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.

Student and Staff Wellbeing

As we enter the cold and flu season, we remind all families that children should not be sent to school if they are unwell.

This includes symptoms such as coughs, sneezes, runny noses, headaches, nausea, fatigue.

If your child presents with these symptoms at school, we will contact you to collect him/her immediately and ask that they remain at home until fully recovered.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we must remain vigilant. Please monitor your children for any symptoms and seek medical advice if necessary.

Thank you for your continued support to keep all children and staff safe and healthy.

All adult visitors to a School are required to wear a mask at all times - when inside or outside - thank you for your cooperation.

As part of St Pius X School SHIP program students from Years 3 to 6 have been working productively to transfer their skills to the studios of Radio Italiana 531am.

As part of their program students will over the course of the term will be showcasing their designed podcast and documented process. They have identified the audience, designed, and planned the solution including creating a script. Students will gain experience in a real studio situation, develop skills in media, and extend their skills beyond the classroom.

The radio program can be heard on the 531am band every Thursday evening over the next six weeks. To kick our sessions off we have Haasini S and Kyra K who have chosen to talk to the listeners about their experiences as Gifted and Talented students.

Leading up to future weeks, students will be interviewing people from the community such as the Station Manager Mr Marco Petta, President Mr Mario Romaldi and our Principal Mr Greg Parker. Other guests include an interview with Mr Pryzabilla and St Pius X School  Italian Teacher Signora Villani.

Radio Italiana 531am not only covers all the metropolitan area but can be also heard in most country regions such as Whyalla, Port Pirie, Murray Bridge, and Renmark, as well as Italy.

The August Board meeting was held following an informative meeting with Mark Corrigan, the Chair of the Panel for the appointment of the new St Pius X School Principal, which has now been advertised. It is anticipated that the successful applicant will be announced early in Term 4.

The Board expressed gratitude and thanks to Greg for his excellent leadership in his time at the school, ahead of his retirement at the end of this year.

Also discussed at the meeting were the following items:

• A closed second hand uniform page for the school has been set up on Facebook, titled ‘St Pius X Windsor Gardens Uniform buy/swap/sell’- if you have any used uniform items you’d like to sell or seek to purchase please send a request to join the group and go from there. Terms of the group are set out on the page, for example, all transactions for items need to be between parents only, the school can’t take any responsibility for these exchanges.
• The updated uniform policy was endorsed and available for viewing on the school website. The school skort will be made available in future with pockets.
• The recent SA lockdown meant teachers needed to respond swiftly to set up home learning on SeeSaw – in general this worked well, however the school will be looking at ways to fine tune the process for ease of use for all families, in the case of any future lockdowns.
  
  
• The recent 3-Way Conversations mostly held over the phone had a high uptake of parents booking times to discuss their child’s Semester 1 Report or to touch base with the teacher. The board acknowledged that Covid restrictions and reduced face to face contact with teaching staff can make it very difficult to gain a good sense of how their children are going.
  
  
• Lockdown has delayed the completion date of the new building (Stage 1D), with an anticipated finish date now in October.
  
  
• The school budget is tracking well. A capital grant application for Stage 2 of the building development is pending approval.
  
  
• Restrictions permitting, Greg would still like to hold a Disco evening inviting parents to meet to discuss priorities for Community Activities for 2022. Covid times have made it difficult to maintain and build on a sense of community for the school, however leadership and the board are committed to ensuring that this is a priority moving forward into next year.
  
  
• There have been pleasing gains in literacy achievements for students so far demonstrated on PAT testing – Greg reported that this year a much larger group of children had already reached the Year’s End National Median by July, and many more children achieving results in higher bands from previous years
  
  
• A comprehensive Staff report was provided to board members with a summary of each year level and specialist areas. Discussions have flagged making this information available to parents in future.

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

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.

Thank you to those families who have submitted the form below.  

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 27th 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.

We are seeking your feedback regarding your family's experience during the Lockdown in Week 1 this term.  Please complete this form and submit before next Friday, 27th August - thank you.

https://stpiusx.schoolzineplus.com/form/112

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.