Welcome back to Term Two. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable holiday break and that you got to spend some quality time with your children. I am looking forward to continuing to get to know your children throughout this term.

Mother’s Day
I hope that all our mums had a wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday and your children had the opportunity to show you how much you are loved and appreciated.

Last Friday we had a wonderful group of parents from our Parents and Friends committee volunteer to run the Mother’s Day stall. All children had the opportunity to buy a small gift for their mums and it was wonderful to see how excited and delighted the children were to be given this opportunity. Wonderful opportunities like this don’t happen by chance and the Mother’s Day stall takes a fair bit of planning and organisation. Without the support of our volunteer parents, we would not be able to offer these opportunities for our children. I would like take this opportunity to thank all of the parents who assisted at our Mother’s Day stall:

Simone Zoontjens, Emily Harris, Lucy Koppes, Giuliana Agostino, Katie McMillan, Nadia Anderson, Stephanie Price-Austin, Francine Schiller and Jodie Fitzgerald.

It was also great to be able to have our Reception parents onsite for a Mother’s Day pamper morning. The children in Reception got to colour in with their mums, give their mums a manicure, do their mum’s hair and have photos with their mums. I would like to thank the Reception teachers for their wonderful work in organising and running this event.

It was a shame that we could not have more mums from a variety year levels onsite all at the one time. Our hope is that in the not too distant future COVID restrictions in schools will ease so that we can host bigger community events.  

COVID
At the beginning of this term you would have received a letter from me on the SZapp about COVID restrictions and how they relate to schools for the first few weeks of Term 2. I thought I would just remind parents of a few key points in dot point form:

• If your child tests positive to COVID then they need to isolate for 7 days in line with SA Health requirements and can not attend school during this 7 day period.
• Close contact rules have now changed. If someone in your household tests positive to COVID, children can still attend school if they are asymptomatic and test negative on a RAT test. Children are expected to undertake 5 RAT tests over a 7 day period.
• School’s no longer need to send home notifications about classroom contacts, however out of courtesy the school will still send a Seesaw message to parents if someone in your child’s class tests positive to COVID, so parents can monitor their children for symptoms.
• Parents are still required to wear face masks when they enter the school site.

I thank all of our parents for your ongoing support of our staff in navigating these COVID measures.

I will update the community when COVID restrictions in schools change.

Building Works
We are continuing to work on the planning for the next stage of our building. Unfortunately the completion of some of our building works have been slower than we anticipated due to a shortage of labour and some supply issues. We have been planning to establish a large vegetable garden and a replacement of the play ground in the area outside our new classrooms. We were informed earlier this week that whilst the first drafts of these plans have been developed, we will most likely be unable to secure the necessary contractors to undertake the work until later this year. As a result of this we have made the decision to tidy up this area and roll out some lawn as a temporary measure, so this space is usable for the children. During this time we will undertake some consultation with the children about their ideas for the new play space and engaging a landscape architect to develop the plans for this area.

We anticipate that the building of 2 new Reception classes and a new Music teaching space will commence in July. I will keep the community updated on our building works.

New Website and Photo Shoot
Over the last week we have had a professional photographer at our school taking photos of different aspects of our school operations. I have learnt very quickly during the photo shoot that our children are not camera shy and we had no shortage of volunteers for our photos. Over the coming months we will be updating our School Website and I will let you know when the new website goes live.

60^th Anniversary Dinner – SAVE THE DATE
We are planning to host a 60^th Anniversary dinner on Saturday the 27^th of August at the Marche Club at Paradise. Old scholars, and all current and past families and staff members will be invited to attend this event. After 2 years of not being able to have community events for our parents due to COVID, we are looking forward to a wonderful 60^th celebration. Please spread the word and stay tuned for further details in the coming weeks.

Little SPARX Playgroup resumes:
Last week we were able to restart our Little SPARX playgroup. Playgroup will be held in the Activity Room (OSHC) every Thursday from 9:00am – 10:30am. Sarah Tirimacco and Laura Baohm will be running our playgroup for the remainder of this year. All children from 0 -5 are welcome to join our playgroup. Parents coming to playgroup can enter through the OSHC gates and sign in at the activity room.

Just One Thing
Early next week I will be sending home a letter titled “Just One Thing”. I encourage all parents to read this letter as we attempt to start reinvigorating our community and increasing parent events and participation around the school after two years of isolation due to COVID.

God Bless

Ashley Keane

Hi all, I hope you have had a great return to school and some fun times with your family during the break. I also hope Covid hasn’t impacted you too negatively. At the end of last term, I got Covid. I had a very sore throat for 2 days and felt very tired with achy joints. Everyone else in my family home also got it but weirdly everyone had slightly different symptoms.  

The start of this term has gone relatively smoothly, and teachers and students here are managing the disruptions of staff and students being away positively. This week photos have been taken for our new website. I hope to have this up and running well before the end of the year. This week NAPLAN tests began for our Year 3 and 5 students. Talking to the students before the tests I noticed that everyone was thinking positively and confident in their abilities to perform well. Please also remember that these tests don’t assess all of what makes your child/ren special and unique. The scores obtained are only a snapshot of how well they did on that day and aren’t always indicative of what they are capable of in class.

In some exciting news I found out during the holidays that I was successful in winning a $10,000 grant for the school to build a new bike and scooter rack with a shelter. I’ve already ordered the bike and scooter rack and once these arrive, we’ll start construction on the shelter. I am hoping that this might encourage more students to either ride or scooter to school. I’ll keep everyone posted on the process.

Until then I hope you have a great couple of weeks, and I’ll speak to you shortly.

Take care,

Jamie

Welcome back to school for Term 2!

I hope all our mums had a wonderful, relaxing day on Sunday. During the month of May, our Church honours Mary, the mother of Jesus and mother of us all. Mary was a mum, just like our mums. She cared for Jesus, loved him unconditionally, cooked for him, worried about him, and did all the other special things that mums do. Our mums are like Mary in so many ways, and on Mother’s Day, we get the opportunity to show them how special they are. I share this prayer with you as we think about our mums at this time:

Lord Jesus Christ, You chose to put yourself—tiny, needy and helpless—into the nurturing and watchful hands of a human mother. Since then, every act of mothering, both physical and spiritual, in every time and every corner of the world recollects Mary’s. Inspired by this example, we, too, honour our mothers and mother figures today. Bless these women, that they may be strengthened as Christian mothers and nurturers. Let the example of their faith and love shine forth. Grant that we, their sons and daughters, honour them always with a spirit of profound respect. We ask this in your holy name. Amen.

Sacrament Programme – Reconciliation Year 3
If your child is in Year 3 and is a baptised Catholic, he/she is invited to participate in the Sacrament Programme at St Pius X School. Our parish and school work together to prepare our children for Reconciliation, Confirmation and First Holy Communion. Currently, children in Year 3 celebrate Reconciliation, and then Confirmation and First Holy Communion in Year 4.

The Sacrament of Reconciliation will be held later in Term 3.

In the coming weeks, I will contact Year 3 families who listed their children as ‘Catholic’ upon enrolment at St Pius X School and invite them to participate in the programme. 

If your child is a baptised Catholic in an older year level and yet to celebrate Reconciliation for the first time, please contact me and we can discuss his/her involvement in the programme. A parent information session will be held early next term to discuss the Sacrament Programme for Year 3's in more detail and information will be sent to families towards the end of this term about a date for this.

Sacrament Programme – Confirmation and First Holy Communion Year 4
Our Year 4 children are currently preparing for Confirmation and First Holy Communion, which will occur later this term. Please keep them and their families in your prayers as they journey together. Bishop Greg O’Kelly SJ will celebrate Confirmation with our children on Wednesday 15^th June at 7pm in St Pius X Church. First Holy Communion will be celebrated on Wednesday 29^th June at 6:30pm in St Pius X Church.

More information about preparations for Confirmation will be sent home soon.  

Fr Mathew
Our school community sends sympathy to our Parish Priest, Fr Mathew, at the recent loss of his mother. Fr Mathew flew to India upon her death and will return to us next week. Please keep Fr Mathew and his family in your prayers.

Blessings for the week ahead,

James

Installment 2 Tuition Fees are due & payable by Friday 13th May 2022.  If you have entered into a part time agreement to pay your fees over the whole year this due date does not apply. 

If you were unable to meet this deadline, please do not hesitate to contact me and part time arrangements can be made.  For parent’s convenience, EFT, BPay, QKR, Visa and Mastercard are available.

If you are unsure of the amount due, please contact me and I can discuss this with you.

If you wish to pay your fees with internet banking, please ensure that you use the new BPAY ID number which can be found at the bottom of your statement.  If paying by Direct Transfer of Funds then please use the Account Number at the top of your statement.

If you are holders of a Health Care Card you may be eligible for School Card and therefore Fee Remission. 

If your income is still being affected by COVID 19, you may also be eligible for some Fee Remission. 

Please see me if you feel you meet either of these criteria or have any queries relating to fees.

Thank you,

Julie

The second Board meeting of the year was held following the Annual General Meeting. The Board extends a warm welcome to new board members Shane McMillan, Shani Wallace-Groves, and Kosta Safos, and farewelled Tessa Carey with huge thanks for her service on the Board over the last 4 years.

Numerous business items were discussed at the meeting:

• Enrollment Process: currently under review. Two mid year reception classes will be offered from Term 3 2022. St Pius will also be introducing a new ‘SPARX’ transition program (Student Preparation And Readiness for St Pius X) also commencing in Term 3, aimed to support students starting in 2023 to feel comfortable within the school environment and community.
• Building Update: Stage 2A of the building project is due to commence in the April school holidays, with Stage 2B scheduled for November. Decisions around the proposed shade structure are pending, and will be considered alongside plans to upgrade existing permanent shade structures as part of the building works.
• 60^th Anniversary Celebrations: plans to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of the school are still being considered alongside COVID19 regulations. There have been numerous ideas flagged, and decisions will be made with the hope that most of the school community will be able to attend.
• Community Engagement: this continues to be a priority for leadership. A Reception Welcome Dinner was held in the last week of last term bringing together many families of current Reception children so children and parents could build connections with families and staff. Fun Fridays in the yard on Friday mornings before the bell have been popular with staff and children alike!

The Board looks forward to working alongside Ashley and Jamie as the year progresses to support the vision and values of the school.

‘Maths Help’, or ‘Maths… Help!’

Its important for our students to have a healthy, positive attitude towards maths learning. Earlier this year, and, in fact, throughout the year, the focus for maths lessons at St Pius X is to develop a positive maths identity and be powerful learners of Mathematics.

After the first couple of weeks at the beginning of the school year, your child may have told you about some new things they’ve learnt about Mathematics, like maths was invented by people and not discovered. And that new maths is being discovered all the time. Maybe they told you even babies do maths! Your kids may also have said that there are 5 drawers in the Mathematics ‘filing cabinet’. And those 5 drawers contain Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, Data and Number.

As a parent or caregiver, you might also be wondering how you could help your child be a powerful learner of Mathematics. Over the coming weeks short articles will appear, like this one, in the newsletter to hopefully support you in that endeavour.

A video link is attached, sourced from the NSW Government Education website, which is a really helpful insight into what is happening in the classroom and how to help at home. Key points in the video are:

• Maths is about understanding and not learning by rote
• There is always more than one way to get the right answer
• Children are taught mental strategies, like using number lines, to figure problems out in their heads
• Ask ‘What is the question asking you?’
• Practise the multiplication facts (times tables)
• Don’t jump in with the answers
• Stay positive
• Talk to the teacher if your child needs more help with homework

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q__rcPdk9MA&t=66s

Much of what is stated in the video aligns with what happens in our classrooms here at St Pius X. We have skilled teachers who approach Mathematics with care and dedication and with the aim to build powerful learners and users of Mathematics.

I’d love to hear any feedback you have from this video, or any questions you would like answered in future articles.

Cheers

Jane

jbuhagiar@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au

reference: https://education.nsw.gov.au/parents-and-carers/learning/maths/maths-tips/helping-your-child-with-primary-school-maths

Do you have some spare time now that the children are back at school? Would you like to help children with their reading, writing and confidence skills? Then LAP (Learning Assistance Program) would like to hear from you. Only a 1/2 hour per week. You will need a current clearance. 

Please contact Tania Colligan on email tcolligan@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au

Zachary came 2nd in the 800m State Championship race- the winner being from an Alice Springs Club (so technically State Champion)He also broke a 29 year old club record.

Sadly, on Sunday, he came 2nd in the 400m, but was disqualified as he ran on the line for a small part of the race. 

We are so proud of his efforts.

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