Friday 3rd September - Father's Day Stall 
Wednesday 8th September - School Photos

Friday 10th September - Student Free Day - OSHC will be available for those families needing care.

This coming Sunday, 15^th of August, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary. This is a ‘Holy Day of Obligation’ for Catholics and this year, falls on a Sunday. All classes will participate in an in-class prayer service on Friday to honour this special day. The Gospel reading for Sunday comes from The Gospel of Luke and we hear Mary’s great song of praise more commonly known as ‘The Magnificat’:

‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord
and my spirit exults in God my saviour;
because he has looked upon his lowly handmaid.
Yes, from this day forward all generations will call me blessed,
for the Almighty has done great things for me.
Holy is his name,
and his mercy reaches from age to age for those who fear him.
He has shown the power of his arm,
he has routed the proud of heart.
He has pulled down princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.
The hungry he has filled with good things, the rich sent empty away.
He has come to the help of Israel his servant, mindful of his mercy
– according to the promise he made to our ancestors –
of his mercy to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

Thank you again to our families for supporting us at drop off and pick up each day. As you know, mask wearing is becoming the new normal for adults on school sites and in all other shared spaces. If you enter the school grounds and wait on the oval for pick up at the end of the day, please ensure you are wearing a face mask and scan the QR code at the gate.

Blessings for the week ahead.

Choir News

We have been notified that the St Pius X School Choir will be performing on Opening Night of the Catholic Schools’ Music Festival at Festival Theatre this year. What an accolade!! And to top that off we have been placed in Row 1. What an honour! So, the Choir will perform on Monday 20^th September (Week 10). Congratulations to all 40 members from Years 5 and 6. 32 students will sing in Row 1 while 8 of our students will help fill Rows 2 and 3 as their numbers were down. And while we are on a roll, 2 students have been lucky enough to be chosen to attend the Call Back Auditions for singing a solo section in one of the Choir Songs at the Festival. We wish Yasmine B 6M and Tahlia S 6JT all the very best next week.

If you would like to attend the Festival for an evening of outstanding performances encompassing a 400 voice choir, instrumental ensembles, vocal groups and remarkable solo artists you can book tickets at Ticketek from Tuesday 24th August.

Ticket Sales – Catholic Schools’ Music Festival, Monday 20th September, 7:30pm Adelaide Entertainment Centre Theatre, Port Road, Hindmarsh.

Pre-release tickets go on sale to participating Catholic School families from Tuesday 24th August.

Tickets go on sale to the general public from Thursday 2nd September.

To purchase tickets you will need to book directly through Ticketek as below

Book at Ticketek outlets, call 13 28 49 or visit www.ticketek.com.au
on sale from Tuesday 24th August.

A Reserve: $39.00           B Reserve: $33.00       School Card: Any seating at B Reserve prices

Please note that Service and Handling fees may apply and there are no exchanges or refunds on purchased tickets.

For special needs bookings, please contact Ticketek’s Mobility Restricted Line on 1300 665 915 or visit an agency. The Music Festival is a Companion Card affiliate.

Term 3 is traditionally a time in schools when forward planning of budgets, staffing needs and class allocations begin to take place.  Like other schools St Pius X endeavours to meet the needs of all students and families it serves. 

In order for the school to continue to offer programmes that are of value and to provide appropriate facilities for the future it is important to know enrolment numbers for 2022.  I am therefore writing to request that you please complete and submit this form before 28th August 2021 - https://stpiusx.schoolzineplus.com/form/109?preview=1

If, of course, your only child at St Pius X School is currently in Year 6 you do not need to complete the form.

LLL Parent and Caregiver Survey

All members of our community are invited to complete this Survey which will give us further information to use in our efforts to track our progress here at school and form educational and community goals for 2022.

The Survey is totally confidential and all participants are de-identified.  Analysis of the Surveys will be presented to teachers, staff, and the School Board and I will also complete a report to the community early next term.

As an incentive to participate all students of parents who have completed the Survey will have the chance to be selected as the ‘Principal for the Day’ (the draw will be held in Week 1, Term 4.). Please join in the fun and more importantly, have your say on the future of our school, what we need to keep doing and what do we need to change?

Further information regarding the Survey, along with access via the QR code, Confidentiality, Use of Data etc is available in this attachment - NSI_Partnerships_Parent_and_Caregiver_Survey.pdf

The Survey is also available via this link - www.NSIPartnerships.com.au with the code SPXLLLP in the Start Questionnaire field.

The link to the entry form for the Principal for a Day drawer is - https://stpiusx.schoolzineplus.com/form/110

We thank you for participation in this important Survey.

Information for Volunteers

Thank you for the support you continue to provide by being a Registered Volunteer here at St Pius X School.  

I am writing to let you know there are changes to the requirements in respect of the Responding to Risks of Harm Abuse and Neglect - Education and Care (RRHAN-EC) training which is one of the essential components of your Registration.

As your volunteer work here is with children (under 18 years), you are a mandated notifier and all volunteers must now update their training which is available via this link -  RRHAN-EC training.

The training must be undertaken and your Certificate provided to Susan Trimboli before end of the next term.

Please contact me if you have questions and thank you again for your participation in the life of our school.

Fruit Fly Fruit and vegetable Restrictions for St Pius X School

With the fruit fly restrictions, you may be having trouble working out what you can and can’t pack in your children’s lunch boxes for fruit snacks, recess and lunch.
Here is a list of fruit and vegetables that are definitely ok to bring into school:

Honeydew melon, rock melon, watermelon, pineapple, strawberries, beans, corn, carrots, cucumber, celery and mushrooms.

A full list is available at this link: https://fruitfly.sa.gov.au/outbreak-restrictions/fruit-and-veg-without-restrictions

Cooked or canned fruit and vegetables are ok too. If you cut the pieces smaller and put them into a reusable container it may encourage your kids to eat all that you have packed for them.

Check out this link for more lunch box ideas: https://fruitfly.sa.gov.au/outbreak-restrictions/packing-lunches

If fresh fruit or vegetable come onto the school site and is completely consumed that is ok too.

Check out the outbreak map at this link - https://fruitfly.sa.gov.au/outbreak-map

St Pius X is in a yellow area.

What does this mean?
It means that we can move fresh fruit and vegetables within the yellow zone but not into a green zone. If you are in a yellow zone and move fruit and vegetables into the red zone, the fruit and vegetables can’t leave the red zone.

Our big issue here at school is uneaten produce. Any uneaten fruit and vegetable will either go in landfill or compost. Neither of these situations are ideal since landfill leaves our site (uneaten fruit/veg included) or in the compost where fruit fly can still lay and hatch their eggs in un-composted food. If we can minimise the amount of restricted fruit and vegetables moving into our zone, we will be doing our best to overcome this outbreak of fruit fly and hopefully see the restrictions end on the 22nd December 2021 as planned .

Jane Buhagiar
Environmental Sustainability