Dear Parents

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

Sports Day
The end of last term finished with our Sports Day event, which was a wonderful community celebration. We were once again blessed with perfect weather for the day and it was great to see so many parents in attendance.

Congratulations to St Pius, the Gold Team who won the Sports Day trophy in 2024, breaking a 3 in a row winning streak from St Brigid’s the Green Team. We also congratulate St Mary’s the Blue Team who won the Team Spirit shield for the 2^nd year in a row.

Thank you to all of the parents who got involved in the day, whether you joined in with the events, supported staff with scoring or just simply encouraged your child throughout the day, your attendance at our Sports Day was greatly appreciated. I know the children loved the parent race at the end of the day. Congratulations to St Joseph, the Red Team who are our parent relay champions.

I would like to thank Angelo Zamparelli for his wonderful coordination of the day. Angelo spent hours teaching children the events and getting everything organised for the day. Angelo’s commitment to sport at St Pius X is unquestionable and he is a strong advocate for children participating 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 the buses and communication to families. Cassandra did an amazing job and provided a lot of support behind the scenes.

Thank you to our Sports Captains who worked hard on preparing the team chants. This group of children did an amazing job at leading their Sports Day teams and spent hours of their own time putting the chants and actions together.

Finally I would like to acknowledge the wonderful participation and sporting attitude shown by all of the children on Sports Day. The sense of fun and enjoyment the children bring to the day, makes Sports Day a wonderful community event. It is great to see the children dressing up in their team colours and cheering each other on.

After a lot of positive feedback, we are looking to continue the tradition of hosting our Sports Day event at Bridgestone Arena in 2025. Sports Day will once again be held on the last Thursday of Term One.

School Uniforms in winter months
As we move into the winter months and the weather starts to cool down, I would like to remind parents to clearly label your child’s school uniform. Quite often children come to school wearing jumpers or jackets but as the day progresses, they take these items off. Already this term we have had several items handed into the office. If these items are clearly labelled, then our office staff will return them to their rightful owner. Items which are not labelled end up in our school’s lost property. If your child accidentally brings home an item of clothing that does not belong to them, then please return it to school so we can attempt to find its’ rightful owner. If we all work together then we can reduce the number of lost uniforms.

In Term 2, we also allow children to play outside without a hat due to the lower UV levels. 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 at these times, we may instruct children to wear a hat.

Enrolments for 2025 and 2026
Over the last few years we have seen an increase in demand for enrolments at our school. We want to ensure that all siblings are guaranteed enrolment at St Pius X School, however we can only successfully achieve this if parents inform us in a timely manner that they are seeking enrolment. We are now receiving a lot of enrolment enquiries for Reception Term 3, 2025 and Term 1, 2026. If you have a child who is due to start at either of these times, please make contact with the front office so we can ensure that we reserve a space for your child. If you know anyone who would like to enrol for 2025 or 2026 please encourage them contact the school ASAP.

School Concert: SAVE THE DATE – THURSDAY 4^TH JULY @ 7PM
This term, all of the children in the school are involved in dance lessons with the team from Ground Force. At the end of this term, on Thursday 4^th July, the children will perform a school concert where they will perform the dances they have been learning. The theme for the concert is “Let us Entertain You”. The concert will once again be held at the Influences Church Theatre at Paradise. The evening promises to be an entertaining night and a wonderful community event. More information about the concert will be released in the coming weeks.

Mother’s Day Breakfast and Stall
Just a reminder that tomorrow May 10^th, we will be hosting a Mother’s Day Breakfast followed by an opportunity for parents to visit the classroom. The Parents & Friends Committee have also organised a Mother’s Day stall which all classes will visit during the day, so please send your children along with money if they wish to purchase a gift for their Mum and Grandmothers.

Pupil Free Days for the remainder of the Year:
Friday 7^th June (Friday before King’s birthday long weekend)
Monday 14^th October (First day of Term 4)
School concludes for students on Wednesday 11^th December

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all of our mothers a Happy Mother’s Day. I hope that your children show you how much you are loved and appreciated.

God Bless

Ashley 

School Photos will be held on Monday 13th May.

MSP our schools photographer have emailed all families with a QR code to order your children's photos, including family photos.

If you have any questions please contact Cassandra in the front office.

For any students who are absent on Photo Day we have arranged a make up day, which will be held on Tuesday 21st May.

Dear Families,

In Week 8 of this term the Australian Dental Foundation will be visiting our school in a portable dental room, and are offering free dental check-ups for all of our students. They will have a fully qualified dentist and dental assistant who will be able to see children for an exam, clean, fluoride, and x-rays, if needed. Parents are more than welcome to attend. Report cards, stickers, and toothbrushes are also handed out to each child after their appointments.

If you would like to take advantage of this opportunity, please fill in the form in your child’s bag that came home today, and return it to school by the end of Week 3.

If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Jamie Deverson by email jdeverson@stpiusx.catholic.edu.au.

Please see below for further information.

We have three processes when seeing the children based on their CDBS (Child Dental Benefit Scheme) Eligibility:

• Children who are covered by the CDBS funding will be seen for an exam, clean, fluoride, x-rays, and treatment at no out-of-pocket cost.
  
  
• Children who are not eligible for CDBS but do have private health, we ask the parents to bring along their private healthcare cards for their appointment. We bring along our hi-caps machine so that the card is processed at the appointment and does not leave the site and we waive any out-of-pocket fees, so it is still a completely no out-of-pocket cost service for the families. If a guardian/ parent at any time is not comfortable with providing their private health card, we will still see the child for a free general check-up.
  
  
• Children who are not eligible for CDBS and do not have private health, we will still see them for a general check-up to ensure everyone is included in our program.

CROSS COUNTRY & ATHLETICS CARNIVALS 2024 

Listed below are Cross Country and Athletics events that are available for participation this year:

Cross Country State Championships – Thursday 6th June at Oakbank Racecourse
(This carnival is for children who finish top 3 in their event in the above District Carnival).

Cross Country – Catholic Schools – Wednesday 7th August at Park 15, Adelaide Parklands (This carnival is open to students in Year 3 to Year 6). 

Athletics – SAPSASA District – Thursday 29th August at Bridgestone Stadium, Salisbury (This carnival is open to children born from 2011 to 2014).

Athletics – State Metro Championships – Tuesday 17th September at Mile End Stadium (This carnival is for children who win their event in the above District Carnival).

Athletics – Catholic Schools – Thursday 31st October at Mile End Stadium
(This carnival is open to students in Year 3 to Year 6).

The District Cross Country Carnival is again very early this year meaning we have minimal time to train and select students for this event.

The Catholic Cross Country event is over 2km, District Athletics has 800m races and Catholic Athletics has 400m, 800m and 1500m races. Training for these events will be held every Tuesday and Thursday between 8.00am and 8.25am. 

During PE lessons, Mr Zamp is in the process of finalising students to represent our school in all other Athletics events. Once this has been completed, we will begin after school training for Long Jump, High Jump, Shot Put, Discus, Hurdles, Sprints and Relays. More details about this in coming weeks.

Adelaide North East District AFL Team
This week Ben L, Matthew L, Samuel M and Giorgio M represented Adelaide North East district Football team.

The boys won their division, playing against Southern Yorke Peninsula in their last game. Both teams were undefeated before the final game. We beat them by 4 points to take the Gold! It was very exciting.

Soccer (Saturday morning competition)                                                        

Year 3 training - Wednesday's 3:00pm - 3:45pm on the school oval.
Year 4 training - Friday's 3:00pm - 3:45pm on school oval.

Soccer payment option is now available on Qkr! (Sports/Soccer 2024).

Netball (Thursday after school competition)
Netball Thursday After School Competion payment option is now available on Qkr! (Sports/Netball Thursday After School Competion).

Catholic Schools Netball Carnival 
After the success of our participation in last year's carnival, we have nominated 10 to participate in the Catholic Schools Netball Carnival which will be held at Netball SA Stadium, Mile End on Friday 28th June between 10am and 3pm. The carnival is a full day event in Week 9 of this term with the children participating in approximately 5 to 6 mini games throughout the day.

A few teams are short a few players. If your child is interested in participating, please click the following link - Catholic Schools Netball Carnival 2024.

Thank you to the many parents who have offered to manage a team on the day. We will contact everyone this week with details.

Congratulations to Rosh B,  who was recently presented with the Singing for Leisure Grade 4 Prize at the AMEB SA & NT Awards Ceremony for 2023 Candidates, on 6th April 2024 in Elder Hall, University of Adelaide.

This is an outstanding accomplishment and we are very proud. Rosh learns from Virginia Rawlinson, and the prize/award was presented by Professor Jennie Shaw, Deputy Vice Chancellor (Academic). 

Next Meeting
All welcome to join our next P&F meeting which will be held on Friday 14th June at 1:30pm.

Please come along to meet other parents and share ideas. 

School Disco

The 2024 School Disco will be in the evening of Friday 21st June. 

Tickets to be purchased via QKR! School Payments - Activities - P & F Disco