Dear Parents

Welcome back for Term Two. I hope you had an enjoyable break and an opportunity, at some point, to spend time with your children.

Sports Day

Term One finished with Sports Day at Bridgestone Athletics Centre and was a wonderful community celebration.  We were blessed with almost perfect weather, and it was great to see so many parents in attendance.  The Bridgestone Athletics Centre was also a perfect location for our event. 

Congratulations to our winners - our green team - St Brigid, which won the Sports Day trophy for the third year in a row.  Congratulations also to the blue team - St Mary - which won the Spirit Shield for their great sporting attitude and participation.

Thank you to our parents for their participation whether by joining events, supporting staff with scoring, or simply encouraging children.  Your attendance was appreciated.  I would also like to thank Angelo Zamparelli for his wonderful coordination of the day. Angelo spent many hours putting together the program as well as teaching children the skills for their events. Angelo’s commitment to sport at St Pius X is unquestionable and he is a strong advocate for children’s participation in physical activity and enjoying sport as a part of their everyday life. Thank you to Cassandra Figg who spent a lot of time coordinating buses and lunch orders and did an amazing job providing support behind the scenes. Thank you to our Sports Captains who worked hard preparing and leading their teams and spent many hours of their own time putting together chants and actions.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge the wonderful participation and sporting attitude shown by our children. Their sense of fun and enjoyment, dressing up in their team colours, cheering each other on, all made for a great community event. We will now review the day and look to make it an even a better one in 2024.

Welcome Rita Campbell

I would like to welcome Rita Campbell to our community as she begins her role replacing James Lloyd as APRIM for the remainder of the year. Rita spent a lot of time in her first week getting to know the staff and children and I have no doubt that she will fit nicely into our school community. Rita comes to us from Tenison Woods Catholic School at Richmond and brings a great deal of experience and passion for her role. I am sure that you join me in making her feel welcome at St Pius X school.

Parents and Friends

Our Parents and Friends group is an important part of our school community, and all parents, grandparents and friends of St Pius X school are invited to join them. The P&F provide extra opportunities for our children to enjoy and also aim to bring a strong sense of community to our school.

To facilitate the involvement of working parents, we invite you and other interested people, to an open Parents and Friends Meeting on Tuesday 23^rd May at 7:00pm in the staffroom. We will discuss the future direction of the Parents and Friends committee and would love to hear your ideas around the types of events and initiatives that the P&F could coordinate.  We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.  Cassandra will distribute an invitation to the meeting in coming days.

School Uniforms in Winter

As we move into winter and the weather begins to cool, I would like to remind parents to please ensure they have labelled their children’s school uniform items. Quite often children come to school wearing jumpers or jackets but, as the day progresses, they take these items off and leave them in the yard.  We have already had several unlabelled items handed into the office.  If the items are clearly labelled, then our office staff will return them to their rightful owner. Unlabelled items are placed in the school’s lost property ‘tub’. If your child accidentally brings home an item of clothing that does not belong to them, please return it to school so we can attempt to find its rightful owner. If we all work together, we can reduce the number of lost uniforms. 

Due to the lower UV levels in Term 2 children may play outside without a hat. Whilst the ‘no hat – no play’ policy is not strictly enforced in Term 2; we do ask that all children have a hat at school (perhaps in their bags) as there are times when the UV levels are high, and we may instruct children to wear their hat whilst outside.

Pupil Free Days for the remainder of the Year

Since the last Newsletter, our staff have had an opportunity to engage in professional learning around the assessment of student learning, and as a result there will be a Pupil Free Day on Friday 9^th of June (before the long weekend)

Pupil Free Days for the remainder of the year are:

• Friday 9^th June
• Monday 24^th July (first day of Term 3)
• Monday 16^th October (first day of Term 4).

School concludes for students on Wednesday 13^th December.

I take this opportunity to wish all our mothers a very Happy Mother’s Day this Sunday, I hope your children show you how much you are loved and appreciated.

God Bless

Ashley Keane

Hello families and welcome to Term 2. I hope you have had a great start to the term and that your children are settling back into school life. We wanted to inform you of a couple of initiatives that we are starting at school this year.

St-udent Agency Representatives (StARs)

To honour student voice, we are re-introducing what you may have known as SRC now rebadged as StARs. StARs stands for St-udent Agency Representative. Children will vote for 2 StARs members from their class. The StARS will represent their peers and attend a StARs meeting with school leadership to discuss how we can make our school an even better place. We hope that the StARs program will engage and motivate students to develop critical and creative thinking skills, a sense of responsibility, and provide them with skills for their future. We will announce these StARs leaders very soon.

Classroom Student Awards

In Term 2 we are also re-introducing Student Awards. We want to identify those that support our school values of STRENGTH and KINDNESS by reaching out to others and managing their learning at school.  This will also provide motivation for students to do their best to make this school a special place, boost their self-esteem and recognise their efforts. Classroom teachers will present awards every few weeks and a member of leadership will visit classes to distribute them. Students will also be acknowledged at either the nearest assembly or Liturgy/Mass. Awards are currently being designed and we will have this process up and running by Week 5.

Thank you all for your friendly and warm welcome this term.  It has been fun meeting all the children and getting to know their families as I make my way around the school.

I am so glad to be at St Pius X school in the role of APRIM. I look forward to enhancing the Catholic identity of the school by supporting the Sacramental program, co-ordinating Masses and liturgies, organising professional development for staff, connecting with the Dernancourt parish and spending time with the children during learning time. 

When I am not at school, I am busy with my family and trying to understand the life of my children who are 16 years old and 10 years old as well as trying to keep up with the success of Port Power, Manchester Utd and Celtic!  If that is not enough – there is also my husband who is a mad motor racing fan plus the dog and cat to feed.  I look forward to working with you all over the next three terms.

Liturgical Calendar

This term there are several significant celebrations for the church including:

May 21^st - Feast of St Eugene de Mazenod (founder of the Congregation of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate)

May 28^th – Pentecost Sunday

June 4^th – Feast of the Holy Trinity

June 11^th – Feast of the Body and Blood of Christ

The Month of May is also a time for Christians to celebrate and acknowledge the role of Mary the mother of Jesus in supporting the ministry of Jesus and loving him as he grew and lived the mission of God on earth.  She has many titles including Mary Help of Christians, Star of the Sea, our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady Queen of Peace.  Mary is the church’s greatest saint.

Sacramental Program

This term 30 children in Year 4 will be preparing to celebrate the Sacrament of Confirmation on May 30^th and their First Holy Communion on June 27^th.  The Year 4 teachers will facilitate this program in class with the support of the other Year 4 children.  We pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit to help them live a faithful and Christian life.

For more information please check this website

https://adelaide.catholic.org.au/__files/f/148629/Marian%20Procession%20booklet.pdf

Public Rosary - Praying the Rosary for Peace

The Legion of Mary of the Adelaide Cathedral parish invites you to pray the Rosary outdoors and to pray for peace in Mary MacKillop Plaza (adj St Francis Xavier’s Cathedral) at 8.40am (after the 8am Mass). All welcome. Praying the Rosary for Peace will be held on the first Saturday of every month. For more information contact Patrick Greenrod, Legion of Mary, M: 0414 769 635.

Women’s Retreat at The Monastery

‘Mary and Martha Models of Discipleship’, led by Val De Brenni, invites women to re-read the stories of Mary and Martha of Bethany as they reflect upon what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. The retreat provides time and space for prayer and silence, for walking and for being nourished. Commencing with dinner on Friday May 19, it will conclude on Saturday May 20 in the afternoon. $170 includes your accommodation and all meals. Please contact The Monastery office on P: 8338 8700 or E: conference@themonastery.net.au for bookings.

Reporting Absences

If your child will be absent from school please notify this through SZapp - Absences tab, as well as notifying your child's class teacher.

Labelling reminder

Please ensure ALL your children's belongings (uniforms, lunchboxes, drinkbottles, pencil cases etc.) are CLEARLY LABELLED with your child's name.

Labelled property can be easily returned to its owner.

Parking  

Parking is not permitted in the bus zone outside the Kiss'n'Drop on Hillburn Avenue. Police and Council officers regularly patrol this area and issue fines. Staff will ask drivers to move on if they stop in this space.

Thank you for keeping our children safe.

School Photos

School Photo Day is Monday 29th May 2023. Photo forms were sent home this week. Please return your child/ren's form to the school office with your receipt details (for online orders) or cash enclosed before Thursday 26th May.

Family photo forms are available for collection from the front office.

2022 Year Books

Year Books were sent home via your eldest child today.

SZapp Update

There is a new version of SZapp available for Android and IOS Devices. Please ensure that you have updated to this version. If you experience any difficulties with completing this process, please reach out to Schoolzine using support@schoolzine.com. To assist with your query, they ask that you provide a description of the issue you are facing, the email address you are using when facing this issue and a screenshot of the issue.

Tuition Fees Installment 2

Installment 2 Tuition Fees are due & payable by Friday 12th May 2023.  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 are 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.  Reminder statements will posted next week.  Please pay the installment amount promptly.

If you wish to pay your fees with internet banking, please ensure that you use the 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.  Bank account details are listed at the bottom of the statement.

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

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

Thank you. 

JULIE PARSONS

FINANCE MANAGER

Our next P & F meeting will be held on Tuesday 23rd May at 7pm - All welcome please come along to meet other parents and share ideas.

We will be holding our annual Mother's Day Stall tomorrow, Friday 12th May at school. 

Want to help at any of our events ? You need to be a registered volunteer - if you would like to become a registered volunteer please contact Susan Trimboli in the school office on 8266 9400.

to contact us email pandf@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au

Athletics

Today we had a group of 26 students travel to the SAPSASA District Cross Country carnival in North Adelaide.  Listed below are events for the remainder of 2023.

Cross Country State Championships – Thursday 8th June at Oakbank Racecourse

(This carnival is for children that win their event in the above district carnival).

Cross Country – Catholic Schools – Thursday 10th August at Park 15, Adelaide Parklands

(This carnival is open to all students in Year 3 to Year 6)

Athletics – SAPSASA District – Thursday 17th August at Bridgestone Stadium, Salisbury

(This carnival is open to all children born from 2010 to 2013).

Athletics – State Metro Championships – Tuesday 19th September at Mile End Stadium

(This carnival is for children that win their event in the above district carnival).

Athletics – Catholic Schools – Friday 3rd November at Mile End Stadium

(This carnival is open to all students in Year 3 to Year 6)

Our World Environment Day committe need your help! 

Here are some of the materials that we need for World Environment Day on May 25^th and 26^th. 

• Ropes
• Barrels
• Small, old tyres
• Buckets
• Old crates

Sticks (sanded down for safety).    

• Mini Toys e.g., plastic shovels and rakes

The items will need to be as clean as possible to ensure the safety for students use.  

 If you can help, please bring the items into the school by Monday 22^nd May

Please see the latest edition of The Southern Cross