing our school choir perform again at our School Concert in a couple of weeks’ time.     

Sports Day
In Week 9 of last term we held our annual Sports Day event over two days. It was a wonderful 2 days of physical activity as well as competitive but light hearted competition for our children. Congratulations to St Brigid's, the Green team, who this year won both the Sports Day trophy and the team spirit shield in what was a very close contest. I would like to acknowledge and thank Mr Angelo Zamparelli for all of his hard work in preparing and organising the Sports Day event. Angelo was thrown a curve ball with the announcement of a Public Holiday for the first day of the Sports Day event, but fortunately was able to re-arrange the event so that the children did not miss out. I know Angelo puts many hours into preparing Sports Day and it was great to see the children enjoying themselves. It was also wonderful to see a number of parents come along to cheer on and support their children. 

I thank our Year 6 Team Captains who prepared and led the team chants. They did a wonderful job.

School Picnic
Last Friday the whole school went to Point Malcolm Reserve at Semaphore for our 60^th Anniversary Picnic. This was the first time that the school has undertaken such an event. The Parents and Friends Committee covered the costs associated with putting on the picnic and we are truly grateful to all of the parents who contribute to the work of our P&F group. We were blessed with perfect weather for the day and it was great to be able to have all of our staff and students spend a day of enjoyment together. I was proud of the way in which our students embraced the day and their behaviour throughout the day was impeccable. I would like to thank all of the parents who volunteered to assist with the cooking the BBQ. I would also like to thank the Lauterbach family and Warooka Country Meats who made the delicious sausages for our BBQ. I would like to acknowledge all of the St Pius X staff who worked together as a team to ensure that the day was a success. Finally I would like to thank all our parents who came along and celebrated the day with us. A day like the picnic can not happen without the support of our community and I am truly grateful for the wonderful support that our Leadership team receives from our staff, students and parents. The 60^th Anniversary Picnic really highlighted to me how fortunate I am to be working in such a wonderful school community.

Hats
Just a reminder that we are now implementing our No Hat – No Play policy. Can parents please ensure that they are supporting their children by ensuring that they have a clearly labelled hat at school. Hats often get misplaced, however if they are clearly labelled then our office staff make sure that they get returned to their owners. It is ashame when children are required to miss play as a result of not having a hat.

Class Placements & Planning for 2023
Just a reminder to all parents that we have started planning for the 2023 school year. As part of this process we will be undertaking the task of placing children into classes. A letter was sent out via SZapp last week about this. If you would like to share any information with us to consider in the class placement process, please ensure you email Susan Trimboli at strimboli@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au. Alternatively you can write a letter and hand it to the front office with the title “attention Ashley Keane” or you can phone the front office and request a member of leadership calls you for a private discussion.

Please also be aware that we are about to commence ordering resources for 2023. As per our updated school fee policy, any parents of children who will not be returning to St Pius X in 2023 must inform the school in writing immediately otherwise a full term’s fees will be charged. 

Concert
The School Concert is now only a two of weeks away and classes have been working hard on their items. There are still plenty of tickets available for the concert. Please ensure that you purchased your tickets for this event. If your child is not attending the concert then it is vitally important that you have let your child’s class teacher know as this will have an impact on the class item. I am looking forward to what promises to be another wonderful community event.